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My server crashed today. It switched the /sda8 device (/home) to read only and the log said "ext3_xattr_block_get: inode 590080: bad block 6"

From rescue mode (something my hosting provider offers where the OS is loaded from the network) I ran e2fsck -c on the offending (unmounted) device.

This was the result:

/home: Updating bad block inode.
Pass 1: Checking inodes, blocks, and sizes
Inode 590080 has a bad extended attribute block 6.  Clear<y>? yes

Inode 590080 has illegal block(s).  Clear<y>? yes

Illegal block #6 (3225896002) in inode 590080.  CLEARED.
Illegal indirect block (161766104) in inode 590080.  CLEARED.
Illegal triple indirect block (161776560) in inode 590080.  CLEARED.
Inode 590080, i_size is 693150323631456341, should be 4096.  Fix<y>? yes

Deleted inode 8669125 has zero dtime.  Fix<y>? yes

Pass 2: Checking directory structure
Entry '1362510759.H198758P4400' in /mail/tmp (8666577) has deleted/unused inode 8669125.  Clear<y>? yes
Pass 3: Checking directory connectivity
Pass 4: Checking reference counts
Pass 5: Checking group summary information
Block bitmap differences:  -8685568 -8687060
Fix<y>? yes
Free blocks count wrong for group #265 (5593, counted=5595).
Fix<y>? yes
Free blocks count wrong (7313501, counted=7313503).
Fix<y>? yes
Inode bitmap differences:  -8669125
Fix<y>? yes
Free inodes count wrong for group #265 (29385, counted=29386).
Fix<y>? yes
Free inodes count wrong (11764285, counted=11764286).
Fix<y>? yes

/home: ***** FILE SYSTEM WAS MODIFIED *****
/home: 630530/12394816 files (4.3% non-contiguous), 5076620/12390123 blocks

I don't really understand that, but it sounds like it found something wrong.

But when I ran "dumpe2fs -b /dev/sda8" it doesn't list any bad blocks.

So are there bad blocks? If yes, where are they? If no, what was the server complaining about?

1 Answer 1

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This is just plain old filesystem corruption.

You didn't give enough information about your environment to make an educated guess as to what happened, but the most common causes I've seen are:

  • Not installing updates. Old kernels, especially on EL5 and older versions, have many filesystem related bugs which have been fixed and updates pushed. If you are not on EL5.9 / EL6.x then you're doing it wrong.
  • Loss of power while the system is active and thus the filesystem is in an indeterminate state. You would hopefully know if an event like this had happened.

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