Server rebooting

[rccmum]

Hello all,

I am new to Linux. We have an IBM x-345 server running RHEL 3 connected to fastt600 box. It just reboots often by every 2 hrs or so for an unknown reason. Can some give me an advice what and where I should look for to know the cause of the problem?

I checked messages, dmesg,boot file but no show of what's caused the reboot (;

Thanks in advance

[Jeeshan]

did u check /var/log/boot.log?

[T G Manikandan]

check /var/log/messages

[rccmum]

Yes, I did check both the files and I don't see anything related to cause of the reboot.
Looks usual messages to me. Should I look for some specific information there?

Where else I can look and what else I can do?
crash dump analysis possible?

I guess there should be some kernel message maybe panic but not sure where I can see that messages which migh have logged somewhere just before reboot?

Since it's rebooting again and again and if I want to capture any console messages how can I do that?

[Vitaly Karasik_1]

I suggest to start from run some test for CPU/memory and other hardware.
MAny linux liveCD contain these tools, for example SystemRescueCD.

[Joakim Brosten]

Hi rccmum,

Another way of checkin is by "trial and error" booting the server through runlevel 1,2,3,and 5. (See "man init")
Is it working on level 1? OK go to init 2 to start networking. Init 3 starts networking services like NFS, NIS, user login, etc. Finally, init 5 starts the X server and local GUI.
If the rebooting is caused by OS or software, you might see what causes the error by this. Is it hardware error, you might figure out the reason by matching which hardware that is configured in which runlevel.
Good luck, /Joakim

[Venilton Junior]

Guess that the problem refers to three letters, IBM :P

But try to check if you have a reboot command from your system or the system just reboots.

If just rebooting, try to check your firmware or any hardware log for your IBM server.

Regards

[rccmum]

Thank you all for the replies.

It looks like after replacing the primary p/s of the server, the server is stable since last few hours. I was hoping to find some clue somewhere in the system logs etc. Apparently issues with p/s can't be trapped by OS kernel but sure does by the server management processor/Light Path Diagnostics. The symptoms might in-variably change with such issues.