[IDD #MTI-575374]: UBA-PC Problems

Hi Guillermo,

re:
> Hi, I'm Guillermo, System Administrator for DCAO - UBA in Argentina, and
> we have several problems with the PC for unidata system. Nearly every
> monday the PC was down with some filesystem errors, and now there are some
> services that don't start, and some command that give error (Input/Output
> Error).

This sounds like a disk problem of some kind.

Question:

- have you determined if there is any hardware problem(s) on the machine?

Your crashes could be caused from a bad hard disk or a bad disk controller

> I was talking to Claudia to reinstall it.

Will you be reformatting the disk when you reinstall the operating system?
If yes, you must make sure to back all of the work that has been done
on the machine _before_ the installation.

Another approach which would lessen the amount of work you have to do is
to purchase a new hard disk (of sufficient size) and use it for the new
operating system installation. You could keep your existing disk in the
machine and then mount the various file systems and copy off the work that
has been done on the machine as needed.  Even though purchasing a new hard
disk will cost some money (but hard disks are not very expensive at the moment),
this approach would likely save you a lot of time.  It might also remove the
cause of the problems you have been experiencing since the machine's purchase
(I seem to remember that this machine has had problems with crashing since
the beginning).

> I need to know which OS to install; the last time we talk about this
> machine, you told us to upgrade from FC3 which was installed, to FC5 which
> is installed now. Do I need to install FC5 or it would be better to
> install FC7 or another  Distro.?

We have just begun installing Fedora release 7 on machines at Unidata.  I
don't expect you would run into any problems by upgrading to Fedora 7,
but I can not guarantee this -- for instance, the GEMPAK binary distribution
may have some problems with missing libraries, etc.  Since all of our
packages build and run nicely under FC6, you would be safe if you upgraded
to it now, and then upgraded to Fedora 7 in a couple of months.  If you 
decide to buy a new hard disk for the operating system installation, I
would recommend that you go straight to Fedora 7.

> Is there any data/configuration I need to BackUp from your software ?

Yes, and there has been quite a bit of development done on your side
as well, so there will be lots of things that would be good to make backup
copies of.  Again, if you pursue purchasing a new hard disk, your backup
work would be minimized since you would not have to wipe your old disk.

At a minimum, I would backup:

- the LDM configuration files:

  ~ldm/etc/ldmd.conf
  ~ldm/etc/pqact.conf       <- backup all pqact.conf files; some will be
                               named like pqact.gempak_<.....>

- Make a copy of the crontab file being used by the LDM.  It is easiest to
  simply get a listing of the routines that are running.

- Make a copy of the routines installed in your ~ldm/decoders and ~ldm/util
  directories

- make a copy of all of the scripts created at UBA for generating web
  content (under the GEMPAK account)

- make a copy of a couple of things in the 'mcidas' account:

  ~mcidas/data/ADDESITE.TXT
  ~mcidas/data/LOCAL.NAM
  ~mcidas/data/LOCDATA.BAT
  ~mcidas/data/LSSERVE.BAT


  ~mcidas/workdata/RESOLV.SRV

- make copies of any other file that you have modified and would take
  time to recreate if it was lost



> About the unidata software, what are the needs for it?,

I am not sure what you are asking here.

> Do I install it, or you do the installation through ssh ?

I installed a number of the packages on your machine, but that was just
to help you get started.  I would think that it would be better for you
to install the packages so that you understand fully how they all work
together.  I am willing, however, to help you (re)install packages if
you like.

> Thanks a lot,

No worries.

Please seriously consider the idea of purchasing a new hard disk and
installing the operating system on it.  This approach will likely save
you a lot of time in your transition from FC5 to FC6/F7.

Cheers,

Tom
****************************************************************************
Unidata User Support                                    UCAR Unidata Program
(303) 497-8642                                                 P.O. Box 3000
address@hidden                                   Boulder, CO 80307
----------------------------------------------------------------------------
Unidata HomePage                       http://www.unidata.ucar.edu
****************************************************************************


Ticket Details
===================
Ticket ID: MTI-575374
Department: Support IDD
Priority: Normal
Status: Closed