how remove "old" session in HP-UX 10.20

[Mauro Gatti]

Using command "who -u" i get some lines like this:
emanc ttypc May 4 09:53 old 19333 194.63.3.172

but if i look for "ps -u emanc" i don't find any process associated to this users.

How can i eliminate this "old" session?

Thank You

[Jose Martinez Rodriguez]

Hi,

You can try to kill all the process associated to the terminal ttypc. So, you must run the command:

ps -ef | grep ttypc

and kill all the process associated with ttypc. Then, the session must be close.

[Pedro Sousa]

Hi Mauro,
the easiest way is to kill the process that appears with the "who -u" command.
in this particular case you would just need to "kill 19333"
good luck.

[Mauro Gatti]

I've already tried this solutions :-)
The ttypc don't have any process active...
the process 19333 doesn't exist!!!!
(kill -9 19333 returns :"kill: 19333: no such process")
This user is like a zombie :-)!!!

[IWANIEC, EDOUARD]

"who" gets its data from /etc/utmp which is "administered" by getty (I think). The reason of your "zombie user" could be an abnormally terminated connection or something similar. For "removing" this user I know two possibilities:
1. "edit" the file /etc/utmp, and change the entry of your "zombie user" (it is a binary file, but it has a well defined structure, so you can write a short c-program to read/change the entries, or you can download it from several sites)
2. move/remove/"truncate" the file /etc/utmp. This will have effect on other users' login data, so this isn't the best solution. But if you (root) are the only user logged in, then it should work.


Laszlo

[Mauro Gatti]

How this "zombie" proces is created?
Why?

Where i could find a program that clean my system?

[Wieslaw Krajewski · Accepted solution]

Hi,

Try to do as follows:

1. /usr/sbin/acct/fwtmp < /etc/utmp >/temporary_file

2. vi /temporary_file
and remove old unnecessary login info

3. /usr/sbin/acct/fwtmp -ic < /temporary_file > /etc/utmp

Of course you can use sed or awk instead vi.

I do not remember at the moment if you need to do the same with /var/adm/wtmp file. Must check.

Hope this helps.

Rgds.