Saturday, December 13, 2008

Problem with user Privileges and Roles in OpenSolaris

Had tried out Open Solaris a few months ago...and straightaway faced a numerous problems :P ...

The most annoying was that the user privileges were getting reset on every login.
So here i am posting how i worked around this problem.

As I said,

The user privileges of my user were getting reset on every login and now, the GUI had started throwing a strange error...when i started the user admin tool ( Users and Groups ), it asked me for authorization, when i provided the root password, it simply rejected it.

The funny part is, that i can "su" root using the same password through the terminal !! (This is ofcourse after i "su" the Primary Administrator) .

So, i was forced to work with the CLI, i tried using the "usermod" command, but I did not understand clearly the way it is supposed to be used, so gave up on that too.


Next, i opened the /etc/user_attr file .

/****************
/etc/user_attr snippet :

root::::type=role;auths=solaris.*,solaris.grant;profiles=All;lock_afte r_retries=no;min_label=admin_low;clearance=admin_high
aditya::::profiles=Prim ary Administrator;roles=root

#amod::::profiles=Apache 22 Administration,Application Server Management,Audit Control,Audit Review,Basic Actions,Console #User,Contract Observer,Cron Management,Crypto Management,DAT Administration,D-BUS Management,Desktop Configuration,Device #Management,Device Security,DHCP Management,dtwm,File System Management,File System Security,FTP Management,HAL #Management,Idmap Name Mapping Management,Idmap Service Management,Inetd Management,Information Security,IP Filter #Management,ISCSI Target Administration,ISCSI Target Management,ISNS Server Management,Kerberos Client Management,Kerberos #Server Management,Log Management,Mail Management,Maintenance and Repair,Media Backup,Media Restore,MySQL #Administration,Name Service Management,Name Service Security,NDMP Management,Network IPsec Management,Network Link #Security,Network Management,Network Security,Network Wifi Management,Network Wifi Security,Object Access #Management,Object Label Management,Operator,Outside Accred,Postgres Administration,Primary Administrator,Printer #Management,Process Management,Project Management,Rights Delegation,Rmvolmgr Management,Service Management,Service #Operator,shutdown,SMBFS Management,SMB Management,Software Installation,System Administrator,System Event Management,User #Management,User Security,VSCAN Management,Web Console Management,ZFS File System Management,ZFS Storage Management,Zone #Management;

amod::::auths=solaris.*,solaris.grant;profiles=All;roles=root

/***** ***************end of snippet

(all the lines of amod (second from last) have been commented, they might not show up properly...formatting problems)

so as u can see, my user (amod) had all the privileges, but they weren't showing up in the GUI ! (bug ?). And now i understood why i couldn't "su" root... i had no "roles" defined. I have no idea of how to set roles through the GUI or the CLI, so instead i just copied "root's" line and made some changes :P

So now, my problem is solved, i can su root directly from amod and do everything i want (heck ! im _almost_ root now :D ).

But, the problem of the GUI not showing the privileges still persists.

I had posted this workaround on the Pune Open Solaris User Group's forums and was suggested that I post it on the Open Solaris desktop-discuss forums. The post on the desktop-discuss forums can be found here. The same problem has been confirmed by 3 users there.
So, until an update for the GUI, which allows roles to be defined is released, the above workaround works just fine :-)

EDIT:
You can also assign roles to a user using the "usermod" command with a "-r" option. I did not know this then. This, again, can be done only by the Primary Admin, if no other users have "root" role defined.

Thursday, October 23, 2008

Err....

Saw the dates for practical exam yesterday and i made a choice between Fifa '09 and Proakis...

I opened my Proakis and five minutes later....closed it.......WTH !! i can't understand a word !!!

Wondering wats gonna happen, i had a vision ...(a la Vincent Kennedy McMohan moment )...

Follow these steps and 80% is guaranteed. Read on.

Before we start, here's one instruction -> Be slow, don't rush through it. Read each word carefully and follow each step !!
All set.

Now, firstly,

look down and look up .......good u r a in a state of mind where u'll do/believe everything i say :P

1) Clap your hands 3 times on a desk, 2 times with the right hand, once with the left. If you're a leftie, reverse it. If you're ambidextrous, clap 2 times with both the hands.

2) Jump 7 times without bending your knees.

3) Look down and look up. If u did it again....man u're really desparate :P...if not, see !! u're already getting smarter ...Read on....

4) Spin around 3 and a half times.

5) Say "asjdhfasdklfwmasiuwehjawergydaszmxbczxjhg" BACKWARDS !

Now, the last step....laugh at urself for being such a dumba** to read thru this crap....hehehe...

And Lo ! u're there...if u could do all the things said above, 80% is guaranteed !!

Well, i cudn't do all the steps ......so i made a choice ....between Fifa '09 and my Proakis......

AC Milan v/s Chelsea ...6-0. Peace !! :-)

PS : This is purely a work of imagination. Any resemblance to living or dead is just a result of ur twisted perception :-)

Saturday, August 9, 2008

Owned !!

ROTFLMAO !!

Check this out - >Game Over !!

Friday, August 8, 2008

WTH just happened ?

I turned on my computer and it popped a message "BIOS Checksum Error. Starting recovery ...".
It started searching my floppy drive( non-existent :P ) and the Cd-Drive for the BIOS ROM.
Fortunately, I had the support CD at hand and quickly pushed it into the CD-Drive.

Up came the message :

"M2N-MX.ROM detected
Starting Erasing...|
Starting programming ....| "


Then the mobo beeped twice-thrice and the computer restarted. And, the BIOS checksum error message popped again !! WTH !! i just saw it getting flashed !!

Happened 2 times in a row....frustrated, i decided to take out the mobo manual (dunno why i didn't take it out earlier ... :P)

It had 2 full pages regarding BIOS recovery... one way was to press Alt+ F2 before POST to start ASUS' "EZ Flash Utility " that would apparently help me flash my BIOS.

Computer restarted. I pressed Alt+F2.
The utility started and searched my Cd-Drive for a BIOS file.
Up came the message "M2N-MX.ROM detected"
and immedialtely followed by "Error ! the ROM file is outdated and cannot work with the hardware "
WTF !! This is the BIOS that came in the manufacturer's CD !!

I was starting to freak out... Fired up my old machine and downloaded the LATEST BIOS for my mobo, bought a CD and burned it onto the disk.

Computer restarted.
Up came the message:
"M2N-MX.ROM not detected !"


huh?...Sigh, the file i had downloaded had a different name ....fine, i'll just have to rename it and burn it again....I removed the Cd from the drive and instead of pushing the "power-off" button, accidentally, pushed the "restart button"...

My BIOS was detected !!

"There is a CMOS checksum error :
Press F1 to start recovery
Press F2 to reset to default settings and continue "
?_?

F2 pressed.
The screen went blank and up came the familiar message
"GRUB Loading stage 1.5. "


Wheeeee !! problem solved !!
But WTH just happened ??? The computer was running fine until yesterday ...
My guess is a faulty SMPS which isn't providing the required current at the required voltage to the mobo....
Any pointers ?