Dell Unity: Setting a custom banner with svc_banner fails with permission error

Summary: Users following the procedure to set a custom banner using the svc_banner command as described in Dell Unity Family Service Commands Technical Notes run into permission errors.

This article applies to This article does not apply to This article is not tied to any specific product. Not all product versions are identified in this article.

Symptoms

Users following the procedure to set a custom banner using the svc_banner command as described in Dell Unity Family Service Commands Technical Notes (pages 6 and 7) run into permission errors.

Per the documentation users are advised to place the custom template text file in the /home/service directory and when attempting to do so they receive a permission denied error. 

screenshot of permission denied message

Cause

This is as designed. 
The /home/service directory is only accessible by users who have injected root.

Resolution

Users should instead use the /home/service/user directory that is accessible to the service user and does not require root.
  1. Create text files in the /home/service/user directory with localized content named:
    • For English: en_US.txt
    • For Belarusian: be_BY.txt
    • For Chinese: zh_CN.txt
  2. To apply these files, run the following command as service user:
svc_banner --put en_US.txt be_BY.txt zh_CN.txt
If logged into Unisphere, log out and then log back in. The new banner should be displayed. 

Example: 

screenshot of command output
screen shot of test banner
 
 

Affected Products

Dell EMC Unity
Article Properties
Article Number: 000219224
Article Type: Solution
Last Modified: 16 Sep 2025
Version:  3
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