Warm Reboot Kernel Dumper for Crash Data Preservation
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Solution Overview
Problem
Existing kernel dumper technologies face challenges in maintaining and updating systems across platforms and releases, especially when the kernel crashes, as they rely on external drivers and often require complex recovery modes like ROMMON, which can erase critical core dumps and complicate maintenance.
Innovation Solution
A warm reboot enabled kernel dumper module that generates and stores a dump file in functional memory, applies overwrite protection to prevent erasure, and transfers the core dump to a system file without resorting to ROMMON mode, ensuring data integrity and simplifying maintenance by using self-contained drivers and avoiding reliance on external kernel resources.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Reliability
If the kernel dumper uses external drivers to dump core memory, then the dumping functionality can be achieved, but the system cost increases and maintenance becomes more difficult
Solution Approach 1:
The kernel dumper is implemented as a self-contained module that carries its own set of drivers embedded within it. This allows the dumper to independently perform core dumping operations without relying on external drivers from the crashed kernel, thereby reducing system complexity and maintenance burden while maintaining reliable dumping functionality.
Solution Approach 2:
The kernel dumper module is designed to be platform-independent and can operate across different operating system platforms. By embedding necessary drivers within the dumper itself, it becomes a universal tool that can dump core memory from various kernel environments without requiring platform-specific external drivers, thus reducing overall system complexity.
2Reliability
If the system performs a traditional reboot after kernel crash, then the kernel can be restarted, but the core dump may be erased from memory
Solution Approach 1:
The kernel dumper performs the core dumping action immediately when the kernel crashes, before any reboot operation occurs. By capturing and preserving the core dump data in a safe location before the system restarts, the preliminary action ensures that the debugging information is preserved and not lost during the kernel recovery process.
Solution Approach 2:
The kernel dumper acts as an intermediary between the crashed kernel and the reboot process. It intercepts the core memory at the moment of crash, preserves it in a separate storage location, and then allows the kernel to be restarted without affecting the preserved dump data. This intermediary action decouples the kernel recovery process from the core dump preservation.
3Ease of operation
If the kernel dumper relies on ROMMON mode for recovery, then the system can recover from kernel crashes, but the process becomes more complex and time-consuming
Solution Approach 1:
The kernel dumper is designed to automatically execute and perform core dumping operations without requiring the system to enter specialized recovery modes like ROMMON. The self-contained nature of the dumper allows it to operate directly from the crashed kernel state, simplifying the recovery process and reducing operational complexity while maintaining ease of system recovery.
Data Source
AI summary
In one embodiment, a method of a kernel dumper module includes generating a dump file associated with a kernel when the kernel crashes, storing the dump file to a functional memory upon applying an overwrite protection to a core dump of the dump file, restarting the kernel through a warm reboot of the kernel such that the core dump is not erased from the functional memory, and transferring the core dump to a system file using the kernel.