I'd like to announce a little pet project of mine. It is called vBash (take a stab at what the "v" stands for :)). It is based on the borne again shell.

vBash let's companies operating off of dedicated unix and cobalt servers control customers when they login via ssh and telnet.

Some features include:
-Customizable welcome message
-Customizable prompt display
-Pre-defined list of commands users can and can't execute
-Doesn't let users snoop in your system files or in other customers' files
-All executed commands are logged and can be viewed in an easy to run program which lets you sort by successful commands, unsuccessful commands, and commands by certain users
-Makes it easy for customers to execute scripts from the commandline.
-Can work side by side with other shell's so some users can have restricted shell access and other's can have nonrestricted.

vBash uses an advanced system which I have created which stops the user from snooping in other users' files and your system files. This is the primary use for vBash. This system allows the user to change directories (unlike rbash) while only being able to change to their own directories. You also have full control over what commands user's can execute. For example, you could specify that they cannot execute "who", but can execute "top".

If anyone has any interest in this project, I'd love to hear any feedback. And if any companies lurking around here running on a dedicated server and are interested in it, send me an e-mail at vince@jtan.com. I'd be happy to install and set it up for you. :)

[Edited by jtan15 on 10-02-2000 at 07:13 PM]

When will it be done by?? :D I hope it will be free :D

I hope to finish it in the next month or so. The commercial version that is. :)

I plan on having a freeware version, commercial version, and a professional version. The freeware version will obviously be free and will have about a quarter to a half of the features the commercial version will have. The professional version will include 2 free hours of customizing and installation. :)

Oh ok.. coool... I look forward to the freeware version then ;)

kunal,

Well, no definite plans are being made yet. I just want to find out if anyone is interested in using the program for their server.

If anyone is interested, send me an e-mail at vince@jtan.com. Thanks :)

I would be interested in it for all of our servers.
What would the full features and pricing be for the Pro version?

jaguar,

Thanks for your interest. I will e-mail you the information.

Definitely be interested Vincent. Sounds great.

Well, I guess I'll give a little update. I made a small demo recently and showed it to a few people. Some major changes will be implemented over the next two weeks, and my "hack" team will try to find as many bugs in vBash as possible. :)

Here's a few new features which I've added due to popular request. Once the demo improves, I will post a public server in which everyone can login and see how vBash really works. :)

-Reseller Support -- Let your resellers have customized configuration files, but you specify what they can set and not set (e.g. motd, allow users to change password, etc.) This allows resellers bash to look different than yours.
-Random MOTDs -- Just to keep your users coming back, display up to five random messages of the day. :)
-Pico / Pine-- Users now can access pico and pine and use them to the full extent. Vi is next on the list.
-Commandprompt -- Customize the commandprompt to show a combination of the username, directory, and hostname.
-Logs -- Users logging in and exiting is logged. All successful and failing commands are also logged. Logs can be customized to change the look to comply with a "grep" program.
-Password -- Either enable or disable the ability for users to change their password from the command prompt.
-Exit Check -- Check with the user if they are sure they want to exit or not so users don't accidentally exit.
-Messages -- Ability to customize all messages, including deny messages for certain commands and exit messages.

That's about all I can think of for now. I'll post more information about that demo soon. If anyone has any questions or would like to get it on their server, feel free to e-mail me at vince@jtan.com. Thanks again! :)

Vincent,

This sounds absolutely excellent! Do you have an informational site up or anything that we can look at?

I would love to get some more information on vBash, as it sounds exactly like what we (and many other hosts) are looking for.

Matt
mlightner@site5.com

Well, you can e-mail me at vince@jtan.com with any questions you have about it. I currently do not have a web site up about it but I plan on putting one up in a few weeks.

Like I said, I hope to post a public demo. But as always, I would like to make sure it is completely stable first. Hopefully the demo will come in 1-2 weeks.

Vincent

I just noticed this thread .. that sounds wonderfull .. if you can, email me prices and details

Carlos,

To answer your question, vBash isn't completed yet, but it is pretty close.

A web site for vBash is in the works. vBash has come along way, but the only features which are final are the ones which I have posted here. I do not want to list the features which are still being tested, and the pricing chart, as I have not completely decided yet.

Ohter than that, stay tuned. More information will be posted here soon as to the URL of the web site and information on the release.