Password shadowing across Unix platforms

Password shadowing across Unix platforms

I'd like to implement password shadowing across a few Unix platforms. From what I've read, HP-UX doesn't support shadow files unless you convert the system to a trusted system. Is there a way around this? I need the shadow files to be NIS based and work across HP-UX (9, 10 and 11), SunOS, Solaris and Linux.

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I am, alas, not overly familiar with HP-UX, but one option you might want to try is to run the Linux NIS code on HP-UX. If you can, use a test system, or at worst a test area on some system you have, but the Linux code is pretty generic as Unix code goes and ports pretty easily.

Another option is to use LDAP. There are some portable versions of LDAP that can be built into security systems. Look at http://www.linux.com/enhance/newsitem.phtml?sid=113&aid=11094 and http://www.linux.com/enhance/newsitem.phtml?sid=113&aid=11100 for a start.


This was first published in September 2001