AGUS: An Automatic Multi-Platform Account Generation System
Paul Riddle - Hughes STX Corporation
Paul Danckaert - University of Maryland, Baltimore County
Matt Metaferia - MCI Telecommunications
Abstract
As a computer network grows to accommodate thousands of
users across many different types of hardware, account generation
becomes an increasingly large burden on system administrators.
Computer vendors often provide tools to create accounts; however,
these tools tend to be specific to the vendor's hardware and OS,
and most of them do not provide the degree of automation
necessary to avoid a lot of repetitive work.
In a large network with a constantly changing user base, an
automated account generation system would greatly ease the burden
on the system administrators. Many such tools exist, but none of
them provide support for many varied platforms such as UNIX,
Novell, and VMS. We have attempted to address this issue by
designing AGUS, an acronym for Account Generation Utility System.
AGUS is a distributed, networked, multi-platform account
generation system which requires no administrator intervention
during normal operation. It is currently in active use at our
site, and handles account generation for several UNIX workstation
and Novell-based PC/Mac networks, as well as a VAX running VMS.
As of this writing, it has been used to create over 15,000
accounts.
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