systemd-journald coredumps on fsync() because of the watchdog timer

This document (000019921) is provided subject to the disclaimer at the end of this document.

Environment

SUSE Linux Enterprise Server for SAP Applications 12
SUSE Linux Enterprise Server 12
 

Situation

systemd-journald crashes and referencing the core dump it was killed by SIGABRT signal during fsync(), as it was no more sending the keep-alive ping to PID1: 
#0  0x00007effc3fc1340 in __fsync_nocancel () at ../sysdeps/unix/syscall-template.S:84
No locals.
#1  0x00005568cc92847b in journal_file_set_online (f=0x5568ccb5ee20) at src/journal/journal-file.c:108
No locals.
#2  0x00005568cc928da8 in journal_file_append_object (f=f@entry=0x5568ccb5ee20, type=type@entry=OBJECT_DATA, size=size@entry=74, ret=ret@entry=0x7ffe95cad3d8, offset=offset@entry=0x7ffe95cad3d0)
    at src/journal/journal-file.c:575
        r = <optimized out>
        p = <optimized out>
        tail = 0x5568ccb5ee20
        o = <optimized out>
        t = 0x57566d05cb922363
        __PRETTY_FUNCTION__ = "journal_file_append_object"
#3  0x00005568cc9296eb in journal_file_append_data (f=f@entry=0x5568ccb5ee20, data=0x7ffe95cad6d0, size=10, ret=ret@entry=0x7ffe95cad5d8, offset=offset@entry=0x7ffe95cad5d0) at src/journal/journal-file.c:1083
        hash = <optimized out>
        p = 3740872
        osize = 74
        o = 0x7effc2f054c8
        r = <optimized out>
        compression = 0
        eq = <optimized out>
        __PRETTY_FUNCTION__ = "journal_file_append_data"
        __func__ = "journal_file_append_data"
#4  0x00005568cc92b144 in journal_file_append_entry (f=f@entry=0x5568ccb5ee20, ts=0x7ffe95cad5e0, ts@entry=0x0, iovec=<optimized out>, n_iovec=n_iovec@entry=18, seqnum=seqnum@entry=0x7ffe95cade30,
    ret=ret@entry=0x0, offset=offset@entry=0x0) at src/journal/journal-file.c:1451
        p = 3740872
        o = 0x7effc2f054c8
        i = <optimized out>
        items = 0x7ffe95cad450
        r = <optimized out>
        xor_hash = 13695064817713584937
        _ts = {realtime = 1611087924359329, monotonic = 2638961987174}
        __PRETTY_FUNCTION__ = "journal_file_append_entry"
#5  0x00005568cc90f5fc in write_to_journal (priority=<optimized out>, n=18, iovec=<optimized out>, uid=<optimized out>, s=0x7ffe95cadd80) at src/journal/journald-server.c:538
        vacuumed = false
        f = 0x5568ccb5ee20
        r = <optimized out>
        f = <optimized out>
        vacuumed = <optimized out>
        r = <optimized out>
        _level = <optimized out>
        _e = <optimized out>
        _level = <optimized out>
        _e = <optimized out>
        _level = <optimized out>
        _e = <optimized out>
        _level = <optimized out>
        _e = <optimized out>
...

Resolution

This issue has been fixed starting from systemd v230, by flushing the journal asynchronously. The upstream patch-set: 
fb42603752 journal: add void cast to fsync() calls
69a3a6fd3d journal: add void cast to journal_file_close() calls
ac2e41f510 journal: asynchronous journal_file_set_offline()
b58c888f30 journal: defer journal closes on rotate

However the patch-set has not yet been merged on systemd v228 on SLES 12, the workaround would be to increase or disable the watchdog timeout from current default value of 3 minutes to 30 minutes: 
#/usr/lib/systemd/system/systemd-journald.service
------------------------------------------------
[Service]
WatchdogSec=30min
or 
[Service]
WatchdogSec=0

Afterwards, please make sure to reload the systemd unit files: 
# systemctl daemon-reload

Cause

This problem can be encountered when fsync() is too slow and journald fails to ping watchdog leading to a kill by SIGABRT.

Status

Reported to Engineering

Disclaimer

This Support Knowledgebase provides a valuable tool for SUSE customers and parties interested in our products and solutions to acquire information, ideas and learn from one another. Materials are provided for informational, personal or non-commercial use within your organization and are presented "AS IS" WITHOUT WARRANTY OF ANY KIND.

  • Document ID:000019921
  • Creation Date: 18-Mar-2021
  • Modified Date:19-Mar-2021
    • SUSE Linux Enterprise Server
    • SUSE Linux Enterprise Server for SAP Applications

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