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Locking Down Linux Desktops In an Enterprise?
supermehra writes "How do you move 300 desktops, locked down with Windows ADS Group Policies (GPO), over to Ubuntu desktop? We have tried Centrify, Likewise, Gnome Gconf, and the like. Of course, we evaluated SuSe Desktop Enterprise and RedHat Desktop. Samba 4.0 promises the server side, however nothing for desktop lockdown. And while gnome gconf does offer promise, no real tools for remotely managing 300 desktops running gnome + gconf exist. All the options listed above are expensive, in fact so expensive that it's cheaper to leave M$ on! So while we've figured out the Office suite, email client, browser, VPN, drawing tools, and pretty much everything else, there seems to be no reasonable, open source alternative to locking down Linux terminals to comply with company policies. We're not looking for kiosk mode — we're looking for IT policy enforcement across the enterprise. Any ideas ladies & gentlemen?"
Use puppet to enforce configuration: http://reductivelabs.com/products/puppet/
Issue everyone Mittens!!!! They are relatively cheap and make it oh so hard to type terminal commands when worn.
if you are talking stand alone desktops then it's not so great. linux doesn't really have anything as good as group polices and active directory, it's part of the reason corperate networks are mostly windows.
If you mod me down, I will become more powerful than you can imagine....
I guess the first question is: what are you trying to accomplish? Are you trying to prevent users from installing additional software locally? Are you trying to insure that particular applications get particular preferences set and users are prevented from changing those settings? What? Just saying "lock down the desktops" doesn't say what you're trying to actually do.
Remember that Unix is, in large part, designed to work correctly without needing to be locked down. Much is controlled simply by the system-wide configuration files. The rest tends to be controlled on the server side, so that users simply can't do unacceptable things regardless of how they configure their local user account.
In linux world, there is yet to be a quick, 3 question and 1 button way to add the computer to a domain and then receive straight away:
- group policies - security and software install
- single password store (with cached passwords for notebooks that go away from the network)
- Patch update policy
The only thing linux does right is work on technologies such as DHCP that were written for OTHER unix O/S'.
Ubuntu is not interested in those things, they're more interested in making stories about koalas and hiding popup boxes.
Gnome is dead, Mono and moonlight took all their brains away.
kde is making a next-gen desktop but have yet to understand why so many IT shops have kept Windows at the office.
This is all depressing. Windoze will never be replaced at the current rate.
A desktop where the user does not have su/sudo access is already pretty locked down -- the user can only write to his home directory and other directories that he/she has access to through normal permissions.
If you really want to lock it down, the user's home directory can be mounted in such a way that files cannot be executed from there.
What elso is required?
The real "Libtards" are the Libertarians!
Instead of spending $$$ on bondage and discipline, how about treating your users like adult human beings?
Because a number of them will wind up installing aps that put the company at risk?
I'm a consultant - I convert gibberish into cash-flow.
Mod parent UP. The OP is thinking about it wrong: ie how to manage unix in the style of windows. Don't give them root and they can't install software. Make sure the home directories an /tmp is moutes -noexec and there is NO WAY that they can run programs which aren't already installed.
Now they can have free run of the system and can't do anything harmful. Still not satisfied? Remove all executables that they shouldn't run, or make them a-rx g-rx, and don't have users in the group able to run them.
You can create an RPM to do this for you, then set up the whole thing automagically using Redhat's or SUSE's tools (one is called kickstart). I suspect it is straightforward on debian based systems, too.
If you have the autoupdater running (good for security), then update the setup RPM, put it in your local repository, and sit back as all the desktops get updated with new settings.
Alternatively, you can bodge it with shell scripts and a cron job :-)
SJW n. One who posts facts.
You think using technology to help enforce an IT policy and respecting your employees are mutually exclusive aims? I strongly disagree.
A small contingent of 'bad apples' can do serious harm if you do not effectively enforce IT policies. It's not possible to guarantee there is no one like this in your company, so you should protect the company and other staff from from them.
Respecting staff won't stop douchebags being douchebags and screwing up your systems.
Paws... Then they could have Caps Paws...
But, if Puppet offers tiered services, then you can evaluate the... Puppet Tiers (LOL)... Then controlling the employees simply becomes a matter of ... pulling strings...
Previously: "Linux... Toward the Sunrise..." Now: "Linux... Toward the-- No, now, part of Every Sunrise"
Unfortunately, few people in the Unix world seem to grasp what Group Policy is used for in Windows.
It's not simply preventing users from installing software.
Group policy is a set of policies that gevern everything from security policies, to application policies (for instance, say you want all users in a specific AD OU to use a specific proxy server, or maybe you want to limit all computers in a given lab from being able to use an MSN Messenger.
GP can be assigned to specific computers, groups of computers, users, groups of users, and a whole host of situations. The nice thing about it is that it's AD wide, and controls the user or the computer regardless of where, or what may be installed on the machine or how it's configured locally.
If you need web hosting, you could do worse than here
Doesn't work:
bash-3.2$ less douchebaggery
douchebaggery: No such file or directory
bash-3.2$
Or, am I missing something?
Yeah managing this for 300+ people in an environment that changes daily without spending your entire IT budget on admins and the sneakernet support staff.
despite our desire to act like open source is the cure for all ills this is the type of problem we need to solve. You MUST lock down some enterprise environments (or have a CEO who is willing to go to jail) and you MUST be able to manage this without breaking the company piggy bank. He's asking for solutions to these two requirements not how to keep ONE person on ONE desktop from doing ONE of the many forbidden things.
And as for the guy/gal who suggested we treat everyone nice and hope they act right. That's fine for your 10 person IT shop...not so much for a multi-billion dollar public company that needs public trust and investment and is governed by a whole mess of federal regulations in numerous national jurisdictions around the world.
Have you ever met a sales person, or watched them try to use a computer? Seriously, watch them try to send a 500MB powerpoint presentation as an e-mail attachment, or ask for tech support on their limewire install, and marvel at the risk to your company.
Why not use LSTP? That way you only have to worry about whatever image(s) you keep on the server.
Better yet, use LSD! Then all you have to worry about is why those images are talking to you.
Anybody want my mod points?
Vim supports a mode referred to as 'restricted' mode.
i.e. cp /usr/bin/vi /usr/bin/rvi
Give the user permission to run 'rvi' instead of permission to run 'vi'
Also, you needn't give root to do that; modern distros have these things called 'group permissions', or even ACLs.
You can create that user a special non-root user that they 'sudo' to in order to edit the config file, and an ACL permits just that particular user to edit the particular allowed config files.
Sneaker net?
This is linux. You do it all remotely, and you can build clone the machines pre-set up
exactly the way you want them.
This is not hard. But first you have to purge the microsoft mentality from your thinking.
Forget Sneakernet. Think more Fat-Ass net. Like me sitting here on my fat ass managing
a dozen machines for naive users located 1400 miles away.
You just never give users root access, and you set your permissions properly.
You can use SeLinux, AppArmor, or any number of free management tools that
all work remotely. You don't have to rely on everyone to act nice because
you can lock it down just as tight as you want.
If its a business, why not start with a business solution like Novell SLED.
Its made for the enterprise. And it locks down nicely.
None of this stuff is free in the windows world, but its all available
for free in the Linux world, OR you can pay for it and still save money
over Windows.
But there are free remote management utilities included with every Linux distro.
Its called ssh.
Sig Battery depleted. Reverting to safe mode.
Locking Down Linux Desktops In an Enterprise?
We leave our security in the hands of Mr. Worf.
I work for the Department of Redundancy Department.
Let me try and predict this one: "[Problem they've randomly had in the last two years and didn't bother to research or bugfix] is the biggest issue in desktop Linux. The developers have lost touch because, for example, [anecdote that offers no valuable bug-ridding information, or even enough to replicate it], showing that [Problem] is still a big of a problem as it was four years ago. I've seen [however instances they've seen it, plus four] instances of this issue in my computer but also in other's, and it refuses to be fixed because Linux is simply put, not user-friendly or stable in the least bit. It's things like these that make me draw the conclusion that Linux is simply not ready for the desktop."
Unfortunately, few people in the Windows world seem to grasp that LDAP has been around for many years in the *nix world, and has all the functionality you would find in Group Policies when linked into PAM on the client side.
For a couple years, I maintained a company-wide network that supported unified "home" directories and unified login/password capabilities between Windows workstations, Linux workstations, and Solaris servers, all tied back to Fedora Directory Server. It was hell to set up, and sweet to watch in action.
Active Directory and Group Policies aren't bad for simple installations, but really turn into a mess quickly depending on your setup. LDAP and *nix systems that support PAM are a snap to set up, work fairly well and took significantly LESS time to get working properly than the Windows side did.
There's a lot of research that goes into setting up either side of the equation. Linux/Unix has been more ready for the "enterprise" desktop than Windows has, though, and that's a cold hard fact.
"Like screen savers that try and install crap along with it, then there'll be all the support calls why isn't it working."
Using my remote control truth extractor, I can detect thoughts that are in your brain but not passed to your fingers on the keyboard. Combining your post with the truth extractor, I get the following:
"Treating adults like adults is good in theory, but when you have 300+ people trying to..."
Do their jobs
"...you want to take away as much..."
productivity
"...as possible." So we can feel like we are in charge of something. Even the little people need to feel big every so often. In order to keep our jobs, we need to make sure people need us. Thanks to lockdowns, they will.
Is that awesome technology or what?
Would you rather make people stop working and call the helpdesk when they need some kind of app that is (a) harmless and (b) freely available? And it's OK if they wait: 15 minutes? an hour? all day? So you can prevent a call from a guy who screws up the SCREEN SAVER???
Instead of making Mr. Screensaver wait in the queue because of his counterproductive antics, YOU MAKE EVERONE ELSE WAIT INSTEAD???
Such a strategy would only make sense if >50% of all calls were for unnecessary/unauthorized things. And IF that were true, then a lockdown would work so well that support staff could be cut, right?
Any wonder why IT departments are referred to as the "preventers of information services"???
What happens if they boot Knoppix from CD? Works pretty well in Windows shops as well. Lockdown the BIOS from CD boot? There are numerous published backdoor passwords; almost every BIOS has one.
BTW, this is a much bigger problem in Windows shops, where people tend to go crazy with pirated stuff, trial versions, spyware, and network bandwidth wasters -- all of which contribute to real risks and system instability. Taking away root access solves most of this in Linux, whereas in Windows it's the full employment act for the helpdesk unless you surrender to the draconian tradeoffs described above.