Xserver mystery link in reflections Unix xterm failure

[Kevin_31]

Hello experts, I've got a few old 10.20 servers which I've inherited. There's a mystery 'dependency' between Server1 (which runs a Unix application in an Xterm then displays it over Reflections to folks Windoze environment) and Server2 (another 10.20 machine which users loginto to run a completelly different Unix application).

The problem is that when Server2 is down, folks can't connect to Unix application on Server1. As soon as Server2 boots up, folks' window for the app on Server1 appears. I'm sure this isn't magic, but that's about all I'm sure of!

I'm about to agree some downtime with users regarding Server2 so I can duplicate and troubleshoot the problem, but would appreciate any help that you would kindly offer.

The command that is not running looks like:

"C:\Program Files\Reflection\Rx.exe" -nfcs -nc -ns c:\reflection\app1.rxc

where app1.rxc contains:

Host=Server1r.domain.co.uk
Method=RLOGIN
/usr/bin/X11/xauth add %IP#% %C%,0,1
export DISPLAY=%IP#%;logon,0,1


However, I'm pretty ignorant about what files/processes are involved with making the X stuff work (or not work when Server2 is down). Is there some XServer broadcast which Server2 is providing? Whatever Server2 is doing, I should be able to configure Server1 to do it and get rid of our dodgy dependency.

thanx in advance for any/all help (points forthcoming!)

-Kevin

[Steven E. Protter]

Its the DISPLAY variable, set in .profile
or .dtprofile

Probabaly set to the second server so when its down the application fails.

Go through the profiles or startup scripts for the application and I am very confident you will find this problem.

Take it from a guy who's done that to himself a few times, once with Ignite.

SEP

[Pete Randall]

Check syslog, dmesg etc. See if there's any NFS complaints about the other server being missing. Back in 10.20, NFS automounts were real testy about this stuff.


Pete

[Steve Steel]

Hi

If it is X then

/var/dt/Xerrors and $HOME/.dt/startlog should give a clue.

I think NFS is most likely and a misplaced DISPLAY or server 2 as fontserver are possible.


Check your logs.


Steve Steel

[Stephen Burkwood]

Hi,

My best guess is along the lines of what Pete suggested. If your Home Dir's are NFS served from server2 and automounted on server1, I believe that server1 logins will hang until return of the NFS server.

Hope this helps.

Regards,
Stephen

[Alex Glennie · Accepted solution]

The only thing that would make sense in my opinion is that server2 has been configured as a font server (is xfs running on it).

Your application requires hp fonts and ReflectionX has been setup to get them from server2.

Advise check a) if xfs is running on server2

b) check the font paths with RX ->settings->Fonts->Subdirs & font servers ... do you see server2 ip or hostname listed.

c) check RX's log file and/or setup a client trace see RX->Tools

ps If this is the case check man xfs you can configure xfs to fall back on a secondary fontserver by means of it's config file .... I can provide details if need be

[Kevin_31]

Font Server! That sounds like it makes sense! No NFS errors found (and no NFS client/server stuff going on between the 2 servers) and I'd already checked /var/dt/Xerrors but it's empty (created/modified at our last reboot)
I'm attaching $HOME/startlog, but doing a grep -i font from the files it mentions gave me nothing (either from Server1 or Server2). Besides, the startlog file hasn't been modified since 1999.

p.s. The DISPLAY variable is fine. It gets set via the Reflections command and works fine.

I did see:
Apr 3 09:47:07 jaguar inetd[626]: auth/tcp: Exit status 1

in the syslog

but the rlogin entry on both servers are the same.

[Alex Glennie]

Xerrors may not show us the real culprit since we're not using HP's Xserver but RX's version of .... I'll hold back for now let us know your finding .... I presume you're jaguar cars UK ?

ps I'd prefer a new car rather than a rabbit ;-)

[Kevin_31]

okay command finally completed:

root@> ./omnidbcheck
Check Level Mode Status
==============================================
Core -core OK
Filenames -filenames OK
DCBF(presence and size) -bf OK
DONE!

I'm poking around the Reflections files now, but it must be a different version because I've not found the same things as mentioned above. I have Start > Programs > Reflections:
Utilities > Ping, .. XFont Compiler, X Protocol Trace & Replay
and
Wizards
FTP Clients
Hosts Unix & Digital
Reflections X

I'll keep looking at Reflections for something pointing to Server2 instead of Server1 or a setting saying "broadcast" for Font server. I'll also look into the xfs settings of Server1 and Server2. So far they both look to be running with same parameters, but I'll dig further.

Alex, I'd love to give you enough points to get a jag, how many does it take? (I work for a pharma company, but I don't get discounts on pills either).

(^;
Kevin

[Kevin_31]

XFS:
======
Both Server1 and Server2 are running xfs with the same settings:

root@Server2:/> ps -elf | grep xfs
1 S root 973 1 0 154 20 47b1700 313 49ea0c Apr 2 ? 0
:00 /usr/bin/X11/xfs -port 7000 -daemon -quiet_if_addrinuse


root@Server1:/> ps -elf | grep xfs
1 S root 734 1 0 154 20 6751f00 313 5a300c Mar 29 ? 0
:00 /usr/bin/X11/xfs -port 7000 -daemon -quiet_if_addrinuse

Also, the config files for these are the same:
# Installed at /etc/rc.config.d/xfs
#

RUN_X_FONT_SERVER=1

plus the port settings in services and output from netstat -na looks the same too:

root@Server2:/> netstat -na | grep 7000| grep LIST
tcp 0 0 *.7000 *.* LISTEN

root@Server2:/> cat /etc/services | grep 7000
# The X11 font server listens on port 7000.

Reflections
============
I've got a tracefile of a session connecting to the App via Reflections. It's a huge file, and has loads of registry settings and hex-y looking data as well. So far searching for Font and reading thru the bits where the connection happens has not helped.

The file is JUST under the 1MB limit, so here goes uloading it....

[Colin Topliss]

I'm not so sure its the font server. I seem to recall that if a font server is not available, then the session will default to the closest matching font. To try and confirm this, I modified my X Font server entry to something invalid - the session still started with no problems.

I'll look after luch into this a bit more to see what other dependancies may exist.

Col.

[Bill Hassell]

You might want to dump the Xwindow stuff and simply run the Reflection terminal emulator r2win.exe which is an xterm equivalent. You can configure r2win to look the same as xterm (without all the default icons) and since the only traffic going across the network is the the text, the network load will drop dramatically. Users will also like the ability to record an auto-login and use different color schemes for each login. Being a local program, you are not dependent on remote Xwindow services from some other computer.

[Kevin_31]

Bill, it just might be easier to change the Reflections component to use r2win. I've had a play and my rxc file does exactly what I want it to do within the r2win command, but I've only managed to get it to run interactively by clicking on File Open then navigating to my .rxc file. I hoped typing: "C:\program files\reflection\r2win.exe" c:\unixapp.rxc

would do the trick, but I get an error saying, "c:\unixapp.rxc" is not a setting file" The online help and support website for Reflections has loads of information for very complex macros and vbscripts, but I can't find out the simple syntax for running my .rxc file via one command line/argument!

Colin or any other experts have any other suggestions?

[Kevin_31]

Does anyone think there could be a correlation between this problem and the tftp setting in the /etc/inetd.conf file?

The problematic server has:

tftp dgram udp wait root /usr/lbin/tftpd tftpd /opt/ignite /var/opt/ignite

while the server which is mysteriously serving as the "missing link" has:

tftp dgram udp wait root /usr/lbin/tftpd tftpd

I know tftp is/can be used to serve dumb terminal boot requests, but what about Xlogin stuff?

[Bill Hassell]

r2win.exe is a terminal emulator and hass nothing to do with Xwindows. Starting r2win with a filename implies that r2win is going to read the file as a settings file, hence the error.

The point is to eliminate all the Xwindow junk and simply start a telnet connection. That gives you a 'normal' telnet window onto the remote server where you type commands. Once logged into the remote server, you can set the DISPLAY value if there are other Xwindows applications that you run after logging in.

r2win.exex has an extensive macro language capability including a very simple recorder to create auto-logins. That way, the user can simply click on a PC icon and the new window logs into the server automatically (password can be made optional). A forthcoming article in PING Magazine will outline the details. (folks in the UK should bookmark this link: http://www.hpworks.org.uk/)

I've attached the column.