How to catch, and log, system freezes from a remote computer

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I ran across a problem at work in which a machine was just randomly freezing up so badly that the only way to access the machine was to hit the reset button and leaving nothing in the any of the log files. I got to hunting around for tools as to how to capture the information on a computer that would stay running during the crash and found the following. It works very well.

The following link is for a specific implementation for Debian, but this tool should be available for any distro, and work the same.

What the tool does is have the problem computer send all kernel log messages over the network to a specified IP address and port, and the receiving computer is configured to be expecting these packets and to print the information to stdout(an open shell), to a file for later review, or to both concurrently.

Using this tool I was able to capture information that led to diagnosing the hardware problem that was causing the freezes. This is a very slick tool. The site the link points to is an outstanding site for information on administering Debian server systems. I have learned a lot from here.

http://www.debian-administration.org/articles/492

 

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Good to see ya Freddy!

 

Hey there, Mr. Cheeks. Thanks.