inetd[14870]: auth/tcp (2): bind: Address already in use

czezz · 12-23-2006, 08:33 AM

Since many days syslog is receiving entries like shown below.
Does anyone know what may cause this problem ?

PHP Code:



Dec 23 13:45:39 proxy-2 inetd[14870]: auth/tcp (2): bind: Address already in use 
Dec 23 13:55:39 proxy-2 inetd[14870]: auth/tcp (2): bind: Address already in use 
Dec 23 14:05:39 proxy-2 inetd[14870]: auth/tcp (2): bind: Address already in use 
Dec 23 14:15:39 proxy-2 inetd[14870]: auth/tcp (2): bind: Address already in use 
Dec 23 14:25:39 proxy-2 inetd[14870]: auth/tcp (2): bind: Address already in use 
Dec 23 14:35:39 proxy-2 inetd[14870]: auth/tcp (2): bind: Address already in use 
Dec 23 14:45:39 proxy-2 inetd[14870]: auth/tcp (2): bind: Address already in use 
Dec 23 14:55:39 proxy-2 inetd[14870]: auth/tcp (2): bind: Address already in use 
Dec 23 15:05:39 proxy-2 inetd[14870]: auth/tcp (2): bind: Address already in use 
Dec 23 15:15:13 proxy-2 inetd[30255]: auth/tcp (2): bind: Address already in use 
Dec 23 15:25:13 proxy-2 inetd[30255]: auth/tcp (2): bind: Address already in use

live_dont_exist · 12-24-2006, 07:31 AM

You get an "Address already in use" whenever there is a program/service which is trying to listen on a specific port but there's already something running on it.

So for example: If there's a daemon running on port 5678 and its running, and then you have another program which is trying to listen on port 5678 it wouldnt be allowed to do so coz there's only 1 program which can be allowed to run on 5678 at a time.

So in your case the inetd daemon which controls a lot of other things as well is attempting to start a program on a specific port which is already in use...mostly because of aprogram which started when the system booted up.

You'll need to find out which process is trying to do a bind to that port. Run a tail -f /var/log/messages in 1 window and as soon as you see the bind error appear do an lsof -i to find out which process has that process ID.

This should help you backtrack and find out whats causing the problem.

Cheers
Arvind