Migrating Users from One AIX System to Another AIX System
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Question
Migrating Users from One AIX System to Another AIX System
Answer
This document discusses migrating users from one AIX system
to another. This does not include transferring the user's personal data or home
directories.
The information in this document applies to AIX 5.2 and
above.
Since the files involved in the following procedure are flat
ASCII files and their format has not changed from V4 to V5, the users can be
migrated between systems running the same or different versions of AIX (for
example, from V4 to V5).
/etc/passwd
/etc/security/group
/etc/security/limits
/etc/security/passwd
/etc/security/.ids
/etc/security/environ
/etc/security/.profile
NOTE: Edit the passwd file so the
root entry is as follows:
root:!:0:0::/:/usr/bin/ksh
When you copy the /etc/passwd and /etc/group files,
make sure they contain at least a minimum set of essential user and group
definitions.
Listed specifically as users are the following:
·
root
·
daemon
·
bin
·
sys
·
adm
·
uucp
·
guest
·
nobody
·
lpd
Listed specifically as groups are the following:
·
system
·
staff
·
bin
·
sys
·
adm
·
uucp
·
mail
·
security
·
cron
·
printq
·
audit
·
ecs
·
nobody
·
usr
If the bos.compat.links fileset is
installed, you can copy the /etc/security/mkuser.default file
over. If it is not installed, the file belongs in the /usr/lib/security directory.
If you copy over mkuser.default, changes must be
made to the stanzas. Replace group with pgrp, nd program with shell.
A proper stanza should look like the following:
user:
pgrp = staff
groups = staff
shell = /usr/bin/ksh
home = /home/$USER
The following files may also be copied over, as long as the
AIX version in the new machine is the same:
/etc/security/login.cfg
/etc/security/user
NOTE: If you decide to copy these two files, open the
/etc/security/user file and make
sure that variables such as tty, registry, auth1 and so forth are set properly
with the new machine. Otherwise, do not copy these two files, and just add all
the user stanzas to the new created files in the new machine.
Once the files are moved over, execute the following:
usrck -t ALL
pwdck -t ALL
grpck -t ALL
This will clear up any discrepancies (such as uucp not
having an entry in /etc/security/passwd). Ideally this should be
run on the source system before copying over the files as well as after porting
these files to the new system.
NOTE: It is possible to find user ID conflicts
when migrating users from older versions of AIX to newer versions. AIX has added
new user IDs in different release cycles. These are reserved IDs and should not
be deleted. If your old user IDs conflict with the newer AIX system user IDs,
it is advised that you assign new user IDs to these older IDs.