wtmp file growing in /var/adm

[De Marez Krist]

Hello,

I have a file in the directory /var/adm called 'wtmp' that is growing all the time. I can't find out what process is updating this file so I don't know how to prevent it from growing bigger.
Does anyone have any idea what process is updating this file or how to maintain this file. Can it be deleted ? Or would it disappear when restarting the machine ?

I would appreciate any help since this file is now about 50 MB big, and I don't believe this can be the purpose.

Thanks.

[James Odak]

the wtmp file is a log of all your the connections/logins to your system including the port, time and source (IP or other server)
who -u /var/adm/wtmp is how you read it
you can back this file up to tape/disk or even delete it if you are not concerned with the info in it

to answer your question though, the file grows everytime someone logs in


Jim

[James R. Ferguson · Accepted solution]

Hi:

If you do not want this information at all, then remove /var/adm/wtmp. The absence of this file, in the first place, keeps it from growing. To properly reduce its size, do:

# cat /dev/null > /var/adm/wtmp

The file is a history of successful user login/logouts. There is a companion file /var/adm/btmp which holds a record of unsuccessful logins. If you don't want this history, either, then remove the btmp file.

If you later decide that you do want to track either good and/or bad logins, then, as root, simply touch the appropriate file to create it:

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

See the man pages for 'last'.

...JRF...

[Alex Glennie]

try using the search facility top left I'm sure this has been covered in earlier discussions.

eg ....
http://forums.itrc.hp.com/cm/QuestionAnswer/1,1150,0xf3ea6c96588ad4118fef0090279cd0f9,00.html

is one string that answers some of your questions .... man wtmp is another .

[Carlos Fernandez Riera]

Wtmp and utmp are files where is recorded each login done in your machine.

50 Mb is a very large file. Use last command to see information on this file.

To reset size do >wtmp. I like to do this in single user or before a reboot.

See man last, wtmp and login.

[De Marez Krist]

Thank you all !

I am sorry, I fired the question too early and I just found out the answer in earlier discussions.

This happens (I guess) when you'r new to this forum.