Machine not locked-up but can't log on either

[Wayne Betts]

Ryan Golhar wrote:

>I have a machine configured just like 20 other machines (kickstart).
>Every once in a while the machine just hangs.  The X terminal is dead,
>but you can toggle to the other console terminals.  After you type in
>your name and password, it hangs. 
>
>I'm able to ssh to the machine, and type a name/password but it hangs.
>I can't even log in as root from the console - root is set up as a local
>account in case the network goes out we can still get access to it.  
>
>The only thing I can do is hit the power button but I'd like to find out
>why this is happening.  Any suggestions on what I can try?
>  
>
I've seen and read of similar behaviour with logins if the auditd 
service is running and the partition containing the /var/ directory 
fills beyond the limit specified in the configuration file (typically 80 
percent).  Since rebooting fixes your problem, however, I'm less 
inclined to think this might be what you are encountering, since 
rebooting probably doesn't free up disk space.  But since it is so easy 
to check (df /var/ (>80%?) and "chkconfig --list audit" to see if audit 
is running by default), why not try stopping and disabling auditd and 
see if your problem goes away.  Also, I'm pretty sure there is evidence 
in the log files if this is the problem, but I can't recall any of the 
details from my encounters with this issue.

- Wayne