long logon time

[Bo Midberg]

Connecting to an Alpha with ssh to logon delays 62-65 seconds before the prompt "login as:" is appearing. No matter if it is from a PC client or another OpenVMS (V8.4/V8.4-2L1) system, the result is the same.

There are som exceptions where the response time is normal:

1) Logging in to itself, that is ssh nodeA from nodeA works as expected

2) First intent to login (after reboot?) with another parameter (nodename/short DNS-name, ip-address (number address), full DNS-name) works as expected, but repeated attempts takes 62-65 seconds before the prompt appears

Had a similar situation about 10 years ago, but cannot remember if it was on this machine or an Integrity server, nor do I remember how it was resolved.

This delayed is observed on an OpenVMS V8.3 UPDATE V12 and TCP/IP Version V5.6 - ECO 4 system. TELNET is disabled, only SSH connections are allowed.

[Steven Schweda · Accepted solution]

> Connecting to an Alpha with ssh to logon delays 62-65 seconds before
> the prompt "login as:" is appearing. [...]

   The usual explanation of login delays is a (slow) failure in a DNS
address-to-name (reverse) look-up.  The test is a command like:
      nslookup <client_IP_address>
on the _server_ (after you get logged in).

> 1) Logging in to itself, that is ssh nodeA from nodeA works as
> expected

   If the name+address is in the local data base, then a DNS problem
might not matter.

   Note that specifying the server's IP address instead of its name does
not help.  The problem is on the server side, trying to get the client's
name.

[Bo Midberg]

That is, the name servers where all old, and not in use. Alas, replaced those with the current ones, and also changed the domain name  as it was not the same as on the other servers.

Anyhow, the connection was still slow, but after rebooting the server the response time was normal.

Thank you very much.