HP-UX System Administrator's Guide: Configuration Management

Press Return to use the default values. To provide missing information later, log
in to a terminal as superuser and execute the command /sbin/set_parms. See
“Setting System and Network Parameters” (page 41).
3. Specify a root password.
The user name for the superuser is root.
The system completes its start-up sequence and displays the desktop login screen.
4. Log in as root for your first session.
5. Establish the environment for the root user. See “Configuring Root” (page 47).
6. Set up and configure additional security, as suggested in the Important note above.
See the HP-UX System Administrator’s Guide: Security Management. Some security
measures might have been set up during the installation process. See the HP-UX
11i v3 Installation and Update Guide.
7. Add users as needed. See “Configuring Users and Groups” (page 49).
8. Set up NFS if desired. See “Configuring Networking” (page 75).
Preventing Users from Logging In
One of the issues for system administrators is how to keep nonsuperusers from logging
in to a system while system configuration or system maintenance is underway. This
can be accomplished with the combination of the /etc/nologin file and the NOLOGIN
variable in the /etc/default/security file.
If /etc/nologin exists and NOLOGIN=1, nonsuperusers are barred from logging in.
What they will see is a system-generated message (Only...security) followed by
the contents of /etc/nologin. For example:
Only superusers are allowed to login at this time due to the presence
of the file /etc/nologin and NOLOGIN option set in /etc/default/security
-=+ SYSTEM MAINTENANCE +=-
This system (hprdc185) is undergoing system maintenance. We expect to
return to full service on Thursday morning at 9 a.m. Pacific Time.
Thank you.
Procedure 2-2 To set up the login barricade
1. Create or edit the file /etc/nologin. It can be empty, but users might appreciate
some information on why the system is unavailable.
2. Edit the file /etc/default/security and set the NOLOGIN line to NOLOGIN=1.
Procedure 2-3 To restore normal system access
• Do at least one of the following:
a. Edit the file /etc/default/security and set the NOLOGIN line to
NOLOGIN=0.
b. Delete the file /etc/nologin.
You can also use the ch_rc command to modify the NOLOGIN variable (see ch_rc(1M)).
36 Configuring System Parameters