System Administration Guide: Basic Administration
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Where User Account and Group Information Is Stored

Depending on your site policy, user account and group information can be stored in your local system's /etc files or in a name or directory service as follows:

  • The NIS+ name service information is stored in tables.

  • The NIS name service information is stored in maps.

  • The LDAP directory service information is stored in indexed database files.


Note - To avoid confusion, the location of the user account and group information is generically referred to as a file rather than as a database, table, or map.


Most user account information is stored in the passwd file. Password information is stored as follows:

  • In the passwd file when you are using NIS or NIS+

  • In the /etc/shadow file when you are using /etc files

  • In the people container when you are using LDAP

Password aging is available when you are using NIS+ or LDAP, but not NIS.

Group information is stored in the group file for NIS, NIS+ and files. For LDAP, group information is stored in the group container.

Fields in the passwd File

The fields in the passwd file are separated by colons and contain the following information:

username:password:uid:gid:comment:home-directory:login-shell

For example:

kryten:x:101:100:Kryten Series 4000 Mechanoid:/export/home/kryten:/bin/csh

For a complete description of the fields in the passwd file, see the passwd(1) man page.

Default passwd File

The default Solaris passwd file contains entries for standard daemons. Daemons are processes that are usually started at boot time to perform some system-wide task, such as printing, network administration, or port monitoring.

root:x:0:1:Super-User:/:/sbin/sh
daemon:x:1:1::/:
bin:x:2:2::/usr/bin:
sys:x:3:3::/:
adm:x:4:4:Admin:/var/adm:
lp:x:71:8:Line Printer Admin:/usr/spool/lp:
uucp:x:5:5:uucp Admin:/usr/lib/uucp:
nuucp:x:9:9:uucp Admin:/var/spool/uucppublic:/usr/lib/uucp/uucico
smmsp:x:25:25:SendMail Message Submission Program:/:
listen:x:37:4:Network Admin:/usr/net/nls:
gdm:x:50:50:GDM Reserved UID:/:
webservd:x:80:80:WebServer Reserved UID:/:
nobody:x:60001:60001:NFS Anonymous Access User:/:
noaccess:x:60002:60002:No Access User:/:
nobody4:x:65534:65534:SunOS 4.x NFS Anonymous Access User:/:
Table 4-5 Default passwd File Entries

User Name

User ID

Description

root

0

Superuser account

daemon

1

Umbrella system daemon associated with routine system tasks

bin

2

Administrative daemon associated with running system binaries to perform some routine system task

sys

3

Administrative daemon associated with system logging or updating files in temporary directories

adm

4

Administrative daemon associated with system logging

lp

71

Line printer daemon

uucp

5

Daemon associated with uucp functions

nuucp

6

Another daemon associated with uucp functions

smmsp

25

Sendmail message submission program daemon

webservd

80

Account reserved for WebServer access

gdm

50

GNOME Display Manager daemon

listen

37

Network listener daemon

nobody

60001

Account reserved for anonymous NFS access.

noaccess

60002

Assigned to a user or a process that needs access to a system through some application but without actually logging in.

nobody4

65534

SunOS 4.0 or 4.1 version of the nobody user account

Fields in the shadow File

The fields in the shadow file are separated by colons and contain the following information:

username:password:lastchg:min:max:warn:inactive:expire

For example:

rimmer:86Kg/MNT/dGu.:8882:0::5:20:8978

For a complete description of the fields in the shadow file, see the shadow(4) and crypt(1) man pages.

Fields in the group File

The fields in the group file are separated by colons and contain the following information:

group-name:group-password:gid:user-list

For example:

bin::2:root,bin,daemon

For a complete description of the fields in the group file, see the group(4) man page.

Default group File

The default Solaris group file contains the following system groups that support some system-wide task, such as printing, network administration, or electronic mail. Many of these groups having corresponding entries in the passwd file.

root::0:
other::1:
bin::2:root,daemon
sys::3:root,bin,adm
adm::4:root,daemon
uucp::5:root
mail::6:root
tty::7:root,adm
lp::8:root,adm
nuucp::9:root
staff::10:
daemon::12:root
smmsp::25:
sysadmin::14:
gdm::50:
webservd::80:
nobody::60001:
noaccess::60002:
nogroup::65534:
Table 4-6 Default group File Entries

Group Name

Group ID

Description

root

0

Superuser group

other

1

Optional group

bin

2

Administrative group associated with running system binaries

sys

3

Administrative group associated with system logging or temporary directories

adm

4

Administrative group associated with system logging

uucp

5

Group associated with uucp functions

mail

6

Electronic mail group

tty

7

Group associated with tty devices

lp

8

Line printer group

nuucp

9

Group associated with uucp functions

staff

10

General administrative group.

daemon

12

Group associated with routine system tasks

sysadmin

14

Administrative group associated with legacy Admintool and Solstice AdminSuite tools

smmsp

25

Daemon for Sendmail message submission program

webservd

80

Group reserved for WebServer access

gdm

50

Group reserved for the GNOME Display Manager daemon

nobody

60001

Group assigned for anonymous NFS access

noaccess

60002

Group assigned to a user or a process that needs access to a system through some application but without actually logging in

nogroup

65534

Group assigned to a user who is not a member of a known group

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