UNIX System Administration Handbook, Third Edition

18 Sharing System Files

A properly functioning system depends on tens, perhaps hundreds, of configuration files all containing the right pieces of information. When you multiply the number of configuration files on a host by the number of hosts on a network, the result can be thousands of files—too many to manage by hand.

In the real world, machines are often similar from an administrative point of view. Instead of editing text files on each machine, it’s more efficient to combine machines into groups that share configuration information. You can combine machines in several different ways.

The simplest way is to keep a master copy of each configuration ...