PLEASE STOP FreeNAS' BAD HABIT OF CONTINUALLY WRITING THE SAME ERROR MESSAGES DIRECTLY TO THE CONSOLE.
I've been using FreeNAS since version 8.0. I recently upgraded to 9.2.1.x.
I recently ran into a very annoying problem, where my network (which is configured with DHCP) lost it's DHCP server, and FreeNAS lost it's IP address as a result.
As a result of losing the DHCP lease, Freenas 9.2.1.x began an endless series of DHCP client retries, all of which failed. This resulted in an endless loop of writing non-critical error messages to the console in a destructive format. That is to say, instead of politely logging the errors to the system logs, FreeNAS began dumping the log output to the console, and continued to destructively over-write everthing that was on the display. Because the logging was frequent (every few seconds as the DHCP network initialization continued to fail) and ongoing (endless loop), this level of corruption of the video display effectively destroyed the superuser's ability to perform work at the console to fix the problem.
Normally one might suggest using the web interface, or using SSH to access the box, but those methods of access aren't possible when a system that's configured for DHCP cannot obtain a lease. In that circumstance, the only way that the system can be fixed is by having the superuser use the console to convert the network configuration so that it uses a static IP address instead of a dynamic one.
Unfortunately, the simple process of re-configuring FreeNAS to use static IP address instead of a dynamic IP address via DHCP becomes an impossible task when: A) there is no network connection, B) the console interface is turned off, and C) the console output is being destructively over-written by frequent non-critical error messages.
In this context, the screen output becomes a mixture of what the superuser is trying to do, and what the system is logging as errors. The convolution of two unrelated processes writing to the screen contemporaneously results in an unreadable garbled mess. The only way that the superuser can properly configure the system to use a static IP address is if he has the menu and keystroke sequence memorized and ignores the screen output.
It's impossible to: A) restore the console interface and B) navigate through the console menu system, when the console is constantly being overwritten by garbage logging output.
I would lke to make the following requests for improvement:
1. Please keep the logging of non-critical errors confined to the logs, and don't dump everthing to the console. Frequent dumping of errors to the console makes the console unreadable.
2. Reduce the frequency of DHCP retries so that the logs aren't flooded with redundant messages.
3. Change the logging interval.
At present the retry interval is far to short, and too many error messages are being generated in rapid succession. This corrupts the display output and makes the content unreadable.
Thanks for your time.
I've been using FreeNAS since version 8.0. I recently upgraded to 9.2.1.x.
I recently ran into a very annoying problem, where my network (which is configured with DHCP) lost it's DHCP server, and FreeNAS lost it's IP address as a result.
As a result of losing the DHCP lease, Freenas 9.2.1.x began an endless series of DHCP client retries, all of which failed. This resulted in an endless loop of writing non-critical error messages to the console in a destructive format. That is to say, instead of politely logging the errors to the system logs, FreeNAS began dumping the log output to the console, and continued to destructively over-write everthing that was on the display. Because the logging was frequent (every few seconds as the DHCP network initialization continued to fail) and ongoing (endless loop), this level of corruption of the video display effectively destroyed the superuser's ability to perform work at the console to fix the problem.
Normally one might suggest using the web interface, or using SSH to access the box, but those methods of access aren't possible when a system that's configured for DHCP cannot obtain a lease. In that circumstance, the only way that the system can be fixed is by having the superuser use the console to convert the network configuration so that it uses a static IP address instead of a dynamic one.
Unfortunately, the simple process of re-configuring FreeNAS to use static IP address instead of a dynamic IP address via DHCP becomes an impossible task when: A) there is no network connection, B) the console interface is turned off, and C) the console output is being destructively over-written by frequent non-critical error messages.
In this context, the screen output becomes a mixture of what the superuser is trying to do, and what the system is logging as errors. The convolution of two unrelated processes writing to the screen contemporaneously results in an unreadable garbled mess. The only way that the superuser can properly configure the system to use a static IP address is if he has the menu and keystroke sequence memorized and ignores the screen output.
It's impossible to: A) restore the console interface and B) navigate through the console menu system, when the console is constantly being overwritten by garbage logging output.
I would lke to make the following requests for improvement:
1. Please keep the logging of non-critical errors confined to the logs, and don't dump everthing to the console. Frequent dumping of errors to the console makes the console unreadable.
2. Reduce the frequency of DHCP retries so that the logs aren't flooded with redundant messages.
3. Change the logging interval.
At present the retry interval is far to short, and too many error messages are being generated in rapid succession. This corrupts the display output and makes the content unreadable.
Thanks for your time.
