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    DNS resolver not starting

    Scheduled Pinned Locked Moved General pfSense Questions
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    • W Offline
      Waqar.UK
      last edited by

      OK. I tried to look as if there were any errors, but I could not see any. Also I tried to do the "df" command. Made no difference. So I re-installed Pfsense with no added packages.

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      • stephenw10S Offline
        stephenw10 Netgate Administrator
        last edited by

        The df command itself would not do anything except show you the drive usage. If root was filled to 100% Unbound can refuse to start. Along witg other things breaking.

        Steve

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        • W Offline
          Waqar.UK
          last edited by Waqar.UK

          I looked in there:
          https://192.168.1.1/status_logs_settings.php
          then saw that my log files were getting too big. currently log files are
          "Disk space currently used by log files is: 9.3M Remaining disk space for log files: 95G".
          My SSD is 120 GB.
          OK. I just wanted a working system. Got it now.

          How do I stop this from happening:
          "If root was filled to 100% Unbound can refuse to start."

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          • stephenw10S Offline
            stephenw10 Netgate Administrator
            last edited by

            Basically: configure packages correctly. 😉

            When we see that it's almost always because some package is not rotating it's logs correctly ir has been set to unlimited log or cache size somewhere.

            pfSense itself has size limited logs so you should not see that grow much beyond that value unless you have specifically set them larger.

            Steve

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            • W Offline
              Waqar.UK
              last edited by

              Cheers Stephen!!

              I would like to re-install Snort and PfgBlocker. Where these packages logs kept?
              Since I would like to keep logs from taking up too much space.

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              • stephenw10S Offline
                stephenw10 Netgate Administrator
                last edited by

                In /var/log. I would recommend checking and saving the log settings on each package even if you make no changes to be sure they are using them.
                In Snort I would set an overall log directory size limit as well and the limits on individual logs.

                Steve

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                • W Offline
                  Waqar.UK
                  last edited by Waqar.UK

                  Thanks as I am currently using Pfsense with no added packages. But as you have stated to limit the log files as to prevent this occurring again.
                  What is the good size limits on these log files as to keep the add on functioning at their best?
                  Also my SSD is showing 96% health after about 2 years usage. Is there a way to prevent this from getting worse?

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                  • stephenw10S Offline
                    stephenw10 Netgate Administrator
                    last edited by

                    The default log sizes are generally fine. If you have some specific need to log more or maybe your system is particularly busy so the default 512K does not span enough time then you can increase them. I would start out by doubling them to 1M or maybe 2M. But 10M logs is not that unusual and any current drive is going to be easily large enough to accommodate that.

                    But the biggest things you can do to reduce disk writes if you are seeing excessive wear is to enable RAM drives:
                    https://docs.netgate.com/pfsense/en/latest/config/advanced-misc.html#ram-disk-settings
                    Doing that will generally leave far less space for logs since the log files are on /var
                    I generally use double the default size so 80MB and 120MB for the drives. 10M logs files are not going to fit there but 1M or 2M will.

                    The other thing to check is that the root slice is mounted 'noatime'. If you just re-installed it should be but it may not have been previously because: https://redmine.pfsense.org/issues/9483
                    Run at the CLI mount. You should see / mounted noatime like:

                    /dev/diskid/DISK-9E18E959s2a on / (ufs, local, noatime, journaled soft-updates)
devfs on /dev (devfs, local)
/dev/diskid/DISK-9E18E959s1 on /boot/u-boot (msdosfs, local, noatime)
/dev/md0 on /tmp (ufs, local)
/dev/md1 on /var (ufs, local)
devfs on /var/dhcpd/dev (devfs, local)

                    I have ramdisks enabled on that system too.

                    Steve

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                    • W Offline
                      Waqar.UK
                      last edited by

                      @stephenw10 said in DNS resolver not starting:

                      The default log sizes are generally fine. If you have some specific need to log more or maybe your system is particularly busy so the default 512K does not span enough time then you can increase them. I would start out by doubling them to 1M or maybe 2M. But 10M logs is not that unusual and any current drive is going to be easily large enough to accommodate that.
                      But the biggest things you can do to reduce disk writes if you are seeing excessive wear is to enable RAM drives:
                      https://docs.netgate.com/pfsense/en/latest/config/advanced-misc.html#ram-disk-settings
                      Doing that will generally leave far less space for logs since the log files are on /var
                      I generally use double the default size so 80MB and 120MB for the drives. 10M logs files are not going to fit there but 1M or 2M will.
                      The other thing to check is that the root slice is mounted 'noatime'. If you just re-installed it should be but it may not have been previously because: https://redmine.pfsense.org/issues/9483
                      Run at the CLI mount. You should see / mounted noatime like:
                      /dev/diskid/DISK-9E18E959s2a on / (ufs, local, noatime, journaled soft-updates)
                      devfs on /dev (devfs, local)
                      /dev/diskid/DISK-9E18E959s1 on /boot/u-boot (msdosfs, local, noatime)
                      /dev/md0 on /tmp (ufs, local)
                      /dev/md1 on /var (ufs, local)
                      devfs on /var/dhcpd/dev (devfs, local)

                      I have ramdisks enabled on that system too.
                      Steve

                      Thanks a lot. I will increase my RAM disks as I have 8GB RAM in my Qotom box.

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                      • GertjanG Offline
                        Gertjan
                        last edited by

                        Keep in mind that the content of ram disk is gone when the system powers down.

                        No "help me" PM's please. Use the forum, the community will thank you.
                        Edit : and where are the logs ??

                        W 1 Reply Last reply Reply Quote 1
                        • W Offline
                          Waqar.UK
                          last edited by

                          This post is deleted!
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                          • W Offline
                            Waqar.UK
                            last edited by

                            This post is deleted!
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                            • W Offline
                              Waqar.UK @Gertjan
                              last edited by

                              @Gertjan

                              I have set it to this and re-booted Pfsense.
                              If I add packages such as Snort & Pfgblocker, will this amount of RAM disk settings be enough? I have 8GB RAM in my Pfsense box.

                              2.png

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                              • stephenw10S Offline
                                stephenw10 Netgate Administrator
                                last edited by

                                You don't need them anywhere near that large.

                                The RAM disks are backed up and restored across a reboot. You only lose the contents if the box is rebooted unexpectedly.

                                Steve

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                                • W Offline
                                  Waqar.UK
                                  last edited by

                                  OK thanks a lot.

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                                  • W Offline
                                    Waqar.UK
                                    last edited by

                                    OK, thanks a lot. I will reduce the RAM size.

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