Using DOORS v71102
We have started getting an error when certain users try to log-in. It occurs even before they get the log-in prompt but appears to be only users from a certain point in the alphabetically ordered list onwards. For example, I can log-in (my name is Alan), but my colleagues Brendon, Ray and Steve cannot.
The error message that they get is "Error while parsing '/v6data/users/userlist.dt' at line 160: expecting String".
So far, I have copied both the dtb and dtc files and renamed the dtc file to dtb
Any suggestions on what I need to be trying to do to resolve this?
Dartguru - Fri Sep 04 05:53:31 EDT 2009 |
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Re: Failure of user login due to corrupt userlist.dtc
llandale - Fri Sep 04 12:32:18 EDT 2009
dtC is 'current' and dtB is 'backup'. Perhaps copy the oldest .dtB to .dtC.
Sounds like database corruption. I suspect you'd have a similar error if after logging in you attempted to access the user list via Tools >Manage Users.
Talk to IBM. Its probable that they will tell you to restore the database back a few weeks. If they do, if it were me, I'd find the most recent userlist.dtc file in backup that works and restore it. Then login and create-then-delete several users to make sure that any users you created in the corrupted file have a corresponding (deleted) place to reference; this should fix some access record issues that are likely to come up.
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Re: Failure of user login due to corrupt userlist.dtc
Dartguru - Mon Sep 07 02:47:30 EDT 2009 llandale - Fri Sep 04 12:32:18 EDT 2009
dtC is 'current' and dtB is 'backup'. Perhaps copy the oldest .dtB to .dtC.
Sounds like database corruption. I suspect you'd have a similar error if after logging in you attempted to access the user list via Tools >Manage Users.
Talk to IBM. Its probable that they will tell you to restore the database back a few weeks. If they do, if it were me, I'd find the most recent userlist.dtc file in backup that works and restore it. Then login and create-then-delete several users to make sure that any users you created in the corrupted file have a corresponding (deleted) place to reference; this should fix some access record issues that are likely to come up.
Yes, sorry that's what I meant - and did.
The last new user I added was on 25th August 2009. That user has never logged in.
Prior to that was a new user on 10th August 2009 who has been successfully using the database.
Further tests show that about 40% of users cannot get to the log-in prompt, and they could on Thursday last week.
If I delete the account of one of those users, they still get the same error. I would have expected them to have got a message saying that their username was not recognised.
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Re: Failure of user login due to corrupt userlist.dtc
Dartguru - Mon Sep 07 03:17:25 EDT 2009 Dartguru - Mon Sep 07 02:47:30 EDT 2009
> dtC is 'current' and dtB is 'backup'. Perhaps copy the oldest .dtB to .dtC.
Yes, sorry that's what I meant - and did.
The last new user I added was on 25th August 2009. That user has never logged in.
Prior to that was a new user on 10th August 2009 who has been successfully using the database.
Further tests show that about 40% of users cannot get to the log-in prompt, and they could on Thursday last week.
If I delete the account of one of those users, they still get the same error. I would have expected them to have got a message saying that their username was not recognised.
Is it possible to identify the nnn of a specific user and therefore restore the backup of a particular user ?
And is it likely to help ?
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Re: Failure of user login due to corrupt userlist.dtc
Dartguru - Tue Sep 15 03:40:13 EDT 2009 Dartguru - Mon Sep 07 03:17:25 EDT 2009
As a further thought, all users have associated u000...nnn.dtb/dtc and w000...nnn.dtb/dtc files.
Is it possible to identify the nnn of a specific user and therefore restore the backup of a particular user ?
And is it likely to help ?
The userlist.dt file corruption was a red herring.
As best as we can tell, the problem was due to a incompletely deployed package from our IT department which contained a MS Windows KB update. The package may have been KB924423 or it may have been KB958470, this is unclear as the problem was resolved before we had completed our checks.
KB924423 is an update to the Outlook "Holidays" file for Statutory holidays up to 2012.
KB958470 appears to be a Security update to the Remote Desktop client.
Neither of which are obviously likely to cause a problem. The updates were not applied to our DOORS server (which is nothing new as it doesn't received ANY updates), but appear to have been applied to the problem desktops and laptops. Machines that had not had the update were okay - which in itself was of concern as it meant that they would likely receive it in the near future and also therefore not work.
It should also be noted that IBM technical support were very helpful in resolving this, even though it was our IT department that eventually cleared it up.
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