[DRBD-user] Downgrading?

Stefan Löfgren stlo at dontdownload.com
Mon May 26 11:33:54 CEST 2008

Note: "permalinks" may not be as permanent as we would like,
direct links of old sources may well be a few messages off.


Ahh... That was quick..
Yes, I know the "bugreport" was a bit lame but that's 'cos the first bugs was
known and fixed in 8.2.6rc1 and the latest problem I don't have more info
right now. One of the problems is that the machine is 200 km away... :(
So dumping stuff is a bit hard, but I'll try using local hands and telephone
when we have a crash again. Using local console works just fine (until
unmount-panic).

I have a feeling that DRBD refuses to read/write some blocks and therefore
refusing SMB, svn, vmware to do anything. That's the best "report" I have so
far. And it will probably take me a week until it happens again... But by then
I really want to know what to do so that I can send a "real report"... 

The setup:
32-bit kernel 2.6.24.5
DRBD 8.2.6rc1
2 SATA HDD 700Gb (SATA driver ata_piix).
NIC Broadcom Tigon3 (modules tg3).
Dist: Slackware 12.1 (tried with newly compiled and a bit stripped kernel and
original big kernel).
4 Gb RAM.
Quad-core.

Storage-setup:
/dev/md0 about 16 Gb raid1 (/dev/sda1, /dev/sdb1).
/dev/md1 about 600 Gb raid1 (/dev/sda2, /dev/sdb2).

md1 is connected to DRBD and is used for normal storage. md0 is basicly boot
and setup-scripts.

The reason for kernel 2.4.x is failing is the SATA-chip...

/Stefan




---------- Original Message -----------
From: Lars Ellenberg <lars.ellenberg at linbit.com>
To: drbd-user at linbit.com
Sent: Mon, 26 May 2008 11:02:01 +0200
Subject: Re: [DRBD-user] Downgrading?

> On Mon, May 26, 2008 at 10:06:26AM +0200, Stefan Löfgren wrote:
> > Hi list!
> > 
> > I've been monitoring the thread about the stable/unstable versions and so on
> > and do not wish to add to this discussion.
> > 
> > But, I have problems that might be related to this issue...
> > 
> > Background:
> > I've been testing with kernel 2.4.33.3 and DRBD 0.7.25 in virtual machines and
> > this is working just fine so far.
> > 
> > Now, in production I had to change to kernel 2.6.24.5 (due to hardware
> > compability-issues) and DRBD 8.2.5...
> > This setup turned out to be rather useless due to bugs in 8.2.5 (the ones
> > fixed in 8.0.12). So, went for 8.2.6rc1 and I was able to get the resource
> > running for more than 15 minutes.
> > 
> > Everything looked good. But now, 10 days later, I have a feeling that I was
> > mistaken. I'm having troubles with kernel-panics. I'm not able to find the
> > source of the problem, but can at least say that one of the crashes was
> > related to some failed kalloc-calls (and I think it was in DRBD, i've seen
> > this more than once)...
> > 
> > I'm not sure where to begin my search for errors. The system refuses
> > SHH-connections (all networkconnection for that matter). The secondary node is
> > working fine, but not the primary. This could in theory be connected with
> > other softwares running on the primary. These are:
> > Samba, svnserve, X and VMWare Workstation.
> > (well, the system does not panic right away but refuses connections and the
> > HDD-LEDs it lit all the time. And when I try to unmount and go into secondary
> > it crashes).
> > 
> > Yes, I know there's a red flag on vmware that uses kernel-modules. But the
> > other softwares are strictly in user-space and should not, in theory, cause
> > this kind of problems, right?
> > 
> > I tried to downgrade to kernel 2.4.x but the hardware was simply not
> > supported... :(
> > 
> > This is not a discussion whether to call 8.2.5 stable or not, it just didn't
> > work.... ;) And I really need to fix it or change platform (a good old rsync
> > once a day is better than crashes one a week)... I really love the idea with
> > DRBD and I would really love to get it running...
> > 
> > Any suggestions on what I should do?
> 
> setup serial console.
> if you can, run a mlocked high priority (ulimited) busybox getty on 
> it, that should let you in even if you don't get in any other way, 
> so you can diagnose the rest.
> 
> _capture_ one of those panic messages/oopses whatever,
> and let us have a look ourselves.
> "hey, it does not work, it may be anyones fault or none at all"
> is not a very useful bug report :-]
> 
> which hardware exactly is it that forces you to use the latest 
> kernel, to get the latest drivers? what is that latest driver for -- 
> the network card? and now you experience network related problems? 
> tried an other nic already?
> 
> how much RAM?
> 
> how much storage?
> how much of that for DRBD?
> 
> 32bit or 64bit kernel?
> 
> > Downgrade to DRBD 8.0.12? Will this make it better?
> 
> don't think so
> 
> > Known issues?
> 
> no
> 
> > Known issues together with VMWare?
> > Will rc2 make a difference?
> 
> don't think so
> 
> > Anyone else been running 2.6.24.x and DRBD 8.2.x with success
> 
> yes
> 
> > (DELL PowerEdge R200)? Maybe even kernel problems?
> 
> maybe
> 
> -- 
> : Lars Ellenberg                           http://www.linbit.com :
> : DRBD/HA support and consulting             sales at linbit.com :
> : LINBIT Information Technologies GmbH      Tel +43-1-8178292-0  :
> : Vivenotgasse 48, A-1120 Vienna/Europe     Fax +43-1-8178292-82 :
> __
> please don't Cc me, but send to list -- I'm subscribed
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------- End of Original Message -------




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