What do I do if my new Linux server sometimes Kernel Panics on boot?

The APIC kernel panic issue is intermittent, and has been addressed in all servers deployed from WMS templates.

If you've rolled your own OS, you'll need to change a boot option or two. Distro-specific instructions are below.

WMS recommends you snapshot your server before attempting to follow any of these instructions.

For Debian 5:

To add NOAPIC option to kernel config:

• Edit /boot/grub/menu.lst and change your boot line to the following:
  

• #kopt=root=/dev/sda1 ro noapic

• run update-grub

• reboot

For Ubuntu 9.10

To add NOAPIC to kernel config:

• edit /etc/default/grub and change your GRUB_CMDLINE_LINUX entry to the following:

• GRUB_CMDLINE_LINUX="noapic"

• run update-grub
• reboot

For Ubuntu 10.04

To add NOAPIC to kernel config:

• edit /etc/default/grub and change your GRUB_CMDLINE_LINUX entry to the following:

• GRUB_CMDLINE_LINUX="noapic"

• run update-grub2
• reboot

For CentOS5

• edit /etc/grub.conf and add NOAPIC directly to any 'kernel' lines., e.g.,

• kernel /boot/vmlinuz-2.6.26-2-686 root=/dev/sda1 ro single noapic

• reboot

Note: If your server has Kernel Panicked, you will need to power it off, as it won't respond to Ctrl-alt-del key presses.