dbmmanage(1) [redhat man page]
dbmmanage(1) General Commands Manual dbmmanage(1) NAME
dbmmanage - Create and update user authentication files in DBM format SYNOPSIS
dbmmanage filename [ command ] [ username [ encpasswd ] ] DESCRIPTION
dbmmanage is used to create and update the DBM format files used to store usernames and password for basic authentication of HTTP users. Resources available from the httpd Apache web server can be restricted to just the users listed in the files created by dbmmanage. This program can only be used when the usernames are stored in a DBM file. To use a flat-file database see htpasswd. This manual page only lists the command line arguments. For details of the directives necessary to configure user authentication in httpd see the Apache manual, which is part of the Apache distribution or can be found at http://www.apache.org/. OPTIONS
filename The filename of the DBM format file. Usually without the extension .db, .pag, or .dir. command This selects the operation to perform: add Adds an entry for username to filename using the encrypted password encpassword. adduser Asks for a password and then adds an entry for username to filename . check Asks for a password and then checks if username is in filename and if it's password matches the specified one. delete Deletes the username entry from filename. import Reads username:password entries (one per line) from STDIN and adds them to filename. The passwords already has to be crypted. update Same as the "adduser" command, except that it makes sure username already exists in filename. view Just displays the complete contents of the DBM file. username The user for which the update operation is performed. BUGS
One should be aware that there are a number of different DBM file formats in existence, and with all likelihood, libraries for more than one format may exist on your system. The three primary examples are NDBM, the GNU project's GDBM, and Berkeley DB 2. Unfortunately, all these libraries use different file formats, and you must make sure that the file format used by filename is the same format that dbmmanage expects to see. dbmmanage currently has no way of determining what type of DBM file it is looking at. If used against the wrong format, will simply return nothing, or may create a different DBM file with a different name, or at worst, it may corrupt the DBM file if you were attempting to write to it. dbmmanage has a list of DBM format preferences, defined by the @AnyDBM::ISA array near the beginning of the program. Since we prefer the Berkeley DB 2 file format, the order in which dbmmanage will look for system libraries is Berkeley DB 2, then NDBM, and then GDBM. The first library found will be the library dbmmanage will attempt to use for all DBM file transactions. This ordering is slightly different than the standard @AnyDBM::ISA ordering in perl, as well as the ordering used by the simple dbmopen() call in Perl, so if you use any other utilities to manage your DBM files, they must also follow this preference ordering. Similar care must be taken if using programs in other languages, like C, to access these files. Apache's mod_auth_dbm.c corresponds to the NDBM library. Also, one can usually use the file program supplied with most Unix systems to see what format a DBM file is in. SEE ALSO
httpd(8) March 1998 dbmmanage(1)
Check Out this Related Man Page
HTDBM(1) htdbm HTDBM(1) NAME
htdbm - Manipulate DBM password databases SYNOPSIS
htdbm [ -TDBTYPE ] [ -i ] [ -c ] [ -m | -B | -d | -s | -p ] [ -C cost ] [ -t ] [ -v ] filename username htdbm -b [ -TDBTYPE ] [ -c ] [ -m | -B | -d | -s | -p ] [ -C cost ] [ -t ] [ -v ] filename username password htdbm -n [ -i ] [ -c ] [ -m | -B | -d | -s | -p ] [ -C cost ] [ -t ] [ -v ] username htdbm -nb [ -c ] [ -m | -B | -d | -s | -p ] [ -C cost ] [ -t ] [ -v ] username password htdbm -v [ -TDBTYPE ] [ -i ] [ -c ] [ -m | -B | -d | -s | -p ] [ -C cost ] [ -t ] [ -v ] filename username htdbm -vb [ -TDBTYPE ] [ -c ] [ -m | -B | -d | -s | -p ] [ -C cost ] [ -t ] [ -v ] filename username password htdbm -x [ -TDBTYPE ] filename username htdbm -l [ -TDBTYPE ] SUMMARY
htdbm is used to manipulate the DBM format files used to store usernames and password for basic authentication of HTTP users via mod_authn_dbm. See the dbmmanage documentation for more information about these DBM files. OPTIONS
-b Use batch mode; i.e., get the password from the command line rather than prompting for it. This option should be used with extreme care, since the password is clearly visible on the command line. For script use see the -i option. -i Read the password from stdin without verification (for script usage). -c Create the passwdfile. If passwdfile already exists, it is rewritten and truncated. This option cannot be combined with the -n option. -n Display the results on standard output rather than updating a database. This option changes the syntax of the command line, since the passwdfile argument (usually the first one) is omitted. It cannot be combined with the -c option. -m Use MD5 encryption for passwords. On Windows and Netware, this is the default. -B Use bcrypt encryption for passwords. This is currently considered to be very secure. -C This flag is only allowed in combination with -B (bcrypt encryption). It sets the computing time used for the bcrypt algorithm (higher is more secure but slower, default: 5, valid: 4 to 31). -d Use crypt() encryption for passwords. The default on all platforms but Windows and Netware. Though possibly supported by htdbm on all platforms, it is not supported by the httpd server on Windows and Netware. This algorithm is insecure by today's standards. -s Use SHA encryption for passwords. Facilitates migration from/to Netscape servers using the LDAP Directory Interchange Format (ldif). This algorithm is insecure by today's standards. -p Use plaintext passwords. Though htdbm will support creation on all platforms, the httpd daemon will only accept plain text passwords on Windows and Netware. -l Print each of the usernames and comments from the database on stdout. -v Verify the username and password. The program will print a message indicating whether the supplied password is valid. If the pass- word is invalid, the program exits with error code 3. -x Delete user. If the username exists in the specified DBM file, it will be deleted. -t Interpret the final parameter as a comment. When this option is specified, an additional string can be appended to the command line; this string will be stored in the "Comment" field of the database, associated with the specified username. filename The filename of the DBM format file. Usually without the extension .db, .pag, or .dir. If -c is given, the DBM file is created if it does not already exist, or updated if it does exist. username The username to create or update in passwdfile. If username does not exist in this file, an entry is added. If it does exist, the password is changed. password The plaintext password to be encrypted and stored in the DBM file. Used only with the -b flag. -TDBTYPE Type of DBM file (SDBM, GDBM, DB, or "default"). BUGS
One should be aware that there are a number of different DBM file formats in existence, and with all likelihood, libraries for more than one format may exist on your system. The three primary examples are SDBM, NDBM, GNU GDBM, and Berkeley/Sleepycat DB 2/3/4. Unfortunately, all these libraries use different file formats, and you must make sure that the file format used by filename is the same format that htdbm expects to see. htdbm currently has no way of determining what type of DBM file it is looking at. If used against the wrong format, will simply return nothing, or may create a different DBM file with a different name, or at worst, it may corrupt the DBM file if you were attempting to write to it. One can usually use the file program supplied with most Unix systems to see what format a DBM file is in. EXIT STATUS
htdbm returns a zero status ("true") if the username and password have been successfully added or updated in the DBM File. htdbm returns 1 if it encounters some problem accessing files, 2 if there was a syntax problem with the command line, 3 if the password was entered inter- actively and the verification entry didn't match, 4 if its operation was interrupted, 5 if a value is too long (username, filename, pass- word, or final computed record), 6 if the username contains illegal characters (see the Restrictions section), and 7 if the file is not a valid DBM password file. EXAMPLES
htdbm /usr/local/etc/apache/.htdbm-users jsmith Adds or modifies the password for user jsmith. The user is prompted for the password. If executed on a Windows system, the password will be encrypted using the modified Apache MD5 algorithm; otherwise, the system's crypt() routine will be used. If the file does not exist, htdbm will do nothing except return an error. htdbm -c /home/doe/public_html/.htdbm jane Creates a new file and stores a record in it for user jane. The user is prompted for the password. If the file exists and cannot be read, or cannot be written, it is not altered and htdbm will display a message and return an error status. htdbm -mb /usr/web/.htdbm-all jones Pwd4Steve Encrypts the password from the command line (Pwd4Steve) using the MD5 algorithm, and stores it in the specified file. SECURITY CONSIDERATIONS
Web password files such as those managed by htdbm should not be within the Web server's URI space -- that is, they should not be fetchable with a browser. The use of the -b option is discouraged, since when it is used the unencrypted password appears on the command line. When using the crypt() algorithm, note that only the first 8 characters of the password are used to form the password. If the supplied password is longer, the extra characters will be silently discarded. The SHA encryption format does not use salting: for a given password, there is only one encrypted representation. The crypt() and MD5 for- mats permute the representation by prepending a random salt string, to make dictionary attacks against the passwords more difficult. The SHA and crypt() formats are insecure by today's standards. RESTRICTIONS
On the Windows platform, passwords encrypted with htdbm are limited to no more than 255 characters in length. Longer passwords will be truncated to 255 characters. The MD5 algorithm used by htdbm is specific to the Apache software; passwords encrypted using it will not be usable with other Web servers. Usernames are limited to 255 bytes and may not include the character :. Apache HTTP Server 2018-07-06 HTDBM(1)