mmorse@z.nsf.gov (Michael H. Morse) (03/30/89)
I am having a problem with SNAP in that it no longer will create a user.
I am running on the master yellow page server. The message I receive is
as follows:
The program cannot prepare changes to this user's
entries in the Yellow Pages database.
I have tried a complete rebuild of the YP databases as suggested in the
release notes for 4.0.1. (I am running 4.0.2 pre-release.) The manual
method described in 386i Advanced Administration and modified in the Admin
release notes works just fine, so I know there's nothing obviously wrong
with the data in YP.
Has anybody seen this problem and solved it?
--Mike
Michael Morse Internet: mmorse@note.nsf.gov
National Science Foundation BITNET: mmorse@NSF
Telephone: (202) 357-7659mmorse@z.nsf.gov (Michael H. Morse) (04/21/89)
I have discovered the answer to this question I posted: > I am having a problem with SNAP in that it no longer will create a > user. I am running on the master yellow page server. The message I > receive is as follows: > The program cannot prepare changes to this user's > entries in the Yellow Pages database. > I have tried a complete rebuild of the YP databases as suggested > in the release notes for 4.0.1. (I am running 4.0.2 pre-release.) > The manual method described in 386i Advanced Administration and > modified in the Admin release notes works just fine, so I know there's > nothing obviously wrong with the data in YP. > Has anybody seen this problem and solved it? By looking back through my change log, and backing out each change, I was able to determine the problem and the solution. I had edited /etc/ypaliases myself (outside of SNAP) and a line that should have been: users:usera,userb,userc had been "enhanced" (by me) to: users: usera, userb, userc When I removed the spaces SNAP stopped complaining. [flame on] I spent about three full days on this problem. How long would it have taken some SUN developer to have written code that ignored whitespace? How long would it have taken to write an error message that at least mentioned which Yellow Pages file contained the "error"? Frankly, this is just ridiculously sloppy development! [flame off] The moral of the story is that SNAP is incredibly picky about what it finds in the files that it uses, and very parsimonious with error information. To give the developers the benefit of the doubt, let's assume they were under intense time pressure. Keep meticulous records of any changes you make to the yellow pages files. --Mike Michael Morse Internet: mmorse@note.nsf.gov National Science Foundation BITNET: mmorse@NSF Telephone: (202) 357-7659
pat@decwrl.dec.com (Pat Lashley) (04/27/89)
mmorse@z.nsf.gov (Michael H. Morse) writes: >X-Sun-Spots-Digest: Volume 7, Issue 214, message 9 of 13 > >I am having a problem with SNAP in that it no longer will create a user. >I am running on the master yellow page server. The message I receive is >as follows: > > The program cannot prepare changes to this user's > entries in the Yellow Pages database. > >I have tried a complete rebuild of the YP databases as suggested in the >release notes for 4.0.1. (I am running 4.0.2 pre-release.) The manual >method described in 386i Advanced Administration and modified in the Admin >release notes works just fine, so I know there's nothing obviously wrong >with the data in YP. I haven't found any documentation of exactly what SNAP expects/requires, but here are a few things to check: 1) Is there an existing entry or reference to that username in any of: a) /etc/ypaliases b) /etc/auto.home c) /etc/yppasswd 3) /etc/ypgroup 2) Does the primary group for that user have valid entries in all of the above mentioned files ? (You can further test for group validity by attempting to modify the group entry. i.e. add a new default secondary group.) 3) Does the home directory (/files/home/GROUPNAME/USERNAME) already exist ? (I think that this usually generates a different message, but check -everything-.) Hope that this helps... -Pat Copyright (c) 1989 PM Lashley under the terms of the GNU General Public License PMLashley ...{sun | megatest | sts | zygot}!cohesive!kla!pat <<< I haven't lost my mind. It's backed up on tape somewhere... >>>
tim@prism.llnl.gov (Tim Voss) (04/27/89)
>>> >>>I am having a problem with SNAP in that it no longer will create a user. >>>I am running on the master yellow page server. The message I receive is >>>as follows: >>> >>> The program cannot prepare changes to this user's >>> entries in the Yellow Pages database. >>> >>>I have tried a complete rebuild of the YP databases as suggested in the >>>release notes for 4.0.1. (I am running 4.0.2 pre-release.) The manual >>>method described in 386i Advanced Administration and modified in the Admin >>>release notes works just fine, so I know there's nothing obviously wrong >>>with the data in YP. >>> >>>Has anybody seen this problem and solved it? >>> >>>--Mike >>> >>>Michael Morse Internet: mmorse@note.nsf.gov >>>National Science Foundation BITNET: mmorse@NSF Yes - seen it. Worked around it! I noticed that SNAP seems to get stuck in a funny state, where it has trouble doing almost anything - creating users is just one example. After some experimenting, I resolved the problems by: quiting SNAP (get the thing out of memory) restarting SNAP. Here's one other little discovery: DON'T use the group 'Wheel' if you are going to add users! i.e. If you are a member of the wheel group, and you try to add a new user (via SNAP) - that user's home directory does NOT get exported ! (Who knows what-else might be wrong with the new acct you create. I noticed other problems which will plague users added in this way). Bottom line: DON'T use the group 'Wheel' for SNAP administration. --Tim Voss Lawrence Livermore National Lab tim@prism.llnl.gov