看门狗是linux驱动的一个重要环节。某些特殊的设备,有时候需要放在一些环境恶劣的地方,比如电信设备。但是,任何软件都不可能100%没有bug。如何保证软件在遇到严重bug、死机的时候也能正常运行呢,那么看门狗就是有效的一种方法。看门狗一般要求用户定时喂狗,如果一段时间没有喂狗的话,那么系统就会自动重启。
Linux 自带了一个 watchdog 的实现,用于监视系统的运行,包括一个内核 watchdog module 和一个用户空间的 watchdog 程序。
内核 watchdog 模块通过 /dev/watchdog 这个字符设备与用户空间通信。用户空间程序一旦打开 /dev/watchdog 设备(俗称“开门放狗”),就会导致在内核中启动一个1分钟的定时器(系统默认时间),此后,用户空间程序需要保证在1分钟之内向这个设备写入数据(俗称“定期喂狗”),每次写操作会导致重新设定定时器。如果用户空间程序在1分钟之内没有写操作,定时器到期会导致一次系统 reboot 操作(“狗咬人了”呵呵)。通过这种机制,我们可以保证系统核心进程大部分时间都处于运行状态,即使特定情形下进程崩溃,因无法正常定时“喂狗”,Linux系统在看门狗作用下重新启动(reboot),核心进程又运行起来了。多用于嵌入式系统。
A Watchdog Timer (WDT) is a hardware circuit that can reset the computer system in case of a software fault. You probably knew that already.
Usually a userspace daemon will notify the kernel watchdog driver via the /dev/watchdog special device file that userspace is still alive, at regular intervals. When such a notification occurs, the driver will usually tell the hardware watchdog that everything is in order, and
that the watchdog should wait for yet another little while to reset the system. If userspace fails (RAM error, kernel bug, whatever), the notifications cease to occur, and the hardware watchdog will reset the system (causing a reboot) after the timeout occurs.
All drivers support the basic mode of operation, where the watchdog activates as soon as /dev/watchdog is opened and will reboot unless the watchdog is pinged within a certain time, this time is called the timeout or margin. The simplest way to ping the watchdog is to write
some data to the device.
硬件狗在内核其实是创建了一个字符设备供应用层读写:
![](https://i-blog.csdnimg.cn/blog_migrate/165fcd358e22e2d5e183be45a235842d.png)
![](https://i-blog.csdnimg.cn/blog_migrate/65518e46ea918813f4fd0c3a847b4386.png)