Troubleshooting UUCP

These procedures describe how to solve common UUCP problems.

How to Check for Faulty Modems or ACUs

You can check if the modems or other ACUs are not working properly in several ways.

1. Become superuser or assume an equivalent role.

   Roles contain authorizations and privileged commands. For more information about roles, see Configuring RBAC (Task Map) in System Administration Guide: Security Services. To configure a role with the Primary Administrator profile, see Chapter 2, Working With the Solaris Management Console (Tasks), in System Administration Guide: Basic Administration.

2. Obtain counts and reasons for contact failure by running the following command:

   # uustat -q

3. Call over a particular line and print debugging information on the attempt.

   The line must be defined as direct in the /etc/uucp/Devices file. You must add a telephone number to the end of the command line if the line is connected to an autodialer or the device must be set up as direct. Type:

   # cu -d -lline

   line is /dev/cua/a.

How to Debug Transmissions

If you cannot contact a particular machine, you can check communications to that machine with Uutry and uucp.

1. Become superuser or assume an equivalent role.

   Roles contain authorizations and privileged commands. For more information about roles, see Configuring RBAC (Task Map) in System Administration Guide: Security Services. To configure a role with the Primary Administrator profile, see Chapter 2, Working With the Solaris Management Console (Tasks), in System Administration Guide: Basic Administration.

2. Try to make contact:

   # /usr/lib/uucp/Uutry -r machine

   Replace machine with the host name of the machine you are unable to contact. This command does the following:

   • Starts the transfer daemon (uucico) with debugging. You can get more debugging information if you are root.

   • Directs the debugging output to /tmp/machine.

   • Prints the debugging output to your terminal by issuing the following command:

     # tail -f

     Press Control-C to end output. You can copy the output from /tmp/machine if you want to save the output.

3. If Uutry does not isolate the problem, try to queue a job:

   # uucp -r file machine\!/dir/file

   file

   Use the name of the file that you want to transfer.

   machine

   Use the name of the machine that you want to copy to.

   /dir/file

   Specify the location of the file for the other machine.

4. Issue the following command:

   # Uutry

   If you still cannot solve the problem, you might need to call your local support representative. Save the debugging output, which can help diagnose the problem.

   ---

   Note - You might also decrease or increase the level of debugging that is provided by Uutry through the -x n option. n indicates the debug level. The default debug level for Uutry is 5.

   Debug level 3 provides basic information about when and how the connection is established, but not much information about the transmission. Debug level 9, however, provides exhaustive information about the transmission process. Be aware that debugging occurs at both ends of the transmission. If you intend to use a level higher than 5 on a moderately large text, contact the other site's administrator and decide when to change the level.

   ---

Checking the UUCP /etc/uucp/Systems File

Verify that you have up-to-date information in your Systems file if you are having trouble contacting a particular machine. Some information that might be out of date for a machine is the following:

• Phone number

• Login ID

• Password

Checking UUCP Error Messages

UUCP has two types of error messages: ASSERT and STATUS.

• When a process is aborted, ASSERT error messages are recorded in /var/uucp/.Admin/errors. These messages include the file name, sccsid, line number, and text. These messages usually result from system problems.

• STATUS error messages are stored in the /var/uucp/.Status directory. The directory contains a separate file for each remote machine that your computer attempts to communicate with. These files contain status information about attempted communication and whether the communication was successful.

Checking Basic Information

Several commands are available for checking basic networking information:

• Use the uuname command to list those machines that your machine can contact.

• Use the uulog command to display the contents of the log directories for particular hosts.

• Use the uucheck -v command to check for the presence of files and directories that are needed by uucp. This command also checks the Permissions file and displays information about the permissions that you have set up.