Linux Groups

JJJCR · 12-07-2018, 12:23 AM

Hello guys, if already set groups and users in one system.

If I need to retire the Linux box and I want to migrate to a new box.

How do I copy the groups and user settings?

For the files and directories, is there a way to retain same permissions on the new box after copying?

Thanks for any input.

rosehosting.com · 12-07-2018, 12:32 AM

You can use the rsync command to migrate your files and data over to your new server with the '--numeric-ids' option included.

JJJCR · 12-07-2018, 01:43 AM

i used rsync before to copy files and folders for backup, it does retain permission settings.

But i haven't try rsync to a new system, let's say if I have a group "Sales", "QC", "Deliveries" and each group has members.

Do i need to copy the /etc/config/group in the old system and copy to the new system?

Basically, the one is empty. So, if i used rsync even though it will retain permissions but it won't match anything on the new system since no users or groups has been created.

I think one question would be: how to copy users and group permissions to the new system?

zeebra · 12-07-2018, 11:18 AM

https://unix.stackexchange.com/quest...issions-intact

Quote:

-p same as --preserve=mode,ownership,timestamps

--preserve[=ATTR_LIST]
preserve the specified attributes (default: mode,ownership,timestamps),
if possible additional attributes: context, links, xattr, all

This is in the CP manual if you need to verify.

Quote:

-H, --hard-links preserve hard links
-p, --perms preserve permissions
-E, --executability preserve executability
-A, --acls preserve ACLs (implies -p)
-X, --xattrs preserve extended attributes
-o, --owner preserve owner (super-user only)
-g, --group preserve group
--devices preserve device files (super-user only)
--specials preserve special files
-t, --times preserve modification times

scasey · 12-07-2018, 01:50 PM

Yes. If you cp -p or rsync -a files from the old system to the new system, they will retain the UIDs and GIDs of the old system. If those are unused on the new system, ls will display the IDs instead of a username.

If you create a user on the new system with one of those IDs, the files will then belong to that user.

What I've done in the past is selectively copy those /etc/passwd (and related /etc/shadow) and /etc/group entries to support the user files I've copied over. Not a good idea to copy over every user/group in those files, as the new system may have different assignments for system users than the old system did.

Example: To copy the user scasey who has a group scasey, I'd take these lines:

Code:

from /etc/passwd 
scasey:x:1000:1000:Sean Casey:/home/scasey:/bin/bash
from /etc/shadow
scasey:$OL7jPFOTg598KpTXg::0:99999:7:::
from /etc/group
scasey:x:1000:scasey

(the password field in /etc/shadow posted here is not real)

Actually for /etc/group I'd do something like

Code:

grep scasey /etc/group > scaseygrp.txt

to capture all groups of which scasey is a member

That would preserve and transfer the users to the new system.

alexpaton · 12-11-2018, 09:25 AM

I have previously taken the disk out of an old "retired" computer, and put it in the new one. 99% of things just worked. As I remember, the last time I did that, I believe that the only thing that didn't work was sound, which was easily fixed.

JJJCR · 12-14-2018, 03:48 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by alexpaton

I have previously taken the disk out of an old "retired" computer, and put it in the new one. 99% of things just worked. As I remember, the last time I did that, I believe that the only thing that didn't work was sound, which was easily fixed.

This would be good if you are not upgrading the size of your hard drive or the hard drive is quite new.

But if hard drive size is increased or the hard drive is showing some issue then I guess this method is not ideal.

dc.901 · 12-15-2018, 12:12 PM

When migrating from one machine to other, historically, I have relied on backups (tar or at times commercial products which under the hood runs tar).
Tar does preserve permissions, but mostly I restore from backups because that is also one way I can test that my backups are working correctly.

alexpaton · 12-17-2018, 04:41 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by JJJCR

This would be good if you are not upgrading the size of your hard drive or the hard drive is quite new.

But if hard drive size is increased or the hard drive is showing some issue then I guess this method is not ideal.

In that situation, I MIGHT copy the partition over with gParted, and then tinker with fstab to amend the UUIDs. It depends how much software I would need to install on a fresh install, I suppose.