[Xymon] fping error code 4 [Resolved]

[Vernon Everett]

Hi all

Well, it's been 48 hours now, without an incident.
Seems that not all fpings are created equal.

I did install the OpenCSW fping when I installed Xymon. The the install
script defaults to using the last instance of fping it finds, and looks for
the OpenCSW fping last.
>From build/fping.sh
        echo "Checking for fping ..."

        for DIR in / /usr /usr/local /opt /usr/pkg /opt/csw
        do
                if test "$DIR" = "/"; then DIR=""; fi

                if test -x $DIR/bin/fping
                then
                        FPING=$DIR/bin/fping
                elif test -x $DIR/sbin/fping
                then
                        FPING=$DIR/sbin/fping
                fi
        done

I would have expected this to default to the OpenCSW version of fping.

So what went wrong?
My recollection of the install is poor, but It is possible that I ran the
configure script as Xymon user, and had only set the suid bit on
/usr/local/sbin/fping, meaning that
test -x $DIR/bin/fping
would have failed for the OpenCSW version, defaulting to the fping in
/usr/local.
Of course, the script would have reported no errors, because it would have
met all requirements. An executable fping.

*Solution *: Make sure that Xymon is using the OpenCSW fping, as defined by
the FPING= variable in ~/server/etc/xymonserver.cfg
*Prevention 1 *: When running configure at install time, use the --fping
option to explicitly define which fping to use.
*Prevention 2* : Make sure you set the suid bit on ALL instances of fping.

Regards
Vernon

On 15 January 2013 08:27, Vernon Everett <everett.vernon at gmail.com> wrote:

> Hi all
>
> "TIME SPENT" is showing the odd spike now and then, but the highest I have
> seen is 9.8 seconds.
> And these peaks do not coincide with the fping issues.
>
> I did a little more research, and discovered 2 instances of fping.
> #  /opt/csw/sbin/fping -v
> /opt/csw/sbin/fping: Version 2.4b2_to $Date: 2002/01/16 00:33:42 $
> /opt/csw/sbin/fping: comments to david at remote.net
>
> # /usr/local/sbin/fping -v
> /usr/local/sbin/fping: Version 3.0
> /usr/local/sbin/fping: comments to david at schweikert.ch
>
> /opt/csw/sbin/fping is the one I installed recently using OpenCSW's
> pkgutil, but the Xymon config was pointing to /usr/local/sbin/fping
> I have switched the FPING= definition in ~/server/etc/xymonserver.cfg to
> point to the OpenCSW version.
> Let's see if this improves matters.
>
> Regards
> Vernon
>
>
>
>
> On 11 January 2013 08:16, Jeremy Laidman <jlaidman at rebel-it.com.au> wrote:
>
>> I think the key here is the "select".  To me, this suggests that the
>> select() system call (which is used to read data on STDIN from xymonnet) is
>> trying to get data from a closed socket, or a similar problem.  I wonder if
>> fping, which is run from xymonnet, is sometimes taking so long to run, and
>> eventually xymonlaunch is killing xymonnet.
>>
>> By default, xymonlaunch (in tasks.cfg) kills xymonnet after 5 minutes,
>> but xymonnetagain is killed off after only 1 minute.  So if you have a lot
>> of hosts that are uncontactable, or have long ping times, then this might
>> add up to a minute.
>>
>> To confirm this, check out the "xymonnet" dot on your Xymon server, and
>> look at the "TIME SPENT" table for ping test duration.
>>
>> J
>>
>>
>>
>> On 10 January 2013 17:12, Vernon Everett <everett.vernon at gmail.com>wrote:
>>
>>> Hi all
>>>
>>> Anybody seen something like this?
>>>
>>> Execution of '/usr/local/sbin/fping -Ae' failed with error-code 4
>>>
>>>
>>>
>>> /usr/local/sbin/fping: select : Invalid argument
>>>
>>> Error I see when xymonnet page goes red.
>>> At the same time, all conn tests go white.
>>> Happens briefly every few hours. No obvious pattern, but at least once a
>>> day, sometimes twice.
>>>
>>> This is a new installation of Xymon 4.3.10, on a relatively old Solaris
>>> 10 Sparc server.
>>>
>>> Regards
>>> Vernon
>>>
>>> --
>>> "Accept the challenges so that you can feel the exhilaration of victory"
>>> - General George Patton
>>>
>>> _______________________________________________
>>> Xymon mailing list
>>> Xymon at xymon.com
>>> http://lists.xymon.com/mailman/listinfo/xymon
>>>
>>>
>>
>
>
> --
> "Accept the challenges so that you can feel the exhilaration of victory"
> - General George Patton
>



-- 
"Accept the challenges so that you can feel the exhilaration of victory"
- General George Patton
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