Problems with NXServer and Mandriva 2008.1

81bones · 08-25-2008, 08:38 PM

I am trying to install the remote desktop software from NoMachine NX on my Mandriva 2008.1 system and I'm running into some problems. I've installed the most recent rpms from the NX site:

nxserver-3.2.0-16
nxnode-3.2.0-13
nxclient-3.2.0-14

And everything appears to be configured correctly. When I attempt to connect to the system using an NX Client, everything starts working fine -- I even get the KDE splashscreen and a glimpse of my desktop. But right after the desktop shows up everything crashes. The desktop goes away and the NX Client displays an error message stating "The connection with the remote server was shut down." My /var/log/messages file shows the following:

Code:

root@computer /var/log # more messages
Aug 25 20:26:40 computer sshd[18680]: Accepted publickey for nx from XX.XXX.XXX.XX port 2575 ssh2
Aug 25 20:26:41 computer sshd[18718]: Accepted password for username from 127.0.0.1 port 52488 ssh2
Aug 25 20:26:41 computer NXSERVER-3.2.0-16[18683]: User 'username' logged in from 'XX.XXX.XXX.XX'. 'NXLogin::set'
Aug 25 20:26:43 computer NXSERVER-3.2.0-16[18683]: Selected node host:localhost with port:22 'main::selectNode'
Aug 25 20:26:43 computer NXSERVER-3.2.0-16[18683]: Current selected node: localhost is in status: running  'main::selectNode'
Aug 25 20:26:43 computer NXSERVER-3.2.0-16[18683]: Selected session type: unix-kde allowed in the profile of user: username 'NXShell::Static'
Aug 25 20:26:43 computer sshd[18723]: Accepted publickey for username from 127.0.0.1 port 52489 ssh2
Aug 25 20:26:47 computer NXSERVER-3.2.0-16[18683]: Session '5130CFC04A34C18D42BB8DA8D7C459A3' started by user 'username'. 'NXShell::handler_session_start'
Aug 25 20:26:47 computer NXSERVER-3.2.0-16[18683]: User 'username' from 'XX.XXX.XXX.XX' logged out. 'NXLogin::reset'
Aug 25 20:26:47 computer NXNODE-3.2.0-13[18726]: Using port '1002' on node 'computer' for session 'unix-kde'. Logger::log nxnode 6035
Aug 25 20:26:47 computer NXNODE-3.2.0-13[18726]: Using host from available host list: '192.168.0.5'. Logger::log nxnode 6036
Aug 25 20:27:01 computer kernel: nxagent[18938]: segfault at 00000010 eip 0806fc45 esp bf9e2f60 error 4
Aug 25 20:27:01 computer NXNODE-3.2.0-13[18726]: ERROR: Unexpected termination of nxagent because of signal: 11 Logger::log nxnode 3837
Aug 25 20:27:01 computer NXNODE-3.2.0-13[18726]: ERROR: run command: process: 18938 died because of signal: 11 Logger::log nxnode 3844
Aug 25 20:27:02 computer NXNODE-3.2.0-13[18944]: ERROR: Error when monitoring session: Unexpected termination of nxagent 'NXSessionMonitor::__setSessionStatus'
Aug 25 20:27:03 computer NXNODE-3.2.0-13[18944]: Directory '/home/username/.nx/C-computer-1002-5130CFC04A34C18D42BB8DA8D7C459A3' renamed into '/home/username/.nx/F-C-computer-1002-5130CFC04A34C18D42BB8DA8D7C459A3' for further investigation Logger::log nxnode 6215
Aug 25 20:27:03 computer NXNODE-3.2.0-13[18944]: session monitor: cleaning session files: removing '/tmp/.X11-unix/X1002' Logger::log nxnode 8795
Aug 25 20:27:03 computer NXNODE-3.2.0-13[18944]: session monitor: cleaning session files: removing '/tmp/.X1002-lock' Logger::log nxnode 8804
Aug 25 20:27:04 computer NXNODE-3.2.0-13[18726]: Session 'unix-kde' on port '1002' failed. Logger::log nxnode 6296
Aug 25 20:27:10 computer NXSERVER-3.2.0-16[18940]: ERROR: NXNodeExec: Cannot kill nxssh process: No such process 'NXNodeExec::exec'
Aug 25 20:27:10 computer NXSERVER-3.2.0-16[18940]: User 'username' from 'XX.XXX.XXX.XX' logged out. 'NXLogin::reset'

When it crashes it also creates a core dump file in my home directory. Has anyone encountered this or have any suggestions on what the problem is and how to fix it? Thanks!

1jnike · 09-12-2008, 09:13 AM

Hi 81bones,

I have never come across this issue, but checking your output, could this relate to some sort of licensing issue.

Just a thought!

Jnike

81bones · 09-16-2008, 09:29 PM

Quote:

I have never come across this issue, but checking your output, could this relate to some sort of licensing issue.

That is certainly a possibility. I had thought nx was totally free, but it wouldn't surprise me if I still needed to get a free license number like with vmware. I will check. Thanks.

81bones · 09-17-2008, 08:23 PM

After going through the documentation at the NX site, as far as I can tell, there's no licensing associated with this version of the software. I could be wrong, but the linux NX server, client, and node appear to be completely free ("free forever" as they say on the site) and there doesn't appear to be any licensing or registration involved. Since the error is a segfault, I'm at a loss. I know that NX works on earlier versions of Mandriva (2007, etc)...has anyone had any luck with it on 2008?

81bones · 09-18-2008, 10:17 PM

Ok so I managed to figure out part of my problem and just wanted to post it here in case someone else has a similar experience. I was able to log into my machine via nxclient using a new user account I set up, so my segfault problem was being caused by something in my normal desktop. I believe that it is related to xscreensaver as the segfault would always occur as I was logging in and the xscreensaver splash screen would appear. So there may be some incompatibility between nxagent and xscreensaver under certain configurations. My understanding is that nx is able to support the OpenGL glx library, but perhaps there are still some bugs. Anyway, if anyone experiences similar problems and you're running xscreensaver, you might try disabling it and seeing if the problem goes away.

And if anyone knows about this issue and has a workaround (other than turning off xscreensaver) that would be awesome.

81bones · 09-24-2008, 09:38 AM

Ok so it appears my previous assumption that xscreensaver was causing my nx sessions to crash during login is incorrect. After uninstalling xscreensaver and switching back to the KDE screensaver on my desktop, I am still encountering the same problem. However, since I am still able to successfully login via nx using different users, I still believe the problem is related to a program or setting that launches during login; perhaps something related to the window manager.

I am open to suggestions as to what this might be; does anyone know of any incompatibilities between nx and certain KDE settings, for example??

wy125 · 12-19-2008, 10:28 AM

81Bones,

I have been using NXServer for a while now (about 6 months) without issues. However, as of today I began to have the segfault error that you are having. I'm in the process of trying to find a solution and will post if I find something. I get the same core dumps in my user directory. I will post a fix if I find one. Have you had any luck?

81bones · 12-19-2008, 11:23 PM

Quote:

wy125: Have you had any luck?

Unfortunately no, I haven't been able to determine the exact cause of my crashes. I was able to get a little further with my detective work, however, and I came up with a work-around (although it's not a very good one) -- perhaps this will help you get to the bottom of your problem.

I was screwing around with the problem one day and found out that even though nx would crash every time I tried to log in using my regular account, I *was* able to log in using the account of another user on my system. The only reason I could come up with as to why this worked is that this other account (let's call it "johnq") was a fairly new and relatively unused account. My guess is that the crashes are related to the user's desktop: johnq's desktop is the default KDE desktop of a new user, whereas the desktop of my regular account has some hefty customization (different color and window schemes, transparency, etc). I haven't been able to figure out what custom desktop settings are causing the crashes (and again this is just a theory) but I haven't looked into it in awhile because I haven't needed to use nx as often and when I do I log in using johnq's account.

So here's my question for you: have you changed any of your window manager (or other desktop customization) settings recently? If so, what did you change? It may be to blame. If you haven't already done so, I would also check and see if you're able to do a successful nx login using a different user account. Hope this helps; good luck!

ernie · 12-20-2008, 01:00 AM

Your assumption that something in your regular user accounts configuration is at the root of your trouble with nx looks to me to be correct since you are able to log in from a new (not customized) account. I suggest you take one configuration item at a time from your regular user account and add it to your new (johnq) account until the johnq account's configuration matches your regular account's configuration. Make sure to check that you can still log in to nx following each change. At some point, you should become unable to log in. When you do, try reversing the configuration change you made immediately prior to being unable to log in, then see if you can again log in. If you can, note the configuration item, and continue checking until your johnq account configuration matches your regular account's configuration with the exception of any settings you have found to be at the root of your trouble. If you are able to configure the johnq account to match your regular account's configuration and you are still able to log in to nx, then something in your regular account's configuration (conjecture on my part) may be corrupted.

HTH,

wy125 · 12-21-2008, 09:37 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by 81bones

So here's my question for you: have you changed any of your window manager (or other desktop customization) settings recently? If so, what did you change? It may be to blame. If you haven't already done so, I would also check and see if you're able to do a successful nx login using a different user account. Hope this helps; good luck!

I do not recall changing anything but I may have.

I did create another user and indeed I could log in remotely on that account. What I did then is to backup my user account, deleted it, and then recreated it. I was able to log in again. I have not restored my configuration files completely yet. I'll try and see if I can figure out what the problem was using ernie's idea of copying my config files from the backup and see if I can recreate the problem.

Grimaldez · 01-07-2009, 11:11 AM

Let me push on the stack another one of these segfault, NX with FC10.

Best wishes

possum · 01-10-2009, 06:57 PM

Couple of things.....

NoMachine does not work with fancy 3d desktops running on the hosting server (the machine you want to connect to). It causes disconnects just like the original poster described. Als, the latest releases of NXNode and NXServer require the latest LSOF packages to satisfy depenencies. So ensuring your machine is up to date is critical.

mlaccetti · 02-22-2009, 06:05 PM

Similar things happen to me on my Gentoo server - I must have updated something, and suddenly it stopped working.

I can see two problems in logs:
1) Whenever I try to connect via SSH, the gnome-keyring-daemon spawns itself, and then complains about everything, then fails.
2) nxserver loves to segfault:

Code:

Feb 21 18:57:46 mulk nxserver[25860]: segfault at 600d ip 0000600d sp bfac269c error 14 in nxserver[8048000+692000]

lomion2 · 11-11-2009, 12:45 AM

I also experienced this bug. My error is

Code:

nxserver[10916]: segfault at 600d ip 0000600d sp bfac635c error 4 in nxserver[8048000+692000]

I discovered that I could get around this by deleting $home/.nx for the user trying to log in. Unfortunately the problem would come up again after any attempt to disconnect/suspect nxclient after a successful connection rather than simply terminating it. If I terminate the connection I can reconnect without a problem. If is suspend/disconnect I need to redelete $home/.nx before I can log in again.

I haven't been able to figure out what's causing the problem, but I also didn't have much time to investigate.

I'm running gentoo, with xfce and nxserver free edition 3.3.0.14