From owner-freebsd-questions Thu Jan 2 18:26: 9 2003 Delivered-To: freebsd-questions@freebsd.org Received: from mx1.FreeBSD.org (mx1.freebsd.org [216.136.204.125]) by hub.freebsd.org (Postfix) with ESMTP id 3C43637B401 for ; Thu, 2 Jan 2003 18:26:07 -0800 (PST) Received: from tomts25-srv.bellnexxia.net (tomts25.bellnexxia.net [209.226.175.188]) by mx1.FreeBSD.org (Postfix) with ESMTP id 3A97043EC5 for ; Thu, 2 Jan 2003 18:26:06 -0800 (PST) (envelope-from matt@gsicomp.on.ca) Received: from gabby.gsicomp.on.ca ([65.95.187.110]) by tomts25-srv.bellnexxia.net (InterMail vM.5.01.04.19 201-253-122-122-119-20020516) with ESMTP id <20030103022604.JQKW23740.tomts25-srv.bellnexxia.net@gabby.gsicomp.on.ca>; Thu, 2 Jan 2003 21:26:04 -0500 Received: from hermes (hermes.gsicomp.on.ca [192.168.0.18]) by gabby.gsicomp.on.ca (8.12.6/8.12.6) with SMTP id h032OKk5000917; Thu, 2 Jan 2003 21:24:20 -0500 (EST) (envelope-from matt@gsicomp.on.ca) Message-ID: <005401c2b2cf$6ef01f40$1200a8c0@gsicomp.on.ca> From: "Matthew Emmerton" To: "Brian Astill" , "Derrick Ryalls" Cc: , "Michael K. Smith" References: <002201c2b2c2$6f49c3e0$0200a8c0@bartxp> <3E14F3D4.6010803@adam.com.au> Subject: Re: Sendmail waiting? Date: Thu, 2 Jan 2003 21:25:49 -0500 MIME-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: text/plain; charset="iso-8859-1" Content-Transfer-Encoding: 7bit X-Priority: 3 X-MSMail-Priority: Normal X-Mailer: Microsoft Outlook Express 6.00.2800.1106 X-MimeOLE: Produced By Microsoft MimeOLE V6.00.2800.1106 Sender: owner-freebsd-questions@FreeBSD.ORG Precedence: bulk List-ID: List-Archive: (Web Archive) List-Help: (List Instructions) List-Subscribe: List-Unsubscribe: X-Loop: FreeBSD.ORG > >>My silly system ... Using 4.6 RELEASE, 1.1G Athlon ABit KT7A VIA > >>chipset - running FVCool permanently in idle mode to maintain > >>CPU cool > >>temperature. The really silly bit is ... > >> > >>I don't switch off every day, but I have noticed that, on restart, > >>loading sometimes waits "for ever" at "installing standard daemons" > >>sendmail. Last night the wait was 2 full minutes, and the effect was > >>for me not to be able to get X and worse - "getty repeating > >>too fast - > >>sleeping for 30 seconds" During that sleep, I could work from the > >>console normally, but then the screen blanked and fluttered > >>for several > >>seconds before the sleeping phase was again reimposed. > >> > >>This morning - not expecting too much - I switched on and this time > >>loading swept past sendmail without delay and everything is working > >>normally again. > >> > >>I do not propose to switch off for some time. :-) > >> > >>Q1. Can anyone suggest any explanation for the sendmail-wait problem > >>and subsequent horrors? > >>Q2. I am cvsupping and ready to update to the latest stable. > >> Is this sound, and is it in any way likely to resolve my problem with > >>v 4.6 RELEASE? > >> > >My experience is that if your network goes down or DNS cannot easily > >resolve your name, sendmail will pause for a bit. I believe installing > >a caching(sp) name server on the box will probably help out. I cannot > >remember the command to install it, so check the archives, but it is > >really simple. > > > > Michael K. Smith wrote: > > > >> Whenever I see that hang on sendmail it is due to a network > >> failure. Usually the machine cannot contact its IP default gateway. > > > Thanks, guys - but why would this be an intermittent problem? And - why > would it affect my access to X? The Good Lord knows what was going on > last night with the repeating getty! :-) > > Everything is just fine, now - my real problem is how can I keep it that > way? That of course requires my identifying the cause. > One clue - I recently went broadband with an ADSL modem and that modem > is set up as my default gateway. It is a Netcomm NB1300. > > That caching name server idea sounds good. I will have a search on FBSD > org for that. That still wouldn't identify the cause, though. :-( I assume that your ADSL provider uses PPPoE -- how to you fire up your PPP interface at boot? I do this in /etc/rc.conf, which forces ppp to establish a connection before progressing with the boot, which means that the net connection is up by the time sendmail is started: # PPP ppp_enable="YES" ppp_profile="HSE" ppp_mode="ddial" -- Matt Emmerton To Unsubscribe: send mail to majordomo@FreeBSD.org with "unsubscribe freebsd-questions" in the body of the message