[x]
Posted via EE Mobile

Search, ask, and monitor your questions on the go with EE Mobile. Visit Experts Exchange from your mobile device and never be out of touch again.
Question
[x]
Attachment Details
[x]
The Solution Rating System

With so many solutions, how can you tell which solutions are most likely to help you and which ones are not? To provide you with a tool to use, we rate our solutions based on various elements that most accurately determine if a solution is a quality solution. To explain what factors affect the solution rating, here are the elements we take into consideration when formulating our solution rating.

  • The Grade of the Solution
  • The Zone Rank of the Expert Providing the Solution
  • The Number of Author and Expert Comments
  • The Number of Experts Contributing
  • The Feedback of the Community

Your Input Matters
Because of the way the system is set up, the most important variable in this equation is you. As a member of Experts Exchange, you are able to cast your vote on the quality of the solutions in regard to how complete, accurate, helpful and easy to understand each solution is. When you provide your feedback, each rating is adjusted accordingly. So, if you see a solution that has a poor rating that you think is a good solution, let us know by rating it. As you do, the rating will be adjusted and will become more accurate for other members of our site.

If you have any suggestions that you would like to make for our rating system, please ask a question in the Suggestions Zone of Community Support.

Thank you!
6.2

System randomly hangs

Asked by Exceter in Linux Administration, Linux Setup, Linux

Tags: Dell, PowerEdge, 2900, Web/Database Server, CentOS 5

I purchased a server for my employer about a year ago.

Dell PowerEdge 2900
2x Intel 1.6 Ghz Quad-core processors
8GB Memory
4x 168GB 15K SCSI Hard Drives
PERC 5/i
RAID 10
CentOS 5

When it arrived I loaded CentOS 5 and it has been functioning flawlessly as a webserver since that time. However, last week the system completely hung, without warning. Network services were unavailable. Web pages were not being served and the server could not be reached through SSH. When my coworker drove in at 4:00 AM the console was completely blank and unresponsive. He did a manual restart of the server and everything worked once more. Since Friday morning I've had to remotely power cycle the server 3 times through the DRAC5 card. I didn't install any updates or software immediately prior to the server hanging. I updated the server on Saturday hoping to solve the problem but it hung less than an hour later with the same symptoms.

I've checked the system logs and the only errors I can find are as follows,
Jan 21 07:55:44 mothership kernel: sda: test WP failed, assume Write Enabled
Jan 21 07:55:44 mothership kernel: sda: asking for cache data failed
Jan 21 07:55:44 mothership kernel: sda: assuming drive cache: write through
Jan 21 07:55:44 mothership kernel: SCSI device sda: 570949632 512-byte hdwr sectors (292326 MB)
Jan 21 07:55:44 mothership kernel: sda: test WP failed, assume Write Enabled
Jan 21 07:55:44 mothership kernel: sda: asking for cache data failed
Jan 21 07:55:44 mothership kernel: sda: assuming drive cache: write through

I'm not sure if these errors are related to the problem or not. The raid array seems healthy enough from what I can determine through MegaCLI and raid performance is very good,
[root@mothership jddunlap]# /sbin/hdparm -t /dev/sda
/dev/sda:
 Timing buffered disk reads:  548 MB in  3.01 seconds = 182.16 MB/sec

Any thoughts? Hardware? Software? Dell's problem?

Cheers!
Exceter
[+][-]03/15/08 09:50 AM, ID: 21133310Accepted Solution

View this solution now by starting your 30-day free trial. Setting up your free trial is quick, easy, and secure. We will return you to this solution, unlocked, when you're done.

About this solution

Zones: Linux Administration, Linux Setup, Linux
Tags: Dell, PowerEdge, 2900, Web/Database Server, CentOS 5
Sign Up Now!
Solution Provided By: Computer101
Participating Experts: 4
Solution Grade: A
 
[+][-]01/21/08 06:29 AM, ID: 20706245Expert Comment

At Experts Exchange, members can ask their questions to thousands of technology professionals, also known as Experts. Experts compete and collaborate to answer those questions by leaving comments like this one.

Start your 30-day free trial to view this Expert Comment or ask the Experts your question.

 
[+][-]01/21/08 06:33 AM, ID: 20706273Author Comment

Often, when Experts are collaborating with members who have asked questions, they will request additional information about the problem. Askers respond with an author comment like this one.

Start your 30-day free trial to view this Author Comment or ask the Experts your question.

 
[+][-]01/21/08 06:43 AM, ID: 20706339Expert Comment

At Experts Exchange, members can ask their questions to thousands of technology professionals, also known as Experts. Experts compete and collaborate to answer those questions by leaving comments like this one.

Start your 30-day free trial to view this Expert Comment or ask the Experts your question.

 
[+][-]01/21/08 06:49 AM, ID: 20706376Author Comment

Often, when Experts are collaborating with members who have asked questions, they will request additional information about the problem. Askers respond with an author comment like this one.

Start your 30-day free trial to view this Author Comment or ask the Experts your question.

 
[+][-]01/21/08 06:59 AM, ID: 20706443Expert Comment

At Experts Exchange, members can ask their questions to thousands of technology professionals, also known as Experts. Experts compete and collaborate to answer those questions by leaving comments like this one.

Start your 30-day free trial to view this Expert Comment or ask the Experts your question.

 
[+][-]01/21/08 07:30 AM, ID: 20706684Expert Comment

At Experts Exchange, members can ask their questions to thousands of technology professionals, also known as Experts. Experts compete and collaborate to answer those questions by leaving comments like this one.

Start your 30-day free trial to view this Expert Comment or ask the Experts your question.

 
[+][-]01/21/08 08:37 AM, ID: 20707307Author Comment

Often, when Experts are collaborating with members who have asked questions, they will request additional information about the problem. Askers respond with an author comment like this one.

Start your 30-day free trial to view this Author Comment or ask the Experts your question.

 
[+][-]01/21/08 08:43 AM, ID: 20707351Expert Comment

At Experts Exchange, members can ask their questions to thousands of technology professionals, also known as Experts. Experts compete and collaborate to answer those questions by leaving comments like this one.

Start your 30-day free trial to view this Expert Comment or ask the Experts your question.

 
[+][-]01/21/08 11:26 AM, ID: 20708767Expert Comment

At Experts Exchange, members can ask their questions to thousands of technology professionals, also known as Experts. Experts compete and collaborate to answer those questions by leaving comments like this one.

Start your 30-day free trial to view this Expert Comment or ask the Experts your question.

 
[+][-]01/21/08 11:28 AM, ID: 20708782Author Comment

Often, when Experts are collaborating with members who have asked questions, they will request additional information about the problem. Askers respond with an author comment like this one.

Start your 30-day free trial to view this Author Comment or ask the Experts your question.

 
[+][-]01/21/08 01:17 PM, ID: 20709780Expert Comment

At Experts Exchange, members can ask their questions to thousands of technology professionals, also known as Experts. Experts compete and collaborate to answer those questions by leaving comments like this one.

Start your 30-day free trial to view this Expert Comment or ask the Experts your question.

 
[+][-]01/25/08 04:15 AM, ID: 20741779Author Comment

Often, when Experts are collaborating with members who have asked questions, they will request additional information about the problem. Askers respond with an author comment like this one.

Start your 30-day free trial to view this Author Comment or ask the Experts your question.

 
[+][-]02/17/08 11:37 AM, ID: 20915168Administrative Comment

Experts Exchange has a courteous staff of administrators who help members get the most out of the website by means of administrative comments like this one.

Start your 30-day free trial to view this Administrative Comment or ask the Experts your question.

 
[+][-]03/11/08 05:15 PM, ID: 21101827Administrative Comment

Experts Exchange has a courteous staff of administrators who help members get the most out of the website by means of administrative comments like this one.

Start your 30-day free trial to view this Administrative Comment or ask the Experts your question.

 
 
Loading Advertisement...
20091111-EE-VQP-92 / EE_QW_2_20070628