Re: why sarge is so noisy

[cls@truffula.sj.ca.us]

[This message has also been posted to linux.debian.user.]
In article <90FPk-4oB-7@gated-at.bofh.it>, Serena Cantor wrote:
> I have sarge, I use it all the time (it's server)
> The machine is my bedroom and scsi disk make noise from time to time (it's read/writing)
>
> which script cause reading/writing? Let's assume it's default installation. I don't start any
> program myself.  

Look in the directory /etc/cron.hourly and the file /etc/crontab.

There is a nightly process which runs find(1) to update the
file used by locate(1).

There is a nightly logrotate(8).

Every time cron(8) does anything as some other user it
adds entries to /var/log/auth.log.  Even if there is
a minus (-) in front of the logfile name in /etc/syslog.conf,
that entry will be flushed to disk.  The minus only
says to wait for the kernel's periodic file system flush
(every 30 seconds?) rather than flushing it as soon
as it's written.

Set your system clock accurately.  Keep a pad of paper and
an accurate clock next to the machine.  Make a note of when
the noises occur.  See if you can find those exact times
in any of the files in /var/log or its sub directories.
(this would be a good time to learn about ls -t and
grep -B 3 -A 3 12:34 /var/log/syslog | less)
Or any time up to a minute
before the noise, in case you are hearing the file system
flush after the event.  Is the system sending
mail to itself, perhaps trying to report some trivial
configuration problem?  Are you receiving mail from cron
or is it just piling up somewhere?  Are files
growing in /var/spool/mail?


Cameron