Changeing User ID Number and group ID Number

[Akihiro Noma]

I need to change user ID numbers and Groups ID numbers so that the ID numbers are the same for each user and group on all HP UNIX servers.

I can start SAM and change the numbers but I am wondering what kind of problems will I encounter by changing ID numbers?

Maybe a potential problem like user cannot find his/her file created before the ID number change any more etc?

I am new to UNIX still and I have no idea what kind of problem this may cause..

Thanks for your help!

[James A. Donovan]

If you make the changes through SAM, SAM can launch a background task to change all the users' files to the new UIDs/GIDs.

[Patrick Wallek]

Ownership for all files is stored using the UID and GID, so if you drastically change the UID and GID on your system, then yes you could have a case where some users may not be able to access their files or certain applications, like Oracle, may not run because they do not now have the appropriate permission.

While I agree that it is a good idea to have all UIDs and GIDs in sync, it can be difficult to get them into sync if they never have been. The size of, and number of users on, your system(s) will be a big determining factor. If you have mor than a handful of UIDs and GIDs that are out of sync, then I think you have a sizeable task ahead of you.

[Jaimin Parikh]

Hi,

In addtion to what other have so far posted,I would also like you to check what sort of services your HP server serves to your setup.
I mean NFS,NIS,DNS or database services.

Please check for dependencies on such service and then proceed.

Regards,
Jaimin.

[Brian Markus]

For future addition of users you could write a script useing useradd. I believe if you set the switches correctly you can add a user and group at the same time with the numbers in sync. Be really careful switching your users over while the system is active. If you have any database admin accounts like oracle:dba you'll break oracle.