My solaris 2.3 ps won't show any processes

2007-12-25 8:59:00

My thanks to the folks on the list for all the responses. I think I've got

the problems fixed (or I expect they will be after the next reboot)

The "ps" part of the problem was apparently my own fault for "twiddling" with

/etc/vfstab without watching what I was doing. I managed to set things up

so that /proc and /fd were either not mounted or were mounted wrong, and without

/proc, ps won't show anything.

Just to be safe, I also touched /var/ps_data.

As to the openwindows problem, that may be result of that same twiddling of vfstab,

.. I think /usr and/or "/" wound up mounted suid instead of nosuid, .. anyway,

I applied some of the other fixes suggested, and after the next reboot, I hope

things will be straight again.

My thanks to all the respondents mentioned below ..

<signed>

H.Modell

_____________________________________________________________________

 Howard Modell (206)662-0189

 Adv.Computing Technologist/2 POBox 3707, m/s 4C-63, Boeing D&SG

 howie@warlok.ds.boeing.com Seattle, WA 98124-2207

<A HREF="http://xavier.ds.boeing.com/users/howie/"> HSM </A>

My original post was:

===============================

} Subject: My solaris 2.3 ps won't show any processes

}

} This is a Solaris 2.3 problem:

}

} What would cause/inhibit both /usr/ucb/ps and /usr/bin/ps so that they

} won't show any processes regardless of options?

}

} I was fine until this morning when I installed patch 101362-12. I've tried

} backing the patch out, and it claims it did so successfully, but this curious

} problem remains.

}

} another symptom is that somthing changes permissions on things in /devices,

} the result being that noone except root can use Open Windows until the /devices

} are "unlocked" again. I've tried restoring /usr/openwin from backup, but

} this didn't cure the problem.

}

} Help? What'd I do wrong?

}

=========================================

the responses included:

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One thing you may want to check with the ps problem is if /proc is

mounted type proc (not type ufs). If it is mounted ufs (check mnttab),

then ps will appear to work but not show any ps information.

Good luck!

John

jdyson@ahpca.hpc.org

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Check to see if the /proc file system mounted. type df -k and check your

vfstab file. It should be mountewd. Also check to see your PATH it must

have been blocked by another new PATH that might have been defined, First

make sure that /proc fs is mounted .

regards

srini

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regarding the problems with ps, try rebooting, if this fixes the ps

problem then look for something that is corrupting utmp. This happend to

me in a SVR4 system. the vendor issues a new release with a cron job that

trimed a little to much of utmp and wtmp.

Good Luck, Let me know what happens.

Paul Borchardt

BNP/CooperNeff

paul@mop.com

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I would check for ..

1) is /proc mounted..

2) Is the module fs/prcofs loaded

3) does ps what setuid bit on

4) if usr is nfs mounted, is it mounted with nosuid option

Regarding the openwin problem, check option 4

- Ram

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I had the same problem this weekend. It turns out a link sometimes gets

hosed. The file /dev/bd.off should be linked to /dev/term/b.

You can delete the file /dev/bd.off and then do a boot -r from the

ok prompt. OR, you can rm /dev/bd.off and run "bdconfig off"

OR, you can manually link it and reboot.

Thomas Jordan

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try doing

touch /var/ps_data

then run ps..

sue

Susan KJ Thielen Application Programmer, System Manager

Imaging Lab, Robarts Research Institute Phone: (519) 663-3833

PO Box 5015, 100 Perth Drive Fax: (519) 663-3900

London, ON N6A 5K8 Canada E-mail: thielen@irus.rri.uwo.ca

----- End Included Message -----

This next one was off-base, but I appreciate the effort and the response!

-howie

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>From ltaylor@hootowl.bbn.com Wed Apr 12 06:39:49 1995

Date: Wed, 12 Apr 1995 09:40:07 -0400

From: Laura Taylor <ltaylor@hootowl.bbn.com>

To: howie@warlok.ds.boeing.com

Subject: Re: My solaris 2.3 ps won't show any processes

Well, I hate to be the bearer of bad news, but often when hackers

invade your system, they put in place binaries that specifically

do not show up certain processes, and ps is among the first five

binaries they probably change. You can't tell by doing a checksum,

because they have programs that pad the binary and make the checksums

match.

When you invoke ps, if the following switch shows up things that

the normal ps doesn't show up, someone probably put in a bogus ps

and could be doing terrible things to your network, like sniffing

packets.

Try this:

ps -/aux | more

(It is the -/ switch that you are looking for.)

---------------------------------------------------------------

BBN Systems & Technologies | Laura Taylor Sr. Systems Administrator

10 Moulton Street | Sr. Systems Administrator

Cambridge, Ma. 02138 | ltaylor@bbn.com

U.S.A | FAX (617) 873-5137

---------------------------------------------------------------

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 Check /proc in your vfstab file. Either its

missing or somewhere in the process of things

it got un-mounted.

        Bill Holzapfel

        dcVAST Inc.

        billh@dcvast.com

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This may sound strange... but it happened here.

You need to configure your "Button and Dial" peripheral device and then

turn it off. The command is bdconfig (see man pages). You set it to a

serial port (we set ours to c) but it doesn't make any difference because

you turn it off.

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>From Phyllis.Bahue@Ebay.Sun.COM Wed Apr 12 09:09:44 1995

This could be caused by not having /proc mounted. Make sure the entry

is correct in /etc/vfstab and reboot.

Phyllis

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>From moby!mink!singhjk@ilium.troy.msen.com Wed Apr 12 12:12:31 1995

Run truss on ps with the command

        truss -o truss.out ps -ef

in single user mode.

Sometimes ps loops in /dev and look for some devices pointing to nothing

in the truss.out file. Try unlinking those devices and run ps again. If ps

is successful exit out of the single user mode.

Since cron runs ps and the ps is looping the machine hangs and acts

strange. Thanks!!

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Sounds pretty strange. I don't have experience with this problem,

but if "ps" doesn't work, check the permissions on /dev/men

and /dev/kmem (and "ps") Can you do "ps" as root? You don't say what

patch 101362-12 is for... sounds like you have permission problems.


--
James Buszard-Welcher | jwelcher@systems.DHL.COM | "Just don't create a
DHL Systems, Inc. | phone 312.248.3097 | file called -rf."
UNIX/Network Consultant | vmail 415.375.5324 | -Larry Wall

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