Linux Server Hacks, Volume Two

Hack #67. Verify Fileystem Integrity with Afick

Monitor filesystem integrity with this easy-to-use tool.

Online security concerns grow every day as new viruses and worms are released. Because of this, it is now more important than ever to monitor your server's filesystem for signs of compromise. "Tame Tripwire" [Hack #66] introduced intrusion detection systems and discussed using the filesystem integrity checker Tripwire to monitor the multitude of changes that occur within your filesystem. Tripwire is an excellent tool, but to many people the steep learning curve is a big turnoff in deploying it. If for whatever reason Tripwire isn't for you, other integrity checkers are available. This is Linux, after all! Afick (Another File Integrity Checker) is one such tool that provides numerous configuration methods, including a perl/tk GUI and a Web-min module. This hack will get you up and running using Afick while your other sysadmin friends are still reading the Tripwire manual.

Installing Afick

There are few dependencies involved in deploying Afick. Since Afick is written in Perl, you'll obviously need to have Perl and its libraries installed. Beyond that, simply download the source code from http://afick.sourceforge.net, unpack it to your favorite build location, and run the installation as follows:

	# perl Makefile

If you don't want to install the perl/tk GUI, you can ignore any warnings you may see regarding missing perl/tk modules.

Once Perl has finished processing the Makefile, run ...