[ILUG] Shutdown

[Ciaran Johnston]

Kevin Lyda wrote:
> Stopping non-privileged users from restarting/stopping a machine:
>
> * command: Don't give them root access.

Some distributions will allow non-root users to shut down from within KDE
/ GNOME, which is a form of command. KDE has a "Login Manager" in the
advanced tab of the System Settings which allows configuration of who is
allowed to shut the system down. Other WMs / distros have their own tools
- not sure about RH but I am sure it has one.

> * power button: Don't give them physical access to the machine.
> * power lead: Don't give them physical access to the machine.
>
> Without monitored battery backup, the computer will have no way to
> tell you if the power was lost.  Not sure how at all with a power
> button that's a physical switch.  There may be a way to intercept
> events from a software-type power button.

The use of a physical switch / pulling of the power cord can be inferred
(although not 100%) from the *lack* of a message stating:

shutdown: shutting down for system halt

as the system won't be given the opportunity to shut down properly in
those situations. In other words, if you see that message after a
shutdown, the shutdown was caused by either a command or a soft-power
button, and not a removal of power.

/Ciaran.

>
> Kevin
>
> On Fri, Feb 11, 2011 at 10:03, Ger Hooton <g.hooton at ucc.ie> wrote:
>> Hi all,
>> Q1: How can I find out how a machine was shutdown, was it from a
>> command, power on/off button, pulling out the power lead? I have look
>> in /var/log/messages and I see "shutdown: shutting down for system halt"
>> Where can I get more details?
>>
>> Q2: How can I prevent non privileged users from doing a shutdown or
>> restart
>>
>> I am using RHEL4
>>
>> Thanks
>> //Ger
>>
>>
>>
>>
>> --
>> Gerard Hooton.
>> Department of Electrical & Electronic Engineering
>> University College Cork.
>> College Road.
>> Cork.
>>
>> Tel: +353 21 4902296
>>
>>
>>
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>
>
>
> --
> Kevin Lyda
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