Re: [SLUG] A Sydney Uni SLUG chapter?

[Michael Lake <Mike.Lake@nospam.uts.edu.au>]

Hi All, 

There are some very important points that Dany has raised
that I would like to elaborate on.

Danny Yee wrote:
> Just a reminder to people that there is a Redhat Linux mirror at
>         ftp.anatomy.usyd.edu.au
> and a Debian mirror at
>         ftp.usyd.edu.au
> (The anatomy mirror is only accessible from within the NSW RNO.)

Unis don't pay for downloads from mirror.aarnet.edu.au but
do pay for downloads from say RedHat or Netcraft or gnu
sites. Those in unis may not realise this and unis don't
really take the trouble to let their students or staff know.
Their costs are rising and if we are not carefull well....
 
> I think it would be a good idea to have a web page like
> http://freesoftware.usyd.edu.au/ with information about these and other
> free software resources within the University.  This is something a
> Sydney University Free Software Users Group might maintain.

All unis should get together and have a common website for
this (aarnet?) so that no matter what uni you are from
you'll know where to find gnu, Linux stuff etc.
 
> Some universities in the US have their own customised Linux distributions,
> see e.g.
>         http://sulinux.stanford.edu/
>         SULinux stands for Stanford University Linux. SULinux is a version
>         of Linux, based upon the standard RedHat distribution of Linux,
>         that has been pre-configured to work safely and securely within
>         the Stanford computing environment. Stanford has added its own
>         packages (in RPM format) to the Redhat version of Linux as a
>         means of achieving that goal.
> 
> As we get more and more desktop GNU/Linux systems within the uni,
> we might want to start doing something like this too.  One of the huge
> advantages of Linux over Windows or Macs is in client auto-configuration
> and maintainance, but I haven't seen that brought together in a nice
> integrated package yet.

We have a new sys admin in Science here now who is far more
aware of Linux than previous ones. First thing he asked me
was whether I had been keeping up with security patches. I
can see that as more newbies put Linux in (Unis, whereever)
holes will open up. I don't think any uni yet has guidelines
or help for students and staff in setting up their Linux
boxes securely. I don't want the uni telling me I should use
so-and-so distro but I see a future need for them to
possibly probe and where neccessary provide advice and
assistance in security. Its an area where Uni sys admins
need to work together and SLUG and a Syd Uni chapter could
help.

Mike

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Michael Lake
University of Technology, Sydney
Email: mailto:Mike.Lake@nospam.uts.edu.au Ph: 02 9514 1724 Fx: 02
9514 1628 
URL: http://www.science.uts.edu.au/~mikel
Linux enthusiast, active caver and interested in anything
technical.
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