>From what I see in the logs, a START is sent only when the user
authenticates and connects to a host in the first time. If the user then
logs out of the remote host, back to the PM host prompt, a STOP is then
sent. BUT, if the user then connects back to a host (remember, the
portmaster is configured for 'no hangup'), no start packet is sent; only a
STOP packet when the user logs out later on.
Thus, one gets a START, and then multiple STOP entries if a user connnects
to multiple machines on one login session. As a result, I see no possible
way of doing user accounting until after the fact, when the next user logs
on to the same port. In other words, it is not possible to look at the
accounting file and determine who is currently online, since receving a
STOP does not mean that there is no established connection.
If on the other hand, 'no hosts' is turned off so that the user is
disconnected upon termination of the current session, then it *is*
possible to do real time accounting. Is this an accurate statement? If
so, is this a bug with the portmaster or intentional in design (and if so,
why?!)?
For the same reason, when using Merit radius with LAS, the sesstab file is
never up to date, since when users log out, it doesn't know if the modem
hung up, or if only the session was cancelled. Users are never logged as
hanging up, but always killed by the introduction of the next user on the
same port. (Receipt of a stop packet also doesn't call release_session(),
but that's a different problem).
Do other people observe the same problems, or is this a problem with my
own pm setup? How do you get around this?
Thanks!