Bug 760259

Summary:	Hidden filesystem inconsistency after improper shutdown
Product:	Red Hat Enterprise Linux 6	Reporter:	jdros <jdros_el>
Component:	distribution	Assignee:	RHEL Program Management <pm-rhel>
Status:	CLOSED WONTFIX	QA Contact:	Brock Organ <borgan>
Severity:	medium	Docs Contact:
Priority:	unspecified
Version:	6.1	CC:	notting
Target Milestone:	rc
Target Release:	---
Hardware:	All
OS:	All
Whiteboard:
Fixed In Version:		Doc Type:	Bug Fix
Doc Text:		Story Points:	---
Clone Of:		Environment:
Last Closed:	2011-12-05 22:08:22 UTC	Type:	---
Regression:	---	Mount Type:	---
Documentation:	---	CRM:
Verified Versions:		Category:	---
oVirt Team:	---	RHEL 7.3 requirements from Atomic Host:
Cloudforms Team:	---	Target Upstream Version:

Description jdros 2011-12-05 17:36:44 UTC

Description of problem:
After an improper shutdown in a server of a client of mine, /boot and / filesystems were not properly unmounted.

On system boot we get:

Your system appears to have shut down uncleanly
Press Y within 1 seconds to force file system integrity check...

Our client didn't press anything. The system didn't do an fsck. It tried to boot and failed. Our client pressed [CTRL]+[ALT]+[DEL]. The system performed a reboot and on that second boot, everything seemed OK.

The server started operating again for some time. After a while the / filesystem became completely inconsist and we have to bring it back from a backup.

Version-Release number of selected component (if applicable):
RHEL6.1

How reproducible:
The above situation happened due to a combination of a power failure and a malfunctioning UPS.

Steps to Reproduce:
1. On a RHEL server, press the 'reset' (hardware) button.
2. During the reboot, DO NOT press 'Y'.
3. Make a second (proper) reboot.
4. All filesystems are now seem to be OK!
5. A filesystem inconsystency is possible to happen rigth ahead...

Actual results:
A filesystem inconsystency is possible to happen quite soon.

Expected results:
The OS should have started a filesystem check and ask user only for a modification.

Additional info:
We had come across exactly the same issue in RHEL4, some years ago.
We believe that /etc/sysconfig/autofsck file with parameteres like AUTOFSCK_DEF_CHECK=yes and AUTOFSCK_TIMEOUT=<some_time> should be the default in RHEL installation.

Comment 2 Bill Nottingham 2011-12-05 22:08:22 UTC

We do not force a check on unclean shutdown - we let fsck replay the journal when necessary. This has been the default in RHEL 4/5/6, and is not going to change in a minor release. As you note, this can be done with configuration.