[K12OSN] Linux Auth'ing to Novell Edirectory-- Next Question

[Les Mikesell]

On Fri, 2004-06-25 at 11:21, Joe Guenther wrote:

> For fear of being rude, but why did you create all the accounts on the linux
> box?  What then is the point of using eDir?  For me the point was not having
> to create 400 student and staff accounts a second time, and then to keep the
> password sync'd.  But now that you have the user accounts created, why do
> you want the linux <--> novell eDir interaction?

Pam handles authentication and user account management as separate
operations, so it is possible and often useful to create local
Linux accounts but to not have to manage passwords there.  I do
something similar with an NT domain controller.  Only people with
accounts on specific machines can log in or get email but the
passwords don't have to be set there.  Also, it is possible to
configure web server access so it doesn't need any account
info and will set REMOTE_USER for anyone who passes the authentication
step.

---
  Les Mikesell
   les at futuresource.com