Propagating the Kerberos Server

Monitoring Propagation

 

attempt is sent to the primary security server. However, if the

 

principal fails on one server as many times as specified by the

 

MaxFailAuthCnt parameter in the password policy file, that

 

principal is locked out.

 

 

NOTE

HP authentication servers do not issue different messages for

 

different situations that cause authentication failure. For security

 

reasons, the error message displayed is the same for bad password,

 

bad user, or locked user.

 

 

Situations such as incorrectly typed password or locked users, which cause authenticaton failure, are not sufficient to indicate an out-of-sync condition.

Administration appears normal

An out-of-sync condition can also occur when the administration appears to be normal. When a principal that has changed the password fails to authenticate, the principal reports the problem to the administrator. The administrator uses one of the administration tools to unlock the user and change the password of the user to a simple value. Further, the administrator provides the new password to the user.

The principal may fail to authenticate with the new password and reports the problem to the administrator. The problem is not solved in spite of reporting the problem repeatedly, which can indicate that the databases are out-of-sync and the propagation has stopped. A principal unable to authenticate multiple times can also indicate an out-of-sync problem.

Log files indicate problems

An indication of the propagation failure in the primary and secondary security server log files provides a clue to the out-of-sync problem. If kpropd is not running on the primary security server and each secondary security server, you can be certain that an out-of-sync condition exists.

Mismatch between the number of principals

Both the machines must contain the same number of principals. Few discrepancies can exist if the database is dumped during a propagation cycle; only a few principals may differ due to an

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Chapter 9