From owner-freebsd-questions@FreeBSD.ORG Sat Sep 8 03:11:52 2007 Return-Path: Delivered-To: freebsd-questions@freebsd.org Received: from mx1.freebsd.org (mx1.freebsd.org [IPv6:2001:4f8:fff6::34]) by hub.freebsd.org (Postfix) with ESMTP id A9A4016A417 for ; Sat, 8 Sep 2007 03:11:52 +0000 (UTC) (envelope-from jhall@vandaliamo.net) Received: from trueband.net (director.trueband.net [216.163.120.8]) by mx1.freebsd.org (Postfix) with SMTP id 5019E13C45B for ; Sat, 8 Sep 2007 03:11:52 +0000 (UTC) (envelope-from jhall@vandaliamo.net) Received: (qmail 11232 invoked by uid 1006); 8 Sep 2007 03:11:51 -0000 Received: from jhall@vandaliamo.net by rs0 by uid 1003 with qmail-scanner-1.16 (spamassassin: 3.1.4. Clear:SA:0(-1.4/100.0):. Processed in 0.938135 secs); 08 Sep 2007 03:11:51 -0000 X-Spam-Status: No, hits=-1.4 required=100.0 X-Spam-Level: Received: from unknown (HELO trueband.net) (172.16.0.13) by -v with SMTP; 8 Sep 2007 03:11:50 -0000 Received: (qmail 23575 invoked from network); 8 Sep 2007 03:11:49 -0000 Received: from unknown (HELO admintool.trueband.net) (127.0.0.1) by -v with SMTP; 8 Sep 2007 03:11:49 -0000 Received: from 12.170.206.13 (SquirrelMail authenticated user jhall@vandaliamo.net) by admintool.trueband.net with HTTP; Sat, 8 Sep 2007 03:11:49 -0000 (GMT) Message-ID: <2926.12.170.206.13.1189221109.squirrel@admintool.trueband.net> In-Reply-To: <604C39AF-A3B8-410D-B096-C8C84E303A55@quinn.com> 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> <604C39AF-A3B8-410D-B096-C8C84E303A55@quinn.com> Date: Sat, 8 Sep 2007 03:11:49 -0000 (GMT) From: jhall@vandaliamo.net To: "Fred Condo" User-Agent: SquirrelMail/1.4.4 MIME-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: text/plain;charset=iso-8859-1 Content-Transfer-Encoding: 8bit X-Priority: 3 (Normal) Importance: Normal Cc: jhall@vandaliamo.net, freebsd-questions@freebsd.org Subject: Re: Moving user/group databases X-BeenThere: freebsd-questions@freebsd.org X-Mailman-Version: 2.1.5 Precedence: list List-Id: User questions List-Unsubscribe: , List-Archive: List-Post: List-Help: List-Subscribe: , X-List-Received-Date: Sat, 08 Sep 2007 03:11:52 -0000 > > 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. > > OK. I have been able to get this to work the way I wanted to. This is what I have done. Create symbloic links in /etc to a rw directory for passwd, master.passwd, group, pw.db, spwd.db. This directory is not located on the CD. Use pw to add users, change passwords, etc. To add a user. pw -V /location/of/directory adduser -n username -h 0 Using the -h 0, you are prompted to enter the password for the user. To modify a user. pw -V /location/of/directory usermod -h 0 Changes the password for the user. Thanks to everyone for their help. Jay