Linux newbie requires help
 

Edit: Mods sorry if this is the wrong place. Kindly shift to newbie forum if this post is in its inappropriate place

Hi..serious help on Linux needed..

First I will lay out the facts to let u know ground position then shootout the questions. Thanks.

Facts:

My college has jumped onto the Fedora client suddenly..dumping Red Hat Linux..
They have rendered it completely useless to the students by removing all services and devices...

First I will try and explain the network..

We have fedora running on all clients. There are 4 labs that have clients of different make.

3 labs use IBM, Acer, HCL machines which have their own cabinates, CD, floppy drives. They all run fedora..

When u login using ur roll no and passwd it welcomes you to the GUI of fedora..

2 labs viz. Acer and HCL show the same files that you work on in your login but IBM seems like an entirely diff. login....i mean u use the same login as in Acer, HCL but the files there are entirely different and u cant see the files that u work on from HCL or Acer...and vice versa..

All that happens in all 3 labs is that it puts u in /home/student/rollno..
with 2 labs showing same files and the third showing entirely diff files (path remaining same ie. /home/student/rollno..

The fourth part of the clients are in the library from where u can access the internet via a proxy server (7.1.1.12:someport)..these clients are WinBee thin Clients with no cabinates/resources of their own..(i think when u login from there..u use telnet to access the proxy).

This lab too entirely shows diff files on ur login. So basically what u store and work on in the library cannot be accessed in HCL, Acer, IBM. What you work on in HCL, Acer is not seen in IBM or library and vice versa.

All clients use same usrname/passwd

When u login u cant see anything on ur fedora GUI dekstop (no directory structure ie 'Home', 'Recycle Bin', 'Cd, floppy Drives' etc. All that u get is a blank desktop, access to console and a few basic programs like debugger, star office etc. You cant even change ur wallpaper!!

Questions:

1.They seems like some kind of virtual servers?? Can someone kindly explain the entire layout..with all the technicalities invloved??

2.Is there a way to access files of any client on any other client (eg. library files in HCL, because we d/l the code we make using the internet from the library but all our programming tools are in HCL, Acer). I have tried telneting, rcp, scp but to no avail..I cant seem to recognize the central server where all the fles are stored. When we used Red Hat, we used the IP user@100.100.100.1 to use the scp command and transfer files among clients. To access the library there was another address where u could telnet into. It seems they have changed all the IP's..some way i can get the addresses of the main server, the library server etc??

3.Is it possible to access the hidden resources like CD, Floppy drives or atleast some programs that the user doesnt have the privilage to use..?? (can u manipulate it...as u can in windows..??)


Thanks for the help in advance. Sorry for the long post but i wanted to lay out all the facts!

Best regards

It seems your Acer, HCL labs authenticate you using NIS.

Can you not talk to the sysadmins and demonstrate your true interest in understanding how the college network is setup. There may be some resistance, but if they see your real interest is academic they would certainly help you, although at a macro level.

Forgot to add .. There is not much difference between the RedHat and Fedora distros.