Re: Permissions on Informix raw devices.

In article <30ka5s$coa@emory.mathcs.emory.edu> cwakins@jabba.rmc.com (Clem W. Akins) writes: >} partitions. Recently, in the midst of problem with one of our >} applications, a support person from the application vendor told us that we >} chould change the way the permissions on the raw devices are set. Ive set >} the character special devices to user informix, group informix and 660 >} permissions. I pointed out to them that this is what's documented in the >} OnLine Administrators guide. They said that they were told by an Informix >} engineer that the book was wrong, and that both the character special and >} block special devices had to be set to user informix, group informix and >} 666 permissions. >} >} So, my question is, is the book right or not? The book is correct; this other party is steering you down a dangerous path. At 666 permissions, any user can do devilish things with your data. (Hence the name. [-:% >OL Admin guide, but we're not. We use links, grouped and owned by informix, >to the char devices, which are also grouped and owned by informix, while >the block devices are grouped and owned by system and root. None of this If you access through the raw paths, the cooked permissions should not matter if they are more restrictive. Obviously, if they are *less* restrictive, they still incur the risk of users scribbling on your data. >seems to make too much difference, as long as informix thinks it owns what >it can see, i.e. the link. If informix can write and read the raw stuff then >it should work. I think that if it doesn't work then you'll know it right It's not just that informix must be able to read and write; you don't want anybody *else* to have read or write access. >away. Go with what the book says. Yup. -- Alan Denney aland@informix.com {pyramid|uunet}!infmx!aland "I'm cruising down the Information Highway in high gear... riding the waves of the digital ocean... exploring the uncharted regions of cyberspace!" "Actually, you're sitting on your butt, staring at a computer screen." -- Tom Tomorrow