I've got a server running CentOS 4.2; installed as 4.1, kept updated by yum.
A few days ago it crashed.
I picked it up from the datacenter, and brought it back to the office, where it took a long time to boot because it couldn't find anything.
When it finally booted and I logged in I discovered an interesting problem.
Only the / partition had loaded. /etc/fstab had all the partitions recognized by their labels.
Checking the hard drives showed the labels existed. I even rewrote the disk labels.
But the boot procedure couldn't find the drives by their labels.
Nor can a "mount -a" command; it says it can't find the info in fstab (though it _is_ there).
But long version mount commands work.
And when I redo the fstab file to list the devices rather than labels, everything mounts as it should.
Any ideas?
Jeff
I've never trusted in labels. Use the long device names instead. I know the advanteges of labels but in server environement it doesn't give you too much. If the devices are changing too often in a server that means bigger problems.
bye, ago
Deim Ágoston ago@lsc.hu wrote:
I've never trusted in labels. Use the long device names instead. I know the advanteges of labels but in server environement it doesn't give you too much. If the devices are changing too often in a server that means bigger problems.
I've never had an issue with Disk Labels, unless I put in another disk with the same labels. Which is why I _always_ customize my disk labels for each system. I also tend to use LVM on servers as well, just for the volume organization features (not for any RAID though -- I rely on hardware for that).
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On Wed, Dec 28, 2005 at 02:52:53PM -0800, Jeff Lasman wrote:
But the boot procedure couldn't find the drives by their labels.
Nor can a "mount -a" command; it says it can't find the info in fstab (though it _is_ there).
But long version mount commands work.
And when I redo the fstab file to list the devices rather than labels, everything mounts as it should.
Any ideas?
Sounds like kernel related. Try to rollback to an older version of the kernel, and see what happens. Second guesses would be util-linux and e2fsprogs.
Do you get any errors from "rpm -Va" ?
[]s
- -- Rodrigo Barbosa rodrigob@suespammers.org "Quid quid Latine dictum sit, altum viditur" "Be excellent to each other ..." - Bill & Ted (Wyld Stallyns)
On Wednesday 28 December 2005 03:07 pm, Rodrigo Barbosa wrote:
Sounds like kernel related. Try to rollback to an older version of the kernel, and see what happens. Second guesses would be util-linux and e2fsprogs.
Things are deteriorating <frown>.
I tried an earlier kernel, no difference.
But now even with an fstab file with direct /dev/sdXX entries it can't boot all the partitions anymore; not all the partitions on the first drive, nor the single partitions on the remaining three drives.
Do you get any errors from "rpm -Va" ?
No.
A consultant on another forum suggested I test memory extensively. I'm looking for a memory test program now.
Jeff
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On Wed, Dec 28, 2005 at 07:40:50PM -0800, Jeff Lasman wrote:
A consultant on another forum suggested I test memory extensively. I'm looking for a memory test program now.
That would be memtest86. It is either avaliable on the CentOS distro itself, on dag's repository.
[]s
- -- Rodrigo Barbosa rodrigob@suespammers.org "Quid quid Latine dictum sit, altum viditur" "Be excellent to each other ..." - Bill & Ted (Wyld Stallyns)
On Wednesday 28 December 2005 07:51 pm, Rodrigo Barbosa wrote:
That would be memtest86. It is either avaliable on the CentOS distro itself, on dag's repository.
Thanks Rodrigo. I actually found it in seconds after my post; google is great <smile>.
I'm already running it (it'll run overnight while I go home and get some much needed rest.
I appreciate your help.
Jeff
On Wednesday 28 December 2005 02:52 pm, Jeff Lasman wrote:
Only the / partition had loaded. /etc/fstab had all the partitions recognized by their labels.
Twenty-eight hours later and memory is fine.
I'm going to see what I can load automatically from Knoppix, and what I can load by /dev/sdXX from the command line... and what I can load with hardware references in the fstab file instead of names.
Then I'll just throw the machine against the wall and start over <frown>.
Jeff
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Bryan J. Smith -
Deim Ágoston -
Jeff Lasman -
Rodrigo Barbosa