I upgraded to unraid beta 5rc12 a few months ago, and I noticed that now my unraid server is doing parity checks every 3-4 days.  Is there a way to disable this?

I upgraded to unraid beta 5rc12 a few months ago, and I noticed that now my unraid server is doing parity checks every 3-4 days.  Is there a way to disable this?

Probably not. How are you shutting down the machine? If you are not intentionally shutting down, then the most likely reason for the parity check is a crash that reboots the machine. If you are intentionally shutting down, then you may be doing it wrong, and that is the reason for the parity check.

 

The parity check is happening for a reason, you need to find out why it's happening, not try to disable the check.

I usually keep it running 24/7.  I was watching a movie with XBMC on my PC and all of a sudden it stopped.  I went to my unraid main page and it just started a parity check.  Here are the plugins/customizations I use:

 

unmenu

plex media server

transmission

couch potato

sickbeard

openvpn

OK, I looked through my sys log and found this line:

 

unraid emhttp: unclean shutdown detected

 

I'm not sure how I did an unclean shutdown.  The way I shutdown is stop the array, check the "I'm sure I want to shut down" box, and then click shutdown.

OK, I looked through my sys log and found this line:

 

unraid emhttp: unclean shutdown detected

 

I'm not sure how I did an unclean shutdown.  The way I shutdown is stop the array, check the "I'm sure I want to shut down" box, and then click shutdown.

 

That should be doing a clean shutdown.  You may have a plugin that's preventing a proper shutdown.  In any event, that answers the "Why" question about the parity checks.

 

Try disabling your plugins and see if the array stops okay.    Assuming it does, then you should enable the one-at-a-time and try a couple shutdowns after each one, so you can isolate what's causing the problem.

 

sounds like a good plan, thanks!

If it shut down in the middle of watching a movie and you checked the and it was doing a parity check it seems very likely the server crashed and rebooted. Try using the keep logs script, which will write your logs to the flash drive in real time, so you can see what proceeded the crash next time it happens.

mrow's suggestion is a good one => your "unclean shutdown" may not be happening when you shut down the server ... it may be doing an automatic reboot due to a crash.  This could be as a result of one of your plugins ... or it could be due to intermittent memory failures or another hardware issue.

 

I'd do a couple things here ...

 

(a)  Install the keep logs script [Note:  You do NOT want to leave this active, or it the system will eventually crash due to a full flash drive        You can delete the older logs on the flash drive to ensure it doesn't get too full while this is active.

 

(b)  Boot to MemTest and let it run for several hours (at least 6 full cycles) ... if your issue is due to intermittent memory failures this should be long enough to identify that.

 

©  Then do as I suggested ... disabling all plugins/addons (EXCEPT the keep logs script) ... and start the process of enabling them one-at-a-time to see if you can isolate which one is causing the problem.

 

Try opening up your server box and cleaning all of the dust and dirt out of it.  Make sure that you pay special attention to the CPU heat sink and all fan blades.  (Compressed air cans are often used to clean the CPU heat sink.) While the box is open, power it up and check that all of the fans are are running. 

Try opening up your server box and cleaning all of the dust and dirt out of it.  Make sure that you pay special attention to the CPU heat sink and all fan blades.  (Compressed air cans are often used to clean the CPU heat sink.) While the box is open, power it up and check that all of the fans are are running.

 

 

Great point as well. I always forget about fans dying an a CPU overheating being a possibility.

In most cases an overheating CPU will simply stop if the CPU hits its thermal protection point.    That, of course, would not cause a reboot.    But if the BIOS has thermal monitoring, it could indeed be forcing a shutdown if it detects an over-temp CPU  [although I don't know of any BIOS that would do a restart -- they all do simply shutdowns as far as I know].

 

In any event, it certainly doesn't hurt to check for a "dust blanket" on the heatsink !!! 

Thanks for the insight guys!  I finally had some time to do some troubleshooting and opened up my server.  Dust city in there.  It's been over 100 outside and my air conditioning isn't on all the time, so you were all probably correct about the cpu overheating.  I cleaned it all up.  I'll monitor it for the next couple days.

... Dust city in there. 

 

... over 100 outside

 

... air conditioning isn't on all the time

 

 

Those 3 conditions together are a recipe for disaster !!