[comp.unix.ultrix] Ultrix 1.2 MAXUSERS

beadel@oswego.UUCP (06/21/88)

In article <41605@felix.UUCP> ff@cpsvax.cps.msu.edu (Bruce McMillin) writes:
>
>I am running Ultrix 1.2 on a VAX 8600.  As we climb up to 33 or so
>users, I am getting a warning about "maximum numer of users exceeded".
>This is strange since I have MAXUSERS set to 128 (I checked, it is set
>in the makefile to 128).  Has anybody seen this?  We do not have the
>source here.  Is it possible (probable) that not all the relevant code
>gets recompiled when MAXUSERS is changed?
>

What size "user upgrade" did you buy? The number of users you can have on
an ULTRIX system has an upper limit that is dependent on the size of
"user upgrade" that you buy no matter what you set MAXUSERS to. eg. you
can *reduce* MAXUSERS but you can not *exceed* the number that you are
licenced for.

-ed


-- 
Edward F. Beadel, Jr., Assistant Director
Instructional Computing Center          
SUNY College at Oswego                 beadel@oswego.Oswego.EDU
Oswego, NY  13126 (315)-341-3055       

casey@admin.cognet.ucla.edu (Casey Leedom) (07/19/88)

In article <41605@felix.UUCP> ff@cpsvax.cps.msu.edu (Bruce McMillin) writes:
> 
> I am running Ultrix 1.2 on a VAX 8600.  As we climb up to 33 or so users,
> I am getting a warning about "maximum number of users exceeded".  This is
> strange since I have MAXUSERS set to 128 ...

  I don't know the exact details of this fiasco, but DEC ships an
ancillary tape along with their Ultrix distribution that actually allows
you to have more than two users running at a time.  This tape, when
installed (via /etc/install_upgrade), leaves a little binary turd file
(/upgrade) laying around that specifies the maximum number of users that
are allowed to be logged on at any one time.

  This information is recorded in the first byte of /upgrade.  If zero,
your system will support more that 64 users.  If non-zero, say N, your
system won't let more than N users log on.  And, if /upgrade is missing,
then your system won't let more than 2 users log on.  The program
/etc/license will print out the number of users your system will support.

  /upgrade is about 1000 bytes long (sorry I don't remember the exact
number), so I'm guessing that the remaining bytes form a redundancy code
that would prevent you from simply changing the first byte of /upgrade
to whatever you want.  But you'd have to check that out for yourself.

  What I'm stumped on is how the kernel is informed of the maximum number
of users.  There's a new error, EUSERS, which is documented as meaning
``Too many users'' in <sys/errno.h>, so I'm guessing that it's the kernel
which is used keep track of the number of logins.  But that's just a
guess.  The only thing I do know is that I haven't been able to find any
program besides /etc/license which accesses /upgrade and all that license
does is print out the maximum number of logged in users allowed (and I had
to get that by adb'ing license).

  My feelings about the whole scheme are totally unprintable.  I don't see
where DEC gets the idea that this is customer support.  I really wish
they'd spend less time screwing up the operating system and more doing
real work.  After all, it's nearly two years since 4.3BSD came out and
the idiots still haven't incorporated the name server!!!!  I'm at least
partially pissed off because I used to like DEC a lot and these days I
find it increasingly difficult to say good things about them.  Their
equipment is overpriced and wimpy and they look more and more like Big
Blue every day.

Casey

yam@ven99.cpgv.sony.junet.UUCP (Masaaki YAMANAKA) (07/25/88)

How do you do

In article <41605@felix.UUCP>,
	ff@cpsvax.cps.msu.edu (Bruce McMillin) says:
> I am running Ultrix 1.2 on a VAX 8600.  As we climb up to 33 or so
> users, I am getting a warning about "maximum numer of users exceeded".
 
You were distributed 32 users license from DEC, were not you ?
More than 32 persons may be able to login if you will buy a license
for more users e.g. 128 users. I.e. the number of the person who
are able to login is according to the license, not to the MAXUSERS.

The MAXUSERS entry is used for sharing or occupying the working memory
of each user's job. Then MAXUSER should be set to larger number
than what DEC's license is permitting.

For the detail, I think it is better that you will get the informaion
from the system engineer of DEC.

-- 
Masaaki Yamanaka
SONY Corp.  Communication Products Group  email : yam@cpgv.sony.junet
            Video Products Division       phone : 0462 - 30 - 5734   
            Atsugi city, Kanagawa, JAPAN  ham   : JA5EWJ/1

shore@ncifcrf.gov (Melinda Shore) (07/27/88)

In article <48900@felix.UUCP> casey@admin.cognet.ucla.edu (Casey Leedom) writes:
>  This information is recorded in the first byte of /upgrade.  If zero,
>your system will support more that 64 users.  If non-zero, say N, your
>system won't let more than N users log on.

Close.  /etc/license does check /upgrade, but /upgrade is *not* used to
limit the number of logins.  There's a kernel variable that stores the
number of users allowed on the system simultaneously, and it's checked
during login (through the use of a standard system call, "enhanced" by
Digital).

BTW, this is for Ultrix 2.0 and higher - Ultrix 1.2 handles login
limits differently.
-- 
Melinda Shore                                    shore@ncifcrf.gov
NCI Supercomputer Facility              ..!uunet!ncifcrf.gov!shore