how to transfer users one system to another?

[ranjitcool]

Hey Guys,

I had to rebuild out web/ftp box so I built a new one. Now how do I transfer all the ftp users to the new system without change of their passwords?

I am able to trasnfer their directories and i added a line to the /etc/passwd of the new server but it fails.

Please help me i have never done this before.

Thanks
RJ

[Rubberman]

You cannot directly edit /etc/passwd and in any case that isn't where the passwords are stored - they are in /etc/shadow. You are better off to use some sort of network directory so all user ID's and passwords are kept in a central repository. You can use NIS, LDAP, or Kerberos for that, which are all supported on Linux. If you have Windows systems and a Windows Directory server, then you can use OpenLDAP client software on your Linux systems to authenticate users that way. In any case, it is never a good idea to directly edit /etc/passwd or /etc/shadow. It can be done, but you can also fubar the system if you don't understand EXACTLY what you are doing.