Starting UUCP

UUCP includes four shell scripts that poll remote machines, reschedule transmissions, and clean up old log files and unsuccessful transmissions. The scripts are as follows:

• uudemon.poll

• uudemon.hour

• uudemon.admin

• uudemon.cleanup

These shell scripts should execute regularly to ensure that UUCP runs smoothly. The crontab file to run the scripts is automatically created in /usr/lib/uucp/uudemon.crontab as part of the Solaris installation process, if you select the full installation. Otherwise, the file is created when you install the UUCP package.

You can also run the UUCP shell scripts manually. The following is the prototype uudemon.crontab file that you can tailor for a particular machine:

#
#ident  "@(#)uudemon.crontab    1.5     97/12/09 SMI"
#
# This crontab is provided as a sample. For systems
# running UUCP edit the time schedule to suit, uncomment 
# the following lines, and use crontab(1) to activate the
# new schedule.
#
#48 8,12,16 * * * /usr/lib/uucp/uudemon.admin
#20 3 * * * /usr/lib/uucp/uudemon.cleanup
#0 * * * * /usr/lib/uucp/uudemon.poll
#11,41 * * * * /usr/lib/uucp/uudemon.hour

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Note - By default, UUCP operations are disabled. To enable UUCP, edit the time schedule and uncomment the appropriate lines in the uudemon.crontab file.

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How to Start UUCP

To activate the uudemon.crontab file, do the following:

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. Edit the /usr/lib/uucp/uudemon.crontab file and change entries as required.
3. Activate the uudemon.crontab file by issuing the following command:

   crontab < /usr/lib/uucp/uudemon.crontab

uudemon.poll Shell Script

The default uudemon.poll shell script reads the /etc/uucp/Poll file once an hour. If any machines in the Poll file are scheduled to be polled, a work file (C.sysnxxxx) is placed in the /var/spool/uucp/nodename directory. nodename represents the UUCP node name of the machine.

The shell script is scheduled to run once an hour, before uudemon.hour, so that the work files are in place when uudemon.hour is called.

uudemon.hour Shell Script

The default uudemon.hour shell script does the following:

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

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

By default, uudemon.hour runs twice an hour. You might want uudemon.hour to run more often if you expect high failure rates of calls to remote machines.

uudemon.admin Shell Script

The default uudemon.admin shell script does the following:

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

• Sends resulting status information to the uucp administrative login by using mail.

uudemon.cleanup Shell Script

The default uudemon.cleanup shell script does the following:

• Collects log files for individual machines from the /var/uucp/.Log directory, merges these files, and places the files in the /var/uucp/.Old directory with other old log information

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

• Returns mail that cannot be delivered to the sender

• Mails a summary of the status information that was gathered during the current day to the UUCP administrative login (uucp)