[leafnode-list] Re: Why am I getting these bursts of errors?

[Matthias Andree]

Am 09.01.2010, 13:13 Uhr, schrieb Chris G <cl at isbd.net>:

> On Fri, Jan 08, 2010 at 08:15:52PM +0100, Matthias Andree wrote:
>> Am 08.01.2010, 17:05 Uhr, schrieb Chris G <cl at isbd.net>:
>>
>> >OK, a bit of a vague question, I'll try and describe a little more.
>> >
>> >I'm using leafnode in an Ubuntu 9.10 system to collect news from three
>> >NNTP servers.  Most of the time it works well but every so often I get
>> >lots of errors which continue over several connection attempts.  For
>> >example for the last few hours I have been getting lots of:-
>> >
>> >    error: NNTP server went away (server disconnect or timeout)
>> >    error: news.eternal-september.org: received bogus greeting
>> >(498): (nil)
>> >    error: NNTP server went away (server disconnect or timeout)
>> >    error: news.annexcafe.com: received bogus greeting (498): (nil)
>> >    news.annexcafe.com: address list exhausted without
>> >establishing connection.
>> >    error: NNTP server went away (server disconnect or timeout)
>> >    error: news.easysw.com: received bogus greeting (498): (nil)
>> >    news.easysw.com: address list exhausted without establishing
>> >connection.
>> >    WARNING: some servers have not been queried!
>>
>> This is a server or network issue (rampant "firewall" or security
>> devices/software sometimes, sometimes a missed reconfiguration of
>> DNS resolver or domain name service software, sometimes in
>> connection with DHCP issues) and nothing leafnode could do anything
>> about.
>>
>> >... and also an error about not being able to obtain a lock.
>>
>> That means that a leafnode process (texpire, fetchnews) is already  
>> running.
>>
> So does leafnode continue even when it gets the lock failure?  It

No, it aborts.

> would appear so because the "NNTP server went away" messages appear
> just a second or two after the one about failing to get the lock.

Check process names and IDs - they probably originate in different  
processes; one possibly started by (ana)cron or upstart (I haven't looked  
at Ubuntu's leafnode packages lately).

>> >Now, as far as I can see, all of the above NNTP servers are accessible
>> >from my machine and it seems a bit unlikely that all of them would go
>> >down at the same time anyway.
>>
>> "Accessible" by what means?
>>
> I can 'telnet <nntp server address> 119' and get a response.

At the very same time from the same computer? If so, that would surprise  
me.

-- 
Matthias Andree