Problem changing local root password

[Nigel Wade]

Andrew.Bridgeman at corusgroup.com wrote:
> 
> Hi Nick,
> 
> There is a root user in the NIS database, The Sun system that is the NIS
> server creates this entry when the tables are updated.

I think your best option is to modify the ypmake scripts so that the root 
password isn't included.

Having a root password in a NIS database is not good. NIS security is about as 
non-existent as it gets. Passing root passwords about over the net is not good, 
even in their crypt form, and NIS doesn't really care who's asking when it hands 
out the password file.

NIS is a throwback to the good old days, when you could trust the users and 
machines using your network...

-- 
Nigel Wade, System Administrator, Space Plasma Physics Group,
             University of Leicester, Leicester, LE1 7RH, UK
E-mail :    nmw at ion.le.ac.uk
Phone :     +44 (0)116 2523548, Fax : +44 (0)116 2523555