Was ebox 1.4 slow during install, up to the point that the install stopped?

[acesuares]

[SOLVED] Please see http://www.suares.an/index.php?topic=zentyal-ears for the solution.

Some people experienced very slow install, even op to the point that the install (seemed to) halt. I had an install crawl to a halt at 67% and then spend 10 hours to get to 75%. This was a clean install from the 1.4 CD.

[Sam Graf]

Over time, I've installed various eBox and Ubuntu Server versions dozens of times across a variety of hardware, and the only persistent problem I've had was with broken Ubuntu Server SCSI support. In those cases, install would hang but after several minutes actually time out.

Which is just to say that perhaps those with this problem should post their hardware in this topic, where a common thread might be most easily spotted?

[acesuares]

So what should I post, lspci, hwinfo.. ?

[naelq]

i did post it couple of days ago..
http://forum.ebox-platform.com/index.php?topic=4212.msg17677#msg17677

i think that it's related to the DB



nael

[acesuares]

I don't know if it's the db, but It looks to me that somethin happens during install of the ebox packages. Before the first reboot everything seems to run fine.

There's a lot of threads on high I/O wait for hardy and it's kernel, but most of them pertain to copying large files and then the desktop becoming slow. the i/o wait on my machines is between 20 and 60% with some times 0 and sometimes 99%. But everything is slow - login, ls -la, cat /etc/passwd - anything you do gets bogged down tremendously. The installer is unpacking... half-installing... a lot of packages (so it's not the download speed that makes the problem).

[janne]

I was impressed by eBox on Linux Tag in June.
I'm not impresse by the installation.
Let's hope I will be impressed when/if the installer is ready.

[janne]

The installer failed. I'm not impressed. Maybe the next version will work better. Let's hope so.

[naelq]

ok guys, let's be fair with both eBox & the people behind it. that we can sit all day & complain about it not being installed or whatever.. OR we could contribute & help fixing/improving it  -which is the least we should do-
let's start by posting the specs of our machines with the following:

Code: [Select]

lspci

Code: [Select]

lshw
i'll be updating with my system specs later today when i get home


nael

[janne]

I think they do a fantastic job.
And I probably don't deserve to use the result of what they do.
But I'm still not impressed.

The computer is a standard standard standard PC. Ok, it's Atom based, but still, the motherboard is made by Intel. And very standard. No problem running Ubuntu, Debian and other distros.

My problem is (beside beeing grumpy) is that I'm not prepared to invest time in this at the moment. I will install what I need from a standard Debian CD and that's it. I will come back and check sometime in August or September, but at the moment I prefer to be out in the midday sun with mad dogs and englishmen.

[naelq]

I think they do a fantastic job.

sure they do

..But I'm still not impressed.

you have the right not to, though i do not agree!

The computer is a standard standard standard PC. Ok, it's Atom based, but still, the motherboard is made by Intel. And very standard. No problem running Ubuntu, Debian and other distros.

does NOT help nor mean anything!
FYI, my system is also made by Intel, thus maybe IT IS the problem! (read on)

My problem is (beside beeing grumpy) is that I'm not prepared to invest time in this at the moment..

again, it's up to you

no offense mate, but ignoring or even running away from a problem, is yet another problem by itself!
the least we can do, since the software was brought to us free by the community, is it support it back by providing more info regarding the problem.
isn't it what open-source/community is all about?


anyway, in my case the HW used was: (Lenovo ThinkCenter 8811-YGA)
CPU: Intel Core 2 Duo E2160
MoBo: Intel/Foxconn 965 based
RAM: 2GB
HDD: WD 1TB 7.2Krpm SATAII 64MB cache GREEN
NIC: Broadcom NetXtreme 5721
VGA: on-board GMA3000

now here is something weird, when swapping the HDD with an old WD 250GB AAKS, the installer runs smooth, i can't explain it! but one thing for sure, the 1TB drive 101% working, no S.M.A.R.T errors, ubuntu/debian/windows all install fine on the very same HDD.

i hope this would help tracking down the problem, though i'm 99% sure it's an Ubuntu 8.04 (to be exact, kernel/utils) problem, that the eBox installer exploits under certain scenarios, but i might be wrong.

devs/mods, any thoughts?



nael

[J. A. Calvo]

i hope this would help tracking down the problem, though i'm 99% sure it's an Ubuntu 8.04 (to be exact, kernel/utils) problem, that the eBox installer exploits under certain scenarios, but i might be wrong.

devs/mods, any thoughts?

Yes, it should be something like that. We are going to provide an eBox 1.5 installer based on Ubuntu 10.04 very soon. Hopefully, it will correct these problems.

[naelq]

that would help isolate lots of possible causes, since 8.04 (the kernel) is considered ancient in terms of hardware/technology support..


nael

[acesuares]

that would help isolate lots of possible causes, since 8.04 (the kernel) is considered ancient in terms of hardware/technology support..
nael

I installed a newer kernel and the problem stays. IO/wait times around 40-50%, starting up any program from the CLI takes 10 seconds, login via ssh but also login on the tty takes 25 seconds. CPU is idle most of the time (except the io/wait).

[cougarmaster]

You sure don't understand the concept of opensource. Nor are you a linux user or for the matter an administrator. Even with windows you need to be able to work around problems which you are not getting it for free. Atoms are great small foot print devices but has problems with older kernels. You may need to use new kernels to get all the devices working or install them manually on older kernels. Please don't try to insult the community with  being "unimpressed" or whatever your thoughts are. I have no respect for people like you at all. Either pitch in figure how to solve it or just leave the community alone we don't need un respectful comments.

I think they do a fantastic job.
And I probably don't deserve to use the result of what they do.
But I'm still not impressed.

The computer is a standard standard standard PC. Ok, it's Atom based, but still, the motherboard is made by Intel. And very standard. No problem running Ubuntu, Debian and other distros.

My problem is (beside beeing grumpy) is that I'm not prepared to invest time in this at the moment. I will install what I need from a standard Debian CD and that's it. I will come back and check sometime in August or September, but at the moment I prefer to be out in the midday sun with mad dogs and englishmen.

[acesuares]

The computer is a standard standard standard PC. Ok, it's Atom based, but still, the motherboard is made by Intel. And very standard. No problem running Ubuntu, Debian and other distros.

What I also experience is that any distro runs well and 'normal' on the same machine, only after or during ebox install, these troubles start. I replaced the kernel with a newer one - I also moved the disks into another machine and it did not help.

Could it be something with pam, or the db as OP suggested, or selinux, or or ? It just doesn't seem to be disk related. But the symptoms are high i/o wait!