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Date:      Tue, 9 Sep 2014 18:12:50 -0400
From:      Mark Saad <nonesuch@longcount.org>
To:        Charles Sprickman <spork@bway.net>
Cc:        freebsd-stable Stable <freebsd-stable@FreeBSD.ORG>
Subject:   Re: VMware and 8.4 known issues?
Message-ID:  <EF855A49-A05B-486C-9A8A-51F6029AC390@longcount.org>
In-Reply-To: <F579DFF7-B150-40A4-B494-BFC6014D5524@bway.net>
References:  <F579DFF7-B150-40A4-B494-BFC6014D5524@bway.net>

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> On Sep 9, 2014, at 2:56 PM, Charles Sprickman <spork@bway.net> wrote:
>=20
> Hello,
>=20
> I have about a dozen FreeBSD 8.4 VMs running on a pair of ESXi
> (5.0.0, build 469512) boxes.  Generally, I have not had any problems
> with this configuration.  However one particular VM, which is
> running the same kernel and same VMware settings as the other VMs
> has paniced twice in the past few months.
>=20
> I do not have a core dump, but both times a message regading the
> CD-ROM device was logged shortly before the panic:
>=20
> Sep 9 08:50:56 shellvm kernel: ata1: WARNING - READ_TOC read data
> overrun 18>12
>=20
> Prior to the panic, the only thing Ive observed via my normal nagios
> checks was that snmp and other network services became unavailable
> and ping times to the host became very erratic, jumping from a few
> ms to 800ms+.  After the panic, the VM is locked up hard and
> consuming copious amounts of CPU.
>=20
> Looking around I see two things of note:
>=20
> https://communities.vmware.com/message/1876880 (suggests it=E2=80=99s an
> issue with FreeBSDs CD-ROM handling)
>=20
> http://freebsd.1045724.n5.nabble.com/Re-kern-150186-parallels-panic-Parall=
els-Desktop-CDROM-disconnected-leads-to-panic-eventually-td4114484.html
> (also suggests CD issues)
>=20

I dropped the CDROM as it's also caused a weird issues were sysinstall would=
 not find any daN devices if both were present . This was only an issue when=
 using sysinstall to jumpstart a box.=20


> This thread also ends with Ivan Voras stating "I'd say it's 'well
> known' - at least the panic also happens on VMWare, and has been
> happening for many years.
>=20
> Ill try the suggested fix of completely removing the CD-ROM device
> (its currently in the device list, but is not connected), but Im
> curious if theres any reference Ive missed regarding known VMware
> issues and/or best practices.  Ill be sure to grab a console
> screenshot if it happens again, I have little hope of getting a dump
> though, as it seems the whole IO system is locked up.
>=20
> Thanks,
>=20
> Charles
>=20

Also try to set the event timer to acpi-fast or acpi-safe . It's a sysctl na=
med something like kern.timecounter.choice . There is a buggy emulated hpet i=
n some versions on esxi that kill the clock on FreeBSD and Linux . There is a=
 kb on how to fix the issue dr Linux boxes circa 2011 .=20
=20
--
Mark saad | mark.saad@longcount.org=20

> -- Charles Sprickman NetEng/SysAdmin Bway.net - New York's Best
> Internet www.bway.net spork@bway.net - 212.982.9800
>=20



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