SLES 16 – Common Problem 145 – Diagnosis and Fix

📖 ~1 min read

Table of contents

1. Symptom & Impact
2. Environment & Reproduction
3. Root Cause Analysis
4. Quick Triage
5. Step-by-Step Diagnosis
6. Solution – Primary Fix
7. Solution – Alternative Approaches
8. Verification & Acceptance Criteria
9. Rollback Plan
10. Prevention & Hardening
11. Related Errors & Cross-Refs
12. References & Further Reading

Symptom & Impact

`supportconfig` stalls for many minutes on a specific plugin like `crash` or `network`.

Environment & Reproduction

Reproduces on hosts with very large `/var/crash` dumps or unreachable network endpoints.

Root Cause Analysis

A plugin runs an open-ended command that blocks waiting on slow I/O or DNS.

Quick Triage

Tail `/var/log/supportconfig/*.log` while it is running to see the active plugin.

Step-by-Step Diagnosis

Re-run with verbose tracing: `supportconfig -v` to identify which subcommand hangs.

Solution – Primary Fix

Use `-x` to skip the offending plugin: `supportconfig -x crash`.

Solution – Alternative Approaches

Run targeted collectors (`scc_collect`, `journalctl –since`) manually instead.

Verification & Acceptance Criteria

Tarball is produced under `/var/log/scc_*` and uploads to SCC successfully.

Rollback Plan

Kill the hung run with Ctrl+C; partial archives remain under `/var/log/` for cleanup.

Prevention & Hardening

Prune `/var/crash` regularly and ensure DNS resolution is healthy.

Related Errors & Cross-Refs

Linked to `crash` package dumpfile parsing issues.

Related tutorial: View the step-by-step tutorial for sles-16.

View all sles-16 tutorials on the Tutorials Hub →

Browse all common problems & solutions on the Tutorials Hub.

References & Further Reading

SUSE supportconfig and SCC submission documentation.