My Longview client is not working as it should.

Linode's Longview service collects system level data about the services running on your Linode and displays that data in an easy to read graphic interfaces.

While Longview is a powerful tool, there are a number of different issues that can pop up after the setup process is complete.

Along with the following tips, Linode offers a handful of great Longview-related guides that offer some great setup and simple troubleshooting tips for using Longview.

Troubleshooting!

Following you will see a sampling of some of the issues that you might see when your Longview client is not working exactly as you'd like it to.

Is the client running?

The first step you will want to take is to make sure your Longview client is running.

sudo service longview status
sudo service longview start

System clock is slow

• Check to see if the service NTP is running on your Linode.

ntpstat

• A happy output will look similar to this:

synchronised to NTP server (xxx.xxx.xxx.xxx) at stratum 3
 time correct to within 94 ms
 polling server every 64 s

• If you notice a delay or there is any issue, the following command should help to sort that out:

sudo echo "$(dig +short longview.linode.com) longview.linode.com" >> /etc/hosts

• Ensuring the system clock is correct is also useful.

date

Graphs not updating after upgrading to Longview Pro?

Sit tight! After the switch to Longview Pro, the system can take some time for the graphs to start updating again. If the graphs are not updating after 24 hours, the best course of action is to uninstall the Longview client, then reinstall it as new.

Graphs are not updating

• Start by checking the Longview record for messages to see if any specific problems are mentioned.
• Check the API key that is installed on the Linode versus what is shown in the Longview record. To check the API key, use the following command:

sudo cat /etc/linode/longview.key
sudo echo '$APIkey' | sudo tee /etc/linode/longview.key

• Check the Longview client's debug logs

Client is waiting for data

The first troubleshooting step here is to determine if the client is running, which can be done using the following commands:

sudo service longview status
sudo service longview start

Ensuring that the API key is correct is also recommended:

sudo cat /etc/linode/longview.key
sudo echo '$APIkey' | sudo tee /etc/linode/longview.key

How do I use the debug logs?

The debug logs are a great resource to refer to when troubleshooting an issue with your Longview client. Keep in mind that you want to remove the debug flag after troubleshooting so the debug file does not continue to collect data and increase in size.

Starting debug

• Stop Longview and restart with debug flag:
  sudo service longview stop
sudo /etc/init.d/longview debug

• Check the Longview log:
  sudo tail /var/log/linode/longview.log
tail -fn30 /var/log/linode/longview.log

To remove debug flag

• Stop Longview service:
  sudo service longview stop

• Got an error - kill the Longview process:
  ps aux | grep longview
sudo kill $PID

• Start longview and check status:
  sudo service longview start
sudo service longview status

It's still not working!

When all else fails, uninstalling and reinstalling your Longview client is a great tactic for trying to get things up and running.

Note: your API key will change when uninstalling and reinstalling your Longview client.

Common Longview troubleshooting commands.

When opening a Support ticket about an issue with Longview, please provide the output of the following commands in the body of the ticket to help along with the troubleshooting process:

Debian based distributions

/etc/init.d/longview stop
/etc/init.d/longview debug
tail /var/log/linode/longview.log
sudo cat /etc/linode/longview.key

Red-Hat based distributions

service longview stop
/opt/linode/longview/Linode/Longview.pl debug
tail /var/log/linode/longview.log
sudo cat /etc/linode/longview.key

Don't be afraid to open a Support ticket and share any information that you've found during your troubleshooting. We're always happy to help!