[CentOS] System Start-Up Issue Progress

Tue Jul 4 12:45:48 UTC 2017
Pete Biggs <pete at biggs.org.uk>

> 
> Starting ipmidetectd: ipmidetectd: No nodes configured  [FAILED]
> Starting sendmail:
> 
> It is not clear to me whether the boot-up process is hanging due
> to the failed starting of ipmidetectd or sendmail, but I suspect
> that the ipmidetectd start up failure is the actual cause. It is
> not clear whether any IPMI related features were ever installed.

No, the ipmidetectd process attempted and failed - so it's not the one
holding up the boot process. It's probably the sendmail initialisation.

> 
> Interrupting the boot-up process and selecting Run Level 1 results
> in a functioning system.  Starting with other Run Levels results
> in the incomplete boot-up process noted previously.  Using the
> "service network start" command yielded functional network and
> internet connectivity. This enabled the successful execution of
> yum update.  The update consisted of kernel and other updates
> with a total download size of 274 MB.
> 

At run level 1 do 

  chkconfig sendmail off

to stop it starting at boot time.  You can then investigate why
sendmail is having an issue.  Look in /var/log/messages and
/var/log/maillog to see if there are any clues.

If you really suspect that it's the IPMI subsystem, then also do

  chkconfig ipmidetectd off


> After this update, the boot-up process still hangs at the point
> indicated above.  Why this is happening is still a mystery and
> if it actually is IPMI related, why would this be appropriate
> or even needed in a CentOS system that is running on VirualBox.
> There is no IPMI related hardware accessible to the virtual
> CentOS system or on the Windows 7 host system. It would be
> good if the IPMI start-up could be disabled.

IPMI isn't in the standard install for CentOS 6 (and actually, neither
is sendmail - postfix is the default), so it must have been actively
selected or installed. Nevertheless you can turn off the IPMI detection
 as above.  If you want to remove the IPMI stuff, then search for any
installed IPMI rpms and use yum to remove them.

P.