Topic: Userlist import

[Darrell May]

I would like to see e-smith have a userlist import function whereby you could add multiple users quickly by importing a file, say in comma-separated-value format.  The file should contain fields for all possible user entries such as firstname, lastname, fullname, alias, password, e-mail aliases, groups, home-directory, company, address, department, phone, fax etc.  As an example, a field for Groups should create the group (if new) and add the user as a member during the import process.  A field for 'ibay' should create the 'ibay' (if new) and add user/group membership during the import process.

A feature such as this would greatly reduce the e-smith server set up time, either at new installation or for cloning or as a disaster recovery option.

[Gordon Rowell]

Darrell May wrote:

> I would like to see e-smith have a userlist import function
> whereby you could add multiple users quickly by importing a
> file, say in comma-separated-value format.  The file should
> contain fields for all possible user entries such as firstname,
> lastname, fullname, alias, password, e-mail aliases, groups,
> home-directory, company, address, department, phone, fax etc.
> As an example, a field for Groups should create the group (if
> new) and add the user as a member during the import process.  A
> field for 'ibay' should create the 'ibay' (if new) and add
> user/group membership during the import process.

This exists (with the exception of the password), though there is no
web interface for it. You can create an accounts database and
then call user-create, ibay-create, etc. for each of the accounts
in the accounts database.

All of the web interface panels call a set of scripts - see
www.e-smith.org for details of how this all goes together.

> A feature such as this would greatly reduce the e-smith server
> set up time, either at new installation or for cloning or as a
> disaster recovery option.

We know - that's why the user interface is decoupled from the
action scripts. Have a good look under the covers and then direct
any follow-up to the Advanced Forum or better yet, join our
developer list.

Gordon

[Darrell May]

I believe the target audiance for e-smith and one of it's largest selling points is that it is easy to use and administer for non-technical Linux users.  I certainly fit into this group as I am a non-technical Linux user.  I'll leave looking under the covers for the bedroom

To continue with my wish.  The userlist import should be a function under the e-smith Manager account set up.  Where we currently have 'Click here to create a user account' we should have a second option of 'Click here to import a userlist' with a browse button to select the userlist file location.  This would be the prefered set up.

As a secondary solution, a command line interface could be implemented, where as an example it could look like this:

root> userimport filename

However, even though the above command may look simple, again I think you loose a lot of non-technical users when you mention command line utilities.  Better to implement this feature in the e-smith Manager web interface.

[Gordon Rowell]

Darrell May wrote:

> I believe the target audiance for e-smith and one of it's
> largest selling points is that it is easy to use and administer
> for non-technical Linux users.  I certainly fit into this group
> as I am a non-technical Linux user.  I'll leave looking under
> the covers for the bedroom

Sure, and my apologies if my tone came across as dismissive - it
wasn't meant to be. I was trying to explain that the e-smith
architecture made this fairly easy and that all of our accounts
are created through the equivalent of a bulk upload.

> To continue with my wish.  The userlist import should be a
> function under the e-smith Manager account set up.  Where we
> currently have 'Click here to create a user account' we should
> have a second option of 'Click here to import a userlist' with
> a browse button to select the userlist file location.  This
> would be the prefered set up.

That sounds reasonable.

> As a secondary solution, a command line interface could be
> implemented, where as an example it could look like this:
>
> root> userimport filename
>
> However, even though the above command may look simple, again I
> think you loose a lot of non-technical users when you mention
> command line utilities.  Better to implement this feature in
> the e-smith Manager web interface.

I agree. The "under the covers" is for developers. If it's a general
feature, it should appear in the web interface.

Gordon

[Jeff Williams]

I know of an administrative system that does this for schools in australia.  Some of these schools inport 1600 records at the beginning of each year.  Not what e-smith is designed for but shure makes administration easy.

A default password is normally in the import list which is the students birthday.

Love to see this feature in the future.