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

[Christopher Browne]

On Thu, 02 Nov 2000 10:25:05 CST, the world broke into rejoicing as
MadHat <madhat at unspecific.com>  said:
> MadHat wrote:
> > 
> > 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?
> 
> This should have read because the init 1 and init 3 seem to _FIX_ the
> problem, that doesn't pont towards hardware, but more towards software.
> 
> Need more caffeine.

Need more blood with your caffeine level?  I follow that...

It certainly seems to be a software issue, and the fact that changing 
runlevels "fixes" it seems suggestive that the problem is not with the kernel. 
 (2.2.14, as mentioned up there somewhere...)
--
cbbrowne at ntlug.org - <http://www.hex.net/~cbbrowne/lsf.html>
"War is  a matter of  vital importance to  the State; the  province of
life or death;  the road to survival or ruin. It  is mandatory that it
be thoroughly studied."  -- Sun Tzu