We have an OpenServer 5.0.5 system that has worked forever, but I'm hearing complaints of logon delays for users now. Normally they would telnet in and the logon screen would pop up, but now it sometimes takes a minute or more, and the user must hit the enter key to get it to appear. Everything seems fine when they get on the system. I am not a Unix admin, so any help is appreciated - thank you!
Mike
Has the load on the server increased over time or the number of telnet logins increased over time? Could this be load related in any way?
Thanks for the reply. No, in fact there's probably only 2 users on it now, compared to 30 users and 3 line printers in its earlier days. I get the feeling that something is stalling it, whether it is a process or hardware. If a person hits enter multiple times while waiting for something to appear on the screen, when it finally does appear there will be multiple login prompts. So it's getting the signal, just not replying. And once we're logged in, the connection is great. Pinging the server anytime is immediate, so it's not a network issue. I'm stumped!
So what client are the users using to connect from? Windows? Putty?
When they telnet are they (or the client script) giving a nodename or an ip address?
When you ping are you giving a nodename or ip address?
You're a little over my head here, but I'll try to help. A program called Procomm Plus is the telnet client, but I could just use the telnet command from a Windows prompt as well for our uses (all text based). The server does not hand out ip addresses to users, and when I ping the server I am pinging the ip adress from a Windows command prompt. I don't know about nodes. From the console, access is immediate.
For example, you (or Procomm) could execute:
telnet 14.123.43.55
or
telnet jupiter (assuming the node is called jupiter)
In the first case no name resolution is needed, whereas, in the second case the box has to get "jupiter" resolved to its ip address.
I have seen similar connection issues occur many times due to the network boys changing something on the name server which has nothing to do with either the server or the client.
In Windows, if you type "telnet <ip address>" does it still exhibit connection delay?
Have you re-booted the unix system recently?
Run "netstat -nr" and see if all the intended routes exist.
Are all the client computers listed in /etc/hosts. This is not necessary, but does improve performance.
Do you have DNS client configured on that server?
netstat looks fine. No DNS on this server, everyone telnets in to the ip address. No users are listed under etc/hosts, just the ip addresses of some ip printers, the server, etc. I'm wondering if perhaps the nic in this machine is failing, it's a really old Compaq. My initial thought with all of this was it had something to do with getty or any other logon process. Thanks again, folks, for all of your help
If you think the nic is failing, run crash, and at its > prompt enter strstat to get the number of packets sent/received failed.
>quit ends the program.
Post #6 is a very good tip. It checks whether the clients are getting a slow response to a DNS lookup (if a DNS is in use).
Try to get some "ping" times from client to server. If the ping times are in the hundreds, you have a network problem.
Let's look at the local network. If at any time since it was last cold-booted, the server's network connection has been re-plugged you can get these symptoms because the connection can silently drop to half-duplex (which is deadly slow) if either the server or the network port was originally set to auto-negotiate. The quick fix is to power down the server and anything else connected to the same network switch/hub, then power down the network switch/hub, then power-up the network switch/hub, then power up the servers.
Those who treat a patch panel like a 1930's telephone exchange are prone to these problems. Basically never re-plug a live network cable.
Same/similar problem here, telnet into server takes a long while. I connected 1 pc thru 1 switch and just the server, opened a telnet prompt. (dos prompt from windows) telnet's 192.x.x.x:23 it timed out before connecting. however using putty. it finally connects after about 45 seconds? (didn't really time it but I will). this use to be instant. but now for what ever reason is slow. also, some times the printing thru the network is slow too. everything else seems ok. Ill make note of the post questions and attempt to add answers. (don't have them now. and am at other location) one over thing to note. in the error log I see.
/var/adm/syslog
acct bootpd[504]: IP address not found: 10.10.10.xxx
xxx= several different recurring ip's could this be left over sessions?
Thanks in advance!