Ubuntu Disk Error Alerts - Revision history

Bigfoot65 at 23:54, 10 July 2014

2014-07-10T23:54:03Z

Bigfoot65 at 02:26, 6 August 2012

2012-08-06T02:26:22Z

Bigfoot65 at 22:51, 2 August 2012

2012-08-02T22:51:30Z

Bigfoot65: Created page with "{{MessageBox| backgroundcolor = #faa| image =Warning.png| heading =WARNING| message = This is recommended only for advanced users, proceed with caution.}} Finding out a disk is b..."

2012-07-22T15:03:52Z

Created page with "{{MessageBox| backgroundcolor = #faa| image =Warning.png| heading =WARNING| message = This is recommended only for advanced users, proceed with caution.}} Finding out a disk is b..."

New page

{{MessageBox|
backgroundcolor = #faa|
image =Warning.png|
heading =WARNING|
message = This is recommended only for advanced users, proceed with caution.}}
Finding out a disk is bad after it crashes can often prove disastrous. To be warned of a failing disk is something we all would appreciate. This can be done via [http://smartmontools.sourceforge.net/ smartmontools], a free software package that can monitor S.M.A.R.T. attributes and run hard drive self-tests. Basically, S.M.A.R.T. may give you enough of a warning that you can safely backup all your data before your hard drive dies. Obviously, nothing replaces regular backups, but it's absolutely better than knowing nothing!

If you prefer to have alerts sent to an email address outside your HDA, try [[Gmail_As_Relay_On_Ubuntu|Gmail as Relay]]

This may already be installed in your system. If not, as '''root''' user do:
{{Code|sudo apt-get install smartmontools}}

smartmontools comes with two programs; smartctl which is meant for interactive use and smartd which continuously monitors S.M.A.R.T.

You can do a quick test to see if it recognizes your drives (replace /dev/sda by the drive(s) present on your system):
{{Code|smartctl -i /dev/sda}}

To setup smartd to monitor your system automatically, edit the file '''/etc/smartd.conf''' and check for a line that begins with ''DEVICESCAN''. Comment it out by adding a ‘#’ to the beginning of the line something like this:
{{Text|Text=#DEVICESCAN -H -m root -n standby,10,q}}

Add the following line to /etc/smartd.conf:
{{Text|Text=/dev/sda -n standby -a -I 194 -W 6,45,55 -R 5 -M daily -M test -m root}}

This an example from the config file:
<pre>
'/dev/sda' is the drive you want to monitor
'-n standby' will not wake up the drive if it is 'sleeping' or in 'standby' to poll it for status
'-a' contains the most common options. you probably want this
'-I 194' don't monitor normalized temperature changes, but...
'-W 6,45,5' track temperature changes >= 6 Celsius, report temperatures >= 45 Celsius; send mail when temperature >= 55 celcius
'-R 5' changes in Raw value of Reallocated Sector Count.
'-M daily' send reports daily. (The default is to send only one warning email for each type of disk problem)
'-M test' send a single test email immediately upon smartd startup. This allows one to verify that email is delivered correctly.
'-m root' Send a warning email to the email address root (you can replace that with any email address provide you can send mail with your HDA)
</pre>
You'll need a line like that for every drive in the server you want to monitor.
Recommend to check the man page for smartd to see all the available options. There are a lot of them.

Start the daemon with:
{{Code|sudo service smartd start}}

'''NOTE:''' You may receive a test email each day or so, one for each drive you identify to be monitored.

← Older revision		Revision as of 02:26, 6 August 2012
Line 19:		Line 19:

	To setup smartd to monitor your system automatically, edit the file '''/etc/smartd.conf''' and check for a line that begins with ''DEVICESCAN''. Comment it out by adding a ‘#’ to the beginning of the line something like this:		To setup smartd to monitor your system automatically, edit the file '''/etc/smartd.conf''' and check for a line that begins with ''DEVICESCAN''. Comment it out by adding a ‘#’ to the beginning of the line something like this:
−	{{Text\|Text=#DEVICESCAN -H -m root -~~n standby,10,q~~}}	+	{{Text\|Text=#DEVICESCAN -d removable -n standby -m root -M exec /usr/share/smartmontools/smartd-runner}}

@@ Line 11: / Line 11: @@
 This may already be installed in your system.  If not, as '''root''' user do:
-{{Code|sudo apt-get install smartmontools}}
+ sudo apt-get install smartmontools
 smartmontools comes with two programs; smartctl which is meant for interactive use and smartd which continuously monitors S.M.A.R.T.
 You can do a quick test to see if it recognizes your drives (replace /dev/sda by the drive(s) present on your system):
-{{Code|sudo smartctl -i /dev/sda}}
+ sudo smartctl -i /dev/sda
 To setup smartd to monitor your system automatically, edit the file '''/etc/smartd.conf''' and check for a line that begins with ''DEVICESCAN''. Comment it out by adding a ‘#’ to the beginning of the line something like this:
-{{Text|Text=#DEVICESCAN -d removable -n standby -m root -M exec /usr/share/smartmontools/smartd-runner}}
+ #DEVICESCAN -d removable -n standby -m root -M exec /usr/share/smartmontools/smartd-runner
 Add the following line to /etc/smartd.conf:
-{{Text|Text=/dev/sda -n standby -a -I 194 -W 6,45,55 -R 5 -M daily -M test -m root}}
+ /dev/sda -n standby -a -I 194 -W 6,45,55 -R 5 -M daily -M test -m root
 This an example from the config file:
@@ Line 41: / Line 41: @@
 Start the daemon with:
-{{Code|sudo service smartd start}}
+ sudo service smartd start
 '''NOTE:'''  You may receive a test email each day or so, one for each drive you identify to be monitored.