The passwd table contains information about the accounts of users in a domain. These users generally are, but do not have to be, NIS+ principals. Remember though, that if they are NIS+ principals, their credentials are not stored here, but in the domain's cred table. The passwd table usually grants read permission to the world (or to nobody).
Note: There should not be any entry in this table for the user root (user ID 0). Root's password information should be stored and maintained in the machine's /etc files.
The information in the passwd table is added when users' accounts are created.
The passwd table contains the following columns:
| Column | Description |
|---|---|
| Name | The user's login name, which is assigned when the user's account is created; the name can contain no uppercase characters and can have a maximum of eight characters |
| Passwd | The user's encrypted password |
| UID | The user's numerical ID, assigned when the user's account is created |
| GID | The numerical ID of the user's default group |
| GCOS | The user's real name plus information that the user wishes to include in the From: field of a mail-message heading; an "&" in this column simply uses the user's login name |
| Home | The path name of the user's home directory. |
| Shell | The user's initial shell program. |
| Shadow | (See Passwd Table Shadow Column (the following table).) |
The passwd table shadow column stores restricted information about user accounts. It includes the following information: