On Mon, Dec 29, 2003 at 10:19:25PM -0600, Greg Copeland wrote:
> On Mon, 2003-12-29 at 16:34, Jon LaBadie wrote:
> > On Mon, Dec 29, 2003 at 03:53:41PM -0600, Greg Copeland wrote:
> > > It's been several years since I last used Amanda and am having trouble
> > > remembering some of the details from the last time I used it. I'm
> > > attempting to backup 2 linux boxen and 1 win box, using amanda. On the
> > > Linux box, what is the preferred user and group names that amanda should
> > > run as? Is there such a thing? Is there a reason why I would not want
> > > amanda to simply run as root?
> >
> > The concept of minimal privledges for the task.
> >
> > Some programs require you to be root to run them (recoveries come to mind)
> > and others run automatically require root suid.
> > >
> > > I guess I may have to break down an actually read, in length, the
> > > provided documentation, if I continue to have problems. :(
> >
> > Oh my gosh, what a concept :)
>
> I understand that your response was followed with a smiley, however, it
> was less than helpful.
The smiley only applied to the last part balancing your frowny suggesting
that reading was something you were disinclined to do.
My earlier comments applied to your final question, 'why not run everything
in the world as root'. That is a particular "bug up my ass" (sorry for not
using more politically correct terminology).
> As I previously stated, I have used amanda
> before, so, an in depth reading should not be required. I have also
> spent a fair amount of time reviewing (thus the, "in length", comment in
> my original posting), the available documentation and the faq-o-matic.
> To date, your message nor the sources that I've reviewed answered my
> very simple question. Care to follow up with a more helpful response?
True, I did not answer your initial two questions about user id for linux.
How's this: I don't know as I don't use linux. Thus I only addressed
what I could.
But as a general answer, uid matters little except not root and gid does
matter as it needs disk access. So the group should match that of a group
with "read" access to your hard disk devices. Anyone care to expand on
this generalization?
For a properly snarky response; in your "fair amount of reviewing the
available documentation", did you read <amanda_source>/docs/INSTALL?
Specifically sections 1.1.F and G? That would have told you to select
a non-root user and group of your choice and gives a couple of common
choices. Admittidly it does not give linux specifics nor guidelines
as to why one should select a particular group/user. Fodder for a
nice enhancement by some enterprising soul.
HTH
--
Jon H. LaBadie jon AT jgcomp DOT com
JG Computing
4455 Province Line Road (609) 252-0159
Princeton, NJ 08540-4322 (609) 683-7220 (fax)
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