Inst: ERROR: Failed reading remote directory : (no command) ???

Daniel Storbeck · *nix forums beginner Joined: 15 Jan 2006 Posts: 1

Hi,

I'm trying to install Irix 6.5.6 on an Octane over lan from a linux
server. I have a CD set with 6.5 and 6.5.6 overlays. The Octane is
an IP30, 250Mhz R10k, 256MB ram, 9G disk, esi graphics. Initially the
disk was clean. The linux server runs debian sarge r1. I set up
dhcp, tftp and rsh on the server. I could boot fx.64 and partitioned
the disk with the auto option. unix.IP30 booted as well. Before the
install process a file system was created on the disk. Geometry is:

Part Type MB
0 xfs 130+8552
1 raw 2+128
8 vh 0+2
10 vl 0+8682

The server IP is 192.168.1.10, the client IP 192.168.1.17, same
subnet. When I start inst from the prom or the shell:

inst -f 192.168.1.10:<path/to/insttoolsandoverlays/dist>

inst shows its menu but doesn't read the content of the remote
directory. Any use of list, form or open results in the same error
message:

ERROR: Failed reading remote directory : (no command)

As booting fx.64 and unix.IP30 works and the client sets its network
data from the server, I guess dhcp and tftp work. Also I can log into
the guest account on the server from a different host via rsh and copy
files from the directories where the distribution resides to
/home/guest. So I guess rsh works as well.

One thing puzzles me. The Sgi installation guide says inst logs into
the guest account per default. The auth.log on the server shows that
this is not the case:

---
Jan 15 18:12:23 localhost pam_rhosts_auth[12147]: allowed to
root@katorka as root

Jan 15 18:12:23 localhost in.rshd[12147]: (pam_unix) session opened for
user root by (uid=0)

Jan 15 18:12:23 localhost in.rshd[12148]: root@katorka as root:
cmd='exec /bin/sh'

Jan 15 18:12:25 localhost in.rshd[12147]: (pam_unix) session closed for
user root
---

where katorka is the client and no user account was specified on the
inst, from or open commands. Furthermore, when I do specify the guest
account, like inst -f guest@192.168.1.10:<path>, the auth.log shows,
that root@katorka as guest does not issue the cmd='exec /bin/sh'.

Here are some more data:

inetd.conf:

shell stream tcp nowait root /usr/sbin/tcpd
/usr/sbin/in.rshd
login stream tcp nowait root /usr/sbin/tcpd
/usr/sbin/in.rlogind
exec stream tcp nowait root /usr/sbin/tcpd
/usr/sbin/in.rexecd
tftp dgram udp wait nobody /usr/sbin/tcpd
/usr/sbin/in.tftpd -s /boot/irix

(remark: substituting nobody with guest doesn't help.)

/etc/hosts contains 192.168.1.17 katorka.
/etc/hosts.allow and deny are empty. hosts.equiv contains:
192.168.1.17 root
192.168.1.17 guest

..rhosts in /root contains:
192.168.1.17 root

..rhosts in /home/guest contains:
192.168.1.17 root
192.168.1.17 guest

guest is in the following groups: users root daemon bin sys adm disk
staff ssh

I tried the following with the kernel on the server:

echo 1 > /proc/sys/net/ipv4/ip_no_pmtu_disc
echo "2048 32767" > /proc/sys/net/ipv4/ip_local_port_range

But the booting went without and it doesn't seem to be the problem
either.

/etc/pam.d/rsh contains:
auth required pam_nologin.so
auth required pam_env.so
auth required pam_rhosts_auth.so
account required pam_unix_acct.so
session required pam_unix_session.so

But I'm not shure if this is correct.

Any ideas?

Thanks in advance.
Daniel

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