[volunteers] More daemon fun

Darlene Wallach freepalestin at dslextreme.com
Sat Jul 18 16:58:02 PDT 2009


Rick,

Thank you for the thorough and complete documentation details of
logging in, checking, processes, stopping processes, starting
processes.

On Sat, Jul 18, 2009 at 2:17 PM, Rick Moen<rick at linuxmafia.com> wrote:
> I was suspicious about the fact that our collection of bikeshedders had
> suddenly fallen silent, even given an enormously attractive opportunity
> to pontificate about other people's work -- so I checked to see if our
> SMTP server were running:
>
>  [rick at linuxmafia]
>  ~ $ telnet lists.svlug.org 25
>  Trying 157.22.20.227...
>  telnet: Unable to connect to remote host: Connection refused
>  [rick at linuxmafia]
>  ~ $
>
>
> Oh-oh.  Understand that "Connection refused" most often doesn't
> _literally_ mean "refused", but rather "There was nothing there to
> answer."  So:

Since you could not telnet in you are going to try another method.
>
>  $ ssh rick at lists.svlug.org
>  rick at lists.svlug.org's password:
>  Last login: Fri Jul 17 15:30:48 2009 from 64.186.171.234
>  Linux svlug.svlug.org 2.4.26-grsec2.0-marc1 #1 SMP Sun Apr 25 10:04:32
>  PDT 2004 i686 unknown unknown GNU/Linux
>

ssh worked to login

>  The Web pages are in /home/httpd/html/ .
>
>  Edit with:
>  co -l about.php
>  vim about.php
>  ci -u about.php
>
>  But what you really want is "evim about.php", which does the above and
>  more.
>                               ^^^^^^^^^^^^^^
>
>  rick at svlug:~$ sudo bash
>  Password:
>  root at svlug:~# ps auxw | grep exim
>  root      6155  0.0  0.1  1864  928 pts/0    S    13:53   0:00 grep exim
>  root at svlug:~#
>

After successfully logging in you checked if the MTA exim was running, it wasn't

I had to "man ps" as I use the UNIX options vs the BSD options.
I had not remembered "w" - wide.

>
> No MTA was running.  So, continuing my thought from yesterday, it's best
> to shut _all_ the mail-related processes down, make _sure_ (using "ps")
> that they're no longer running, and then start them up again, ending
> with exim4.
>
> First, to correct my note from yesterday, that does not include "spfd",
> as in fact there is no SPF daemon installed on this machine.  (I had
> misremembered:  My own server, which has a very similar but more modern
> software setup, does run that daemon.)
>

You are shutting down services in a certain order.
>
>  root at svlug:~# /etc/init.d/spamassassin stop
>  Stopping SpamAssassin Mail Filter Daemon: spamd.
>  root at svlug:~# ps auxw | grep spamd
>  root      6159  0.0  0.1  1852  928 pts/0    S    13:57   0:00 grep spamd
>  root at svlug:~# /etc/init.d/mailman stop
>  root at svlug:~# ps auxw | grep qrunner
>  mailman   9955  0.0  0.8  8208 4252 ?        D    Jul17   0:12 /usr/bin/python /var/local/mailman/bin/qrunner --runner=BounceRunner:0:1 -s
>  mailman   9956  0.0  0.7  7580 3864 ?        D    Jul17   0:10 /usr/bin/python /var/local/mailman/bin/qrunner --runner=CommandRunner:0:1 -s
>  mailman   9958  0.0  0.7  7188 3960 ?        D    Jul17   0:10 /usr/bin/python /var/local/mailman/bin/qrunner --runner=NewsRunner:0:1 -s
>  root      6163  0.0  0.1  1824  956 pts/0    R    13:57   0:00 grep qrunner
>  root at svlug:~#
>
> Mailman's qrunner, being a big honkin' Python process, takes a while to
> shut down.  So, we wait a few seconds, and then check again:
>
>  root at svlug:~# ps auxw | grep qrunner
>  root      6165  0.0  0.1  1876  916 pts/0    S    13:57   0:00 grep qrunner
>  root at svlug:~#
>

You stopped the services in this order:
spamassassin
mailman

You checked that spamassassin had stopped by grepping spamd
You checked that mailman had stopped by grepping qrunner

> OK, everything's verified to be shut down.  Now, restart:
>
>  root at svlug:~# /etc/init.d/mailman start
>  root at svlug:~# /etc/init.d/spamassassin start
>  Starting SpamAssassin Mail Filter Daemon: spamd.
>  root at svlug:~# /etc/init.d/exim4 start
>  Starting MTA: exim4.
>  root at svlug:~#
>

You restarted processes in a certain order:
mailman
spamassassin
exim4

> Check the process table:
>
>  root at svlug:~# ps auxw | egrep 'exim4|spamd|qrunner'
>  mailman   6169  0.2  1.1  7092 6036 ?        S    14:03   0:00 /usr/bin/python /var/local/mailman/bin/qrunner --runner=ArchRunner:0:1 -s
>  mailman   6170  0.3  1.1  7060 6048 ?        S    14:03   0:00 /usr/bin/python /var/local/mailman/bin/qrunner --runner=BounceRunner:0:1 -s
>  mailman   6171  0.2  1.1  7072 6044 ?        S    14:03   0:00 /usr/bin/python /var/local/mailman/bin/qrunner --runner=CommandRunner:0:1 -s
>  mailman   6172  0.2  1.1  7092 6044 ?        S    14:03   0:00 /usr/bin/python /var/local/mailman/bin/qrunner --runner=IncomingRunner:0:1 -s
>  mailman   6173  0.2  1.1  7180 6080 ?        S    14:03   0:00 /usr/bin/python /var/local/mailman/bin/qrunner --runner=NewsRunner:0:1 -s
>  mailman   6174  0.4  1.3  7808 6932 ?        S    14:03   0:00 /usr/bin/python /var/local/mailman/bin/qrunner --runner=OutgoingRunner:0:1 -s
>  mailman   6175  0.2  1.1  7084 6040 ?        S    14:03   0:00 /usr/bin/python /var/local/mailman/bin/qrunner --runner=VirginRunner:0:1 -s
>  mailman   6176  0.3  1.3  7616 6704 ?        S    14:03   0:00 /usr/bin/python /var/local/mailman/bin/qrunner --runner=RetryRunner:0:1 -s
>  nobody    6180  1.5  5.5 28784 28320 ?       S    14:04   0:01 /usr/sbin/spamd --username=nobody --max-children 32 --helper-home-dir=/var/spool/spamassassin/ --nouser-config -d --pidfile=/var/spool/spamassassin/spamd.pid
>  nobody    6181  0.0  5.5 28784 28320 ?       S    14:04   0:00 spamd child
>  nobody    6182  0.0  5.5 28784 28320 ?       S    14:04   0:00 spamd child
>  nobody    6183  0.0  5.5 28784 28320 ?       S    14:04   0:00 spamd child
>  nobody    6184  0.0  5.5 28784 28320 ?       S    14:04   0:00 spamd child
>  nobody    6185  0.0  5.5 28784 28320 ?       S    14:04   0:00 spamd child
>  nobody    6186  0.0  5.5 28784 28320 ?       S    14:04   0:00 spamd child
>  nobody    6187  0.0  5.5 28784 28320 ?       S    14:04   0:00 spamd child
>  nobody    6188  0.0  5.5 28784 28320 ?       S    14:04   0:00 spamd child
>  nobody    6189  0.0  5.5 28784 28320 ?       S    14:04   0:00 spamd child
>  nobody    6190  0.0  5.5 28784 28320 ?       S    14:04   0:00 spamd child
>  nobody    6191  0.0  5.5 28784 28320 ?       S    14:04   0:00 spamd child
>  nobody    6192  0.0  5.5 28784 28320 ?       S    14:04   0:00 spamd child
>  nobody    6193  0.0  5.5 28784 28320 ?       S    14:04   0:00 spamd child
>  nobody    6194  0.0  5.5 28784 28320 ?       S    14:04   0:00 spamd child
>  nobody    6195  0.0  5.5 28784 28320 ?       S    14:04   0:00 spamd child
>  nobody    6196  0.0  5.5 28784 28320 ?       S    14:04   0:00 spamd child
>  nobody    6197  0.0  5.5 28784 28320 ?       S    14:04   0:00 spamd child
>  nobody    6198  0.0  5.5 28784 28320 ?       S    14:04   0:00 spamd child
>  nobody    6199  0.0  5.5 28784 28320 ?       S    14:04   0:00 spamd child
>  nobody    6200  0.0  5.5 28784 28320 ?       S    14:04   0:00 spamd child
>  nobody    6201  0.0  5.5 28784 28320 ?       S    14:04   0:00 spamd child
>  nobody    6202  0.0  5.5 28784 28320 ?       S    14:04   0:00 spamd child
>  nobody    6203  0.0  5.5 28784 28320 ?       S    14:04   0:00 spamd child
>  nobody    6204  0.0  5.5 28784 28320 ?       S    14:04   0:00 spamd child
>  nobody    6205  0.0  5.5 28784 28320 ?       S    14:04   0:00 spamd child
>  nobody    6206  0.0  5.5 28784 28320 ?       S    14:04   0:00 spamd child
>  nobody    6207  0.0  5.5 28784 28320 ?       S    14:04   0:00 spamd child
>  nobody    6208  0.0  5.5 28784 28320 ?       S    14:04   0:00 spamd child
>  nobody    6209  0.0  5.5 28784 28320 ?       S    14:04   0:00 spamd child
>  nobody    6210  0.0  5.5 28784 28320 ?       S    14:04   0:00 spamd child
>  nobody    6211  0.0  5.5 28784 28320 ?       S    14:04   0:00 spamd child
>  nobody    6212  0.0  5.5 28784 28320 ?       S    14:04   0:00 spamd child
>  111       6412  0.0  0.8  9508 4336 ?        S    14:04   0:00 /usr/sbin/exim4 -bd -q30m
>  root      6476  0.0  0.1  1860  988 pts/0    S    14:05   0:00 egrep exim4|spamd|qrunner
>  root at svlug:~#
>

You verified the processes had started.

Why are there so many "spamd child" processes? How many should be
expected to start?

>
> Last, repeat the delivery test that failed before -- and verify that
> Mailman processed the mail thus delivered:
>
> rick at linuxmafia]
> ~ $ telnet lists.svlug.org 25
> Trying 157.22.20.227...
> Connected to lists.svlug.org.
> Escape character is '^]'.
> 220 svlug.org ESMTP Exim 4.44 #1 Sat, 18 Jul 2009 14:09:56 -0700 - mm9
> HELO linuxmafia.com
> 250 svlug.org Hello linuxmafia.com [198.144.195.186]
> MAIL FROM: <rick at linuxmafia.com>
> 250 OK
> RCPT TO: <test at lists.svlug.org>
> 250 Accepted
> DATA
> 354 Enter message, ending with "." on a line by itself
> From: rick at linuxmafia.com
> To: test at lists.svlug.org
> Subject: Test of July 18, 2009, #1
>
> Test #1.
> .
> 250 OK id=1MSHAx-0001ui-3J
>
>


You successfully telneted in and sucessfully sent a message.

> Checking via the Web archive, one sees the test post at
> http://lists.svlug.org/archives/test/2009-July/000071.html .
>
>
> By the way, I _really_ hope that a few people are actually bothering to
> follow these explanatory postings, so that we achieve some semblance of
> collective understanding of how to maintain and debug SVLUG's network
> daemons.  Would anyone care to improve my day by saying "Thanks, Rick.
> That was really clear, and I think I could handle that myself, next time
> it comes up."  Or "Why does you use ps auxw?  What's that all about?"
> Or _something_.
>

Thank you Rick. I saved this off so I can refer to it and potentially
do it next time.

> It increasingly seems as if I'm not getting anywhere with teaching our
> volunteers, and nobody's ever bothering to even check our critical
> services other than me.

I profusely apologize for taking your time and fine instructions on
how to edit the files to keep the SVLUG website up to date and *not*
keeping the SVLUG website up to date. I will update the files after
the August meeting.

Darlene Wallach




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