hierarchical grouping of users

[Mark Keasling]

Hi,

I have a question about user management.  (Well not me in particular
but it was raised here and I've been tasked with finding out.)

Currently user management seems to be done on a one by one basis.  Won't
management become difficult when users number in the thousands or tens
of thousands?

Has there been or is there being done any work on groups in particular
hierarchical groups?  The groups could be used as a target for
management tasks such as setting quotas, access restrictions and what
not.  A change made to the group would be propagated to all of the
members.  The functionality could also be extended to mail delivery
so that mail sent to the group could optionally be delivered to the
members.

Any thoughts?

Regards,
Mark Keasling <mark at air.co.jp>