[CentOS] Odd issue with C6 and NIS

Thu Oct 6 22:26:00 UTC 2011
Steve Rikli <sr at genyosha.net>

In article <alpine.LRH.2.02.1110062229170.24568 at pfyva-tcf.pfhavk.pbzc.yrrqf.np.hx>, John Hodrien  <centos at centos.org> wrote:
>On Thu, 6 Oct 2011, Steve Rikli wrote:
>
>> So, back to my original example of automount maps (which I've long thought
>> about implementing in LDAP but never pursued), how do you deal with the
>> situation of needing map(s) loaded, without an active user on the system
>> to authenticate the LDAP query with their username/password?
>
>> That is, NIS clients bind to the NIS server, and thereby have access to
>> auto.home map or what have you, whether a user ever logs into the client
>> system or not.  Automounter is functional and has the map data.
>
>You need an account that can do lookups.  Either you have one 'lookup' account
>that you share between multiple machines,

That's what I thought.  But doesn't that "lookup" account need to have
a published password (and likewise, hardcoded in scripts and config
files and whatnot) in order to do the LDAP querying without end-user
interactivity?

Granted, we're talking about "public data" in this example (i.e. automount
map data) so security isn't a concern for that part; but the "lookup"
account could potentially be used for other means, yes?

> or you do it AD style and have an account per machine.

OK for user workstations, impractical when you're talking about servers,
no?  Or do I misunderstand your example?

> As I do it, this auth is done with a kerberos keytab credential with
> GSSAPI.

Sounds like I would need to research that, then.  This replaces the
need for the "lookup" account, or augments it, or something else
entirely?

>> What's the functional equivalent for LDAP automount maps?
>
>Automount maps work just nicely in LDAP, there's a standard schema and you
>just populate the records and it works.

I grok'd that part; it was the "NIS binding" sort of equivalent behavior
that I was specifically interested in for LDAP.

Cheers,
sr.
-- 
|| Steve Rikli             ||| Every normal man must be tempted, at    ||
|| Systems Administrator   ||| times, to spit on his hands, hoist the  ||
|| Genyosha Networks       ||| black flag, and begin slitting throats. ||
|| sr at genyosha.net         |||               - H. L. Mencken           ||