Subject: Re: [vserver] For a period of 2 months, the server file system has switched three times into the readonly mode
From: Herbert Poetzl <herbert@13thfloor.at>
Date: Thu, 29 Oct 2009 11:54:45 +0100

On Thu, Oct 29, 2009 at 11:23:32AM +0100, Christoph Lukas wrote:
> Hi Stephane,

> > I've a vserver installed on Debian Lenny.

> > For a period of 2 months, the server file system has switched three
> > times into the readonly mode.

> I have seen something similar on one of our servers. I have found an
> EXT3 fs error in syslog 4 weeks ago. As it happened on the weekend I
> did not notice it until monday. The 'journal abort' and switch to read
> only mode happened just a few hours later.

> The filesystem check moved thousands of files to lost+found and I had
> to restore the whole data from our backup.

> > What do you think ?
> > * is it a vserver issue ?
> > * is it a hardware issue ?
> > * is it a debian issue ?

> I personally think this is an issue with the 2.6.26 debian kernel. If
> it is a mainline issue or just a debian one I do not know.

yes, I agree here, it is most likely another brokeness
of the known-to-be-broken debian Linux-VServer kernel
(2.6.26-X)

so updating to a suspected-to-be-working one :) is
advised here, preferably 2.6.31.x, unless you are using
ipv6, in which case, you are better off with the stable
branch (there is a known issue with binding the same
address in ipv4 and ipv6 on recent kernels, which will
be fixed soon :)

best,
Herbert

> On our server it happened a few hours after the monthly md data
> integrity check.

> [..]

> > Do you need other information ?

> As you also got this error on an md device, could you check if it just
> happened a few hours after the md data integrity check? Then this
> problem might be md related.

> I have switched to using the kernel we have build for our ubuntu jaunty
> systems [1]. It is running without problems for the last 3 weeks.

> Cheers,
> Christoph
> 
> [1]: http://www.linux-vserver.org/Installation_on_Ubuntu
>