Date: Fri, 7 Sep 2007 15:24:56 -0700 From: Fred Condo <fcondo@quinn.com> To: jhall@vandaliamo.net Cc: freebsd-questions@freebsd.org Subject: Re: Moving user/group databases Message-ID: <604C39AF-A3B8-410D-B096-C8C84E303A55@quinn.com> In-Reply-To: <2153.12.170.206.13.1189201903.squirrel@admintool.trueband.net> References: <1756.12.170.206.13.1189198324.squirrel@admintool.trueband.net> <6.0.0.22.2.20070907161149.025a9ad8@mail.computinginnovations.com> <2153.12.170.206.13.1189201903.squirrel@admintool.trueband.net>
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On Sep 7, 2007, at 2:51 PM, jhall@vandaliamo.net wrote: >> At 03:52 PM 9/7/2007, jhall@vandaliamo.net wrote: >>> All of my FreeBSD servers boot from CD, and we are going to be >>> having >>> several temporary employees coming and going over the next 6-12 >>> months. >>> Is it possible to move the user/group databases from their >>> location in >>> /etc (which is read only on my CDs) to another location? >>> >>> I have read the man page concerning pw and still do not >>> understand what I >>> should be doing. Any suggestions, or direction to a how-to would be >>> greatly appreciated. >>> >>> Thanks, >>> >>> >>> Jay >> >> The simplest way would be to put a symbolic link from /etc to a >> writable >> location. You will need to re-make your boot CD to have this change. >> >> -Derek >> >> -- >> This message has been scanned for viruses and >> dangerous content by MailScanner, and is >> believed to be clean. >> MailScanner thanks transtec Computers for their support. >> >> > > I have recreated the CD with the sym links, and I still run into a > problem > because adduser tries to create temporary files in /etc. If I > remember > correctly, the files it tries to create are /etc/passwd.XXXXXX. > > I was able to get pw to work to add the user accounts, but now I am > trying > to set the password for new account, and have hit the temp file snag. > > Is this something which can be reconfigured in pw.conf? > > Thanks, > > > Jay It sounds like you made a link for /etc/master_passwd. I'm pretty sure what DR meant was a symlink for the entire /etc directory: /etc -> /somewhere_writable/etc/ You need this because adduser also has to rewrite /etc/passwd and / etc/group when you add/delete users. This means copying your entire / etc hierarchy somewhere writable; naturally I don't know if this is acceptable in your organization.
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