see . instead of user name when run "who" command

[Sammy_2]

hpux 11.11
For a certain user, I see . instead of name of the user (See below). What could be the problem ?

# who
. ttyp1 Nov 22 11:15
. ttyp2 Nov 29 13:22
???? ttyp3 Dec 1 14:25
prathim pts/tb Jul 27 12:02
clyde18 pts/tc Dec 1 13:43
root pts/4 Dec 1 14:21
# ps -ef|grep ttyp2
root 28343 25620 0 14:28:40 pts/4 0:00 grep ttyp2
# ps -ef|grep ttyp1
root 28393 25620 0 14:28:54 pts/4 0:00 grep ttyp1

[James R. Ferguson]

HI Sammy:

My guess is that your 'utmp' file is corrupted. This file is used by 'who' and 'finger' to hold user and accounting information. Upon reboot this anomaly should disappear.

Regards!

...JRF...

[Sammy_2]

Thanks JRF. I whacked the utmp and utmpx file but for this user it still shows a period (.)
Was trying to avoid a reboot but auditors are asking me who is this dot.
Thanks

[Patrick Wallek]

>>I whacked the utmp and utmpx file but for this user it still shows a period (.)

The who output won't be corrected until the user(s), whomever they may be, log out and back in.

To see who the user is you could look through the 'ps' list and see who shows up for ttyp1, ttyp2 and ttyp3.

[Sammy_2]

Patrick,
I know who the user is. And they logged in after I >utmpx and >utmp file. They still see a dot.

Do you need to recycle anyting after whacking the utmp file.
Thanks

[Patrick Wallek]

One one of my 11.11 systems the /etc/utmp file is in use by the init and ptydaemon processes.

You could try stopping and restarting 'ptydaemon' and see if that helps. The init process is a different story.

If stopping / starting ptydaemon doesn't help, a reboot may be your only other option.

[Sammy_2]

For some reason, when this user logs in , i still see a dot (.) for this user, when I run the who command.
And . disappears, when he logs out

Have done.

1) I have rebooted the system but problem remains.
2) wiped the utmp file

[Dennis Handly]

>I still see a dot (.) for this user, when I run the who command.

Have you looked at passwd(4) to see if there are two names for the same UID?
While logged on, who is the owner for that tty?

>1) I have rebooted the system but problem remains.

This should have cleaned up any problem with utmp(4).

[Sammy_2]

Dennis,
I rebooted just to fix thsi problem but it did not.
When user telnets, the owner of tty is . ( a dot). When he logs out, the . disappears.

I am seeing this using "who" command.

This system is part of ldap so there are no local users in /etc/passwd.

All other users are fine.

hpux 11.11 trusted system.

[Dennis Handly]

>When user telnets, the owner of tty is . (a dot). I am seeing this using "who" command.

I was asking you to use the ll(1) command on the device, not who(1).
If both agree the name is ".", then it's likely a LDAP problem.