All posts by SCAdmin

Solaris 10 UNIX /var/audit logs full, workstation not responding…

So you have a UNIX system admin emergency:  A Solaris 10 workstation that was working and running is suddenly frozen and unresponsive.

Suspected culprit? Audit logs. If they have filled up and no other actions can be logged, all processes and attempted logins are stopped.

It is possible to get back into the frozen UNIX workstation and restore normal operation with a few steps:

Hit Stop-A to get to the Solaris OpenBoot PROM OK prompt. *

At the OpenBoot prompt, login to command mode with the firmware password if you have one set. (You should if you are worried about audit logs)

Type boot-s  to boot into single user mode. You’ll need the firmware and root password.

Run a df –h to see what is mounted. If /var/audit is not mounted, the partition is probably full.

Find the entry in your /etc/vfstab file for the disk device that contains /var/audit.

Mount the disk device (not the raw rdsk device) using the mount command with your disk device name such as:

mount /dev/dsk/c1t0d0s7 /var/audit

Run a df –h again just for a sanity check. /var/audit should show as mounted and at 100% capacity.

Change directory to /var/audit and run gzip on the largest audit files or move them according to your local security policy.

After gzip compression completes, (this may take a while if the files are large) run df –h again to check that /var/audit is under 80% capacity or so.

A test compression on the binary audit files using gzip on my system dropped the /var/audit partition from 100% to 5% capacity. Your results may vary.

While still in single user mode, type init 6 to reboot and go back to normal multi-user mode. All your normal drive partitions and network devices should be mounted and available.

*This works on Solaris SPARC machines, x86 machines have no built-in Open Boot PROM so you must use GRUB or other boot loader to boot to single user mode.

 

Musings on the Eve of 2012

2012 is a year which already has so much in store. It is the year of a monster U.S. presidential election. Though these days the presidential election has become more like choosing between a wolf and a coyote to determine who will watch your chickens. Both will devour your poultry, but the wolf has better hair. It is a leap year of 366 days in which to make a difference. It is a London Olympics year. 2012 is a year that will see the introduction of Google’s ‘iPad killer’ Android tablet. What will it be called? The ‘DroidTab’ or probably something more creative like ‘Tungsten Primavera’. 😛 It is also a year widely predicted by pseudo researchers to be the end of the world. But there appears to be no real reason for the apocalypse yet.

What will 2012 bring us? Will technology save the planet? Or just make the crumbling of society more entertaining? Lets hope the new year brings a chance of prosperity for many families that were hammered by 2011 and a positive sense of innovation for the betterment of the planet.

Raise your glass of Coke Zero or Peet’s Coffee or whatever you’re drinking to toast to a prosperous 2012!

SiliconCali

 

Internet Explorer 10 Testdrive

In an attempt to inject some buzz into their upcoming IE 10 browser, Microsoft has created some fun ‘testdrive’ pages that will measure your PC and browser’s performance.

Highlighting HTML5, Canvas, CSS3, and SVG, the “Let it Snow” page lets you adjust the number of snowflakes falling on your screen while measuring your FPS. Is this a snowball in the face of Google from Mr. Softy?

If you want to take a dip into the world of HTML 5 possibilities, try the “Fishbowl” testdrive page that lets you adjust the number of swimming gold fish and graphics layers. (These features are too new for IE 8 and audio does not yet work with Firefox 8, you’ll have to make your own fishbowl sounds)

There’s also a New Year’s Eve countdown page for different cities that displays your browser performance information at the bottom.

Seattle

Washington DC

New York

And if you’re ready for 2011 to be over, click on the “Can’t Wait?” button to watch the clock tick down to 2012 and trigger a fireworks display over the city of your choice.

Happy 2012 from SiliconCali.com!

The Speed of Santa

I’m always amazed at the speed of Santa as he zooms around the planet at nearly the speed of light.

 

Coming in November 2011!

Beginning this November, SiliconCali.com will be covering established tech companies, startups, and system administration in the Silicon Valley area.

I’m busy eating my ice cream sandwich right now and will post more soon.

Stay Tuned!