The rdist package can be used to update files on a collection of hosts from a central host. This is what I do from Altrop (4.10.20) where the password and group files are maintained.
On Altrop (4.10.20) in /root/distfile I have the following:
KTNET = ( inco punto cultus festival atom brick prefect ) FILES = ( /etc/passwd /etc/shadow /etc/group /etc/gshadow /etc/apt/sources.list /etc/printcap /etc/resolv.conf ) ${FILES} -> ${KTNET} install -oyounger,chknfs,savetargets;
Thus I have seveb hosts that are updated with seven files from altrop. The options for install include: younger so that if the remote host has update the files they won't be updated from altrop, and instead I need to have a look at them to see what has changed; chknfs so that NFS mounted files are not updated; and savetargets so that old copies are placed in .OLD files so I can then compare what has changed!
The command to do the update is:
# rdist -F -P /usr/bin/ssh
This will use ssh to communicate and will do it serially (-F) so that the passwords that are asked for don't interfere with each other!