B

The Green Newt Cursor

The green newt cursor is the default cursor for the Sun Ray 1 appliance. The cursor remains as a green newt until an application, typically the X Window server (Xsun), changes the cursor to an "X", hourglass, or arrow. The green newt cursor does not necessarily mean the Sun Ray 1 appliance is hung or in an error condition, but rather that the Sun Ray 1 appliance is ready and awaiting display rendering commands from Xsun.

The Xsun server is started by the dtlogin daemon. In the process of starting the Xsun server, the dtlogin daemon reads two configuration files:

/etc/dt/config/Xservers
/etc/dt/config/Xconfig

If the green newt cursor is displayed for an extended period, there is no X Window server running. The problem can usually be traced back to an older version of the dtlogin daemon or the configuration files for the dtlogin daemon.

To troubleshoot a green newt cursor, you need to consider:

Is There Really a Problem?

The Sun Ray administration model has six user session types:

Default -- normal user login
Register -- user self-registration
Kiosk -- anonymous user operation
Insert card -- user smart card required
Card error -- unrecognized user smart card type
No entry -- user's smart card token is blocked

The first three session types have normal login processes. The last three session types do not have a login process at all, but display an icon on the Sun Ray 1 appliance monitor along with the green newt cursor. The icons indicate that the user must take other steps before successful login is possible. If the user were to immediately remove and reinsert the smart card, the icon would disappear, but the green newt cursor would remain.

These last three session types, their icons, and the appearance of the green newt cursor are not cause for alarm. The user can:

Insert a recognized smart card in the correct orientation
Ask the Sun Ray administrator to grant access

See the Sun Ray 1 Quick Reference and Sun Ray 1 Troubleshooting Guide for more information regarding Sun Ray 1 appliance startup and the icons displayed.

Is the Problem Caused by Hardware?

Sluggish Sun Ray server performance or excessive disk swapping is an indication that the Sun Ray server is under-provisioned. Under these circumstances, there is just not enough virtual memory available to start an X Window server instance for a user's session. If after several retries the Xsun process does not start, the dtlogin daemon just gives up. With no X Window server running, the cursor remains a green newt.

The solution in this situation is to add more memory or increase the size of the swap partition. See the Sun Ray Server Software 1.0 Administrator's Guide and the Sun Ray Server Software 1.0 Installation Guide for information regarding Sun Ray server sizing requirements.

Is the `dtlogin` Daemon Up-to-Date?

The dtlogin daemon is part of the Solaris^TM operating environment and has existed long before the Sun Ray software. The Sun Ray administration model uses the dtlogin daemon in new ways, such that certain bugs in the dtlogin daemon have become apparent. Patches to fix these bugs in the dtlogin daemon are available.

At the time of this writing, the following patches were available:

For CDE:
- 105703-17 (Solaris 2.6 SPARCstation^TM)
- 107180-12 (Solaris 7 SPARCstation)
For the X Window server:
- 105633-29 (Solaris 2.6 SPARCstation)
- 107078-18 (Solaris 7 SPARCstation)

For the latest information regarding Sun Ray software bugs and patches, check this URL:

http://www.sun.com/products/sunray1/patches.html

Solaris operating environment patches and other software patches are available at this URL:

http://access1.sun.com

Note - An additional patch, 108303-xx, is available to correct a bug in the utdtsession command at http://access1.sun.com. This patch helps prevent corruption of the /etc/dt/config/Xservers and /etc/dtconfig/Xconfig files.

Is the `dtlogin` Session Hung?

Under certain circumstances, the dtlogin daemon may not be able to start the Xsun server. Without an X Window server running, the cursor remains a green newt. In this case, the dtlogin daemon has given up and has marked the user's session as bad. Consequently, this action prevents any further X Window server start-up attempts for the user's session.

To resolve this situation, the dtlogin session must be manually unconfigured. After which, the system will automatically reconfigure the session.

Caution - If patch 108303-xx has not been applied, Step 6 of this procedure could corrupt the /etc/dt/config/Xservers or /etc/dtconfig/Xconfig files. Verify the integrity of these files after conducting this procedure. See the next section, "Are the Configuration Files Corrupt?" on page 213.

To Identify and Unconfigure the `dtlogin` Session

On the keyboard of the Sun Ray 1 appliance displaying the green newt cursor, press all three audio keys at the same time.

An icon with the last six digits of the Sun Ray 1 appliance Ethernet address is displayed.

Record the six hexadecimal digits.

For example, B05E25.

Keep the smart card inserted in the Sun Ray 1 appliance that is hung.

On another Sun Ray 1 appliance or the Sun Ray server, log in as superuser and open a shell window.

Create a server status file.

Be sure to press the Return key after typing sunraystatus.


# `telnet localhost 7010 > /tmp/sunraystatus` `status`

The file is created and Telnet is exited.

Edit the file using vi:


# `vi /tmp/sunraystatus`

The following is an excerpt of a sunraystatus file. This example illustrates the information used from Step 1 through Step 4:
	.
	.
begin
terminalId=CoronaP1.080020b05e25		(Step 7)
	.
	.
tokenName=ZeroAdmin.m1.MicroPayflex.00005bca65000100		(Step 9, 10)
	.
	.
end		(Step 8)
	.
	.

. . begin terminalId=CoronaP1.080020b05e25 (Step 7) . . tokenName=ZeroAdmin.m1.MicroPayflex.00005bca65000100 (Step 9, 10) . . end (Step 8) . .

Search for the Ethernet address:


`:set ic` `:/`address

Where address is the Ethernet address from Step 1. For example, B05E25.

In the example, the cursor is moved to the line:
terminalId=CoronaP1.080020b05e25.

Scan down the listing until the word end is encountered.

Scan back up for the word tokenName.

In the example: tokenName=ZeroAdmin.m1.MicroPayflex.00005bca65000100.

10.

Record the text following the = sign.

In the example: ZeroAdmin.m1.MicroPayflex.00005bca65000100.

11.

Exit vi:


`:q!`

12.

Unconfigure the dtlogin session:


# `/opt/SUNWut/lib/utdtsession -t` text`delete`

Where text is the text recorded in Step 4. For example, ZeroAdmin.m1.MicroPayflex.00005bca65000100.

13.

Reboot the hung Sun Ray 1 appliance by pressing the Control and Power keys simultaneously. Alternatively, remove and reinsert the smart card.

The dtlogin session is automatically reconfigured and presented on the Sun Ray 1 appliance.

Are the Configuration Files Corrupt?

These two configuration files are susceptible to corruption:

/etc/dt/config/Xservers
/etc/dt/config/Xconfig

These files are used by the dtlogin daemon. When they are corrupt, the dtlogin daemon cannot properly start the Xsun server. Without an X Window server running, the cursor remains a green newt.

To Determine the Integrity of the Configuration Files

As a user of the Sun Ray server, open a shell window and compare the
/usr/dt/config/Xservers and /etc/dt/config/Xservers files:


% `diff /usr/dt/config/Xservers /etc/dt/config/Xservers`

This command compares a known good file with the suspect file. The output should be similar to the following example:


106a107,130 > # BEGIN SUNRAY CONFIGURATION > :8 SunRay local@none /usr/openwin/bin/Xsun :8 -nobanner . . > :9 SunRay local@none /usr/openwin/bin/Xsun :9 -nobanner > # END SUNRAY CONFIGURATION

Note - This is a simplified example. Your output may have tens of lines between the BEGIN SUNRAY CONFIGURATION and END SUNRAY CONFIGURATION comments.

In the first line of output, there is 106a107,130. The 106 means that the two files are identical to the 106th line of the files. The a107,130 means the information on lines 107 through 130 of the second file would have to be added to the first file to make it the same as the second.

If in your output the first three digits are a number less than 100, the
/etc/dt/config/Xservers file is corrupt.

Compare the /usr/dt/config/Xconfig and /etc/dt/config/Xconfig files:


% `diff /usr/dt/config/Xconfig /etc/dt/config/Xconfig`

The output should be similar to the following example:

156a157,180

> # BEGIN SUNRAY CONFIGURATION

> Dtlogin.*_8.environment: CORONA_TOKEN=ZeroAdmin.m1.at88sc1608.6d0400aa

> Dtlogin.*_9.environment: CORONA_TOKEN=ZeroAdmin.m1.at88sc1608.a10100aa

> # END SUNRAY CONFIGURATION

Note - Again, this is a simplified example. Your output may have tens of lines between the BEGIN SUNRAY CONFIGURATION and END SUNRAY CONFIGURATION comments.

If in your output the first three digits are a number less than 154, the
/etc/dt/config/Xconfig file is corrupt.

To Replace the `Xservers` and `Xconfig` Files

Note - Replacing the Xservers file requires shutting down all Sun Ray 1 appliance services. Remember to inform the users of the outage.

As superuser, open a shell window and stop the Sun Ray server:


# `/etc/init.d/utsvc stop`

Replace the Xservers and Xconfig files as appropriate:


# `/bin/cp -p /usr/dt/config/Xservers /etc/dt/config/Xservers`

# /bin/cp -p /usr/dt/config/Xconfig /etc/dt/config/Xconfig

Re-initialize the authentication policy:


# `/opt/SUNWut/sbin/utpolicy -i clear`

The utpolicy command will wait for a full minute to insure that all Sun Ray 1 appliance X Window servers have exited.

The extra lines within the previous Xservers and Xconfig files are automatically rebuilt.

B

The Green Newt Cursor

Is There Really a Problem?

Is the Problem Caused by Hardware?

Is the dtlogin Daemon Up-to-Date?

Is the dtlogin Session Hung?