Troubleshooting services Files

Services files are found in the /etc directory on Unix-like OS, and in the %WINDOWS%\System32\Drivers\etc directories on Windows systems.

All services files use the same simple three-column structure. Anything following a hash (#) character, including an entire line, is treated as a comment. For example:

# servicename     portnumber/porttype     # comment
xns-ch                    54/udp          # XNS Clearinghouse
isi-gl                    55/tcp          # ISI Graphics Language
isi-gl                    55/udp          # ISI Graphics Language
xns-auth                  56/tcp          # XNS Authentication
xns-auth                  56/udp          # XNS Authentication
mtp                       57/tcp          # deprecated
xns-mail                  58/tcp          # XNS Mail

The first column holds the service names. The second column associates a port number and type (tcp or udp) with the service name. The third and final column is an optional human-readable comment which typically details the nature or purpose of the service.

Note that services listed in this file may not actually be running or even installed on the given machine. Many services files include a long list of "well known" and otherwise "standard" port assignments, which may not be relevant in a given deployment.

The services file may be relevant in several scenarios --

• If the OpenLink? Request Broker (oplrqb) or HTTP-based Admin Assistant (www_sv) fail to start, ensure that the Broker's Listen port ($OPENLINK_INSTALL/bin/oplrqb.ini) or the Assistant's HTTPServer port ($OPENLINK_INSTALL/bin/w3config/www_sv.ini) has not been assigned to another, already-running service.
  
• If you get intermittent Timeouts or Remote System Errors from the OpenLink? Request Broker (oplrqb), compare the Broker's PortLow-PortHigh range (oplrqb.ini) to ports allocated in /etc/services. Insure that the Broker has a suitable range of ports that have not been previously assigned to something else.
  
• If connections to Progress/OpenEdge produce "Server Handle" or "Error in Network Daemon" errors, examine the services file on the database server. Locate and note the name and port number associated with the Progress socket service. Then ensure that the same name is assigned to the same port in the services file on the Single-Tier "Lite" Edition ODBC Driver host or the Multi-Tier "Enterprise" Edition Request Broker host.
  
• If you are having difficulty starting Informix in sockets mode, review the $INFORMIXDIR/etc/sqlhosts file. Locate the service name that is associated with the target Informix server. The service name(s) will be in the fourth column of the sqlhosts file. Anything following a hash (#) character, including an entire line, is treated as a comment. For example:
  
  

  
  # dbservername     nettype      hostname      servicename     options        # comments
  infserver          ontlitcp     openlinux     inf9srv         s=2,b=5120     # comments
  

  
  Ensure that each relevant service name found here (in this example, just inf9srv), has been assigned a port in the local services file.