user login not working
 

Hello
Talk about being thrown in at the deep end! I am not used to linux systems but I have inherited a linux based internet setup that I need to take care of.
Two machines (both have centOS 5) are networked and one is accessing the /home directory so people can log onto their personal home folder.
The log in screen on the second machine usually just requires the individual to input their username and password and it automatically accesses their folder on the other machine.
At the moment it doesnt and comes back with an error saying that the session lasted less than 10 seconds. Looking at the error message it is saying that the profile was not found and couldnt create per-user gnome configuration directory.
I am able to log in to the local root user on the machine and I can see the networked drive and even access the home directory.
looking thru the network setting I see that the other machine seems to be acting as a samba server?? and is connected with SFTP??
Any idea how to fix this problem as I have a load of guys sharing 1 PC for internet access in the middle of the atlantic Ocean on a ship!
Thanks in advance

This sounds like a slightly too complex configuration to pull to pieces over the Internet like this, however we can try and see if it's anything simple...! SFTP is usually a service of SSHD as long as SSH is running that section should be fine. I suspect the problem will be with Samba as this sounds like the likely agent in this. It could be the Samba service is not running or the port is closed in IPtables.

could you do the following command(s) as root (or if you have sudo add the parts in the brackets)

(sudo) /etc/init.d/smb status

and if that is started/working can you do the following command and copy/paste the results into code tags.

(sudo /sbin/)iptables -nvL

Well........Its fixed. Just mentioning the iptables made me dig a bit deeper on that side and it turns out that the IP config had somehow got changed?
It had been set with a static IP in the past was now getting an IP automatically. This was obviously affecting its connection with the server as it was expecting the static IP. Set the address again and in it came.
Its amazing how sometimes we over complicate matters and it turns out to be the simplest problems. I was being blinded by the fact that it was still being connected over the network and thinking all was good with that side of things.
Thanks for everyones imput and just the fact that someone mentioned the IP tables helped sort this.

Thanks again

Sounds like it was set-up to be a specific IP on the network and somebody set it to use DHCP down the line. It's likely the firewalling had been set-up in a very specific method to meet some kind of security protocol/procedure/document. I would try and hunt down any such documentation, find out if any of your predecessors left any documentation of how the network works/is set-up. If it exists it will better prepare you for any future issues you may experience.

I do try to eliminate simple things first because people can go and look at things at a too complex level and ignore the more basic level issues that might be occurring... where I work I have seen it a lot.