Warning: I'm a dumb newbie. I did try to Google (etc.) for an answer to the following, but failed. The last time I read up on these things, it was thought to be better (for the computer, anyway) to leave a computer on all the time than to turn it on and off once a day. Under that assumption, mine's left on. We do occasionally have power cuts, and cleaners and others in this building occasionally unplug things. *Before* this happens, I'd like to have some idea of what it would entail with a SuSE 8.2 setup. Would I be greeted by a join-the-dots exercise ("Linux was terminated improperly; log on as root and run incomprehensibleabbreviation"), or would I be expected to know that I should, er . . . I don't know, um, run fsck perhaps? [Deep blush] I don't even know which file-system I'm using. How would I find out?
On Tuesday 17 June 2003 10:08, Peter Evans wrote:
Warning: I'm a dumb newbie. I did try to Google (etc.) for an answer to the following, but failed.
The last time I read up on these things, it was thought to be better (for the computer, anyway) to leave a computer on all the time than to turn it on and off once a day. Under that assumption, mine's left on.
We do occasionally have power cuts, and cleaners and others in this building occasionally unplug things. *Before* this happens, I'd like to have some idea of what it would entail with a SuSE 8.2 setup. Would I be greeted by a join-the-dots exercise ("Linux was terminated improperly; log on as root and run incomprehensibleabbreviation"), or would I be expected to know that I should, er . . . I don't know, um, run fsck perhaps?
[Deep blush] I don't even know which file-system I'm using. How would I find out?
I'm pretty sure that the default 8.2 install will now put all the linux partitions on the reiserfs. This is a journalling file system, and usually recovers very cleanly from a power cut. You'd find out by running the command 'mount' without options, it will show you something like this: #mount /dev/hdb3 on / type reiserfs (rw) proc on /proc type proc (rw) devpts on /dev/pts type devpts (rw,mode=0620,gid=5) /dev/hdb2 on /boot type ext2 (rw) /dev/hdb7 on /export type reiserfs (rw) /dev/hdb6 on /home type reiserfs (rw) /dev/hdb5 on /var type reiserfs (rw) /dev/hda1 on /windows/C type vfat (rw,noexec,nosuid,nodev,gid=100,umask=0002,iocharset=iso8859-1,code=437) shmfs on /dev/shm type shm (rw) You can see that the linux partitions are type reiserfs. I have had the power go several times with 8.1 and 8.2, and have had no problems, no extended rebooting times, and no tricky command-line juggling to perform. There is a man page for reiserfsck, but I've not had to use it. That said, conventional wisdom would dictate that if you have critical data on the system it should be backed up, and if the machine needs maximum uptime you should install a UPS. I don't suppose reiserfs can guarantee a clean restart under every powerfail condition. But from my experience you should be OK. HTH Fergus -- Fergus Wilde Chetham's Library Long Millgate Manchester M3 1SB Tel: +44 161 834 7961 Fax: +44 161 839 5797 http://www.chethams.org.uk
In a previous message, Fergus Wilde wrote:
I'm pretty sure that the default 8.2 install will now put all the linux partitions on the reiserfs. This is a journalling file system, and usually recovers very cleanly from a power cut.
I'd still recommend running reiserfsck after a power failure - I've had a few and fsck has found corruptions after some of them. Once, I've even had to to use --rebuildtree, but this scrambled my disc so badly that I had to reinstall (it is flagged up as dangerous before you run it!). However, the normal --fix-fixable option works most of the time and is entirely safe to use. The only thing is that you need not to have to partition you're scanning mounted, which might mean you have to boot into a rescue system using a special floppy or the DVD/CD you installed SuSE from. HTH John -- John Pettigrew Headstrong Games john@headstrong-games.co.uk Fun : Strategy : Price http://www.headstrong-games.co.uk/ Board games that won't break the bank Fields of Valour: 2 Norse clans battle on one of 3 different boards
Fergus and John, thank you both. mount tells me: /dev/hda2 on / type reiserfs (rw) which I guess is my Linux partition, and proc on /proc type proc (rw) devpts on /dev/pts type devpts (rw,mode=0620,gid=5) shmfs on /dev/shm type shm (rw) usbdevfs on /proc/bus/usb type usbdevfs (rw) which I suppose are all explained somewhere in my amassed kilograms of Linux documentation. I'll get around to it all eventually; in the meantime I'll make a note of the content of your messages so I can refer to them in an emergency.
The 03.06.17 at 18:08, Peter Evans wrote:
The last time I read up on these things, it was thought to be better (for the computer, anyway) to leave a computer on all the time than to turn it on and off once a day. Under that assumption, mine's left on.
Why? If the computer is not going to be used, and it is not a server, it makes much more sense to switch it off. Less electricity used, less air conditioning needed, less wear on hard disks and ventilators, less noise, less danger that cleaning staff unplug something orjust move it (very dangerous for HDs)... and more security (you can not crack an off computer), and no fsck needed.
expected to know that I should, er . . . I don't know, um, run fsck perhaps?
Right, and maybe boot from the rescue CD and give proper answers to it ;-)
[Deep blush] I don't even know which file-system I'm using. How would I find out?
Issue "mount" on a root or user console. There will be some lines like: /dev/hdb6 on / type reiserfs (rw,noatime) So, my root partition is reiser. -- Cheers, Carlos Robinson
I sent off the previous message too soon. Carlos Robinson:
If the computer is not going to be used, and it is not a server, it makes much more sense to switch it off. Less electricity used, less air conditioning needed, less wear on hard disks and ventilators, less noise, less danger that cleaning staff unplug something or just move it (very dangerous for HDs)... and more security (you can not crack an off computer), and no fsck needed.
All are true. Moreover, one reason I've seen for leaving it on certainly doesn't apply: there is (or used to be) a myth in 'doze-using circles that booting a Linux machine is a lengthy process; with this machine at least, it's fast. Well, I'd read that the wear 'n' tear on bits of computer caused by leaving them on tended to be outweighed by that of heating them up and cooling them down. It's an issue that no doubt is discussed ad nauseam on various web pages (with various degrees of knowledge); I'll take a look tomorrow. In the meantime, just for a change, I'll turn off this system when I leave for home ten minutes from now.
The 03.06.17 at 19:39, Peter Evans wrote:
All are true. Moreover, one reason I've seen for leaving it on certainly doesn't apply: there is (or used to be) a myth in 'doze-using circles that booting a Linux machine is a lengthy process; with this machine at least, it's fast.
Well, the Me version of that is certainly faster boting up that 8.1. But if the computer is going to be unused for some hours, then I don't care if it takes even two or three minutes to boot up.
Well, I'd read that the wear 'n' tear on bits of computer caused by leaving them on tended to be outweighed by that of heating them up and cooling them down.
:-? Well, there are certain components, like electrolitic capacitors, whose life is certainly decreased by heating.
look tomorrow. In the meantime, just for a change, I'll turn off this system when I leave for home ten minutes from now.
Good :-) The environment will thank you a lot :-) -- Cheers, Carlos Robinson
On Tuesday 17 June 2003 02:08 am, Peter Evans wrote: <snip>
We do occasionally have power cuts, and cleaners and others in this building occasionally unplug things.
<snip> Take the advice of the others on the list and, regardless of what filesystem you're running or learning how to run fsck, spend the money (not that much I might add) on a UPS. Running fsck after a power failure, especially if your box was in the middle of some process, can be a little scarey. It virtually always works and has saved me from quite a mess (before I got the UPS), but the UPS is really failsafe and if you get one of those UPS from APC, it supports linux and will even 'halt' your box for you. -- Tony Alfrey tonyalfrey@earthlink.net "I'd Rather Be Sailing"
Tony Alfrey wrote:
On Tuesday 17 June 2003 02:08 am, Peter Evans wrote: <snip>
We do occasionally have power cuts, and cleaners and others in this building occasionally unplug things.
<snip>
Take the advice of the others on the list and, regardless of what filesystem you're running or learning how to run fsck, spend the money (not that much I might add) on a UPS. Running fsck after a power failure, especially if your box was in the middle of some process, can be a little scarey. It virtually always works and has saved me from quite a mess (before I got the UPS), but the UPS is really failsafe and if you get one of those UPS from APC, it supports linux and will even 'halt' your box for you.
on this note...I recently used an MGE UPS for a linux box and it worked great. The UPS software for linux was an RPM, very easy to install. My worst experience setting up UPS software to communicate with a unix box was a few years back....APC software on an HP-UX 10.20....That was a pain in the a**!!! good luck, Oskar
participants (6)
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Carlos E. R. -
Fergus Wilde -
John Pettigrew -
Oskar Teran -
Peter Evans -
Tony Alfrey