System Administration Guide

Troubleshooting ASET Problems

This section documents the error messages generated by ASET.

ASET Error Messages


ASET failed: no mail program found.

Reason Error Occurred 

How to Fix the Problem 

ASET is directed to send the execution log to a user, but no mail program can be found. 

Install a mail program. 


Usage: aset [-n user[@host]] in /bin/mail or /usr/ucb/mail.
Cannot decide current and previous security levels.

Reason Error Occurred 

How to Fix the Problem 

ASET cannot determine what the security levels are for the current and previous invocations. 

Ensure the current security level is set either through the command line option or the ASETSECLEVELenvironment variable. Also, ensure that the last line of ASETDIR/archives/asetseclevel.arch correctly reflects the previous security level. If these values are not set or are incorrect, specify them correctly.


ASET working directory undefined.
To specify, set ASETDIR environment variable or use command line 
option -d.
ASET startup unsuccessful.

Reason Error Occurred 

How to Fix the Problem 

The ASET working (operating) directory is not defined, or defined incorrectly. 

Use the ASETDIR environment variable or the -d command line option to specify it correctly, and restart ASET.


ASET working directory $ASETDIR missing.
ASET startup unsuccessful.

Reason Error Occurred 

How to Fix the Problem 

The ASET working (operating) directory is not defined, or it is defined incorrectly. This may be because the ASETDIR variable or the -d command line option refers to a nonexistent directory.

Ensure that the correct directory--that is, the directory containing the ASET directory hierarchy--is referred to correctly. 


Cannot expand $ASETDIR to full pathname.

Reason Error Occurred 

How to Fix the Problem 

ASET cannot expand the directory name given by the ASETDIR variable or the -d command line option to a full path name.

Ensure that the directory name is given correctly, and that it refers to an existing directory to which the user has access. 


aset: invalid/undefined security level.
To specify, set ASETSECLEVEL environment variable or use command 
line option -l, with argument= low/med/high.

Reason Error Occurred 

How to Fix the Problem 

The security level is not defined or it is defined incorrectly. Only the values low, med, or high are acceptable.

Use the ASETSECLEVEL variable or the -l command line option to specify one of the three values.


ASET environment file asetenv not found in $ASETDIR.
ASET startup unsuccessful.

Reason Error Occurred 

How to Fix the Problem 

ASET cannot locate an asetenv file in its working directory.

Ensure there is an asetenv file in ASET's working directory. See asetenv(4) for the details about this file.


filename doesn't exist or is not readable.

Reason Error Occurred 

How to Fix the Problem 

The file referred to by filename doesn't exist or is not readable. This can specifically occur when using the -u option where you can specify a file that contains a list of users whom you want to check.

Ensure the argument to the -u option exists and is readable.


ASET task list TASKLIST undefined.

Reason Error Occurred 

How to Fix the Problem 

The ASET task list, which should be defined in the asetenv file, is not defined. This can mean that your asetenv file is bad.

Examine your asetenv file. Ensure the task list is defined in the User Configurable section. Also check other parts of the file to ensure the file is intact. See asetenv(4) for the content of a good asetenv file.


ASET task list $TASKLIST missing.
ASET startup unsuccessful.

Reason Error Occurred 

How to Fix the Problem 

The ASET task list, which should be defined in the asetenv file, is not defined. This can mean that your asetenv file is bad.

Examine your asetenv file. Ensure the task list is defined in the User Configurable section. Also check other parts of the file to ensure the file is intact. See asetenv(4) for the content of a good asetenv file.


Schedule undefined for periodic invocation.
No tasks executed or scheduled. Check asetenv file.

Reason Error Occurred 

How to Fix the Problem 

ASET scheduling is requested using the -p option, but the variable PERIODIC_SCHEDULE is undefined in the asetenv file.

Check the User Configurable section of the asetenv file to ensure the variable is defined and is in proper format.


Warning! Duplicate ASET execution scheduled.
Check crontab file.

Reason Error Occurred 

How to Fix the Problem 

ASET is scheduled more than once. In other words, scheduling is requested while a schedule is already in effect. This is not necessarily an error if more than one schedule is indeed desired, just a warning that normally this is unnecessary since you should use the crontab(1) scheduling format if you want more than one schedule.

Verify, through the crontab(1) command interface, that the correct schedule is in effect. Ensure that no unnecessary crontab entries for ASET are in place.