modprpw and NIS

[generic_1]

Hello Everyone,

I have a two part question.
First question is I saw this quote in the modprpw man page and I was wondering if modprpw commands were not supported in nis environments or what the interpretation or this is:

Usage other than via SAM, and/or modifications out of sync with
/etc/passwd or NIS+ tables, may result in serious database corruption
and the inability to access the system.


Second I was wondering how to add a user in nis with a random password with modprpw and would you just need to add their home directory once this was done or are there some other steps needed in a nis environment.

Thanks

[Sundar_7]

modprpw can only operate on protected password database (i.e trusted system).

NIS wont work on a trusted system. So if you are running NIS, it is obviously not a trusted system, and thus you cannot use modprpw to do any kind of manipulation with the password database.

[generic_1]

What is the -n domain option for then? Just curious.

[Dave Olker]

The -n domain option is to specify the NIS+ domain name. NIS+ is supported with Trusted Systems. NIS is not.

Regards,

Dave

[generic_1]

I meant to say NIS+ in my question :). Sorry.

[Sundar_7]

OK, the location of the modprpw binary should give you a hint. binaries located under /usr/lbin are not meant to be used directly.

In this case, *prpw* commands are used by the SAM to perform operations against protected password database files.

You can use them from the command line. But as man page tell you, that is unsupported and the options could change without notice.

[generic_1]

So how do I use modprpw to create a nis+ account with a random password and is the only external thing thats need to create a home directory?