Path: utzoo!attcan!utgpu!jarvis.csri.toronto.edu!rutgers!usc!elroy.jpl.nasa.gov!cit-vax!tybalt.caltech.edu!carlos From: carlos@tybalt.caltech.edu (Carlos Salinas) Newsgroups: comp.sys.next Subject: Re: Diskless NeXT's?? Message-ID: <11579@cit-vax.Caltech.Edu> Date: 14 Aug 89 08:23:02 GMT References: <192101@<1989Aug8> <245300019@uxe.cso.uiuc.edu> Sender: news@cit-vax.Caltech.Edu Reply-To: carlos@tybalt.caltech.edu.UUCP (Carlos Salinas) Organization: California Institute of Technology Lines: 43 In article <245300019@uxe.cso.uiuc.edu> mcdonald@uxe.cso.uiuc.edu writes: > > >>Instead of trashing the "world on a disk" concept NeXT could implement an >>operating system in which the system files would remain in the machine and >>files needed to customize and run the system would be on the users floptical. >>This would allow Joe user to be king of his environment, and would let the >>workstation retain enough integrity to be a functioning, secure member of the >>network. Whenever Joe NMIs however, it would only dump his customizations, the >>system would remain intact. Thus Joe gets all the power of being standalone >>yet has access to the network. > >I don't understand this. I get my NeXt in a box. I take it out and >plug it in. I install the operating system, making myself root. What >do you want to prohibit me from doing? I paid for a machine to do >my bidding. Are you proposing that machine come from the factory set >so the purchaser can't become root, or that root be unable to do >certain things? If you can't do certain things, like write to > > Doug McDonald All I'm proposing is that the NeXT have a shared management operating system. The management of core system files, ie files common to all user environments, including files for maintaining the network (protocols, device specs and such) and provision of services such as servers, printers, and the world (Internet) would be the responsibility of a supersuperuser. Files specific to a particular user environment, including page and swap files, would be the responsibility of the superuser (a superuser could be anyone wielding a disk). Superusers could maintain noprivileged (diskless users) user files on their disk. Super- users wielding disks could "bootin" to a NeXT and wreak total havoc on their private disk without affecting the integrity of the network or system. This division of management would decrease the time to "boot" (actually the NeXT could maintain several "booted" user environments transparent to each other. A booted environment is simply the operating system with an interface, you could login in to a "booted" environment, but you couldn't login to an unbooted one), increase the feasibility of servers, allow a secure network, and retain the traditional multi-user non-privileged environment while allow- ing anyone with a disk (optical, rugged SCSI harddrive or otherwise) to be superuser. Carlos Salinas Random Undergrad Caltech