[atlas] Local network checks

On 2016/04/11 13:49 , Alison Wheeler wrote:
> Sadly, there was nothing in there to indicate a problem, other than no records:
> <pre>
> 74.125.47.144 	2016-04-07 18:57:44 	A 	0h 1m 	
> 74.125.47.140 	2016-04-07 18:57:44 	AAAA 	0h 1m 	
> 2a00:1450:400c:c08::116 	2016-03-26 00:58:46 	A 	8d 9h 17m 	
> 74.125.47.14 	2016-03-26 00:58:46 	AAAA 	8d 9h 17m
> </pre>
> and as I don't check the probe's status daily (mea culpa!) it wasn't until I was mailed after a week of it being down that I knew there was an issue. But even then, if the RIPE servers can't 'see' the probe I can't do anything via the web interface, hence my wondering if there is any way to awaken it via a local network action (analogous to sending a WakeOnLAN ping)

Unfortunately, there is an issue where after some time the filesystem on
the USB stick just becomes corrupt. There is no obvious pattern. Some
probes are running for years without any problem.

If the filesystem is corrupt, then to recover it should be sufficient
the connect the probe without the USB stick wait for about 10 minutes
and insert the USB stick. This works only if the probe can get address
from DHCP.

It doesn't work in all case, sometimes the USB is actually broken. And
there is at least one way that the filesystem can be corrupt in a way
that can fool this trick.