UID pool: UIDs being reused immediately

[xsys2000]

We have a problem where we delete a user and their associated UID gets dumped back in the UID pool. The if we immediately create a another (new) user, AIX reuses the last UID, the one that was just released. This is causing a problem when reports are being generated because the new users name is now associate with ALL previous transactions linked to that UID.

Is there a way to tell AIX to NOT use the last released UID?

So to speak: currently its "Last release, First use" and we need "Last release, last use".

We are running AIX 4.3.3

 

[khalidaaa]

Check the permission on /etc/security/.ids file! it should be rw for root only!

This file is the one that should assign you the next id to be used for new users!

Regards,
Khalid

 

[ogniemi]

maybe it is better then to specify exact and new UID during new user creation?

 

[RodKnowlton]

Why delete users, if there are UIDs left?

We just set account_locked to true and their shell to /usr/bin/false. We're not likely to ever run out of UIDs, but if we do, we can just do an "lsuser -a account_locked -a time_last_login" to find the oldest locked users and then delete them.

Audit trails are good. Don't throw away information unless you have to.

- Rod


IBM Certified Advanced Technical Expert pSeries and AIX 5L
CompTIA Linux+
CompTIA Security+

Wish you could view posts with a fixed font? Got Firefox & Greasemonkey? Give yourself the option.