=================================
GENERAL UNIX HOUSEKEEPING TIPS
=================================

To minimize problems on your UNIX system 
it is recommended to log out once a day.    This cleans up
temporary files and closes out processes.

IN an office environment it is a good idea ito make sure that your 
screen saver locks the screen.

So, once a day log out, BUT, before you do:
	close all applications, then type:
		rm /tmp/*
		rm /var/tmp/*
	then exit out.

Also, if you have an application that gets locked up, telnet 
into your workstation from your PC or another workstation, then do the
following:

	type:
		ps -ef | grep (your user login)      

	   there will be a listing displayed of all processes you are running.

the order of the display for HP's is usually:
	UID PID PPID C STIME TTY TIME and COMMAND

the order of the display for SUN's is usually:
	UID PID PPID C STIME TTY TIME and CMD

The first column is who owns the process,   (user ID)
 	second column is the PROCESS ID  - this is the one you will "kill"
	third column is the parent process ID, don't mess with momma... ;)
	don't worry about C, STIME, TTY or TIME  (do a "man ps" if you must know)
the COMMAND or CMD column is the english version (sort of) of what you're running,
   look for ptc or pro or netscape or whatever it is that wedged itself...

then take that PID number and type:

	kill -9 (PID)
		or kill -9 (PID) (PID) (PID) (PID) ... 

or just take all the PID numbers and kill 'em all, go postal even... you'll
probably blow yourself off of both logins, which saves you some steps, then go
back to your workstation and login again and life should be good.   If it's not,
you know who to call... ;)   Unix will not allow a normal user to kill anything
on the system other than what that user owns.  You will not hurt the system doing
this.  

Please avoid powering the systems off, that is not a good thing.  It can be a very,
very bad thing in fact... ;)  killing processes, ok, powering off, not ok.
:)


an alternate command to find the PID and name is to type:
  ps -ef | grep (your user login) | awk '{ print $2 " "$9}'

yeah, right you say... but it IS simple stuff... really it is... ;)

It's also possible for you to do a command like that and to kill off the processes
you just listed... but that's a bit more involved, and I didn't want to 
frighten anyone... ;)

There are some great books on UNIX and Linux.  The UNIX for Dummies book is,
well, at least to me, enjoyable reading.  The books by Mark Sobell on the UNIX
operating system are superb.  I used that text in teaching a 30 hour class on
the UNIX operating system at Boeing.  It's probably the best all around general
book on UNIX.  

I have some basic info on my personal webserver and add to it all the time:
  http://wagoneers.com/UNIX   

john



 =====================================================================
        john meister          sr CAD sys admin,   Clearview Consulting   
        http://www.wagoneers.com/    john@wagoneers.com 
                   http://www.wagoneers.com/UNIX/Courses.html
=====================================================================