logging the amount of time a user is logged in

[Allan Pincus]

All,

Is there a utility that already exists that allows me to track the amount of time a user is logged into a system over a given period of time?

Thanks!

[Paula J Frazer-Campbell · Accepted solution]

Hi

Have alook at last command - man last.

e.g.

mend pts/ta Wed Sep 18 08:18 - 12:04 (03:46)
mend pts/ta Tue Sep 17 17:33 - 17:51 (00:17)
mend pts/ta Tue Sep 17 17:19 - 17:21 (00:01)
mend pts/ta Tue Sep 17 10:06 - 17:15 (07:09)
mend pts/td Mon Sep 16 12:03 - 18:22 (06:18)
mend pts/tc Mon Sep 16 11:30 - 16:29 (04:58)
mend pts/ta Mon Sep 16 09:11 - 16:29 (07:17)
mend pts/tb Fri Sep 13 09:22 - 10:04 (00:41)
mend pts/tb Fri Sep 13 09:14 - 09:22 (00:08)
mend pts/tc Thu Sep 12 12:10 - 17:22 (05:12)


paula

[James R. Ferguson]

Hi:

If '/var/adm/wtmp' isn't present, create it:

# touch /var/adm/wtmp
# chmod 644 /var/adm/wtmp

Now you can use :

# last
# last username

Regards!

...JRF...

[Allan Pincus]

This is great, guys. Now, is there a convenient way for me to accumulate the time in a given day, or do I have to create my own script; i.e., is there a utility that already does this so I don't have to reinvent the wheel?

(Don't write any scripts here, I can do that, I'm just trying to avoid the hassle).

Thanks!

[Darren Prior]

Hi Allan,

I think this is the point where you'll need to start script writing. As well as the output of last, you may also find the fwtmp(1M) command useful (or perhaps use the info in the utmp(4) man page if you feel like writing a C program from scratch to read/calculate the file.)

regards,

Darren.

[Allan Pincus]

Is there a convenient way to do a date coversion to seconds from the epoch without having to parse the date string; i.e, can I pass the date arguement from wtmp to the date command and return number of seconds?

[Darren Prior]

Hi Allan,

This sounds like an ideal application for A Clay Stephenson's datehammer. Just search for caljd on the forums for some of the many uses it has been put to.

regards,

Darren.

[Steven Sim Kok Leong]

Hi,

Merijn has kept a link to A. Clay Stephenson's Date Hammer (of both shell and perl versions) at the end of his page:

https://www.beepz.com/personal/merijn/

Hope this helps. Regards.

Steven Sim Kok Leong