backup user and password database in linux

[gwu]

how can i backup the users & passwords that i have created on my linux box. The purpouse: if i need to install linux on another server using the same users & passwords. Is it just a matter of copying certain files in /etc to the other machine?

thanks

 

[kubla]

It depends how you're configured; however:

/etc/passwd
/etc/shadow
/etc/group

are key as far as you're concerned.

http://www.robertgraves.org

 

[BitFuzzy]

tar -cvzf pickaname.tgz /etc/passwd /etc/shadow /etc/group

this will put the three files into a compressed archive file

 

[clonny2]

You might also need /etc/gshadow.

 

[gwu]

will this work. If I had to build another machine with the same users/passwords, all i would need to do is put the back up'd files you specified into the new machine? Will the UID numbers still match for root in the file permissions?

 

[Morsing]

Yes. root is always 0.

The new users won't have UID's so that shouldn't be a problem.
If you want to change UID of all a user's files do:

# find / -user #OLDUID -exec chown NEWUIDname {} \;

Cheers Henrik Morsing
Certified AIX 4.3 Systems Administration
& p690 Technical Support