RE: I installed RH 7.2 and now I can't login as myself or root

["Pete Peterson" <petersonp genrad com>]

Thanks for the info.  I've solved the login problem (see below).

> From: "Taylor, ForrestX" <forrestx taylor intel com>
> To: "'enigma-list redhat com'" <enigma-list redhat com>
> Subject: RE: I installed RH 7.2 and now I can't login as myself or root
> 
> > During the install, I decided to enable NIS, which I haven't done
> > before at this site.  I selected NIS, shadow passwords, no md5
> > passwords.  I specified our Solaris NIS server as the NIS server and
> > specified the NIS domain.  I set the root password and created an
> > account on the RH machine that didn't conflict with any NIS account
> > name.
> 
> This is the problem with the long delay during the post-install.

OK -- thanks -- I got that from your reply to my first message.  Sure
was a LONG delay for a timeout, though! :-)

> 
> > When I rebooted, I couldn't login as myself or as root.  I then did
> > a single-user login from grub, did a pwunconv and just out of 
> > superstition,
> > I redid the passwds for myself and root.  Reboot -- still broken.
> > 
> > 
> > I checked what NIS things were set to run and only found 
> > ypbind -- three
> > others were not enabled.
> 
> Three others?  Which ones?

I just looked at anything in the startup files that had "yp" in it:
   yppasswdd
   ypserv
   ypxfrd
My fuzzy recollection says those are for NIS servers.

> >  I turned off ypbind witch chkconfig, hoping
> > that with no NIS, the local passwd file would work OK.  Checked that
> > there was a passwd file and no shadow file.  Reboot --- still broken.
> > 
> > OK --- looked in pam.d and figured I should get the NIS stuff out of 
> > system-auth.  Ran authconfig -- shut off shadow passwords and shut
> > off NIS.  Reboot -- still broken -- can't login as myself or root.
> 
> Do you have the updates for NIS (IIRC pam/nfs-utils/ypbind)?
> Try running authconfig again, and select md5/shadow.  Convert the passwd
> file and see if that works.  When setting up NIS, I make an entry in
> /etc/hosts for the name/IP of the NIS server in the post-install.  I also
> use shadow.

Well, I couldn't easily get the updates until I could log into the machine
and get it on the network.  :-) I discovered that the problem, at least
with the non NIS part, was that PAM wasn't understanding my >8-character
passwords.  I had made an updates CD a while back, so I updated the PAM and
I now I can log in OK as myself or as root.

I'd rather use MD5 & shadow, but our Solaris NIS server doesn't understand
MD5 passwords, which is why I avoided them in the first place.  I entered
the IP of the NIS server and DNS resolves it anyhow, so I wouldn't think
I'd need it in the hosts file.  I guess I should also fix nsswitch.conf to
replace nisplus with nis, since our NIS master is not NIS+.  I'll update my
"updates" CD and get all the updates installed before trying to restore
NIS.

I have some other weirdness to track down before worrying about NIS:
  KDE complains about sound (no /dev/dsp); lspci -v says SCSI ctrlr
      and sound both using IRQ5.
  ping gives normal results if I ping by IP, but crazy results if I
      ping by name. (posting another message about that one)
  some kind of screensaver insists on starting up, but I can't find
      the task; I don't have xscreensaver running and I did an 
      'xset s off'.  This is a minor one, just curious

When I get back to the NIS, I'll try your other suggestions.

     pete

> Forrest
>  

--
        pete peterson
        Teradyne, Inc.
        7 Technology Park Drive
        Westford, MA 01886-0033

        pete peterson teradyne com or petersonp genrad com
        +1-978-589-7478 (Teradyne); +1-978-589-2088 (Closest FAX);
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