Why You Shouldn't Reboot Unix Servers

GMGruman writes "It's a persistent myth: reboot your Unix box when something goes wrong or to clean it out. Paul Venezia explains why you should almost never reboot a Unix server, unlike say Windows."

Uptime

[cdoggyd]

Because you won't be able to brag about your uptime numbers.

Re:Uptime

[Anrego]

I once had to move my router (486 running slackware and with a multi-year uptime) across the room it was in. It was connected to a UPS, however the cable going from the UPS to the computer was wrapped through the leg of the table it was sitting on.

I actually _removed the table leg_ so I could hawl the 486 still plugged into the UPS across the room and quickly plug it in before it powered down!

and then we had the first real substantial power failure in years like a few months later.. and the thing had to go down :(

But yeah.. now I reboot frequently to verify that everything still comes up properly.

Sometimes ...

[PPH]

... the crap I read on Slashdot is so unbelievable, I have to reboot my laptop in the hopes that it will go away.

Re:Persistent myth?

[Dracos]

I'm not familiar with Unix itself enough to comment, but with both Linux and *BSD...

I'm not sure how to respond to that.

Re:Uptime

[Anrego]

I meant mains power.. due to a hurricane actually (hurricane Juan).

The machine came out fine (and actually still runs.. though I don't use it as a router any more). Those old drives are surprisingly robust ..

But yeah.. I was actually surprised.. and I did it more for the sake of the doing (the only reason I even left the machine going was because of the uptime). I'd never pull a stunt like that with a real machine :D

An Appropriate Hacker Koan

[idontgno]

courtesy of Appendix A of the Jargon File [catb.org].

Tom Knight and the Lisp Machine

A novice was trying to fix a broken Lisp machine by turning the power off and on.

Knight, seeing what the student was doing, spoke sternly: "You cannot fix a machine by just power-cycling it with no understanding of what is going wrong."

Knight turned the machine off and on.

The machine worked.

Re:What a load of BS

[ColdWetDog]

You just might want to do the reboot at off-peak hours.

As someone who tends to work during 'off-peak' hours, I have a special room in Hell just expressly reserved for admins like you (and my admins who apparently are your soul mates). Just thought I'd mention this. You've been warned.

Re:Uptime

[mallyone]

I bet any slashdotter that he still has a 3 legged table! :).