I can Ping it but the I cannot open the Web server or File Server.

I have a Linux box that is set up to take ascii from a serial port and convert it to a PDF file as well as send it to a USB connected printer. (It is an IPCAS RS 232 Printer Convertor. Ipcas was bought by DATA RESPONS and they no longer make this device.)

Four days ago the user found that the unit was not creating pdf files or printing to the printer. They could Ping the unit but when they tried to open the units Web server or access the file server there was no response. They did see a message at the start that said that the ROOT user was logged in or something like this. Also for what it is worth there is a USB drive connected to the unit that stores the files.

I had him power it down and back up and the unit returned to normal operation.

My customer wants to know what might have caused this behavior and I am asking for help.

I am out of my element. I don't know whether to start looking at software or hardware and I also cannot rule out that somebody may have logged into the system or may have had physical access.

This is all the info I have. I know it is pretty general but if you have any ideas on what 'might' have reasonably caused this type behavior, I would be very grateful.

Originally Posted by Tinkerman My customer wants to know what might have caused this behavior and I am asking for help.

gremlins

Sometimes shit needs to be turned off|on.
I never tell my customers what was the cause was,
1.)They won't understand,
2) adds to everyone's work to have to explain, then decipher, then educate them.

Some Resources:
http://www.inetdaemon.com/tutorials/...g_is_not.shtml
https://isc.sans.edu/forums/diary/Pi...metimes/11335/

Too many variables. You could look at logs maybe. If you had the thing broken then you could have used some programs or diags to see what might have gone wrong.

Good advice from both Habitual and jefro.

Tell your customers that you'll have to wait until it happens again to identify the problem, since there is no problem now.
Point out how long it has worked without problems, that this has never happened before, etc. (If those are both good things to point out)
Mysteries do happen. Habitual's points are excellent, even if you DO know the cause.