[aklug] Re: groups mgmt question?

From: Marc Grober <marc@interak.com>
Date: Fri Sep 18 2009 - 06:40:57 AKDT

*nix does not see groups as users, a profit center if you will for
lots of add-ons. You can create a user which is essentially a
strawman for a group, but basic behavior is different.

That is NOT to say things can't be cobbled to provide what you want.
One very reason for old farts to get crusty is that *nix enables and
promotes such kludging.... And as a result there are many paths and no
simple answers.

On Sep 18, 2009, at 5:46 AM, "Lee" <lee@afabco.org> wrote:

> I'm (finally, I hope) setting up a couple of true multi-user, multi-
> application,
> multi-purpose machines (in the general style of the mainframes of
> old), but more along a
> thin client (actually a so-called 'fat' client) model. One machine
> is a centos5 box,
> the other is an ubuntu 9.04 box.
>
> To this end, I'm trying to expand my knowledge of groups
> administration. There is not
> much out there in google or the various SAGs on setting up and using
> groups beyond
> adding the group name and the group permissions bits.
>
> Scenario:
>
> Given that there are an arbitrary number of users (user1-userx) that
> can be clustered
> into a couple of different functional groups, say, database admins,
> oracle support,
> accounting, administration, network admins, billing, and public
> relations. So the unix
> groups are:
>
> dba
> orasupp
> accounting
> admin
> netadmin
> billing
> pr
>
> An individual user may be a member of one or several of these groups.
>
> Questions:
>
> 1. Where is the typical/conventional place in the directory
> structure to put the group
> directories, that is, directories that items common to all members
> of a given group can
> have access to? I know they can be 'anywhere', but surely there are
> some conventions or
> common practices?
>
> 2. Can a group be a member of another group? That is, say all
> members of netadmin
> should also be members of orasupp. Can I just make netadmin a
> member of orasupp so that
> by reference each individual member of netadmin will also be a
> member of orasupp? Or do
> a have to add each member of netadmin individually to orasupp?
>
> 3. Where are group policies and environments set up? For global
> stuff there's
> /etc/profile. For individual users there's the various .bashrc
> and .profile in the
> individual user's home directory, but where is the 'group' .profile?
>
> In the case of question 3, some google stuff said that the .bashrc
> set up from /etc/skel
> should be used, but that doesn't seem right. First, it's only set
> up when the user's
> home directory is created, so any additions or alterations to the
> group policies or
> environments is not carried through. Second, the user can alter/
> delete it or otherwise
> mess it up.
>
> Any insights? I'm sure this is sort of muddled, so if
> clarifications are needed, don't
> hesitate to ask.
>
> Thanks!
>
>
>
>
>
>
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Received on Fri Sep 18 06:41:19 2009

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