2.0.3 spamming logfile with nsswitch warning

pvoigt

Googled "NSSWITCH(_nsdispatch): nis, passwd_compat, setpwent, not found, and no fallback provided" as I too am getting this since upgrade and found this page.

Inspired by your reply I've re-googled and found some hints that the nsswitch warning might disappear if /etc/nsswitch.conf is changed:
http://www.ivorde.ro/FreeBSD_Cron__NSSWITCH_nss_method_lookup_errors-44.html. The reference made the cron related nsswitch warnings disappear by changing "compat" to "files".

I've too little experience with /etc/nsswitch.conf but would at least like to compare my current settings with a.) pfSense 2.0.1/2.0.2 and with b.) other pfSense 2.0.3 installations. My current 2.0.3 settings are:


group: compat
group_compat: nis
hosts: files dns
networks: files
passwd: compat
passwd_compat: nis
shells: files
services: compat
services_compat: nis
protocols: files
rpc: files

Are these settings as expected?

RonpfS

Did a install from scratch of 2.0.3 x86
Restore the configuration from 2.0.1
Packages: Backup, Cron, File Manager, pfBlocker, snort, System Patches, widescreen

I get these 2013-04-25 18:30:00 Cron.Info 172.24.42.254 /usr/sbin/cron[57493]: (root) CMD (/usr/bin/nice -n20 /usr/local/bin/php -f /usr/local/pkg/snort/snort_check_cron_misc.inc)
2013-04-25 18:30:00 Cron.Debug 172.24.42.254 cron[57198]: NSSWITCH(_nsdispatch): nis, passwd_compat, endpwent, not found, and no fallback provided
2013-04-25 18:30:00 Cron.Debug 172.24.42.254 cron[57493]: NSSWITCH(_nsdispatch): nis, passwd_compat, endpwent, not found, and no fallback provided

These are every minutes:
2013-04-25 18:30:28 User.Debug 172.24.42.254 ps: NSSWITCH(_nsdispatch): nis, passwd_compat, setpwent, not found, and no fallback provided

The are only on the remote syslog server, not in the Status/System Logs

jimp

edit /etc/nsswitch.conf and see if setting things to "files" and commenting out the nis bits helps, such as:

group: files
#group_compat: nis
hosts: files dns
networks: files
passwd: files
#passwd_compat: nis
shells: files
services: files
#services_compat: nis
protocols: files
rpc: files

RonpfS

@jimp:

edit /etc/nsswitch.conf and see if setting things to "files" and commenting out the nis bits helps, such as:
group: files
#group_compat: nis
hosts: files dns
networks: files
passwd: files
#passwd_compat: nis
shells: files
services: files
#services_compat: nis
protocols: files
rpc: files

Did that and now the messages are gone ;o)
Thanks :)

pvoigt

@jimp:

edit /etc/nsswitch.conf and see if setting things to "files" and commenting out the nis bits helps, such as:
group: files
#group_compat: nis
hosts: files dns
networks: files
passwd: files
#passwd_compat: nis
shells: files
services: files
#services_compat: nis
protocols: files
rpc: files

Nsswitch warnings immediately disappeared after having applied your changes. Thanks, Jim :).

Although I have some rough ideas about the success of your proposed changes, I would like to understand things a bit more in detail:

1.) Were the original nsswitch.conf settings wrong?
2.) Were the nsswitch warnings serious or could the have been ignored and what did the warnings mean?
3.) Why did pfSense 2.0.1 not show those warnings? I suppose 2.0.1 had the same e.g. original nsswitch.conf settings but cannot verify anymore.

Could you please drop some lines on this?

jimp

@pvoigt:

1.) Were the original nsswitch.conf settings wrong?

Probably, but the way 2.0.1 was built the problem was masked/hidden.

@pvoigt:

2.) Were the nsswitch warnings serious or could the have been ignored and what did the warnings mean?

Harmless log spam.

@pvoigt:

3.) Why did pfSense 2.0.1 not show those warnings? I suppose 2.0.1 had the same e.g. original nsswitch.conf settings but cannot verify anymore.

There was a problem with the way the system was being built up until a week or two before 2.0.3 was released, so options in the build system to disable unneeded components of the base OS were being ignored in some cases. As a side effect of this, OpenSSL wasn't updating/working properly until we fixed it on 2.0.3 and 2.1.

The default nsswitch.conf on FreeBSD 8.1 apparently had the compat & nis bits in it. The default one on 8.3 (used for pfSense 2.1) just had 'files' there. We don't include nor need nis, so leaving it out is OK.

We just didn't catch that error on 2.0.3 in remote syslog before the release. It's a fairly easy fix for those who need it though, manually edit the file or gitsync to RELENG_2_0 to pick it up.

pvoigt

Thank you, Jim, for your explanations making me at least feel a bit wiser :)

RonpfS

Would a system patch be created?

jimp

@RonpfS:

Would a system patch be created?

See the last line of my last post.

RonpfS

@jimp:

See the last line of my last post.

I didn't know what gitsync meant :-[

I did the gitsync that also fix the ntp server timeout … great tool ;D

Thanks for all