Re: [aclug-L] meeting topics

[Jeff <schaller@xxxxxxxxxxx>]

On Fri, 11 Dec 1998, John Reinke wrote:

> Here are a couple of topics I'd like to see in future meetings - the sooner
> the better, since I'm almost done with school and will soon find the time
> to get to some Linux hacking...

We can talk about these at the meeting, but a lot of it is just
syntax, so ...


> 1) Setting up cron jobs - I've heard this is easy to do, but it never hurts
> to see it first.

man cron
man crontab
If cron.allow exists, then you have to be in that file to have cron
jobs. If cron.allow doesn't exist, then you can't be in cron.deny to
have cron jobs.  cron.allow and cron.deny may be in /etc or in
/var/adm, I forget (check the manpages).

The syntax of the crontab file is typically:
minute  hour  monthday  month  weekday  command
Where you can specify each with numbers or a list of numbers or a *.
So to run something at 7:58 on every Monday morning,
58 7 * * 1 /usr/bin/mailx -s 'Monday: Timecard'  schaller < etc/Monday.txt


> 2) Account customization - setting up customized prompts, colored text,
> scripts that get activated at login and logout, etc.

customized prompts would be in your .bashrc or equivalent.
colored text? Maybe you're looking for color_ls?
activity at login and logout can be done in ~/.login and ~/.logout


> 3) System security and account management - what security holes generally
> exist in a newly installed Linux distribution, how do you fix them. What
> are good defaults to use when creating a new account on your system -
> either a networked multiuser system or workstation at home.

Comment out everything you don't need in inetd.conf.
Don't run daemons that you don't need.
Remove extraneous accounts.
Read the cert advisory:
  ftp://ftp.auscert.org.au/pub/auscert/papers/unix_security_checklist
Subscribe to bugtraq and linux-security and <vendor's announce list>
  to keep up-to-date on security & package updates.
Set up ipfwadm to filter/deny/log activity.
Keep track of suid root executables.
Consider running tripwire and/or satan and/or etc.

-jeff

-----
Jeff Schaller, UNIX System Administrator, Learjet Inc.
Phone: 316 946-7255, Fax: 316 946-2809, Attn Jeff Schaller
The above thoughts are mine and are not representative of Learjet.
 10:20am up 28 days, 23:20, 5 users, load average: 0.21, 0.14, 0.11

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