linking /etc/passwd , group, shadow to SAN storage
 

Is there a way to link the above files to a file on a shared storage device?

I have 2 servers running RHEL 5.2 (2.6.18-128.1.1.el5), and they're set up in a simple cluster to allowed for gfs volumes on a SAN.

I'd like to be able to update usernames/passwords on one and they apply to the other system as well.

I tried creating the files on the SAN and creating a symlink in /etc, and that didn't work:

I also tried creating a hard link, but got an error:
Is there a way to do this, or will I have to go to some sort of LDAP authentication to accomplish this?

Thanks for any ideas.

that's a pretty horrible architecture you're trying to create. I totally understand your motivation, but go with LDAP or similar. do things properly. If you really had to hack something simple in, you could use a cron job to periodically pull the latest files off a san and overwrite, but you really want a local file there.

Fair enough. Don't have an LDAP server on this side of the firewall, so I was trying to find a quick & easy fix for a system 4 people will ever log into.

But if you're gonna' do it...

Thanks.

Cronjob is a good idea.

Moreover as I know you cannot have hard links across file systems ?

I dont know it GFS has something different to offer

If i recall right, I'm sure there is a way to specify additional passwd files, which would allow one to have a local passwd and a shared passwd file, but i'm buggered if I can find where to set this, nothing good coming up googling for pam based queries.

Correct.