Accessing Your System 2

Accessing Your System
2
Objectives
Upon completion of this module, you should be able to :
• List the characteristics of an effective password
• Change your password
• Describe the function of a mouse button
• Log in and log out of a system from the command line
• Log in and out of a CDE session
• Manipulate windows within the CDE
• Invoke and use menus and menu bars
Discussion – Passwords are a major key to a secure system. What
characteristics would a good password have?
User Accounts
You must have a user account on the system to log in. The user account
is defined in the /etc/passwd file and contains the elements which
identify each unique user to the system.
System administrators are responsible for creating and maintaining user
accounts.
The Root Account
The root account is the system administration account and is set up by
the installation process. The root login account owns all system files and
has access to all files.
The /etc/passwd Entry
Each entry in the /etc/passwd file is made up of seven fields separated
by a colon.
• Login ID – Is the identification required by the operating system for a
successful login. It is the user’s “public name.” Depending on the system
administrator, login IDs are usually some combination of a user’s first
and last names. For example, user Bob Wood’s login ID might be bobw,
bwood, woodb, or bw2.

The login ID must:
 Be limited to 32 characters
 Do not accept special characters: !, @, #, $, %,^, &
 Be unique
• Placeholder – Maintains the field for the password, which is kept in the
/etc/shadow file. The /etc/shadow file contains encrypted passwords
and password aging information (for example, how long before a user
must change a password and how long a password must be in use before
it can be changed). This file can only be read by the system
administrator.
• UID – Identifies the user to the operating system.
• GID – Identifies the primary group to which the user belongs.
• Comment – Is usually the full name of the user.
• Login directory – Is commonly referred to as the “home” directory, where
users store their files.
• Default shell – Defines which shell the user will have upon login.
Password Requirements
Your password protects your account from unauthorized access. In the Linux
computing environment, a password
• Should contain at least two alphabetic characters and one numeric or
special character
• Should differ from the login ID
• Should differ from the previous password by at least three characters
• May contain spaces
• These password requirements do not apply to the system administrator
(superuser).
The Mouse Buttons
The mouse settings can be modified to suit a user’s preferences. Once a
setting has been modified, that setting can be stored into a userspecific file.
This means that any personalized settings will be the default whenever a CDE

session is initiated.
The Left Mouse Button
Most actions use the left mouse button, alternatively known as button 1
or the SELECT button. This button is used to make selections in any of
the following ways:
• Make a window active by clicking the left mouse button while the
mouse pointer is in that window area
• Invoke a window menu by clicking on the left mouse button while
the mouse pointer is on the window’s menu box area
• Select an option from the Front Panel
• Select a File or Folder icon while working with the File Manager
• Open an icon by double-clicking the left mouse button while the
pointer is over the icon
• Highlight text to be selected by dragging over the text area, while
the left mouse button is being pressed
The Middle Mouse Button
Button 2, also known as the ADJUST button, is used to paste selected
text. The text must have been selected using the left mouse button as
described previously.
The Right Mouse Button
When the right mouse button, or MENU button, is clicked or held down, a
menu of choices will appear. The options available on the menu will be
determined by the position of the mouse pointer when button 3 was
pressed.
Note – For the purposes of this course, you will be instructed to left or
right click to perform a specific action. This assumes the standard
right-hand configuration of the buttons. These notes will instruct you
when a double-click is required.
Logging In
Logging in identifies you to the system. You can log in using the login screen

shown in CDE (graphic mode) , or at the command line (text mode).
Logging in text mode
To log in at the command line, follow these steps:
1. Type your user name (login ID) at the prompt and press Return.
2. Type your password at the password prompt and press Return.
Note – Your password does not appear as you type it. By default, if you
do not have a password, you are automatically prompted for one during
the initial login.
Logging in graphic mode
The CDE login screen replaces the usual login prompt. You must enter
your login name into the appropriate boxed area, then press the Return
key or left click on the OK button. If you log in incorrectly, you must
repeat the procedure of entering
your login name and password.
Note – If you make a mistake when entering either your login name or
your password, you will be required to reenter both pieces of
information.
Changing Your Password
Changing your password frequently helps prevent unauthorized access to your
system.
To change your password:
1. If you are in text mode, goto next step. If you are logged into a CDE
session, right click on the background to bring up the Workspace
Manager, click on Programs, and open a terminal window. (On some
systems, the Workspace Manager will have a menu selection labelled
Windows. If that is the case, click on this instead of Programs to access a
terminal window.).
2. Type the passwd command after the system prompt and press Return.
3. When the prompt Enter login password: appears, type your current
password and press Return.

4. When the prompt New password appears, type your new password and
press Return.
5. When prompted, retype the new password and press Return. (This is
required for verification of the new password by the system.)
Example
$ passwd
passwd: Changing password for user2
Enter login password:
New password:
Re-enter new passwd:
$
 If the users are unable to change their passwords due to cred table errors, use the
following command on the Network Information Service Plus (NIS+) server:
newkey -u username -s nisplus
This puts the user login password in the NIS+ cred table.
Exercise: Accessing Your System
Exercise objective – In this exercise, you will practice logging in on the
command line, changing your password, logging out, and other basic CDE
skills.
Tasks
Complete the following steps:
1. Obtain a user name and password from your instructor.
2. Log in to the system .
3. Change the password to mypass1.
4. Log out of the system.
5. Log back in to the system with the new password, then log back out.
6. At the CDE login screen, enter the following (incorrect) details:
Login Name: nosuchuser
Password: wrong
Observe the information displayed on the screen.

7. At the CDE login screen, enter your own (correct) details and log in to a CDE
session.