mju@mudos.ann-arbor.mi.us (Marc Unangst) (12/05/90)
schweigl@edvvie.at (Johnny Schweigl) writes: > Error: > After entering userid and passwd (telnet session is ok) SCO UNIX > responds with "Cannot obtain database information on this terminal". > when logging on as root on /dev/console, the system tells me that > "The security databases are corrupt". No new logins are allowed after > this error had occured. > The error seems to have no systematic behaviour. It appears at random > points in time, with 3 telnet sessions or 20, or something like that. Check /etc/auth/system for files that begin with "ttys". Like "ttys-t" or "ttys-o". These are lock files that SCO Unix uses when it updates the terminal control database, and SCO Unix will not log you in if ttys-t exists. (I dunno why it doesn't just fork off a background process to update it when the file becomes free, or why it doesn't just say "Terminal database locked; waiting...".) Find the version of the file that looks "rightest" and rename it to ttys, removing the -t and -o versions. Another possibility: You don't have lines in the ttys file for all the pty's. Make sure they're there. > Possible sources of error: > Someone modified /etc/passwd manually. System will be reinstalled > completely this weekend. If this was the only problem, shouldn't the > error occur permanently? Quite contrary, it is not reproducible. This is a possibility, but if this happened, my experience leads me to believe that it would happen ALL the time. Here's something SCO-style for fixing problems with manually-modified /etc/passwd files: KEYWORDS: security passwd /etc/passwd pw_id_map gr_id_map secureware bug RELEASE: All versions of SCO Unix System Vr3.2 PROBLEM: The system replies "Cannot rewrite terminal control database entry; see Authentication Administrator." when I try to log in. Also, the /etc/auth/system/pw_id_map file is missing. SOLUTION: This message probably stems from a manual edit of the /etc/passwd file. If a blank line was inadvertently left in the file (even at the end), this error will occur. Delete this blank line, remove /etc/auth/system/{pw,gr}_id_map, and try to log in again. In this case, the "cannot rewrite..." error message is misleading and should be ignored. Yes, this is a bug. Yes, SecureWare knows about it. No, it's not fixed in r3.2v2.0. -- Marc Unangst | mju@mudos.ann-arbor.mi.us | "Bus error: passengers dumped" ...!umich!leebai!mudos!mju |