[SUMMARY (of sorts)] NIS netgroup and `id -un`

From: Ian Mortimer <ian_at_physics.uq.edu.au>
Date: Mon, 01 Feb 1999 15:24:05 +1000

Hi DU Admins

I didn't get any responses to my second posting of this
question so here is what I was able to find out and the
workaround I've had to use.

The problem came from adding users to a cluster of workstations
using a NIS netgroup. The netgroup was included like this
in /etc/passwd:

   +_at_lusers:

Almost everything works correctly: users (in the netgroup) can login;
w, who, who -m, and who am i are all correct; id -u shows the correct
uid; sendmail recognizes the users as local; /var/adm/sialog reports
"Successful session authentication for _user_".

But: `id -un` gets `Could not get "user" information', whoami
gets `Intruder alert' and ls -l shows the uid instead of the
user name.

It seems like this is the behaviour you would get when the effective
user ID is not in /etc/passwd. It's not literally there but is
supposed to be added by the "+_at_lusers:". Adding users with
a simple +: in /etc/passwd doesn't cause these problems.

The problem doesn't show itself if you `su -' to the user.
You have to login as the user to see it.

Things I tried which made no difference:

   Removed passwd.dir and passwd.pag.
   Rebuilt passwd.dir and passwd.pag.
   Tried "+_at_lusers::::::".
   Tried "+_at_lusers::0:0:::".

The workaround is to not use the netgroup but add each user
individually to /etc/passwd like this:

   +user_1:
   +user_2:
   ...
   +user_n:

This is a pain since it has to be done on each host in the
cluster but it works.


Ian

_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/
_/ Ian Mortimer _/
_/ ian_at_physics.uq.edu.au ,-_|\ Department of Physics _/
_/ Tel: +61 7 3365 3436 / *\ University of Queensland _/
_/ Fax: +61 7 3365 1242 \_,-._/ St. Lucia, Brisbane _/
_/ v Queensland, Australia 4072 _/
_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/
Disclaimer: Speaking only for myself.
Received on Mon Feb 01 1999 - 05:26:10 NZDT

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