How to check if your x64 platform "system hang" actually is a system hang

Asset ID:	1-71-1012991.1
Update Date:	2011-05-27
Keywords:

Solution Type Technical Instruction Sure

Solution 1012991.1 : How to check if your x64 platform "system hang" actually is a system hang

Related Items


Sun Fire X4100 M2 Server
 Sun Fire X2100 Server
 Sun Fire X4600 M2 Server
 Sun Fire X4200 M2 Server
 Sun Blade X8400 Server Module
 Sun Ultra 20 M2 Workstation
 Sun Fire X4140 Server
 Sun Blade X8450 Server Module
 Sun Netra X4200 M2 Server
 Sun Fire X4270 Server
 Sun Fire X4640 Server
 Sun Blade X6220 Server Module
 Sun Blade X6420 Server Module
 Sun Fire X4100 Server
 Sun Fire X2100 M2 Server
 Sun Blade X6440 Server Module
 Sun Blade X8420 Server Module
 Sun Netra X4270 Server
 Sun Netra X4450 Server
 Sun Fire X4600 Server
 Sun Fire X4200 Server
 Sun Fire X4240 Server
 Sun Fire V20z Server
 Sun Fire X4150 Server
 Sun Fire X4170 Server
 Sun Ultra 40 Workstation
 Sun Fire X2200 M2 Server
 Sun Fire V40z Server
 Sun Fire X4450 Server
 Sun Fire X2270 Server
 Sun Fire X4275 Server
 Sun Ultra 20 Workstation
 Sun Fire X4500 Server
 Sun Blade X8440 Server Module
 Sun Fire X2250 Server
 Sun Netra X4250 Server
 Sun Blade X6250 Server Module
 Sun Ultra 40 M2 Workstation
 Sun Fire X2270 M2 Server
 Sun Fire X4640 Server
 Sun Fire X4540 Server
 Sun Fire X4440 Server
 Sun Fire X4250 Server
 Sun Blade X6450 Server Module
 Sun Fire X4800 Server
 Sun Blade X6240 Server Module

Related Categories


GCS>Sun Microsystems>Servers>x64 Servers

PreviouslyPublishedAs
217789

Applies to:

Sun Fire X2100 M2 Server - Version: Not Applicable to Not Applicable - Release: N/A to N/A
Sun Fire X2100 Server - Version: Not Applicable to Not Applicable   [Release: N/A to N/A]
Sun Fire X2200 M2 Server - Version: Not Applicable to Not Applicable   [Release: N/A to N/A]
Sun Fire X4100 M2 Server - Version: Not Applicable to Not Applicable   [Release: N/A to N/A]
Sun Fire X4100 Server - Version: Not Applicable to Not Applicable   [Release: N/A to N/A]
All Platforms

Goal

To discuss this information further with Oracle experts and industry peers, we encourage you to review, join or start a discussion in the My Oracle Support Community - Sun x86 Systems

Description

A system may appear to be hung, when in fact there is another condition that is giving this impression.

Solution

Symptoms

System appears to be hung
System is not pingable
Unable to login
Unable to execute commands
Unable to mount shares
Unable to start / stop services
System not responding

Synopsis:

There may be a network problem, or a problem with a network share. Or there may be a power or boot issue. This document will help to eliminate conditions which may give the appearance of a system hang.

Steps to Follow:

A hanging system will not respond on any command and user interaction - it's no longer usable.

Here are some of the situations which give the appearance of a system hang:

Operating system is not booted or is rebooting in a loop
System running low on memory or is overloaded
Network share is lost due to network errors
Other network errors
Video or console output frozen

Here is how to eliminate the above issues which give the appearance of a system hang:

Verify that the system is powered on and the operating system booted or is not booting in a loop. You can check for booting in a loop on the system console.
Verify the status LED on the system. Use for example :
# ipmitool -I lan -H <SP_IP_ADDRESS> -U root power status
Verify on the console or through your Service Processor console that your operating system is booted. The system is not hanging if you see any activity on the console.
Use the hardware specific documentation to access the console (Oracle and Sun Legacy Hardware Specific Documentation)
Wait for a while; Systems which are low on memory (possibly because of a heavy load) use the swap intensively. If you wait a while, the system may become available. Of course, further investigation of what is causing this will be required.
Verify that network infrastructure is healthy and configured. Use the "ping" command to ping the the default gateway in the network segment; ping any naming system servers.

If other systems in the same network segment appear to be hung, the network is a good place to start your investigation.

For Solaris and Linux, search for "NIS server not responding for domain " on console or in the messages file. Check the availability of your name services (i.e. NIS, DNS, LDAP).

For Solaris and Linux, search for "NFS server not responding" on console or in the messages file. Check the availability of your NFS server

Ask your network administrator for any known issues in the network infrastructure.

8. Verify that all users of the system have the same issue / see a system hang. On a multiuser system ask the others users if they see the same issue or if they recognized something else.

If you still do not have response from the platform then you may indeed have a hard hung system.

Previously Published As 91506

Attachments

This solution has no attachment