[Asterisk-Users] Asterisk server with remote monitoring capabilities

[beonice]

--- Tzafrir Cohen <tzafrir at cohens.org.il> wrote:

> Hi
> 
> On Thu, Jun 23, 2005 at 05:52:44PM -0700, beonice
> wrote:
> > 
> > Okay, so what makes more sense:
> >   1) a remote management card that will let me
> > actually log in to the machine to monitor it as
> well
> > as to reboot it
> >     vs.
> >   2) a remote-accessible powerstrip that will
> allow me
> > to remotely reboot the server?
> 
> Linux also has a software watchdog module. Maybe it
> could work here
> without extra hardware to set up.
> 
> > 
> > I'm realising that sometimes the problem may
> simply be
> > processes out of control, and may be something
> that
> > doesn't require killing the entire machine, but
> just
> > some processes. 
> > 
> > In my current setup (an ordinary PIII 1.someting
> GHz
> > machine, not a server-class machine), when a
> process
> > goes haywire, I lose remote access via SSH, so I
> drive
> > to the colo, log in, sigh in frustration, and
> reboot
> > "because I'm already here, so why not?".
> 
> Because you destroy any evidence of the problem.
> 
> What processes are taking much CPU time? Are there
> any relevant log
> messages? Is this a case of over-swapping? (not 100%
> CPU usage, but
> rather large swap usage, CPU spends too much time at
> "system", though 
> the latter may be probably normal for an Asterisk
> server).
> 
> Could you login from the console? Did you manage to
> move between virtual
> consoles?
> 
> Install the package sysstat and run sar to get some
> stats. Consider
> adding a cron job to gather more relevant stats
> every 5 minutes or every
> minute.
> 
> BTW: does asterisk run with real-time priority? try
> removing it, so at
> least asterisk won't hang the whole system. Though I
> doubt it if this
> would help.
> 
> > 
> > Some of the problems were caused by my old router
> ...
> > since I replaced it, the need to drive the 40
> miles
> > each way has gone down significantly ... in fact,
> to
> > pretty much zero. So I have time to contemplate my
> > options here. :)
> 
> You have an extra router there? I recall that there
> was a kernel patch
> to reboot the system upon recieving a specific ICMP
> packet.
> 
> -- 
> Tzafrir Cohen         | tzafrir at jbr.cohens.org.il |
> VIM is
> http://tzafrir.org.il |                           |
> a Mutt's  
> tzafrir at cohens.org.il |                           | 
> best
> ICQ# 16849755         |                           |
> friend
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> 

Thanks, everyone, for all the responses and
suggestions. I already do have remote access via SSH.
The problem is that, occasionally, the box simply
won't let me SSH in, so I have to drive over and
reboot.

Several of those times, it turned out to be simply the
router acting up, so power-cycling the router would
bring things back to life, including SSH. As I
mentioned, the router has now been replaced and the
new one seems a lot more stable.

However, on a _few_ occasions, when I went into the
colo, it turned out that the box itself was not
responding to input, even on the console. At those
times, the ONLY thing I could do was a hard reboot ...
and yes, I'm aware of the potential hazards involved
in a hard reboot. :)

The frustrating thing is that since I upgraded the
router, the box hasn't crashed at all ... now I'm
thinking back and wondering if I imagined those
occasions. :)

Based on the suggestions provided by all of you, I
think I'm definitely going to try to get better stats
on what exactly is going on (thanks for the tip that
there are production Asterisk servers with
months/years uptime ... that was an eye-opener!)
before I invest in any new hardware.

Thanks again, everyone! 

Cheers,
Maya



		
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