UTMPD(8) Maintenance Procedures UTMPD(8)

NAME

utmpd - utmpx monitoring daemon

SYNOPSIS

utmpd [-debug]

DESCRIPTION

The utmpd daemon monitors the /var/adm/utmpx file. See utmpx(5) (and
utmp(5) for historical information).


utmpd receives requests from pututxline(3C) by way of a named pipe. It
maintains a table of processes and uses poll(2) on /proc files to detect
process termination. When utmpd detects that a process has terminated, it
checks that the process has removed its utmpx entry from /var/adm/utmpx.
If the process' utmpx entry has not been removed, utmpd removes the
entry. By periodically scanning the /var/adm/utmpx file, utmpd also
monitors processes that are not in its table.

OPTIONS

-debug

Run in debug mode, leaving the process connected to the controlling
terminal. Write debugging information to standard output.

EXIT STATUS

The following exit values are returned:

0

Successful completion.


>0

An error occurred.

FILES

/etc/default/utmpd

You can set default values for the flags listed below. For example:
SCAN_PERIOD=600

The values for these flags should be greater than 0. If values read
from the file are found to be less than or equal to 0, or containing
invalid characters, the default values mentioned below are retained.

SCAN_PERIOD

The number of seconds that utmpd sleeps between checks of /proc
to see if monitored processes are still alive. The default is
300.


MAX_FDS

The maximum number of processes that utmpd attempts to monitor.
The default value is 4096.


WTMPX_UPDATE_FREQ

The number of seconds that utmpd sleeps between read accesses of
the wtmpx file. The wtmpx file's last access time is used by
init(8) on reboot to determine when the operating system became
unavailable. The default is 60.


/var/adm/utmpx

File containing user and accounting information for commands such as
who(1), write(1), and login(1).


/proc

Directory containing files for processes whose utmpx entries are
being monitored.

SEE ALSO

svcs(1), poll(2), pututxline(3C), proc(5), utmp(5), utmpx(5),
attributes(7), smf(7), init(8), svcadm(8)

NOTES

If the filesystem holding /var/adm/wtmpx is mounted with options which
inhibit or defer access time updates, an unknown amount of error will be
introduced into the utmp DOWN_TIME record's timestamp in the event of an
uncontrolled shutdown (for example, a crash or loss of power ).
Controlled shutdowns will update the modify time of /var/adm/wtmpx, which
will be used on the next boot to determine when the previous shutdown
occurred, regardless of access time deferral or inhibition.


The utmpd service is managed by the service management facility, smf(7),
under the service identifier:

svc:/system/utmp:default


Administrative actions on this service, such as enabling, disabling, or
requesting restart, can be performed using svcadm(8). The service's
status can be queried using the svcs(1) command.


April 9, 2016 UTMPD(8)