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Unix Access

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Unix Access
Heather Flores
POS355
Sept 8, 2014
Alicia Pearlman

Unix Access
In the Unix system it is “very simple to set permissions via groups or users at the administrative level” (Finch, 2014). This allows the system administrator the ability to control access to files, folders even whole directories based on the needs of the company and the appropriate tier of access for the user.
Given the scenario presented: “a system that supports 5,000 users. Suppose that you want to allow 4,990 of those users to be able to access one file. Suggest another protection scheme that can be used more effectively for this purpose than the scheme provided by UNIX®?” There are a couple of options available to the system administrator. The first option is to allow access to all users and then create a group of the users that do not need access and deny them access to the directory that contains the file. For this, though, the best practice in Windows is always to create permissions at a directory and group level. “When you start putting permissions on individual files and giving permission to individual users things can get dicey in a large environment”. (Finch, 2014)
Another option, depending on where those users are located in your environment is that it might be easier to deny access to that file on the network level by making it so they can not even see the directory the file is in. There are a couple of different ways to accomplish that.
Denying access at the network level would probably be the most secure option, but depending on where those 10 users are they don’t need access to the file, it could get complicated. If they all work in the same room it would be very simple. If they are geographically spread out over a wide area things would be a lot more difficult to control using a network.

Reference
Finch, K. (2014, September). Unix File Access and Protection. Personal Interview, 1(1), 1-3.

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