Server Admin causes servermgrd crash: "got an empty response"

Question

Level 1

140 points

Server Admin causes servermgrd crash: "got an empty response"

Starting a few days ago, when one OSXS system is accessed with Server Admin, the servermgrd process immediately crashes. Could there be some file that somehow got corrupted? I've run 'repair disk' and 'repair permissions', and even did a full Disk Warrior run on the boot drive to no avail. No other changes or upgrades were done to the system to prompt this.

Server Admin[357] Server got an empty response (servermgr_info may have crashed)
crashdump[444]: servermgrd crashed

According to the servermgrd man page, this might mean that /etc/servermgrd/getsslpassphrase is returning a null string (which it seems to do when run manually). But it could also be that get serial_numberinfo() is returning null.

Is there some system file I need to regenerate?

Thx

The crash dump has this:

Command: servermgrd
Path: /usr/sbin/servermgrd
Parent: launchd [1]

Version: ??? (???)

PID: 424
Thread: 4

Exception: EXC BADACCESS (0x0001)
Codes: KERN PROTECTIONFAILURE (0x0002) at 0x00000000

Thread 4 Crashed:
0 ....ServerAdmin.servermgr_info 0x0027c39c ServerSerialNumStr ValidateInternal + 68
1 ....ServerAdmin.servermgr_info 0x0027a038 get serial_numberinfo + 232
2 ....ServerAdmin.servermgr_info 0x002695a8 get serverinfo + 132
3 ....ServerAdmin.servermgr_info 0x00268a60 doProcessInput + 248
4 servermgrd 0x000064e8 0x1000 + 21736
5 servermgrd 0x00008c3c 0x1000 + 31804
6 servermgrd 0x00008270 0x1000 + 29296
7 servermgrd 0x00007af8 0x1000 + 27384
8 com.apple.Foundation 0x9295d194 forkThreadForFunction + 108
9 libSystem.B.dylib 0x9002b508 pthreadbody + 96

Dual 2GHz PPC / 400GB / 8GB Mac OS X (10.4.8)

Dual 2GHz PPC / 400GB / 8GB Mac OS X (10.4.8)

Dual 2GHz PPC / 400GB / 8GB Mac OS X (10.4.8)

Posted on Jan 29, 2007 10:32 AM

Reply

Answer 1

Transini Author

Level 1

140 points

Feb 12, 2007 3:19 PM in response to Transini

Well, servermgrd is still crashing, 100% of the time, but the crash has "morphed" a bit:

Thread 5 Crashed:
0 libcups.2.dylib 0x91b224e4 ippDelete + 36
1 ...ple.S5Admin.servermgr_print 0x00437994 do idle_zerotasks + 85716
2 ...ple.S5Admin.servermgr_print 0x004377f0 do idle_zerotasks + 85296
3 ...ple.S5Admin.servermgr_print 0x00433c14 do idle_zerotasks + 69972
4 ...ple.S5Admin.servermgr_print 0x0043527c do idle_zerotasks + 75708
5 ...ple.S5Admin.servermgr_print 0x0042b6dc do idle_zerotasks + 35868
6 ...ple.S5Admin.servermgr_print 0x0042b664 do idle_zerotasks + 35748
7 ...ple.S5Admin.servermgr_print 0x00424238 do idle_zerotasks + 6008
8 ...ple.S5Admin.servermgr_print 0x004290f4 do idle_zerotasks + 26164
9 ...ple.S5Admin.servermgr_print 0x00428b5c do idle_zerotasks + 24732
10 ...ple.S5Admin.servermgr_print 0x00428cbc do idle_zerotasks + 25084
11 ...ple.S5Admin.servermgr_print 0x00421194 get servicestate + 224
12 ...ple.S5Admin.servermgr_print 0x004205a8 doProcessInput + 204
13 servermgrd 0x000064e8 0x1000 + 21736
14 servermgrd 0x0000619c 0x1000 + 20892
15 com.apple.Foundation 0x92940194 forkThreadForFunction + 108
16 libSystem.B.dylib 0x9002bc28 pthreadbody + 96

If anyone has any ideas about what I can do, if there's a file that I might check for corruption, something I might try reinstalling, etc., that would be great.

Reply

Answer 2

davidh

Level 4

1,890 points

Feb 13, 2007 4:53 AM in response to Transini

While servermgrd is running, get its PID, via (in the Terminal):

ps -aux | grep [s]ervermgrd

then look for the PID number.

Then issue:

sudo fs_usage -f filesys <PID>

where <PID> is of course the one you just got via ps.

Try using your Server Admin app and fs_usage will show you what files it's accessing. Which is not a suggestion to go removing things willy-nilly 🙂
But it might give you a lead.

Reply

Answer 3

Transini Author

Level 1

140 points

Feb 13, 2007 4:52 PM in response to davidh

Thanks for great suggestion! As you may expect, there are an awful lot of files it accesses, but the file it consistently accesses just before it crashes is:

15:13:53.907 open F=17 /private/var/servermgrd//servermgr_info.lock 0.000051 servermgrd

It's a binary file that gets recreated every time I try to connect to the system with Server Admin.

-rwxr-x--- 1 root wheel 307142 Feb 13 15:23 /private/var/servermgrd/servermgr_info.lock

I don't know if that file could be the problem, since it's creating it anew each time, or if it's crashing sometime afterwards. There's plenty of disk space, and I just did a Disk Warrior rebuild on the system drive.

So, I renamed the entire /private/var/servermgrd folder, along with the com.apple.ServerAdmin.plist, and restarted Server Admin. Still no difference! Deleting and re-adding the server doesn't help either.

I'm at a loss to know what to try next. A server tools reinstall perhaps?

Dual 2GHz PPC / 400GB / 8GB Mac OS X (10.4.8)

Reply

Answer 4

davidh

Level 4

1,890 points

Feb 13, 2007 8:20 PM in response to Transini

Hmm... might need to put that back.

ie: /private/var/servermgrd
or don't expect anything to work - at least the parent directory itself,
/private/var/ servermgrd
And make sure the permissions are correct.
drwxr-xr-x 38 root wheel servermgrd

While it is NOT a panacea, did you run a Repair Permissions routine ?

Try downloading the latest Server Admin tools (10.4.7)
http://www.apple.com/support/downloads/serveradmintools1047.html

Install the Admin Tools , repair permissions (if you haven't already), and then install the 10.4.8 combo updater BEFORE trying to use the tools (!!)
http://www.apple.com/support/downloads/macosx1048comboupdateppc.html

Reply

Answer 5

Transini Author

Level 1

140 points

Feb 14, 2007 10:15 AM in response to davidh

The /private/var/servermgrd folder & contents get regenerated if they're not there.

I ran a repair permissions on the drive, but it was fairly clean, just 2 unrelated log files showed up.

I tried running the Server Admin Tools install package, but it tells me:
"You cannot continue. There is nothing to install."
This occurs even if I rename /Applications/Server, and get rid of the receipts. I looked around, but couldn't find an uninstaller. Is there one?

Reply