[SGVLUG] LDAP or NIS migration from /etc/passwd

[Terry Hancock]

These are probably really dumb questions, but I've been trying to tease
the answers out of the various LDAP and NIS howtos I've found, without
much luck (they all seem to assume you know these answers already):

Context:

My problem is that I now have about 4-5 computers on my home LAN, each
of which has about 5-7 user accounts. None of them match UIDs and GIDs,
unless by sheer luck.

I'm setting up a server machine to maintain backups for them all (using
a strategy based on Mike Rubel's rsync write-up, BTW -- thanks!), and I
don't want the UIDs and permissions to get all snared up.

So...questions:

Q#1: Do I in fact need NIS or LDAP? Or is there a simpler way to solve
my problem?

(This is not a corporate LAN, it's just my home, but it's still becoming
difficult to keep track of).

Q#2: Are NIS and LDAP roughly equivalent competitors for this
application? (Or is one for one task, and the other for another?) If so,
which should I pick, and why?

(Seems like LDAP is the "good new, but complicated way" and NIS is the
"bad old, but well-documented way" -- but that's just a first
impression. Some sources suggest that NIS is dead, and I should just use
LDAP no matter what).

Q#3: Assuming I successfully set up either NIS or LDAP-based
authentication using my new server, how do I actually get the clients'
filesystems to work with it. Will I have to change the numeric UIDs on
all of those files? Or will the server somehow sort that out so I don't
have to?

Q#4: If I do have to change all of those UIDs, is there a clean and easy
tool to help do that?

(I once managed to do that on a couple of laptops with some hellaciously
long find/-exec commands and some experimentation, but it wasn't really
pretty. Back then I only had two machines and two users to worry about,
now it's more like 5x5, as I said -- much more opportunity for error).

Any suggestions appreciated,
Terry

-- 
Terry Hancock (hancock at AnansiSpaceworks.com)
Anansi Spaceworks http://www.AnansiSpaceworks.com