SUMMARY: Login banner

From: Peter Richards (peter.richards@srs.gov)
Date: Wed Jan 18 1995 - 06:27:23 CST


Original Post:

> I have a problem which would seem trivial but which I have not been
> able to solve. At our site we have banner message which is suppose
> to be displayed on each users screen, preferable before login. I
> currently have the message in motd for display after a user logs in.
> However, I would like to display it before login so that it is the
> first thing users (remote and console) see BEFORE they start the
> login process. I have tried changing the login prompt, but this
> ends up displaying only part of the banner. How do I get the whole
> message to display properly? A little highlighting would be nice
> to emphasize certain parts of it.
>
> BTW, I have a SPARC 2 running SunOS 4.3.1 and Solaris 2.2 (depends on my
> mood), a SPARC 2 running Solaris 2.2, and a SPARCclassic running
> Solaris 2.2. The Solaris versions are soon to be upgraded to 2.4.
>
> Below is the banner which our legal department endorses for the site:
>
>
> THIS IS THE <sys name> SYSTEM
> UNITED STATES DEPARTMENT OF ENERGY
> SAVANNAH RIVER OPERATIONS OFFICE
> SAVANNAH RIVER SITE
>
> THIS SYSTEM IS FOR OFFICIAL U.S. GOVERNMENT BUSINESS ONLY
>
> WARNING: Unauthorized access and use of this computer system
> is prohibited by law. Violators may be subject to criminal
> and civil penalties.
>
> ACCOUNTS ON THIS SYSTEM ARE MONITORED FOR FRAUD, WASTE, AND
> ABUSE, INCLUDING PERSONAL, NON-GOVERNMENT USE.
>
> ANYONE USING THIS SYSTEM EXPRESSLY CONSENTS TO SUCH MONITORING.
>
> ANY EVIDENCE OF CRIMINAL ACTIVITY MAY BE PROVIDED TO LAW
> ENFORCEMENT OFFICIALS.
>
>
>
> Any help is greatly appreciated in advance. Of course I will summarize.
>

Thanks for the great response. I got 24 replies total from the following
people (sorry if I left anyone out):

pod%morgan.com@internet.srs.gov (Paul O'Donnell)
Claus Assmann <ca%informatik.uni-kiel.de@internet.srs.gov>
Casper Dik <casper%fwi.uva.nl@internet.srs.gov>
alan%bimacs.cs.biu.ac.il@internet.srs.gov (Arolovitch Alan)
Larry Chin <Larry_Chin%ca.cch.com@internet.srs.gov>
Russell_Alan_K/AIT2%horizon2.pdc.wi.ameritech.com@internet.srs.gov
Leigh Hume <lhume%dishwasher1.mpce.mq.edu.au@internet.srs.gov>
dewicki%bns102.bng.ge.com@internet.srs.gov (Zenon Dewicki ph3580)
sardellp%meadow.mdso.vf.ge.com@internet.srs.gov
Matt.Sherek%seag.fingerhut.com@internet.srs.gov (Matt Sherek)
sjk%kapre.com@internet.srs.gov (Scott J. Kamin)
Kai Grossjohann <grossjoh%linus.informatik.uni-dortmund.de@internet.srs.gov>
hoffman%moog.attmail.com@internet.srs.gov (Stan Hoffman)
Richard Crane <adm0001%cadlab.ECE.Drexel.EDU@internet.srs.gov>
hebert%sunrock.east.sun.com@internet.srs.gov
         (Jim Hebert {*Prof Services} Sun Rochester)
Joe Turner <jdt%concorde.com@internet.srs.gov>
perryh%pluto.rain.com@internet.srs.gov (Perry Hutchison)
"Susan M. Menig" <ddq251f%shoes.bell-atl.com@internet.srs.gov>
David Deaves <David.Deaves%cbr.atr.com.au@internet.srs.gov>
mike%eandm.co.il@internet.srs.gov (Mike Dubman)
Dave Hightower <hightowr%afwc.af.mil@internet.srs.gov>
John Adams <jna%concorde.com@internet.srs.gov>
bern%penthesilea.uni-trier.de@internet.srs.gov (Jochen Bern)
John Goggin - LTX Tech Support <jgoggin%ltx.com@internet.srs.gov>

Here is a brief summary of what was suggested.

For Solaris 2.x:

Put the message in /etc/issue for console and serial ports.

For SunOS 4.x:

Several said change the "lm" or "im" gettytab entries for default
and cons8. This has been tried, but with mixed results. Only part
of the banner is display. I tend to think the banner is too long
for these fields. Also, this is only for local logins--it will not
work for telnet, rlogin, etc.

A couple of people suggested putting the banner in a file which is
printed at logout by the .logout file. This would work OK for the
console or terminals connected to the system. It would still not
work for telnet and the like.

Several suggested using a wrapper to have the banner displayed
before login is exec'ed. This looks like the solution most likely
to work for everything. It can be used for SunOS and Solaris. I
haven't tried it yet, but feel it won't be too much of a problem.

Thanks again for your help.



This archive was generated by hypermail 2.1.2 : Fri Sep 28 2001 - 23:10:14 CDT