server security

[Anon]

I have a general problem regarding server security and I don't know where to start with. I just happened to get into this site from a search engine. My company is doing multimedia educational courseware. Last week, we have put some of our content (learning material, all html files) into our client's server. This is for them to view it internally. Now we want to set a time limit in such a way that these files are only viewable/accessible within a year. After one year, these files will be automatically deleted from the server or they will no longer be viewable. Can anyone just brief me on where to start and what to do. Thanks a lot for any of your help.

[mp96brbj]

If your server resides on a UNIX/LINUX machine, you could add a crontab on the server. Log in using telnet and do this:

1. Make sure the user you are logged in as has the authority to delete these files.

2. Create a script that deletes the files. Try it out on some dummy files first! ^_;

The script could look something like this:

#!/bin/bash
rm -R -f /path/to/your/files

Be VERY careful with this script, since an incorrect (or empty '/' path) could delete the entire server!

3. Make the script executable by the owner:
   chmod 700 script_name.sh

4. Edit crontab:
   crontab -e

5. Add a line like this:
   05 02 03 01 2002 /path/to/your/script/script_name.sh

6. Save.

This will run the script on the 3rd of January 2002, at five past two in the morning.

That should work. Make sure whoever does this is a competent server administrator.