On Tue, Oct 03, 2000 at 06:50:14PM -0400, Mjo wrote:
> We have 2 leads into a few 486 machines, which will help emmensely! YAY!
What do you plan on using these 486 machines for? Only thing I can think of
that a 486 could handle would be simple NAT, or perhaps a mail server that
doesnt have a big work load.
>
> KSC has traditionally had a Linux server that held student accounts for mail
> and web pages. "Junior Sys Admin" was an independent study for running this
> box. This summer it was used by a couple of people to break into places such as
> Bell Atlantic. The college administration has in absolutely no uncertain terms
> decreed that we may only have a Linux box if it is NOT attached to the outside
> world. This is unfortunately not up for any debate. Linux in a vacum makes
> very little practical sense, but that's what we have to work with. Because
> this makes the "Junior Sys Admin" role almost entirely moot, it will be
> WONDERFUL to keep Linux possibilities here through the LUG.
Yeah, I knew the Senior Admin of that box. He was a nice guy, but he didn't
know anything about Linux. When I first went to Keene, it was running Slackware
setup by this kid Jamie Fullerton(sp?) who definately knew his stuff. Then
something happened (can't remember what), and Shilo decided to install Red Hat.
First of all, that was probably his first mistake. I just read on Slashdot that
Red Hat 7.0 had over like 2,500 documented bugs, or something outrageous like
that. I'm not saying Red Hat can't be locked down, but it is definately the
last distribution I would look at for a server environment. That, and coupled
with the fact he didn't know how to secure a box made for an easy target. He
always installed the defaults in Red Hat (I watched him install Red Hat one
time), and didn't take care to remove anything he wasn't using or didn't need.
During the first few weeks, I gave him some friendly pointers on making the box
a little more secure without going into stuff like suid binaries, or editing
his fstab, and he replied back saying that he didn't appriciate me trying to
tell him how to do his job. Perhaps it was jealousy (mind you I was a freshman,
and he was a junior), but I guess I will never know. I think it was about that
time when I knew Keene State College was a waste of my time and money.
Needless to say, when that box was cracked, my name came up a few times.
Why? I believe the main reason to be the fact that I actually _knew_ what I was
doing in a Linux environment. I do wish the KSCLUG all the luck in the world
with their Linux ventures, it's unfortunate that they can't connect the linux
box to the outside world, because IMHO, it should be the admin's fault, not the
colleges, because a Linux box can be secured, as long as the admin knows what
he/she is doing.
</rant> :)
> We had a fair mix of people. A few newbies, a few middle-ish (like myself) and
> a few who have spent a lot of time running it, though not professionally.
>
> Here are some of the topics people expressed interest in on the sheet I passed
> out:
> Apache esp writing modules
> Security
> Relational DBs
> Scripting languages, i.e. TCL
> DHCP
> Programming in Linux C/Java/etc
> Sniffers
>
> I'm sure there will be a lot more. Any ideas invited.
>
> Anyway, getting rather long here. I often feel like I spend my entire life
> with the -v switch on.
>
> Our next meeting is 2 weeks from now, Tuesday October 17th at 1:30 pm in
> Science 119 at Keene State. The agenda is to vote on our constitution, elect a
> couple officers, install some distro or other on a machine we can get our hands
> on. Shiloh, our ex-linux admin/current NT admin is setting up an e-mail list
> for us.
>
> Any and all advice/help very, very welcome!
>
> -Marthajo McCarthy
> KSCLUG Chairman
>
> P.S. I just bought a palm pilot- if anyone has any astounding tips on how to
> get it working in Linux, feel free to e-mail me!
>
> --
> Martha Jo McCarthy
> [EMAIL PROTECTED] (alternate: [EMAIL PROTECTED]) Yeehaa!
>
>
>
>
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--
Tony Lambiris [[EMAIL PROTECTED]]
OpenBSD: Because I care. [www.openbsd.org]
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