PMDF Installation Guide
Linux Edition


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1.2 Preliminary Tasks for New Installations

There are several tasks that should be performed prior to installing PMDF for the first time. These tasks are outlined in the sections below.

1.2.1 Create PMDF and PMDFUSER Accounts

You must add two user accounts for PMDF to the system password file and specify (but not create) the accounts' home directories. Specify pmdf as the first username with /pmdf/queue as its home directory, and specify pmdfuser as the second username, also with /pmdf/queue as its home directory. Be sure that the user ids and group ids for the pmdf and pmdfuser accounts are distinct from each other and from those of any other accounts on your system.

To add these accounts, you may use the groupadd and useradd utilities, making sure to specify but not create the home directories, as described in Section 1.2.1.1 below, or you may use the /usr/sbin/vipw utility to manually edit the system password file, /etc/passwd, and add the accounts, and then edit the system shadow file, /etc/shadow, similarly, as described in Section 1.2.1.2 below. Or you may use any other utility provided by your Linux distribution to create accounts.

Note

Make sure to specify that the home directory of the pmdf and pmdfuser accounts (/pmdf/queue) should not be created.

1.2.1.1 Using GROUPADD and USERADD to Add the Accounts

This section describes how to use the groupadd and useradd utilities to add the required pmdf and pmdfuser accounts.

Issue the commands


# groupadd pmdf
# useradd -c "PMDF" -d /pmdf/queue -M -s /bin/sh -f 0 -e "" -g pmdf pmdf
# groupadd pmdfuser
# useradd -c "PMDF user" -d /pmdf/queue -M -s /bin/sh -f 0 -e "" -g pmdfuser pmdfuser
Then use the passwd command to set real passwords for the two new accounts.

1.2.1.2 Editing the /etc/passwd and /etc/shadow Files to Add the Accounts

This section describes how to use the /usr/sbin/vipw utility to manually edit the system password file, and add the required pmdf and pmdfuser accounts. Specify /pmdf/queue as the home directory for both accounts. Be sure that the user ids and group ids of the pmdf and pmdfuser accounts are distinct from each other and from those of any other accounts on your system.

Invoke vipw to manually edit the system password file. Upon saving the system password file, you will be prompted to also update the system shadow file, /etc/shadow, with entries for these accounts. (Note that in order to make system administration more manageable, it is usually recommended that shadow entries be added in exactly the same order as password entries.) Create entries for the pmdf and pmdfuser accounts in the system shadow file having arbitrary random strings in place of real passwords, save the system shadow file, and then use the passwd command to set real passwords for the two new accounts.

For example, if your system has no accounts with user id or group id 30 or 31, then an example of appropriate entries to add to /etc/passwd is:


pmdf:x:30:30:PMDF:/pmdf/queue:/bin/sh 
pmdfuser:x:31:31:PMDF user:/pmdf/queue:/bin/sh 

An example of appropriate initial entries for the system shadow file is:


pmdf:xxxxxxxxxxxxx::::::: 
pmdfuser:yyyyyyyyyyyyy::::::: 
Then use the passwd command to set real passwords for the two new accounts.


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