NIS database data too long
I have 160 users on our school lan server. All are members of users. yast has also made them members of uucp, dialout, audio and video. NIS complains: makedbm warning: data too long: uucp x 14: (list of users) same for dialout, audio and video. Why does yast make them members of these other groups? To overcome the error, I've removed them from these groups. Now they are only members of users. What are they now missing? Is the 'users' group special in some way that it doesn't have a limit for its data? What can't they do now that they could by being members of the other groups? What is the limit to the string that NIS can handle? Sorry for so many questions, it's just it seems that the nis documentation is the exception to the rtfm, rule :-( SuSE 9.0 with the 21-166 kernel from YOU. Thanks for your patience. steve.
The Thursday 2004-01-22 at 19:51 -0000, steve-ss wrote:
Is the 'users' group special in some way that it doesn't have a limit for its data?
You don't need to add users to the 'users' group, they are there by default. On my '/etc/group' file, there is nobody in the users group: users:x:100: Now that I think about it, I don't remember how the system knows that users belong to the 'users' groups - except that Yast can change that default (users administration, Set defaults).
What can't they do now that they could by being members of the other groups?
uucp --> unsure. All serial terminals have that group, so I suppose it is needed for serial port use. dialout --> use the modem. I don't suppose you want your 160 students to compete for one modem :-p audio --> same the soundcard video --> needed for full use of the video card and X locally. I don't think they need that for remote use.
What is the limit to the string that NIS can handle?
Sorry for so many questions, it's just it seems that the nis documentation is the exception to the rtfm, rule :-(
Sorry, I don't know much about nis. There is a howto: /usr/share/doc/howto/en/html/NIS-HOWTO/index.html -- Cheers, Carlos Robinson
On Monday 26 January 2004 02:02, Carlos E. R. wrote:
The Thursday 2004-01-22 at 19:51 -0000, steve-ss wrote:
You don't need to add users to the 'users' group, they are there by default. On my '/etc/group' file, there is nobody in the users group:
users:x:100:
OK but I can't fit 160 users into the eg the uucp group. Would this work in /etc/group?: uucp1:x:72:steve, (lots of other users here) uucp2:x:73:invitado, (more users here) uucp:x:14:uucp1,uucp2 In other words, are steve and invitado now members of the uucp group? Can you split it up like this? Thanks, Steve.
The Monday 2004-01-26 at 11:25 -0000, steve-ss wrote:
You don't need to add users to the 'users' group, they are there by default. On my '/etc/group' file, there is nobody in the users group:
users:x:100:
OK but I can't fit 160 users into the eg the uucp group.
I don't think you need to have anybody at all in group "uucp".
Would this work in /etc/group?:
uucp1:x:72:steve, (lots of other users here) uucp2:x:73:invitado, (more users here) uucp:x:14:uucp1,uucp2
In other words, are steve and invitado now members of the uucp group? Can you split it up like this?
Mmmm, recursive definitions... I don't know. Perhaps:
uucp:x:14:steve, (lots of other users here) uucp1:x:14:invitado, (more users here)
You can only try. I read some docs the other day, when you first asked, and I don't think I like nis too much... and it seems that NIS+ is no longer developed, and has many bugs (according to the howto). -- Cheers, Carlos Robinson
Steve, Missed this thread earlier so jumping in late (again). I think that 255 characters is the limit for any group line listing (also true for the other NIS distributed files). To get around it you can create other group names which use the same GID. Such as: uucp1:x:72:steve, (lots of other users here) uucp2:x:72:invitado, (more users here) uucp3:x:72:invitado, (more users here) You'll have to maintain this manually because any new users will automatically be added to the uucp number which is met first in the list (say uucp1). For that reason it's a good idea to have just a few users in that group initially. BTW my uucp GID is 14 (SuSE 8.2) Damian
On Wednesday 28 January 2004 10:08, Damian O'Hara wrote:
Steve,
Missed this thread earlier so jumping in late (again).
I think that 255 characters is the limit for any group line listing (also true for the other NIS distributed files).
To get around it you can create other group names which use the same GID. Such as:
uucp1:x:72:steve, (lots of other users here) uucp2:x:72:invitado, (more users here) uucp3:x:72:invitado, (more users here)
You'll have to maintain this manually because any new users will automatically be added to the uucp number which is met first in the list (say uucp1). For that reason it's a good idea to have just a few users in that group initially.
BTW my uucp GID is 14 (SuSE 8.2)
Damian Hi. It doesn't let me create groups with the same GID so I did thiis:
uucp1:x:72:(some users here) uucp2:x:73:(more users here) uucp:x:14:uucp1,uucp2 It this legal, correct or allowed? Yast accepts it. Are all members of uucp1 and uucp2 now members of uucp? I've no way of testing since I've no idea what uucp would do to a user not in the group. Thanks, Steve. SuSE-9.0
steve-ss wrote:
Hi. It doesn't let me create groups with the same GID so I did thiis:
uucp1:x:72:(some users here) uucp2:x:73:(more users here) uucp:x:14:uucp1,uucp2
It this legal, correct or allowed? Yast accepts it. Are all members of uucp1 and uucp2 now members of uucp? I've no way of testing since I've no idea what uucp would do to a user not in the group. Thanks, Steve. SuSE-9.0
Steve, Don't use YAST. Use vi and add them manually. uucp1:x:72:(some users here) uucp2:x:72:(more users here) Damian
On Wed, 28 Jan 2004 16:38:49 +0000 Damian O'Hara <damian@cognoscente.uk.com> wrote:
Don't use YAST. Use vi and add them manually.
It is safer to use vipw instead of vi directly. Charles -- "Oh, I've seen copies [of Linux Journal] around the terminal room at The Labs." (By Dennis Ritchie)
On Wed, 28 Jan 2004 11:45:27 -0500 Charles Philip Chan <cpchan@sympatico.ca> wrote:
It is safer to use vipw instead of vi directly.
Oops, for groups it should be vigr. Charles -- "Besides, I think [Slackware] sounds better than 'Microsoft,' don't you?" (By Patrick Volkerding)
The Wednesday 2004-01-28 at 11:54 -0500, Charles Philip Chan wrote:
It is safer to use vipw instead of vi directly.
Oops, for groups it should be vigr.
And, for those not liking 'vi', then: EDITOR=/usr/bin/mcedit vigr or whatever editor he prefers. -- Cheers, Carlos Robinson
On Wed, 2004-01-28 at 12:29, steve-ss wrote:
Hi. It doesn't let me create groups with the same GID so I did thiis:
uucp1:x:72:(some users here) uucp2:x:73:(more users here) uucp:x:14:uucp1,uucp2
Here you are telling it to add the users uucp1 and uucp2 -not- the groups. Since most of the thread is missing, why not put all of the users in uucp? -- Ken Schneider unix user since 1989 linux user since 1994 SuSE user since 1998 (5.2)
* Kenneth Schneider <suselist@rtsx.com> [01-28-04 11:41]:
Here you are telling it to add the users uucp1 and uucp2 -not- the groups. Since most of the thread is missing, why not put all of the users in uucp?
Most of the thread explained and is available in the archives. -- Patrick Shanahan Registered Linux User #207535 http://wahoo.no-ip.org @ http://counter.li.org
On Wednesday 28 January 2004 17:29 pm, steve-ss wrote: <SNIP>
Hi. It doesn't let me create groups with the same GID so I did thiis:
YaST doesn't, but you can do it by hand with a text editor. Just open /etc/groups and edit it. Dylan
uucp1:x:72:(some users here) uucp2:x:73:(more users here) uucp:x:14:uucp1,uucp2
It this legal, correct or allowed? Yast accepts it. Are all members of uucp1 and uucp2 now members of uucp? I've no way of testing since I've no idea what uucp would do to a user not in the group. Thanks, Steve. SuSE-9.0
-- "They that can give up essential liberty to obtain a little temporary safety, deserve neither liberty nor safety." -Benjamin Franklin
participants (7)
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Carlos E. R. -
Charles Philip Chan -
Damian O'Hara -
Dylan -
Kenneth Schneider -
Patrick Shanahan -
steve-ss