[dgplug-users] Excellent explanation of super user concept by Clifford Stoll

[Koushik Saha]

Nice example..thanks for sharing

Regards,
Koushik

On 01-Jul-14 5:39 PM, Nishant Pani wrote:
> I was reading this book "Cuckoo's Egg" by Clifford Stoll.In this he gives
> an excellent explanation of the super user concept which is as follows
>
>
>
> To satisfy a hundred users at once, the computer's operating system splits
> the
> hardware resources much as an apartment house splits a building into many
> apartments. Each apartment works independently of the others. While one
> resident
> may be watching TV, another talks on the phone, and a third washes dishes.
> Utilities—electricity, phone service, and water—are supplied by the
> apartment
> complex. Every resident complains about slow service and the exorbitant
> rents.
> Within the computer, one user might be solving a math problem, another
> sending
> electronic mail to Toronto, yet a third writing a letter. The computer
> utilities
> are supplied by the systems software and operating system; each user
> grumbles about
> the unreliable software, obscure documentation, and the exorbitant costs.
> Privacy within the apartment house is regulated by locks and keys. One
> resident
> can't enter another's apartment without a key, and (if the walls are
> sturdy), one
> resident's activity won't bother another. Within the computer, it's the
> operating
> system that ensures user privacy. You can't get into someone's area without
> the
> right password, and (if the operating system is fair about handing out
> resources),
> one user's programs won't interfere with another's.
>
> But apartment walls are never sturdy enough, and my neighbor's parties
> thunder
> into my bedroom. And my computer still slows down when there's more than one
> hundred people using it at one time. So our apartment houses need
> superintendents,
> and our computers need system managers, or super-users.
> With a passkey, the apartment house superintendent can enter any room. From
> a
> privileged account, the system manager can read or modify any program or
> data on
> thecomputer. Privileged users bypass the operating system protections and
> have the
> full run of the computer. They need this power to maintain the systems
> software
> ("Fix the editor!"), to tune the operating system's performance ("Things
> are too
> slow today!"), and to let people use the computer ("Hey, give Barbara an
> account.").
>
> Privileged users learn to tread lightly. They can't do much damage if
> they're
> only privileged to read files. But the super-user's license lets you change
> any
> part of the system— there's no protections against the super-user's mistake
> s.
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