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.
All VMs suddenly shutdown automatically - Power failure suspected
All VMs suddenly shutdown automatically - Power failure suspected
- Attachments
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- vboxwinserver2012.zip
- Current plus last log files from WinServer2012 VM
- (31.96 KiB) Downloaded 3 times
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- vboxwin10.zip
- Current plus last log files from Win10 VM
- (64.73 KiB) Downloaded 3 times
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- Site Moderator
- Posts: 20945
- 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
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?
There isn't any more in the Virtualbox logs that may show why the log stopped logging.
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?
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?jmestrada wrote:In some cases, the host server is found also powered off BUT not always
There isn't any more in the Virtualbox logs that may show why the log stopped logging.
Re: All VMs suddenly shutdown automatically - Power failure suspected
Thanks for helping, @scottgus1!
I find unlikely that background VBoxSVC service be dying but how can I check it out?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.
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: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?
No.scottgus1 wrote:Does the server have a UPS backing up its power, with a properly-configured shutdown/hibernate sequence taking the VMs into account?
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: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?jmestrada wrote:In some cases, the host server is found also powered off BUT not always
Any idea where else to look into, please? So far the only theory I am considering the most is accidentally powering off.scottgus1 wrote:There isn't any more in the Virtualbox logs that may show why the log stopped logging.
Re: All VMs suddenly shutdown automatically - Power failure suspected
Sorry, my back on this one from previous reply:
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 wrote:Does the server have a UPS backing up its power, with a properly-configured shutdown/hibernate sequence taking the VMs into account?
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Re: All VMs suddenly shutdown automatically - Power failure suspected
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
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
Re: All VMs suddenly shutdown automatically - Power failure suspected
Thank you so much for your help, scottgus1! (Please, tell me how can I effectively mention any username in the post)
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.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.
- Attachments
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- VBoxSVC_home-config.zip
- $HOME/.config/VirtualBox folder log files
- (17.82 KiB) Downloaded 2 times
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- Site Moderator
- Posts: 20945
- 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
Did the VMs or the server crash in the last hour or so?
scottgus1 wrote:...after you find the VMs all shut off...
Re: All VMs suddenly shutdown automatically - Power failure suspected
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.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...
Thank you very much for the kind attention and help.