OSM Documentation 0.1.0 Search

12. Troubleshooting

Getting information

  • The server's own screen shows its address, its health, and what needs attention.
  • The bell in the desktop, and Logs, say what happened and when.
  • Settings > Monitoring > Diagnostic bundle makes one download with the logs and settings (passwords removed) for whoever helps you.
  • Settings > System Info > Hardware > Save a hardware report describes the computer, without anything that identifies it.

The desktop does not open

  1. Check the address on the server's screen. Open https://<address>:5001, or https://<name>.local:5001.
  2. If you changed the network settings and lost the page: wait 90 seconds. A change you did not confirm from the new address is undone by itself.
  3. If the firewall, the web desktop's ports or the network were changed: at the server's keyboard, press R on its screen. 3 puts the web desktop back on ports 5000 and 5001 and the firewall back to its defaults: on, with Always let in, Never let in and the countries emptied (other settings stay). 2 puts the network back to DHCP on every network card; a network change still waiting for Keep is dropped, so it does not come back.
  4. A browser warning about the certificate is expected until you give the server a trusted certificate (Network).

A forgotten password

  • Your own: Forgot your password? on the sign-in page sends a one-time link by email, if the server has email set up and your account has an address.
  • The last Administrator's: at the server's keyboard, press R on its screen, then 1, A new password for an Administrator. That account's two-step sign-in is turned off, and it is signed out everywhere.
  • Lost phone, two-step sign-in: use a recovery code, or ask another Administrator for Reset two-step in Settings > Users and Groups.

A disk failed, or a volume is degraded

Your data is still there if the volume's RAID allows the failure. Replace the disk and Repair the volume (Storage). Until then, avoid heavy work on the volume, and make sure your backups are recent.

A volume that is missing after a start (all its disks gone or unplugged) does not stop the server: plug the disks back in and restart.

An update went wrong

  • OSM makes a restore point before every update, automatic or not, and watches the services for 15 minutes afterwards: if one fails, OSM goes back by itself and tells you. Settings > Updates and Recovery > Update history shows what each update changed and how it ended.
  • Settings > Updates and Recovery > Restore points lists them: Roll back... goes back to one by hand, and Make one now keeps one before a change of your own. A restart afterwards makes every service use the restored versions.
  • If OSM itself does not answer after its update, a guard outside OSM puts the previous version back within minutes.
  • On a server that starts with UEFI, a new kernel that does not start is set aside, and the previous one starts.

No updates come

Every update comes from OSM's update service, and from nowhere else. Settings > Updates and Recovery > OSM's update service says why none came:

  • It could not be reached: the server needs to reach https://updates.osm-os.com (port 443). Check its network, its DNS and any firewall between it and the internet. It keeps installing from the last release it accepted in the meantime. A server that is kept off the internet updates from an offline update instead (A server without internet).
  • An offline update was refused: the message says which check failed. "For Debian ... on ...": download the one for the server's Debian release and architecture. "Ran out": download the newest one. "Older than release ...": the server has a newer release already. Anything else (a signature, a file that is not the one the release names): the download or the USB drive is damaged; download it again.
  • A file was refused: OSM checks every file before it uses it, and keeps the last release that passed. If it goes on for more than a day, contact support with the message shown.
  • No updates yet: this build of OSM has no keys for the update service, so it cannot check for updates; a version that has them can.

The server does not start

  • The start-up menu shows for 3 seconds. Advanced options has the previous kernels and recovery mode (a root shell, at the server's keyboard and screen).
  • With an encrypted system whose TPM no longer unlocks it (a new motherboard, a firmware update), the server asks at its screen for the passphrase or the recovery key. Once started, use Bind to the TPM again... in Storage.
  • If a system disk failed, the server starts from another one; repair the system disks afterwards.

An app does not work

  1. Look at the app's page in the App Catalog: its settings, and the state of each of its containers.
  2. Open in Containers, on that page, shows its containers with their Logs and a Terminal (shell) inside.
  3. After an update, an app that does not start goes back to its previous version by itself. You can also uninstall it while keeping its data, and install it again.
  4. An app that cannot be reached: check its address and ports on its page, its network rules, and that your router's DHCP does not give out the addresses meant for apps.

Shared folders cannot be reached from a computer

  • Install SMB in Settings > File Protocols, and check that the folder is Shared over SMB.
  • Sign in with your OSM account and its password: a password changed in OSM is your file sharing password at once. If SMB was installed after your password was set, sign in to the desktop once first.
  • Check the folder's permissions for that account and its groups.
  • Very old devices that speak only SMB1 or SMB 2.0 cannot connect: OSM requires SMB 2.1 or later.

The link may have ended (its end date, or its number of downloads), its account may be locked, or the file may be gone. Too many wrong passwords pause a link for a few minutes. Files > Shared links shows each link's state.

The server is slow

Activity shows what is busy: the processor, memory, the disks or the network, and which processes and containers. Give the apps that matter most a higher priority, and limits to the ones that should take less. A volume being repaired, scrubbed or reshaped is slower until it is done.

Starting over

  • Settings > Updates and Recovery > Reset to the defaults (or R at the server's screen) puts OSM's main settings back to how a new installation has them (the page lists what is reset and what stays), the accounts too if you choose, and keeps your shared folders, apps and backups (Backup and recovery).
  • To install again from the USB stick, see Installation.