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[#whathere]: What's here?
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][Cyber Pillar][ provides a lot
of information about using computer technology. Some technologies that are or
will be covered on this site include installing various operating systems on
multiple virtual machines, and getting several core network services up and
operational on new operating systems.
This site does contain some information about
IPv6, and that will
soon be expanded and tested to make sure this site
contains everything needed to run a network that can provide automated services
that support using IPv6. Services may be
provided both privately and, as permitted by firewalling, publicly, with
IPv6.
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[#welcome]: Welcome to
][Cyber Pillar][.
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Hopefully this website will enhance your life by providing
some good and useful information. Welcome to the bastion of security known as
][Cyber Pillar][.
However, be careful. Danger(!!!) does lurk about, and that's
no joke.
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Current status
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Some of the guides anticipated to be the most useful
for beginning to intermediate technicians are:
A goal is to get
a guide to
using IPv6 in more respectable shape as
well, fairly soon. (That may occur shortly after the site's initial launch.)
Focus has been placed on those
resources, and so they may be more complete than some of the other offerings.
Please submit feedback about those sections. As an exception to those guides
being fairly complete, Anti-Virus software for Unix may be referenced by the
guide to setting up an operating system, but information on Unix AV may not yet
be covered too thoroughly yet.
Anti-Virus
software for Microsoft Windows, on the other hand, has information about
using Clam Sentinel and Microsoft Security Essentials that may be getting ready
for prime time. (The Clam Sentinel information is related to using ClamWin
and then adding Real-Time Scanning.)
This “Current Status” section will likely be
removed as time shows just how solid those areas really are, and as more areas
are significantly enhanced.
(For more details about the current status and upcoming plans, see the
relevant section on the main
page. It may have more frequent updates than this section.)
It is understood that some sections of the site might
currently be marked up with CSS indicating
attention would be helpful or
further attention may help. Those markup codes
were initially meant for internal use by the webmaster: they have been allowed
to be seen publicly in case it helps to identify any text that may still be a
bit “rough on the edges”. Generally, this sort of markup indicates
that it was decided to try to get this site publicly available, to provide some
public benefit, rather than delaying the site launch further to get those
sections more prestine.
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[#erlywarn]:
Early Warning
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Data loss occurs when following some of the instructions on
this site. Even more and unanticipated data loss is likely to happen when
instructions are deviated from. Additionally, security may be compromised,
providing unwanted access to thieves and other attackers. Seriously, please be
familiar with these issues at all times when making changes to how networked
computers operate. A
technology
warning is offered by this site and all users are recommended to start by
becoming familiar with the dangers described by that warning. Be careful!
Also, this site is overflowing with some disclaimers, such as
the one at the top of the
site's main page that links to other
sections. Tread carefully. Do not expect to derive benefit by trying to
cause aggravation to others, even if things end up turning out sour.
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Expectations
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New to ][Cyber Pillar][?
Wondering if this site will stick out from the masses? To answer this question,
take just a third of a minute (more or less, depending on how fast you read) to
consider some great ways ][Cyber Pillar][ provides assistance. This isn't just
unsubstantiated marketing hype: It is seriously expected that
][Cyber Pillar][ will be able to help people in
these specific areas, in these specific ways:
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Saving time
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Even people familiar with the technologies may
benefit from using the tutorials as a
checklist with some example commands that may be copied. Then, as a standard
rule to always follow, understand the commands before applying them: be sure to
always apply any needed customizing! Tutorials, such as
setting up an
operating system installation, can be used like a checklist to help make
sure that necessary steps are completed. (Included JavaScript allows sections
to be collapsed so that a task that is already thoroughly covered may be quickly
looked over, and another section can be seen for consideration.)
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Thoroughness
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Be thorough by not just relying on memory, but going through
tutorials. This can help to maximize success in handling issues such as
computer network security. To achieve this benefit, check out some of the
tutorials for sections about tasks that are already understood, such as the
guide to setting up an
operating system installation.
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Reference
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There are a lot of hyperlink anchors on this website! If
you're stuck, this is a great way to help precisely pinpoint the section where
you are stuck. If someone is asking for some generalized help about a process
that will take a while, provide that person with a hyperlink to
][Cyber Pillar][ and know that many useful details
will be provided, and that if the person has a question then that person will
likely have an easy way to pinpoint a rather specific part of a successful
process.
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Troubleshooting
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Such a violent term... if troubles are identified, then
][Cyber Pillar][ helps a technician aim so that
those troubles may be shot. Bang. Boom. Dead? Ahh...
In addition to a dedicated section about generalized
troubleshooting,
][Cyber Pillar][ often provides more specific
additional troubleshooting tidbits, as well as describing what things should
be like when things are successfully done.
(This may become even more
evident as detailed guides are released for operating system
installations.)
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Initial education
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Learn new skills by learning how to successfully deploy
network services.
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[#recomnda]: Recommendations
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There are hundreds of web pages on the
][Cyber Pillar][ website. Where to start first?
Everywhere!
Okay, here's some more practical advice.
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or...
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Otherwise, even more
preferred, visit the
Tutorial Area
if immediate
assistance with a very specific
topic isn't urgently needed. Some great guides systematically refer to the
site's various sections, including multiple technologies from the
“Techn's” section. Beyond just that, the guides also provide some
additional
context about how to use multiple technologies to work simultaneously, and
perhaps even getting the technologies to interact nicely with each other.
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[#morpages]: Additional
Resources
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A wide variety of useful processes are discussed may be
discussed in each guide, so check out the topics from the available tutorials if
planning to spend some time learning about computer technology.
If something seems unclear while reading content about
items that seem unfamiliar, feel free to check out the website's
Key/Legend page, the
Glossary, and/or the
section called Basics.
(The “Basics” section refers to some material which isn't just
basic computer usage, but rather are basic fundamentals of sometimes advanced
topics that may be unfamiliar. Even some saavy computer users may benefit
from some of the topics in that section.) The site does offer some other
sections, some of which may relate a bit more to aspects of life beyond just
technology. Even those sections, however, are still likely designed for an
intended audience of those who are interested in computer technology (or at
least those who are interested in learning about how computer technology may
be used).
Beyond the tutorials section which are designed to guide
people through various technologies in the easiest possible fashion, explorers
may find that there is other information available which can be found from the
hyperlinks on the
Main Page
of the current site.
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[#browsreq]:
Browser requirements
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This site should work on a wide variety of browsers. There is
some JavaScript used to enhance the site, and there is quite a bit of
“cascading stylesheets” used to affect the visual style. The site
should “degrade” nicely, meaning that the page's content should
still be readable in browsers which do not have these features supported (and
enabled). However, some HTML tags that are used pretty heavily are the
“<SPAN”...“>” tag and the
“<CODE”...“>” tag. The contents of these
sorts of tag should be visible. Otherwise, a lot of site content may have
missing text. This could cause confusion or, worse, appear to provide some
information when, in reality, the visible information is only part of the
information that was meant to be conveyed. Missing warnings, commands, other
words, or details (such as command line options) could have huge impacts.
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[#dedicate]: Dedication
and Appeal
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The initial notes that grew into this site may have just
been a self-serving reference documenting technical knowledge, but the
][Cyber Pillar][ website which was created from
those notes was created to help people. More details are about the web page
about this website, available as a hyperlink from the main page that
hyperlinks to other pages and sections. Please visit that if you're a repeat
visitor or currently if you simply have spare time now to do so.
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Website structure
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This web page is located on the top level of the
][Cyber Pillar][ web site. In this top level
are a small number of files.
This web site may have a file named
index.htm since that is a commonly-recognized
default filename for the website. That page exists because many people will
likely expect that visiting a website will show a page that provides some
usefulness. This behavior has become such an entrenched standard that it is
probably now a basic expectation for quality websites.
However, every other directory intentionally does not have a file
with a filename that is widely recognized by web servers as being a likely
default web page. This is intentional, so that visiting almost any other
directory will likely show the contents of the directory (if the utilized web
server supports showing such contents).
The one main exception would be if, for technical
reasons, a directory named cgi-bin has custom
handling because of the special behavior of the web server. Trying to view a
file in a cgi-bin directory will often not
show the contents of that file. However, the contents of any such file may be
shared in a directory named cgi-src (located
in the same location as the cgi-bin
directory).
Since the contents of this top-level directory may not be quite as
easy to see in a web browser, here is an overview of the small amount of
contents located in the directory storing this web page:
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This web page, which provides a bit of a more thorough
introduction for new visitors
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The site landing page. By focusing less
on topics such as expectations of the site, the creation of that web page
seemed to be more successful in the goal of providing some concise
information.
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A page-redirection page which points
people to the landing page. The main page is likely to just be a copy of this
page.
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A directory containing versions of this web
site's directory layouts.
Anyone who wonders what files or subdirectories exist can obtain
these details relatively easily. This layout was intended to share the
maximum amount of information that some people are likely to be seeking (for
non-malicious purposes). Hopefully these design decisions will help to
provide people with the easiest experience.
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