Beginners, Re: Simultaneous login Issue on Freeradius

[Kirk Wallace]

On Fri, 2008-09-05 at 14:30 +0200, Alan DeKok wrote:
... snip
> > Will this restrict the simultaneous login..
> 
>   As I told you already: No.
> 
> > I feel the password it provide as r1.\341\362... like this, may be in
> > some encrypted form which not authenticated by the server, while with
> > radtest the password root given as clear text.
> 
>   If you had bothered to run FreeRADIUS in debug mode as suggested in
> the FAQ, README, INSTALL, and pretty much daily on this list, you would
> have seen what the problem is.  The server would have printed out
> messages telling you what the problem is, and how to fix it.
> 
> > Could you please tell some thing solve this, so that i can use the
> > pam_radius module to authenticate the username/password , when i log in
> > the machine.
> 
>   Follow the documentation, and run the server in debugging mode.
> 
>   And even if you get pam_radius working, you will NOT be able to use
> Simultaneous-Use for Linux shell users.
> 
>   Alan DeKok.

I hope this list doesn't mind me presenting my "new to this list"
perspective.

There is a vast area of knowledge between getting started and having
years of radius experience. To me, it seems, the biggest problem
beginners have with what is currently presented in the Freeradius domain
is not documentation, but context. Someone can respond to a question by
saying "do the obvious" but if a person doesn't understand the meaning
of the words of the response, it may seem like the person isn't
listening.

I really do appreciate the effort people put into these free open-source
projects and from my limited experience with tennis, I find it's no fun
playing with someone below your own skill level. So, what might help is
a 2 x 4 to the head link on the main webpage taking beginners to content
or links covering the very basics of what Freeradius is, why should we
care,and in what situations it might be appropriate. With modern Linux
distributions many users will never see a README or INSTALL file let
alone wonder what they are. With Freeradius able to run on many OS's,
who knows what contexts a beginner will bring with them.

Some here may say "Well, I got myself through the gauntlet, others
should too". The problem is that a gauntlet is a test. I believe more
beginners will become users by taking a journey rather than a test. The
more beginners can take themselves along the journey the fewer repeated
questions will turn up here on the list.

Newly successful users could be a good asset for creating a beginners
starting point. Not that I expect to get a free ride, but I can get
further along the journey, sooner, with a little self-help guidance.

My two cents.

Kirk