[BlueOnyx:01865] Re: Where are users stored

[Ken Marcus - Precision Web Hosting, Inc.]

----- Original Message ----- 
From: "Michael Stauber" <mstauber at blueonyx.it>
To: "BlueOnyx General Mailing List" <blueonyx at blueonyx.it>
Sent: Tuesday, July 28, 2009 10:44 AM
Subject: [BlueOnyx:01864] Re: Where are users stored


> Hi enid vx,
>
>> I wanted to know where exactly are the BQ or BX users stored in the 
>> system.
>> I cannot see them on /etc/passwd or /etc/shadow files.
>>
>> I am not very aware if they authenticate with pam auth.
>
> Where users are stored on BlueQuartz depends a bit.
>
> On a stock BlueQuartz they're stored in the PAM database located at 
> /var/db.
>
> *If* the box was converted from PAM to Shadow, they're stored in 
> /etc/passwd,
> /etc/shadow and /etc/group.
>
> It's easy to check what's used (PAM or Shadow) by checking /etc/passwd,
> because if that contains users from virtual sites, then you're using 
> Shadow.
> Otherwise it's PAM.
>
> BlueOnyx uses Shadow, so that's /etc/passwd, /etc/shadow and /etc/group.
>
> But there is more to that. Email aliasses and email accounts are managed
> through /etc/mail/virtusertable and /etc/mail/aliasses. Websites have 
> their
> configuration stored in /etc/httpd/httpd.conf and
> /etc/httpd/conf/vhosts/siteXX and for each IP you've also got a 
> virtualhost
> container in /etc/proftpd.conf.
>
>> So the question is if I want to migrate only the system/mail users , from
>> one system to another (not with cmuExport/cmuImport scripts) how can I 
>> find
>> where the users are stored.
>
> I wouldn't recommend to manually migrate users without using the tools 
> that
> are designed for that purpose (CMU or the CMU shell-tools).
>
> Both BlueQuartz and BlueOnyx use CODB - the "Cobalt Object Database" as
> backend for the GUI interface. All relevant information about sites and 
> users
> is stored in there, too. If you manually create a user (by adding lines to
> /etc/passwd, /etc/shadow, /etc/group and by creating the user directory), 
> then
> CODB will not be "aware" of the user. Hence the user will never show up in 
> the
> GUI. To make matters worse: When you then create users through the GUI, 
> "bad
> things can happen" (TM), because the GUI may not be aware that there are
> "ghost" users on the box that you created manually. So it might overwrite
> sites you created manually, or might run into username conflicts and
> therelike.
>
> At the most you can use the CMU shell-tools (the "caddvsite" and 
> "cadduser"
> commands) to manually create sites and users from the command line. 
> Because
> that will create them properly both in CODB and on the system level.
>
> However, the best (and recommended) procedure for a transfer of sites and
> users from BlueQuartz to BlueOnyx is to use CMU.
>
> CMU typically exports all sites and users with all their data (webpages,
> mailboxes, etc.) and allows you to import all sites (or just selected 
> ones!)
> onto the new system. You can even tell CMU to just create the sites and 
> users,
> but not to import any mailboxes or webpages - if that is what you want.
>
> -- 
> With best regards
>
> Michael Stauber
>
>


What you could do is create all the users with the shell tools with a 
standard password. Then just edit the shadow file to copy in the shadow 
password string from the old  "non-cmuable"  system.

Try one and see if it actually works.



----
Ken Marcus
Ecommerce Web Hosting by
Precision Web Hosting, Inc.
http://www.precisionweb.net