Missing user/group owner's name in a directory, is this a POSIX issue?

JockVSJock · 08-12-2016, 08:54 AM

We have a RHEL server dedicated to Big Data.

Looking thru a directory, I've noticed that there are no user names and group names, it has been replaced by a string of numeric characters.

This was data that was imported into this server from another UNIX/Linux type server, no one can seem to remember what type and the information has been lost since that former sys admin has moved on.

My manager thought maybe it as a POSIX conflict when it was imported into RHEL.

I've read up on POSIX and to me it seems that it applies to portability of code from one UNIX/Linux system to another and wouldn't have anythign to do with it, correct?

If that is the case, then why the string of numeric characters? On the destination server, there is nothing like that under /etc/passwd or /etc/group.

Code:

[root@server]# ls -al /dir1
total 288480
drwxrwxrwx. 103 root       root          4096 Jul  5 12:12 .
drwxr-xr-x.   7 root       root          4096 Jul  5 12:12 ..
drwx------.   2 4294967295 4294967295 2961408 Jul  1  2014 00
drwx------.   2 4294967295 4294967295 2981888 Jun 26  2014 99
drwx------.   2 4294967295 4294967295 2899968 Jun 26  2014 97
drwx------.   2 4294967295 4294967295 2879488 Jun 26  2014 96
drwx------.   2 4294967295 4294967295 2912256 Jun 26  2014 98
drwx------.   2 4294967295 4294967295 2981888 Jun 26  2014 95
drwx------.   2 4294967295 4294967295 3002368 Jun 26  2014 93
drwx------.   2 4294967295 4294967295 2928640 Jun 26  2014 92
drwx------.   2 4294967295 4294967295 2965504 Jun 26  2014 94
drwx------.   2 4294967295 4294967295 2949120 Jun 26  2014 91
drwx------.   2 4294967295 4294967295 2945024 Jun 26  2014 89
drwx------.   2 4294967295 4294967295 2953216 Jun 26  2014 88
drwx------.   2 4294967295 4294967295 2916352 Jun 26  2014 90
drwx------.   2 4294967295 4294967295 2949120 Jun 26  2014 87
drwx------.   2 4294967295 4294967295 3006464 Jun 26  2014 84
drwx------.   2 4294967295 4294967295 2998272 Jun 26  2014 85
drwx------.   2 4294967295 4294967295 2961408 Jun 26  2014 86
drwx------.   2 4294967295 4294967295 2969600 Jun 26  2014 83
drwx------.   2 4294967295 4294967295 2965504 Jun 26  2014 82
drwx------.   2 4294967295 4294967295 2998272 Jun 26  2014 81
drwx------.   2 4294967295 4294967295 2945024 Jun 26  2014 80
drwx------.   2 4294967295 4294967295 2887680 Jun 26  2014 79
drwx------.   2 4294967295 4294967295 2936832 Jun 26  2014 78
drwx------.   2 4294967295 4294967295 2920448 Jun 26  2014 77
drwx------.   2 4294967295 4294967295 2936832 Jun 26  2014 76
drwx------.   2 4294967295 4294967295 2977792 Jun 26  2014 75
drwx------.   2 4294967295 4294967295 3051520 Jun 26  2014 74
drwx------.   2 4294967295 4294967295 2875392 Jun 26  2014 73
drwx------.   2 4294967295 4294967295 3022848 Jun 26  2014 72
drwx------.   2 4294967295 4294967295 2990080 Jun 26  2014 71
drwx------.   2 4294967295 4294967295 2932736 Jun 26  2014 70
drwx------.   2 4294967295 4294967295 2994176 Jun 26  2014 69
drwx------.   2 4294967295 4294967295 2920448 Jun 26  2014 68
drwx------.   2 4294967295 4294967295 2961408 Jun 26  2014 67
drwx------.   2 4294967295 4294967295 2945024 Jun 26  2014 64
drwx------.   2 4294967295 4294967295 2945024 Jun 26  2014 66
drwx------.   2 4294967295 4294967295 2936832 Jun 26  2014 65
drwx------.   2 4294967295 4294967295 2895872 Jun 26  2014 63
drwx------.   2 4294967295 4294967295 3026944 Jun 26  2014 62
drwx------.   2 4294967295 4294967295 2985984 Jun 26  2014 59
drwx------.   2 4294967295 4294967295 2895872 Jun 26  2014 61
drwx------.   2 4294967295 4294967295 2928640 Jun 26  2014 58
drwx------.   2 4294967295 4294967295 2981888 Jun 26  2014 56
drwx------.   2 4294967295 4294967295 2973696 Jun 26  2014 57
drwx------.   2 4294967295 4294967295 3014656 Jun 26  2014 55
drwx------.   2 4294967295 4294967295 2891776 Jun 26  2014 54
drwx------.   2 4294967295 4294967295 2981888 Jun 26  2014 53
drwx------.   2 4294967295 4294967295 2928640 Jun 26  2014 52
drwx------.   2 4294967295 4294967295 2908160 Jun 26  2014 51
drwx------.   2 4294967295 4294967295 2928640 Jun 26  2014 49
drwx------.   2 4294967295 4294967295 2965504 Jun 26  2014 48
drwx------.   2 4294967295 4294967295 2949120 Jun 26  2014 47
drwx------.   2 4294967295 4294967295 2924544 Jun 26  2014 46
drwx------.   2 4294967295 4294967295 2908160 Jun 26  2014 45
drwx------.   2 4294967295 4294967295 2924544 Jun 26  2014 42
drwx------.   2 4294967295 4294967295 2920448 Jun 26  2014 43
drwx------.   2 4294967295 4294967295 2867200 Jun 26  2014 44
drwx------.   2 4294967295 4294967295 3006464 Jun 26  2014 41
drwx------.   2 4294967295 4294967295 2916352 Jun 26  2014 38
drwx------.   2 4294967295 4294967295 2969600 Jun 26  2014 39
drwx------.   2 4294967295 4294967295 2998272 Jun 26  2014 37
drwx------.   2 4294967295 4294967295 2945024 Jun 26  2014 36
drwx------.   2 4294967295 4294967295 2953216 Jun 26  2014 34
drwx------.   2 4294967295 4294967295 2920448 Jun 26  2014 33
drwx------.   2 4294967295 4294967295 2957312 Jun 26  2014 35
drwx------.   2 4294967295 4294967295 2949120 Jun 26  2014 32
drwx------.   2 4294967295 4294967295 2973696 Jun 26  2014 31
drwx------.   2 4294967295 4294967295 2895872 Jun 26  2014 28
drwx------.   2 4294967295 4294967295 2932736 Jun 26  2014 27
drwx------.   2 4294967295 4294967295 2879488 Jun 26  2014 29
drwx------.   2 4294967295 4294967295 3031040 Jun 25  2014 23
drwx------.   2 4294967295 4294967295 2949120 Jun 25  2014 26
drwx------.   2 4294967295 4294967295 2957312 Jun 25  2014 25
drwx------.   2 4294967295 4294967295 2928640 Jun 25  2014 24
drwx------.   2 4294967295 4294967295 2932736 Jun 25  2014 21
drwx------.   2 4294967295 4294967295 2936832 Jun 25  2014 22
drwx------.   2 4294967295 4294967295 2940928 Jun 25  2014 19
drwx------.   2 4294967295 4294967295 2916352 Jun 25  2014 18
drwx------.   2 4294967295 4294967295 3002368 Jun 25  2014 16
drwx------.   2 4294967295 4294967295 2977792 Jun 25  2014 17
drwx------.   2 4294967295 4294967295 2932736 Jun 25  2014 15
drwx------.   2 4294967295 4294967295 3010560 Jun 25  2014 14
drwx------.   2 4294967295 4294967295 2904064 Jun 25  2014 12
drwx------.   2 4294967295 4294967295 2957312 Jun 25  2014 13
drwx------.   2 4294967295 4294967295 2981888 Jun 25  2014 09
drwx------.   2 4294967295 4294967295 2961408 Jun 25  2014 11
drwx------.   2 4294967295 4294967295 2928640 Jun 25  2014 08
drwx------.   2 4294967295 4294967295 2961408 Jun 25  2014 06
drwx------.   2 4294967295 4294967295 2998272 Jun 25  2014 07
drwx------.   2 4294967295 4294967295 2920448 Jun 25  2014 05
drwx------.   2 4294967295 4294967295 3002368 Jun 25  2014 01
drwx------.   2 4294967295 4294967295 2924544 Jun 25  2014 03
drwx------.   2 4294967295 4294967295 2920448 Jun 25  2014 02
drwx------.   2 4294967295 4294967295 2936832 Jun 25  2014 04
drwx------.   2 4294967295 4294967295 2998272 Jun 25  2014 60
drwx------.   2 4294967295 4294967295 2928640 Jun 25  2014 50
drwx------.   2 4294967295 4294967295 3092480 Jun 25  2014 40
drwx------.   2 4294967295 4294967295 2998272 Jun 25  2014 10
drwx------.   2 4294967295 4294967295 2916352 Jun 25  2014 30
drwx------.   2 4294967295 4294967295 2973696 Jun 25  2014 20
drwx------.   2 root       root         16384 Jun 25  2014 lost+found

wmakowski · 08-12-2016, 10:37 AM

The number you are seeing is most likely a UID with no corresponding username in /etc/passwd. Although that is a very high number I believe it is possible. I don't feel this is a postfix issue. It is probably something that was done during the copy from one box to another.

You could test this out by creating a user/group with that UID.

suicidaleggroll · 08-12-2016, 10:56 AM

Yes, that's what you'll see if you copy files from another machine and preserve permissions, but the new host does not have a user that matches that UID/GID. You will also see that if you mount a remote machine using sshfs, any files that are owned by a UID that is not on your local machine just shows the UID instead of the name. Or if you change the UID associated with a given user name, any files owned by the old UID just show the UID from then on.

All permissions on Linux are done using UID/GID, not names. When ls goes to print the information for a file, it looks in /etc/passwd to see if the UID has an associated name. If it does, it prints the name, otherwise it just prints the UID.

JockVSJock · 08-12-2016, 01:21 PM

Great.

I was looking online and was wondering what the maximum uid/gid is for RHEL6 x86_64.

smallpond · 08-12-2016, 01:47 PM

I believe UID 0xffffffff is for user "nobody".

jailbait · 08-12-2016, 04:07 PM

You can probably fix this problem with the chown command.

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Steve Stites