Linux networking questions

[digitaloracle]

This was already being discussed in a completely unrelated topic, hence this more aptly named version.
A couple of questions:
1.) why does /etc/resolv.conf not appear in the TAB-autocomplete menu when I type:
cd /etc
res [TAB]
? I can acess it by vi /etc/resolv.conf just fine, so it obviosly exists.
2.) What files do I need to edit to manually configure static (local) ip settings? resolv.conf and what others?
3.)Finally, I had to disable Reverse DNS and Indent lookups to make proftp run reasonably fast. What are these?

 

[horndude]

1. Autocomplete has to guess at what you want, if it doesnt have enough letters to work with then it wont work and it sits and waits

2. use ifconfig to set network settings, /etc/hosts and /etc/networks have some static IP settings that get used during bootup so linux can have a basic host-routing table

3. reverse DNS means proftpd will look up who's trying to get access, that can take a bit of time sometimes, it gets listed in /var/log/proftpd.log
Ident is a protocol I believe to identify another host, if a host gets pinged Ident responds ( I think)....good question, better check that for sure

 

[digitaloracle]

3. Ahh. OK So it's very usefull on an enterprise sytem where it might be advisable to log the sources of connections, but on a private server there is no need for it.

 

[horndude]

Correct, but logging will happen anyway, linux is VERY thorough about that, the log files contain prettymuch ANYTHING that happens in the system.Most distros by default have logging turned on, and there is a program called logrotate that will periodically flush and rotate the log files so they dont get huge, but thats usually not active by default, it has to be turned on.The log files have their limits, but they will go back for quite a long time.

 

[digitaloracle]

Right. It will just log the IP the request came from and not attempt to resolve it to a name.

 

[digitaloracle]

Another question: How do I get SSH to wrok? The daemon is running, but requests from my main computer time out. A port scan reveals no computer even at that address (this is a good thing I guess, but it shouls respond to the SSH port (22)). Mandrake security is set to "high," but that shouln't restrict boot time processes from binding to ports should it? I have gotten this working only once out of at least 5 trys at installing linux. What am I doing wrong?

 

[horndude]

check /etc/inetd.conf and make sure the appropriate lines are uncommented, then restart inetd with kill -HUP

also, if packet forwarding is enabled on that machine(one your trying to reach) it may be just trying to send the SSH request right on thru, that means the routing table/ packet filtering needs altered, Im struggling with that myself, just too lazy at the moment to dig out the iptables docs and figure out I need to change

Im not sure what mandrake does when you set security settings, they are likely to be kinda generic in nature, someone somehwere probably has a list of exactly what each setting does, but Im not one of them unfortunately

 

[digitaloracle]

My system uses xinetd, and there was nothing in the main config file about sshd. A little more digging thoug, and I found teh xinet config file specifically for ssh. In it, I foun the line "disable yes" and changed it to "disable no" It still does not work, but I can ssh into the machine localy (ie from the machine itself), but that sorta defeats the purpose.

 

[horndude]

Ok, now from the outside world ie the internet at large, does the ssh request go thru a router or a box on your LAN before it reaches the box in question?

 

[digitaloracle]

Well, it works now. I am unsure exaclty what fixed it, but I did disable iptables right before it started working, so perhaps that was it (I beleive you suspected that from the start).
But to answer your question anyway: all this was on a local LAN. When the thing actually is running it will go through a router, but as it is both machines were on the same LAN with only a switch between them.