System Users

[onlytheone]

I have seen on the server that there are various users on the server with Slackware installed. Obviously there is root, but there are users like Bin, Apache, Nobody, sshd, etc. Does anyone know what the purpose of these users is or a link where I can find out more, ive googled it but cant find much.

Thanks

[jayd512]

Hello and Welcome!

I believe that a system account is a account that a program or daemon starts and uses to run. Instead of running bind under root you can use the bind account to run the process. This way if someone exploits a bug in bind they will not gain root privileges.

I recall finding a far more thorough explanation at one point, but I'm unable to locate the link.

[onlytheone]

much appreciated!

[onlytheone]

What is a Deamon?

[jayd512]

Basically, it a program that is running as a background process.
Daemon (computing) - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

[oz]

I have seen on the server that there are various users on the server with Slackware installed. Obviously there is root, but there are users like Bin, Apache, Nobody, sshd, etc. Does anyone know what the purpose of these users is or a link where I can find out more, ive googled it but cant find much.

Hello and welcome!

Those are default system user groups. You can find some info on them in the following articles:

https://wiki.archlinux.org/index.php/Users_and_Groups

Linux Tutorial - Managing Group Access on Linux and UNIX

[Mudgen]

Among the purposes of system-level users/groups, in addition to providing identity for processes to run under, they also provide granularity of file ownerships and permissions, for similar purposes to process ownership.

[alf55]

What is a Deamon?

Daemons are good or benevolent nature spirits beings of the same nature as both mortals and gods, similar to ghosts, chthonic heroes, spirit guides, forces of nature or the gods themselves (see Plato's Symposium). They did their work without being seen.

Since services are workers that are unseen the Unix developers (back in 1969) used the the name Daemon. There is a lot of references to mythology and classic novels in the the Unix system.