Dear List, I am posting this for a member of our LUG here in Northern Virginia (USA). If you can give Ted Ruegsegger any help please contact him directly off list at Ted.Ruegsegger@dyncorp.com. Thank you. Respectfully, Ken Becker Member NOVALUG SuSE user since 6.4 -----------------------Original Message-----------------------
From: Ruegsegger, Ted [mailto:Ted.Ruegsegger@dyncorp.com] To: Northern Virginia Linux User's Group [mailto:novalug@tux.org] Date: 11/4/02 2:36:00 PM Subject: [novalug] SuSE questions
Some folks in another part of my company heard that I "know Linux" (whatever that means), and asked me to give them some assistance configuring/troubleshooting a SuSE system. Why SuSE? The official reason is that that's the only version they "know" so it would be easier for them to manage, although the available evidence indicates that they don't "know" it enough to manage much.
Anyway, I've never touched a SuSE system before this, and I find it a strange, alien environment that installs all kinds of stuff and enables all sorts of services, not just by default but without giving me any option otherwise. Nor have I ever heard of the two "groupware" applications they had me install and configure: MimerDesk (http://www.mimerdesk.org) and EpiWare (http://www.epiware.com). I told them I'd do my best, but couldn't accept any responsibility for the operation or security of the system, since I'm not qualified to administer it despite the fact that I "know Linux."
This is not intended to disparage SuSE or its users in any way, merely to an acknowledgement of the fact that familiarity with one or more GNU/Linux flavors doesn't mean familiarity with all.
I could really use some advice from folks who use SuSE to solve the following problems:
1. I am shocked, shocked, to find that SuSE installs the old DES passwords instead of MD5. Since I've never installed a distribution that didn't let me select MD5 right from the start, I have no idea how to convert to MD5 passwords later in the game. Can someone advise me how to go about it?
2. They would like me to "Add a separate IP address to Apache's root." I'm not sure, but I think that means they want the server to respond to two different IP addresses. This sounds more like a network config problem rather than an Apache problem, but I haven't any idea how to do it in SuSE.
Thanks in advance for any help you can give me.
Ted Ruegsegger