Using the Passwd Command after Installing NDS for Solaris 2.0
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Novell Inc.
01 Mar 2001
Once NDS for Solaris 2.0 or higher is installed and the pam.conf and nsswitch.conf files are replaced with those provided by Novell, users can no longer use the "passwd'" command to change a Solaris user's password. The reason for this is that Solaris' PAM system allows third-party authentication modules to be added to Solaris and "stacked" so they may be used together. However, the passwd command cannot be stacked. You can only specify NDS or UNIX for the passwd command, but not both.
To get around this issue, use additional parameters with the passwd command to tell it that the change should happen in UNIX files rather than elsewhere. For example, log in as the root user and execute this command:
passwd -r files <username>
Alternatively, UNIX users can change their own passwords if they're logged in as themselves. They can do this by typing the following:
passwd -r files
Also, NetWare users can change their passwords with this command:
passwd
But the root user won't be able to change a NetWare user's NDS password.
* Originally published in Novell AppNotes
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