Unable to change password.

[Jimmy Page]

Oops, pressed enter too quickly.

Anyway, the problem is:
I am trying to change the password for a user from the command line but it the server is reporting that it is unable to execure the command due to lack of ptys. Is this simply because the system is fully loaded with users/processes? If so, how can I correct this. I can change the password via SAM.
thanks.

[twang · Accepted solution]

You are running out of ptys,
- check the number of pty/s drivers in /dev/pty and /dev/pts:
# ls *|wc -l
(default is 60)
- increase the count:
# cd /dev
# insf -n120 -dpty0
# insf -n120 -dpty1
# insf -d pts -s 120 -e

Now try to do your action again.

[twang]

Add to above reply, you should increase npty and nstrpty. then run the above insf steps, Or you may use SAM to change the ntpy (nstrpty and nstrtel) and SAM will create the device files automatically.

[Jimmy Page]

Cheers,
I'll get straight on the case.

.

[aparna challagulla]

hi Jimmy,

The number of available ptys can be increased by increasing the device files and the kernel parameters npty and nstrpty.
u can use SAM to change the kernel parameters and the device files will be automatically created by SAM.

HTH
aparna

[Umapathy S]

Jimmy,
You can refer to this thread for more info.
http://forums1.itrc.hp.com/service/forums/parseCurl.do?CURL=%2Fcm%2FQuestionAnswer%2F1%2C%2C0x42be3a7b3682d611abdb0090277a778c%2C00.html&admit=716493758+1064569553334+28353475

HTH,
Umapathy

[Jimmy Page]

One last question:
I do indeed have only 60 ptys available. I'll probably take the SAM route as it seems easier. npty is currently set to MAXUSERS - (400) and nstrpty is set to 60. I can see that nstrpty should be increased to 120 but should I also need to increase npty too?
Also, nstrtel? what is that, I can't find that parameter anywhere.

thanks again.

[Umapathy S]

Jimmy,
nstrtel specifies number of telnet device files the kernel can support for incoming telnet sessions. This is useful when you are using more telnet sessions that use tty drivers.
pty devices are used by dtlogin sessions as well as some other programs. So that needs to be increased a little bit. A value around 600-800 is always good.

Check this document for more info.
http://docs.hp.com/hpux/onlinedocs/TKP-90202/TKP-90202.html
HTH,
Umapathy

[aparna challagulla]

hi Jimmy,

npty - Specifies the maximum number of pseudo-tty data structures

nstrpty - maximum number of streams based pseudo-tty data structures available

nstrtel - Number of Telnet Session Device Files

Increase the values of all the three parameters and see whether u can execute the command.

HTH
aparna