Hazard's stuff

Fixing Greenplum 'unresolved in-doubt transaction' errors

We had an issue with a database server running Greenplum (commercial Postgresql for large-scale datawarehousing). Greenplum was starting, but attempts to do anything in the database were resulting in the following errors:

INFO: Crash recovery broadcast of the distributed transaction 'Commit Prepared' broadcast succeeded for gid = 1265880453-0032866370.
INFO: Crash recovery broadcast of the distributed transaction 'Abort Prepared' broadcast succeeded for gid = 1265880453-0032866371��C
psql: FATAL: DTM Log recovery failed. There are still unresolved in-doubt transactions on some of the segment databaes that were not able to be resolved for an unknown reason. (cdbtm.c:2829)
DETAIL: Here is a list of in-doubt transactions in the system: List of In-doubt transactions remaining across the segdbs: ("1265880453-0032866371��C" , )
HINT: Try restarting the Greenplum Database array. If the problem persists an Administrator will need to resolve these transactions manually.

Of course, manuals/forums/Google did not provide any useful ideas as regards to how 'to resolve these transactions manually'. Morever there was no backup handy (and the db was huge). I didn't care about two lost transactions, I just wanted to start the database. After an hour of attempts, eventually I succeeded. The trick was to delete files from pg_twophase/ subdirectories.

I'm blogging this in the hope that when somebody else faces this problem, he would be able to find this post through Google, saving his nerves. :-)

Guaba Beach Bar Limassol

Great music but a boo for customer service. I don't like being told "I don't give a shit" by supervisors. Having spent there a few hundred euros in a week, the least I want is to be handled politely. Fix yourself or you'll end up only with drunken kids. The atmosphere has been degrading ever since the move to a new place.

What a wonderful day ... NOT

It's been a while I posted something here, so as well it might be a rant.

TODAY:

Confortel Atrium hotel in Madrid tried to put 60 EUR worth of bar/restaurant charges on me, ignoring the fact that they were dated BEFORE the date I arrived.
Aegean airlines screwed up web check-in Madrid-Athens-Larnaca. I managed to check in for Madrid-Athens, but then the system would not let me check-in to Larnaca.
Aegean airlines did not manage to register me to Larnaca even in Madrid airport registration desk. "We use different systems". It should be mentioned that my transfer time in Athens was planned to be just one hour, which is already tight, without having to obtain a boarding pass...
... and then the flight to Athens was delayed.
The duty-free in Madrid didn't put the bottle of wine I purchased in a sealed bag. So the bottle was happily confiscated by Athens airport security.
My passport got damaged (peeled off) just on the place where my photo is.
It seems I caught a cold.

Well, it could be worse, right ??

Kernel 2.6.28 for Fedora Core 8

In case someone wants to run a recent Linux kernel on an FC8 box, I have made an RPM for 2.6.28.7 and you can download it here. Should also install on CentOS 5/RHEL 5 if you use --force.

Ussuriysk space center

This breathtaking photo was taken next to a space communication facility near Ussuriysk, Russia. The biggest RT-70 radiotelescope has a 70m diameter antenna with an area of 2500 sq. m! The telescope stands over 100m high, can rotate 360 degrees and weights over 24 thousand tons [1] [2]. Impressive gadget :) Sadly, not used nowadays, due to lack of financing and deep space missions.

Waltz with Bashir

Just finished watching Waltz with Bashir. Emotional, original and very beautiful. Not for the faint of heart.

I hope that it will get the well-deserved Oscar in the best foreign movie category.

You think that SPAM is distributed? I did so too.

Shutdown of a single ISP, McColo, has reduced world spam levels by 70%. Check the full story here. Amazing.

Karcher RoboCleaner in da house :)

At last I received my Karcher RC 3000 RoboCleaner. My carpet already looks more vibrant than ever :) The thing goes around the apartment collecting the dust, finds the base, dumps the dust into a bag in the base, and then starts again from the beginning... until you stop it. Perfect. As long as it can find the base ;)

MAD Video Music Awards 2008

I caught a glimpse of MAD Video Music Awards 2008 and I must say I was impressed. Greeks managed to stage a world-class show, with a vivid scene setup and excellent camera work.

It was the first time I saw a live production of such quality from Greece. Eurovision 2006 doesn't count as it was supported by European Broadcasting Union.

HP F4180 printer/scanner/copier

I recently purchased HP F4180 printer/scanner/copier for 50 EUR. It is amazing how inexpensive these things are nowadays.

As regards to Linux compatibility, I must say that it is very good and everything worked from the first attempt. Simply download HPLIP and all configuration is done automatically (at least on FC8). Printing works using CUPS, scanning using xsane. Thumbs up to HP!