Endpoint Administration Guide for UNIX › Managing Policy Models › Automatic Rule-based Policy Updates › UID/GID Synchronization › Synchronize Users and Groups

Synchronize Users and Groups

To ensure the lists of users and groups in your various databases correspond correctly at all times, you need an initial set of identical lists. Because the password and group files are so important, synchronize them before they begin accumulating local user and group information.

To synchronize users and groups

1. Copy your /etc/passwd file and /etc/group file to your Policy Model directory.

   This is a one‑time procedure that destroys any previous passwd and group files in your Policy Model directory (PMDB Location on Disk, PMDB Location on Disk).

   Note: If you are using a shadow file and want to synchronize passwords, we recommend using the secrepsw utility. For more information, see the Reference Guide.

2. Copy the /etc/passwd file and /etc/group file to each subscriber computer so that they are identical to the ones on your own computer.
3. On the computer where the PMDB resides, ensure that the synch_uid token in your pmd.ini file is set to yes.

   By default, the value of the token synch_uid is yes. If you ever want a subscriber database to have independent default UIDs and default GIDs (that is, not necessarily attempting to match those of the PMDB), you can set synch_uid to no.