NIS and passwd

[Umapathy S]

All,
I configured NIS on hpux11. As superuser when I try to invoke the passwd (cmd line) for some user, it asks for the old passwd. When accessed through SAM it doesnt ask for the same.

Is there any patch available or am I missing something here.

thanks,
Umapathy

[Michael Tully]

Sounds like it could be a PATH statement issue.

Try /sbin/passwd instead of /bin/passwd or /usr/bin/passwd

[Umapathy S]

Michael,
I tried that too. It says Invalid login name. The login name is not in /etc/passwd but in /etc/nispw/passwd which I had created for NIS users alone.

How I can make /sbin/passwd to pick up users from NIS? Or how the root can change passwds of other users in NIS environment.

thanks,
Umapathy

[Zigor Buruaga]

Hi,

I don??t know NIS, but perhaps this can help you:
You say that SAM doesnt ask for the old passwd, so try to do it again with SAM and then click "Options" --> "View SAM Log", maybe you can find what command was used by SAM.

Only an idea.

Regards,
Zigor

[Michael Tully]

Does

# /usr/bin/yppasswd

do anything ?

[Michael Tully]

Umapathy,

Have a look at this posting as well. Did you look at the 'sam viewer log'?

http://forums.itrc.hp.com/cm/QuestionAnswer/1,,0xcb1072106351d5118fef0090279cd0f9,00.html

Cheers
Michael

[Zeev Schultz]

yppaswd for working with NIS passwd maps.
/etc/nsswitch.conf
passwd: nis
to let all those trying to get passwd use NIS.
Also I remember "+" entry in /etc/passwd (to preserve local users "root" etc and also use NIS passwd). In that case nsswitch.conf should
look like this:
passwd: files nis

[Robert-Jan Goossens · Accepted solution]

Hi Umapathy,

Take a look at next doc,

DocId: KBRC00007957

http://www4.itrc.hp.com/service/cki/docDisplay.do?docLocale=en_US&docId=200000062908900

Robert-Jan.

[Umapathy S]

Zigor, thanks for the info. Didnt strike me at all. The cmd used is /usr/bin/passwd -f files -F/etc/nispw/passwd . When I try the same in command line, it doesnt ask for the old passwd.

Michael, I tried yppasswd. It asks for the old passwd again.

Zeev,
cat /etc/nsswitch.conf
passwd: files [NOTFOUND=continue UNAVAIL=continue] nis [NOTFOUND=return TRYAGAIN=return]
group: files [NOTFOUND=continue UNAVAIL=continue] nis [NOTFOUND=return TRYAGAIN=return]
hosts: files [UNAVAIL=continue] dns [NOTFOUND=return UNAVAIL=return TRYAGAIN=return]
aliases: files nis [NOTFOUND=return UNAVAIL=continue TRYAGAIN=return]
automounter: files nis [NOTFOUND=return UNAVAIL=continue TRYAGAIN=return]
netgroup: files nis [NOTFOUND=return UNAVAIL=continue TRYAGAIN=return]
networks: files nis [NOTFOUND=return UNAVAIL=continue TRYAGAIN=return]
services: files nis [NOTFOUND=return UNAVAIL=continue TRYAGAIN=return]

Is this setup correct. Can you explain that + in /etc/passwd a little bit. Where can I find the info.

Robert, thanks for the doc. So effectively I cant use the same age old passwd as root :).

thanks,
Umapathy

[Robert-Jan Goossens]

Hi Again,

The + in the passwd file, is used for NIS users. If you do not add the + before a user NIS will think it is a local user.

local user
rjgo:VxnlhxewryhOo:104:20:Robert-Jan Goossens,,,:/home/rjgo:/usr/bin/ksh

NIS user
+abhs::::::

Hope it helps.

Robert-Jan.

[Umapathy S]

Then should I have the NIS users listed in both /etc/passwd as well as /etc/nispw/passwd.

Say nistest1 in /etc/nispw/passwd as
nistest1:NS03pRQkpDoQQ:225:101:,,,:/home/nistest1:/usr/bin/ksh

and /etc/passwd as
+nistest1::::::

thanks,
Umapathy

[Robert-Jan Goossens]

Check the answer given by Zeev yesterday, if you setup nis to use /etc/nispw/passwd you can not define to use nis in the nsswitch.conf then nis will get confused.

Quote Zeev

____

2)go to /var/yp,see Makefile it has definitions,for example ALL_MAPS to build 'em all.I'd however just ignore messages from ypmake that it can't find map sources for hosts..etc (whatever you want use with NIS - define in /etc/nsswitch.conf WITHOUT "nis" of course).
_____

Hope it helps,

Robert-Jan.