Red Hat Bugzilla – Bug 243821
Network Install FTP error handling not smart
Last modified: 2008-08-02 19:40:37 EDT
Description of problem: Network Install via FTP not very smart. First, once a connection is made it states "Starting Installation" and will continue to display that message hours later if packages are still downloading. Second, and more important, if there is the slightest hiccup in the ftp there is only ONE generic error message that states (paraphrase) "Error reading source. Select <Retry> to attempt again or <Reboot> to abort. Note that rebooting will leave installation in an unstable state..." The <Reboot> option is the default, not the <Retry>, which would seem to be the logical choice. Also, if you hit Enter or select Reboot, it will immediately reboot, with no confirmation option that you are about to lose potentially hours worth of attempted effort. My installation (solid cable modem connection) was interrupted every 20-30 minutes for several hours with this message, and I had to be extremely careful to hit "Alt-R" for <Retry>, because once I accidentally hit Enter and my system rebooted immediately. So, the entire process took me nearly 20 hours of exhaustive retry attempts, and then very quickly installed successfully after that. Version-Release number of selected component (if applicable): How reproducible: I'm not going to try this again unless the FTP source is on a local network. It's not worth the pain. Steps to Reproduce: 1. Network Install, selected FTP source fedora.bu.edu since the "rather a lot" of bandwidth intrigued me. I'm not sure if the source is relevant, but I think their "rather a lot" was more like "extremely dog slow" -- however, the interruptions afforded by their source will allow the Retry/Reboot error message to pop up frequently for just about anyone. 2. 3. Actual results: Pain, annoyance, no real status information, and frustration. Expected results: Tell me what it's gonna do, do it (leaving room for NORMAL TIMEOUT VALUES for internet communications), and then show me that it's working rather than "starting install" an hour or two into the process. Then, if there is a problem, assume that the user might actually want to continue rather than defaulting to an instant reboot and complete waste of effort. Additional info: To be fair, using ftp both before and after this painful 20-hour experiment with the network install, I was able to download the F-7-DVD.iso from the same fedora.bu.edu source in just about an hour each time... Lessons learned? Spend the money on a DVD burner instead of going through this process.
Please allow me to reconfirm the sentiment of this bug while my experience detail is different. This applies to FC-7 --> FC-8 upgrade procedure using a recovery CD downloaded 1/5/2008 and .anl. mirror. Specifically I erred with both [aarrrrgg] FTP site and directory entries -- typo error. The anaconda response was with the "check media" pop-up window. After fields are properly entered the pop-up does not appear (correctly) and the process continues with "checking dependencies" process. After "skip" is activated in the check media window, anaconda returns to the FTP window with pre-entered data displayed in the site and directory boxes -- but does *not* flag the entries as erroneous. I found the check media response to be seriously distracting from the real error, and was mildly disappointed that anaconda did not pass the real error back for review and correction. It required several iterations to get beyond the typo / interpretation errors of mine. After correctly(?) entering FTP data, I then ran afoul of bug 372011 thus I have no confirmation of correctly linking to the .anl. mirror after 14hrs -- and I am changing to DVD.iso tactic with no intent of another FTP attempt (unless requested from this post to qualify a FTP-method improvement)... Regards Skip
I'm sorry to have another change in approach, but three spoiled DVDs [and my curiosity] brings me back to the FTP method. Some good news: After working around the "upgrade hang..." bug, the dependency resolution required but 2min +/- where the previous night it took 14hrs to not complete. The entire upgrade required 5hrs using FTP with mirror.anl.gov [Argonne Labs] and *without any intervention on my part* while processing. AMD MP2000+ CPU in one of two motherboard sockets [SMP not installed] 512MB RAM SCSI HD for / 300kb/sec DSL ISP Fedora workstation configuration / 1105 pkgs upgraded I have no numbers to compare DVD/FTP method time requirements, nor numbers to compare network activity. My intuition suggests there is a penalty to the FTP method -- but so small that good numbers are required to draw a conclusion. My point? Getting zero error is problematic the first time out, but once there the results seem pretty good. Yes -- I remember the silent failure mode of UNIX in the late 80's and the IBM mainframes JCL completion codes of the late 70's when the cause was obscure even after reading the manual. I remain most grateful that the result of my error is ambiguity rather than garbage where good stuff used to be. Now -- If there was only a !simple! way to improve feedback about errors made while processing... Regards again Skip
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Fedora 7 changed to end-of-life (EOL) status on June 13, 2008. Fedora 7 is no longer maintained, which means that it will not receive any further security or bug fix updates. As a result we are closing this bug. If you can reproduce this bug against a currently maintained version of Fedora please feel free to reopen this bug against that version. Thank you for reporting this bug and we are sorry it could not be fixed.