Disappearing hosts from host list

[Wayne Workman]

@Foglalt some of the trunk versions between 1.2.0 and 1.3.0 had serious issues. We’re confident those are resolved now in 1.3.0 onwards. You probably had the issue for a long time (junk data in your database) without even noticing an issue until just now.

[cajos001]

I upgraded from 1.2.0 to 1.3.0 yesterday and have the same problem as Foglalt. The hosts and printers are in the database but cannot be listed in the FOG web application. I’ve also done the steps detailed here https://wiki.fogproject.org/wiki/index.php?title=Troubleshoot_MySQL#Hosts_think_they_are_not_registered_.2F_can.27t_register_.2F_Already_Registered_.2F_other_weirdness
without success.

I would now like to try to get a fresh start as my database began it’s life in 2009. I’ve backed up my database and exported my hosts, printers etc to csv files so I can copy paste the information back into the FOG GUI. How do I make a fresh empty FOG database but keep my settings?

[Wayne Workman]

@cajos001 said in Disappearing hosts from host list:

I’ve backed up my database and exported my hosts, printers etc to csv files so I can copy paste the information back into the FOG GUI. How do I make a fresh empty FOG database but keep my settings?

I know you said you have copies of your data, but the instructions I give you will also include taking another backup.

SSH to your fog server (or log into it and open terminal). Become root with sudo -i

backup the fog db with mysqldump -D fog > /root/fogdbbackup.sql
Then just drop the fog database as so:

mysql
drop database fog;
exit

Then re-run the fog 1.3.0 installer. It’ll rebuild the DB for you.

If this goes south, you can always import the old db like this:

mysql -D fog < /root/fogdbbackup.sql

[cajos001]

@Wayne-Workman Thanks Wayne, I have followed your instructions and have a new fresh installation to work with.

[cajos001]

@Wayne-Workman It worked perfectly, Thanks.

[Foglalt]

Case reopened. I still use version 1.3.0 (well, have no time to test all versions in the last few subversions were fast to come out). Last time i could not register new host cos it said mac already used. not it says hostname exists, but i cant find it. (well, the new host lister part in gui is strange for me, but other hosts it list i search for but not this particular one).

Do you maybe have another tip what is it? (i did what you suggested last time, but now it “affected zero rows” now).

[Wayne Workman]

@Foglalt said in Disappearing hosts from host list:

Do you maybe have another tip what is it? (i did what you suggested last time, but now it “affected zero rows” now).

1.3.0 was such a massive improvement, but it does have issues. 1.3.4 is the current stable and it’s pretty good. I would first recommend upgrading to 1.3.4 to see if this solves your issue.

[Foglalt]

@Wayne-Workman

I did upgrade, but sadly it says that “hostname exists already”. as i am not an sql pro, can you pls tell me what else can be done to find reason fo it?

one more thing. as it first occured the colleague who found this issue uses his own “clone hosts” and when imaging comes, he only renew MAC of the new hw, changes image if needed, but hostname or host “item” is not deleted. it sounded absolutely working, but does it any wrong? (in my logic it doesnt, but pls confirm me)

[Foglalt]

Additional information, until you can suggest me anything how to remove the unwanted “already registered” host i watched the database with a browser to see manually under the hood. host is actually there in hosts table. as i dont know the links of tables i wont delete it but it may help if u need more info on this issue.

so, @Wayne-Workman or @Tom-Elliott (or anyone ofc) what can i do with this “lost” host in the database?

[Wayne Workman]

@Foglalt

So, the only reason why a host would exist in the hosts table but not appear in the web interface is if it doesn’t have a MAC address or if it’s pending. Time to dig in.

Jot down the exact hostname on paper, case sensitive. Then do the below, replacing the hostname with the one you wrote down and later the hostID, at the CLI:

mysql -D fog
select * from hosts where hostname='theHostname';

Note the hostID of the data returned (if any). Take that ID and then do this query:

select * from hostMAC where hmHostID='numberHere';

Anything returned? Please share what you find, if you copy/paste then use the code tool when posting here, the button looks like this in the editing area: </>

You exit MySQL CLI with the command quit

[Foglalt]

sorry for ugly output, from phone it is hard seems it has mac associated. what does pending means in this context?

+------+----------+-------------------+--------+-----------+-----------+--------                                                                                                                                                             --------+-----------------+
| hmID | hmHostID | hmMAC             | hmDesc | hmPrimary | hmPending | hmIgnor                                                                                                                                                             eClient | hmIgnoreImaging |
+------+----------+-------------------+--------+-----------+-----------+--------                                                                                                                                                             --------+-----------------+
|  414 |      107 | 9c:5c:8e:93:ac:dc |        | 0         | 0         | 0                                                                                                                                                                           | 0               |
+------+----------+-------------------+--------+-----------+-----------+--------                                                                                                                                                             --------+-----------------+
1 row in set (0.00 sec)

[george1421]

@Foglalt I fixed your ugly output.

[Tom Elliott]

Pending means the mac address has been registered, but is not “official” yet.

[Foglalt]

@george1421 thx for helping me out!

@Tom-Elliott and what does “not official” means?

Btw if zero means it is not pending, how can i get rid of this host? As it has mac, mac is not pending is it a legit host playing hide and seek somehow? Anyway i see one interesting thing. the problematic host’s mac has no primary flag. Can it be the problem? if i modify that from 0 to 1 maybe it comes back to visible? (can it be done with database browser anyway, or is it “rape” of the database integrity?

[Wayne Workman]

@Foglalt I just set all my MACs hmPending field to 0, everything is fine.

I need to see your problem myself. If you would message me via the forums messaging system, I can give you my email address and if you trust me enough, you can email me a copy of your database for me to look at. I should be able to very quickly figure out what’s wrong if I had a copy of your DB.

[Wayne Workman]

@Foglalt shared a copy of his DB with me, I have this figured out. It was related to the hmPrimary field in the hostMAC table.

FOG requires that each host have at least one MAC that is set to the primary. This host that is disappearing - for whatever reason - had a MAC associated to it that was not set as primary.

You can find all hosts that don’t have a primary MAC set with this command:

SELECT * FROM `hosts` WHERE `hostID` NOT IN (SELECT `hmHostID` FROM `hostMAC` WHERE `hmPrimary` = '1');

And you can delete them with these commands:

DELETE FROM `hosts` WHERE `hostID` NOT IN (SELECT `hmHostID` FROM `hostMAC` WHERE `hmPrimary` = '1');
DELETE FROM `hostMAC` WHERE `hmhostID` NOT IN (SELECT `hostID` FROM `hosts`);

I’ve updated the wiki with this maintenance command

Also - I don’t know how you got a clear-text password into the hostADPass field inside the hosts table - that shouldn’t even be possible. I’m suspecting someone did some manual work in the database and did that.

[Tom Elliott]

@Wayne-Workman Pretty much, yep. That’s the only way they could’ve done it. (The plain text password in the hostADPass field.)

[Foglalt]

@Wayne-Workman thx for the work. About primary. Can it be checked somehow by code that a host with no primary mac cannot be save? I think i have a guess how it came.

That host field, the mac is normally updated when new cloning starts (we regularly do few hosts in pack as company now upgrades all pc “one by one”. I will check, but i think it is done as follows: new mac copied from hw library and pasted into for host record. Since now it has primary and other field, maybe colleague did it to other field, not the primary (he only deleted primary, then by mistake copied the new mac to nonpripary field.

If possible, pls dont let it be updated if no primary mac entry exists. Maybe it prevents this. I will ask him how he does, but i fear he wont remember the exact process, as it is dont in “half robot” mode (tons of pcs are repared, etc).

As for the hostADPass field. I forgot to ask it, but inspecting the problem i saw that, too. Is that field is for entering hosts to domain? I was not even aware that they use it. As far as i remember it is dont by scripting on the host, not by fog at all.

@Tom-Elliott No, none did any manual work about that password Those who use fog for imaging, well, dont even care how it works. I will ask them, but i am totally sure they will be surprised even hearing it! (and shocked that password thing)

[Foglalt]

Just for your intention: that strange user and password that was found in our database is even more strange. Those are actually fog users and passwords saved with host data. Fog client was never used in our environment and all (which would require ad passwords maybe).

Even more, user for ad cannot be saved from host or image gui part. None of my colleagues use any of db manipulating software (actually never ever used for any purpose ). This means that those fields are mysteriously got those info!

This database was created with version 1.2.0, previous db was not used at all only as reference for the new database building (hosts are mass imported from newly created lists coming from other source).

So, if our database is corrupted somehow, we dont have no clue how it was done.

[Wayne Workman]

@Foglalt Is the original problem solved though? Were you able to register those disappeared hosts now?

If you want to dig into the DB issues, that should be another thread.