BUG! AlfrescoOne 4.2.x hungs during startup in KVM

[vgusev2007]

Hi all! Please help me with a strange problem.


So, I have two fresh install of alfresco 4.2.3.1 from bandle:

The first one is on a real hw (ubuntu 14.4 x64)
The second is: on a kvm VM (ubuntu 14.4 x64)

So, my problem is about:

I start alfresco via:

service alfresco start

And I see in catalina.out the following message:
WARNING: [SetContextPropertiesRule]{Context} Setting property 'debug' to '0' did not find a matching property.

On real host it takes about 20 sec - it is a normal situation.
On KVM host it takes about 600 sec. - it is a bad situation… - After that alfresco works as a normal instance without any problem.

There is no any activites from CPU or HDD/RAM during this hangs.

There is no help with reinstall alfresco.



SOLUTION!

Alfresco has told about fully supported ubuntu 12.04. It not seems to be try.

Just for test:

CASE 1:

# lsb_release -a
Description:    Ubuntu 12.04.5 LTS
# uname -ar
Linux alfresco-test 3.13.0-32-generic #57~precise1-Ubuntu SMP Tue Jul 15 03:51:20 UTC 2014 x86_64 x86_64 x86_64 GNU/Linux

(about 5 mins!)
Nov 20, 2014 7:27:17 PM org.apache.catalina.startup.SetContextPropertiesRule begin
WARNING: [SetContextPropertiesRule]{Context} Setting property 'debug' to '0' did not find a matching property.
Nov 20, 2014 7:32:31 PM org.apache.catalina.util.SessionIdGenerator createSecureRandom
….
….
….
Nov 20, 2014 7:33:39 PM org.apache.catalina.startup.Catalina start
INFO: Server startup in 382887 ms
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CASE 2:

# lsb_release -a
Description:    Ubuntu 12.04.5 LTS

# uname -ar
Linux alfresco-test 3.2.0-70-generic #105-Ubuntu SMP Wed Sep 24 19:49:16 UTC 2014 x86_64 x86_64 x86_64 GNU/LinuxNov 20, 2014 7:38:11 PM org.apache.catalina.startup.SetContextPropertiesRule begin
(4 sec!)
Nov 20, 2014 7:38:11 PM org.apache.catalina.startup.SetContextPropertiesRule begin
WARNING: [SetContextPropertiesRule]{Context} Setting property 'debug' to '0' did not find a matching property.
2014-11-20 19:38:14,906  WARN  [handler.component.SpellCheckComponent] [localhost-startStop-1] No queryConverter defined, using default converter
….
….
….
Nov 20, 2014 7:39:14 PM org.apache.catalina.startup.Catalina start
INFO: Server startup in 62796 ms
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I think it is a problem with a new linux kernel works under KVM! PLEASE CONFIRM this BUG!

[mrogers]

If you have a valid license then please call Alfresco support.

If you are using the forums then please post further details such as your log files.  And details of your system configuration.

However poor performance with a VM is probably due to insufficient resources either memory, cpu or disk.   Contention from other VMs starving the alfresco VM.  Or perhaps a poor network configuration.

[vgusev2007]

Dear, mrogers:

INFO: Deploying configuration descriptor /opt/alfresco-4.2.3.1/tomcat/conf/Catalina/localhost/solr.xml
ноя 19, 2014 11:06:03 PM org.apache.catalina.startup.SetContextPropertiesRule begin
WARNING: [SetContextPropertiesRule]{Context} Setting property 'debug' to '0' did not find a matching property.
ноя 19, 2014 11:08:28 PM org.apache.catalina.util.SessionIdGenerator createSecureRandom
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It was about 150sec… There was no I/0, CPU, RAM in during this time.

[vgusev2007]

Dear mrogers, I have setup ubuntu 14.04 srv as a my OS (in KVM), I have the start of alfresco with 10mins. After change my os to CentOS 6.2, I don't have problem with it. I know about alfresco doesn't officially support of ubuntu 14.04, because of this I'll try to use ubuntu 12.04 srv.

I'll post my result here about it.

[vgusev2007]

Dear, mrogers. We have a very special version of alfresco from a big vendor, and it has rather old version of alfresco 4.x + very old OS Linux. I want to try a new version of alfresco with new version of Linux in order to have a way for upgrade in future.

So, if I kill tomcat by: "killall java" , the next start alfresco on my VM is very fast…

It is a very strange…

I have a FRESH install of alfresco (just next,next,next) into my VM. My VM has: 4core of 3.2 GGz CPU + 10 GB of ECC RAM + 7200RPM hdd.

I'll glad for you help to me.

[mrogers]

10G of ram should be enough. 

Do you know which java process has caused problems?   That might help narrow down the problem.

[vgusev2007]

There is no problem with RAM. I have tested it from 4G to 10G.

I don't know about the java process problem. I see two java process in during hung.

If you want I can show 'ps auxww|grep java' during hang.

When I use above 3.2 kernel I have this problem, when I use 3.2 kernel or below - there is no problem! Please REread my first post, I have edited them.

[linuxyeti]

Hi there

I have to say, I doubt this is a problem with Alfresco, but more your KVM VM config

Areas for performance issues on KVM, can be traced to network and disk configuration

For the disk config :-

Set the Disk Bus as virtio and cache mode to none ( I also use RAW as format, but I don't think that affects performance particularly)

For the network card config, set the device model as virtio

You will almost certainly notice performance improvements.

Another thing to bear in mind, make sure you have enough RAM configured, and be wary of swap utilisation, as obviously that requires reading/writing to disk, and again, will slow you down.

Also, are the any other VM's running on your KVM host, and is their resource utilisation impacting on your VM for alfresco.

Finally, after all this, make sure you have tuned your Postgresql database try pgtune, as that provides a very good starting point, and double check your java runtime properties for alfresco.

Cheers

Tony

[vgusev2007]

Hi! I agree with you point. I'm not shure about problem in alfresco. I think it's a problem of kvm/tomcat/kernel. So, for example: I just a user of alfrescoOne, I download latest alfresco bundle, pay a VM in a cloud, install ubuntu 12.04 (because it's fully official supported by alfresco) - after fresh install I wait about 10 mins every time for start alfresco - THAT IS BAD! Really bad. There is NO problem in KVM: RAM, virtio and so on. There ONLY problem in KVM+latest kernel + tomcat/alfresco.

I have tested it in 3 KVM env with the same result.

I have a plan to setup a virtual kernel from ubuntu repo.

Just for notice:

What are the differences between the server and virtual kernels?

The difference between the Virtual and Server kernels is that the Virtual kernel is intended to be utilized inside a virtual machine. The virtual kernel only includes the necessary drivers to run inside popular virtualization technologies such as KVM, Xen, and VMWare. The server kernel in contrast contains the necessary drivers to work with a wide range of hardware, and should be installed directly on host systems. Other than that, all other options are identical between the server and the virtual kernel. 
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If you have an interest about my result, I can post it in several days from now.

Best regards.

[linuxyeti]

Hi

Sure, OK. Also, could you post the config of your VM, either the XML fileor list the settings.

Cheers

Tony