X-Git-Url: http://pere.pagekite.me/gitweb/homepage.git/blobdiff_plain/98db819b4f18719da9a4646c4cfcd5adfaf1acd2..6de2416d4a9b7a56fb1c04dec08cdff3a6aa8fb6:/blog/archive/2010/04/04.rss?ds=sidebyside diff --git a/blog/archive/2010/04/04.rss b/blog/archive/2010/04/04.rss index 8d9dbb8de9..a8f451218d 100644 --- a/blog/archive/2010/04/04.rss +++ b/blog/archive/2010/04/04.rss @@ -3,16 +3,108 @@ Petter Reinholdtsen - Entries from April 2010 Entries from April 2010 - ../../../ + http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/ + + Thoughts on roaming laptop setup for Debian Edu + http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/Thoughts_on_roaming_laptop_setup_for_Debian_Edu.html + http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/Thoughts_on_roaming_laptop_setup_for_Debian_Edu.html + Wed, 28 Apr 2010 20:40:00 +0200 + <p>For some years now, I have wondered how we should handle laptops in +Debian Edu. The Debian Edu infrastructure is mostly designed to +handle stationary computers, and less suited for computers that come +and go.</p> + +<p>Now I finally believe I have an sensible idea on how to adjust +Debian Edu for laptops, by introducing a new profile for them, for +example called Roaming Workstations. Here are my thought on this. +The setup would consist of the following:</p> + +<ul> + + <li>During installation, the user name of the owner / primary user of + the laptop is requested and a local home directory is set up for + the user, with uid and gid information fetched from the LDAP + server. This allow the user to work also when offline. The + central home directory can be available in a subdirectory on + request, for example mounted via CIFS. It could be mounted + automatically when a user log in while on the Debian Edu network, + and unmounted when the machine is taken away (network down, + hibernate, etc), it can be set up to do automatic mounting on + request (using autofs), or perhaps some GUI button on the desktop + can be used to access it when needed. Perhaps it is enough to use + the fish protocol in KDE?</li> + + <li>Password checking is set up to use LDAP or Kerberos + authentication when the machine is on the Debian Edu network, and + to cache the password for offline checking when the machine unable + to reach the LDAP or Kerberos server. This can be done using + <a href="http://www.padl.com/OSS/pam_ccreds.html">libpam-ccreds</a> + or the Fedora developed + <a href="https://fedoraproject.org/wiki/Features/SSSD">System + Security Services Daemon</a> packages.</li> + + <li>File synchronisation with the central home directory is set up + using a shared directory in both the local and the central home + directory, using unison.</li> + + <li>Printing should be set up to print to all printers broadcasting + their existence on the local network, and should then work out of + the box with CUPS. For sites needing accurate printer quotas, some + system with Kerberos authentication or printing via ssh could be + implemented.</li> + + <li>For users that should have local root access to their laptop, + sudo should be used to allow this to the local user.</li> + + <li>It would be nice if user and group information from LDAP is + cached on the client, but given that there are entries for the + local user and primary group in /etc/, it should not be needed.</li> + +</ul> + +<p>I believe all the pieces to implement this are in Debian/testing at +the moment. If we work quickly, we should be able to get this ready +in time for the Squeeze release to freeze. Some of the pieces need +tweaking, like libpam-ccreds should get support for pam-auth-update +(<a href="http://bugs.debian.org/566718">#566718</a>) and nslcd (or +perhaps debian-edu-config) should get some integration code to stop +its daemon when the LDAP server is unavailable to avoid long timeouts +when disconnected from the net. If we get Kerberos enabled, we need +to make sure we avoid long timeouts there too.</p> + +<p>If you want to help out with implementing this for Debian Edu, +please contact us on debian-edu@lists.debian.org.</p> + + + + + Great book: "Content: Selected Essays on Technology, Creativity, Copyright, and the Future of the Future" + http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/Great_book___Content__Selected_Essays_on_Technology__Creativity__Copyright__and_the_Future_of_the_Future_.html + http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/Great_book___Content__Selected_Essays_on_Technology__Creativity__Copyright__and_the_Future_of_the_Future_.html + Mon, 19 Apr 2010 17:10:00 +0200 + <p>The last few weeks i have had the pleasure of reading a +thought-provoking collection of essays by Cory Doctorow, on topics +touching copyright, virtual worlds, the future of man when the +conscience mind can be duplicated into a computer and many more. The +book titled "Content: Selected Essays on Technology, Creativity, +Copyright, and the Future of the Future" is available with few +restrictions on the web, for example from +<a href="http://craphound.com/content/">his own site</a>. I read the +epub-version from +<a href="http://www.feedbooks.com/book/2883">feedbooks</a> using +<a href="http://www.fbreader.org/">fbreader</a> and my N810. I +strongly recommend this book.</p> + + + Kerberos for Debian Edu/Squeeze? - ../../../Kerberos_for_Debian_Edu_Squeeze_.html - ../../../Kerberos_for_Debian_Edu_Squeeze_.html + http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/Kerberos_for_Debian_Edu_Squeeze_.html + http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/Kerberos_for_Debian_Edu_Squeeze_.html Wed, 14 Apr 2010 17:20:00 +0200 - -<p><a href="http://www.nuug.no/aktiviteter/20100413-kerberos/">Yesterdays + <p><a href="http://www.nuug.no/aktiviteter/20100413-kerberos/">Yesterdays NUUG presentation</a> about Kerberos was inspiring, and reminded me about the need to start using Kerberos in Skolelinux. Setting up a Kerberos server seem to be straight forward, and if we get this in