Red Hat

I work on a distribution application on Linux which generates bulk reference data extract feeds and stores them on a Linux server. I have several consumer applications access the files stored on this Linux server using FTPS protocol. However in order for consumer applications to have access to the files on the Linux FTPS server, their accounts should be granted access to the folder that they are connecting to.
I achieve this permission for the different consumer application by granting ACLs' (Access Control List) on the folder containing the bulk extract files to each of the individual accounts of every consumer .
We have over 100 consumer applications accessing the bulk extracts from the Linux FTPS server
As a result I have granted over 100 ACLs' on the folder containing the files, The number of consumers is going to continue to increase even further over time as more consumer applications onboard to my distribution system. As a result I will have to grant more and more ACLs' for each of the individual accounts that each of the consumer apps will be using to connect to our FTPS Linux server.
So I would like to know if there is a limit on the number of ACLS that a Red-Hat Linux server will support on a directory or the total ACLS' supported on a server by Red-hat Linux because I read somewhere that increasing the number of ACLs' beyond a limit could cause stability issues with RedHat OS.

Your input in this regard will be highly appreciated

thanks
waavman

I am of the opinion that your main problem is not a technical limit but one of (practical) maintainability and feasibility. As the numbers of ACLs increase it will get increasingly troublesome to keep track of all the different rights, regardless of any technical limit being hit or not. I suggest to look for a different solution - ideally one which uses only standard UNIX privileges.

For instance, look for ways to sort your users into groups, then give respective group rights to corresponding directories.

I hope this helps.

bakunin

Sure Bakunin, thats a good suggestion. I will look into feasibility of implementing that.
However that set aside, does anybody know if there is in fact a technical limit on the number of ACLs' supported by RedHat Linux beyond which it might impact the OS stability. I am not able to find that information anywhere online. As an FYI I am using Red Hat Enterprise Linux Server release 5.10.