Subject: [Imap-uw] std vs pmb authent for NIS+

From: "Ken Koch" <[email-masked]>
Date: Fri, 4 Nov 2005 13:23:47 -0600

Which would be a more efficient means of compiling?  PMB or STD authentication on a Solaris 8 box with NIS+?

The pmb loads 2 extra libs (cmd/pam) but might authenticate directly to pam... versus the std compile with 2 less librarys having to check /etc/passwd or nsswitch.conf, fail, then goto pam/nis.

So which one would perform quicker?  I haven't check the stack calls of a pmb lookup because I can't restart inetd right now.  Anyone farmiliar off the top of their head?

-Ken

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From: Mark Crispin <[email-masked]>
Date: Fri, 4 Nov 2005 11:38:23 -0800 (PST)

On Fri, 4 Nov 2005, Ken Koch wrote:
> Which would be a more efficient means of compiling?  PMB or STD 
> authentication on a Solaris 8 box with NIS+?

This is the first that I have heard of "efficiency" being used as a 
decision point on whether or not to use PAM.

Typically, the decision to use PAM is based upon a desire to centralize 
authentication policy within the PAM infrastructure and not to have 
individual daemons make their own decision.  For example, if a site 
decides to validate passwords via LDAP or Kerberos instead of the password 
file, they only need to change the PAM configuration rather than having to 
rebuild all the daemons.

Another reason for a decision to use PAM is that on some systems, PAM is 
the *only* means of password authentication.  For a long time now, most 
systems will not provide the encrypted passwords with getpwnam(); these 
days, there are systems in which getspnam() no longer works usefully (or 
exists).

In general, I recommend that if your system has PAM installed, that you 
use it.  Modern systems should not have any substantial "efficiency" 
concerns, and it's clear that using PAM is going with the flow.

-- Mark --

http://panda.com/mrc
Democracy is two wolves and a sheep deciding what to eat for lunch.
Liberty is a well-armed sheep contesting the vote.
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