wtmp btmp utmp question and relationship

[joe_91]

Hi There:

We are running 11.0 with all the user logins coming from the Xemulator using the PC's. we found the following problems with
the logins from the PCs.
command working Possible reason
who works utmp updated
last no wtmp not updated
lastb no btmp not updated

we are clear that the xemulator is not updating the wtmp and the btmp files and we have already informed the vendor
about this. since wtmp and btmp is involved should there be any other commands that would not work.
How will i be affected? i think certain commands (finger) uses a combination of wtmp and utmp. what is the relationship between utmp and wtmp in terms of unix commands? i think btmp is specific to hp-ux. Please advise.

Thanks

Joe.

[Christopher Caldwell]

from the man page, last, who, write, and login are affected.

utmp - currently logged on
wtmp - history of logon logoff
btmp - failed logons

[Pete Randall]

Joe,

First of all, do /var/adm/wtmp and /var/adm/btmp exist? From the man page:

"Also note that wtmp and btmp are not created by the programs that maintain them. Thus, if these files are removed, record-keeping is turned off."

Also from the man page:

"File utmp contains a record of all users logged onto the system. File btmp contains bad login entries for each invalid logon attempt. File wtmp contains a record of all logins and logouts. "

Commands that use these files are "last, who, write, and login."

Does that help any?

Pete

[joe_91]

Hi:

I do not understand what it means by whether they are available? I can capture all telnet logins from PC. all logins thru xemulator, it does not update these files i mentioned.

Thanks
Joe.

[Pete Randall]

Joe,

Do /var/adm/wtmp and /var/adm/btmp exist? Do an ll on each of them and report the results.

Pete

[Christopher Caldwell]

The vendor has to specifically write utmp/wtmp/btmp hooks into their app if you expect the entries to show up. On HP-UX, they'd have to make the entry with something like setutent.