Cinet PPI-600 - FreeBSD

Hardware info on main page.

History

2020-07-19: forensics - I put the disks from this machine in another machine, changed a few things, disabled unneeded services and booted it. It seems like it died 2019-09-25, based on log files etc.

2019-06-22: ad0s1a - reboot - unable to convince the machine to reconnect to the net, I rebooted it.

root@hog# ifconfig xl0
xl0: flags=8843<UP,BROADCAST,RUNNING,SIMPLEX,MULTICAST> mtu 1500
    options=8<VLAN_MTU>
    inet 10.1.10.100 netmask 0xffff0000 broadcast 10.1.255.255
    ether 00:60:08:e8:1e:30
    media: Ethernet 10baseT/UTP <full-duplex>
    status: active

until next time.

2019-04-07: ad0s1a - reboot - unable to convince the machine to reconnect to the net, I rebooted it.

root@hog# ifconfig xl0
xl0: flags=8843<UP,BROADCAST,RUNNING,SIMPLEX,MULTICAST> mtu 1500
    options=8<VLAN_MTU>
    inet 10.1.10.100 netmask 0xffff0000 broadcast 10.1.255.255
    ether 00:60:08:e8:1e:30
    media: Ethernet 10baseT/UTP <full-duplex>
    status: active

good - until next time.

2019-04-01: ad0s1a - network - not a joke, the machine had disconnected itself from the net again

Apr  1 16:26:53 hog kernel: xl0: watchdog timeout

ok.

2019-01-01: ad0s1a - network - the machine was off the net, I got this in /var/log/messages

Jan  1 12:51:12 hog kernel: xl0: watchdog timeout

took the interface down and up, but still couldn't ping anything, so I rebooted the machine.

root@hog# ifconfig xl0
xl0: flags=8843<UP,BROADCAST,RUNNING,SIMPLEX,MULTICAST> mtu 1500
    options=8<VLAN_MTU>
    inet 10.1.10.100 netmask 0xffff0000 broadcast 10.1.255.255
    ether 00:60:08:e8:1e:30
    media: Ethernet 10baseT/UTP <full-duplex>
    status: active

looks good now.

2017-10-15: ad0s1a - network - the machine was off the net, ifconfig output looked right, but the machine couldn't ping anything outside itself. setting interface down and up again, didn't help, nor restarting network interface. So I rebooted it. ifconfig now shows

root@hog# ifconfig xl0
xl0: flags=8843<UP,BROADCAST,RUNNING,SIMPLEX,MULTICAST> mtu 1500
    options=8<VLAN_MTU>
    inet 10.1.10.100 netmask 0xffff0000 broadcast 10.1.255.255
    ether 00:60:08:e8:1e:30
    media: Ethernet 10baseT/UTP <full-duplex>
    status: active

ok.

2017-04-01: ad0s1a - network - the machine was off the net, with xl0 half-duplex. Same problems as the last time; I rebooted the machine. After the reboot, everything is fine again:

root@hog# ifconfig xl0
xl0: flags=8843<UP,BROADCAST,RUNNING,SIMPLEX,MULTICAST> mtu 1500
    options=8<VLAN_MTU>
    inet 10.1.10.100 netmask 0xffff0000 broadcast 10.1.255.255
    ether 00:60:08:e8:1e:30
    media: Ethernet 10baseT/UTP <full-duplex>
    status: active

ok.

2016-08-25: uptime status:

root@hog# date;uptime
Thu Aug 25 22:56:38 CEST 2016
10:56PM  up 375 days, 10:50, 2 users, load averages: 0.00, 0.00, 0.00

ok.

2016-01-15: ad0s1a - tonight the server started swapping like crazy (old hard drives are easily heard when they start working a lot). I just shutdown the webserver (Apache):

root@hog# /usr/local/etc/rc.d/apache.sh stop

then reclaimed swap:

root@hog# swapoff -a && swapon -a

and started apache again

root@hog# /usr/local/etc/rc.d/apache.sh start

status:

root@hog# date;temp;swapinfo -h;echo " ";tvlm;echo " ";tvls;echo " ";df -h;echo " ";uptime;echo " ";ps ax | grep -v grep | grep ddc;ps ax | grep -v grep | grep smartd;ps ax | grep -v grep | grep natd;/usr/local/etc/rc.d/apache.sh status
Fri Jan 15 23:36:50 CET 2016
temp: not found
Device          1K-blocks     Used    Avail Capacity
/dev/ad0s1b       1048576       0B     1.0G     0%

Jan 15 23:02:30 hog kernel: pid 3170 (httpd), uid 80: exited on signal 6
Jan 15 23:02:46 hog kernel: pid 3184 (httpd), uid 80: exited on signal 6
Jan 15 23:10:42 hog kernel: pid 3138 (httpd), uid 80: exited on signal 6
Jan 15 23:11:13 hog kernel: pid 3130 (httpd), uid 80: exited on signal 6
Jan 15 23:15:14 hog kernel: pid 3189 (httpd), uid 80: exited on signal 6
Jan 15 23:15:35 hog kernel: pid 3134 (httpd), uid 80: exited on signal 6
Jan 15 23:17:21 hog kernel: pid 3121 (httpd), uid 80: exited on signal 6
Jan 15 23:17:37 hog login: ROOT LOGIN (root) ON ttyv0
Jan 15 23:19:57 hog kernel: pid 3253 (httpd), uid 80: exited on signal 6
Jan 15 23:22:09 hog kernel: pid 3251 (httpd), uid 80: exited on signal 6

Oct  4 23:09:13 hog newsyslog[442]: logfile first created

Filesystem     Size    Used   Avail Capacity  Mounted on
/dev/ad0s1a    496M     63M    393M    14%    /
devfs          1.0K    1.0K      0B   100%    /dev
/dev/ad0s1e    496M    418K    456M     0%    /tmp
/dev/ad0s1f    6.0G    3.0G    2.6G    54%    /usr
/dev/ad0s1d    1.3G     69M    1.1G     6%    /var
/dev/ad3s1e     73G     16G     52G    23%    /d2

11:36PM  up 152 days, 12:30, 2 users, load averages: 0.21, 0.09, 0.71

  707 con- S+    77:35.68 ddclient - sleeping for 40 seconds (perl)
  561  ??  S      0:07.74 /usr/local/sbin/smartd -p /var/run/smartd.pid -c /usr/local/etc/smartd.conf
apache is running as pid 3441.

it looks good now.

2015-11-29: ad0s1a - hard drive errors on ad0 increases. from /var/log/messages:

Nov 23 12:32:09 hog kernel: ad0: TIMEOUT - WRITE_DMA retrying (1 retry left) LBA=3522463
Nov 24 00:32:48 hog kernel: ad0: TIMEOUT - WRITE_DMA retrying (1 retry left) LBA=5404127
Nov 24 12:33:21 hog kernel: ad0: TIMEOUT - WRITE_DMA retrying (1 retry left) LBA=262463
Nov 25 00:34:05 hog kernel: ad0: TIMEOUT - WRITE_DMA retrying (1 retry left) LBA=3522367

smartctl still says the drive is ok:

root@hog# date;smartctl -H /dev/ad0
Sun Nov 29 14:01:07 CET 2015
smartctl version 5.38 [i386-portbld-freebsd6.2] Copyright (C) 2002-8 Bruce Allen
Home page is http://smartmontools.sourceforge.net/

=== START OF READ SMART DATA SECTION ===
SMART overall-health self-assessment test result: PASSED

and also ad3:

root@hog# smartctl -H /dev/ad3
smartctl version 5.38 [i386-portbld-freebsd6.2] Copyright (C) 2002-8 Bruce Allen
Home page is http://smartmontools.sourceforge.net/

=== START OF READ SMART DATA SECTION ===
SMART overall-health self-assessment test result: PASSED

nothing more.

2015-11-14: ad0s1a - change to new firewall noted in /var/log/messages:

Nov 14 13:48:26 hog kernel: arp: 10.1.10.1 moved from 00:10:4b:e3:38:8b to 80:ee:73:60:61:0c on xl0

that's all.

2015-08-16: network - the machine was off the net, with xl0 half-duplex. Same problems as the last time; I rebooted the machine. From /var/log/messages:

Aug 15 17:33:22 hog kernel: xl0: watchdog timeout
Aug 15 17:38:32 hog ddclient[708]: WARNING:  cannot connect to checkip.dyndns.org:80 socket: IO::Socket::INET: Bad hostname 'checkip.dyndns.org'

Aug 16 03:07:43 hog ntpd[589]: sendto(10.1.10.1): Host is down

ifconfig output for xl0:

root@hog# ifconfig xl0
xl0: flags=8843<UP,BROADCAST,RUNNING,SIMPLEX,MULTICAST> mtu 1500
    options=8<VLAN_MTU>
    inet 10.1.10.100 netmask 0xffff0000 broadcast 10.1.255.255
    ether 00:60:08:e8:1e:30
    media: Ethernet 10baseT/UTP <full-duplex>
    status: active

we will see how long it lasts this time. Info:

root@hog# uname -a
FreeBSD hog.kg4.no 6.2-STABLE FreeBSD 6.2-STABLE #0: Tue Jul 17 09:06:44 CEST 2007     root@hog.kg4.no:/usr/obj/usr/src/sys/PPI600  i386

nothing more.

2015-08-09: network - the machine was off the net again. xl0 was half-duplex again. The interface didn't respond to ifconfig commands, at least with any visible changes. So power off / on time again. BIOS reports floppy disk fail (40) - press F1 to continue. /var/log/messages shows the usual:

Aug  9 03:11:24 hog kernel: xl0: watchdog timeout
Aug  9 03:14:36 hog ddclient[713]: WARNING:  cannot connect to checkip.dyndns.org:80 socket: IO::Socket::INET: Bad hostname 'checkip.dyndns.org'

After the machine is up and on net again, ifconfig shows:

root@hog# ifconfig xl0
xl0: flags=8843<UP,BROADCAST,RUNNING,SIMPLEX,MULTICAST> mtu 1500
    options=8<VLAN_MTU>
    inet 10.1.10.100 netmask 0xffff0000 broadcast 10.1.255.255
    ether 00:60:08:e8:1e:30
    media: Ethernet 10baseT/UTP <full-duplex>
    status: active

good.

2014-01-11: network - the machine was off the net again. xl0 was half-duplex again. ifconfig xl0 mediaopt full-duplex didn't work, nor did ifconfig xl0 down; ifconfig xl0 up. So I powered off the machine and powered it on again. The only thing I find in /var/log/messages is this:

Jan 11 11:02:21 hog kernel: xl0: watchdog timeout
Jan 11 11:03:49 hog ddclient[707]: WARNING:  cannot connect to checkip.dyndns.org:80 socket: IO::Socket::INET: Bad hostname 'checkip.dyndns.org'
Jan 11 11:09:04 hog ddclient[707]: WARNING:  cannot connect to checkip.dyndns.org:80 socket: IO::Socket::INET: Bad hostname 'checkip.dyndns.org'
Jan 11 11:14:19 hog ddclient[707]: WARNING:  cannot connect to checkip.dyndns.org:80 socket: IO::Socket::INET: Bad hostname 'checkip.dyndns.org'

so something is off with the network card. After the reboot, everything is back to normal:

root@hog# ifconfig xl0
xl0: flags=8843<UP,BROADCAST,RUNNING,SIMPLEX,MULTICAST> mtu 1500
    options=8<VLAN_MTU>
    inet 10.1.10.100 netmask 0xffff0000 broadcast 10.1.255.255
    ether 00:60:08:e8:1e:30
    media: Ethernet 10baseT/UTP <full-duplex>
    status: active

that is all.

2013-10-28: I found a few apache crashes in /var/log/messages today:

Oct 27 13:45:22 hog kernel: pid 99426 (httpd), uid 80: exited on signal 6
Oct 27 13:46:31 hog kernel: pid 99459 (httpd), uid 80: exited on signal 6
Oct 27 13:46:41 hog kernel: pid 73259 (httpd), uid 80: exited on signal 6

Not many. Also, the machine was using swap:

root@hog# swapinfo -h
Device          1K-blocks     Used    Avail Capacity
/dev/ad0s1b       1048576      23M     1.0G     2%

trying to free that, it claims there isn't enough memory:

root@hog# swapoff -a && swapon -a
swapoff: /dev/ad0s1b: Cannot allocate memory

interesting. Ok, stop apache:

root@hog# /usr/local/etc/rc.d/apache.sh status
apache is running as pid 617.
root@hog# /usr/local/etc/rc.d/apache.sh stop
Stopping apache.
Waiting for PIDS: 617.
root@hog# /usr/local/etc/rc.d/apache.sh status
apache is not running.

retry:

root@hog# swapoff -a && swapon -a
swapoff: removing /dev/ad0s1b as swap device
swapon: adding /dev/ad0s1b as swap device

it worked. start apache again:

root@hog# /usr/local/etc/rc.d/apache.sh start
Starting apache.
root@hog# /usr/local/etc/rc.d/apache.sh status
apache is running as pid 56186.

check swap

root@hog# swapinfo -h
Device          1K-blocks     Used    Avail Capacity
/dev/ad0s1b       1048576       0B     1.0G     0%

Ok now. I better keep an eye on this.

2013-10-11: network - the machine was off the net again. This time, changing to full-duplex didn't work, nor did ifconfig xl0 down, it looked like the xl0 interface was stuck. So I rebooted the machine. After reboot, ifconfig shows:

root@hog# ifconfig xl0
xl0: flags=8843<UP,BROADCAST,RUNNING,SIMPLEX,MULTICAST> mtu 1500
    options=8<VLAN_MTU>
    inet 10.1.10.100 netmask 0xffff0000 broadcast 10.1.255.255
    ether 00:60:08:e8:1e:30
    media: Ethernet 10baseT/UTP (10baseT/UTP <half-duplex>)
    status: active

Aha, so it's half-duplex after boot. Messages in /var/log/messages confirms it:

xl0: <3Com 3c900-TPO Etherlink XL> port 0xd000-0xd03f irq 11 at device 12.0 on pci0
xl0: selecting 10baseT transceiver, half duplex
xl0: Ethernet address: 00:60:08:e8:1e:30

According to the manual page, the driver uses the EEPROM setting: "For 3c900 adapters, the driver will choose the mode specified in the EEPROM". I'll just add the options to /etc/rc.conf. I changed

ifconfig_xl0="inet 10.1.10.100  netmask 255.255.0.0"

into

ifconfig_xl0="inet 10.1.10.100  netmask 255.255.0.0 mediaopt full-duplex"

What happens if we change it manually:

root@hog# ifconfig xl0 mediaopt full-duplex
root@hog# ifconfig xl0
xl0: flags=8843<UP,BROADCAST,RUNNING,SIMPLEX,MULTICAST> mtu 1500
    options=8<VLAN_MTU>
    inet 10.1.10.100 netmask 0xffff0000 broadcast 10.1.255.255
    ether 00:60:08:e8:1e:30
    media: Ethernet 10baseT/UTP <full-duplex>
    status: active

and from /var/log/messages:

Oct 11 23:04:24 hog kernel: xl0: selecting 10baseT transceiver, full duplex

Ok. Various other info: from dmesg:

CPU: Pentium II/Pentium II Xeon/Celeron (350.80-MHz 686-class CPU)
  Origin = "GenuineIntel"  Id = 0x652  Stepping = 2
  Features=0x183f9ff<FPU,VME,DE,PSE,TSC,MSR,PAE,MCE,CX8,SEP,MTRR,PGE,MCA,CMOV,PAT,PSE36,MMX,FXSR>
real memory  = 335532032 (319 MB)
avail memory = 318853120 (304 MB)

disk layout

root@hog# df -h
Filesystem     Size    Used   Avail Capacity  Mounted on
/dev/ad0s1a    496M     63M    393M    14%    /
devfs          1.0K    1.0K      0B   100%    /dev
/dev/ad0s1e    496M     44K    456M     0%    /tmp
/dev/ad0s1f    6.0G    3.0G    2.6G    54%    /usr
/dev/ad0s1d    1.3G     69M    1.1G     6%    /var
/dev/ad3s1e     73G     16G     52G    23%    /d2

pciconf output

root@hog# pciconf -lv
agp0@pci0:0:0:    class=0x060000 card=0x00000000 chip=0x71908086 rev=0x02 hdr=0x00
    vendor     = 'Intel Corporation'
    device     = '82443BX/ZX 440BX/ZX CPU to PCI Bridge (AGP Implemented)'
    class      = bridge
    subclass   = HOST-PCI
pcib1@pci0:1:0:    class=0x060400 card=0x00000000 chip=0x71918086 rev=0x02 hdr=0x01
    vendor     = 'Intel Corporation'
    device     = '82443BX/ZX 440BX/ZX AGPset PCI-to-PCI bridge'
    class      = bridge
    subclass   = PCI-PCI
isab0@pci0:4:0:    class=0x060100 card=0x00000000 chip=0x71108086 rev=0x02 hdr=0x00
    vendor     = 'Intel Corporation'
    device     = '82371AB/EB/MB PIIX4/4E/4M ISA Bridge'
    class      = bridge
    subclass   = PCI-ISA
atapci0@pci0:4:1:    class=0x010180 card=0x00000000 chip=0x71118086 rev=0x01 hdr=0x00
    vendor     = 'Intel Corporation'
    device     = '82371AB/EB/MB PIIX4/4E/4M IDE Controller'
    class      = mass storage
    subclass   = ATA
uhci0@pci0:4:2:    class=0x0c0300 card=0x00000000 chip=0x71128086 rev=0x01 hdr=0x00
    vendor     = 'Intel Corporation'
    device     = '82371AB/EB/MB PIIX4/4E/4M USB Interface'
    class      = serial bus
    subclass   = USB
intpm0@pci0:4:3:    class=0x068000 card=0x00000000 chip=0x71138086 rev=0x02 hdr=0x00
    vendor     = 'Intel Corporation'
    device     = '82371AB/EB/MB PIIX4/4E/4M Power Management Controller'
    class      = bridge
xl0@pci0:12:0:    class=0x020000 card=0x00000000 chip=0x900010b7 rev=0x00 hdr=0x00
    vendor     = '3COM Corp, Networking Division'
    device     = '3C900-TPO Fast Etherlink PCI TPO NIC'
    class      = network
    subclass   = ethernet
none0@pci1:0:0:    class=0x030000 card=0x1b1e10b4 chip=0x001812d2 rev=0x10 hdr=0x00
    vendor     = 'Nvidia (Was:STB,SGS Thompson)'
    device     = 'RIVA 128 2D/3D GUI Accelerator'
    class      = display
    subclass   = VGA

That's it.

2013-09-16: network - the machine was off the network again. And yes, interface xl0 was half-duplex again. Changing it to full-duplex via

root@hog# ifconfig xl0 mediaopt full-duplex

got the machine online again. That's all.

2012-12-15: I set up log rotation for apache log files, by adding the following lines to /etc/newslyslog.conf:

/var/log/httpd-access.log               644  9     100  *     ZB   /var/run/httpd.pid 30
/var/log/httpd-error.log                644  9     100  *     ZB   /var/run/httpd.pid 30
/var/log/httpd-hogoslo-access.log       644  9     1000 *     ZB   /var/run/httpd.pid 30
/var/log/httpd-hogoslo-error.log        644  9     1000 *     ZB   /var/run/httpd.pid 30
/var/log/httpd-moromc-access.log        644  9     1000 *     ZB   /var/run/httpd.pid 30
/var/log/httpd-moromc-error.log         644  9     1000 *     ZB   /var/run/httpd.pid 30
/var/log/httpd-tingox-access.log        644  9     1000 *     ZB   /var/run/httpd.pid 30
/var/log/httpd-tingox-error.log         644  9     1000 *     ZB   /var/run/httpd.pid 30

That was all for now.

2012-12-14: I turned off ttyv5,6 and 7 in /etc/ttys, then sent a SIGHUP to init(8) in order to save a bit of memory.

2012-12-03: I figured out the reason for apache crashes. One of the things apache servers up is a Gallery installation (version 1.4.4 pl6), and it was configured to allow everybody to comment on the pictures. And the spammers did. Once I found and deleted the large number of spam comments, apache stopped crashing too. The script rmcomments, found in this thread is useful to delete large number of comments. I also configured Gallery to not let everybody comment :-)

2012-12-02: No, apache still crashes, from /var/log/messages:

Dec  2 20:11:44 hog kernel: pid 9959 (httpd), uid 80: exited on signal 6
Dec  2 20:12:14 hog kernel: pid 9928 (httpd), uid 80: exited on signal 6
Dec  2 20:12:43 hog kernel: pid 9985 (httpd), uid 80: exited on signal 6
Dec  2 20:13:13 hog kernel: pid 9930 (httpd), uid 80: exited on signal 6
Dec  2 20:13:40 hog kernel: pid 9926 (httpd), uid 80: exited on signal 6
Dec  2 20:18:53 hog kernel: pid 9927 (httpd), uid 80: exited on signal 6

and from /var/log/httpd-error.log:

root@hog# more /var/log/httpd-error.log
[Sun Dec  2 19:29:47 2012] [notice] Apache/1.3.37 (Unix) PHP/4.4.4 configured -- resuming normal operations
[Sun Dec  2 19:29:47 2012] [notice] Accept mutex: flock (Default: flock)
httpd in malloc(): error: recursive call
[Sun Dec  2 20:11:47 2012] [notice] child pid 9959 exit signal Abort trap (6)
httpd in malloc(): error: recursive call
[Sun Dec  2 20:12:17 2012] [notice] child pid 9928 exit signal Abort trap (6)
httpd in malloc(): error: recursive call
[Sun Dec  2 20:12:46 2012] [notice] child pid 9985 exit signal Abort trap (6)
httpd in malloc(): error: recursive call
[Sun Dec  2 20:13:14 2012] [notice] child pid 9930 exit signal Abort trap (6)
httpd in malloc(): error: recursive call
[Sun Dec  2 20:13:40 2012] [notice] child pid 9926 exit signal Abort trap (6)
httpd in malloc(): error: recursive call
[Sun Dec  2 20:18:54 2012] [notice] child pid 9927 exit signal Abort trap (6)

Not good.

2012-12-02: apache was crashing all the time. From /var/log/messages:

Dec  2 17:12:37 hog kernel: pid 9206 (httpd), uid 80: exited on signal 6
Dec  2 17:54:39 hog kernel: pid 9269 (httpd), uid 80: exited on signal 6
Dec  2 17:56:14 hog kernel: pid 9268 (httpd), uid 80: exited on signal 6

and I couldn't find any reason for that. But when I looked at the apache log files (/var/log/http*) I noticed that some of them where quite large (150 - 250 Mbytes). So I stopped apache, bzipped and renamed a few log files, it looks like this now:

root@hog# ll -h /var/log/http*
-rw-r--r--  1 root  wheel     0B Dec  2 19:04 /var/log/httpd-access.log
-rw-r--r--  1 root  wheel    88K Mar 22  2009 /var/log/httpd-access.log.1.bz2
-rw-r--r--  1 root  wheel   138K Dec  2 12:27 /var/log/httpd-access.log.bz2
-rw-r--r--  1 root  wheel   181B Dec  2 19:29 /var/log/httpd-error.log
-rw-r--r--  1 root  wheel   818K Mar 22  2009 /var/log/httpd-error.log.1.bz2
-rw-r--r--  1 root  wheel   247K Dec  2 18:13 /var/log/httpd-error.log.bz2
-rw-r--r--  1 root  wheel   2.3K Dec  2 19:48 /var/log/httpd-hogoslo-access.log
-rw-r--r--  1 root  wheel    23M Mar 22  2009 /var/log/httpd-hogoslo-access.log.1.bz2
-rw-r--r--  1 root  wheel    14M Dec  2 18:12 /var/log/httpd-hogoslo-access.log.bz2
-rw-r--r--  1 root  wheel   6.5K Dec  2 19:55 /var/log/httpd-moromc-access.log
-rw-r--r--  1 root  wheel   2.9M Mar 22  2009 /var/log/httpd-moromc-access.log.1.bz2
-rw-r--r--  1 root  wheel   5.9M Dec  2 18:12 /var/log/httpd-moromc-access.log.bz2
-rw-r--r--  1 root  wheel   943K Sep  7 10:20 /var/log/httpd-moromc-error.log
-rw-r--r--  1 root  wheel   1.2K Feb 25  2009 /var/log/httpd-moromc-error.log.bz2
-rw-r--r--  1 root  wheel    17K Dec  2 19:50 /var/log/httpd-tingox-access.log
-rw-r--r--  1 root  wheel   8.3M Dec  2 18:13 /var/log/httpd-tingox-access.log.bz2
-rw-r--r--  1 root  wheel   151K Sep  7 10:22 /var/log/httpd-tingox-error.log

and that seems to have fixed the problem for now.

2012-11-23: this morning, I discovered that the hard drive light on the machine was "always on", which is weird. When I checked the console, it had error message about the network interface (xl0). Unfortunately, I didn't record those messages. Also, the console was unresponsive (ie. I couldn't type, and it didn't respond to the NumLock or other special keys). The machine didn't answer to ping, and my ssh terminal to it had died. So I had to power it off the hard way - using the power button. After the machine was up again, I couldn't find anything in the logs. netstat -i output looks normal:

root@hog# netstat -i
Name    Mtu Network       Address              Ipkts Ierrs    Opkts Oerrs  Coll
xl0    1500 <Link#1>      00:60:08:e8:1e:30   184971     0    87534     0 13639
xl0    1500 10.1/16       hog                 104147     -    87464     -     -
plip0  1500 <Link#2>                               0     0        0     0     0
lo0   16384 <Link#3>                               0     0        0     0     0
lo0   16384 fe80:3::1     fe80:3::1                0     -        0     -     -
lo0   16384 localhost.kg4 ::1                      0     -        0     -     -
lo0   16384 your-net      localhost                0     -        0     -     -

The only thing I can see is that the network interface runs half-duplex:

root@hog# ifconfig xl0
xl0: flags=8843<UP,BROADCAST,RUNNING,SIMPLEX,MULTICAST> mtu 1500
    options=8<VLAN_MTU>
    inet 10.1.10.100 netmask 0xffff0000 broadcast 10.1.255.255
    ether 00:60:08:e8:1e:30
    media: Ethernet 10baseT/UTP (10baseT/UTP <half-duplex>)
    status: active

but it has full-duplex capability:

root@hog# ifconfig -m xl0
xl0: flags=8843<UP,BROADCAST,RUNNING,SIMPLEX,MULTICAST> mtu 1500
    options=8<VLAN_MTU>
    capabilities=8<VLAN_MTU>
    inet 10.1.10.100 netmask 0xffff0000 broadcast 10.1.255.255
    ether 00:60:08:e8:1e:30
    media: Ethernet 10baseT/UTP (10baseT/UTP <half-duplex>)
    status: active
    supported media:
        media 10base5/AUI
        media 10baseT/UTP mediaopt full-duplex
        media 10baseT/UTP mediaopt half-duplex
        media 10baseT/UTP

Changing it to full-duplex works:

root@hog# ifconfig xl0 mediaopt full-duplex
root@hog# ifconfig xl0
xl0: flags=8843<UP,BROADCAST,RUNNING,SIMPLEX,MULTICAST> mtu 1500
    options=8<VLAN_MTU>
    inet 10.1.10.100 netmask 0xffff0000 broadcast 10.1.255.255
    ether 00:60:08:e8:1e:30
    media: Ethernet 10baseT/UTP <full-duplex>
    status: active

which also gets logged in /var/log/messages:

Nov 23 20:54:41 hog kernel: xl0: selecting 10baseT transceiver, full duplex

Strange.

2012-11-21: temporary move of the machine to a different room, because of house upgrades.

2012-11-21: preparing to move the machine, some info:

root@hog# date
Wed Nov 21 09:34:04 CET 2012
root@hog# swapinfo -h
Device          1K-blocks     Used    Avail Capacity
/dev/ad0s1b       1048576      13M     1.0G     1%
root@hog# df -h
Filesystem     Size    Used   Avail Capacity  Mounted on
/dev/ad0s1a    496M     63M    393M    14%    /
devfs          1.0K    1.0K      0B   100%    /dev
/dev/ad0s1e    496M    320K    456M     0%    /tmp
/dev/ad0s1f    6.0G    3.0G    2.6G    54%    /usr
/dev/ad0s1d    1.3G    759M    423M    64%    /var
/dev/ad3s1e     73G     16G     52G    23%    /d2
root@hog# uptime
 9:34AM  up 38 days, 19:23, 2 users, load averages: 0.03, 0.04, 0.01

Now, shutdown and move.

2012-10-13: the machine was suddenly off the network, even if all looked right, network-wise. taking the network interface (xl0) down and up again didn't fix it, but a reboot helped. Well, the cable was connected at both ends, but the light on the switch was off. From /var/log/messages:

Oct 13 04:18:32 hog kernel: xl0: watchdog timeout
Oct 13 04:18:32 hog kernel: xl0: no carrier - transceiver cable problem?

After reboot:

root@hog# uname -a
FreeBSD hog.kg4.no 6.2-STABLE FreeBSD 6.2-STABLE #0: Tue Jul 17 09:06:44 CEST 2007     root@hog.kg4.no:/usr/obj/usr/src/sys/PPI600  i386
root@hog# swapinfo -h
Device          1K-blocks     Used    Avail Capacity
/dev/ad0s1b       1048576       0B     1.0G     0%
root@hog# df -h
Filesystem     Size    Used   Avail Capacity  Mounted on
/dev/ad0s1a    496M     63M    393M    14%    /
devfs          1.0K    1.0K      0B   100%    /dev
/dev/ad0s1e    496M    894K    455M     0%    /tmp
/dev/ad0s1f    6.0G    3.0G    2.6G    54%    /usr
/dev/ad0s1d    1.3G    717M    465M    61%    /var
/dev/ad3s1e     73G     16G     52G    23%    /d2

network:

root@hog# ifconfig xl0
xl0: flags=8843<UP,BROADCAST,RUNNING,SIMPLEX,MULTICAST> mtu 1500
    options=8<VLAN_MTU>
    inet 10.1.10.100 netmask 0xffff0000 broadcast 10.1.255.255
    ether 00:60:08:e8:1e:30
    media: Ethernet 10baseT/UTP (10baseT/UTP <half-duplex>)
    status: active

That's all.

2012-04-05: backing up the system drive (ad0): Making a place for the backups on ad3:

root@hog# mkdir /d2/backup/20120405

dumping root:

root@hog# dump -C16 -0aLf /d2/backup/20120405/ad0s1a_root_dump.file /dev/ad0s1a
  DUMP: Date of this level 0 dump: Thu Apr  5 20:40:38 2012
  DUMP: Date of last level 0 dump: the epoch
  DUMP: Dumping snapshot of /dev/ad0s1a (/) to /d2/backup/20120405/ad0s1a_root_dump.file
  DUMP: mapping (Pass I) [regular files]
  DUMP: Cache 16 MB, blocksize = 65536
  DUMP: mapping (Pass II) [directories]
  DUMP: estimated 65042 tape blocks.
  DUMP: dumping (Pass III) [directories]
  DUMP: dumping (Pass IV) [regular files]
  DUMP: DUMP: 66061 tape blocks on 1 volume
  DUMP: finished in 28 seconds, throughput 2359 KBytes/sec
  DUMP: Closing /d2/backup/20120405/ad0s1a_root_dump.file
  DUMP: DUMP IS DONE
root@hog#

dumping /tmp:

root@hog# dump -C16 -0aLf /d2/backup/20120405/ad0s1e_tmp_dump.file /dev/ad0s1e
  DUMP: Date of this level 0 dump: Thu Apr  5 20:43:39 2012
  DUMP: Date of last level 0 dump: the epoch
  DUMP: Dumping snapshot of /dev/ad0s1e (/tmp) to /d2/backup/20120405/ad0s1e_tmp_dump.file
  DUMP: mapping (Pass I) [regular files]
  DUMP: Cache 16 MB, blocksize = 65536
  DUMP: mapping (Pass II) [directories]
  DUMP: estimated 111 tape blocks.
  DUMP: dumping (Pass III) [directories]
  DUMP: dumping (Pass IV) [regular files]
  DUMP: DUMP: 130 tape blocks on 1 volume
  DUMP: finished in less than a second
  DUMP: Closing /d2/backup/20120405/ad0s1e_tmp_dump.file
  DUMP: DUMP IS DONE
root@hog#

dumping /var:

root@hog# dump -C16 -0aLf /d2/backup/20120405/ad0s1d_var_dump.file /dev/ad0s1d
  DUMP: Date of this level 0 dump: Thu Apr  5 20:45:50 2012
  DUMP: Date of last level 0 dump: the epoch
  DUMP: Dumping snapshot of /dev/ad0s1d (/var) to /d2/backup/20120405/ad0s1d_var_dump.file
  DUMP: mapping (Pass I) [regular files]
  DUMP: Cache 16 MB, blocksize = 65536
  DUMP: mapping (Pass II) [directories]
  DUMP: estimated 579293 tape blocks.
  DUMP: dumping (Pass III) [directories]
  DUMP: dumping (Pass IV) [regular files]
  DUMP: DUMP: 580191 tape blocks on 1 volume
  DUMP: finished in 221 seconds, throughput 2625 KBytes/sec
  DUMP: Closing /d2/backup/20120405/ad0s1d_var_dump.file
  DUMP: DUMP IS DONE

dumping /usr:

root@hog# dump -C16 -0aLf /d2/backup/20120405/ad0s1f_usr_dump.file /dev/ad0s1f
  DUMP: Date of this level 0 dump: Thu Apr  5 20:52:23 2012
  DUMP: Date of last level 0 dump: the epoch
  DUMP: Dumping snapshot of /dev/ad0s1f (/usr) to /d2/backup/20120405/ad0s1f_usr_dump.file
  DUMP: mapping (Pass I) [regular files]
  DUMP: Cache 16 MB, blocksize = 65536
  DUMP: mapping (Pass II) [directories]
  DUMP: estimated 3136104 tape blocks.
  DUMP: dumping (Pass III) [directories]
  DUMP: dumping (Pass IV) [regular files]
  DUMP: 11.03% done, finished in 0:40 at Thu Apr  5 21:37:50 2012
  DUMP: 29.53% done, finished in 0:23 at Thu Apr  5 21:26:22 2012
  DUMP: 42.04% done, finished in 0:20 at Thu Apr  5 21:28:11 2012
  DUMP: 62.26% done, finished in 0:12 at Thu Apr  5 21:24:38 2012
  DUMP: 87.17% done, finished in 0:03 at Thu Apr  5 21:21:11 2012
  DUMP: DUMP: 3344463 tape blocks on 1 volume
  DUMP: finished in 1747 seconds, throughput 1914 KBytes/sec
  DUMP: Closing /d2/backup/20120405/ad0s1f_usr_dump.file
  DUMP: DUMP IS DONE

Here are the dump files:

root@hog# ll -h /d2/backup/20120405
total 3991910
drwxr-xr-x  2 root  wheel   512B Apr  5 20:52 ./
drwxr-xr-x  5 root  wheel   512B Apr  5 18:25 ../
-rw-r--r--  1 root  wheel    65M Apr  5 20:41 ad0s1a_root_dump.file
-rw-r--r--  1 root  wheel   567M Apr  5 20:49 ad0s1d_var_dump.file
-rw-r--r--  1 root  wheel   130K Apr  5 20:43 ad0s1e_tmp_dump.file
-rw-r--r--  1 root  wheel   3.2G Apr  5 21:21 ad0s1f_usr_dump.file
root@hog# file /d2/backup/20120405/*
/d2/backup/20120405/ad0s1a_root_dump.file: data
/d2/backup/20120405/ad0s1d_var_dump.file:  data
/d2/backup/20120405/ad0s1e_tmp_dump.file:  data
/d2/backup/20120405/ad0s1f_usr_dump.file:  data

That's it. Now I must find a new hard drive.

2012-04-05: taking a status of the server before backing up:

root@hog# uname -a
FreeBSD hog.kg4.no 6.2-STABLE FreeBSD 6.2-STABLE #0: Tue Jul 17 09:06:44 CEST 2007     root@hog.kg4.no:/usr/obj/usr/src/sys/PPI600  i386
root@hog# swapinfo -h
Device          1K-blocks     Used    Avail Capacity
/dev/ad0s1b       1048576     216K     1.0G     0%
root@hog# df -h
Filesystem     Size    Used   Avail Capacity  Mounted on
/dev/ad0s1a    496M     63M    393M    14%    /
devfs          1.0K    1.0K      0B   100%    /dev
/dev/ad0s1e    496M     60K    456M     0%    /tmp
/dev/ad0s1f    6.0G    3.0G    2.6G    54%    /usr
/dev/ad0s1d    1.3G    565M    617M    48%    /var
/dev/ad3s1e     73G     12G     56G    18%    /d2
root@hog# pciconf -lv
agp0@pci0:0:0:    class=0x060000 card=0x00000000 chip=0x71908086 rev=0x02 hdr=0x00
    vendor     = 'Intel Corporation'
    device     = '82443BX/ZX 440BX/ZX CPU to PCI Bridge (AGP Implemented)'
    class      = bridge
    subclass   = HOST-PCI
pcib1@pci0:1:0:    class=0x060400 card=0x00000000 chip=0x71918086 rev=0x02 hdr=0x01
    vendor     = 'Intel Corporation'
    device     = '82443BX/ZX 440BX/ZX AGPset PCI-to-PCI bridge'
    class      = bridge
    subclass   = PCI-PCI
isab0@pci0:4:0:    class=0x060100 card=0x00000000 chip=0x71108086 rev=0x02 hdr=0x00
    vendor     = 'Intel Corporation'
    device     = '82371AB/EB/MB PIIX4/4E/4M ISA Bridge'
    class      = bridge
    subclass   = PCI-ISA
atapci0@pci0:4:1:    class=0x010180 card=0x00000000 chip=0x71118086 rev=0x01 hdr=0x00
    vendor     = 'Intel Corporation'
    device     = '82371AB/EB/MB PIIX4/4E/4M IDE Controller'
    class      = mass storage
    subclass   = ATA
uhci0@pci0:4:2:    class=0x0c0300 card=0x00000000 chip=0x71128086 rev=0x01 hdr=0x00
    vendor     = 'Intel Corporation'
    device     = '82371AB/EB/MB PIIX4/4E/4M USB Interface'
    class      = serial bus
    subclass   = USB
intpm0@pci0:4:3:    class=0x068000 card=0x00000000 chip=0x71138086 rev=0x02 hdr=0x00
    vendor     = 'Intel Corporation'
    device     = '82371AB/EB/MB PIIX4/4E/4M Power Management Controller'
    class      = bridge
xl0@pci0:12:0:    class=0x020000 card=0x00000000 chip=0x900010b7 rev=0x00 hdr=0x00
    vendor     = '3COM Corp, Networking Division'
    device     = '3C900-TPO Fast Etherlink PCI TPO NIC'
    class      = network
    subclass   = ethernet
none0@pci1:0:0:    class=0x030000 card=0x1b1e10b4 chip=0x001812d2 rev=0x10 hdr=0x00
    vendor     = 'Nvidia (Was:STB,SGS Thompson)'
    device     = 'RIVA 128 2D/3D GUI Accelerator'
    class      = display
    subclass   = VGA

That's it.

older history (lacking in detail, and inaccurate records):

2007-07-17: upgraded to FreeBSD 6.2-stable. dmesg output: normal.

tingo@hog$ uname -a
FreeBSD hog.kg4.no 6.2-STABLE FreeBSD 6.2-STABLE #0: Tue Jul 17 09:06:44 CEST 2007     root@hog.kg4.no:/usr/obj/usr/src/sys/PPI600  i386
tingo@hog$ dmesg | grep ^ad
ad0: 19470MB <IBM DJNA-352030 J58OA30K> at ata0-master UDMA33
ad3: 76351MB <SAMSUNG SV0802N TP100-23> at ata1-slave UDMA33
tingo@hog$ fdisk ad0
******* Working on device /dev/ad0 *******
parameters extracted from in-core disklabel are:
cylinders=39560 heads=16 sectors/track=63 (1008 blks/cyl)

Figures below won't work with BIOS for partitions not in cyl 1
parameters to be used for BIOS calculations are:
cylinders=39560 heads=16 sectors/track=63 (1008 blks/cyl)

Media sector size is 512
Warning: BIOS sector numbering starts with sector 1
Information from DOS bootblock is:
The data for partition 1 is:
sysid 165 (0xa5),(FreeBSD/NetBSD/386BSD)
    start 63, size 19937169 (9734 Meg), flag 80 (active)
        beg: cyl 0/ head 1/ sector 1;
        end: cyl 1023/ head 15/ sector 63
The data for partition 2 is:
<UNUSED>
The data for partition 3 is:
<UNUSED>
The data for partition 4 is:
<UNUSED>
tingo@hog$ fdisk ad3
******* Working on device /dev/ad3 *******
parameters extracted from in-core disklabel are:
cylinders=155127 heads=16 sectors/track=63 (1008 blks/cyl)

Figures below won't work with BIOS for partitions not in cyl 1
parameters to be used for BIOS calculations are:
cylinders=155127 heads=16 sectors/track=63 (1008 blks/cyl)

Media sector size is 512
Warning: BIOS sector numbering starts with sector 1
Information from DOS bootblock is:
The data for partition 1 is:
sysid 165 (0xa5),(FreeBSD/NetBSD/386BSD)
    start 63, size 156360582 (76347 Meg), flag 80 (active)
        beg: cyl 0/ head 1/ sector 1;
        end: cyl 1023/ head 254/ sector 63
The data for partition 2 is:
<UNUSED>
The data for partition 3 is:
<UNUSED>
The data for partition 4 is:
<UNUSED>
tingo@hog$ more /etc/fstab
# Device                Mountpoint      FStype  Options         Dump    Pass#
/dev/ad0s1b             none            swap    sw              0       0
/dev/ad0s1a             /               ufs     rw              1       1
/dev/ad0s1e             /tmp            ufs     rw              2       2
/dev/ad0s1f             /usr            ufs     rw              2       2
/dev/ad0s1d             /var            ufs     rw              2       2
/dev/ad3s1e             /d2             ufs     rw              2       2
/dev/acd0               /cdrom          cd9660  ro,noauto       0       0
tingo@hog$ df -h
Filesystem     Size    Used   Avail Capacity  Mounted on
/dev/ad0s1a    496M     63M    393M    14%    /
devfs          1.0K    1.0K      0B   100%    /dev
/dev/ad0s1e    496M     14M    442M     3%    /tmp
/dev/ad0s1f    6.0G    2.6G    2.9G    48%    /usr
/dev/ad0s1d    1.3G    360M    822M    30%    /var
/dev/ad3s1e     73G     11G     57G    16%    /d2
tingo@hog$ dmesg | grep -A 4 ^CPU
CPU: Pentium II/Pentium II Xeon/Celeron (350.80-MHz 686-class CPU)
  Origin = "GenuineIntel"  Id = 0x652  Stepping = 2
  Features=0x183f9ff<FPU,VME,DE,PSE,TSC,MSR,PAE,MCE,CX8,SEP,MTRR,PGE,MCA,CMOV,PAT,PSE36,MMX,FXSR>
real memory  = 335532032 (319 MB)
avail memory = 318853120 (304 MB)

That was all.

2006-10-05: After replacing the dead hard drive (ad0), I had to install FreeBSD again, and restore the data. The machine now runs FreeBSD 6.2-beta1. Note: only half of the space on the new hard drive is used.

tingo@hog$ uname -a
FreeBSD hog.kg4.no 6.2-BETA1 FreeBSD 6.2-BETA1 #0: Mon Sep 18 17:47:02 UTC 2006     root@opus.cse.buffalo.edu:/usr/obj/usr/src/sys/GENERIC  i386

tingo@hog$ fdisk ad0
******* Working on device /dev/ad0 *******
parameters extracted from in-core disklabel are:
cylinders=39560 heads=16 sectors/track=63 (1008 blks/cyl)

Figures below won't work with BIOS for partitions not in cyl 1
parameters to be used for BIOS calculations are:
cylinders=39560 heads=16 sectors/track=63 (1008 blks/cyl)

Media sector size is 512
Warning: BIOS sector numbering starts with sector 1
Information from DOS bootblock is:
The data for partition 1 is:
sysid 165 (0xa5),(FreeBSD/NetBSD/386BSD)
    start 63, size 19937169 (9734 Meg), flag 80 (active)
        beg: cyl 0/ head 1/ sector 1;
        end: cyl 1023/ head 15/ sector 63
The data for partition 2 is:
<UNUSED>
The data for partition 3 is:
<UNUSED>
The data for partition 4 is:
<UNUSED>

(det er kun halvparten av disken som er brukt)

tingo@hog$ more /etc/fstab
# Device                Mountpoint      FStype  Options         Dump    Pass#
/dev/ad0s1b             none            swap    sw              0       0
/dev/ad0s1a             /               ufs     rw              1       1
/dev/ad0s1e             /tmp            ufs     rw              2       2
/dev/ad0s1f             /usr            ufs     rw              2       2
/dev/ad0s1d             /var            ufs     rw              2       2
/dev/ad3s1e             /d2             ufs     rw              2       2
/dev/acd0               /cdrom          cd9660  ro,noauto       0       0

tingo@hog$ df -h
Filesystem     Size    Used   Avail Capacity  Mounted on
/dev/ad0s1a    496M     36M    420M     8%    /
devfs          1.0K    1.0K      0B   100%    /dev
/dev/ad0s1e    496M     36K    456M     0%    /tmp
/dev/ad0s1f    6.0G    1.8G    3.7G    32%    /usr
/dev/ad0s1d    1.3G    9.2M    1.1G     1%    /var
/dev/ad3s1e     73G    9.0G     58G    13%    /d2

That's all.

2006-02-12: Upgraded to FreeBSD 4.11. Previous version was FreeBSD 4.8.

2004-08-18: new hard drive configured in /etc/fstab like this:

/dev/ad3s1e             /d2             ufs     rw              2       2

the new disklayout looks like this:

user@server$ df -h
Filesystem    Size   Used  Avail Capacity  Mounted on
/dev/ad0s1a   126M    46M    70M    40%    /
/dev/ad0s1f   252M   1.2M   231M     1%    /tmp
/dev/ad0s1g   3.2G   2.2G   782M    74%    /usr
/dev/ad0s1e   252M    16M   216M     7%    /var
procfs        4.0K   4.0K     0B   100%    /proc
/dev/ad3s1e    73G   2.0K    68G     0%    /d2

That's all.

2004-04-04: temporary fix for memory problems - I added a swap file. Like this: create the file:

dd if=/dev/zero of=/usr/swap0 bs=1024k count=256
vnconfig -e /dev/vn0b /usr/swap0 swap

use it by adding the following line to /etc/rc.conf:

swapfile="/usr/swap0"

That's it.