On Fri, 11 Jan 2002, Wayne wrote: > John, your proposed newbie questions aren't so trivial. I've had my hands <snipped>
Oops. Now I don't feel so bad being perplexed by some of these things. <g> One item that should be relatively simple that I had to deal with initially was "Where do I put files that I am downloading or installing?" This would a be good time to go over the basics of /etc, /bin, /usr, /var, /tmp, /home, /opt, ... normative uses. Especially good for those coming in from Windows where they are used to C:\Program Files\ and C:\My Documents\. In one of the older Linux magazines, there was good summary of the dirs and their Windows "equivalents". > Password recovery is the only easy thing you mentioned. (what's that say for > security?) :) Depends how you secure the machine. Unshadowed passwords can allow you to do a crack program against /etc/passwd but you have to get the file first. The method I was think of for the newbies is the simple method of booting up as a single user and resetting the pw. The key security warning with this is: If a person can have uninterrupted physical access to the machine, security is very difficult. Applies to any platform or OS. There have been so many firms that go to a fairly decent lenght to use security software on their servers but had the server sitting in an open area or an unlocked room. J.D. Abolins Meyda Online -- Infosec & Privacy Studies New Website: http://www.MeydaOnline.com
