Distributed Systems Administration Utilities User's Guide, Linux, March 2009

If the “r” services are not disabled, use of the pdsh -R rsh option by unprivileged users is still
disabled by default because of the inherent security risk. By default, only users with root privileges
can use the pdsh -R rsh option. This is because the remote shell rcmd library call requires the
use of a privileged port. Even though privileged users can use -R rsh, the ssh transport is still
preferred.
If the hosts and users are trusted in your environment, you can enable the use of the pdsh -R
rsh option for unprivileged users with the following commands:
# cd /opt/dsau/bin/pdsh
# chown root:bin pdsh
# chmod u+s pdsh
4.4 Command Fanout Troubleshooting
This section contains troubleshooting tips for common error messages produced by pdsh and
the wrapper commands.
You may see the following error messages when using command fanout:
Table 4-1 ssh Command Messages
To CorrectCauseMessage
Ensure that the target system is up
and connected.
The target system is unreachable.
pdsh@<local_hostname>:
<target_hostname>:ssh exited
with exit code 1
Obtain the correct hostname or IP
address or set ssh permissions
appropriately and try again.
This message occurs when the target
hostname is unknown, the target
host’s IP address in /etc/hosts is
incorrect, or the user does not have
permissions to use the target host.
Note that 255 is the exit code used
by ssh when ssh itself encounters an
error.
pdsh@<local_hostname>:
<target_hostname>:ssh exited
with exit code 255
Table 4-2 rsh Command Messages
To CorrectCauseMessage
Determine the target hostname and try
again.
The target hostname is unknown.
pdsh@<local_hostname>:
gethostbyname(“<target_hostname>”)
failed
Check the r services and whether the
target system is up and connected.
The target system is unreachable, or
the r services may be disabled for this
system.
pdsh@<local_hostname>:
<target_hostname>:connect:
Connection refused
Check that the system is up, connected
and reachable.
The hostname exists (that is, IP
address lookup succeeded) but the
target system is down or unreachable.
pdsh@<local_hostname>:
<target_hostname>:connect:
timed out
See the Security Notes section for
details on allowing unprivileged users
to use pdsh with the remote shell
transport.
An unprivileged user attempted to
use the remote shell transport.
rresvport: bind: Permission
denied
pdsh@<local_hostname>:
<local_hostname>:rcmd:
socket: Permission denied
Ensure that the user’s $HOME/.rhosts
on the remote system gives access.
The user’s $HOME/.rhosts on the
remote system is not allowing access.
<target_hostname>: remshd:
Login incorrect. remote
86 Command Fanout