Description of problem:
kdumpctl requires the presence of /etc/fstab or else the service fails to start.
Our diskless clients do not have /etc/fstab and they work perfectly well. To make kdump start we have to make an empty /etc/fstab and set its date to something sufficiently old that making a new initramrd doesn't get built. This is inconvenient. We think that if /etc/fstab were actually truly needed then having an empty file would not be sufficient. The fact that it works so long as the file exists even if it is empty suggests that it isn't really needed. Therefore, we think that the kexec tools should not error out if there is no /etc/fstab.
An /etc/fstab wasn't needed in rhel6
Since the problem described in this bug report should be
resolved in a recent advisory, it has been closed with a
resolution of ERRATA.
For information on the advisory, and where to find the updated
files, follow the link below.
If the solution does not work for you, open a new bug report.
https://access.redhat.com/errata/RHBA-2017:2300