vps questions concerning customizing

[pmartin]

I just got the VPS Freedom package, I transferred from a Gigadeal hosting. I am just going to be hosting my private server and not do any reselling of services. The main reason I got it is because I like to tinker.
Although CPAnel has some nice features there are some things I would like to run differently. For example I would prefer to run postfix instead of exim. And was wondering if there is any problem with running servers other than the default. Also I am a command line junky and notice that when I log in and run w, who, or uptime it does not show a list of users, is that by design?

Thanks,

Pat

[JPC-Greg]

No point in running any default. Customization is what a vps is all about. uptime wont show a user list, just how many are connected via ssh. w, and who shuold should you all shell/ssh users logged in .

[pmartin]

Okay just wanted to make sure. I am going to have fun with this system

But if I do w or who it does not show any users logged in. Is there anything I can do to fix that?

Pat

[Ron]

I would guess that you'd be the only user logged in; in that case you should see just yourself listed. That is if you're logged into SSH; if you're executing line commands through something like WinSCP you won't see anyone listed as logged in; in that case try typing
whoami

Good luck.

[pmartin]

That is correct I am in as a user I created but it also doesn't show anything as root. I have ssh'd in.

pmartin@vps [~]$ w
11:53:24 up 20:19, 0 users, load average: 0.08, 0.03, 0.01
USER TTY FROM LOGIN@ IDLE JCPU PCPU WHAT
pmartin@vps [~]$

The who command doesn't print anything just returns me to the prompt. If I run top it says:

top - 11:54:46 up 20:20, 0 users, load average: 0.06, 0.03, 0.00

Not sure what the issue is.

Pat

[rainboy]

Pat,

if 'w' doesnt show anything this is mostly because of a problem with utmp or wtmp files, sometimes these files need to be created, or there is a small problem on the system, you might want to file a support ticket for this.

I assume your uptime also only shows you there are 0 users logged in, while you are obviously loged in, uptime also retrieves its information from these files.

Kind regards,
Patrick

[Gizmoi]

This was actually fixed by Jaguar on Pat and my new VPS systems. We had seen that as well but it was something to do with the Virtuzzo setup. Apparently uselogins yes had to be added to the sshd_config. Thanks for the reply tho

[rainboy]

Gizmoi,

Thanks for the reply, its good to hear the sollution, you never know when you run into it, and i learned something new today.

Kind regards,
Patrick