xref: /freebsd/usr.sbin/watchdogd/watchdogd.8 (revision 1669d8afc64812c8d2d1d147ae1fd42ff441e1b1)
1.\" Copyright (c) 2004  Poul-Henning Kamp <phk@FreeBSD.org>
2.\" Copyright (c) 2003  Sean M. Kelly <smkelly@FreeBSD.org>
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26.\" $FreeBSD$
27.\"
28.Dd September 2, 2006
29.Dt WATCHDOGD 8
30.Os
31.Sh NAME
32.Nm watchdogd
33.Nd watchdog daemon
34.Sh SYNOPSIS
35.Nm
36.Op Fl d
37.Op Fl e Ar cmd
38.Op Fl I Ar file
39.Op Fl s Ar sleep
40.Op Fl t Ar timeout
41.Sh DESCRIPTION
42The
43.Nm
44utility interfaces with the kernel's watchdog facility to ensure
45that the system is in a working state.
46If
47.Nm
48is unable to interface with the kernel over a specific timeout,
49the kernel will take actions to assist in debugging or restarting the computer.
50.Pp
51If
52.Fl e Ar cmd
53is specified,
54.Nm
55will attempt to execute this command with
56.Xr system 3 ,
57and only if the command returns with a zero exit code will the
58watchdog be reset.
59If
60.Fl e Ar cmd
61is not specified, the daemon will perform a trivial file system
62check instead.
63.Pp
64The
65.Fl s Ar sleep
66argument can be used to control the sleep period between each execution
67of the check and defaults to one second.
68.Pp
69The
70.Fl t Ar timeout
71specifies the desired timeout period in seconds.
72The default timeout is 16 seconds.
73.Pp
74One possible circumstance which will cause a watchdog timeout is an interrupt
75storm.
76If this occurs,
77.Nm
78will no longer execute and thus the kernel's watchdog routines will take
79action after a configurable timeout.
80.Pp
81Upon receiving the
82.Dv SIGTERM
83or
84.Dv SIGINT
85signals,
86.Nm
87will first instruct the kernel to no longer perform watchdog checks and then
88will terminate.
89.Pp
90The
91.Nm
92utility recognizes the following runtime options:
93.Bl -tag -width ".Fl I Ar file"
94.It Fl I Ar file
95Write the process ID of the
96.Nm
97utility in the specified file.
98.It Fl d
99Do not fork.
100When this option is specified,
101.Nm
102will not fork into the background at startup.
103.El
104.Sh FILES
105.Bl -tag -width ".Pa /var/run/watchdogd.pid" -compact
106.It Pa /var/run/watchdogd.pid
107.El
108.Sh SEE ALSO
109.Xr watchdog 4 ,
110.Xr watchdog 8 ,
111.Xr watchdog 9
112.Sh HISTORY
113The
114.Nm
115utility appeared in
116.Fx 5.1 .
117.Sh AUTHORS
118.An -nosplit
119The
120.Nm
121utility and manual page were written by
122.An Sean Kelly Aq smkelly@FreeBSD.org
123and
124.An Poul-Henning Kamp Aq phk@FreeBSD.org .
125.Pp
126Some contributions made by
127.An Jeff Roberson Aq jeff@FreeBSD.org .
128