sysf, linuxconf and NIS. Sysf is a complementary tool to linuxconf and NIS. One should
use NIS for every system file that it supports but sysf should
still be used to archive the local system file. For example, the list of
users should be maintained using NIS, ensuring the users can change
their passwords and that they are updated across the network. Nevertheless,
the /etc/passwd file can be archived using sysf. One can then
use sysf to check that the passwd file content ownership or modes
have not been modified by an intruder. One should also archive the
/etc/shadow file with sysf
to check against any password modification (only the shadow file on
the NIS master server should be expected to change when users change their
password). If the passwd and shadow files are identical on some
group of computers, one can use sysf to modify the root password
globally across that host group, except on the NIS master server.
linuxconf offers a simple way to configure a computer using a nice
graphical interface. One can use it to edit the appropriate system
files and then use sysf to archive them. Any file that is
identical across a group of computers can then be distributed using
sysf instead of running linuxconf on each separate computer.
Using directory lists for the directories that contain system files,
typically /etc and its sub-directories, one can easily find out
which file have been modified.