Unable to create users - Emergency

Is the server running within a virtual environment, such as Xen, OpenVZ, or Virtuozzo?

What is the output from the following commands?

Code:

# grep -H '' /etc/redhat-release /usr/local/cpanel/version /var/cpanel/envtype

 

Please escalate this issue via a support request

Please submit a support request so that we may assist with further investigation; direct access will be necessary so that we may fully inspect the circumstances involved to properly diagnose and troubleshoot the issue. When available, please let me know your ticket ID number so that we may follow-up internally; this will be greatly appreciated.

 

Steps to replace a corrupted "/etc/login.defs" file in RHEL/CentOS

Thank you for the information and ticket submission.

The user creation difficulty appeared to stem from the following file becoming corrupt and needing to be reset to stock-default:

Code:

/etc/login.defs

The following command will show which RPM, (i.e., software package), may have installed a specific file as defined by the path(s) entered:

Code:

# rpm -qf /etc/login.defs

Example output (from a test system running CentOS 5.5):

Code:

# rpm -qf /etc/login.defs
shadow-utils-4.0.17-15.el5

For the file path "/etc/login.defs" entered we see it is provided by an RPM named "shadow-utils" that is included with the OS distribution.

If a file is known to be corrupt, I recommend to rename the existing copy so that we can ensure a new, stock-default copy will be installed:

Code:

# mv -v /etc/login.defs /etc/login.defs.backup.corrupt

In RHEL5/CentOS5, the software package manager, YUM, has a "reinstall" option to perform an RPM re-install using just one command:

Code:

# yum reinstall shadow-utils

In RHEL4/CentOS4, the yum "reinstall" option may not be available; however, if the RPM "yum-utils" is installed we can simply use the included "yumdownloader" utility. Here are alternative steps using yumdownloader via yum-utils:

Code:

# yum install yum-utils
# yumdownloader shadow-utils
# rpm --force -hUv shadow-utils*.rpm

Please note that, by default, yumdownloader will place the downloaded RPM into the current directory.