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2. Special accounts

Many user accounts are used to control specific tasks. These accounts have special purposes. They have a user ID and belong to a group. They also have a password. These accounts are not meant for human beings, however; they are for system use.

2.1 Edit/Create PPP accounts via normal login

These accounts let a remote machine connect and establish a network connection using the PPP protocol. The remote system must identify itself using a standard chat sequence, sending its username followed by a password.

2.2 PPP accounts via PAP authentication

These accounts are meant for authentication using the PAP protocol. The username and password are exchanged using a special protocol defined in the PPP standard.

2.3 PPP accounts via CHAP authentication

Same as the PPP accounts above, except that a different, more secure, protocol is used to exchange authentication.

2.4 SLIP accounts via normal login

SLIP is another way of establishing a network connection between two computers over a serial line (usually a modem).

2.5 UUCP account

UUCP is the Unix to Unix Communication Protocol. UUCP is used for batch-oriented data transfer. It allows unattended exchange of files (and e-mail) between two computers. It provides a very inexpensive but highly reliable way to automate data exchange. It is probably the best way (by far) to receive and send e-mail on the Internet unless you have a dedicated connection to your service provider.

See the networking section of Linuxconf to configure UUCP.

2.6 POP accounts (mail only)

POP accounts are restricted accounts. POP users can't get a shell. They are generally used to retrieve e-mail using the POP (Post Office Protocol). They can also be used to connect to other services such as Samba (file and print service for DOS/Windows machines).

2.7 Virtual POP accounts (mail only)

These accounts are even more restricted. They allow retrieval of e-mail using the POP protocol, from virtual e-mail domains. See the menu "Networking/mail delivery system (sendmail)" to configure virtual e-mail domains.


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