From owner-freebsd-questions@FreeBSD.ORG Thu Sep 3 13:41:09 2009 Return-Path: Delivered-To: freebsd-questions@freebsd.org Received: from mx1.freebsd.org (mx1.freebsd.org [IPv6:2001:4f8:fff6::34]) by hub.freebsd.org (Postfix) with ESMTP id D0C0C106566C for ; Thu, 3 Sep 2009 13:41:09 +0000 (UTC) (envelope-from stanb@panix.com) Received: from mail2.panix.com (mail2.panix.com [166.84.1.73]) by mx1.freebsd.org (Postfix) with ESMTP id 832708FC0C for ; Thu, 3 Sep 2009 13:41:09 +0000 (UTC) Received: from mailbackend.panix.com (mailbackend.panix.com [166.84.1.89]) by mail2.panix.com (Postfix) with ESMTP id 2382C38E46; Thu, 3 Sep 2009 09:41:09 -0400 (EDT) Received: from teddy.fas.com (c-76-26-200-187.hsd1.sc.comcast.net [76.26.200.187]) by mailbackend.panix.com (Postfix) with ESMTP id 64CC135343; Thu, 3 Sep 2009 09:41:08 -0400 (EDT) Received: from stan by teddy.fas.com with local (Exim 3.36 #1 (Debian)) id 1MjCYl-00017X-00; Thu, 03 Sep 2009 09:41:07 -0400 Date: Thu, 3 Sep 2009 09:41:07 -0400 From: stan To: Matthew Seaman , Free BSD Questions list Message-ID: <20090903134107.GA3930@teddy.fas.com> Mail-Followup-To: Matthew Seaman , Free BSD Questions list References: <20090903114857.GA635@teddy.fas.com> <20090903122532.GA1604@teddy.fas.com> <4A9FB9E3.6060207@infracaninophile.co.uk> <20090903132256.GA3270@teddy.fas.com> <20090903133335.GA3884@teddy.fas.com> Mime-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: text/plain; charset=us-ascii Content-Disposition: inline In-Reply-To: <20090903133335.GA3884@teddy.fas.com> X-Editor: gVim X-Operating-System: Debian GNU/Linux X-Kernel-Version: 2.4.23 X-Uptime: 09:35:11 up 33 days, 14:37, 1 user, load average: 0.20, 0.12, 0.05 User-Agent: Mutt/1.5.4i Sender: Stan Brown Cc: Subject: Re: What invokes cricket on FreeBSD X-BeenThere: freebsd-questions@freebsd.org X-Mailman-Version: 2.1.5 Precedence: list List-Id: User questions List-Unsubscribe: , List-Archive: List-Post: List-Help: List-Subscribe: , X-List-Received-Date: Thu, 03 Sep 2009 13:41:10 -0000 On Thu, Sep 03, 2009 at 09:33:35AM -0400, stan wrote: > On Thu, Sep 03, 2009 at 09:22:56AM -0400, stan wrote: > > On Thu, Sep 03, 2009 at 01:43:15PM +0100, Matthew Seaman wrote: > > > stan wrote: > > > > On Thu, Sep 03, 2009 at 07:48:57AM -0400, stan wrote: > > > >> I have inherited a system that uses Cricket on FreeBSD to do some data > > > >> collection. I have set this up myself in the distnat past, but this time I > > > >> asked a contractor to set it up. I no longer have access to this > > > >> contractor, and the toher day, we shut down the system this was running on, > > > >> and when we rebooted the system, cricket id not resume collecting data. > > > >> > > > >> I don't see anyhting in /usr/local/etc/rc.d to start it up, nor do I see > > > >> anything in /etc/crontag. I don't seen any processes owned by cricket > > > >> running. > > > >> > > > >> In FreeBSD, how is this process noramally invoked? > > > > > > > > Sorry to reply to my own message, but I have more data. I did find > > > > > > > > -rw------- 1 root wheel 288 Jan 12 2009 /var/cron/tabs/cricke > > > > > > > > Which is, I am failry certain, what is _intended_ to invoke the cricket > > > > process. However, acording to the cricket logs, the last time I have an > > > > entry is Aug 29th, which was when the machine was shut down. So, I decided > > > > to try running this command by hand. Now, to do so I need to be the cricket > > > > user, so I tried to su - cricket. I was told that this user was not > > > > avaialble. Looking in /etc/passwd. I found that this users shell was listed > > > > as /usr/sbin/nologin. I edited /etc/paswd to change this to /nin/sh, but I > > > > still get the smae error message when I try to su to that user. > > > > > > > > What do I need to change to be able to su to this suer, and might this be > > > > the reason tha it's crontab entry is notbeing run? > > > > > > Try: > > > > > > # su -m cricket > > > > > > although the best way to examine and/or modify that user's crontab > > > is: > > > > > > # crontab -e -u cricket > > > > > > > OK, I was able to execute the cricket collector caoomand bu using the su - > > format, and it ran corectly. > > > > Cany anyone sugest what to check to see why cron is not executing this > > command? I see no evidence of it's running in either the cricket logs' or > > cron's logs. > > > > Thanks. > > > Repkying to my own message again :-( > > > OK, I found in the cron man page the following: > > Before running a command from a per-account crontab file, cron > checks the status of the account with pam(3) and skips the command if > the account is unavailable, e.g., locked out or expired. > > So, now the question is, how do I unlock that user? > This gets strnager. I found the pw cammand, which should do thatm but: pnoc# pw unlock cricket pw: user 'cricket' is not locked So, how come: pnoc# su - cricket This account is currently not available. -- One of the main causes of the fall of the roman empire was that, lacking zero, they had no way to indicate successful termination of their C programs.