ke2y@vax5.cit.cornell.edu (03/07/90)
I recently found a utility on the Sumex archives called SecureInit (tm),
which claimed to support all sorts of volume protection, esp. for network
workstations. Put out by Dancom, Inc. (a Switzerland-based software group),
this INIT was intended to be a Shareware 'pre-release' of a commercial
product. According to the documentation, they were supposed to be releasing
the commercial version by mid-'89. Furthermore, the shareware release was
a slightly crippled (read "feature-stripped, but functioning") that was dated
to die in Sept. '89.
I was wondering if those that *had* seen a working version could send me
their opinion of the program.
I was also hoping someone could tell me whether the commercial version
ever came about, and if so, it's name and the American distributor.
Thanks in advance...
-- John
===============================================================================
| John T. Chapman | |
| | Witty message under repair... |
| ke2y@vax5.cit.cornell.edu | |
| ke2y@crnlvax5.bitnet | |
|-----------------------------------------------------------------------------|
| Disclaimer: These opinions are mine. You can't have them! |
===============================================================================jness@umn-d-ub.D.UMN.EDU (Joel Ness) (03/08/90)
Here is a brief report on my experiences with SecureInit, what it can
do, why I'm not using it (not that it isn't a good product), and what I
would _really_ like to see in a product of this type.
This Fall we put in a lab of 16 MacIIcx's, each with a hard disk full of
nice software. I anticipated that administering a lab full of hard disk
machines could potentially be a nightmare, so I looked around for some
software that might make things easier. SecureInit seemed to have about
the best feature set.
We bought enought copies of SecureInit for the lab. They send you
separately serial numbered copies but I haven't checked to see yet
whether it does one of those obnoxious AppleTalk serial number
broadcasts to see if you're using the same copy on two machines.
Here briefly what it can do:
* Lock all applications (does a global Finder Get Info lock)
* Hide the System Folder (set invisible bit)
* Lock some or all files in the System Folder (finder lock)
* Make invisible backup copies of any files in the Sytem Folder and
recopy them over the original at boot-up time.
* Purge any files it finds in the System Folder that are not on
a set list of allowed files.
* Lock Hard Disk if booted from another System
* Verify Applications (virus-like checking - must do some sort of
filesize or checksum stuff at bootup)
* Close all windows at startup
* Eject any system disk inserted in floppy drive.
* Not allow launching applications from other than Hard Disk or other
specified volume.
* In conjunction with this you can also disallow copying of
applications from anywhere to anywher
* Purge files that aren't on a protected list when the hard disk becomes
too full
There are several other features, such as asking for a password on
bootup, and specifying key sequences that bypass some of these
operations. All in all, a fairly nifty program. Now... why aren't I
using it yet?
Well, I wanted to wait at least one quarter to see how things were going
in the lab before I locked the hard disks down and made it difficult for
myself and our consultants to change the software configuration on the
disks. It turns out that we really didn't have any big problems with the
hard disks without any protection. Here's what I would like to be able
to do, though:
* Keep people from moving around the folders and files that are part of
the permanent hard disk configuration. I've locked most of the files,
and that keeps them from getting modified or accidently deleted, but it
bugs me (and probably other people) when I turn on a machine and I have
to hunt to find where the previous people moved the folders for what I'm
looking for (or even what folder they dropped a folder into). I love to
do a selective GuardDog kind of thing -- locking the postition of a
selected list of files and folders. SecureInit doesn't try to do this.
I have played with VolumeImage, which will do something like this, but I
don't have room even on our mainframe to put a couple 35meg
configurations for VolumeImage to look at and use for rearranging our
hard disks back in order. What we need is something that will take a
napshot of what is where (as many folders deeep as need be), store it in
a file, and use this file to reposition things on startup. VolumeImage
does have a nice feature of copying any files that are missing on a hard
disk from a master volume and deleting any files that don't belong.
Maybe I'll be able to use it when I can dedicate a machine with a
Syquest drive as a server in the lab.
* This ties into the other main problem--getting rid of all of the extra
files that people put on the machine. People do need to be able to use
the hard disk as work space (especicially for graphics-intensive word),
but not everyone cleans up after themselves. This fills the disk with
lots of unnecessary files. SecureInit will let you purge any file not on
a list of protected files at startup. But I don't think that's useful.
Macintoshes crash, and I think I'd have a lot of unhappy users if their
machine deleted all of their working files every time it rebooted from a
crash. I rather be able to do this once a week or so. Or maybe only when
someone actually chooses "ShutDown" (but not Restart or after a crash).
* Some of SecureInits other features could be nice. Rebuilding System
files from backups is a great feature, but unfortunately we don't have
the 3-5megs or so it takes to store the backups (this is a problem of
our own creation). Probably not possible, but I'd love something that
auto-mounted a server on startup and refreshed copies of the System,
Finder, and other files I might want to rebuild each time.
* I'd like to make a better effort at preventing software piracy, and
I thought SecureInit's "Prevent copying applications from anywhere to
anywhere" feature would be just the ticket. Unfortunately, you have to
use this with the "Don't launch external applications" feature. We _have_
to be able launch external applications -- not all of our software is on
the hard disk, some programs can be checked out on floppies. I'd like to
make people run these programs from the floppy (or else we just find
copies of all these programs on the hard disk).
I can see SecureInit being very useful in other circumstances,
especially at a business or office. But the hassle so far isn't worth
the benefits. I hear the author is working on version 3 now (I'm using
2.1). The author apparently lives in Switzerland (you can tell a little
by the sometimes awkwardly translated manual, not nearly as bad as that
file that comes with the demo verions, though).
We have done some things on our own to make the Mac a little more
stable from user to user. We've turned MultiFinder into an application
and disabled Set Startup so that novice users don't get surprised by
running MultiFinder when they boot up. I've locked the Chooser Name and
modified the Chooser to tell people not to check the "Mount volume at
startup" boxes for server volumes. We also hide the System Folder with
ResEdit.
There was another very interesting piece of software called LabTools
floating around a while ago. You could use it to remotely set the time
and other pram setting on all Macs in a lab, and purge files that didn't
belong (although I think that LabTools also did this at Startup).
LabTools crashed on IIcx's, though, and I haven't heard from the author
on whether he's patched it yet.
I'd be interested in anyone else's experiences with SecureInit or other
lab management software.
Oh, here's info on where to get SecureInit:
Direct Software, Inc.
1032 Irving St., Ste 513
San Francisco, Ca 94122
415-347-1590
Pricing is:
10-19 $40 each
20-29 $35 each
30-49 $30 each
50-99 $25 Each
100-499 $20 each and on down.
Joel Ness INTERNET: jness@ub.d.umn.edu
Information Services BITNET: JNESS@UMNDUL
University of Minnesota, Duluth