Bug#556365: Please enable CONFIG_MEMTEST
Hi,
As a matter of fact MEMTEST is a quite useful feature.
We ask to enable it not for what it cannot do, but for what it can.
For example ECC in hardware is not useless even though it doesn't
catch all possible errors.
As I demonstrate in
http://onlyjob.blogspot.com/2011/01/memtest-explained-linux-kernel.html
MEMTEST successfully detects and isolate problems.
It write 17 patterns, not one.
Bootable memtest86+ utility cannot be a substitute for in-kernel
feature in production/mission critical systems which cannot be stopped
to perform memory test.
Memory modules broke unexpectedly.
When it happen, there is a time when data corruption occur before
problem discovered.
MEMTEST can proactively and automatically isolate such problem and
therefore protect from silent data corruption.
Real MEMTEST's value in preventing or minimizing damage from
undetected memory failure which [typically] lead to silent data
corruption.
Particularly storage systems will benefit from it, because MEMTEST
increases reliability.
MEMTEST is a powerful feature despite its limitations.
Data integrity matters - MEMTEST is much better than nothing.
Enabling It cost almost nothing - it will be very handy to have it
when needed.
Enabling MEMTEST is safe because It should be activated with boot-time
parameter.
Regards,
D.
P.S. I've seen cases when memory corruption was discovered months
later. Obviously it is very hard to say when it happened and therefore
evaluate how much damage is done.
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