UNIX for Dummies Questions & Answers

yes all of them are the same users.....


did not know about root user on reboot problems

another thing to think of. when a user changes their password they are not going to have direct permissions to "push" it to the other system. this means you will have to design the system around that -- eg: somehow signal to the push script that a user changed their password then push it remotely as root. since it is running in batch mode your going to have setup ssh public key authentication with null passphrases.

This can be done properly if you have solid scripting skills and a strong Linux/UNIX background but someone will have to maintain the system. problems will arise.

There are so many things that benefit from using a central system like LDAP. I will name a few.

how would be the LDAP migration I mean I got existing users/sudo/few folder ownerships.....?

It takes planning and testing but it's not overly complicated IMO. There are scripts provide to import existing users into LDAP. As long as your UID/GID for the users is the same across systems there will be no permission issues. There are plenty of LDAP tutorials and information online. I recommend at least reviewing information and then make a educated decision. I have several LDAP books I can recommend if you really wanted to test it. 8 servers is really not that many but if you have many users it might be a viable solution and can simplify all aspects of user administration. sudo and other utilities will work. Having accounts in LDAP is transparent. The end-user will not notice a difference.

If you think LDAP is overkill for your environment then your going to have to get creative. Just be careful - the last thing you want to do is zero out the /etc/passwd or /etc/shadow files.

thanks a lot guys

seems like LDAP will be the tool I just need some time to read and test before going production