Sync UNIX and NT passwords? - was Re: Did I miss something?

[James Sutherland]

On Fri, 28 Jul 2000, John E. Malmberg wrote:

> Ron Alexander <rcalex at home.com> wrote:
> 
> > Maybe I missed it, but is it possible to synch my Unix password to my NT
> > password?
> >
> > I know how to synch my smbpasswd and Linux, but I was just wondering if
> > anyone had a way to do all 3 at the same time.
> 
> Yes, and no.
> 
> There are various ways to have one password for all systems.  On Microsoft
> Windows there is a security DLL and registry key that you can enhance with
> your own routine.  This can relay the password information to your LINUX
> system, so you can set it.

NISGINA does this for NT machines using a NIS database, IIRC. I can't
remember the URL offhand, though :-(

> This seems to require that the modified dll be present on any Microsoft
> Windows machine that you log in on.

Correct.

> An example with source is supplied with the Windows NT resource Kit CD-ROMs,
> and may be available for download somewhere on the Microsoft site.
> 
> 
> Not being experienced in that part of LINUX/UNIX, I am not aware of how
> exactly PAM works, but it seems that it could be used to have your LINUX
> system use the NT system to validate your signon.  If your smb.conf is also
> set up with passthrough authentication, then all is well.

There is another, easier way - Novell's NDS implementation can be used via
NT domains. Just install their replacement DLL on the Domain Controllers,
and it will redirect all authentication requests into the NDS tree. All
the other machines in the domain just see it as a normal NT Domain auth.


James.