Administering a UNIX User Environment

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Table of Contents

Introduction
UNIX
Research Process
Findings
Conclusion
Reference List

Introduction

UNIX operating system is rarely used by beginners. This is mainly because it is not user friendly. Over the years, I have tried to use UNIX, and found it quite challenging. Moreover, the mere fact that one could execute functions in UNIX made him a computer guru. This is because UNIX is not user friendly and requires programming knowledge. We considered even mere beginners, gurus, if they conveyed knowledge of UNIX. This was quite interesting because it stirred more interest in UNIX. Fortunately, I was among the students considered, by the class, to know everything that regards UNIX; I was therefore popular in this regard and would be invited to help others. This propelled my desire to learn more about UNIX and even consider conducting a proper research on administering it in a user environment. One of the reasons why I had to make this a priority was the fact that a friend had requested (knowing fully that I was a computer expert) me to help him understand the workings of UNIX. To be sincere, I did not know much about UNIX, in fact, the little I knew was acquired from a friend who knew almost every bit of UNIX. I therefore had to research on this subject to be able to enlighten my friends and gain the much-needed knowledge on UNIX interface. This would place me in the league of gurus even though, practically, I still had a long way to go (Eckert, 2005, p. 21).

UNIX

I knew about UNIX right from high school. This happened in a period when whoever understood its usage was considered to be among the best in programming. My desire to know its execution and manipulation grew as development on UNIX progressed. Its usage, as an interface between windows and UNIX environments, was quite interesting as it offered more security and file sharing capabilities. The introduction of Linux was also very useful. I knew Linux to be a clone of UNIX since the basics of its usage fits that of UNIX. In fact, my knowledge of Linux usage led some people to think that I was a UNIX guru. However, all I knew was the usage of Linux, and a few elements on UNIX user environment.

In essence, my knowledge of UNIX attested to the following: That UNIX assigns its user a home directory whenever one logs in. The directory makes a sub-tree of the whole memory construction, which UNIX assigns to the user. It is also important to note that UNIX system has three accounts, which I needed to know extensively. These are User, System and Root accounts. A user account provides access to the system through execution of two files. These are.cshrc and.login. These files entail commands, which set up user environment. I still needed to learn a lot on UNIX user administration, as I only understood it superficially. Moreover, I had very little knowledge on the other accounts of UNIX, namely Root and System account. In fact, I knew Root account to refer to a super-user account and that it controlled the UNIX system. This made me assume that it is the system administrator, which does not need any restrictions to execute commands. I have taken steps to verify this, since those who use this account never encounter restrictions. Therefore, as opposed to windows where one can introduce a system administrator, I believe that Root account can be considered as a UNIX system administrator. UNIX system account also performs operation of the systems components. However, my knowledge on System account, made me believe that it acts like a control panel in the windows environment. In this paper, however, I would research on how to administer a UNIX user interface. I will also endeavor to establish if my knowledge of the same is adequate (Eckert, 2005, p. 21).

Research Process

In order to establish the credibility of my beliefs on UNIX and its adaptability, and to ensure that my friend believes in my understanding of the same, I opted to conduct a research on Administration of Unix user environment. To accomplish this, I went into books, journals, articles and every source of information I could utilize in understanding UNIX administration. These included books such as Linux + Guide to Linux Certification, online guides from Machtelt Garrels, TechNet and Tutorial points among others. The kind of research I conducted is known as secondary research, where I collected information from existing data stored in books, articles, journals, and e-books, among others. I chose this method because it provides the most updated reliable information on what I needed. This is mainly because; UNIX use had been established and developed over the years. Information regarding its use and guides had been written and stored. This information is therefore credible as they form the basis of its development and use (Eckert, 2005, p. 21).

Findings

After sourcing for information through a collection of books, journals, e-books, articles and notes, among others, I found out the following regarding administration of a UNIX user environment. UNIX has three accounts namely Root account, which acts as the system administrator and may be referred to as super-user. The other account is system account, which is utilized in operating specific system components such as sshd and mail accounts, among others. The last account, which was of great interest to my research, is the user account. This account gives collaborative access to the system for groups of users and users. Users are generally assigned to these accounts by the system and are given limited access to critical directories and files. The systems also supports more than one account, for instance, group accounts. The system group handles all process management and file permissions (Serebra Learning Corporation, 2011, p. 1).

UNIX environment defines the variables in its interface. These variables are set by the system, users, and shell as well as programs that may load new programs. This variable can be defined as a character string. Users assign values to these variables; the values may be numbers, filename, text, and device, among others. When one logs into the system, the shell initializes and sets up various environment or accounts. This involves the processes of /etc/profile and profile. In essence, the shell checks availability of these profiles. I also found that UNIX user environment would initialize by making use of three files, that is.cshrc,.tcshrc, and.login files. The first to be executed is.tcshrc file; however, this only happens if it exists. The next is.cshrc file and lastly,.login file. These files entail commands that set up the user environment. Users can now manipulate their environment to befit their choice, For instance, controlling command prompt, among others. Setting environment variables also assist in locating system applications. These variables are usually set in the.login file. Other environment information including setting prompts are done in the.cshrc file. It is also important to note that environment variables can be set in the.cshrc file, but this is usually discouraged (Tutorials Point, 2011, p. 1).

Conclusion

The knowledge of administering UNIX user environment was vital to my development in UNIX as well as Linux usage. I was able to discover my limits and improve on the understanding of UNIX. This research enabled me to learn more on the types of UNIX accounts and their usage. In addition, I could administer user accounts efficiently and manipulate the user environment. This was a wonderful experience. It will aid me in enlightening my friend, who requires knowledge on administering UNIX user environment (Richards Center, 2006, p. 1).

Reference List

Eckert, S. (2005). Linux+ Guide to Linux Certification. (2^nd ed.). New South Wales: Cengage.

Rechards Center. (2006).Setting Up your UNIX environment. Yale University. Web.

Serebra Learning Corporation. (2011). Customizing the UNIX User Environment. Serebra. Web.

Tutorials Point. (2011). Unix Environment. Tutorialpoint.com. Web.

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Administering a UNIX User Environment

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