Password Replication

[Clodoaldo João Rodrigue]

Is there some form to made a replication from /etc/passwd??
Because, we have 8 severs, and some users have user id in all servers.
PS: without use NIS.
Thanks ???

[Christopher McCray_1]

Hello,

You can copy the passwd file and, if a trusted system, the /tcb/auth/files directory to the other servers.

Note:

Make copies of these first before doing. Also, I must point out that this isn't very secure.

Chris

[Rich Wright]

We just copy the /etc/passwd file to all of our systems.
This has worked good for us.
Your problem will be that UID numbers may not be the same across all servers for each user name. If you can get them in sync, then it will be easy.
Otherwise, your copy will have to update only the second field of the /etc/passwd file.
When users change their password, it will have to be on the source server or it will be lost when the next copy occurs.

Good Luck, this can be a tough task.

[Fragon]

Hi,there
Of course you can do this. But in order to keep the original attribution and permission, please always assign "-p" parameter if you use cp or rcp to copy this file.

-Gerald-

[James Beamish-White]

I wouldn't start using rcp for copying such a sensitive file as the passwd file - too easy to snoop.

Why not NIS/NIS+? It sounds like it would solve your problem...

Otherwise, you might have to try doing something with PAM and a central password datastore like LDAP.

Cheers,
James

[Christopher McCray_1]

Hello again,

I just posted this to rectify a mistake.

The directory should read /tcb/files/auth , not /tcb/auth/files

Thank you and good luck

Chris

[Martin Johnson]

If you are going to copy /etc/passwd be sure to also copy /etc/group.

HTH
Marty