After making DNS/fixing hostname (<8 char) in single user mode, still cannot boot...

[Jennifer Mellone]

All,

Today we were building a DNS on HPUX 11.11. After reboot, we couldn't get into the server.

We read the HP forums and took the advice. We removed our old netconf.bak. We also learned that our HPUX hostnames should be 8 characters or less.

So we went into single user mode and did some mounting so we could access /tmp, /usr and /var. We edited our /etc/hosts and also ran ./set_parms hostname. So our new hostname is the same in both file locations and is exactly 7 characters. After, the set_parms asked us if we wanted to reboot. So we did, and it got "stuck" at NFS client, mail daemon, and snmp hpux network management subagent. We rebooted again and were able to skip/fail the nfs client and mail daemon. But we cannot skip that subagent. So now we're in this "loop". We kept going back into single user mode to double-check the files, and we even did uname to give the proper name of the server since it doesn't seem to echo the right name back (we get "unknown"). Is there something we are missing?

- Jennifer Mellone

[Bill Hassell]

Most of the problems may be due to DNS, so start by removing /etcd/resolv.conf and /etc/nsswitch.conf. (also remove any backup files in /etc/rc.config.d -- everything in that directory is run on bootup). This should clear up the hangs with NFS and other services.

Once the system is running, unless you are actually using NFS and SNMP on this system, edit nfsconf and ALL the SNMP files in /etc/rc.config.d. Then test DNS by using nslookup. Start by testing your own hostname:

nslookup my_hostname remote_dns_IP

If your local hostname is unknown, then you'll have to configure /etc/nsswitch.conf to use files-then-DNS. Now verify that the DNS server is properly forwarding to external addresses (if allowed):

nslookup www.hp.com remote_dns_IP

If that doesn't work, the remote DNS server needs attention (or see what rules are being used).