How to find/list data on all server users

martin MHC

• July 05, 2019 08:02

I am viewing the server "Load Averages" page and have a user I do not recognise hogging 44% of the server CPU (0.44 of 4.00). The username is "chrony" which is not associated with any account list for the server. a) Is there a method within WHM to list ALL users rather than simply currently active users? The user is intermittent. The user does not appear on any incidental lists that I can find (stats, etc.); It does appear on the "Daily Process Log" but as all zeros, and this gives me no meta- information as to who this user is or what their role is. b) How can I find out who this user is; usership creation date or other useful meta-data? Due to the prevelance of the words "user" and "owner" I have been unsuccessful in Searching the interenet for useful answers to this. Thanks

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  nixuser

  • July 05, 2019 13:33

  /var/cpanel/accounting.log This file contains records of cPanel account actions, such as creation and deletion. The mentioned user is not listed in WHM > Account Information > List Accounts?

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  martin MHC

  • July 05, 2019 13:42

  Thank you. I will take a look there. The account "chrony" does not exist in the "Accounting.log" file. This log file only lists Account holders which is a subset of users!

  The mentioned user is not listed in WHM > Account Information > List Accounts?

  
  No, the user is not an account holder.

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  nixuser

  • July 05, 2019 14:00

  Does the user exists on /etc/passwd file? Check it with the command: grep chony /etc/passwd

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  martin MHC

  • July 05, 2019 14:05

  Does the user exists on /etc/passwd file? Check it with the command: grep chony /etc/passwd

  
  Sorry I had a misspelling of the username. It is chrony. I manually explored the file and found: chrony:x:997:995::/var/lib/chrony:/sbin/nologin
  

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  martin MHC

  • July 05, 2019 14:14

  No issue- chrony is a RedHat application for controlling the clock value on the server. Why this entity was taking up such a large amount of CPU is odd, however. Reference: news.fastdot.com/how-to-install-and-use-chrony-in-linux/

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  nixuser

  • July 05, 2019 15:06

  Yes, it's the NTP daemon.

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  martin MHC

  • July 08, 2019 09:22

  Is it usual for this daemon to spike resources usage?

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  cPanelLauren

  • July 08, 2019 20:01

  As noted previously chrony is the NTP software for red hat (as already noted) 18.3. Using chrony - Red Hat Customer Portal and shouldn't be using excessive resources, it wouldn't be completely abnormal for a momentary spike if it was reloading or something of that nature but would definitely be unusual to be substantially using a large number.

  a) Is there a method within WHM to list ALL users

  
  The best way to list any and all cPanel specific users would be to go to list accounts - this won't list system users though

  b) How can I find out who this user is; usership creation date or other useful meta-data?

  
  for cPanel users the accounting log as noted previously should provide these answers.

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  martin MHC

  • July 09, 2019 12:08

  Hi @cPanelLauren thanks for your response. To clarify, while I have found the user in this instance, I was looking in a more macro- level as to how to view all server users that exist? I use List accounts extensively and recognise account holders and some other users when their tags appear on things, such as the resource usage monitor. [quote]for cPanel users the accounting log as noted previously should provide these answers.
  This only records users with accounts; and these can be found on the Account List as you reference above. * So far the best method to view all users on a server seems to be as given by nixuser, to view /etc/passwd

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  cPanelLauren

  • July 09, 2019 14:54

  Yes, I agree, if you need to see all users on the system /etc/passwd is indeed your best bet.

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