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1.1       harris41    1: <HTML>
                      2: <HEAD>
                      3: <TITLE>LON-CAPA Managing user passwords</TITLE>
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                      6: <H1>LON-CAPA Managing user passwords</H1>
                      7: <P>
                      8: Scott Harrison
                      9: </P>
                     10: <P>
                     11: Last updated: 02/10/2001
                     12: </P>
                     13: <P>
                     14: This file describes issues associated with managing user
                     15: passwords on a LON-CAPA system.
                     16: </P>
                     17: <H3>Latest HOWTO</H3>
                     18: <P>
1.2     ! harris41   19: There are three main topics when considering user passwords:
        !            20: authentication, accessing the file system, and web-based access.
        !            21: </P>
        !            22: <P>
        !            23: Authentication is covered in a separate document.  I will briefly
        !            24: mention that LON-CAPA supports different kinds of authentication
        !            25: that can be customized for use within different institutional computing
        !            26: environments.  Authentication, whether it be related to web-based access,
        !            27: or accessing the file system, is strictly the job of library servers,
        !            28: not access servers.
        !            29: </P>
        !            30: <P>
        !            31: Web-based access is initiated through a javascript encrypted protocol.
        !            32: The server enables access to LON-CAPA from the client IP address until
        !            33: the user logs out, or time expires without any action made by the user
        !            34: on the web pages.  Web-based access is something which is implemented
        !            35: for the full range of users--from students to course administrators
        !            36: to content developers.  LON-CAPA relies upon the /home/httpd/lonUsers/
        !            37: directories to store information about password authentication for
        !            38: the users of a given system.
        !            39: </P>
        !            40: <P>
        !            41: Something which is not implemented for the full range of users, but
        !            42: which is reserved for content developers, is file system access.
        !            43: LON-CAPA provides for a wide range of file system access including
        !            44: SSH, Samba (Windows Network Neighborhood), Appleshares, an FTP.
        !            45: Three files are involved with coordinating file system access:
        !            46: /etc/group, /etc/smbpasswd, and /etc/passwd.
        !            47: </P>
        !            48: <P>
        !            49: Correctly handling the contents of /home/httpd/lonUsers directories,
        !            50: and the /etc/group, /etc/smbpasswd, and /etc/passwd files is of
        !            51: critical importance to ensure uninterrupted access to the LON-CAPA
        !            52: network.
        !            53: </P>
        !            54: <P>
        !            55: This document will be developed further.
1.1       harris41   56: </P>
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