User Management Burgess, Ch.5

2 User Registration Policy The issues of creation and management often clash in distributed organisations –Central creation and management –Central creation, delegated management –Delegated creation and management. The need to provide privileged access is a security weakness No universal standard method of creating or maintaining usernames/passwords

3 Local and Network Accounts In networked environment user may access many hosts needs user account on several machines. Local user accounts and networked user accounts may be different things –Local accounts are unique to each host. Changes to an account (eg new password) on one host do not effect similar accounts on other hosts –A networked account is a single user shared amongst many hosts. Changes to the account globally effect all other hosts NIS and DCE are standard based network user systems

4 Unix Accounts Local usernames only (except NIS) Unique username, UID# and password Store user details in system password database (/etc/passwd, /etc/group) Create login directory for user (ie home) Specify user initial shell program Setup some standard initiailisation files (eg.cshrc,.profile, etc) Often done using adduser command

5 Windows NT/2000 Accounts Local users –net user username password /ADD /domain –Batch user creation with addusers.exe Only a single kind of shell available User home directory can be shared as H: Domain users may have initialisation scripts

6 Groups of Users Collections of existing users Used to allocate process of file permissions to groups or subsets of users Individual users may be members of several groups

7 User Account Policy Rules or standards for account management, e.g., –Standard for username creation –Standards for password (prevent weak pwd) –Disk quota –Logging and accounting –Internet protocols and Quota

8 Login Environment Username/Password, Home directory, Quota, proxy settings, window settings, searchlist, etc All expected to work when new user logs in Often carried out by Login scripts –Unix -.login,.profile,.cshrc –Netware - login script –DOS - autoexec.bat –Windows – Registry and Setup folder Scripts often copied from default file

9 User Support HelpDesk Non-privileged users often need support for –Hardware/software upgrade –Bug/Error resolution and correction –Tuition –Helpdesk Often involves tracking tools (eg HEAT, Gnats, NetLog) Also remote control software (eg VNC, PCAnywhere) Support services usually must suit the enterprise and need to be tailored to provide required action

10 User Resources Variety of usage patterns requires balance of demand by passive and active users Disk space quotas CPU usage & Process count limits Garbage collection – deleting temporary and unused files – needs a careful definition! Terminating orphan and run-away processes Moving and removing users

11 Ethics and Responsibilities Administrators have a responsibility to care for health and well-being of users. Ultimately, happy users will cooperate well Ergonomic standards protect user health Etiquette – Dealing with user politely to minimise offence and maximise harmony Ethics – Power must be wielded wisely or it will be denied (or circumvented!)

User Management (end)