On Sun, Jun 14, 2009, Rudi Ahlers wrote: >Hi, > >I would like to spend some time learning a new coding language, but >specifically for server side admin stuff, i.e. setting up users / databases >/ FTP accounts / virtual domains on Apache, etc. > We use python for most of the things we write now after having used perl for about 15 years. You may find that webmin is useful for this type of thing as it can be configured to allow users to do pretty much anything, and to limit what they can do. On the other hand, IHMO it's written in pretty ugly perl, and I have found some major problems (e.g. happily removing the entire /home directory when changing a user's $HOME with a type). When we do set this up, we generally restrict access to the local LAN and a very small set of public IP addresses. There is also a webmin companion program, usermin, which allows users to do many of their own user maintenance functions. Unfortunately I have seen it used in several cases to change mail user's shell from /bin/false to /bin/bash then giving access to the shell. Again, this can be restricted to the private LAN as webmin allows. As for starting from scratch to do these things, it's probably a better idea to take something that does most of what you want and hack it to your needs. As others have said, this can help avoid the many pitfalls that one can find when doing security related administrative tasks. As an example, webmin allows one to specify a post-processing python script for user administration, and we provide one for our SMB customers that automatically updates things like Samba and jive_messanger user info in a single step. Bill -- INTERNET: bill at celestial.com Bill Campbell; Celestial Software LLC URL: http://www.celestial.com/ PO Box 820; 6641 E. Mercer Way Voice: (206) 236-1676 Mercer Island, WA 98040-0820 Fax: (206) 232-9186 Skype: jwccsllc (206) 855-5792 During times of universal deceit, telling the truth becomes a revolutionary act. --George Orwell