Server Troubleshooting

Owned by Gerard Tuguigui
Last updated: Apr 04, 2023 by Andrew Madge

The Knowledge Base at Snare KB Articles includes articles on common issues, configuration settings and other related information to Snare Central including the Agent Management Console and Reflector.

Snare Log Files

Snare Central generates internal logs in situations where things do not quite go to plan. These logs are stored on the filesystem in the path /var/log/snare.log, and can be accessed using the Snare Central web interface. There may be situations where your Snare Central support team will ask you for a copy of the snare log file, in order to assist in the diagnosis process. The log file can be emailed to the Snare Central support team directly from the 'Snare Central Log' objective, within the Server Administrative Tools area of Snare Central.

Performance Graphs

Performance graphs may be requested by the Snare Central support team, to provide indications of the health of your server. These graphs are located under the 'Statistics' area of Snare Central.

Login Problems

Locked snare user account

The operating system under which the Snare Central runs, has been configured to lock interactive login accounts after five login attempts.
Although the lock should release if there has been 30 minutes of account inactivity, in situations where you need the snare user account active quickly, manual intervention is viable.


Unlocking the 'snare' user account

Log into Snare Central as the user 'root'.

Access to the 'root' user account is only available from the server console, by default.

From the resulting shell, run the following command:

pam_tally2 --user=snare --reset

This will reset the failed-logins counter for the snare user account, and will allow you to log into the server as 'snare' once more.

Resetting the 'Snare' password

The 'snare' user account is capable of resetting the Administrator, root, and snarexfer passwords from the simple 'Administration menu' that appears after you log in as 'snare'; but if you forget the password for the snare user account, resetting it is not quite as simple or user friendly.


Resetting the Snare Password

Log into Snare Central as the user 'root'.

Access to the 'root' user account is only available from the server console, by default.

From the resulting shell, run the following command:

passwd snare


You will be asked to enter a password for the snare user account twice. Please be aware that overly simplistic passwords, or passwords that are based on a dictionary word, are likely to be rejected.