The Ethical Hacker Network

iSmith

Full Member

Offline

Posts: 156

Do or do not. There is no try. - Yoda

The Best linux

« on: February 25, 2008, 09:25:32 AM »

Hi people, i have just started using slax 6 on a 1gb flash drive. It is the best i have ever used. It is light enough (200mb), but yet i get nice stuff like transparency. The CLI login has been replaced by a lovely gui login. The only irritating thing is software installing (but then again, i'm not good with bash). It also has NTFS 5.0 read\write support.


« Last Edit: February 26, 2008, 08:23:54 AM by iSmith »	Logged

In my eyes, your operating system is as solid as swiss cheese.

shawal

Jr. Member

Offline

Posts: 86

Re: The Best linux

« Reply #1 on: March 17, 2008, 11:11:49 AM »

iSmith,
when i first used Linux, I was completley in love with the linux desktop managers and GUIs. and I too was not good with bash. so what i did just removed the desktop and switched to runlevel 3 for a couple of weeks until i became comferatble enough with the standard bash commands and tools. I know someone else that went through every package in the system and read its description, and where is its configuration file, and looked at its configuration, just though to share these two experinces with you and hope you become an advocate Slaxer Cool


	Logged

RHCE, GIAC GCIH.

eth3real

Full Member

Offline

Posts: 130

Re: The Best linux

« Reply #2 on: March 17, 2008, 11:19:37 PM »

I have been using Linux for just a little while, but I'm getting ready to convert some of my PCs from Windows to Linux. Specifically, I have http, ssh, and terminal servers. I was wondering what is the best distro to start with to do these?

I've been pondering the idea of Linux From Scratch, but I have been lazy about it. I have read about EnGarde and SELinux. Are any of these good to start http/ssh/terminal servers?


	Logged

Jess Hires
MCP, C|EH

shawal

Jr. Member

Offline

Posts: 86

Re: The Best linux

« Reply #3 on: March 19, 2008, 11:04:04 AM »

eth3real,
Any Linux distribution will do for your task, on the Enterprise they usually favour rpm based distros, with RHEL dominant in North America, and Suse in Europe. Gentoo, and debian based disrtos are also fun to work with and learn new things. one of the main difference between these distributions is how they package, and quality assure their software, however as far as you are concerned familiarity with thier package management tools, and the right support for your hardware should be the primary concern in your wish list


	Logged

RHCE, GIAC GCIH.

eth3real

Full Member

Offline

Posts: 130

Re: The Best linux

« Reply #4 on: March 19, 2008, 12:19:32 PM »

I'm already very familiar with some of the Debian based distros, and the APT package manager.

I won't be using these servers as workstations at all. As long as they have SSH, they can be headless terminals, and not have X installed.

I just want to pick something that will be fairly secure without having to go through and uninstall a bunch of software I won't need.

Are Gentoo and Suse fairly secure right from the disc?


	Logged

Jess Hires
MCP, C|EH

BillV

Hero Member

Offline

Posts: 869

Re: The Best linux

« Reply #5 on: March 19, 2008, 12:24:19 PM »

Have you looked at EnGarde Secure Linux?


	Logged

eth3real

Full Member

Offline

Posts: 130

Re: The Best linux

« Reply #6 on: March 19, 2008, 12:44:26 PM »

Quote from: BillV on March 19, 2008, 12:24:19 PM

Have you looked at EnGarde Secure Linux?

Not very much, but I do know about it (I mentioned it in a previous post). Is it a pretty good distro? I mean, compared to SELinux, or other similar distros?


	Logged

Jess Hires
MCP, C|EH

BillV

Hero Member

Offline

Posts: 869

Re: The Best linux

« Reply #7 on: March 19, 2008, 01:20:49 PM »

Ah, sorry, missed you mentioning that in your post above.

Yes, it's a very good distro. I've been using it for quite some time now and have no complaints.

As for your SELinux question.. check here


	Logged

don

Editor-In-Chief
Administrator
Hero Member

Offline

Posts: 2380

Editor-In-Chief

Re: The Best linux

« Reply #8 on: March 19, 2008, 01:24:02 PM »

FYI - SELinux is not a distro. It's a technology framework for MAC (Mandatory Access Control). Here's the exact answer from the NSA:

Quote

What is Security-enhanced Linux?

Security-enhanced Linux (SELinux) is a reference implementation of the Flask security architecture for flexible mandatory access control. It was created to demonstrate the value of flexible mandatory access controls and how such controls could be added to an operating system. The Flask architecture has been subsequently mainstreamed into Linux and ported to several other operating systems, including Solaris, FreeBSD, and Darwin, spawning a wide range of related work. The Flask architecture provides general support for the enforcement of many kinds of mandatory access control policies, including those based on the concepts of Type Enforcement®, Role-based Access Control, and Multi-level Security.

http://www.nsa.gov/selinux/info/faq.cfm

Hope this helps,
Don


	Logged

CISSP, MCSE, CEH, Security+ SME

eth3real

Full Member

Offline

Posts: 130

Re: The Best linux

« Reply #9 on: March 19, 2008, 01:56:45 PM »

Don, thank you very much for that summary. I had been looking more at EnGarde, anyway, but that will save me a little bit of research.

BillV, thank you for the recommendation. I am downloading EnGarde now, and I will post my success/failure story in a few days.

Grin


	Logged

Jess Hires
MCP, C|EH

eth3real

Full Member

Offline

Posts: 130

Re: The Best linux

« Reply #10 on: March 19, 2008, 02:10:49 PM »

Quote from: don on March 19, 2008, 01:24:02 PM

FYI - SELinux is not a distro. It's a technology framework for MAC (Mandatory Access Control).

I just want to make sure I understand this...
You can use the SELinux kernel and libraries for an existing Linux distro?


	Logged

Jess Hires
MCP, C|EH

shawal

Jr. Member

Offline

Posts: 86

Re: The Best linux

« Reply #11 on: March 20, 2008, 05:38:54 AM »

None can be always secure from the start!!. have you thought about using OpenBSD. it is as minum as Unix Flavor can get, have been strongly audited for the system side, and encourages good practices adminsitration wise, very fast to either download, install, or configre, and maintance wise will be less as you will have lesser number of packages to take care of


	Logged

RHCE, GIAC GCIH.

Pages: [1] Go Up

« previous next »

Support EH-Net by Buying all of your Amazon items using the search bar above. Try CBT Nuggets Free!

Support EH-Net by
Buying all of your
Amazon items using
the search bar above.

Try CBT Nuggets Free!