remsh nohup does not return immediately

[CPD]

Been running on HP-UX 11, and a "uname -a" on the servers comes back with "HP-UX servername B.11.11 U 9000/800" Until about 6 weeks ago, I could execute a command like this, and it would return in 1 or 2 seconds:

$ remsh box2 "nohup sleep 1800 &"

I just used "sleep" for the example, but it could be any other command. The problem now is that remsh does not come back immediately even if the remote process is nohup'd in the background, as above. It actually waits for the remote command to complete before returning to the local $ prompt.

Any thoughts on what might be causing this? Thanks in advance for any help.

[Mel Burslan]

I just tested in one of my boxes and it returned immediately. Do you know what changes happened to this box 6 weeks ago, when you lost this ability ? Patching ? New software install ? Also, are you running this as root or some eternal user ?
One thing comes to mind is, the shell may have been modified, by changing it or changing a system-wide variable, making the & (ampersand) character taking a special meaning. See if it makes any difference if you escape the & character as such:

$ remsh box2 "nohup sleep 1800 \&"

[A. Clay Stephenson]

The first thing I would do is look at the remshd /etc/inetd.conf entry on the other end? What options are used? Is remshd perhaps tcp_wrapper'ed?

[James R. Ferguson]

Hi:

The change in behavior problem reflects the application of an `r-commands` patch PHNE_29464 or successor.

You can resort to the old behavior by editing the 'shell' service name line in 'etc/inetd.conf'. Add a '-m' argument thusly:

shell stream tcp nowait root /usr/lbin/remshd remshd -m

Now issue 'inetd -c' to have 'inetd' reread the updated configuration. Your old behavior should resume.

Regards!

...JRF...

[Mel Burslan]

I think the functional behaviour of the r-command in my case, came as a result of my tested server having the predecessor of PHNE_29464, which is PHNE_27777. Would it be a correct assumption ?

[James R. Ferguson]

Hi Mel:

Yes, the behavorial change for 11.11 begins with the application of PHNE_29464 or its successor patch PHNE_30433. This is well documented in the patch's installation notes.

Regards!

...JRF...

[Mel Burslan]

James,

Thanks for the information. I am waiting for our HP platinum team to compile my new batch of patches to get the latest greatest ones. Maybe this time I can haggle some downtime with the business units to put them and get this one as well. Last one was a lost cause.

And ... welcome back :) I am sure you're missed dearly.