RUNACCT(8) Maintenance Procedures RUNACCT(8)

NAME

runacct - run daily accounting

SYNOPSIS

/usr/lib/acct/runacct [mmdd [state]]

DESCRIPTION

runacct is the main daily accounting shell procedure. It is normally
initiated using cron. runacct processes connect, fee, disk, and process
accounting files. It also prepares summary files for prdaily or billing
purposes. runacct is distributed only to source code licensees.


runacct takes care not to damage active accounting files or summary files
in the event of errors. It records its progress by writing descriptive
diagnostic messages into active. When an error is detected, a message is
written to /dev/console, mail (see mail(1)) is sent to root and adm, and
runacct terminates. runacct uses a series of lock files to protect
against re-invocation. The files lock and lock1 are used to prevent
simultaneous invocation, and lastdate is used to prevent more than one
invocation per day.


runacct breaks its processing into separate, restartable states using
statefile to remember the last state completed. It accomplishes this by
writing the state name into statefile. runacct then looks in statefile
to see what it has done and to determine what to process next. states are
executed in the following order:

SETUP
Move active accounting files into working files.


WTMPFIX
Verify integrity of wtmpx file, correcting date changes if
necessary.


CONNECT
Produce connect session records in tacct.h format.


PROCESS
Convert process accounting records into tacct.h format.


MERGE
Merge the connect and process accounting records.


FEES
Convert output of chargefee into tacct.h format, merge with
connect, and process accounting records.


DISK
Merge disk accounting records with connect, process, and
fee accounting records.


MERGETACCT
Merge the daily total accounting records in daytacct with
the summary total accounting records in
/var/adm/acct/sum/tacct.


CMS
Produce command summaries.


USEREXIT
Any installation dependent accounting programs can be
included here.


CLEANUP
Clean up temporary files and exit. To restart runacct after
a failure, first check the active file for diagnostics,
then fix any corrupted data files, such as pacct or wtmpx.
The lock, lock1, and lastdate files must be removed before
runacct can be restarted. The argument mmdd is necessary
if runacct is being restarted. mmdd specifies the month
and day for which runacct will rerun the accounting. The
entry point for processing is based on the contents of
statefile; to override this, include the desired state on
the command line to designate where processing should
begin.

EXAMPLES

Example 1: Starting runacct

The following example starts runacct:


example% nohup runacct 2> /var/adm/acct/nite/fd2log &

Example 2: Restarting runacct

The following example restarts runacct:


example% nohup runacct 0601 2>> /var/adm/acct/nite/fd2log &

Example 3: Restarting runacct at a Specific State

The following example restarts runacct at a specific state:


example% nohup runacct 0601 MERGE 2>> /var/adm/acct/nite/fd2log &

FILES

/var/adm/wtmpx

History of user access and administration information


/var/adm/pacctincr


/var/adm/acct/nite/active


/var/adm/acct/nite/daytacct


/var/adm/acct/nite/lock


/var/adm/acct/nite/lock1


/var/adm/acct/nite/lastdate


/var/adm/acct/nite/statefile

SEE ALSO

acctcom(1), mail(1), acct(2), acct.h(3HEAD), utmpx(5), attributes(7),
acct(8), acctcms(8), acctcon(8), acctmerg(8), acctprc(8), acctsh(8),
cron(8), fwtmp(8)

NOTES

It is not recommended to restart runacct in the SETUP state. Run SETUP
manually and restart using:


runacct mmdd WTMPFIX


If runacct failed in the PROCESS state, remove the last ptacct file
because it will not be complete.


The runacct command can process a maximum of

o 6000 distinct sessions

o 1000 distinct terminal lines

o 2000 distinct login names


during a single invocation of the command. If at some point the actual
number of any one of these items exceeds the maximum, the command will
not succeed.


Do not invoke runacct at the same time as ckpacct, as there may be a
conflict if both scripts attempt to execute turnacct switch
simultaneously.


May 11, 1999 RUNACCT(8)