initmodmax

initmodmax specifies the maximum number of kernel modules that the savecrash command will handle when a kernel panic causes a system-memory dump.

Acceptable Values:

Minimum
0
Maximum
none
Default
50

Specify integer value. For more information, see Specifying Parameter Values.

Description

When a kernel panic (system crash) occurs, specified areas of system memory are copied to the dump devices before the system shuts down. The savecrash command can then be used to copy the dump area into a directory in a file system (requires lots of space, depending on system size and what memory classes were dumped).

When the kernel includes dynamically loadable kernel modules (drivers that are not statically installed in the kernel), savecrash must allocate space in one of its structures to hold information about those modules. Since there is no means to predict how many modules might be loaded at any given time, this parameter provides an upper limit that savecrash is prepared to deal with.

If initmodmax is set to less than the number of loaded kernel modules, only the first modules encountered up to the limit are processed by savecrash. It is therefore important that system administrators keep track of how many kernel modules are being loaded during system operation to ensure that initmodmax has a value sufficient to properly handle them in case of a kernel panic and dump.

Note that this parameter only affects the operation of the savecrash command. It does not limit the number of modules that can be loaded into the kernel during normal system operation.

Additional Information