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Date:      Fri, 17 May 1996 19:26:58 +0930 (CST)
From:      Michael Smith <msmith@atrad.adelaide.edu.au>
To:        reyes01@ibm.net
Cc:        questions@freebsd.org
Subject:   Re: Where are daemons started & books on system adminstration?
Message-ID:  <199605170956.TAA12294@genesis.atrad.adelaide.edu.au>
In-Reply-To: <199605170336.DAA110139@pop01.ny.us.ibm.net> from "Francisco Reyes" at May 16, 96 11:35:25 pm

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Francisco Reyes stands accused of saying:
> 
> I have an opportunity to showcase Freebsd at work. In other words
> I am suggesting a project to be done with FreeBSD and have got
> positive signs. One of the concerns though have been security.

FreeBSD is pretty good on the security front.  In many ways it's more
secure than most commercial systems because it's open to criticism,
and responds rapidy.

> While I am learning user related topics at home I am going to need
> a crash course in Unix administration since at work I will have to
> manage users.

Is there any other sort of way to learn administration?  8)

> The questions:
> When Freebsd boots I have noticed that it starts certain daemons. I don't
> recall which ones, but at least the ftp daemon is loaded. I need to dissable
> ftp, find out other daemons that are loaded and perhaps stop them from
> loading too. I want to start with a news server ONLY to begin with until
> I get better acquainted with the other daemons.

Ok, several things :

 - the FTP server is not loaded at system startup.
 - you don't necessarily need to disable anything to improve security.

The default configuration of a FreeBSD machine is pretty tight.  You can
improve it considerably by editing /etc/sysconfig and changing
the 'sendmail_flags=' value to "NO".  Note that this will make it impossible
for the system to receive mail.

The next thing to look at is the /etc/inetd.conf file.  This controls
the 'inetd' program, which in turn manages most of the network-related
daemons.  Read the documentation, and start disabling things.  A good
set to start with would be shell, login, uucpd, finger, bootps, tftp,
comsat, ntalk, echo, discard(both of them), chargen, daytime, time,
klogin, eklogin, kshell, pcnfsd.

ie. almost everything.  Leave 'ftp' and 'telnet' in so that you can login
and shift files around from other machines.

Then go get the INN FAQ, and ask the isp@freebsd.org mailing list if someone
will mentor you as you get it set up.

> I would also appreciate suggestions with Unix administration books.
> I am going to check the handbook for the suggestions there, but what
> I need is a book that could be easily found in a bookstore. Some of the
> books suggested in the handbook are not readily available. Last time
> I stopped by my favorite computer bookstore the only thing I could find
> related to BSD was a book with the "design" of freebsd. What other Unix,
> preferably commercial, is close enough to FreeBSD so I could get the
> admin details from it.  Perhaps an O'reilly(?) book (do they mail order?)
> may do the trick.

O'Reilly do indeed do mail order, as well as taking orders on the web.  
There are plenty of other bookstores on the web as well, many are much
cheaper.

Failing that, the handbook lists most of the books' ISBN numbers, which
means that any halfway-good bookstore can get them anyway.

-- 
]] Mike Smith, Software Engineer        msmith@atrad.adelaide.edu.au    [[
]] Genesis Software                     genesis@atrad.adelaide.edu.au   [[
]] High-speed data acquisition and      (GSM mobile) 0411-222-496       [[
]] realtime instrument control          (ph/fax)  +61-8-267-3039        [[
]] Collector of old Unix hardware.      "Where are your PEZ?" The Tick  [[



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