Dedicated server locking up, how can I find out what it is?

[detz]

Hey, I've setup my new dedicated server and everything was going well but it's happened twice that I can't get access to it. I only have access over SSH so when it locks up I have to call and have them reboot it. How can I find out what's causing this since I can't see the screen when it happens? Logs I presume but what logs should I look at and what should I be looking for?

[mattt416]

Well, your best bet is to have the remote hands relay what errors/state the machine is in when it's "locked up". If the system has crashed w/ a kernel panic, there should be a trace of it on the console. Faulty hardware will often cause the system to lock up with a "black screen", where nothing at all is visible on the screen. Also, is the machine pingable when you cannot ssh to it? If so, the system might still be alive but just under extremely heavy load. The remote hands should see a login prompt at console, but logins will take an extended time to authenticate (causing them to just power-cycle the server to get it back online).