Home Lab - Odd Issue
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At my home lab I'm running XenServer 6.5 (well I was running). I shutdown the server, and moved it to a rack that I purchased off of Craigslist. The system shutdown without any reported issues.
I disconnect the cords, lift the server, place it on the shelf on my rack, and reconnected everything.
I went to power it up, and it starts a system check of the OS Thumb drive. It finds a crap ton of errors, and I just let it run for the entire evening.
Come the following morning, it is still running. So I stopped it, shutdown the server yet again, and grab my installation USB.
Attempt a reinstall, check the installation media, a basic XenServer install to USB 15GB, and using cciss storage for my VM's.
Attempt to login, and receive an alert for incorrect password. OK, reinstall again, this time for testing password is "123123".
Same incorrect password message.
So this time I get another USB Drive to install to the installation runs just fine, no alerts. System boots up and give me a cryptic message (sorry I'm not at home to confirm the message)
So I guess my question is, should I have to rebuild the RAID?
It's the only thing that has remained untouched since moving the server. I've tried two distinct USB drives, and formatted both before reinstalling to them.
Thanks in advance.
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What does the RAID array have to do with booting up and logging in?
I would say that your issues are entirely unrelated to the RAID array as that is only where the storage is for the VM's themselves correct?
Note: I have yet to use XenServer, it is on my list of "I need to get this done" things.
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That's exactly why I'm confused, it shouldn't have anything to do with the OS. I should be able to reinstall the OS to the external USB and not deal with the RAID in the least.
Yet I'm at a loss of what would be causing these errors, when performing a clean install.
The only thing that has remained unchanged is the RAID, and the files on it (at least I'm assuming so) I haven't dug into to. I'm not even concerned about the VM's on it, as I can rebuild them.
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@DustinB3403 said:
That's exactly why I'm confused, it shouldn't have anything to do with the OS. I should be able to reinstall the OS to the external USB and not deal with the RAID in the least.
You have already done the basics, so next, don't use USB. Is there an open, non-RAID, SATA port inside? Drop in a random platter of spinning rust and install to that and see what happens.
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I'd rather not add another drive to the mix. I might just create an 8GB partition on the RAID 10, and install the OS to that.
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@DustinB3403 said:
I'd rather not add another drive to the mix. I might just create an 8GB partition on the RAID 10, and install the OS to that.
Why? You don't want to be doing that long term anyway right?
So drop in a drive, boot it up and see if it works. If it does, you have narrowed it down to something with the USB controller or something like that.
Then you can make a decision on how to move forward more long term.
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Well it's a DL360 G5, with all bays populated.
I could easily open the case, and slap a drive in (assuming there's an available sata port) and test.
I'm just vexxed that only after moving the server, did this issue appear.
Using a USB Keyboard (on all 3 ports) as I figured maybe it's the USB port, and different ports for the USB OS Drive and there is still a present issue.
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@DustinB3403 said:
I'm just vexxed that only after moving the server, did this issue appear.
No, the issue appeared after shutting down and rebooting. When was the last time you did that?
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The server was completely stable from the day I set it up.
I had updated it so it was current, and restarted several times in between. Never was the system shutdown, only restarted for system updates.
Edit: It was only shutdown to move the server.
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Did you MD5 check the installation media? I had an issue in the past where one of the mirrors were giving out corrupt media... it looked like it worked but the installer didn't run through correctly, resulting in a not completely configured OS. Re-downloading the installer, from a different mirror and re-writing to the USB solved it.
Recently with Linux Mint I had a slower thumb drive doing the installation. That also resulted in some issues. Moving to a faster drive corrected the installation problems I was having.
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I haven't performed an MD5 check of the installation USB, as it is the same device I initially used when I first setup the server.
I could certainly redownload, MD5 the files, and rebuild the installation media.
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@DustinB3403 said:
I haven't performed an MD5 check of the installation USB, as it is the same device I initially used when I first setup the server.
I could certainly redownload, MD5 the files, and rebuild the installation media.
Worth a shot. Interesting that it worked before but not now... although USB drives have been known to corrupt data.
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I've just downloaded the ISO from Xen's site, and did an MD5 check. Will build installation media and test tonight.
I'll also check to see if there is an available SATA port on the server.
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Maybe get that cryptic message before you do anything else. Maybe we can solve the issue with the USB stick that isn't working right now.
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I was wondering if the original USB stick might have just gone bad - but that wouldn't explain a bad password prompt, other than bad install as Coliver said.
Are you sure you're reinstalls aren't writting to the RAID instead of the USB drive?
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I'll collect all of the information tonight before proceeding with yet another install.
and @Dashrender I'm positive it's not installing the to RAID, but to the USB drive, but thanks for checking.
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Well something happened to the USB drive that was throwing the error.
At power up the system couldn't even find the drive to boot from.
I've reformatted the usb disk, and am installing to yet another one. I'll keep you all informed.
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Format to FAT32 and install seems to have corrected the issue.
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OK so it would appear, that the RAID is orphaned from the Host OS, which makes perfect sense.
How can I go about deleting the orphaned storage, or just formatting the entire raid from within Xen?
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@DustinB3403 said:
OK so it would appear, that the RAID is orphaned from the Host OS, which makes perfect sense.
How can I go about deleting the orphaned storage, or just formatting the entire raid from within Xen?
You should be able to attach it again.
