Removing a Koha instance seems like a straightforward task, but encountering hurdles in the process is not uncommon, especially when attempting to recreate the instance with the same name. Let's walk through a scenario where removing a Koha instance named "test" encountered an unexpected obstacle and how it was resolved.
The Problem:
Attempting to remove the Koha instance named "test" using the command sudo koha-remove test, I encountered an error indicating that the user "test-koha" associated with the instance was still in use by a process with PID 3214. Despite trying to manually delete the user and kill the associated process, I faced challenges in removing the Koha instance.
The Solution:
Identifying the Culprit:
I identified that the user "test-koha" was still being utilized by a process with PID 3214, which prevented the removal of the Koha instance.
Terminating the Process:
Using ps -p 3214, I located the process consuming the user "test-koha" and terminated it with sudo kill 3214, ensuring that the user was no longer in use.
Retry Deletion:
With the process terminated, I attempted to delete the user "test-koha" again using sudo userdel test-koha, successfully removing it this time.
Recreating the Koha Instance:
After resolving the user deletion issue, I could proceed with recreating the Koha instance named "test" without any hindrance.
When encountering difficulties in removing a Koha instance, it's crucial to identify and terminate any processes utilizing associated users. Once resolved, recreating the instance with the same name should proceed smoothly.
NB: When dealing with system processes and user management, careful attention to detail and troubleshooting skills are essential for smooth operations.
