How to check if netconsole really works?

Solution 1:

You can generate console messages using alt+sysrq strings.

Something safe like:

echo m | sudo tee /proc/sysrq-trigger

You should see a few lines of text like the following on the netconsole server:

[ 7027.114084] Node 0 DMA: 2*4kB 2*8kB 0*16kB 2*32kB 1*64kB 1*128kB 1*256kB 0*512kB 1*1024kB 1*2048kB 3*4096kB = 15896kB
[ 7027.114092] Node 0 DMA32: 284*4kB 123*8kB 108*16kB 207*32kB 202*64kB 89*128kB 34*256kB 15*512kB 4*1024kB 3*2048kB 5*4096kB = 81896kB
[ 7027.114099] Node 0 Normal: 311*4kB 142*8kB 121*16kB 79*32kB 67*64kB 24*128kB 9*256kB 8*512kB 9*1024kB 2*2048kB 1*4096kB = 38012kB
[ 7027.114107] 446611 total pagecache pages
[ 7027.114108] 0 pages in swap cache
[ 7027.114110] Swap cache stats: add 0, delete 0, find 0/0
[ 7027.114111] Free swap  = 4104672kB
[ 7027.114112] Total swap = 4104672kB
[ 7027.124913] 1048048 pages RAM
[ 7027.124916] 58057 pages reserved
[ 7027.124918] 360968 pages shared
[ 7027.124919] 807997 pages non-shared

Solution 2:

Its on step 5 of mentioned howto:

One way to test whether logging is working correctly or not is to insert some removable media like a CD, DVD or usb stick.

Solution 3:

You can test it also with

modprobe floppy

on the sender's side, the log server would then say something like:

Jan  5 10:45:20 node01 floppy0: no floppy controllers found