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1) Customize /etc/aide.conf to your liking. In particular, add
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   important directories and files which you would like to be
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   covered by integrity checks. Avoid files which are expected
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   to change frequently or which don't affect the safety of your
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   system.
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2) Run "/usr/sbin/aide --init" to build the initial database.
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   With the default setup, that creates /var/lib/aide/aide.db.new.gz
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3) Store /etc/aide.conf, /usr/sbin/aide and /var/lib/aide/aide.db.new.gz
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   in a secure location, e.g. on separate read-only media (such as
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   CD-ROM). Alternatively, keep MD5 fingerprints or GPG signatures
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   of those files in a secure location, so you have means to verify
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   that nobody modified those files.
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4) Copy /var/lib/aide/aide.db.new.gz to /var/lib/aide/aide.db.gz
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   which is the location of the input database.
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5) Run "/usr/sbin/aide --check" to check your system for inconsistencies
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   compared with the AIDE database. Prior to running a check manually,
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   ensure that the AIDE binary and database have not been modified
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   without your knowledge.
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   Caution! 
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   With the default setup, an AIDE check is not run periodically as a
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   cron job. It cannot be guaranteed that the AIDE binaries, config
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   file and database are intact. It is not recommended that you run
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   automated AIDE checks without verifying AIDE yourself frequently.
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   In addition to that, AIDE does not implement any password or
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   encryption protection for its own files.
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   It is up to you how to put a file integrity checker to good effect
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   and how to set up automated checks if you think it adds a level of
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   safety (e.g. detecting failed/incomplete compromises or unauthorized
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   modification of special files). On a compromised system, the
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   intruder could disable the automated check. Or he could replace the
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   AIDE binary, config file and database easily when they are not
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   located on read-only media. 
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