Running Cobbler on CentOS Machine Hangs

odbod · 11-16-2010, 01:19 PM

I've tried IRC channels for CentOS and Cobbler and have yet to get the help I need for my current issue.

Using the EPEL Repository, I went in and installed Cobbler to my DHCP/Gateway box. Everything went smoothly on the installation front. I went ahead and modified the cobbler settings file (/etc/cobbler/settings) to point to my server IP (same box), and then got tftp running properly. Now here's the problem.

Normally, you need to run `cobbler check` to find issues and correct them. I run that, and all I get is blank. Nothing. It just hangs at the prompt until I kill it using CTRL+C. When I CTRL+C from the hanging, it states "cobblerd does not appear to be running/accessible"...

Code:

[root@PalaceRedirect ~]# service cobblerd status
cobblerd (pid 6991) is running...
[root@PalaceRedirect ~]#

A friend who uses Red Hat Enterprise Linux 5.5 has everything running smoothly, and he went into my machine and did the same steps he did on his own system, starting over from what I did. Still, same issue. Just sits there and hangs.

So, I went ahead and did strace -p (pid) on the PID that had cobbler running. And this is what I would get...

Code:

[root@PalaceRedirect tmp]# strace -p 6991
Process 6991 attached - interrupt to quit
accept(17,

...

[root@PalaceRedirect tmp]# strace -p 7011
Process 7011 attached - interrupt to quit
connect(3, {sa_family=AF_INET, sin_port=htons(25151), sin_addr=inet_addr("127.0.0.1")}, 16

I can't seem to decipher what's happening right here.

Perhaps someone can point my in the right direction, because I'm really stumped.

Code:

[root@PalaceRedirect tmp]# getenforce
Permissive

szboardstretcher · 11-16-2010, 01:47 PM

Obviously this is a temporary test. You should undo any of these steps if you'd like to keep things the way they are.

You can look up on Centos site how to do these things:

Disable IP6
Disable iptables / ip6tables
Disable selinux completely
Reboot
Make sure your hostname is set
/etc/hosts should list your actual ip address and hostname on a seperate line
Set your cobbler config to point at the IP address, not 127.0.0.1

odbod · 11-16-2010, 02:08 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by szboardstretcher

Obviously this is a temporary test. You should undo any of these steps if you'd like to keep things the way they are.

You can look up on Centos site how to do these things:

Disable IP6
Disable iptables / ip6tables
Disable selinux completely
Reboot
Make sure your hostname is set
/etc/hosts should list your actual ip address and hostname on a seperate line
Set your cobbler config to point at the IP address, not 127.0.0.1

IPv6 already disabled.
Iptables is for my firewall. This box is my gateway to the internet. Disabling this will prevent access for all systems on my network to the internet, as well as leave my machine open to the internet. However, disabling it temporarily allows the cobbler check to run promptly.
Hostname is already set. /etc/hosts already has my actual IP address to my hostname.
My cobbler configuration already points to the correct IP address.

I've now disabled selinux, rebooted. Same issue while iptables is on.

szboardstretcher · 11-16-2010, 02:23 PM

If cobbler check runs fine when iptables is off, then iptables must be the issue.

Sounds like you are going to have to modify your iptables rules to let Cobbler run locally.

http://www.redhat.com/docs/en-US/Red...-reqs-security

odbod · 11-16-2010, 02:28 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by szboardstretcher

If cobbler check runs fine when iptables is off, then iptables must be the issue.

Sounds like you are going to have to modify your iptables rules to let Cobbler run locally.

http://www.redhat.com/docs/en-US/Red...-reqs-security

I've gone through and added the proper ports. I've already had port 80 on, so that isn't an issue. I can access my server fine from a web browser. Going through and adding the ports ends up yielding me this:

Code:

httpd does not appear to be running and proxying cobbler

odbod · 11-16-2010, 05:57 PM

Solved: It seems that '-A INPUT -i lo -j ACCEPT' was nowhere to be found in my iptables rules. I'm not sure why it wasn't in there anymore.

unSpawn · 11-16-2010, 07:53 PM

Good to see you fixed things. Just don't forget to re-enable SELinux and any other features you disabled for testing purposes.