From owner-freebsd-stable@FreeBSD.ORG Tue Jan 17 15:07:35 2012 Return-Path: Delivered-To: freebsd-stable@freebsd.org Received: from mx1.freebsd.org (mx1.freebsd.org [IPv6:2001:4f8:fff6::34]) by hub.freebsd.org (Postfix) with ESMTP id 701AA1065670 for ; Tue, 17 Jan 2012 15:07:35 +0000 (UTC) (envelope-from kensmith@buffalo.edu) Received: from localmailA.acsu.buffalo.edu (localmaila.acsu.buffalo.edu [128.205.5.196]) by mx1.freebsd.org (Postfix) with ESMTP id 413558FC0C for ; Tue, 17 Jan 2012 15:07:35 +0000 (UTC) Received: from localmailA.acsu.buffalo.edu (localhost [127.0.0.1]) by localhost (Postfix) with SMTP id 6E76BD4BD; Tue, 17 Jan 2012 10:07:34 -0500 (EST) Received: from localmailA.acsu.buffalo.edu (localhost [127.0.0.1]) by localmailA.acsu.buffalo.edu (Postfix) with ESMTP id 89389D4DE; Tue, 17 Jan 2012 10:07:33 -0500 (EST) Received: from smtp4.acsu.buffalo.edu (smtp4.acsu.buffalo.edu [128.205.5.229]) by localmailA.acsu.buffalo.edu (Prefixe) with ESMTP id 72F6BD4BD; Tue, 17 Jan 2012 10:07:33 -0500 (EST) Received: from [128.205.32.76] (bauer.cse.buffalo.edu [128.205.32.76]) (Authenticated sender: kensmith@buffalo.edu) by smtp4.acsu.buffalo.edu (Postfix) with ESMTPSA id 65EB547423; Tue, 17 Jan 2012 10:07:33 -0500 (EST) From: Ken Smith To: Aristedes Maniatis In-Reply-To: <4F15253E.7070404@ish.com.au> References: <4F15253E.7070404@ish.com.au> Content-Type: multipart/signed; micalg="pgp-sha1"; protocol="application/pgp-signature"; boundary="=-KhB1vcv7+NMd50lfhZ2n" Date: Tue, 17 Jan 2012 10:07:32 -0500 Message-ID: <1326812852.24361.8.camel@bauer.cse.buffalo.edu> Mime-Version: 1.0 X-Mailer: Evolution 2.32.1 FreeBSD GNOME Team Port X-PM-EL-Spam-Prob: : 8% Cc: freebsd-stable Subject: Re: dumpdev default X-BeenThere: freebsd-stable@freebsd.org X-Mailman-Version: 2.1.5 Precedence: list List-Id: Production branch of FreeBSD source code List-Unsubscribe: , List-Archive: List-Post: List-Help: List-Subscribe: , X-List-Received-Date: Tue, 17 Jan 2012 15:07:35 -0000 --=-KhB1vcv7+NMd50lfhZ2n Content-Type: text/plain; charset="us-ascii" Content-Transfer-Encoding: quoted-printable On Tue, 2012-01-17 at 18:37 +1100, Aristedes Maniatis wrote: > The manual states that dumpdev "AUTO is the default as of FreeBSD > 6.0" [1] >=20 > However: >=20 > # uname -a > FreeBSD xxxxxx 9.0-RELEASE FreeBSD 9.0-RELEASE #0: Tue Jan 3 07:46:30 > UTC 2012 root@farrell.cse.buffalo.edu:/usr/obj/usr/src/sys/GENERIC > amd64 >=20 > # grep dumpdev /etc/defaults/rc.conf > dumpdev=3D"NO" # Device to crashdump to (device name, AUTO, or NO). > savecore_flags=3D"" # Used if dumpdev is enabled above, and present. >=20 >=20 > It looks like NO is still the default. Is there a reason why this > should not be turned on even for production machines? I haven't read > about any side effects, but it seems to be off by default for some > reason. >=20 >=20 > Please cc me on any responses since I'm not currently subscribed. >=20 > Cheers > Ari If you use bsdinstall(8) to install a machine from scratch it explicitly asks you about whether you want crash dumps enabled or not. As long as you're aware that the crash dumps are happening and know that you might need to clean up after them (remove stuff from /var, etc) there are no dangers. You just need to make sure wherever the crash dumps will wind up going (/var by default) has enough space to handle both the crash dumps and anything else the machines need to do. We currently have no provision for preventing crash dumps from filling up the target partition. I keep advocating for the conservative side of this issue, preferring that crash dumps be an opt-in setting until we have infrastructure in place to prevent them from filling the target partition. I still picture there being people out there who don't know what crash dumps are, wouldn't know they might need to clean up after them, and may be negatively impacted if the target partition wound up full without them knowing why. --=20 Ken Smith - From there to here, from here to | kensmith@buffalo.edu there, funny things are everywhere. | - Theodor Geisel | --=-KhB1vcv7+NMd50lfhZ2n Content-Type: application/pgp-signature; name="signature.asc" Content-Description: This is a digitally signed message part -----BEGIN PGP SIGNATURE----- Version: GnuPG v1.4.11 (FreeBSD) iEYEABECAAYFAk8VjqsACgkQ/G14VSmup/YowACeM9nrizv6BvWgSDOzAjJQL5gJ 3gUAoJi7JuC4sZCabub0ZhTq8d+N9Hkj =/REV -----END PGP SIGNATURE----- --=-KhB1vcv7+NMd50lfhZ2n--