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Shared /etc/passwd file? [message #2405]

Mon, 03 April 2006 16:54

wnpaul
Messages: 15
Registered: March 2006
Location: Vienna, Austria

Junior Member

It seems to me that it should be possible to create a directory

/vz/private/common/etc/

with files such as passwd, group, hosts, etc. in it,
and then to make hard links to the appropriate locations in
the vps trees, to let the vps share these files.

Of course one would have to safeguard against race conditions
when processes in the vps try to change these files, but other
than that, it should work.

Can anyone think of a reason why this would NOT be a good idea?

Thanks,

Wolf

Wolf N. Paul - Doulos Communications
Vienna, Austria

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Re: Shared /etc/passwd file? [message #2410 is a reply to message #2405]

Mon, 03 April 2006 22:44

dowdle
Messages: 261
Registered: December 2005
Location: Bozeman, Montana

Senior Member

Sounds reasonable to me... but I do have to ask... if you want to separate things into Virtual Private Servers to begin with, why do you want to have the same authentication database across all VPSes?

Do all of your VPSes have the same exact software installed or do they separate services?

Perhaps you should consider a centralized authentication method.

--
TYL, Scott Dowdle
Belgrade, Montana, USA

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Re: Shared /etc/passwd file? [message #2427 is a reply to message #2405]

Tue, 04 April 2006 11:32

wnpaul
Messages: 15
Registered: March 2006
Location: Vienna, Austria

Junior Member

You touched on the reason for using OpenVZ: different versions of software for different customers. But mostly the same OS release.

As for centralized authentication methods: that may be a solution, but since all of my VPS sit on a single filesystem, a shared /etc/passwd is something that suggests itself.

Wolf N. Paul - Doulos Communications
Vienna, Austria

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Re: Shared /etc/passwd file? [message #2474 is a reply to message #2405]

Thu, 06 April 2006 20:28

RapidVPS
Messages: 32
Registered: January 2006

Member

Hi, the best way to solve your problem is to employ LDAP authentication on each VE. What if you move one of your VPS to another physical server, how will you still share the passwd/shadow file? IMO there are centralized authentication methods which will solve your problem much better than modifying vz to support file sharing across VEs.

Rick

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