Shell Accounts

[{ThC}UTXtreme]

OK this is my first post so i will try not to make it to awful but i was trying to get some more information on shell acounts. Can anyone give me some insight as to what they are and what they are used for. Is this someone linux and unix is suited for is shell accounts? What are they used for besides weapons that can help crackers and hackers alike. I know they must have a legitimate use but i dont know what it is. OK OK last thing, where would someone get a shell account, dont they come with your isp if there are an option, which from what i understand they are not offered in any major isp's only small isp's where they owner might be an ex hacker himself. Thanks, i know this post is all over the place but hey this is the newbie's board right?

[MrLinus]

Shell accounts are accounts that are on Unix/Linux box. They refer to using a shell (Korn, Bourne, C, Bash, etc.) on a *nix box. The legitimate use is to manage the *nix box, provide users with access to *nix if they are writing apps for *nix and for students to practise their *nix commands. =)

You can get a shell accounts when you install your own *nix box. You can also get them from free locations like http://www.freebelt.com/freeshells.html.

Hope that helps.

[Rewandythal]

Using a shell account on another box, however, is mostly inconvenient, so I'd recommend setting up a Linux box of your own...

You can install Linux on the same computer as Windows, but it's not exactly the best setup, and is not totally trouble-free... a separate computer would be best.

Linux Mandrake 7 or later have easy to use install interfaces, and can automatically repartition your hard disk without losing data (as long as you've defragmented in Windows first!).

If you need a shell account, root on your own Linux box would beat most competition!