[Discuss] Server won't boot kernel. initramfs problem?

[John Abreau]

I wonder if it could be automated? Perhaps a weekly or monthly cron job
that temporarily sets grub to default to the memtest config, then reboots,
runs the memtest and logs the results, and finally sets grub back to its
previous config?

I firmly believe that if a process can only be run manually, then in
principle it cannot be expected to run reliably and consistently.
Automation is the path to reliable infrastructure.



On Sun, Feb 24, 2013 at 5:41 PM, Bill Bogstad <bogstad at pobox.com> wrote:

> On Sun, Feb 24, 2013 at 3:39 PM, John Abreau <abreauj at gmail.com> wrote:
> > I recall hearing something a few years ago about memtest functionality
> being added to the Linux kernel. Seems to me that making this functionality
> visible to something like nagios would be an obvious goal.
>
> I decided to look into this a little.   Turns out that its been
> available for x86 (only) since 2.6.26 (see
> http://kernelnewbies.org/Linux_2_6_26).  Source can be found in:
>
> .../arch/x86/mm/memtest.c
>
> It appears to  be a fairly primitive memory tester that can be
> configured to run during the boot sequence.   All it does is write to
> "all" of memory and then check it (with an option to use multiple bit
> patterns).   No testing takes place after the system boots.
>
> Bill Bogstad
>



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John Abreau / Executive Director, Boston Linux & Unix
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