Troubleshooting

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First off, Machinaris (and Chia blockchains in general) are long-running processes, highly asynchronous in nature. As such, you must be patient when starting up a Machinaris container and immediately reporting a defect. Always wait at least 15 minutes after a startup, before re-checking for a concern. Thanks for your patience!

Here are some common issues encountered by Machinaris users. Solutions provided below.

Where are the logs?

If you have launched Machinaris and you've mounted an appdata folder like /home/USER/.machinaris, C:\Users\USER\.machinaris, /mnt/user/appdata/machinaris, etc, then look in that folder for logs. In particular, look in the machinaris/logs folder for files named webui.log and apisrv.log. These can have useful info. There are also logs at plotman/logs, mainnet/log, and chiadog/logs.

Finally, you can also view the main Docker output itself via:

docker logs machinaris

Internal Server Error

Please take a look in the webui.log and apisrv.log for an error and cause. Details above.

It's possible to restart the web server without restarting the entire Machinaris container, for example if you're actively plotting. To do so try:

docker exec -it machinaris bash
cd /machinaris
./scripts/start_machinaris.sh

Reset Machinaris Database

Machinaris stores recent status in local Sqlite databases, allowing fast page responses. Nothing in them is critical to keep, as they are re-populated within 10-15 minutes of Machinaris launch with most recent status. As such, there are times you may wish to remove them if SQL-related error is presenting. This will also ensure a clean SQL schema migration to latest. To do so, on Linux and MacOS try:

docker-compose stop
docker-compose rm -f
rm -f ~/.machinaris/machinaris/dbs/*.db
docker-compose pull
docker-compose up -d --force-recreate

On Windows, use Powershell from within your C:\Users\USERNAME.machinaris folder.

On Unraid:

1. Stop the Machinaris container from Unraid Admin UI | Docker tab.
2. From the Unraid Console, delete the database file with: rm -f /mnt/user/appdata/machinaris/machinaris/dbs/machinaris.db
3. Start the Machinaris container from Unraid Admin UI | Docker tab.
4. Wait 10-15 minutes for data to re-populate, then browse to http://UNRAID_TOWER_NAME:8296

My Plots/Plotting/Key Files and Folders aren't found!

Machinaris runs as a Docker container. Think of this as a tiny virtual machine (VM) running on your host computer (Windows/Linux/Mac/etc). The Machinaris "VM" only knows about itself and it's filesystem. Using Docker volume mounts at container runtime, the Machinaris container has access to a handful of directories/folders on the host computer. However, the paths to a file within the Machinaris container and on the host filesystem ARE NOT THE SAME.

For example, when launching Machinaris on the Unraid host OS, the following host:container volume mapping is included:

-v '/home/USER/.machinaris':'/root/.chia':'rw'

Let's break this down:

1. On the HOST filesystem, there is a folder named /home/USER/.machinaris
2. Inside the CONTAINER (aka VM), that same folder is mounted (read/write) at location: /root/.chia

If you create a file on the HOST filesystems named mnemonic.txt and put it in /home/USER/.machinaris, then programs running inside the CONTAINER will access this new file at /root/.chia/mnemonic.txt. It is the same file, but accessed at two different paths depending on whether you are at the HOST or CONTAINER level.

The same holds true for other paths such as completed plots and temporary plotting directories. Please understand the difference between a path on the HOST OS and in the Docker CONTAINER.

How can I use the commandline (CLI) inside the Machinaris container?

First you need to get a shell inside the container, for general Docker users, this is likely:

docker exec -it machinaris bash

For the fork containers, please use their name such as machinaris-flax, machinaris-hddcoin, etc in place of the main machinaris container name.

Some systems, such as Unraid, may offer a window which enters directly to the in-container shell.

Once there you can run commands against the chia, plotman, etc binaries.

Workers Are Missing

Please see the worker page for tips on troubleshooting connectivity between workers and the controller.