wtmp corrupted

[Damian Benavent Pla]

When my /var is full, I release disk space but /var/adm/wtmp files remains corrupted (/usr/bin/last command dumps a core).

I used wtmpfix but /usr/bin/last dumps on.

I move wtmp to wtmp.old and create a new wtmp to log new logins. But wtmp.old is still corrupted.

How to proceed to solve the wtmp corruption ?

[Hakan Dedorson]

Try moving it back from wtmp.old to wtmp (removing the version you created) and flush it with "cat /dev/null > /var/adm/wtmp"

[federico_3 · Accepted solution]

to read wtmp file, that now seems to be corrupted ,do like this:

the following will convert it to ASCII file
#/usr/sbin/acct/fwtmp < /var/adm/wtmp > /tmp/file
then you can either edit the file or read it.

Then you can convert it back to binary form:
##/usr/sbin/acct/fwtmp -ic < /tmp/file > /var/adm/wtmp


Bye
federico

[Bill Hassell]

Just a note about wtmp. It can become corrupted if /var fills up or by programs that write to wtmp improperly. First, I would lookk at how your system is used and consider breaking up /var into several different mountpoints. Each mountpoint will be used by a different subsystem of HP-UX and by separating them, one subsystem will not affect another (for example, spooling problems no longer affect email or logging):

/var
/var/tmp
/var/mail
/var/spool
/var/adm
/var/adm/sw

If you do not use email heavily, then the /var/mail directory can be a part of /var. Similarly, if spooling os limited to a few printers and not used for PC shares (where spool files can become gigantic), spooling can also be part of /var. /var/adm/sw should always be made separate as it will grow quite large with patches and application updates.

[Damian Benavent Pla]

Hakan and Bill: My problem is how to recover that lost information.

Thank you Federico. I knew that procedure.