User name containing a dot (.) cannot login to OES Novell FTP

  • 7014125
  • 15-Nov-2013
  • 15-Nov-2013

Environment

Novell Open Enterprise Server 11 (OES 11) Linux

Situation

A user name containing a dot (.) cannot login to OES Novell FTP, if "remote_server  yes" has been set in /etc/pure-ftpd/pure-ftpd.conf.
 
Side Note:  This document is referring to a name with a dot as part of the CN (common name).  This does not refer to a dot as a context delimiter.  Even so, at this time, logging in with a context specified is not supported by LUM, and will not work.  The feature of logging in through a LUM service with full context specified may be added in the future.

Resolution

The ability to login with names including dots needs to be enabled in the Novell Client for Linux, for this scenario to be supported.
 
Edit (or create) the file:
/etc/opt/novell/ncl/login.conf
 
Set the following parameter:
Allow_Dots_In_Name=true
 
Then save the file.  Nothing needs to be restarted, this will come into effect automatically.

Cause

Pure-ftpd and Novell LUM (Linux User Management) can handle dots in names during a LUM login.  However, when "remote_server  yes" is set in /etc/pure-ftpd/pure-ftpd.conf, an additional login must be done.  In additional to the LUM authentication through pam, pure-ftpd will also execute a nwlogin (Novell NCP client login).  This additional NCP login doesn't handle dots in names by default.  However, that can be enabled.  See the Resolution section of this document.