NAME

       watchdog.conf - configuration file for the watchdog daemon

DESCRIPTION

       This file carries all configuration options for the Linux watchdog daemon.  Each option has to be written
       on  a  line  for itself. Comments start with '#'.  Blanks are ignored except after the '=' sign. An empty
       text after the '=' sign disables the feature as long as that makes sense.

OPTIONS

       interval = <interval>
              Set the highest possible interval between two writes  to  the  watchdog  device.   The  device  is
              triggered  after  each  check  regardless of the time it took. After finishing all checks watchdog
              goes to sleep for a full cycle of <interval> seconds.  Default  value  is  1  second.  The  kernel
              drivers expects a write command every minute. Otherwise the system will be rebooted.  Therefore an
              interval of more than a minute can only be used with the -f command-line option.

       logtick = <logtick>
              If  you  enable  verbose logging, a message is written into the syslog or a logfile. While this is
              nice, it is not necessary to get a message every 10 seconds which really fills up disk  and  needs
              CPU. logtick allows adjustment of the number of intervals skipped before a log message is written.
              If  you  use  logtick  =  60  and  interval = 10, only every 10 minutes (600 seconds) a message is
              written. This may make the exact time of a crash harder to find but greatly reduces disk usage and
              administrator nerves if you're looking for a  particular  syslog  entry  in  between  of  watchdog
              messages.

       max-load-1 = <load1>
              Set  the  maximal  allowed load average for a 1 minute span. Once this load average is reached the
              system is rebooted. Default value is 0. That means the load average check is disabled. Be  careful
              not  to  this  parameter  too low. To set a value less then the predefined minimal value of 2, you
              have to use the -f commandline option.

       max-load-5 = <load5>
              Set the maximal allowed load average for a 5 minute span. Once this load average  is  reached  the
              system is rebooted. Default value is 3/4*max-load-1.  Be careful not to this parameter too low. To
              set  a  value  less  then  the  predefined  minimal value of 2, you have to use the -f commandline
              option.

       max-load-15 = <load15>
              Set the maximal allowed load average for a 15 minute span. Once this load average is  reached  the
              system is rebooted. Default value is 1/2*max-load-1.  Be careful not to this parameter too low. To
              set  a  value  less  then  the  predefined  minimal value of 2, you have to use the -f commandline
              option.

       min-memory = <minpage>
              Set the minimal amount of virtual memory that has to stay  free.  Note  that  this  is  in  pages.
              Default value is 0 pages which means this test is disabled. The page size is taken from the system
              include files.

       allocatable-memory = <minpage>
              Set the minimum amount of allocatable memory available on the system.  Note that this is in pages.
              Default  value  is 0 pages which means the test is disabled.  As with min-memory, the page size is
              taken from the system include files.

       max-temperature = <temp>
              Set the maximal allowed temperature. Once this  temperature  is  reached  the  system  is  halted.
              Default  value  is  120.  There  is no unit conversion, so make sure you use the same unit as your
              hardware. Watchdog will issue warnings once the temperature increases 90%, 95%  and  98%  of  this
              temperature.

       watchdog-device = <device>
              Set the watchdog device name. Default is to disable keep alive support.

       watchdog-timeout = <timeout>
              Set  the watchdog device timeout during startup.  If not set, a default is used that should be set
              to the kernel timer margin at compile time.

       temperature-device = <temp-dev>
              Set the temperature device name. Default is to disable temperature checking.

       file = <filename>
              Set file name for file mode.  This option can be given as often  as  you  like  to  check  several
              files.

       change = <mtime>
              Set  the  change  interval time for file mode. This options always belongs to the active filename,
              that is when finding a 'change =' line watchdog assumes it belongs to the most recently read 'file
              =' line.  They don't neccessarily have to follow each other directly. But  you  cannot  specify  a
              'change  ='  before  a 'file ='.  The default is to only stat the file and don't look for changes.
              Using this feature to monitor changes in  /var/log/messages  might  require  some  special  syslog
              daemon  configuration,  e.g. rsyslog needs "$ActionWriteAllMarkMessages on" to be set to make sure
              the marks are written no matter what.

       pidfile = <pidfilename>
              Set pidfile name for server test mode.  This option can be given as often as  you  like  to  check
              several servers.

       ping = <ip-addr>
              Set  IP  address  for  ping  mode.   This  option  can  be  used more than once to check different
              connections.

       interface = <if-name>
              Set interface name for network mode.  This option can be used more than once  to  check  different
              interfaces.

       test-binary = <testbin>
              Execute the given binary to do some user defined tests.

       test-timeout = <timeout in seconds>
              User defined tests may only run for <timeout> seconds. Set to 0 for unlimited.

       repair-binary = <repbin>
              Execute the given binary in case of a problem instead of shutting down the system.

       repair-timeout = <timeout in seconds>
              repair command may only run for <timeout> seconds. Set to 0 for unlimited.

       admin = <mail-address>
              Email  address  to  send  admin  mail to. That is, who shall be notified that the machine is being
              halted or rebooted. Default is 'root'. If you want to disable  notification  via  email  just  set
              admin to en empty string.

       realtime = <yes|no>
              If set to yes watchdog will lock itself into memory so it is never swapped out.

       priority = <schedule priority>
              Set the schedule priority for realtime mode.

       test-directory = <test directory>
              Set  the  directory  to  run  user test/repair scripts.  Default is '/etc/watchdog.d' See the Test
              Directory section in watchdog(8) for more information.

       log-dir = <log directory>
              Set the log directory to capture the standard output and standard  error  from  repair-binary  and
              test-binary execution. Default is '/var/log/watchdog'.

FILES

       /etc/watchdog.conf
              The watchdog configuration file

       /etc/watchdog.d
              A  directory containing test-or-repair commands. See the Test Directory section in watchdog(8) for
              more information.

SEE ALSO

       watchdog(8)

4th Berkeley Distribution                         January 2005                                  WATCHDOG.CONF(5)