hp-ux 10.20 wtmp & btmp

[Sami Kankaanpaa]

Hello!

I'd like to know, how to handle those two files. I have so huge wtmp file, that lastb -command is not working. Causes core if I try.
How to cut the size and then limit also?

[Animesh Chakraborty]

hi,
#> wtmp
#>btmp


Regards
Animesh

[T G Manikandan]

Hello,
do not use rm to remove the file.Make it null by
# cat /dev/null > /var/adm/wtmp
to make the file null.

to look into the contents and change the binary to ASCII.

# /usr/sbin/acct/fwtmp < /var/adm/wtmp > /tmp/wtmp

Again to change the file to binary
# /usr/sbin/acct/fwtmp -ic < /tmp/wtmp > /var/adm/wtmp

Thanks
G Manikandan

[Robin Wakefield]

Hi Sami,

You could trim your wtmp file using something like:

fwtmp < /var/adm/wtmp | tail -100 > /tmp/wtmp.new
fwtmp -ic < /tmp/wtmp.new > /var/adm/wtmp

or else zero it with:

cp /dev/null /var/adm/wtmp

Do not remove it, because it won't be created automatically.

Rgds, Robin.

[Vincent Farrugia]

Hello,

as correctly stated, use

> logfile

and not

rm logfile
touch logfile

since the permissions will be set incorrectly.

You can also do this using SAM. Go to Routine tasks, and System log files. From here you can zero or trim any logfile you want.

HTH,
Vince

[Animesh Chakraborty]

Hi,
The command last(1) dumps core if the wtmp file is corrupted.

1. The wtmp file can be viewed with the following command:

# cat /var/adm/wtmp | /usr/sbin/acct/fwtmp | more

2. If the wtmp file is scrutinized as part of normal system
administrator procedures, consider using wtmpfix(1M) in an effort to
repair the file.

NOTE: See the man page wtmpfix(1M).

# /usr/sbin/acct/wtmpfix wtmp.old > wtmp.old.fix

3. Examine the contents of the new wtmp.old.fix.

# cat /var/adm/wtmp.old.fix | /usr/sbin/acct/fwtmp | more

4. If examining the file does not return an error, move the current wtmp to a
new name and replace it with the fixed version.

# mv /var/adm/wtmp /var/adm/wtmp.old
# mv /var/adm/wtmp.old.fix /var/adm/wtmp

5. If examining the file results in an error, clear the contents of wtmp:

# > /var/adm/wtmp

Regards
Animesh

[Sami Kankaanpaa]

Hello all,

thanks a lot, I did not succeed fix the wtmp file but instead managed to empty it. And now commands #last will works fine! And dir /var was almost full, thanks for help.
Regards, Sami