Can't "talk" on client 3/50's....

[dupuy at cs.columbia.edu]

In article <1593 at brazos.Rice.edu> newroot at physicsa.mcgill.ca (Operator) writes:

> We are running OSv3.5 on a 3/180 fileserver and its 5 client 3/50's and
> standalone 3/60.  Although talk seems to work correctly on the 3/180, I
> get a "can't bind control socket: couldn't assign address (###)" error
> message on the 3/50's.

This is probably another case of the better-known ftp problem with
diskless clients.  You can check that by using ftp on the 3/50 to see if
it gives you the same "couldn't assign address" error.

The cause of this problem is a bug in the kernel, where, for diskless
workstations, the interface address is not set correctly by the RARP/ND
code.  Normally, the ifconfig in /etc/rc.boot sets the interface correctly
and there is no problem.  But if there is a problem (typically lack of an
entry for the diskless machine in its own copy of the /etc/hosts file) the
interface is up and working, but the address is wrong.  Since only a few
programs bother to look up the local address and ask for a particular port
on that interface (ftp, and, apparently, talk, are among the few) things
seem to work normally.

Try using ifconfig to set the address on the diskless clients interface.
If doing this allows talk to work correctly, look closely at /etc/rc.boot
and /etc/hosts for the client, and you will probably see what is wrong.

inet: dupuy at cs.columbia.edu
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