XTCOM messages filling /var/log/messages

  • 7014798
  • 25-Mar-2014
  • 31-Mar-2014

Environment

Novell Open Enterprise Server 11 (OES 11) Linux Support Pack 1
Novell Open Enterprise Server 11 (OES 11) Linux Support Pack 2

Situation

During normal operation, the server will show the following repeatedly in /var/log/messages:
 
Jan 23 14:55:38 SRV8 [XTCOM]: PAM_NAM: nam_pam_sm_authenticate: pam_get_user failed
Jan 23 14:55:38 SRV8 [XTCOM]: pam_sm_authenticate in pam_ncl.c (novell-client's pam)is called
Jan 23 14:55:38 SRV8 [XTCOM]: Password is not available to the NCL PAM module. So reprompting for password
 
to the point that they take over the messages log.

Resolution

These messages are somewhat cosmetic and do not indicate a problem.
This has been reported to development.

Cause

PAM_NAM does user resolution (lookup) in eDirectory.  In the case above, user "root" is being resolved and is not found in eDirectory.

Additional Information

The messages are more on a diagnostic level and are expected to be seen when performing debug/verbose logging.  For a normal level of logging, these messages should not appear.
 
Most of the messages will be addressed in the March 2014 maintenance for OES 11.
The remaining will be address in a future maintenance release..