Sun-Spots Digest, v7n17
William LeFebvre
Sun-Spots-Request at Rice.edu
Sat Nov 19 02:44:42 AEST 1988
SUN-SPOTS DIGEST Wednesday, 16 November 1988 Volume 7 : Issue 17
Today's Topics:
ALM-2 problems
The ALM-2 patches
A bug with the yppasswd command
problems with ie1 on 4/280
Problems with multiple TTY windows
More strange `rshd` behavior on SunOS 4.0
Network problems and finger-pointing
lpd account doesn't work (Sun3/3.2)
8mm 2.3 GB Video Backup Device Query
A cheap SMD/NFS server?
CDC Wren V on a Sun?
Sun-2 w/more than 4Meg?
Lear Siegler 4105/7 termcap?
Send contributions to: sun-spots at rice.edu
Send subscription add/delete requests to: sun-spots-request at rice.edu
Bitnet readers can subscribe directly with the CMS command:
TELL LISTSERV AT RICE SUBSCRIBE SUNSPOTS My Full Name
Recent backissues are available via anonymous FTP from "titan.rice.edu".
For volume X, issue Y, "get sun-spots/vXnY". They are also accessible
through the archive server: mail the request "send sun-spots vXnY" to
"archive-server at rice.edu" or mail the word "help" to the same address
for more information.
----------------------------------------------------------------------
Date: Tue, 8 Nov 88 14:19:37 BST
From: Colin Walls <ctw%CNS.UMIST.AC.UK at cunyvm.cuny.edu>
Subject: ALM-2 problems
We too have had ALM problems since we moved to SunOS 4.0, though not the
ones mentioned by Nadim Tohme.
1. On exit from Emacs using a terminal connected to the ALM-2 the terminal
will hang and requires a control-C to clear the terminal and allow typing
again. Also attempting to stop Emacs with a control-Z and restart with an
``fg'' command causes the terminal to hang.
2. We have an asynchronous FTP attached to an ALM port. Since the
installation of 4.0 we have had to reduce the speed of the line from 9600
to 600 Baud. The reason for this is that the we get constant checksums due
to whole characters being lost. We do not get bits out of characters being
lost.
3. Using kermit through an ALM line can make the line go into ``history''
mode. That is the character echoed to the screen is not the one that has
just been typed, rather it is one that was typed about a dozen characters
before.
4. Cat'ing a large file will occasionally hang in the middle of the file,
typing a control-C is necessary to restart it. Also, typing a control-S to
stop the file being listed and then control-Q to restart it does not work.
The file can be stopped from listing and cannot be restarted again.
We have had one lot of patches from Sun that appears to cure problem 3,
the others are still with us. Ah well, it will soon be Christmas and Santa
Claus may bring us a nice new ALM driver.
Colin Walls
Janet: Colin at uk.ac.umist
DARPA: Colin at umist.ac.uk
Uucp: ukc!umist.ac.uk!Colin
Tel: 061-236-3311 x 2626
International: +44-61-236-3311 x 2626
------------------------------
Date: Tue, 8 Nov 88 17:32:19 PST
From: root at helios.ucsc.edu (De Clarke x2630)
Subject: The ALM-2 patches
About the ALM-2 patches: at last we received sufficient patches to make
our ALM work properly. It was a war story, but now all 16 ports handshake
correctly. Unfortunately, the patched kernel no longer handshakes
correctly with ttya (and presumably b) on the cpu board; ctrl-s ctrl-q and
'more' are broken, the brokenness consisting of extreme character loss.
So the story isn't over yet on the serial patches. Just thought y'all
might like to know...
de
voice: 408-429-2630 fax: 408-429-2730 email: root at helios.ucsc.edu
root at portal.bitnet
------------------------------
Date: Tue, 8 Nov 88 21:59 N
From: <DIMITRI at CGEUGE51.BITNET>
Subject: A bug with the yppasswd command
We have found a bug (?) with the yppasswd change. I don't know if it has
been reported before. If yes, then can somebody tell me if there is patch
(binary distribution)?
The bug has to do the matching of user login names: if a user login name
is made up from just the first characters of another login name, then the
yppasswd program is confused with the short login name. That is, if we
have a login "abcdef" and another "ab", the user ab will have problems in
changing his passwd. The yppasswd program will try to match his old
passwd with the one of abcdef! If, there is no passwd set for abcdef, (or
they happen to have the same!!) then (here come the nice point!) the
passwd entry of user ab will be replaced with the passwd etry of user
abcdef with the new passwd set. Thus, user ab will disappear!!
Here is a description for reproducing the bug.
Environment: SUN UNIX 3.5
On the YP master we have:
the passwd file for YP in /usr/adm/passwd
the /etc/passwd file redirects to the yp server.
Set-up for the bug:
Passwd entries in the master yellow pages passwd file
(for us /usr/adm/passwd)
t123::9123:1900:test for bug:/u1/test:/bin/csh
t1::9100:1900:test for bug:/u1/test:/bin/csh
Entries in the /etc/netgroup file
(,t1,cuisunnet) (,t123,cuisunnet)
Update the YP server.
Execution:
Login as t1.
run
% yppasswd
Changing yp passwd for t1
Old yp passwd: <cr>
New passwd: test123
Retype new passwd: test123
yellow pages passwd changed on cuisuna
% whoami
Intruder alert!
%
Have a look at the master YP passwd file.
You see
t123::9123:1900:test for bug:/u1/test:/bin/csh
t123:tfEcEikzG.8Dg:9100:1900:test for bug:/u1/test:/bin/csh
User t1 no longer exits!
Other details:
If user t123 did had a passwd, then t1 will not be able to
change its passwd. The yppasswd program tries to match it
with that of t123. Note that we have also a t1234 user with
his passwd entry before t123 and t1, then it his passwd entry
that yppasswd will use.
Fix:
Well, we do not have sources, but I think that the problem is
in the string matching with the login names (the loop is
exiting when all the characters of the active login name have
been matched, without checking if the matched name has more
characters) For now, what we do, is to place the shorter
names first in the passwd file.
Has anybody else found this bug?
dimitri
Dimitri Konstantas | UUCP : mcvax!cernvax!cui!dimitri
Centre Universitaire d'Informatique | EARN : dimitri at cgeuge51.bitnet
Univeristy of Geneva | EAN : dimitri at cui.unige.ch
------------------------------
Date: Tue, 8 Nov 88 14:32:21 PST
From: cam at ucbarpa.berkeley.edu (Carol Martin)
Subject: problems with ie1 on 4/280
The ie1 interface on one of our 4/280s will pulse hundreds of (what appear
to be) broadcast packets onto the net in a fraction of a second. This
happens at long and regular intervals. A neighboring 4/280 exhibits no
irregular behavior of ie1. It's not the ethernet board itself or the
transceiver, nor does it seem to be the software. The rev levels on the
two 4/280 cpus are different: the offending one is a rev. 13, the other
is a rev 12.
Anyone seen anything like this?
carol
------------------------------
Date: 8 Nov 88 22:41:06 GMT
From: folta at tove.umd.edu (Wayne Folta)
Subject: Problems with multiple TTY windows
Summary:
I had a friend who sepnt a day trying to get an application working with
multiple TTY windows...The note is very obscure, the symptoms are that All
of the windows' output goes to the last one opened (including any echoing
of input).
Wayne Folta (folta at tove.umd.edu 128.8.128.42)
------------------------------
Date: Tue, 8 Nov 88 17:28:42 EST
From: seth at sol.ctr.columbia.edu
Subject: More strange `rshd` behavior on SunOS 4.0
No, sorry, I don't know the answer, but I have a few more cases of what
you are describing. [Re: Strange 'rshd' behavior..]
Yes, you may be assured that host.equiv and .rhosts are set to what the
Sun manuals appear to want.
1) Root on Sun (running 3.5) to any Sun running 4.0
Gives "Address already in use"
- when non-root, works fine
- when going to Suns running 3.5, works fine
2) Root on Sun (running 4.0) to io.ctr.columbia.edu running 4.0
Gives "Protocal error: closing connection"
dumps core
- when non-root, works fine
- when going to other Suns that apparently have the
same programs and files, works fine
- I think its a 3/160 (most others are 50/60/110) with a
color moniter attached.
Seth Robertson Systems Manager
seth at ctr.columbia.edu Telecommunications Research Laboratory
uunet!columbia!ctr!seth Center for Telecommunications Research
(212) 854-5619 Columbia University
------------------------------
Date: Tue, 8 Nov 88 17:11:20 PST
From: root at helios.ucsc.edu (De Clarke x2630)
Subject: Network problems and finger-pointing
Finger-Pointing Madness Strikes Again!
OK, this is the background:
server: 4/280S 32MB running SunOS 4.0 (with ALM patches) named helios
server: 4/110P14 8MB running SunOS 4.0 (SCSI shoebox) named phaeton
client: 4/110 mono 8MB named phoebus
helios -------- [DEC LB100] ----------|------------------ ThickNet
|
[DELNI-AA]
||||||| |
|
[DEMPR-AA]
| |||||||
|
ThinNet phaeton-----------phoebus--|
phoebus boots from helios, but it mounts phaeton's /u (user filesystem) as
its own. Only user directories are obtained from phaeton, in other words;
the OS and all is from helios. There are several segments coming off the
DEMPR, supporting diskful and diskless Suns; there are several MicroVAX
II's on the DELNI.
Problem: intermittently (but frequency increases until next reboot)
phoebus hangs on rlogin or telnet from other TCP/IP hosts. Immediately
after reboot, all is well; then the problem begins to recur; after about
6 hours your chances of rlogin are worse than 50/50. Behaviour varies
interestingly with use of telnet vs rlogin and with the host from which
it's attempted (bsd, SunOS, CMU telnet):
sometimes the hang happens at the login prompt;
or after login and motd, but before the first shell prompt;
or after *the first shell command*.
Sun says nothing useful, alas. After a month or so of email back and
forth they point the finger at DELNI-AA, saying that they've heard that
there's a ROM FCO for DELNI's and that it's probably the DELNI interacting
with the 4/110. Unfortunately there are 8 other Suns, 5 of which are
4/110's, on that DEMPR cascaded from the DELNI, and they all work. And
DEC says, "What ROM FCO?"
Has anyone seen this problem? Do you have a clue? Please write to me if
you do; I don't peruse the news often enough to rely on seeing your
answer there. HELP!
De Clarke
voice: 408-429-2630 fax: 408-429-2730 email: root at helios.ucsc.edu
system%bigvax.dnet at portal.ucsc.edu
system at portal.bitnet
ps -- sunspots is great and thank you rice for hosting it!
------------------------------
Date: Tue, 8 Nov 88 17:10:21 EST
From: hsi!stepstone.com!aad at uunet.uu.net (Anthony A. Datri)
Subject: lpd account doesn't work (Sun3/3.2)
I've got an Imagen with the following printcap:
lp|lpe:\
:lpd=/usr/lib/lpd:\
:lp=/dev/null:\
:hn=rolf:\
:rt=/usr/spool/lpe/resfonts:\
:qu#300:\
:af=/usr/adm/imprint-accnt/lp:\
:lf=/usr/spool/lpe/ilog:\
:st=/usr/spool/lpe/status:\
:sd=/usr/spool/lpe:\
:tc=imaenet:
/usr/adm/imprint-accnt/lp never gets touched. Am I doing something wrong?
------------------------------
Date: Tue, 8 Nov 88 17:18:53 EST
From: slcpi!poseidon!escott at uunet.uu.net (E. Scott Menter)
Subject: 8mm 2.3 GB Video Backup Device Query
Hi there. I know this has probably been beaten to death, but I've been
off the list for a couple of months, so forgive me.
We're evaluating a few Exabyte-style tape drives. One from Perfect Byte
(Exabyte drive), one from Peripheral Devices (Delta Microsystems drive),
and one from Unisun (??). Anyway, the latter is much cheaper than the
rest, presumably because they provide no software at all (the first two
provide their own drivers, and in the case of Peripheral, also a dd-like
program that does buffering, called "bdd").
My question: anybody know under why I should pay over $1,000 more for a
custom driver?
Thanks. Anybody's who's interested in the results of my (informal)
evaluation, has just to ask.
Oh, and I support a SunSpots SICP (Special Interest Cocktail Party) at
SUG. 8^)
Scott Menter
Sr. Network Administrator
Shearson Lehman Commercial Paper, Inc.
uunet!slcpi!escott
------------------------------
Date: Mon, 7 Nov 88 16:29:39 PST
From: felix!arcturus.starwars.COM!dav at hplabs.hp.com (David L. Markowitz)
Subject: A cheap SMD/NFS server?
I have a manager who is looking for a cheap way to add fast NFS disks to
his network. We want something fast enough to serve lots of reasonably
powerful machines (386i/250's, 3/260's, etc) and feel that SMD is
necessary (convince me otherwise, please!) for acceptable performance. We
don't want to buy another 260/280 type machine, though. The cost is just
too high (after adding a BIG disk). Don't tell me to save money on 3rd
party disk, controller (a must for performance) and memory - we plan to do
so.
We were disappointed to find that the 4/110 can't do VME DMA. Isn't there
a small machine out there that can host a Xylogics 753 or Ciprico 3200?
We don't need 12 slots - three would do nicely. SunOS would be preferred,
but something else similar that can speak NFS might be considered...
Another possibility would be to add SMD disks to an old 3/160 he has.
Would it be fast enough with a good controller? I know Sun recommends
that servers be faster than their clients, but this won't be doing and
OS/swap serving, only data (but lots of data).
David L. Markowitz Rockwell International
...!sun!sunkist!arcturus!dav dav at arcturus.UUCP
------------------------------
Date: Fri, 28 Oct 88 17:37:07 PDT
From: scubed!megatek!jay at harvard.harvard.edu (Jay Schlegel)
Subject: CDC Wren V on a Sun?
Anybody have experience formatting/analyzing/using a CDC Wren V disk
(94221-190) on a Sun? I've been unable to successfully format and analyze
using 4.0 format or 3.5 diag (on a sun3).
As this disk has variable sectors per track, it's not possible to
feed diag (or format) correct information regarding sectors per track.
I also fear that the embedded controller may not be MD21 compatible.
Any *HELP!!!* would be appreciated,
thanks,
-*jay Jay Schlegel --> Megatek Corp. --> jay at megatek or --> ucsd!
hplabs!hp-sdd!megatek!jay
-- If you can dream it, you can do it! -- W. Disney ames!scubed!
-- What he said! ^^^ -- Jamaican Bobsled Team
------------------------------
Date: Wed, 9 Nov 1988 09:31-EST
From: David.Maynard at k.gp.cs.cmu.edu
Subject: Sun-2 w/more than 4Meg?
I've never heard of anyone putting more than 4 Meg of memory in a Sun-2
system. For one thing, that is the physical limit when using a 2/120 card
cage with 1 Meg boards. Is it possible to get more memory (say 8 Meg) by
using a larger card cage and/or 3rd party 2 and 4 Meg boards? With the
larger boards, do you still get 0-wait state performance due to the
RAS/CAS trick? Also, has anyone seen the larger memory boards appearing
on the resale market?
I've heard some people give the argument that it isn't economical to put
more than 4 Meg. But, it's got to cost less than replacing the monitor,
disk controllers, cabinet, etc. with a Sun-3. Besides, if the Sun-2
breaks, I have a chance at fixing it.
---
David P. Maynard (dpm at cs.cmu.edu)
Dept. of Electrical and Computer Engineering
Carnegie Mellon University
Pittsburgh, PA 15213
---
Any opinions expressed are mine only. I haven't asked the ECE department
or CMU what they think.
---
------------------------------
Date: Wed, 9 Nov 88 11:23:51 EST
From: Loki Jorgenson <loki at physicsa.mcgill.ca>
Subject: Lear Siegler 4105/7 termcap?
In trying to setup the termcap for a Lear Siegler 7107 color graphics
terminal, I find idiosyncrasies which defy simple correction. Rather
than spend my time struggling with it, does anyone have one handy? Email
to me or root at physicsa.mcgill.ca would be appreciated.
Loki Jorgenson loki at physicsa.mcgill.ca
Physics, McGill University
Montreal Quebec CANADA
------------------------------
End of SUN-Spots Digest
***********************
More information about the Comp.sys.sun
mailing list