Unix work group administration

[George Rogers]

I am running a HP 9000 web server with Netscape iPlanet software to publich web pages to the server.

I have 2 ways to set up publishing work groups to the server.

1) Use the native unix environment to create groups and owners. (This works but has administration problems and does not scale)

2) Use the iPlanet software with a web interface to establish and maintain work groups. (This scales but the environment is very slow.)

I am looking for an additional option simular to iPlanet that will sit on top of the Unix OS.

Are there any suggestions or 3rd party applications that work simular to iPlanet by Netscape?

[Patrick Wallek]

I think whatever method you choose to use to manage user and groups in your environment will eventuall get back to the native unix users (/etc/passwd) and groups (/etc/group). A user on a unix system has to be setup with a UID and a GID through some mechanism.

I am not sure I understand what you mean when you say "1) Use the native unix environment to create groups and owners. (This works but has administration problems and does not scale)". What do you mean it does not scale? There are systems running that have probably hundreds of groups and thousands of users. Do you have other concerns about using native unix security or do you mean that managing the /etc/passwd and /etc/group files is cumbersome? There are other options for managing users: NIS, NIS+, LDAP, etc. But these all, somehow or other, assign each user an individual UID and GID that is required for them to log in to the system.

[George Rogers]

Re: Unix workgroups

I am using LDAP authentication thru Netscape iPlanet publishing software to create and manage groups and users.

I want to continue using LDAP but want to replace the Netscape iPlanet software with something else.

I am looking for an additional option simular to iPlanet that will sit on top of the Unix OS.

Are there any suggestions or 3rd party applications that work simular to iPlanet by Netscape?

[Patrick Wallek]

Check out these links and see if this is what you are looking for:

http://www.forrester.com/TechRankings/Reprint/1,4727,13169332,00.html

http://www.forrester.com/ER/Products/Tools/TechRankings/0,4231,0,00.html