CDE (X) not working

[Joe Robinson_2]

when I start an X session, I get past the login, and to the screen where "Starting the Common Desktop Environment" along w/ the restricted rights legend shows...and then it hangs.

Background: L2000 running 11.00. I just changed the hostname on this system from the 'short' hostname to be the FQDN to fix some DNS errors that Data Protector was having, and at that point, CDE (X) quit working.

[Tiziano Contorno _]

You could have lookup problems.
Try:
nslookup your.hostname.fqdn
nslookup your_ip

They must be the same.

/etc/hosts # need "IP hostname FQDN"
/etc/resolv.conf # need "domain /etc/nsswitch.conf # use DNS or files, when, how?

Regards

[Joe Robinson_2]

both nslookups resolved successfully.

/etc/hosts is configured correctly.

/etc/resolv.conf is configured correctly.

/etc/nsswitch.conf configured files, then DNS

[Rick Garland]

In /usr/contrib/bin/X11 is 'dr_dt'
This can help diagnosis problems with X11

At 1st glance it would appear to be a lookup issue. Try stopping/starting the /sbin/init.d/dtconfig.rc

[Joe Robinson_2]

Rick,

this is a production box that has open sessions from other users. Will stopping/restarting that service kill those open sessions?

[Joe Robinson_2]

dr_dt didn't show any errors...

[Tiziano Contorno _]

It could be that the X11 server spawned with a certain hostname, now you changed and it hangs on new sessions, due to the mismatch. You will need to restart it, losing every session. :(

As last chance: have you tried to ADD the old hostname as alias in /etc/hosts? Check also lookup and reverse lookup of the old hostname.

Regards.

[Rick Garland]

It will disconnect users.

Next bet is to add aliases with the short name.
In the hosts and in DNS

[Joe Robinson_2]

I have the alias in the /etc/hosts; it is in the DNS server and DOES resolve correctly both from the HP and from workstations (including reverse lookups).

[KapilRaj]

I normally check the host resolution to fix such error's

host
host ip_address

if the results are not satisfactory , then you need to fix them.

Can you have the old hostname as an alias in /etc/hosts ?

Regds,

Kaps

[Joe Robinson_2]

Problem solved. I happened to be checking a man page on uname, as the UUCP node name on my box is still the 'short' name that the system used to be. On looking at the man page, something caught my eye:

System names are normally assigned by the /sbin/init.d/hostname script at start-up, and should not be altered elsewhere.

Since I realized I'd never rebooted the system after changing the name, I gave that a shot, since starting and stopping the /sbin/init.d/dtlogin.rc didn't solve the issue. Once I rebooted, CDE started normally. I guess sometimes it helps to go back to the basics...

[Joe Robinson_2]

thanks to all who gave their $0.02!!!