OpenSSH on NCR MPRAS

[Rogan Dawes]

Hi folks,

I have successfully compiled and run OpenSSH 4.1p1 on NCR MPRAS:

$ uname -a
UNIX_SV support1 4.0 3.0 3446 Pentium Pro(TM)-EISA/PCI
$

However, I have found one pretty critical problem, arising from the way 
that MPRAS handles changes to the IP stack.

Background:

To update any of the IP or TCP configuration options, system 
administrators should use the program "tcpconfig". This prompts the 
admin for a bunch of options, and then, once they have been confirmed, 
it resets the ENTIRE IP stack, and applies the new settings. Clearly, 
this is not something that should be done remotely!

However, the net result of this is that OpenSSH generates thousands of 
error messages in the "accept" loop, filling up the (prehistoric) syslog 
facility that has no concept of "previous message repeated 122342234 times"!

This continues even after the IP stack has completed reloading.

Question:

Would it be unreasonable to add some kind of loop counter that tracks 
the number of consecutive accept errors, and if it reaches a certain 
threshold, restarts the daemon from a suitable point?

Maybe it could only apply to MPRAS, if this is not a good option for 
other systems?

Many thanks for your consideration.

Rogan

P.S. I did look at the diffs between 4.1p1 and current, and there does 
not seem to have been any activity in this regard.

P.P.S Please copy me on responses, I am not subscribed to this list.