Magical SysRq

SysRq (System Request) is probably one of those keys on your keyboard that you rarely use. On Linux, you can use it to perform system functions if the system becomes unresponsive. You can sync disks, reboot or crash the kernel if that is what you want. To enable the "magical" sysrq, you need to have it compiled in the kernel. Luckily all major Linux distribution today have sysrq compiled in be default. To see the status if sysrq, issue:

  $ cat /proc/sys/kernel/sysrq
  1

By default this value is "1" on Debian/Ubuntu and "0" on RHEL. "0" disables sysrq and "1" enables all functions of sysrq. Other values exists, see Documentation/sysrq.txt. You might also use "sysctl to check and enable sysrq:

  # sysctl kernel/sysrq
  kernel.sysrq = 0
  # sysctl -w kernel/sysrq=1
  kernel.sysrq = 1

To "s"ync all filesystems, press "Alt+SysRq+s". You'll then see at the console:

 SysRq  :  Emergency Sync
 Emergency Sync complete

Other sysrq functions include "b"oot, "c"rash and "u"mount. See the Documentation/sysrq.txt for the full list.

A quick way to reboot, and a little nicer than using the power-button, is to:

1. Sync disks using: "Alt+SysRq+s":

 SysRq  :  Emergency Sync
 Emergency Sync complete

2. Remount all disks read-only: "Alt+SysRq+u":

 SysRq  :  Emergency Remount R/O
 Emergency Remount complete

3. Reboot: "Alt+SysRq+b":

 SysRq  :  Resetting

An (impatient) colleague of mine uses this procedure to shut down his laptop all the time...

If you're not on the console, you can still use sysrq. Just redirect the the command-key to /proc/sysrq-trigger. So to crash the running server do:

  # echo "c" > /proc/sysrq-trigger

Note: Crashing the running kernel using kexec/kdump is not supported in Debian 4.0 (Etch).