UNIX for Dummies Questions & Answers

When I type last oracle I get dates from Nov 28, 2000 all the way back to the beginning of time it seems. The 11-28-2000 entry states that Oracle is still logged in, but if you type a who, it shows only 1 entry - the currently logged in user (Me as oracle), but I logged in only minutes ago - and the system date shows correct. Why does it not log current users any more? Please advise as soon as possible.

To reste the data (on Solaris);
cat /dev/null > /var/adm/wtmp
cat /dev/null > /var/adm/wtmpx
cat /dev/null > /var/adm/utmp
cat /dev/null > /var/adm/utmpx

Note that last, who, w etc. will not return the correct data until a reboot so if possible it is adviseable to do this right before a reboot.

Is the only way to get correct data (i.e. dates beyond 11-28-2000) is via a reboot? What would cause this issue to begin with?

You can probably go edit the files listed above and just restart utmpd. I have never tried this though. Whats specific OS are you running?

Alpha box