topic Re: Read Only FS in Operating System - Linux

Read Only FS

Duffs — Mon, 16 Nov 2009 11:43:38 GMT

Hi,

I have got a root file system running in read-only mode. It is a VMware (2.5) server running Linux Red Hat AS4 .

A reboot resolves the issue in the short-term but only for a few days before it reverts back to read-only mode again. I have applied the latest kernel patch but this did not resolve the issue. There are no errors in the fstab and the following error occurs when trying to remount the FS:

# mount -o remount,rw /dev/sda1 /
mount: you must specify the filesystem type

It appears to be read write but as you can see from the other example this is not the case:
# mount -l
/dev/mapper/vg0-lvol00 on / type ext3 (rw) []

# rm httpd.pid
rm: remove regular file `httpd.pid'? y
rm: cannot remove `httpd.pid': Read-only file system

Regards,
D.

Re: Read Only FS

Steven E. Protter — Mon, 16 Nov 2009 14:24:00 GMT

Shalom,

This condition usually only comes about when there is a problem with the filesystem or the underlying disk.

The system should be booted in single user mode and fsck be run on the root file system.

You might wish to use vmware utilities to check the disk integrity of the virtual machine as well.

SEP

Re: Read Only FS

Tim Nelson — Mon, 16 Nov 2009 18:47:29 GMT

If SEP's thoughts do not lead to a solution then another thought...

Are you sure the OS is not crashing or someone is poweroffing the VM when you are not aware ?

who -b after the revert to RO might lead you somewhere.

Re: Read Only FS

Nuwan Alwis — Tue, 17 Nov 2009 03:08:43 GMT

Hi Duffs
I am also with SEP, This indicates there is a problem with your file system intrgrity. and i also suggest to do a fsck on the / file system. better you take backups before you do any thing.

Good Luck...!
NJ

Re: Read Only FS

Duffs — Tue, 17 Nov 2009 08:48:57 GMT

Hi lads thanks for the suggestions but appently this is a known bug in VMWare. I had applied kernel patch update 4 but VMWare recommend patch update 5 for my version of software. Applied the patch and performed a reboot and all looks good so far.
The following link is very useful:
http://kb.vmware.com/selfservice/microsites/search.do?language=en_US&cmd=displayKC&externalId=51306