Michael Andersen <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote in message news:<[EMAIL PROTECTED]>... > Matthew Twomey wrote: > > >For some entirely unknown reason, it started crashing about a week > >ago. It will stay up for 20 hours or so, then crash. I am racking my > >brain trying to figure out why: > > > > > > > Incidentially my ss20 (2.4 kernel) debian firewall/dns/www also became > totally unresponsive (~99% system in top) during these last weeks. > > After some investigation it turned out that one of my Windows boxes on > the internal network had cought a blaster like worm. The Windows box was > keeping the poor ss20 busy by pinging the whole internet. (tcpdump > revealed that quite easily). Once the worm was removed, everything was > back to normal. > > If your ss20 is really crashing hard, how about testing it with some of > the memory sticks removed - some times memory goes bad for no > particular reason.... > > Regards, > Michael A.
Well, right after my last post, it crashed again. I tried three new things: 1. Since every crash was resulting in a required manual fsck, I changed all the file systems to ext3. 2. I loaded a 2.4 (non-smp) kernel because I've heard of issue with smp kernels on ss20s (although, I've never had an issue before). I also needed a 2.4 kernel for the ext3. 3. Due to the CERT advisory regarding openssh, I blocked ssh access from everywhere but the specific addresses I connect from. Now, after seven consecutive days of it crashing in 20 hours or less, it has been up for about 40 hours. I am keeping my fingers crossed. My bet is going with the openssh vulnerability as the culprit, but time will tell. -Matt
