- For all Compulab Intel products, watchdog kernel module name is: iTCO_wdt
- Verify it can be loaded successfully and information about the device appears in dmesg output
$ sudo modprobe iTCO_wdt
$ dmesg | grep -i iTCO
[ 34.741071] iTCO_vendor_support: vendor-support=0
[ 34.742749] iTCO_wdt: Intel TCO WatchDog Timer Driver v1.11
[ 34.742824] iTCO_wdt: Found a Apollo Lake SoC TCO device (Version=5, TCOBASE=0x0460)
[ 34.742993] iTCO_wdt: initialized. heartbeat=30 sec (nowayout=0)
- Install watchdog program, it should run in the background automatically on each system start
$ sudo apt install watchdog
- Modify the following configuration files:
/etc/default/watchdog
change: watchdog_module="none"
to: watchdog_module="iTCO_wdt"
/etc/watchdog.conf
uncomment line: watchdog-device = /dev/watchdog
/lib/systemd/system/watchdog.service
add "WantedBy=default.target" line under [Install] header, as per below:
[Install]
WantedBy=default.target
* NOTE: this a bugfix that required for LinuxMint18.3
- Try watchdog service and ensure it is running correctly
$ sudo systemctl start watchdog
$ sudo systemctl status watchdog
● watchdog.service - watchdog daemon
Loaded: loaded (/lib/systemd/system/watchdog.service; enabled; vendor preset: enabled)
Active: active (running) since Tue 2018-04-17 03:30:58 EDT; 3min 3s ago
Main PID: 1143 (watchdog)
CGroup: /system.slice/watchdog.service
└─1143 /usr/sbin/watchdog
Apr 17 03:30:58 denis-fitlet2 watchdog[1143]: int=1s realtime=yes sync=no soft=no mla=0 mem=0
Apr 17 03:30:58 denis-fitlet2 systemd[1]: Started watchdog daemon.
Apr 17 03:30:58 denis-fitlet2 watchdog[1143]: ping: no machine to check
Apr 17 03:30:58 denis-fitlet2 watchdog[1143]: file: no file to check
Apr 17 03:30:58 denis-fitlet2 watchdog[1143]: pidfile: no server process to check
Apr 17 03:30:58 denis-fitlet2 watchdog[1143]: interface: no interface to check
Apr 17 03:30:58 denis-fitlet2 watchdog[1143]: temperature: no sensors to check
Apr 17 03:30:58 denis-fitlet2 watchdog[1143]: test=none(0) repair=none(0) alive=/dev/watchdog heartbeat=none to=root no_act=no force=no
Apr 17 03:30:58 denis-fitlet2 watchdog[1143]: watchdog now set to 60 seconds
Apr 17 03:30:58 denis-fitlet2 watchdog[1143]: hardware watchdog identity: iTCO_wdt
- Enable autostart of the watchdog service
$ sudo systemctl enable watchdog
Synchronizing state of watchdog.service with SysV init with /lib/systemd/systemd-sysv-install...
Executing /lib/systemd/systemd-sysv-install enable watchdog
- Verify the the driver was loaded automatically
$ dmesg | grep -i iTCO
- Simulate kernel panic (as root user):
$ su
Password:
$ echo 1 > /proc/sys/kernel/sysrq
$ echo c > /proc/sysrq-trigger
- As a result, the watchdog mechanism should reboot the system within 30 seconds.