[aklug] Re: New Linux Profesional Instute exams

Perhaps we should host a "How to get pwned and the commands that would
have saved your butt" seminar?

On Fri, May 1, 2009 at 8:22 PM, Arthur Corliss
<acorliss@nevaeh-linux.org> wrote:
> On Fri, 1 May 2009, Damien Hull wrote:
>
>> Okay, maybe the commands are there but we don't use them any more. Thing=
s like "pwconv". That was on the old test. There were one or two commands I=
 couldn't find on my Ubuntu system. They might have been red hat commands.
>
> It's true that most, if not all, distributions use shadow passwords by
> default now. =A0But, as part of the shadow suite, it's extremely importan=
t
> that you a) know what software is installed on your system, b) why they'r=
e
> there, which should lead you to c) how it works (shadow passwords
> specifically) and they benefits they provide.
>
> And, you never know if you might be called into to add a new workstation
> into a legacy NIS network, in which case knowing pwunconv, et al, is
> essential.
>
> As for the RH commands, if they were teaching the little distro-specific
> helper scripts instead of the actual commands doing the work in the
> background, they should be flogged.
>
>> There were some questions on XFree86. I would be surprised if any of the=
 config tools were still around. I can't remember any off the top of my hea=
d.
>
> The X stuff is different for almost every variation of UNIX out there, an=
d,
> of course, Linux predominantly uses the Xorg fork of XFree86, so we'd hav=
e
> to expect change.
>
> Overall, though, you have to take a step back and marvel at the longevity=
 of
> what we have in UNIX and UNIX-like clones like Linux. =A0If you hone your
> skills on the UNIX CLI you have well over thirty years worth of operating
> systems you can work on and be productive on immediately. =A0For that mat=
ter,
> you can essentially reverse engineer the particulars of any UNIX variant =
or
> clone to figure out the administrative tool set as well. =A0This knowledg=
e is
> portable and long lasting.
>
> No other operating system family can claim that level of continuity. =A0H=
ell,
> look at Microsoft. =A0Things were familiar and stable (well, in terms of =
the
> command set) during the DOS days, but all bets were off from WinNT 3.51 a=
nd
> on. =A0Every major incarnation found different places to hide the same
> functionality, with new interfaces for half of it.
>
> Not so in our world. =A0And thank goodness, I'm getting too old to learn
> another incarnation of the freaking control panel. =A0Give me a shell and=
 vi
> and I'll have the damn thing doing what I want in short order.
>
> =A0 =A0 =A0 =A0--Arthur Corliss
> =A0 =A0 =A0 =A0 =A0Live Free or Die
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Received on Fri May 1 20:42:57 2009