[rhn-users] importing user accounts

[Daniel Wittenberg]

You can copy the files, but those are not all you need.  You will need
to get:

/etc/passwd
/etc/shadow
/etc/group
/etc/gshadow
/etc/samba/*

BTW - you can do an upgrade, it is just not officially supported by Red
Hat, but I've done a number of 7.2, 7.3, 9, and FC machines to RHEL
without a problem.

Dan


On Tue, 2004-11-02 at 14:43, Philippe B. Laval wrote:
> Helal,
> 
> 	Thanks for your quick reply.  I thought about doing that.  However,
> I think the way the password is encrypted must depend on the machine.  I did
> an experiment.  On two different machines, both running RedHat (7.0 and
> 8.0), I created a user with the same user name and user ID.  I assigned then
> the same password.  Yet, the entry in /etc/shadow for the password looked
> different.  This led me to believe that I could not just copy the files you
> mentioned, at least /etc/shadow.  Maybe I am wrong.  Does anybody know for
> sure?
> 
> P. Laval
>  
> 
> -----Original Message-----
> From: rhn-users-bounces at redhat.com [mailto:rhn-users-bounces at redhat.com] On
> Behalf Of Helal Saghir
> Sent: Tuesday, November 02, 2004 3:23 PM
> To: rhn-users at redhat.com
> Subject: RE: [rhn-users] importing user accounts
> 
> If you copy /etc/passwd , /etc/shadow , /etc/group from old system and put 
> on the new one you should be able to matain the same old password for all 
> accounts .
> 
> Thanks
> 
> Helal Saghir
> saghirhelal at hotmail.com
> Ph: 978-453-3296
> 1989 MS , 35 standish st.
> Lowell ,MA 01854
> USA
> 
> 
> 
> 
> ----Original Message Follows----
> From: "Philippe B. Laval" <plaval at kennesaw.edu>
> Reply-To: plaval at kennesaw.edu,Red Hat Network Users List 
> <rhn-users at redhat.com>
> To: "'Red Hat Network Users List'" <rhn-users at redhat.com>
> Subject: [rhn-users] importing user accounts
> Date: Tue, 2 Nov 2004 14:32:56 -0500
> 
> I have a machine running an old version of RedHat (7.0).  I want to install
> Redhat Linux Enterprise WS 3.0 on it (I understand we cannot upgrade).  This
> machine has many user accounts.  I would like to be able to do this without
> having the users notice anything.  In particular, I do not want them to have
> to reset their passwords.  I know I can save and restore their home
> directories.  How do I handle their accounts, in particular their passwords
> files (for both Linux and Samba)?  I cannot just copy them.  Is there a
> utility to transfer their accounts from RedHat 7.0 to the new version?  I
> welcome any suggestions.
> 
> P. Laval
> 
> 
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-- 
=============================
Daniel Wittenberg
RHCE/IBM Certified Specialist
President/CTO
The Starken Group
http://www.starken.com