Troubleshooting provisioning issues

Node provisioning depends on a number of external factors. For example, a provisioning session depends on the local network, management server and Debian mirror availability, USB key model and imaging method, and of course on the hardware itself. Difficulties in any of these areas can result in a failed session.

If a provisioning session fails, there are usually error messages and logs available that can help identify the issue. This document describes how to check the log file on a node being provisioned.

A failure is indicated by an error message such as the one shown below.

image0

The above image is an example of one way a provisioning session can fail. The error message is critical to understanding why a provisioning session failed. If you report a provisioning issue to technical support, please include the full text of the error message.

Showing the provisioning log

If the error message is not detailed enough to identify the issue, more details may be available in the node’s provisioning log. The following steps can be used to show the provisioning log.

  1. The error message may contain a “Go Back” option. Select Go Back and press enter. You may need to press the Tab key to select the Go Back option. If the message doesn’t contain a Go Back option, select various options until you are presented with a Go Back option. image1
  2. After selecting Go Back, you will return to the installer main menu. The main menu looks like this: image2
  3. Scroll down the main menu until the “Execute a shell” option is selected. Press enter. image3
  4. Read the instructions for using the ash shell. Select Continue.
  5. You will be presented with a simple command prompt. At the prompt, type: tail -n 1000 /var/log/syslog This prints the last 1000 lines of the provisioning log.
  6. Review the final log messages for indications of the issue. For example, in the log file shown below, the message wget: bad address 'http.debian.net' indicates a problem performing a DNS request for http.debian.net. image4
  7. If the error message doesn’t indicate any issues or if error messages are unclear, please contact technical support. Send us the text or a screenshot of the initial error message and provide the full text of any error messages shown in the log.
  8. If you wish to exit the shell, type: exit You will return to the main menu.