Re: configuring interface & configuring MTA time out
On 06/14/2012 01:34 PM, Camaleón wrote:
> On Thu, 14 Jun 2012 13:07:17 -0400, Gilbert Sullivan wrote:
>
>> On 06/14/2012 10:21 AM, Camaleón wrote:
>
> (...)
>
>>> I ask this to have an idea on where to put the focus in either a) long
>>> delay -timeout- but NIC settings are finally okay or b) long delay -
>>> timeout- with NIC settings unconfigured.
>>>
>>>
>> Yup, it's definitely choice "a". Everything works, but the boot process
>> is slow. And, as I said, I can speed up the "configuring interface" part
>> of the boot, but the "configuring MTA" part still takes 60 seconds.
>
> Okay, let's see if there's a way to speep-up Exim4 boot time.
>
>> The interesting thing is that, if I hit <Ctrl>+<C> when the "configuring
>> interface" prompt is displayed, the system proceeds rapidly through the
>> rest of the process at a normal pace, with no delay at "configuring
>> MTA".
>>
>> I'm not quite sure what the downside of using <Ctrl>+<C> might be. I can
>> see in htop that exim4 is running after the boot process finishes, so at
>> least it's not interfering with the actual launching of that process.
>>
>> This is really a minor issue since it only causes a minor inconvenience.
>> I'm just investigating it because the present situation represents a
>> substantive change in behavior on this system. It's obvious that
>> something about the way Wicd works with networking has changed since the
>> netscript package was upgraded some days ago.
>
> To be sincere, I don't know what's originating the problem. If you say the
> network settings are properly configured, why Exim4 is that lazy? :-?
>
> Searching for "exim boot speed up" in Google I found this:
>
> ***
> 1.3.7. Why does exim take such a long time to start?
> http://wiki.debian.org/PkgExim4UserFAQ#Why_does_exim_take_such_a_long_time_to_start.3F
> ***
>
> Check if any of the suggested tips helps to mitigate the pain.
>
Hi, Camaleón.
I'm coming to the conclusion that, when Wicd is set to use a profile
with a fixed IP address, the system is actually only connecting to the
network as it actually comes up to the desktop (after login). That would
be why exim4 is timing out on the fixed IP address profiles and working
just fine on the profiles that are set to use DHCP.
The use of dc_minimaldns='true' didn't work to improve the situation,
but it did cause the boot process to squawk. (It said that
dc_minimaldns='true' will not work.) I've restored the exim4
configuration and /etc/dhcp/dhclient.conf to their default settings for now.
I think that the problem I'm seeing is a temporary (I hope) glitch
between netscript and Wicd, and that it'll probably be resolved at some
point by upgrades. That may take a while, though, because Wicd doesn't
seem to be under terribly active development. Maybe I'll try to get in
touch with the Debian maintainers for the two packages. Something tells
me that the packages aren't working together the way they expect them
to, and that it may be counterproductive to start changing default
configurations that have been working just fine for years.
In the meantime, until I get a chance to really get into it, I can just
continue to use <Ctrl>+<C> at the "configuring interface" prompt. The
system boots up as quickly as normal, and everything appears to be working.
I'll let you know whether or not I learn anything.
Best regards,
Gilbert
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