Datasheet

“main” (Installation and Administration) — 2004/6/25 — 13:29 — page 96 — #122
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‘Boot Settings’ Specify how the key combination
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Ctrl -
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Alt -
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Del should
be interpreted by selecting the action from the drop-down list. Usu-
ally, this combination, entered in the text console, causes the system
to reboot. Do not modify this setting unless your machine or server is
publicly accessible and you are afraid someone could carry out this
action without authorization. If you select ‘Stop’, this key combina-
tion causes the system to shut down. With ‘Ignore’, this key combina-
tion is ignored.
Specify the ‘Shutdown Behavior of KDM’ by granting permission to
shut down the system from the KDE Display Manager, the graphical
login of KDE. Give permission to ‘Only root’ (the system administra-
tor), ‘All users’, ‘Nobody’, or ‘Local users’. If ‘Nobody’ is selected, the
system can only be shut down via the text console.
‘Login Settings’ Typically, following a failed login attempt, there is a wait-
ing period lasting a few seconds before another login is possible. This
makes it more difficult for password sniffers to log in. Optionally ac-
tivate ‘Record failed login attempts’ and ‘Record successful login at-
tempts’. If you suspect someone is trying to discover your password,
check the entries in the system log files in /var/log. With ‘Allow
remote graphical login’, other users are granted access to your graph-
ical login screen via the network. However, as this access possibility
represents a potential security risk, it is inactive by default.
‘Add User Settings’ Every user has a numerical and an alphabetical user
ID. The correlation between these is established via the file /etc/
passwd and should be as unique as possible.
Using the data in this screen, define the range of numbers assigned to
the numerical part of the user ID when a new user is added. A min-
imum of 500 is suitable for users. Proceed in the same way with the
group ID settings.
‘Miscellaneous Settings’ For ‘Setting of file permissions’, there are three
selection options: ‘Easy’, ‘Secure’, and ‘Paranoid’. The first one should
be sufficient for most users. The YaST help text provides information
about the three security levels.
The setting ‘Paranoid’ is extremely restrictive and can serve as the
basic level of operation for system administrator settings. If you se-
lect ‘Paranoid’, remember that some programs might not work or not
work correctly, because users no longer have the permissions to ac-
cess certain files. In this dialog, also define which user should start
the updatedb program. This program, which automatically runs
96 2.7. Security and Users