can't get sysstat service to start

I had sysstat configured to run via cron for a couple of weeks, then suddenly it stopped working. The service has a status of “unused”, and I can’t get it restarted. The server is SLES 10 SP4. Here’s a sample of what I’ve tried so far.

sles10-usps-db01:/var/log # service sysstat status
Checking for service sysstat: unused

sles10-usps-db01:/var/log # rpm -qa | grep -i sysstat
sysstat-8.0.4-1.16.1

sles10-usps-db01:/var/log # service sysstat status
Checking for service sysstat: unused

sles10-usps-db01:/var/log # service sysstat start
done

sles10-usps-db01:/var/log # service sysstat status
Checking for service sysstat: unused

sles10-usps-db01:/var/log # chkconfig -l | grep -i sysstat
sysstat 0: off 1: off 2: off 3: off 4: off 5: off 6: off

sles10-usps-db01:/var/log # chkconfig -a sysstat
sysstat 0: off 1: off 2: off 3: off 4: off 5: off 6: off B: on

sles10-usps-db01:/var/log # /etc/init.d/sysstat start
done

sles10-usps-db01:/var/log # /etc/init.d/sysstat status
Checking for service sysstat: unused

sles10-usps-db01:/var/log # chkconfig -l | grep -i sysstat
sysstat 0: off 1: off 2: off 3: off 4: off 5: off 6: off B: on

sles10-usps-db01:/var/log # /etc/init.d/sysstat restart

sles10-usps-db01:/var/log # /etc/init.d/sysstat status
Checking for service sysstat: unused

sles10-usps-db01:/var/log # /etc/init.d/sysstat stop
Removing sysstat’s crontab
done

sles10-usps-db01:/var/log # /etc/init.d/sysstat start
done

sles10-usps-db01:/var/log # /etc/init.d/sysstat status
Checking for service sysstat: unused

sles10-usps-db01:/var/log #

I don’t get any errors for cron reported to root via mail, and I don’t see anything in /var/log/messages.

I know the service isn’t running for 48 hours now, as the sa03 and sa04 files in /var/log/sa are missing.

No changes were made in the last 3 days.

Any ideas? I have already bounced the server, but that had no impact.

Hi
Since it’s a cron job, it will only run at the appointed time, and it’s
set to start at boot…?

Check the crontab file after you enable the service;

chkconfig sysstat on
chkconfig sysstat
rcsysstat start
rcsysstat status
crontab -l


Cheers Malcolm °¿° (Linux Counter #276890)
openSUSE 12.2 (x86_64) Kernel 3.4.6-2.10-desktop
up 1 day 20:37, 3 users, load average: 0.01, 0.09, 0.12
CPU Intel i5 CPU M520@2.40GHz | Intel Arrandale GPU

thanks for the response. after your commands, I still get the service status as “unused” instead of “running”.

but your mention of checking crontab did actually point me in the right direction. sysstat doesn’t show up in crontab, and it never has. nor does it show up in crontab on two other identically configures servers that are running correctly. cron runs it on startup, not on a schedule, so I checked /etc/cron.d directory in a working server and on the server where it wasn’t. somehow the symbolic link pointing to /etc/sysstat/sysstat.conf was removed on the server where it didn’t work. once I recreated it, and started the service, it changed to “running” status.

thanks!