- Jun 24, 2001
- 24,195
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Cliffs:
Need help finding and launching an application from the terminal as the root user. All I can do is "ls" and "exit"
Need help creating a user called "addusers" or changing the password if there is already one (how can I tell?).
Using the root user, I could use some help removing the password of a couple of the other users.
OK, there is a Unix system at work that has been in use since the mid/late '90s. After a lightning strike last week, it began behaving strangely and it is imperative that we back it up immediately. What used to be routine a few years ago now seems impossible due to an employee quitting while we transitioned away from it to the new system (we continued to use it for its secondary purpose). He took with him all knowledge of how to do the routine backups (built-in tape drive).
My boss asked me what I could do about it, but I know next to nothing about the software or the OS.
OK, here's the deal:
First of all, this is not an Internet connected machine. It's a computer that was once connected to a facility's security system to control and monitor door access but has been replaced (has been for about 3 years. It is now only used as a quick way to pull up additional information that was once associated with a person and their facility access (vehicle tag and sticker numbers). Yeah, it's kind of a waste of electricity to have kept this old system running for years on end to do something that a simple spreadsheet could do, but the new Windows-based system is inferior in many other ways and they never asked me to write anything (nor do they pay enough) so that's the way it is.
The software, SE 6000 Westinghouse Security Electronics Security Management System version 5.5, automatically boots when we put in the only usename and password I have been privy to for the last eight years (let's call it "[client company name]"). It takes me to a menu that shows the options this user has access to, so the OS user and the application user are tied to eachother. In the application, when I go to System Administration > Database Management > Perform Backup, it tells me that I "must log in as addusers to perform this function."
My boss told me that he called OSS (the security vendor) and that they told him the password for this "addusers" user. It didn't work. The reason why? There doesn't seem to be a "addusers" user. When I go back to System Administration and select "Display All Valid Logins," I get the following users listed with some "Security" number next to each one (I've obscured two of them for security reasons):
[security company name] 3
-Don't know the password; doesn't accept OSS' or [client company name]'s password
csd 1
-Don't know the password; doesn't accept OSS' or [client company name]'s password
[client company name] 5
-Same user I always use
oss 1
-Don't know the password; doesn't accept OSS' or [client company name]'s password
polaroid 0
-Don't know the password; doesn't accept OSS' or [client company name]'s password
recover 1
-Accepts the same password provided to us by OSS for "addusers" but the only option is a destructive tape restore or get dumped back to the login prompt.
test 4
-Doesn't require a password but it only gives me one option (one I always had with [client company name])
On a hunch, I also tried the password OSS provided on another user:
root
-Accepts the same password provided to us by OSS for "addusers" but dumps me to the unfamiliar Unix prompt. All I know is "ls" and "exit"
If "root" exist, perhaps this "adduser" user does too, but I don't see either in the list that the application gives me so... *shrug*
Where you could help:
I don't know anything about Unix. If there is a way for the root user to remove passwords from the other users, that may help. I don't know what the "Security" numbers listed beside the usernames are, but I interpreted it as "Security Level" and assumed that the lower the number the better. In years past, I've seen additional menu options when other users were left logged in so I know that our user is one of the "lesser" users and it does have the highest "security" number. Oddly, the "test" account has a lower on and yet has even less options in the applicaion (only a useless "monitor" function that doesn't work now that it is completely disconnected from the facility doors/alarms).
Need help finding and launching an application from the terminal as the root user. All I can do is "ls" and "exit"
Need help creating a user called "addusers" or changing the password if there is already one (how can I tell?).
Using the root user, I could use some help removing the password of a couple of the other users.
OK, there is a Unix system at work that has been in use since the mid/late '90s. After a lightning strike last week, it began behaving strangely and it is imperative that we back it up immediately. What used to be routine a few years ago now seems impossible due to an employee quitting while we transitioned away from it to the new system (we continued to use it for its secondary purpose). He took with him all knowledge of how to do the routine backups (built-in tape drive).
My boss asked me what I could do about it, but I know next to nothing about the software or the OS.
OK, here's the deal:
First of all, this is not an Internet connected machine. It's a computer that was once connected to a facility's security system to control and monitor door access but has been replaced (has been for about 3 years. It is now only used as a quick way to pull up additional information that was once associated with a person and their facility access (vehicle tag and sticker numbers). Yeah, it's kind of a waste of electricity to have kept this old system running for years on end to do something that a simple spreadsheet could do, but the new Windows-based system is inferior in many other ways and they never asked me to write anything (nor do they pay enough) so that's the way it is.
The software, SE 6000 Westinghouse Security Electronics Security Management System version 5.5, automatically boots when we put in the only usename and password I have been privy to for the last eight years (let's call it "[client company name]"). It takes me to a menu that shows the options this user has access to, so the OS user and the application user are tied to eachother. In the application, when I go to System Administration > Database Management > Perform Backup, it tells me that I "must log in as addusers to perform this function."
My boss told me that he called OSS (the security vendor) and that they told him the password for this "addusers" user. It didn't work. The reason why? There doesn't seem to be a "addusers" user. When I go back to System Administration and select "Display All Valid Logins," I get the following users listed with some "Security" number next to each one (I've obscured two of them for security reasons):
[security company name] 3
-Don't know the password; doesn't accept OSS' or [client company name]'s password
csd 1
-Don't know the password; doesn't accept OSS' or [client company name]'s password
[client company name] 5
-Same user I always use
oss 1
-Don't know the password; doesn't accept OSS' or [client company name]'s password
polaroid 0
-Don't know the password; doesn't accept OSS' or [client company name]'s password
recover 1
-Accepts the same password provided to us by OSS for "addusers" but the only option is a destructive tape restore or get dumped back to the login prompt.
test 4
-Doesn't require a password but it only gives me one option (one I always had with [client company name])
On a hunch, I also tried the password OSS provided on another user:
root
-Accepts the same password provided to us by OSS for "addusers" but dumps me to the unfamiliar Unix prompt. All I know is "ls" and "exit"
If "root" exist, perhaps this "adduser" user does too, but I don't see either in the list that the application gives me so... *shrug*
Where you could help:
I don't know anything about Unix. If there is a way for the root user to remove passwords from the other users, that may help. I don't know what the "Security" numbers listed beside the usernames are, but I interpreted it as "Security Level" and assumed that the lower the number the better. In years past, I've seen additional menu options when other users were left logged in so I know that our user is one of the "lesser" users and it does have the highest "security" number. Oddly, the "test" account has a lower on and yet has even less options in the applicaion (only a useless "monitor" function that doesn't work now that it is completely disconnected from the facility doors/alarms).
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