TrueNAS losing networking

[Colin Fox]

Hi All. I've been running my TrueNAS system since FreenNAS 10, upgrading all the way. It's been working fine as my network NFS server for some years now, but suddenly about a week ago it dropped off my network. The cables are connected and the connection light lights up, but when I log into it locally and bring up a terminal, I can't ping anything else in my network and the primary network connection doesn't seem to have gotten an IP from my DHCP server.

I'm a Linux user, not so much FreeBSD, so I'm not sure what I can do at this point to track down the problem. Does anyone have any suggestions?

 

[ChrisRJ]

I would start by verifying the individual parts of the overall path:

• Does another machine get a DHCP from the same cable, connected to the same switch port?
• What about changing the switch port?
• What changing the cable?
• What about a static IP address?

 

[Colin Fox]

I would start by verifying the individual parts of the overall path:

• Does another machine get a DHCP from the same cable, connected to the same switch port?

Yes - I have 4 machines connected to the same gigabit switch, and the other machines are on the network normally (got dhcp info, configured networking, all is good).

• What about changing the switch port?
• What changing the cable?

I swapped my NAS network connection with one of the other boxes and rebooted. No difference. This takes care of switch port & network cable test.

• What about a static IP address?

I don't know how to configure static IP in freebsd, but at this point, what would that tell us? DHCP has been working for years, why would this box suddenly stop paying attention? I don't see any errors in dmesg or /var/log/messages either.

 

[ChrisRJ]

I swapped my NAS network connection with one of the other boxes and rebooted. No difference. This takes care of switch port & network cable test.

What other things have you already done? This is information that should be provided.

I don't know how to configure static IP in freebsd, but at this point, what would that tell us? DHCP has been working for years, why would this box suddenly stop paying attention? I don't see any errors in dmesg or /var/log/messages either.

In TrueNAS you can do this on the console IIRC. The documentation will certainly cover it anyway.

Going from DHCP to static is a standard test in such scenarios. Apart from the fact that DHCP is not something really suitable for server-type infrastructure.

If you don't want to do this test that is fine with me. But please think about this: You came here with a problem and asked for help, stating that FreeBSD is not your strong suit. How does that fit together (seriously)?

 

[Colin Fox]

What other things have you already done? This is information that should be provided.

In TrueNAS you can do this on the console IIRC. The documentation will certainly cover it anyway.

So I went back to the console menu for TrueNAS and chose 1: configure interface. The interface that seemed to be likely was re0. When I chose it, I was asked if I want to delete this interface. I said "n". Then it asked me a couple other questions, including configuring ipv6 which I said n to. It then seemed to configure the interface. I could ping my other machines, and even after a reboot I was able to ping other machines.

And now I can mount nfs drives again.

So - thanks for your time & suggestions Chris. I am assuming that what happened is that I did some kind of system update that caused it to .. forget my current network settings? I certainly didn't do anything to cause it to forget.

Anyway - after doing the menu based network configuration all is well, so thanks!

**UPDATE** Aaaand it just went offline again. When I look in the /var/log/messages file, I see a long train of watchdog timeouts followed by a link down then link up. Here's a bit earlier in the messages file:A

Any idea why this watchdog timer keeps doing things?
10.1.0.3 is the address my TrueNAS box is supposed to get from DHCP, so that's working at least.

Does anything else in that screenshot look wrong or sketchy?

 

[ChrisRJ]

Please check the forum rules (in red in the middle of the screen top) about what level of detail should be provided about your hardware.

Did you do any changes (however unrelated they may seem) to the NAS or any other network component (incl. the other PCs)?

Do you have a conflict with the IP address with another machine? Can you try another static IP address?

 

[Colin Fox]

Please check the forum rules (in red in the middle of the screen top) about what level of detail should be provided about your hardware.

Every message of mine has my hardware details as an expandable button in the footer. Isn't that how it's done here?

Did you do any changes (however unrelated they may seem) to the NAS or any other network component (incl. the other PCs)?

No - I've made no network or system configuration changes. Just using it as an NFS server.

Do you have a conflict with the IP address with another machine? Can you try another static IP address?

There is no conflict with any other IP address. And as I said in my previous message - when I configured the network using the truenas console menu, it worked, but only for about 20 minutes, then it shut itself off, and in the logs I see those watchdog timeouts.

Why am I getting repeated watchdog timeouts? Why is it resetting itself? And also, as you can see in the screenshot, it seems to have configured the network 5 times identically back to back- why more than once?

 

[ChrisRJ]

Every message of mine has my hardware details as an expandable button in the footer. Isn't that how it's done here?

You are missing quite a few details, that's why I referred you to the forum rules, which cover this.

 

[Colin Fox]

You are missing quite a few details, that's why I referred you to the forum rules, which cover this.

In the instructions it says:

It's important to remember that hardware information is extremely important when diagnosing problems so please make sure to include this information if you need help troubleshooting a problem. This includes:

• Motherboard make and model
• CPU make and model
• RAM quantity
• Hard drives, quantity, model numbers, and RAID configuration, including boot drives
• Hard disk controllers
• Network cards

My footer has:
Mobo: Gigabyte GA-Z170-HD3
Network: MOBO interface - Realtek Green GbE PCIe gigabit interface
CPU: Intel Core i3-6100, 3.7GHz
RAM: 16GB
1x 120GB SSD boot drive
3x Toshiba 3TB 7200 RPM HDD DT01ACA300
1x 3TB Western Digital RED: WDC WD30EFRX-68EUZN0
1x 4TB Western DIgital RED: WDC WD40EFZX-68AWUN0

I don't have any network cards, using the network interface built into the motherboard.

What "quite a few details" am I missing? I guess I was missing the mobo specific network driver, now added.

---

Last update - after another reboot, it seems to have stabilized. I was getting some funky interaction between TrueNAS and my windows laptop also mounting an NFS partition, but after rebooting both my laptop and my TrueNAS box, both seem to have stabilized and it seems to be functioning properly now. I'm still getting the watchdog timeouts and the link down/ups, but that doesn't seem to be affecting the use as a file server, so I guess this issue is done.