Server refused to connect

[TomTheGreat]

I'm running 12.0 U7, just installed. After setup I shutdown the server via the web GUI and relocated the console to its permanent location. I also removed the GPU as I had other plans and want to run the server in headless mode. After relocation the server boots but I cannot log in again via browser. Browser keeps saying [IP address] refused to connect. I logged into my router to ensure I used the current IP address for my server. I also cannot access console options as the server does not have a GPU for a display. Any help would be appreciated.

 

[jgreco]

Welcome to the forums.

Sorry you're having trouble, but you've posted a "my vehicle won't start" class of message. This is not likely to draw particularly relevant or useful answers, because we don't know if you've got a car, truck, motorcycle, small airplane, locomotive, or whether it is powered by gas, diesel, electricity, or hydrogen. I hope you get the comparison here.

Please take a few minutes to provide some information about your hardware platform, especially seeing as how it seems unlikely to be a recommended one, given the interaction of GPU removal here. Providing a little too MUCH detail is generally better than not providing enough. Forum members are really good at pulling relevance from "too much", but there is no way to generate information from "too little". Some hints for providing a well-formed problem report can be found in the Forum Rules, conveniently linked at the top of every page in red.

 

[Heracles]

Hi @TomTheGreat,

So here is a lesson about remote server management : always ensure you have 2 channels to connect to it remotely at any time. That way, should one fails, you will have the second one to reach it.

Did you configured SSH before unplugging your server ? If you did not, then you will have to bring the console back online to debug everything. For that, you will need to put back the GPU, plug back the keyboard, monitor, etc.

Then you should be able to debug the WebUI and also create that SSH access. Once both are running, try removing the GPU again without putting the server back to its final place. Once successful you will then move it.

Good luck,

 

[TomTheGreat]

Hi @TomTheGreat,

So here is a lesson about remote server management : always ensure you have 2 channels to connect to it remotely at any time. That way, should one fails, you will have the second one to reach it.

Did you configured SSH before unplugging your server ? If you did not, then you will have to bring the console back online to debug everything. For that, you will need to put back the GPU, plug back the keyboard, monitor, etc.

Then you should be able to debug the WebUI and also create that SSH access. Once both are running, try removing the GPU again without putting the server back to its final place. Once successful you will then move it.

Good luck,

Hello Heracles,

Thanks for your answer. To put back in the GPU, I would need to power off the server. How can I shut the server down safely without console display or web GUI?

 

[jgreco]

Hello Heracles,

Thanks for your answer. To put back in the GPU, I would need to power off the server. How can I shut the server down safely without console display or web GUI?

Control-alt-delete and wait for LED's to stop flickering...? There's not going to be a particularly reliable way, especially since we have no idea what your hardware is.

 

[TomTheGreat]

Control-alt-delete and wait for LED's to stop flickering...? There's not going to be a particularly reliable way, especially since we have no idea what your hardware is.

Ryzen 1700, MSI x370 gaming plus ATX mobo, 16 GB DDR4, GTX 1080 Ti, 240 GB SSD, 5 WD Red plus 2 TB HDDs. Does ctrl alt delete work on that setup?

 

[Heracles]

Does ctrl alt delete work on that setup?

In all cases, pulling the plug will work....

ZFS is extremely resilient and a power failure is very unlikely to cause any damage. Anyway, you do not have any other choice as of now...

 

[jgreco]

ctrl alt delete work on that setup

CTL-ALT-DEL should tease a reboot out of the system. With a modern mainboard like yours, you can typically hook up a USB keyboard, and even often a PS/2 one, and manage that deed. Older mainboards and PS/2 often don't allow for that.

Depending on the specifics, you might be able to time things observationally such that the system was "down" when you ultimately need to blind-yank the power. Lights could be HDD activity, controller activity, or ethernet activity, depending on what is easy to observe.

Yanking the power on a running system is undesirable, but not likely to kill a properly designed ZFS system. This usually only causes damage when something like a RAID controller gets involved inappropriately.

 

[Heracles]

This usually only causes damage when something like a RAID controller gets involved inappropriately.

@jgreco, do you think that a CTRL-ALT-DELETE forced reboot is less likely to cause damage in such a situation ? I would have consider a 3 finger salute as the equivalent of pulling the plug here...

Thanks for your opinion on the subject,

 

[jgreco]

CTL-ALT-DEL is captured by the console driver, SC on older FreeBSD, VT on newer, unless flagged as disabled by kern.vt.kbd_reboot

Inside the kernel, this causes shutdown_nice(RB_AUTOBOOT) to be called, which signals init with a SIGINT. This in turn causes init to go through /etc/rc.shutdown and shut stuff down, prior to a reboot.

Should be safe. Isn't a hard crash or anything like that.

 

[Ericloewe]

there is no way to generate information from "too little"

Careful, the AI people might label you a heretic.

 

[TomTheGreat]

Welp ctrl alt delete didn't work; had to hold the power button. Nothing seems wrong so far. Thanks for your help!

 

[jgreco]

ctrl alt delete didn't work

Yeah, I was worried that the console driver might simply not attach at all if there was nothing obvious to attach to.