Re: [PATCH] x86: sysctl to allow panic on IOCK NMI error

Greg KH
2009-06-30T22:41:50Z

On Tue, Jun 30, 2009 at 11:27:57PM +0100, Maciej W. Rozycki wrote:
> On Wed, 24 Jun 2009, Greg KH wrote:
>
> > This patch introduces a sysctl /proc/sys/kernel/panic_on_io_nmi, which
> > defaults to 0 (off).
> >
> > When enabled, the kernel panics when the kernel receives an NMI caused
> > by an IO error.
> >
> > The IO error triggered NMI indicates a serious system condition, which
> > could result in IO data corruption. Rather than contiuing, panicing and
> > dumping might be a better choice, so one can figure out what's causing
> > the IO error.
> >
> > This could be especially important to companies running IO intensive
> > applications where corruption must be avoided, e.g. a banks databases.
>
> These days an IOCK NMI typically happens in response to a PCI SERR -- it
> may be useful to traverse PCI buses to find the offender and dump this
> information on this occasion too. The south bridge may have additional
> status too.

Sure, that would be great to have. Care to make a patch? :)

thanks,

greg k-h