All VMs suddenly shutdown automatically - Power failure suspected

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jmestrada
Posts: 8
Joined: 9. Apr 2021, 22:15

All VMs suddenly shutdown automatically - Power failure suspected

Post by jmestrada »

Hello! I have this weird situation where both VitualBox VMs on an Ubuntu Sever 18.04 host are found unexpectedly shutdown almost at the same morning time but only Mon-Fri. In some cases, the host server is found also powered off BUT not always which makes think that power failure might not be always the cause for the VMs to shutdown. I checked VBox logs without any clue about this incidence and that is why I am opening this topic and attaching up 2 log files from each VM (current log file and last one) in order to please request some help to determine what could be wrong.
Thank you very much in advance for your kind attention and help.
Attachments
vboxwinserver2012.zip
Current plus last log files from WinServer2012 VM
(31.96 KiB) Downloaded 3 times
vboxwin10.zip
Current plus last log files from Win10 VM
(64.73 KiB) Downloaded 3 times
scottgus1
Site Moderator
Posts: 20965
Joined: 30. Dec 2009, 20:14
Primary OS: MS Windows 10
VBox Version: PUEL
Guest OSses: Windows, Linux

Re: All VMs suddenly shutdown automatically - Power failure suspected

Post by scottgus1 »

All four logs are incomplete, cut off in mid-logging. This can mean either a power cut or death of the background VboxSVC service.

Windows OS's put boot status messages in the Event Viewer System logs indicating if the previous shutdown was unexpected. Maybe your host Ubuntu OS has something similar?

Does the server have a UPS backing up its power, with a properly-configured shutdown/hibernate sequence taking the VMs into account?
jmestrada wrote:In some cases, the host server is found also powered off BUT not always
Some motherboards have a power-on control that returns the computer to the power status it had when power was previously cut. If the PC was running, the motherboard will restart the PC at next power restore. If the PC was off, the motherboard will leave the PC off. Maybe your server was off the times it did not get found running?

There isn't any more in the Virtualbox logs that may show why the log stopped logging.
jmestrada
Posts: 8
Joined: 9. Apr 2021, 22:15

Re: All VMs suddenly shutdown automatically - Power failure suspected

Post by jmestrada »

Thanks for helping, @scottgus1!
scottgus1 wrote:All four logs are incomplete, cut off in mid-logging. This can mean either a power cut or death of the background VboxSVC service.
I find unlikely that background VBoxSVC service be dying but how can I check it out?
scottgus1 wrote:Windows OS's put boot status messages in the Event Viewer System logs indicating if the previous shutdown was unexpected. Maybe your host Ubuntu OS has something similar?
Indeed Windows Event Viewer logs indicate unexpected previous shutdown BUT not at the same time for both VMs (Today Win10 VM unexpectedly shutdown at 08:19 while WinServer2012 vm unexpectedly shutdown at 08:24). How can I check same thing on Ubuntu server?
scottgus1 wrote:Does the server have a UPS backing up its power, with a properly-configured shutdown/hibernate sequence taking the VMs into account?
No.
scottgus1 wrote:
jmestrada wrote:In some cases, the host server is found also powered off BUT not always
Some motherboards have a power-on control that returns the computer to the power status it had when power was previously cut. If the PC was running, the motherboard will restart the PC at next power restore. If the PC was off, the motherboard will leave the PC off. Maybe your server was off the times it did not get found running?
I understand. I would have to check BIOS settings for this but it only would tell us regarding the server state after power restore. Right? I mean, it wouldn't help us so much in general terms.
scottgus1 wrote:There isn't any more in the Virtualbox logs that may show why the log stopped logging.
Any idea where else to look into, please? So far the only theory I am considering the most is accidentally powering off.
jmestrada
Posts: 8
Joined: 9. Apr 2021, 22:15

Re: All VMs suddenly shutdown automatically - Power failure suspected

Post by jmestrada »

Sorry, my back on this one from previous reply:
scottgus1 wrote:Does the server have a UPS backing up its power, with a properly-configured shutdown/hibernate sequence taking the VMs into account?
Yes, host server uses a power backup device BUT it isn't configured to shutdown / hibernate at all any thing connected to it, only power backup for let's say 5-10 min. It is also known that server power supply back entry has a little failure and power cord connector doesn't fix properly or it gets easily unfixed from the power supply. This is why I suspect that daily office cleaning service might cause server power interruption but I would like to make sure that failures aren't caused by software.
scottgus1
Site Moderator
Posts: 20965
Joined: 30. Dec 2009, 20:14
Primary OS: MS Windows 10
VBox Version: PUEL
Guest OSses: Windows, Linux

Re: All VMs suddenly shutdown automatically - Power failure suspected

Post by scottgus1 »

All we could say now is that the VMs are being cut off in mid-log. There is a set of VboxSVC.log's in $HOME/.config/VirtualBox. If you can zip the whole $HOME/.config/VirtualBox folder and post the zip with the forum's Upload Attachment tab after you find the VMs all shut off but the server is still running, or when the server is shut down too, then we might be able to see if the VMs were cut off.

But Virtualbox won't tell you why the host turns off, anymore than Gimp or Terminal would. A decent reliable UPS and strong power cables are important. Also, configure the UPS software to run a script which runs Vboxmanage commands to save-state the VMs.

vboxmanage controlvm "VM name" savestate
jmestrada
Posts: 8
Joined: 9. Apr 2021, 22:15

Re: All VMs suddenly shutdown automatically - Power failure suspected

Post by jmestrada »

Thank you so much for your help, scottgus1! (Please, tell me how can I effectively mention any username in the post)
scottgus1 wrote:All we could say now is that the VMs are being cut off in mid-log. There is a set of VboxSVC.log's in $HOME/.config/VirtualBox. If you can zip the whole $HOME/.config/VirtualBox folder and post the zip with the forum's Upload Attachment tab after you find the VMs all shut off but the server is still running, or when the server is shut down too, then we might be able to see if the VMs were cut off.
Very well; I'm attaching .zip file with some log files from current $HOME/.config/VirtualBox folder which would illustrate you for the scenario where VMs shutdown but server is till running. I couldn't include any vboxwebsrv log file because the very current log file is bigger than the maximum allowed size for zip file attachment.
Attachments
VBoxSVC_home-config.zip
$HOME/.config/VirtualBox folder log files
(17.82 KiB) Downloaded 2 times
scottgus1
Site Moderator
Posts: 20965
Joined: 30. Dec 2009, 20:14
Primary OS: MS Windows 10
VBox Version: PUEL
Guest OSses: Windows, Linux

Re: All VMs suddenly shutdown automatically - Power failure suspected

Post by scottgus1 »

Did the VMs or the server crash in the last hour or so?
scottgus1 wrote:...after you find the VMs all shut off...
jmestrada
Posts: 8
Joined: 9. Apr 2021, 22:15

Re: All VMs suddenly shutdown automatically - Power failure suspected

Post by jmestrada »

scottgus1 wrote:Did the VMs or the server crash in the last hour or so?
scottgus1 wrote:...after you find the VMs all shut off...
Well, we relocated the host server yesterday, before leaving office, to a rack which is not precisely the best place in the office LAN but it is the more secure place physically speaking, and everything (host and guests) is working smooth ever since; I will keep on observing very close the host server activity at least for another week.
Thank you very much for the kind attention and help.
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