Houston, we've lost contact with Tower....

[Roscoe62]

Well, actually my UnRaid server is called "server" but the problem remains the same.

 

I set up my UnRAID server to run in the garage, and that's where it's been for the last week or so.. It's running headless and I haven't had any problems with it until now. I have the machine runnig continuously but when the wife tried to play some music today she complained of not being able to get it going.

 

I'm at work at the moment so I got her to run a few simple diagnostics - I can't raise the web-based management tool (instead we're getting a google search on "server"). If I plug in the ip address directly (I use a static IP) the browser times out. Finally I got her to run ping, and there's no response there either.

 

Now, I could probably just get her to go down into the garage to reset the server - and it may still come to that - but I wanted to see if there's anything else I can to do see what caused this. As far as I know there haven't been any power cuts - in fact - I can't think of a single reason why this has happened. It's a bit annoying, but if there's any way I could provide some useful feedback to stop it happening again then I'd like to try and do that.

 

Anyone? 

[TCIII]

Roscoe62,

 

Is the server on a UPS?

 

If not, there may have been a power glitch that caused it to hang.

 

Also, garages can get hot and it may have caused the processor to shutdown/lockup if the garage air got hot enough.

 

Both of my unRaid servers are in my garage and it can get above 80 deg F during the spring/summer/fall and I therefore never run a parity check except at night when it is cooler.

 

I have never experienced this kind of symptom with either of my two unRaid servers.

 

Just a thought.

 

Regards,

TCIII

[Roscoe62]

TCIII,

 

Thanks for replying!

 

Where I live it never gets hot enough to cause problems for computers. My garage is actually beneath our house so it tends to be cooler there than in the house. It's possible that heat's a problem but I think it's less likely. A power glitch IS a possibility - it may have happened during the evening while we were asleep so we may not have been aware of it.

 

The UnRAID server isn't connected to a UPS but I am starting to look at UPS's in general. I've been told that having one would also be a good option for my projector. The dealer says he's lost count of the amount of replacement projector bulbs he's sold solely because of power losses in prone areas. If I did that though, I'd have to have 2 as they live in completely different places.

 

2 questions remain....

 

1) Am I safe to simply "reset" the UnRAID server? I've heard Tom say that using the management utility to "correctly" shut down or restart the server is the right way to do it, but of course I can't do that right now. If I shouldn't reset, what should I do?

 

2) When it comes to choosing a UPS for UnRAID what factors do I need to consider? There is a huge price difference between the cheapest and the most expensive and just about every price in between. I also remember Tom mentioning something about a UPS interface as a possible future enhancement to UnRAID.

 

Sometime VERY soon I plan to use CQC as my system controller and, apparently there are some smarts that can be used with CQC and a UPS allowing pre-prepared macros to run to shut down equipment properly in the event of a power failure before having the power cut forced on you. If it WAS a power glitch that caused this I see a UPS in my future very soon!

[limetech]

It might be useful to hook up a monitor/keyboard before reset to see if you can access it that way - it would isolate whether it's a network problem or if the system has indeed crashed.

 

Using the Management Utility is the "right way" to reset the system because it does so by first ensuring memory is flushed to disk and all the disks are cleanly un-mounted first.  In your case there's probably no choice other than a hard reset or power cycle.  After the system restarts it will automatically fire off a parity-check which you could let complete or if there was no writing occurring near the time of the crash it would be safe to cancel.

 

Regarding the UPS, we've tested a couple inexpensive models which work well.  I'm presently out of town for the week but can post back the exact models next weekend.

 

Hope this helps.

[TCIII]

Roscoe62,

 

I purchased an APC 1Kw UPS from Costco for $99 last year and it will handle both of my unRaid servers at the same time.

 

Costco is presently selling 1Kw Tripplite UPS here in the Los Angeles area for $99.

 

We are on Southern California Edison here in the South Bay of LA County and they have constant glitches and brown-out throughout the year.

 

I also have all of my HiFi equipment on 1200 watt Tripplite voltage stabilizers.

 

I plan on purchasing several pure sine wave UPS for most of my HiFi equipment in the near future.

 

Regards,

TCIII

[Roscoe62]

Guys, thanks for the replies.

 

Unfortunately the news here is not good. Resetting the server did not resolve the problem. I tried another ping test after the reset and it has failed. Our switch has a set of lights for each of the connections. The LED appears orange for a 10/100 connection and green for a Gigabit connection - currently there are NO lights showing.

 

I'm happy to drag a monitor & keyboard down there to see what I can see....but the problem is I don't know how to learn anything useful.

 

Any ideas?

[Roscoe62]

OK, I dragged a monitor and keyboard downstairs. There wasn't much to see.

 

I captured the messages that appear onscreen and then reset again. Most of it was way too fast to read, and at the end of the start cycle the same message was there so ....here it is...

 

Starting ACPI daemon:    /usr/sbin/acpid

Starting Samba:    /usr/sbin/smbd -D

                          /usr/sbin/nmbd -D

/proc/scsi/scsi  extensions not found. Fall back to scanning.

Found    /dev/scsi/sgh0-0c0:0I0 (Type 00) R on SCSI emulation for USB Mass Storage devices

 

....then it finds all my drives - they look OK....and then finally....

 

Starting Network Interface Plugging Daemon: eth0

 

Welcome to Linux 2.4.33 (tty1)

 

Server login:

 

 

 

Well, that's all there is.....I know it's not much, but I'm pretty much dead in the water until I can find where the problem is. Any help is welcome.

 

[TCIII]

Roscoe62,

 

I suspect that you might have a dead NIC on the unRaid motherboard.

 

Regards,

TCIII

[limetech]

If you hit the Return key, do you get any response?

If yes, you can try unplugging the network cable and plugging it in again; if you hear some beeps then networik i/f is at least alive. You can also type the command:

  ifconfig

you should see two sets of data, one for 'eth0' (m/b network i/f), and one for 'lo' (local loopback i/f - ignore this).

 

If no, then power off/on your system and see if it comes back.

[Roscoe62]

OK, only a quick reply as I have to get back to work.

 

Yes, the Return key does work.

 

Removing and replacing the network plug - I get no sound.

 

I type in ifconfig and the console is asking me for a password. Grrrrr! Can't remember being asked for a password before!

 

Can anyone tell me the default?

[limetech]

The user name is 'root' and there's no password (just hit enter).

[Roscoe62]

OK,

 

At the server login prompt I entered 'root' and hit enter. That left me at a slightly weird looking prompt. It didn't ask for a password after that.

 

I then entered 'ifconfig', hit return, and this is what it returned...

 

root@Server:~# ifconfig

lo        Link encap : Local Loopback

          inet addr : 127.0.0.1 Mask : 255.0.0.0

          UP LOOPBACK RUNNING MTU : 16436 Metric : 1

          Rx packets : 0 errors : 0 dropped : 0 overruns : 0 frame : 0

          Tx packets : 0 errors : ) dropped : 0 overruns : 0 carrier : 0

          collisions : 0 txqueuelen : 0

          Rx bytes : 0 (0.0 b)    Tx bytes : 0 (0.0 b)

 

 

That's it - no mention of eth0, which I take is NOT a good sign.

 

When you've got a moment please tell me what I can try next.

 

Thanks!

[limetech]

Let's capture the current system log to a file on your Flash so you can send to me later:

 

  cp /var/log/syslog /boot

 

This will copy the current syslog file to the root of your Flash (btw, called 'boot' because the flash is the boot device).

 

Next reboot the system using this command:

 

  reboot

 

And let's see if the network comes back on line.

 

Happy Thanksgiving!

[Roscoe62]

Thanks Tom,

 

I'm at work at the moment, but I will do what you've asked me to do when I get home, and I'll report back here. Regardless of whether the network comes back online or not I will send you the system log. You never know....it might be useful.

 

Also, thanks very much for popping in every now and then during your Thanksgiving holiday. I really do appreciate your dedication! 

[Roscoe62]

OK Tom,

I've forwarded the syslog to you via email. Using the reboot command hasn't helped either. Hopefully there's something helpful in the syslog file. (crosses fingers)