[SOLVED] CentOS fails to finish booting

brother.gabriel · 05-19-2012, 04:42 PM

Salvete! I have a CentOS 2.6 system that I am setting up as a server. I think the system updated the kernel and now it won't complete the boot process.

When I installed the OS, I installed the GUI too, because I am still learning, and it helps. However, when I have everything ready, I will change the boot options to skip the GUI.

At any rate, my problem is that it won't finish booting now. Here is the readout that I get if I escape out of the splash screen:

Code:

Calling the system activity data collector (sadc): Cannot open /var/log/sa/sa19: Permission denied
Starting Monitoring....  [OK]
ip6tables...  [OK]
Bringing up Loopback interface:  [OK]
Starting auditd: [FAILED]
Starting portreserve: [OK]
Starting system logger:   _

Now, I *am* able to boot to level 1, but not to level 3. So I booted to level 1 and
restarted with bootlevel1 and ran chmod 740 -R /var/log/sa
no dice.

Also did chmod 740 -R /var/log/audit
no dice.

This thread is related, but didn't help: http://www.linuxquestions.org/questi...n-boot-846100/

What do I do now? What other clues can I provide for y'all?

unSpawn · 05-20-2012, 06:18 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by brother.gabriel

I think the system updated the kernel

With respect to this computing is binary, there is no need for "thinking", "guessing" or "worrying": you can check if the kernel was updated or not by reading whatever log file Yum(-updatesd?) logs to (usually syslog) by booting into runlevel 1 and 'less /var/log/messages'.

Quote:

Originally Posted by brother.gabriel

When I installed the OS, I installed the GUI too, because I am still learning, and it helps. However, when I have everything ready, I will change the boot options to skip the GUI.

Kinda OT but a server rarely requires X server, a Desktop Environment and graphical interface tools. Installing those packages pulls in a myriad of dependencies, adds to maintenance, running it requires resources and exposes the server more in terms of risk than strictly necessary. My suggestion would be to remove any packages you don't need now: you can always install them later on.
* While you're at it please do invest time reading the documentation Centos comes with and properly harden the machine. Once waste passed through the bowels starts hitting devices for creating currents of air your investment will show you it was worth it.

Quote:

Originally Posted by brother.gabriel

Code:

Calling the system activity data collector (sadc): Cannot open /var/log/sa/sa19: Permission denied

What does 'ls -alZ /var/log/sa/sa19; ls -aldZ /var/log/sa /var/log /var' return?
And 'audit2allow < /var/log/audit/audit.log' if the audit service is enabled?

Quote:

Originally Posted by brother.gabriel

Starting system logger: _[/CODE]

From this we can't see what's going on under the hood. Please boot into runlevel 1 and 'less /var/log/messages'.

brother.gabriel · 05-20-2012, 10:57 AM

Thanks for answering, unSpawn. If I reinstall the OS without the GUI, will I miss out on anything, considering I plan to use the machine to host Asterisk? On our old 2.4 CentOS, we had the GUI, but back then you could use the GUI for configuring more things, such as SAMBA and SUDO. In 2.6, the GUI does not come with that configuration, and it has to be done via CLI, anyway. When you say "myriad of dependencies, ...maintenance, and resources", I think you got me. If I won't miss anything in Asterisk (FreePBX, perhaps) then I'll do away with the GUI. What do you think?

brother.gabriel · 05-20-2012, 01:07 PM

Oh, never mind all that now. I reinstalled it. Thanks!

unSpawn · 05-21-2012, 10:58 AM

Well that was a quick decision ;-p
Please mark the thread solved.

brother.gabriel · 05-21-2012, 11:23 AM

Sorry - couldn't wait! Thanks, however - I appreciate your help and attention. Thread marked.