About This Guide

This manual introduces the basic concepts of system security on openSUSE. It covers extensive documentation about the authentication mechanisms available on Linux, such as NIS or LDAP. It also deals with aspects of local security like access control lists, encryption and intrusion detection. In the network security part you learn how to secure your computers with firewalls and masquerading, and how to set up virtual private networks (VPN). This manual also shows you how to make use of the product inherent security software like Novell AppArmor (which lets you specify per program which files the program may read, write, and execute) or the auditing system that reliably collects information about any security-relevant events.

Many chapters in this manual contain links to additional documentation resources. These include additional documentation that is available on the system, as well as documentation available on the Internet.

For an overview of the documentation available for your product and the latest documentation updates, refer to http://www.novell.com/documentation or to the following section.

Available Documentation

We provide HTML and PDF versions of our books in different languages. The following manuals for users and administrators are available on this product:

Start-Up (↑Start-Up)

Guides you through the installation and basic configuration of your system. For newcomers, the manual also introduces basic Linux concepts such as the file system, the user concept and access permissions and gives an overview of the features openSUSE offers to support mobile computing. Provides help and advice in troubleshooting.

KDE User Guide (↑KDE User Guide)

Introduces the KDE desktop of openSUSE. It guides you through using and configuring the desktop and helps you perform key tasks. It is intended mainly for users who want to make efficient use of KDE as their default desktop.

GNOME User Guide (↑GNOME User Guide)

Introduces the GNOME desktop of openSUSE. It guides you through using and configuring the desktop and helps you perform key tasks. It is intended mainly for end users who want to make efficient use of GNOME desktop as their default desktop.

Application Guide (↑Application Guide)

Learn how to use and configure key desktop applications on openSUSE. This guide introduces browsers and e-mail clients as well as office applications and collaboration tools. It also covers graphics and multimedia applications.

Reference (↑Reference)

Gives you a general understanding of openSUSE and covers advanced system administration tasks. It is intended mainly for system administrators and home users with basic system administration knowledge. It provides detailed information about advanced deployment scenarios, administration of your system, the interaction of key system components and the set-up of various network and file services. openSUSE offers.

Security Guide

Introduces basic concepts of system security, covering both local and network security aspects. Shows how to make use of the product inherent security software like Novell AppArmor (which lets you specify per program which files the program may read, write, and execute) or the auditing system that reliably collects information about any security-relevant events.

In addition to the comprehensive manuals, several quick start guides are available:

KDE Quick Start (↑Quick Start Manuals)

Gives a short introduction to the KDE desktop and some key applications running on it.

GNOME Quick Start (↑Quick Start Manuals)

Gives a short introduction to the GNOME desktop and some key applications running on it.

Installation Quick Start (↑Quick Start Manuals)

Lists the system requirements and guides you step-by-step through the installation of openSUSE from DVD, or from an ISO image.

Novell AppArmor Quick Start

Helps you understand the main concepts behind Novell® AppArmor.

Find HTML versions of most product manuals in your installed system under /usr/share/doc/manual or in the help centers of your desktop. Find the latest documentation updates at http://www.novell.com/documentation where you can download PDF or HTML versions of the manuals for your product.

Feedback

Several feedback channels are available:

Bugs and Enhancement Requests

To report bugs for a product component, or to submit enhancement requests, please use https://bugzilla.novell.com/. For documentation bugs, submit a bug against the component Documentation for the respective product.

If you are new to Bugzilla, you might find the following articles helpful:

User Comments

We want to hear your comments and suggestions about this manual and the other documentation included with this product. Use the User Comments feature at the bottom of each page in the online documentation or go to http://www.novell.com/documentation/feedback.html and enter your comments there.

Documentation Conventions

The following typographical conventions are used in this manual:

  • /etc/passwd: directory names and filenames

  • placeholder: replace placeholder with the actual value

  • PATH: the environment variable PATH

  • ls, --help: commands, options, and parameters

  • user: users or groups

  • Alt, Alt+F1: a key to press or a key combination; keys are shown in uppercase as on a keyboard

  • File, File+Save As: menu items, buttons

  • Dancing Penguins (Chapter Penguins, ↑Another Manual): This is a reference to a chapter in another manual.

About the Making of This Manual

This book is written in Novdoc, a subset of DocBook (see http://www.docbook.org). The XML source files were validated by xmllint, processed by xsltproc, and converted into XSL-FO using a customized version of Norman Walsh's stylesheets. The final PDF is formatted through XEP from RenderX. The open source tools and the environment used to build this manual are available in the package susedoc that is shipped with openSUSE.

Source Code

The source code of openSUSE is publicly available. To download the source code, proceed as outlined under http://www.novell.com/products/suselinux/source_code.html. If requested we send you the source code on a DVD. We need to charge a $15 or €15 fee for creation, handling and postage. To request a DVD of the source code, send an e-mail to sourcedvd@suse.de or mail the request to:

  SUSE Linux Products GmbH
  Product Management
  openSUSE
  Maxfeldstr. 5
  D-90409 Nürnberg
  Germany
 

Acknowledgments

With a lot of voluntary commitment, the developers of Linux cooperate on a global scale to promote the development of Linux. We thank them for their efforts—this distribution would not exist without them. Furthermore, we thank Frank Zappa and Pawar. Special thanks, of course, goes to Linus Torvalds.

Have a lot of fun!

Your SUSE Team