[NTLUG:Discuss] "You Don't Exist: Go Away!"

[MadHat]

Christopher Browne wrote:
> 
> I am having an unfortunate situation where a machine periodically gets
> somewhat 'wedged up' such that:
>   a) Port services that check for user IDs die;
>   b) Permissions on files apparently "disappear";
>   c) Pretty much anything that checks IDs against /etc/passwd gets
>      hosed.
> 
> This does _not_ appear to be the result of a hack; it seems moderately
> "time based," probably relating to some resource filling up thereby
> making {utmp|PAM} throw up.
> 
> Other interesting facts:
> - It seems to happen _around_ once a day.  But not greatly predictable.
>    Oct 27, 03:38
>    Oct 27, 21:32
>    Oct 30, 08:02
>    Oct 31, about 1:56am
>    Nov 1, between 9:00 and 9:02 pm.
> 
> - I don't need to reboot to get everything to "reset;" if I drop to
>   runlevel 1 via "init 1," and then head back to "init 3", this seems
>   to suffice to clear things up.
> 
> - Debian Unstable Pretty Much Up To Date.
>   Linux knuth 2.2.14 #5 Sat May 6 07:29:45 CDT 2000 i586 unknown
> 
> The two things I've seen looking on Google that match the symptoms are:
> 
> a) "Oops.  You deleted /etc/passwd."
> 
>    Not the case.
> 
> b) Something vague involving utmp being "somehow messed up."
> 
> Anyone run into this sort of thing before?

kind of...  My problem was bad nodes on the drive, but it took a fsck to
fix.  The drive was going bad and was losing data on the section of the
disk that held the /etc.

Because an 'init 1' & 'init 3' seem to be the p[roblem, that does point
more towards the software not hardware...  what Kernel you running?

-- 
MadHat at unspecific.com
                                   "The 3 great virtues of a programmer:
                                      Laziness, Impatience, and Hubris."
                                                 --Larry Wall