Securing your Linux lab with resettable user accounts
Reboot Restore
© Glen Lang, 123RF
Let your lab users play, and restore the original settings for the next login.
Scenario one: You're in charge of an open computer lab at a public library. The users in the lab must have the ability to customize the computers over the course of their session, but you want to make sure any modifications they make, whether accidental or intentional, won't become permanent. The changes they make must disappear once the computer reboots so that the next user on the system will receive a "clean" home directory with the default user environment.
Scenario two: You're in charge of an open computer lab at a school. When students come in, they can sign on as either user math or english for a predefined selection of subject-related applications. As with the library scenario, the students don't have individual login names and passwords, and you don't want the students' choice of desktop or downloads to stay on the machine permanently. Every time a math student signs on as user math, the user receives a "clean" default configuration.
This second scenario describes my own work environment. As part of my job at Evergreen Valley College (San Jose, California), I administer a computer classroom with 30 dual-boot computers (Windows XP and Linux). To make sure students using Windows have a uniform experience every time they sign on, the computers have a product named Deep Freeze[1] that makes sure any changes to the computer's configuration, whether accidental or purposeful, disappear when the computer is rebooted.
[...]
Buy Linux Magazine
US / Canada
UK / Australia
Subscribe to our Linux Newsletters
Find Linux and Open Source Jobs
Subscribe to our ADMIN Newsletters
Support Our Work
Linux Magazine content is made possible with support from readers like you. Please consider contributing when you’ve found an article to be beneficial.
News
-
TuxCare Announces Support for AlmaLinux 9.2
Thanks to TuxCare, AlmaLinux 9.2 (and soon version 9.6) now enjoys years of ongoing patching and compliance.
-
Go-Based Botnet Attacking IoT Devices
Using an SSH credential brute-force attack, the Go-based PumaBot is exploiting IoT devices everywhere.
-
Plasma 6.5 Promises Better Memory Optimization
With the stable Plasma 6.4 on the horizon, KDE has a few new tricks up its sleeve for Plasma 6.5.
-
KaOS 2025.05 Officially Qt5 Free
If you're a fan of independent Linux distributions, the team behind KaOS is proud to announce the latest iteration that includes kernel 6.14 and KDE's Plasma 6.3.5.
-
Linux Kernel 6.15 Now Available
The latest Linux kernel is now available with several new features/improvements and the usual bug fixes.
-
Microsoft Makes Surprising WSL Announcement
In a move that might surprise some users, Microsoft has made Windows Subsystem for Linux open source.
-
Red Hat Releases RHEL 10 Early
Red Hat quietly rolled out the official release of RHEL 10.0 a bit early.
-
openSUSE Joins End of 10
openSUSE has decided to not only join the End of 10 movement but it also will no longer support the Deepin Desktop Environment.
-
New Version of Flatpak Released
Flatpak 1.16.1 is now available as the latest, stable version with various improvements.
-
IBM Announces Powerhouse Linux Server
IBM has unleashed a seriously powerful Linux server with the LinuxONE Emperor 5.