How to configure a user to run privileged commands & and how to switch user accounts...all via CLI.

How to switch users in Linux?  How to run privileged commands without having to run the command as root (or switch to the root account, which can be dangerous)?

'su' can be used to switch from a regular user to the root user.  You can check to see which user you are by using the 'whoami' command.  Or, you can tell what type of user account you're using by looking at the prompt.  The # prompt is the root account and the $ prompt is a regular user account.

You can also use sudo to run privileged commands if the system admin allows your account to run privileged commands.

One quick way to configure sudo to allow a regular user to run privileged commands is to:

Type visudo, which will open up the /etc/sudoers file using vi.  Visudo allows you to edit the file in a safe fashion. (visudo locks the sudoers file against multiple simultaneous edits, provides basic sanity checks, and checks for parse errors.)  You should find "# %wheel ALL=(ALL) ALL".  If you see # in front of a row, it usually means that it's been commented out.  That means that any commands will be treated as regular file comments/notes and will not be executed as commands.  It means the command is disabled, so to enable that particular command, remove the "#".  Save and quit the edit session by typing ":wq" which means write to file and quit the session.

Next, type 'vigr', which opens up the /etc/group file in a safe fashion for you to edit.  Find the wheel group within the file and add the account name to the group.  For example, my current wheel group within /etc/group shows the following:

wheel:x:10:root,ron,nor

I added the 'nor' user.  Type ':wq' again, which saves the edit and quits the session.

Now, when you need to run root-level commands, you don't have use 'su -c' and enter the root password.  What happens is that you'll still be prompted for a password, but you'll type in the password associated with the regular account.  This keeps the admin from having to share out the system's root password.

Again, these are pretty basic and simple steps unless you're totally not familiar with *nix (these steps can apply to the BSDs or other Unix clones, as well).

Edward Snowden enables Chinese hack attacks

China’s military hackers are back, more brazen than ever. You can thank Edward Snowden. A year ago, the Internet security firm Mandiant went public with what cyber-war watchers had known for some time: Unit 61398, a secret branch of the Chinese military, had been behind more than 1,000 cyber attacks on Western targets since 2006. But now we know they didn’t stop for long — and the West and the Obama administration are looking as ill-prepared and impotent as ever in dealing with the threat. China’s usual attacks on banks, weapons manufacturers and other juicy targets are now back to almost daily.

Read more @ http://nypost.com/2014/02/24/chinas-military-hackers-can-thank-edward-snowden/

Why You Should Learn to Run a Server Before You Learn to Code

http://lifehacker.com/why-you-should-learn-to-run-a-server-before-you-learn-t-1497178889

This was a good read!

The reader comments were also very much full of rich details and advice. Everyone nowadays wants to learn to program and only thinks of the glorious moments (creating the perfect, most popular app that will make you tons of money). A perfect programmer would be well-rounded and understand server management as well as coding.

LifeHacker: Why You Should Learn to Run a Server Before You Learn to Code

This is a great read!  I also love the subject-matter (coding and server administration).  I forgot how I came upon this URL, but I love it...I'll be bookmarking it at Delicious.

Web Administration Scripts - Linux Journal

I haven't read all of this yet, but since it's related to Linux, Apache, and DDoS, I thought I'd bookmark it and share it here.  It's an article by Dave Taylor.

http://www.linuxjournal.com/content/web-administration-scripts?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+linuxjournalcom+%28Linux+Journal+-+The+Original+Magazine+of+the+Linux+Community%29

After I finish reading the article, I'll add any comments I may have to this blog entry.