How to Generate Comprehensive Linux System Reports with sosreport

sosreport is a command on RHEL/CentOS that collects system configuration and diagnostic information such as kernel version, loaded modules, and service configuration files, and stores the output in a compressed report file.

The report is required when you need Red Hat technical support, as support engineers will ask for the sosreport to troubleshoot issues.

To run sosreport you must have the sos package installed; if it is missing, install it with:

# yum install sos

Generate Report

Open a terminal and execute: # sosreport The command usually finishes within a few minutes, creating a compressed file in the /tmp directory (using gz, bz2, or xz depending on the version). This file should be provided to Red Hat support as an attachment. Note that sosreport requires root privileges.

sosreport command options

sosreport has a modular structure; you can list available modules (plugins) with: # sosreport -l To disable specific modules, pass a comma‑separated list to the -n (or --skip-plugins) option, e.g. to skip the kvm and amd modules: # sosreport -n kvm,amd Modules can also receive extra options via the -k flag. For example, to turn off the time‑consuming rpm -Va collection in RHEL 5:

# sosreport -k rpm.rpmva=off