Documentation for kvm guest text console setup troubleshooting

[samveen]

I am unable to connect to the text console of my VMs using rcons. I expect I am missing some node/vmhost related attributes, but I cannot figure it out.

My environment is as below. xCAT version and type:

[samveen@xcatmn1 ~]$ lsxcatd -v
Version 2.13.7 (git commit 9ec6d0c0cce9f61a078a4dcd044927f5a65a606f, built Fri Sep 22 02:16:45 EDT 2017)
[samveen@xcatmn1 ~]$ lsxcatd -t
This is a Management Node

VM group attributes:

[samveen@xcatmn1 ~]$ lsdef -t group vm |grep -v members
Object name: vm
    addkcmdline=console=tty0 console=ttyS0,115200
    cons=kvm
    grouptype=static
    netboot=pxe
    serialport=0
    serialspeed=115200

rcons output:

[samveen@xcatmn1 ~]$ rcons vndc-vm-01691
[`vndc-vm-01691' -- console is down]
[Enter `^Ec?' for help]
[down -- use ^E c ? for help]
[disconnect]

I can connect to the console by running following command on the vmhost:

screen -U -a -O -d -R -A /dev/pts/0 115200

[zet809]

Hi, @samveen , can rpower vndc-vm-01691 state work?

[samveen]

@zet809 rpower works. Also the problem resolved by itself. I believe this happened because of log storage partition fill-up: We have an issue with log storage, where the log partition containing the log files filled up completely, because our log infrastructure was undergoing maintenance, and the xCAT server had to temporarily store logs.

However, this brings up 2 issues:

• Log rotation for consoles
• Letting consoles work despite failure in logging.

[zet809]

What about ssh -t <kvm_host> screen -U -a -O -e ^]a -d -R -S serial-vndc-vm-01691-cons -A /dev/pts/0 115200?

[samveen]

@zet809 As is said, consoles started working again once we fixed the log partition.

[zet809]

Hi, @chenglch , will gocons have the similar issue?

[chenglch]

@zet809 , goconserver could work despite failure in logging, but the log rotation has not been configured with xCAT , a script may be added at xcat-core side.

[samveen]

@chenglch @zet809 This is a request for documentation for troubleshooting VM consoles. It is not a request for any fixes.

[gurevichmark]

If documentation needs to be added, this might be a good location: http://xcat-docs.readthedocs.io/en/stable/guides/admin-guides/manage_clusters/ppc64le/virtual_machines/FAQ.html