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WATCHDOGD(8)            FreeBSD System Manager's Manual           WATCHDOGD(8)

NAME
     watchdogd -- watchdog daemon

SYNOPSIS
     watchdogd [-d] [-e cmd] [-I file] [-s sleep] [-t timeout]

DESCRIPTION
     The watchdogd utility interfaces with the kernel's watchdog facility to
     ensure that the system is in a working state.  If watchdogd is unable to
     interface with the kernel over a specific timeout, the kernel will take
     actions to assist in debugging or restarting the computer.

     If -e cmd is specified, watchdogd will attempt to execute this command
     with system(3), and only if the command returns with a zero exit code
     will the watchdog be reset.  If -e cmd is not specified, the daemon will
     perform a trivial file system check instead.

     The -s sleep argument can be used to control the sleep period between
     each execution of the check and defaults to one second.

     The -t timeout specifies the desired timeout period in seconds.

     One possible circumstance which will cause a watchdog timeout is an
     interrupt storm.  If this occurs, watchdogd will no longer execute and
     thus the kernel's watchdog routines will take action after a configurable
     timeout.

     Upon receiving the SIGTERM or SIGINT signals, watchdogd will first
     instruct the kernel to no longer perform watchdog checks and then will
     terminate.

     The watchdogd utility recognizes the following runtime options:

     -I file  Write the process ID of the watchdogd utility in the specified
              file.

     -d       Do not fork.  When this option is specified, watchdogd will not
              fork into the background at startup.

FILES
     /var/run/watchdogd.pid

SEE ALSO
     watchdog(4), watchdog(8), watchdog(9)

HISTORY
     The watchdogd utility appeared in FreeBSD 5.1.

AUTHORS
     The watchdogd utility and manual page were written by Sean Kelly
     <smkelly@FreeBSD.org> and Poul-Henning Kamp <phk@FreeBSD.org>.

     Some contributions made by Jeff Roberson <jeff@FreeBSD.org>.

FreeBSD 6.2                      June 25, 2003                     FreeBSD 6.2

NAME | SYNOPSIS | DESCRIPTION | FILES | SEE ALSO | HISTORY | AUTHORS

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