From owner-freebsd-stable@FreeBSD.ORG Tue Nov 22 03:02:11 2005 Return-Path: X-Original-To: freebsd-stable@freebsd.org Delivered-To: freebsd-stable@freebsd.org Received: from mx1.FreeBSD.org (mx1.freebsd.org [216.136.204.125]) by hub.freebsd.org (Postfix) with ESMTP id 0A2A316A41F for ; Tue, 22 Nov 2005 03:02:11 +0000 (GMT) (envelope-from ronald-freebsd8@klop.yi.org) Received: from smtp-out0.tiscali.nl (smtp-out0.tiscali.nl [195.241.79.175]) by mx1.FreeBSD.org (Postfix) with ESMTP id 84AA243D6B for ; Tue, 22 Nov 2005 03:02:08 +0000 (GMT) (envelope-from ronald-freebsd8@klop.yi.org) Received: from [82.171.39.195] (helo=guido.klop.ws) by smtp-out0.tiscali.nl with smtp (Tiscali http://www.tiscali.nl) id 1EeOQ3-00029M-P5 for ; Tue, 22 Nov 2005 04:02:07 +0100 Received: (qmail 61111 invoked from network); 22 Nov 2005 03:02:06 -0000 Received: from localhost.thuis.klop.ws (HELO outgoing.local) (127.0.0.1) by localhost.thuis.klop.ws with SMTP; 22 Nov 2005 03:02:06 -0000 To: "Greg Rivers" , freebsd-stable@freebsd.org References: <20051121164139.T48994@w10.sac.fedex.com> Message-ID: Date: Tue, 22 Nov 2005 04:02:05 +0100 From: "Ronald Klop" Content-Type: text/plain; format=flowed; delsp=yes; charset=iso-8859-1 MIME-Version: 1.0 Content-Transfer-Encoding: 8bit In-Reply-To: <20051121164139.T48994@w10.sac.fedex.com> User-Agent: Opera M2/8.50 (FreeBSD, build 1358) Cc: Subject: Re: Recurring problem: processes block accessing UFS file system X-BeenThere: freebsd-stable@freebsd.org X-Mailman-Version: 2.1.5 Precedence: list List-Id: Production branch of FreeBSD source code List-Unsubscribe: , List-Archive: List-Post: List-Help: List-Subscribe: , X-List-Received-Date: Tue, 22 Nov 2005 03:02:11 -0000 On Tue, 22 Nov 2005 00:54:09 +0100, Greg Rivers wrote: > I've recently put up three busy email relay hosts running 6.0-STABLE. > Performance is excellent except for a nagging critical issue that keeps > cropping up. > > /var/spool is its own file system mounted on a geom stripe of four BSD > partitions (details below). Once every two or three days all the > processes accessing /var/spool block forever in disk wait. All three > machines suffer this problem. No diagnostic messages are generated and > the machines continue running fine otherwise, but a reboot is required > to clear the condition. This problem occurs during normal operation, > but is particularly likely to occur during a backup when dump makes a > snapshot. > > There doesn't appear to be a problem with gstripe, as gstripe status is > "UP" and I can read the raw device just fine while processes continue to > block on the file system. I tried running a kernel with WITNESS and > DIAGNOSTIC, but these options shed no light. > > If I catch the problem early enough I can break successfully into kdb; > otherwise, if too many processes stack up, the machine hangs going into > kdb and must be power-cycled. > > I'd appreciate any insight anyone may have into this problem or advise > on turning this report into a coherent PR. I have a machine with 5.4-STABLE with the same problem. It hangs every couple of days if I make regular snapshots. It is a remote machine which I don't have easy access to. I disabled the snapshots and since than it didn't hang a single time. I hoped it would be fixed in 6.0, but this sounds the same. Ronald. -- Ronald Klop Amsterdam, The Netherlands