Meeting Topics

First, I'd like to thank Jameson (and his cat) for hosting the first LUG I've been to. I'd like to contribute to the group but I'm not sure of the level of the folks in this group yet.

Sometime in the next couple of meetings I'd like to do a presentation on ssh and setting up an ssh server. While I'd like to tell you all that I'm fluent in these, I'm not. I have a working system that I use and think is fairly secure but a loose ball of spagetti in my head about how I set it all up. I'll do the presentation anyway :) Part of my doing this is that you learn more if you have to teach it. So if everybody already knows more about it than me then I teach myself at the very least :)

One of the reasons I picked this topic is that it is distro neutral. Openssh or something compatible should be standard on most distros and of the three members I've met so far I don't think any two are using the same flavor of linux.

The scope, as I see it right now, is for members to use an ssh client to connect to a server I set up for the exercise and then use that shell to connect back to a server that each member sets up themselves. To do this I would have to have network or internet access depending on how I set it up and where it was located. Most likely it would be set up at my house on a dedicated lan for the purpose. Ideally, if time allows, rsa authentication would be set up to allow login, securely, without passwords.

Topics, branching off this for future meetings might include tunneling remote desktop via tightvnc through ssh for secure remote desktop from linux clients to windoze servers and tunnelling X through ssh.

Again, I'm no guru. Hopefully some time would remain at the end of the meeting for feedback, ideas, tweaking and further security considerations from members more knowledgable.

As for what I'd be interested in for topics, I'm not picky. Some command line work would be helpful for me as would be any Linux OS design / theory type stuff that I might have missed when I didn't take that Computer Science degree that you might have taken. Anybody who feels they have some bash or z-shell tweaks that are neat or some helpful scripts, I would also be interested in. Also, any security tips, layout and system maintenance procedures that some of you have that might help the group could be topics.

Anyhow, I think I've exceeded the maximum length of post that proper etiquette requires and I don't want Emily Post to kick my ass so that's it for now. Suggestions and comments welcomed.

Rich