Andrew Hamm wrote:

> I've long whinged bitterly at people who install Informix into the same
> directory that is the informix account's home. Unfortunately nothing hase
> been done traditionally to prevent this. My complaint about people who do
> that is, they do work using the informix account and leave all sorts of crap
> lying around. Is there any way to enforce that $INFORMIXDIR != ~informix ???
> or make $INFORMIXDIR completely unwritable?

You can set the home directory of the informix user to whatever you want.
That is entirely under the control of UNIX. I've been to many sites where
$INFORMIXDIR and ~informix are different. Personally I find that mildly
irritating, as when I login as informix I expect to be administering
informix S/W. The simplest form of security, IMHO, is to treat the informix
password just as you do the root password. Of course, if you've seen how
some people treat the root password, then you will know that it's not much
help. ;-)

Cheers,
--
Mark.

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| Mydas Solutions Ltd http://MydasSolutions.com |///// / //|
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sending to informix-list

Mark D. Stock wrote:
>
> You can set the home directory of the informix user to whatever you
> want. That is entirely under the control of UNIX. I've been to many
> sites where $INFORMIXDIR and ~informix are different. Personally I
> find that mildly irritating, as when I login as informix I expect to
> be administering informix S/W. The simplest form of security, IMHO,
> is to treat the informix password just as you do the root password.
> Of course, if you've seen how some people treat the root password,
> then you will know that it's not much help. ;-)

The installation directory is just a

cd $INFORMIXDIR

away. The problem lies with people (not necessarily you, just at some places
I see) leaving crap around and also risking damage with random clumsy
activity.

Precisely because Informix needs to be a working account with a specialist
role, is deserves it's own home directory so that scripts, working files and
assorted junk can be safely developed, classified and stored, without
putting any risk what-so-ever upon the actual installed product.

Remember, Shit Happens. Hands up all administrators who HAVEN'T yet done
some accidental damage while working as Informix, root, or other critical
account?

*scans the world* See - I rest my case. No hands raised.

Andrew Hamm wrote:

> Remember, Shit Happens. Hands up all administrators who HAVEN'T yet done
> some accidental damage while working as Informix, root, or other critical
> account?
>
> *scans the world* See - I rest my case. No hands raised.

You didn't allow for the UK time difference.

--
Ciao,
The Obnoxious One

"Ogni uomo mi guarda come se fossi una testa di cazzo"

[cutting]

> Remember, Shit Happens. Hands up all administrators who HAVEN'T yet done
> some accidental damage while working as Informix, root, or other critical
> account?

I'm a professional (allegedly), all my f*%k ups are carefully planned
and well documented:-)) I know I'm newfs'ing the disk and I know the
disk is a dbspace and I just forgot - OK it happens.

--
Paul Watson #
Oninit Ltd # Growing old is mandatory
Tel: +44 1436 672201 # Growing up is optional
Fax: +44 1436 678693 #
Mob: +44 7818 003457 #
www.oninit.com #

On Wed, 29 Oct 2003 08:24:59 +0000, Paul Watson <paul@oninit.com>
wrote:

>[cutting]
>
>> Remember, Shit Happens. Hands up all administrators who HAVEN'T yet done
>> some accidental damage while working as Informix, root, or other critical
>> account?
>
>I'm a professional (allegedly), all my f*%k ups are carefully planned
>and well documented:-)) I know I'm newfs'ing the disk and I know the
>disk is a dbspace and I just forgot - OK it happens.

Is that while wearing your DBA hat or your SysAdmin hat???? 8-)

John Carlson wrote:
>
> On Wed, 29 Oct 2003 08:24:59 +0000, Paul Watson <paul@oninit.com>
> wrote:
>
> >[cutting]
> >
> >> Remember, Shit Happens. Hands up all administrators who HAVEN'T yet done
> >> some accidental damage while working as Informix, root, or other critical
> >> account?
> >
> >I'm a professional (allegedly), all my f*%k ups are carefully planned
> >and well documented:-)) I know I'm newfs'ing the disk and I know the
> >disk is a dbspace and I just forgot - OK it happens.
>
> Is that while wearing your DBA hat or your SysAdmin hat???? 8-)

I'm not jobist - I f*%k up wearing either hat:-))

--
Paul Watson #
Oninit Ltd # Growing old is mandatory
Tel: +44 1436 672201 # Growing up is optional
Fax: +44 1436 678693 #
Mob: +44 7818 003457 #
www.oninit.com #

Paul Watson wrote:

> John Carlson wrote:
>>
>> On Wed, 29 Oct 2003 08:24:59 +0000, Paul Watson <paul@oninit.com>
>> wrote:
>>
>> >[cutting]
>> >
>> >> Remember, Shit Happens. Hands up all administrators who HAVEN'T yet
>> >> done some accidental damage while working as Informix, root, or other
>> >> critical account?
>> >
>> >I'm a professional (allegedly), all my f*%k ups are carefully planned
>> >and well documented:-)) I know I'm newfs'ing the disk and I know the
>> >disk is a dbspace and I just forgot - OK it happens.
>>
>> Is that while wearing your DBA hat or your SysAdmin hat???? 8-)
>
> I'm not jobist - I f*%k up wearing either hat:-))

And sometimes he doesn't even leeeeeave his hat on... )

Oh, what a charming mental image. Sometimes I even make myself ill.

--
Ciao,
The Obnoxious One

"Ogni uomo mi guarda come se fossi una testa di cazzo"

Obnoxio The Clown wrote:
> Andrew Hamm wrote:
>
>> Remember, Shit Happens. Hands up all administrators who HAVEN'T yet
>> done some accidental damage while working as Informix, root, or
>> other critical account?
>>
>> *scans the world* See - I rest my case. No hands raised.
>
> You didn't allow for the UK time difference.

I didn't think I needed to add such an obvious exception clause such as
"Hands up all administrators that are not perfect ...."