XEN/AWS kdump support for RHEL.

Environment

• Red Hat Eneterprise Linux 6
• Red Hat Eneterprise Linux 7
• Red Hat Eneterprise Linux 8
• Red Hat Eneterprise Linux 9
• Red Hat Eneterprise Linux 10

Issue

• Kdump fails on AWS instances running RHEL on XEN hypervisors.

Resolution

Kdump does not work on Xen AWS instances of Red Hat Enterprise Linux. However, if the AWS instance hypervisor type is KVM, kdump can work and is supported.

Root Cause

Kdump in the AWS environment requires some configuration on the domU/host. At this point in time the interaction fails when kdump is engaged.

Diagnostic Steps

• To determine if the instance resides on a KVM hypervisor rather than Xen, check the output of dmesg like so:

# dmesg | grep 'Hypervisor detected'
[    0.000000] Hypervisor detected: KVM

• If the AWS instance is running on Xen hypervisor then the system details will look like this:

# dmidecode | grep "System Information" -A4
System Information
    Manufacturer: Xen
    Product Name: HVM domU
    Version: xx.xx.amazon

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