Running a UDP Remote Console with Linux 2.6

Bruce Perens writes "Many system admins have learned how to use syslog to log events of remote systems. But when the kernel crashes, its final messages never get to syslog. If you don't have a remote console manager, you won't see them, unless you run netconsole."

Comments

Re:Same thing as sending syslog to remote loghost?

[drdink]

This is a useful tool for those of us who have a slew of machines on a single network segment and don't want to have an expensive KVM or 47 monitors. The ability to put your consoles over the same wire you put your normal network traffic over is great. It is like those cable companies that also provide phone service over your cable line, sort of...
IRIX isn't the only operating system that does crashdumps. I've found them to be an invaluable tool for debugging FreeBSD. It has supported them for quite a long time. The ability to gdb your kernel and the vm after you reboot and see exactly where things went wrong is great. I still don't understand why Linux lacks this.