xref: /freebsd/usr.sbin/watchdogd/watchdogd.8 (revision 7d536dc855c85c15bf45f033d108a61b1f3cecc3)
1.\" Copyright (c) 2013  iXsystems.com,
2.\"                     author: Alfred Perlstein <alfred@freebsd.org>
3.\" Copyright (c) 2004  Poul-Henning Kamp <phk@FreeBSD.org>
4.\" Copyright (c) 2003  Sean M. Kelly <smkelly@FreeBSD.org>
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28.\" $FreeBSD$
29.\"
30.Dd May 11, 2015
31.Dt WATCHDOGD 8
32.Os
33.Sh NAME
34.Nm watchdogd
35.Nd watchdog daemon
36.Sh SYNOPSIS
37.Nm
38.Op Fl dnSw
39.Op Fl -debug
40.Op Fl -softtimeout
41.Op Fl -softtimeout-action Ar action
42.Op Fl -pretimeout Ar timeout
43.Op Fl -pretimeout-action Ar action
44.Op Fl e Ar cmd
45.Op Fl I Ar file
46.Op Fl s Ar sleep
47.Op Fl t Ar timeout
48.Op Fl T Ar script_timeout
49.Op Fl x Ar exit_timeout
50.Sh DESCRIPTION
51The
52.Nm
53utility interfaces with the kernel's watchdog facility to ensure
54that the system is in a working state.
55If
56.Nm
57is unable to interface with the kernel over a specific timeout,
58the kernel will take actions to assist in debugging or restarting the computer.
59.Pp
60If
61.Fl e Ar cmd
62is specified,
63.Nm
64will attempt to execute this command with
65.Xr system 3 ,
66and only if the command returns with a zero exit code will the
67watchdog be reset.
68If
69.Fl e Ar cmd
70is not specified, the daemon will perform a trivial file system
71check instead.
72.Pp
73The
74.Fl n
75argument 'dry-run' will cause watchdog not to arm the system watchdog and
76instead only run the watchdog function and report on failures.
77This is useful for developing new watchdogd scripts as the system will not
78reboot if there are problems with the script.
79.Pp
80The
81.Fl s Ar sleep
82argument can be used to control the sleep period between each execution
83of the check and defaults to 10 seconds.
84.Pp
85The
86.Fl t Ar timeout
87specifies the desired timeout period in seconds.
88The default timeout is 128 seconds.
89.Pp
90One possible circumstance which will cause a watchdog timeout is an interrupt
91storm.
92If this occurs,
93.Nm
94will no longer execute and thus the kernel's watchdog routines will take
95action after a configurable timeout.
96.Pp
97The
98.Fl T Ar script_timeout
99specifies the threshold (in seconds) at which the watchdogd will complain
100that its script has run for too long.
101If unset
102.Ar script_timeout
103defaults to the value specified by the
104.Fl s Ar sleep
105option.
106.Pp
107The
108.Fl x Ar exit_timeout
109argument is the timeout period (in seconds) to leave in effect when the
110program exits.
111Using
112.Fl x
113with a non-zero value protects against lockup during a reboot by
114triggering a hardware reset if the software reboot doesn't complete
115before the given timeout expires.
116.Pp
117Upon receiving the
118.Dv SIGTERM
119or
120.Dv SIGINT
121signals,
122.Nm
123will terminate, after first instructing the kernel to either disable the
124timeout or reset it to the value given by
125.Fl x Ar exit_timeout .
126.Pp
127The
128.Nm
129utility recognizes the following runtime options:
130.Bl -tag -width 30m
131.It Fl I Ar file
132Write the process ID of the
133.Nm
134utility in the specified file.
135.It Fl d Fl -debug
136Do not fork.
137When this option is specified,
138.Nm
139will not fork into the background at startup.
140.It Fl S
141Do not send a message to the system logger when the watchdog command takes
142longer than expected to execute.
143The default behaviour is to log a warning via the system logger with the
144LOG_DAEMON facility, and to output a warning to standard error.
145.It Fl w
146Complain when the watchdog script takes too long.
147This flag will cause watchdogd to complain when the amount of time to
148execute the watchdog script exceeds the threshold of 'sleep' option.
149.It Fl -pretimeout Ar timeout
150Set a "pretimeout" watchdog.
151At "timeout" seconds before the watchdog will fire attempt an action.
152The action is set by the --pretimeout-action flag.
153The default is just to log a message (WD_SOFT_LOG) via
154.Xr log 9 .
155.It Fl -pretimeout-action Ar action
156Set the timeout action for the pretimeout.
157See the section
158.Sx Timeout Actions .
159.It Fl -softtimeout
160Instead of arming the various hardware watchdogs, only use a basic software
161watchdog.
162The default action is just to
163.Xr log 9
164a message (WD_SOFT_LOG).
165.It Fl -softtimeout-action Ar action
166Set the timeout action for the softtimeout.
167See the section
168.Sx Timeout Actions .
169.El
170.Sh Timeout Actions
171The following timeout actions are available via the
172.Fl -pretimeout-action
173and
174.Fl -softtimeout-action
175flags:
176.Bl -tag -width ".Ar printf  "
177.It Ar panic
178Call
179.Xr panic 9
180when the timeout is reached.
181.It Ar ddb
182Enter the kernel debugger via
183.Xr kdb_enter 9
184when the timeout is reached.
185.It Ar log
186Log a message using
187.Xr log 9
188when the timeout is reached.
189.It Ar printf
190call the kernel
191.Xr printf 9
192to display a message to the console and
193.Xr dmesg 8
194buffer.
195.El
196.Pp
197Actions can be combined in a comma separated list as so:
198.Ar log,printf
199which would both
200.Xr printf 9
201and
202.Xr log 9
203which will send messages both to
204.Xr dmesg 8
205and the kernel
206.Xr log 4
207device for
208.Xr syslogd 8 .
209.Sh FILES
210.Bl -tag -width ".Pa /var/run/watchdogd.pid" -compact
211.It Pa /var/run/watchdogd.pid
212.El
213.Sh EXAMPLES
214.Ss Debugging watchdogd and/or your watchdog script.
215This is a useful recipe for debugging
216.Nm
217and your watchdog script.
218.Pp
219(Note that ^C works oddly because
220.Nm
221calls
222.Xr system 3
223so the
224first ^C will terminate the "sleep" command.)
225.Pp
226Explanation of options used:
227.Bl -enum -offset indent -compact
228.It
229Set Debug on (--debug)
230.It
231Set the watchdog to trip at 30 seconds. (-t 30)
232.It
233Use of a softtimeout:
234.Bl -enum -offset indent -compact -nested
235.It
236Use a softtimeout (do not arm the hardware watchdog).
237(--softtimeout)
238.It
239Set the softtimeout action to do both kernel
240.Xr printf 9
241and
242.Xr log 9
243when it trips.
244(--softtimeout-action log,printf)
245.El
246.It
247Use of a pre-timeout:
248.Bl -enum -offset indent -compact -nested
249.It
250Set a pre-timeout of 15 seconds (this will later trigger a panic/dump).
251(--pretimeout 15)
252.It
253Set the action to also kernel
254.Xr printf 9
255and
256.Xr log 9
257when it trips.
258(--pretimeout-action log,printf)
259.El
260.It
261Use of a script:
262.Bl -enum -offset indent -compact -nested
263.It
264Run "sleep 60" as a shell command that acts as the watchdog (-e 'sleep 60')
265.It
266Warn us when the script takes longer than 1 second to run (-w)
267.El
268.El
269.Bd -literal
270watchdogd --debug -t 30 \\
271  --softtimeout --softtimeout-action log,printf \\
272  --pretimeout 15 --pretimeout-action log,printf \\
273  -e 'sleep 60' -w
274.Ed
275.Ss Production use of example
276.Bl -enum -offset indent -compact
277.It
278Set hard timeout to 120 seconds (-t 120)
279.It
280Set a panic to happen at 60 seconds (to trigger a
281.Xr crash 8
282for dump analysis):
283.Bl -enum -offset indent -compact -nested
284.It
285Use of pre-timeout (--pretimeout 60)
286.It
287Specify pre-timeout action (--pretimeout-action log,printf,panic )
288.El
289.It
290Use of a script:
291.Bl -enum -offset indent -compact -nested
292.It
293Run your script (-e '/path/to/your/script 60')
294.It
295Log if your script takes a longer than 15 seconds to run time. (-w -T 15)
296.El
297.El
298.Bd -literal
299watchdogd  -t 120 \\
300  --pretimeout 60 --pretimeout-action log,printf,panic \\
301  -e '/path/to/your/script 60' -w -T 15
302.Ed
303.Sh SEE ALSO
304.Xr watchdog 4 ,
305.Xr watchdog 8 ,
306.Xr watchdog 9
307.Sh HISTORY
308The
309.Nm
310utility appeared in
311.Fx 5.1 .
312.Sh AUTHORS
313.An -nosplit
314The
315.Nm
316utility and manual page were written by
317.An Sean Kelly Aq Mt smkelly@FreeBSD.org
318and
319.An Poul-Henning Kamp Aq Mt phk@FreeBSD.org .
320.Pp
321Some contributions made by
322.An Jeff Roberson Aq Mt jeff@FreeBSD.org .
323.Pp
324The pretimeout and softtimeout action system was added by
325.An Alfred Perlstein Aq Mt alfred@freebsd.org .
326