No doubt open-source proponents will rejoice over this news: The British government has decided to increase its use of open-source software in the public services field. It will be adopted over Windows whenever it delivers the best value for the money. Schools, govenment offices and public agencies will all give open source a new look.
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It’s worry-time on the server:
# tail -20 /var/log/messages
Feb 25 10:09:32 myserver smartd[2785]: Device: /dev/sdc, 3 Offline uncorrectable sectors
Feb 25 10:39:32 myserver smartd[2785]: Device: /dev/sdc, 9 Currently unreadable (pending) sectors
Feb 25 10:39:32 myserver smartd[2785]: Device: /dev/sdc, 3 Offline uncorrectable sectors
Feb 25 11:09:32 myserver smartd[2785]: Device: /dev/sdc, 9 Currently unreadable (pending) sectors
Feb 25 11:09:32 myserver smartd[2785]: Device: /dev/sdc, 3 Offline uncorrectable sectors
Feb 25 11:39:32 myserver smartd[2785]: Device: /dev/sdc, 9 Currently unreadable (pending) sectors
Feb 25 11:39:32 myserver smartd[2785]: Device: /dev/sdc, 3 Offline uncorrectable sectors
Feb 25 12:09:32 myserver smartd[2785]: Device: /dev/sdc, 9 Currently unreadable (pending) sectors
Feb 25 12:09:32 myserver smartd[2785]: Device: /dev/sdc, 3 Offline uncorrectable sectors
Feb 25 12:39:31 myserver smartd[2785]: Device: /dev/sdc, 9 Currently unreadable (pending) sectors
Feb 25 12:39:31 myserver smartd[2785]: Device: /dev/sdc, 3 Offline uncorrectable sectors
Feb 25 13:09:32 myserver smartd[2785]: Device: /dev/sdc, 9 Currently unreadable (pending) sectors
Feb 25 13:09:32 myserver smartd[2785]: Device: /dev/sdc, 3 Offline uncorrectable sectors
Feb 25 13:39:32 myserver smartd[2785]: Device: /dev/sdc, 9 Currently unreadable (pending) sectors
Feb 25 13:39:32 myserver smartd[2785]: Device: /dev/sdc, 3 Offline uncorrectable sectors
Feb 25 14:09:32 myserver smartd[2785]: Device: /dev/sdc, 9 Currently unreadable (pending) sectors
Feb 25 14:09:32 myserver smartd[2785]: Device: /dev/sdc, 3 Offline uncorrectable sectors
Feb 25 14:39:32 myserver smartd[2785]: Device: /dev/sdc, 9 Currently unreadable (pending) sectors
Feb 25 14:39:32 myserver smartd[2785]: Device: /dev/sdc, 3 Offline uncorrectable sectors
.. and so it goes on. So, I’ll check it out by performing a SMART self-test on the drive:
# smartctl -a -d ata /dev/sdc
smartctl version 5.36 [x86_64-redhat-linux-gnu] Copyright (C) 2002-6 Bruce Allen
Home page is http://smartmontools.sourceforge.net/
=== START OF INFORMATION SECTION ===
Device Model: Hitachi HDP725040GLA360
Serial Number: GEB430RE15UEVF
Firmware Version: GMDOA52A
User Capacity: 400,088,457,216 bytes
Device is: Not in smartctl database [for details use: -P showall]
ATA Version is: 8
ATA Standard is: Not recognized. Minor revision code: 0x29
Local Time is: Wed Feb 25 14:55:30 2009 GMT
SMART support is: Available – device has SMART capability.
SMART support is: Enabled
=== START OF READ SMART DATA SECTION ===
SMART overall-health self-assessment test result: PASSED
General SMART Values:
Offline data collection status: (0x82) Offline data collection activity
was completed without error.
Auto Offline Data Collection: Enabled.
Self-test execution status: ( 0) The previous self-test routine completed
without error or no self-test has ever
been run.
Total time to complete Offline
data collection: (7840) seconds.
Offline data collection
capabilities: (0x5b) SMART execute Offline immediate.
Auto Offline data collection on/off support.
Suspend Offline collection upon new
command.
Offline surface scan supported.
Self-test supported.
No Conveyance Self-test supported.
Selective Self-test supported.
SMART capabilities: (0x0003) Saves SMART data before entering
power-saving mode.
Supports SMART auto save timer.
Error logging capability: (0x01) Error logging supported.
General Purpose Logging supported.
Short self-test routine
recommended polling time: ( 1) minutes.
Extended self-test routine
recommended polling time: ( 130) minutes.
[snip]
I’m not sure what to make of a disk that reports it’s broken to the kernel but reports its “PASSED” to a userspace tool.
One thing’s for certain – it’s being replaced!
I’ve decided to catalogue my experience with Fedora 9. The reasons for this are:
So, what first?
I plan to record my experience of installing Fedora 9 on my blog so that people who are considering switching to Linux, or switching from another distribution to Fedora, can decide what the benefits might be. It’s also going to serve as a reference for myself, so I can see why it’s such a good/bad idea to do it again!
Finally, I have gained so much by simply being interested in Open Source software, that I felt it was about time to give something back. As an English graduate, documentation is probably the best thing I can start with. I hope it’s of help to someone!
