[Techtalk] I/O error on /var

[anthony at futurepoint.com]

> 3/ We tracked this to a scsi conflict, a tekram tape drive controller
> was fighting with  the raid controller.
--
> I know for sure that this is exactly the same as the box fell over again
> last night after starting to do the amanda backup. Amanda obviously
> discovers something on /var that makes the system go "tilt".

It sounds like there's still a conflict between the SCSI controller and
the RAID controller. Does the SCSI controller work for other devices
besides the tape backup without crashing your system? If not, there's your
problem. If only the backup is crashing your system when it accesses /var,
it's a different problem entirely.

One thing you may want to do is double check that you have the proper
kernel options selected for both your controllers and check that there are
no conflicting drivers ever loaded into the kernel at the same time.

The benefit of having a RAID-5 system is the parity it offers for data
redundancy; another option you may want to consider is isolating the
problematic disk and regenerating it using the other RAID drives. As you
said, an xfs_repair before taking drastic action may be the best choice if
you are willing to take the risk.


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Best Regards,
Anthony Gorecki