Hi,

Is it possible to automate the process of
running

fsck -y

after a power or other type of failure,
in cases the automatic file system check fails?

Thanks in advance.

Regards,

Jose

--
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See Yours in Just 2 Easy Steps!

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Jose, this is an ugly modification in /etc/rc but it should do what you 
need.

Search for the line that starts with 8) and modify it to look like this:



        8)
                echo "Corro FSCK de emergencia..."
                fsck -y ; fsck_st=$?
                if [ $fsck_st != 0 ]; then
                  echo "Automatic file system check failed; help!"
                  exit 1
                fi
                ;;


Regards,
Marcos



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If that was a wisething to do, we would have already done so. In other
words, it is not wise. It's foolish.

	-Otto

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as usually, i absolutely agree with you Otto.

however.

please all the people in the room raise their hands who have the
faintest idea about what 95% of the questions that fsck is going to ask
them on a seriously borked fs mean.  my hat goes off to them.

here's the thing: even though every single diagnostic message
fsck may produce is documented in /usr/share/doc/smm/03.fsck_ffs
i dont see how these questions help at all.  what i mean is,
there is nothing to compare the diagnostic data to anyway, so
what is the answer going to be based on?  so far i have always
only took the leap of faith and pressed yes or always..  what
else is there to do?

a couple of months ago, after a certain incident on my notebook
i was presented with a borked suberblock and after i have
figured out that the backup superblock were usable, i just
crossed my fingers and after a dry run i started fsck.

i got some 7700 'UNKNOWN FILE TYPE's, an unallocated root inode,
bad magic numbers for CGs and fsck messages i have never had the
luck meeting with before... (should read 03.fsck_ffs one of
these days probably -- but even then, i would just say yes
on every question)

unfortunately i dont have a transcript of that fsck session,
i do however have a "screenshot" of the last phase:

** Phase 5 - Check Cyl groups
CG 0: BAD MAGIC NUMBER
FREE BLK COUNT(S) WRONG IN SUPERBLK
SALVAGE? yes

SUMMARY INFORMATION BAD
SALVAGE? yes

BLK(S) MISSING IN BIT MAPS
SALVAGE? yes

118774 files, 4966785 used, 2542705 free (17073 frags, 315704 blocks, 0.2% fragmentation)

UPDATE STANDARD SUPERBLOCK? yes


MARK FILE SYSTEM CLEAN? yes


***** FILE SYSTEM WAS MODIFIED *****

(for the curious: all my files survived under lost+found.  i was
as happy as it can be)

if fsck thinks there is a problem, there is nothing left but to press y
anyway.  although i'd very much like to read stories of other admins
doing otherwise.

-f
-- 
atheism is a non-prophet organization.

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Put a rock on the 'y' key and go get some coffee.

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make a dump of the partition before going to execute potentially data
destroying actions?


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So you can dump a botched filesystem? The manpage says nothing about that...
Well it doesn't say the contrary but...

So, question is: Can you *really* dump a "borked fs"?

-- 
Mauro Rezzonico <mauro@ch23.org>, Como, Italia
"Maybe this world is another planet's hell" - H.Huxley

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On Sat, 03 Oct 2009 00:12:39 +0200

Think 'dd', to have a second chance at messing up the data,
or work from the image to restore files. (See what i did there? ;)

-Robert

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Note that I said "dump the partition", not "dump the filesystem".

	-Otto

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Oops. you mean dd(1)... sorry for the noise

-- 
Mauro Rezzonico <mauro@ch23.org>, Como, Italia
"Maybe this world is another planet's hell" - H.Huxley

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yes, this is sound advice of course.  but what are you going
to do with the dump if say, fsck is not able to revive the fs?
"dump" it back, run fsck again and answer "no" at a couple of
fsck prompts?  how is it going to change anything in the end?

-f
-- 
forget everything, as one day everything will forget you.

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You have several options: consult an expert and indeed answer n to
some of the prompts, mount -f the fs and recover your most important
files, use the image as a test case to improve fsck_ffs...  there are
probably more cases why having a dump of the inconsistent fs can be good.

	-Otto

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Well, if fsck can't revive your partition, you can always try different
tools. Something like fsdb may be able to recover part or all of your
filesystem even in cases where fsck loses the plot. There is also the
Sleuth kit.

And if all else fails, you can always write your own software/grep
through the raw disk/etc. fsck is great at what it does, but it's not
the only game in town.

Needless to say, restoring from backup is easier than reconstructing a
filesystem from a hex dump of the disk. But sometimes you don't have
backups...

		Joachim

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Also, fsck may fail in the middle due to lack of memory, so moving the
dump to a bigger box to make it run through may be a good solution in
that case. Or old fsck fails where a -current fsck won't.

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What does fsck mean?  I always thought it was those strange bearded
sysadmins private cuss word as they always seem to scream *fsck yes
damnit!!!* whenever the system crashes....


-- 
Sent from my mobile device

http://www.glumbert.com/media/shift
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tGvHNNOLnCk
"This officer's men seem to follow him merely out of idle curiosity."
-- Sandhurst officer cadet evaluation.
"Securing an environment of Windows platforms from abuse - external or
internal - is akin to trying to install sprinklers in a fireworks
factory where smoking on the job is permitted."  -- Gene Spafford
learn french:  http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=30v_g83VHK4

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Filesystem check.

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