rpc.lockd stalls

[Chuck Swiger]

On Sep 7, 2006, at 11:16 AM, Tom Ierna wrote:
> On Sep 7, 2006, at 1:44 PM, Chuck Swiger wrote:
>> Trying to run a database server or mail server without a disk  
>> strikes me as a very bad idea.
>
> This is unfortunate - the "client" machines I have chosen have no  
> front-panel disk sleds. Hardware administration will be a bear if  
> they each have to have their own disks. Software-wise, I was hoping  
> to have them all share a common Kernel and userland too, so I only  
> have to update software in one place.

I can see your reasoning, however, it's not especially difficult to  
keep many FreeBSD systems updated against a single machine configured  
to build out new versions of the kernel, userland, and installed  
ports when needed. [1]

The thing is, software like mail servers and the database are usually  
I/O bound, not CPU-bound; when you get under enough load to matter,  
usually what you need to do is add more disk spindles and spread DB  
tables or logfiles or mailspool/queuedir locations amongst the extra   
disks.

>> I am surprised that rpc.lockd is holding up well enough to only go  
>> down about once a month; simply running the locking tests which  
>> come with sendmail used to be enough to cause rpc.lockd to crash...
>
> I will be using qmail, when I get to that stage. qmail is supposed  
> to be rather safe, even over NFS.

Yes, agreed-- qmail + maildir rather than mbox format is probably  
your best bet for doing operations over NFS.

>> Best of luck,
>> -- 
>> -Chuck
>
> Thanks, it sounds like you think I need it :)

Well, yes.  But I wouldn't be unhappy if you found something that  
works for your needs, even if it isn't what I would recommend myself.
At least some of the time, I even learn things from people who  
configure things "strangely" from my perspective...

> I'm open to suggestions on a better method of accomplishing my goals.

[1]: Mount /usr/src & /usr/obj from the buildserver on each machine,  
do the update process, and then rsync over or mount /usr/ports/ 
packages, and use portupgrade or whatever to update or install from  
the precompiled packages.

-- 
-Chuck