cachepc-linux

Fork of AMDESE/linux with modifications for CachePC side-channel attack
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watchdog-api.rst (9673B)


      1=============================
      2The Linux Watchdog driver API
      3=============================
      4
      5Last reviewed: 10/05/2007
      6
      7
      8
      9Copyright 2002 Christer Weingel <wingel@nano-system.com>
     10
     11Some parts of this document are copied verbatim from the sbc60xxwdt
     12driver which is (c) Copyright 2000 Jakob Oestergaard <jakob@ostenfeld.dk>
     13
     14This document describes the state of the Linux 2.4.18 kernel.
     15
     16Introduction
     17============
     18
     19A Watchdog Timer (WDT) is a hardware circuit that can reset the
     20computer system in case of a software fault.  You probably knew that
     21already.
     22
     23Usually a userspace daemon will notify the kernel watchdog driver via the
     24/dev/watchdog special device file that userspace is still alive, at
     25regular intervals.  When such a notification occurs, the driver will
     26usually tell the hardware watchdog that everything is in order, and
     27that the watchdog should wait for yet another little while to reset
     28the system.  If userspace fails (RAM error, kernel bug, whatever), the
     29notifications cease to occur, and the hardware watchdog will reset the
     30system (causing a reboot) after the timeout occurs.
     31
     32The Linux watchdog API is a rather ad-hoc construction and different
     33drivers implement different, and sometimes incompatible, parts of it.
     34This file is an attempt to document the existing usage and allow
     35future driver writers to use it as a reference.
     36
     37The simplest API
     38================
     39
     40All drivers support the basic mode of operation, where the watchdog
     41activates as soon as /dev/watchdog is opened and will reboot unless
     42the watchdog is pinged within a certain time, this time is called the
     43timeout or margin.  The simplest way to ping the watchdog is to write
     44some data to the device.  So a very simple watchdog daemon would look
     45like this source file:  see samples/watchdog/watchdog-simple.c
     46
     47A more advanced driver could for example check that a HTTP server is
     48still responding before doing the write call to ping the watchdog.
     49
     50When the device is closed, the watchdog is disabled, unless the "Magic
     51Close" feature is supported (see below).  This is not always such a
     52good idea, since if there is a bug in the watchdog daemon and it
     53crashes the system will not reboot.  Because of this, some of the
     54drivers support the configuration option "Disable watchdog shutdown on
     55close", CONFIG_WATCHDOG_NOWAYOUT.  If it is set to Y when compiling
     56the kernel, there is no way of disabling the watchdog once it has been
     57started.  So, if the watchdog daemon crashes, the system will reboot
     58after the timeout has passed. Watchdog devices also usually support
     59the nowayout module parameter so that this option can be controlled at
     60runtime.
     61
     62Magic Close feature
     63===================
     64
     65If a driver supports "Magic Close", the driver will not disable the
     66watchdog unless a specific magic character 'V' has been sent to
     67/dev/watchdog just before closing the file.  If the userspace daemon
     68closes the file without sending this special character, the driver
     69will assume that the daemon (and userspace in general) died, and will
     70stop pinging the watchdog without disabling it first.  This will then
     71cause a reboot if the watchdog is not re-opened in sufficient time.
     72
     73The ioctl API
     74=============
     75
     76All conforming drivers also support an ioctl API.
     77
     78Pinging the watchdog using an ioctl:
     79
     80All drivers that have an ioctl interface support at least one ioctl,
     81KEEPALIVE.  This ioctl does exactly the same thing as a write to the
     82watchdog device, so the main loop in the above program could be
     83replaced with::
     84
     85	while (1) {
     86		ioctl(fd, WDIOC_KEEPALIVE, 0);
     87		sleep(10);
     88	}
     89
     90the argument to the ioctl is ignored.
     91
     92Setting and getting the timeout
     93===============================
     94
     95For some drivers it is possible to modify the watchdog timeout on the
     96fly with the SETTIMEOUT ioctl, those drivers have the WDIOF_SETTIMEOUT
     97flag set in their option field.  The argument is an integer
     98representing the timeout in seconds.  The driver returns the real
     99timeout used in the same variable, and this timeout might differ from
    100the requested one due to limitation of the hardware::
    101
    102    int timeout = 45;
    103    ioctl(fd, WDIOC_SETTIMEOUT, &timeout);
    104    printf("The timeout was set to %d seconds\n", timeout);
    105
    106This example might actually print "The timeout was set to 60 seconds"
    107if the device has a granularity of minutes for its timeout.
    108
    109Starting with the Linux 2.4.18 kernel, it is possible to query the
    110current timeout using the GETTIMEOUT ioctl::
    111
    112    ioctl(fd, WDIOC_GETTIMEOUT, &timeout);
    113    printf("The timeout was is %d seconds\n", timeout);
    114
    115Pretimeouts
    116===========
    117
    118Some watchdog timers can be set to have a trigger go off before the
    119actual time they will reset the system.  This can be done with an NMI,
    120interrupt, or other mechanism.  This allows Linux to record useful
    121information (like panic information and kernel coredumps) before it
    122resets::
    123
    124    pretimeout = 10;
    125    ioctl(fd, WDIOC_SETPRETIMEOUT, &pretimeout);
    126
    127Note that the pretimeout is the number of seconds before the time
    128when the timeout will go off.  It is not the number of seconds until
    129the pretimeout.  So, for instance, if you set the timeout to 60 seconds
    130and the pretimeout to 10 seconds, the pretimeout will go off in 50
    131seconds.  Setting a pretimeout to zero disables it.
    132
    133There is also a get function for getting the pretimeout::
    134
    135    ioctl(fd, WDIOC_GETPRETIMEOUT, &timeout);
    136    printf("The pretimeout was is %d seconds\n", timeout);
    137
    138Not all watchdog drivers will support a pretimeout.
    139
    140Get the number of seconds before reboot
    141=======================================
    142
    143Some watchdog drivers have the ability to report the remaining time
    144before the system will reboot. The WDIOC_GETTIMELEFT is the ioctl
    145that returns the number of seconds before reboot::
    146
    147    ioctl(fd, WDIOC_GETTIMELEFT, &timeleft);
    148    printf("The timeout was is %d seconds\n", timeleft);
    149
    150Environmental monitoring
    151========================
    152
    153All watchdog drivers are required return more information about the system,
    154some do temperature, fan and power level monitoring, some can tell you
    155the reason for the last reboot of the system.  The GETSUPPORT ioctl is
    156available to ask what the device can do::
    157
    158	struct watchdog_info ident;
    159	ioctl(fd, WDIOC_GETSUPPORT, &ident);
    160
    161the fields returned in the ident struct are:
    162
    163	================	=============================================
    164        identity		a string identifying the watchdog driver
    165	firmware_version	the firmware version of the card if available
    166	options			a flags describing what the device supports
    167	================	=============================================
    168
    169the options field can have the following bits set, and describes what
    170kind of information that the GET_STATUS and GET_BOOT_STATUS ioctls can
    171return.
    172
    173	================	=========================
    174	WDIOF_OVERHEAT		Reset due to CPU overheat
    175	================	=========================
    176
    177The machine was last rebooted by the watchdog because the thermal limit was
    178exceeded:
    179
    180	==============		==========
    181	WDIOF_FANFAULT		Fan failed
    182	==============		==========
    183
    184A system fan monitored by the watchdog card has failed
    185
    186	=============		================
    187	WDIOF_EXTERN1		External relay 1
    188	=============		================
    189
    190External monitoring relay/source 1 was triggered. Controllers intended for
    191real world applications include external monitoring pins that will trigger
    192a reset.
    193
    194	=============		================
    195	WDIOF_EXTERN2		External relay 2
    196	=============		================
    197
    198External monitoring relay/source 2 was triggered
    199
    200	================	=====================
    201	WDIOF_POWERUNDER	Power bad/power fault
    202	================	=====================
    203
    204The machine is showing an undervoltage status
    205
    206	===============		=============================
    207	WDIOF_CARDRESET		Card previously reset the CPU
    208	===============		=============================
    209
    210The last reboot was caused by the watchdog card
    211
    212	================	=====================
    213	WDIOF_POWEROVER		Power over voltage
    214	================	=====================
    215
    216The machine is showing an overvoltage status. Note that if one level is
    217under and one over both bits will be set - this may seem odd but makes
    218sense.
    219
    220	===================	=====================
    221	WDIOF_KEEPALIVEPING	Keep alive ping reply
    222	===================	=====================
    223
    224The watchdog saw a keepalive ping since it was last queried.
    225
    226	================	=======================
    227	WDIOF_SETTIMEOUT	Can set/get the timeout
    228	================	=======================
    229
    230The watchdog can do pretimeouts.
    231
    232	================	================================
    233	WDIOF_PRETIMEOUT	Pretimeout (in seconds), get/set
    234	================	================================
    235
    236
    237For those drivers that return any bits set in the option field, the
    238GETSTATUS and GETBOOTSTATUS ioctls can be used to ask for the current
    239status, and the status at the last reboot, respectively::
    240
    241    int flags;
    242    ioctl(fd, WDIOC_GETSTATUS, &flags);
    243
    244    or
    245
    246    ioctl(fd, WDIOC_GETBOOTSTATUS, &flags);
    247
    248Note that not all devices support these two calls, and some only
    249support the GETBOOTSTATUS call.
    250
    251Some drivers can measure the temperature using the GETTEMP ioctl.  The
    252returned value is the temperature in degrees fahrenheit::
    253
    254    int temperature;
    255    ioctl(fd, WDIOC_GETTEMP, &temperature);
    256
    257Finally the SETOPTIONS ioctl can be used to control some aspects of
    258the cards operation::
    259
    260    int options = 0;
    261    ioctl(fd, WDIOC_SETOPTIONS, &options);
    262
    263The following options are available:
    264
    265	=================	================================
    266	WDIOS_DISABLECARD	Turn off the watchdog timer
    267	WDIOS_ENABLECARD	Turn on the watchdog timer
    268	WDIOS_TEMPPANIC		Kernel panic on temperature trip
    269	=================	================================
    270
    271[FIXME -- better explanations]