passwd Table

The passwd table contains information about the accounts of users in a domain. These users generally are, but do not have to be, NIS+ principals. Remember though, that if they are NIS+ principals, their credentials are not stored here, but in the domain's cred table. The passwd table usually grants read permission to the world (or to nobody).

---

Note -

The passwd table should not have an entry for the user root (user ID 0). Root's password information should be stored and maintained in the machine's /etc files.

---

The information in the passwd table is added when users' accounts are created.

The passwd table contains the following columns:

Table C-12 passwd Table

Column	Description
Name	The user's login name, which is assigned when the user's account is created; the name can contain no uppercase characters and can have a maximum of eight characters
Passwd	The user's encrypted password
UID	The user's numerical ID, assigned when the user's account is created
GID	The numerical ID of the user's default group
GCOS	The user's real name plus information that the user wishes to include in the From: field of a mail-message heading; an "&" in this column simply uses the user's login name
Home	The path name of the user's home directory.
Shell	The user's initial shell program; the default is the Bourne shell: /usr/bin/sh.
Shadow	(See Table C-13.)

The passwd table shadow column stores restricted information about user accounts. It includes the following information:

Table C-13 passwd Table Shadow Column

Item	Description
Lastchg	The number of days between January 1, 1970, and the date the password was last modified
Min	The minimum number of days recommended between password changes
Max	The maximum number of days that the password is valid
Warn	The number of days' warning a user receives before being notified that his or her password has expired
Inactive	The number of days of inactivity allowed for the user
Expire	An absolute date past which the user's account is no longer valid
Flag	Reserved for future use: currently set to 0.

Earlier Solaris releases used a +/- syntax in local /etc/passwd files to incorporate or overwrite entries in the NIS password maps. Since the Solaris Release 2x environment uses the name service switch file to specify a workstation's sources of information, this is no longer necessary. All you have to do in Solaris Release 2x systems is edit a client's /etc/nsswitch.conf file to specify files, followed by nisplus as the sources for the passwd information. This effectively adds the contents of the passwd table to the contents of the /etc/passwd file.

However, if you still want to use the +/- method, edit the client's nsswitch.conf file to add compat as the passwd source if you are using NIS. If you are using NIS+, add passwd_compat: nisplus.