BSDI admin and security
Ian
an isp, and now i need to learn how to use it! can anyone suggest good
resource on both admin and security? and also how to make the switch from
linux to bsdi? any help would be great!
Thanks
Ian
--
To unsubscribe, send 'unsubscribe' to bsdi-user...@mailinglists.org
Archives of this list can be found at: http://www.nexial.com/mailinglists/
Scott Putman
system's administration handbook. It doesn't deal a whole lot on security
but is great for system administration and has specific BSD references.
You can get a glance at it at this address;
http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ASIN/0131510517/o/qid=927386195/sr=2-1/002
-5193098-9668207
The BSD reference manual is also a great resource if you have a specific
task that needs to be done. It does have a nasty habit of referring you to
the on-line man pages for more information though. Many books published by
O'Reilly and Associates are excellent too.
.scott.
se...@plethora.net
>i just put in an order for a brand new bdsi box to be used as a server for
>an isp, and now i need to learn how to use it! can anyone suggest good
>resource on both admin and security? and also how to make the switch from
>linux to bsdi? any help would be great!
There's a couple of different questions to be looked at.
If you know Linux pretty well, and you're converting, you'll have *VERY*
different questions from if you don't know either of them, and you're really
just starting out.
One of the best resources is going to be your manual; lots of information on
how to set things up.
There's a lot of good books, of course. But mostly, the best resource is
to hang around on related mailing lists and newsgroups and read everything
you can.
-s
Ian
netowrking at home.. and i've been hanging around on this mailing list,
firewalls, portmasters, and a couple others.. i'd just like to know what
kind of steps would be needed to properly secure this machine (4.0.1) that
i'm having built. i know ppl that use bsdi and i'm sure will do some
'independent testing'
Thank you to all that have responded! and keep the ideas coming. i'll let
you know how it turs out. should have my box by the end of the week!
Thanks
Ian
Greg Black
> resource on both admin and security? and also how to make the switch from
> linux to bsdi?
When moving to any new system, the most important thing is to
learn how to approach things on that system, without too much
focus on how you might have done it on some other system. If
there are significant similarities between the systems, as is
the case for a Linux->BSDI move, then much of what you already
know will stand you in good stead, but only as background.
So how do you learn the new system? If it's any kind of Unix
system, and particularly if it's a BSD-type system, it comes
with a vast array of documentation, both in the form of the
traditional Unix manuals and in the form of the supplementary
documentation found in /usr/share/doc and in the extra doc and
info directories associated with many of the major contributed
packages. The final source of important documentation provided
with the system is the collection of system shell scripts that
are used to start it up and which are run by cron for periodic
maintenance and verification -- those scripts point to many
other things that are worth learning about.
Of course good books, mailing lists, knowledgeable colleagues,
FAQ lists, and all the other obvious sources of supplementary
information are also very important, in fact essential. But the
first source of information is the stuff you get for free with
the system -- it's correct for the particular system (which
books never are), it will cover more of the system than any
other source, and somebody who is comfortable with the system
documentation will always be several steps ahead of the the
people who think they can do it all off the top of their head or
just by asking for help on lists like this. Unless you know
enough to ask good questions, it's difficult to extract good
answers -- not least because those who are qualified to provide
the good answers often cannot be bothered to make special
efforts to re-write all the existing good documentation just to
help somebody who hasn't made some investment in his or her own
learning process.
On the other hand, well-researched questions (or even questions
which demonstrate that some efforts have been made and that show
clearly what has been tried and how the outcomes differ from the
expectations) will frequently encourage somebody to tackle the
job of writing a thorough explanation that will help not only
the person with the original problem but also other subscribers
to the list -- not to mention future researchers who are doing
the right thing and checking the list archives for help before
asking the same old questions yet again.
The downside to the approach I am recommending is that it will
involve a significant investment of time and effort before it
can bear fruit. However, any complex system demands such an
investment if it is to be mastered, or even if it is to be used
in any remotely useful manner. The upside, as always with this
kind of approach, is control of one's own destiny and the
ability to contribute meaningfully to the community of people
who operate in the particular arena.
If this whole thing sounds like an expansion of the RTFM macro,
that's not entirely coincidental :-)
--
Greg Black -- <g...@acm.org> or <g...@computer.org>
--
BSD Unix software development, documentation and consulting.
No Microsoft or Microsoft-compatible products used or supported.
Edwin Rivera
>should have my box by the end of the week!
>
just out of curiosity, who'd you order your box from? I order mine from
Telenet. I hear they actually build the boxes for the ppl at bsdi. can
anyone confirm this? Thanks!
Highest Regards,
<edw...@visualcom.net>
"may the unix light shine down on thee"
Ian
from telenet.
Ian
----- Original Message -----
From: Edwin Rivera <edw...@visualcom.net>
To: Ian <reil...@technotic.com>; <bsdi-...@bsdi.com>
Sent: Monday, May 24, 1999 4:23 AM
Subject: Re: BSDI admin and security
>