Automated networking maintenance (cron)

BNU is delivered with entries for shell scripts in the /var/spool/cron/crontabs/uucp file. These entries will automatically handle some BNU administrative tasks for you. The shell scripts can be found in /usr/lib/uucp.

In multi-user state, tasks scheduled by the crontab command are automatically performed by cron. The crontab file for uucp is now used to schedule regular BNU maintenance using the following shell scripts:

uudemon.poll

The uudemon.poll shell script delivered with the system does the following:

• Reads the Poll(4bnu) file.

• If any of the machines in the Poll file is scheduled to be polled, places a work file (C.sysnxxxx) in the /var/spool/uucp/nodename directory, where nodename is the name of the machine being polled.

By default, the shell script is scheduled to run twice an hour, just before uudemon.hour, so the work files will be there when uudemon.hour is called. The following is the default crontab entry for uudemon.poll:

   1,30     $TFADMIN /usr/lib/uucp/uudemon.poll > /dev/null

uudemon.hour

The uudemon.hour shell script delivered with the system does the following:

• Calls the uusched program to search the spool directories for work files (C.files) that have not been processed and schedules these files for transfer to a remote machine.

• Calls the uuxqt daemon to search the spool directories for execute files (X.files) that have been transferred to your computer and were not processed at the time they were transferred.

The following is the default uucp crontab entry for uudemon.hour:

      41,11     $TFADMIN /usr/lib/uucp/uudemon.hour > /dev/null

uudemon.admin

The uudemon.admin shell script delivered with the system does the following:

• Runs the uustat command with the -p and -q options. The -q option reports on the status of work files (C.files), data files (D.files), and execute files (X.files) that are queued. The -p option prints process information for networking processes listed in the lock files (/var/spool/locks).

• Sends the resulting status information to the uucp administrative login via mail(1).

There is no default crontab entry for uudemon.admin. To set up administrative reporting enter the following line in the uucp crontab file:

      48 8,12,16    $TFADMIN /usr/lib/uucp/uudemon.admin > /dev/null

uudemon.clean

The delivered uudemon.clean shell script does the following:

• Takes log files for individual machines from the /var/spool/uucp/.Log directory, merges them, and places them in the /var/spool/uucp/.Old directory with other old log information. If log files become large, the ulimit parameter may need to be increased.

• Removes work files (C.files) at least seven days old, data files (D.files) at least seven days old, and execute files (X.files) at least two days old from the spool directory.

• Returns mail that cannot be delivered to the sender.

• Mails a summary of the status information gathered during the current day to the uucp administrative login.

   45 23    $TFADMIN /usr/lib/uucp/uudemon.clean > /dev/null 2>&1

   45 23    ulimit 5000; $TFADMIN /usr/bin/su uucp -c \
   "/usr/lib/uucp/uudemon.clean" > /dev/null 2>&1