[Gllug] headless server and fsck

[Rich Walker]

Matthew King <matthew.king at monnsta.net> writes:

> Tom Schutzer-Weissmann <trmsw at yahoo.co.uk> writes:
>
>> We run a headless server which got turned off by mistake. It restarted
>> without any problems, but I was wondering if there was a way of checking
>> the root filesystem without attaching a monitor and keyboard
>
> You don't need to. If it booted up then it will have successfully
> checked the filesystem on its own. It's possible that a logfile
> somewhere has fsck's output but it's unlikely.

You may find that the boot scripts[1] on the machine look for /forcefsck in
the root and will do a full check of all filesystems if it is there.

Hence, do: 
       sudo touch /forcefsck
       sudo shutdown -r now

and when it comes back up, you should be well checked.

>
>> Given that I believe it's unwise to run fsck on a mounted filesystem,
>
> Generally, yes.

Although you can remount the filesystem read-only, and then do fsck -n
(assuming it's not reiserfs) which will tell you if there are problems.

>
>> the only thing I can think of is to reboot the server with a live CD
>> that will start up sshd so I can go in and check out the hard disks.
>
> That will work but there are security concerns (ie. keys) to worry
> about. I take it you don't have a serial console on it.
>
> But as mentioned above it's almost certainly unnecessary.

You might also create a small (128MB) extra bootable partition on the
machine, and put Damn Small Linux on it. Use grub as the bootloader, and
you then always have a rescue partition handy.

cheers, Rich.

>
> Matthew
>
> -- 
> I must take issue with the term "a mere child," for it has been my
> invariable experience that the company of a mere child is infinitely
> preferable to that of a mere adult.
>                                            --  Fran Lebowitz
>
>
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Footnotes: 
[1]  On Debian, /etc/init.d/checkfs.sh and /etc/init.d/checkroot.sh both
     look for this.

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