Consolidated linux question thread :) Misc. Q's

[stratusfear]

Sorry for all of the requests for answers lately, but i've decided to learn linux and i'm not gonna learn anything unless I can understand it! I've been writing down questions as I try and configure and use linux (slackware 8.0). I'm pretty sure not just one person will be able to answer ALL my questions, so if anybody could help me in any way I would really appreciate it Instead of creating many threads for one question, I've decided to consolidate all my questions into this one thread. Remember, I'm brand new to the whole linux thing, so if you include any commands in your response, would you please be so kind as to describe EXACTLY what it
does? On to the Q's:

1) How do I properly unmout (shutdown?) my linux box? Every time I type "shutdown now" it just goes back to the login prompt. And when I restart I always get "/dev/hda1/ not cleanly unmounted, check forced." Answer is "halt" - figured that one out on my own

2) Could someone explain this in a little more detail: (Taken from the Samba configuration file smb.conf)

# server string is the equivalent of the NT Description field
server string = win2kbox (Am I suppose to put the name of my win2k box here?)

3) Could someone explain this in a little more detail: (Taken from the Samba configuration file smb.conf)

# This option is important for security. It allows you to restrict
# connections to machines which are on your local network. The
# following example restricts access to two C class networks and
# the "loopback" interface. For more examples of the syntax see
# the smb.conf man page
; hosts allow = 192.168.1. 192.168.2. 127.

4) Does each user I create for my linux box automatically have ftp privleges?

5) How do I control what services start when I boot my linux box?

6) How come when I access my linux box via ftp from my windows box I get very slow transfer speeds? I access my linux box through 192.168.0.249 with bulletproof ftp over a 100 MBits switch. Why is it soooo slow?

Thanks in advance!

 

[Chatterjee]

Let's make this into a huge thread on Linux based questions...

My only one is how the heck to get the workspace icon on the taskbar OFF in KDE? as well as the garbage on the right side of the taskbar (klipper, logout, lockscreen, clock) I want a clean taskbar!

stratusfear,

to shutdown use "shutdown -h now" -h tells to HALT. -r tells to reboot. By default, it's reboot i think

you can put in the server string, whatever you want to describe your machine. It will appear in the network neighborhood next to the linux machines computer name

for number 3, if you have that parameter set, people from IPs other than the ones indicated will not be given access to the box. (it's as simple as that)

If you are using wu-ftpd, yes, every user is given ftp privileges into the directories they are owners or belong in the groups that the directory belongs to. They can browse anywhere but can't upload or download from just anywhere.

5) take a look at webmin at www.webmin.com. Get the rpm and run "rpm -i RPMPACKAGENAME" then read the documents that come with it to find out how to start it up. Then, you'll be able to set up startup/shutdown actions with ease

6) I have no clue sorry man

Hope this stuff helps!
-S

-S

 

[stratusfear]

Thanks for all your help, Chatterjee. Wish I could help you with that KDE problem

 

[StuckMojo]

4) in general, yes. but as with everything in linux, you can change that.

5) its different depending on wether your distro is a sysV or BSD style distro. i believe slack is BSD style, meaning it uses rc files. look in /etc/rc.* (rc.local is run last i believe). look around the slack site for info on the init process.

personally i like sysV style startup better...but that's neither here nor there.


6) if you're on a cable modem or some such, mach sure the routing isn't sending the packets out to the net, then back to the linux box. basically look at the ping times, and do a traceroute. make sure its one hop to the linux box. pings should be less than 10ms. start there.

 

[Bremen]

5) Slackware does use a sysV, kind, however its been BSD'fied. Basically all the scripts are in /etc/rc.d/ You'll have to figure out whats what somehow else (read the Slackware book!!!!! FREE on the website). You simply need to comment out the services you don't want.

 

[Koeppster]

For Chatterjee--

I am neither a KDE nor a GNOME user, but I thought you can just right-click on items in the taskbar and select "Remove" in KDE. Not sure.

For stratusfear--

I boot straight into X, so my graphical login managaer (gdm) has menu options for rebooting and shutting down completely. Other options--CTRL-ALT-DEL should reboot the machine. Or, if you are logged in as root, you can use the init command. Issuing init 6 switches the machine to runlevel 6, which is reboot. Doing init 0 switches the machine to runlevel 0, which is halt. This should properly unmount your filesystems, shutdown services, and tell you when it is safe to power off the machine. Read /etc/inittab for more details on runlevels...I suspect your default runlevel is 3.

For your Samba questions: read the man pages! That's what they are for! Do man smb.conf. There might be a Samba-related HOWTO on the LDP page. I haven't been using Samba for a couple years so I am rusty about the config options, otherwise I'd help you more.

I am not familiar with Slackware's scripts for booting the machine. If they are in /etc/rc.d/, there's a chance it's similar to Red Hat. What I describe next is for Red Hat...your mileage may vary.. If so, you'll probably have several directories in /etc/rc.d/, such as rc1.d/, rc2.d/, rc3.d/, and so on. Each directory corresponds to different runlevels (check /etc/inittab again for details). If your initial runlevel is 3 (multi-user mode), the system will refer to /etc/rc.d/rc3.d/ for which services to start up at boot time. In this directory, you'll find symlinks (do man ln for details) to the shell scripts in /etc/rc.d/init.d/ that actually initialize the various services. Each symlink's name has either an S or a K, then a number, then the name of a service. S is for starting a service, K is for shutting it down when you reboot or halt, and the number is the order in which services are started, beginning with the smallest numbers. To stop a service from running at boot, simply remove its symlink.

For example, if I am booting my machine to a console, my default runlevel is 3. I detest linuxconf, and wish to STOP it from running at boot. I go into /etc/rc.d/rc3.d/ as root, and remove the file S99linuxconf, which was simply a symlink to the executable shell script /etc/rc.d/init.d/linuxconf. I'd also remove the K00linuxconf to avoid messages about shutting down a process that was never running in the first place when I reboot or halt.

If I change /etc/inittab to make my default runlevel 5 (X windows with a pretty graphical login), linuxconf may well be running at boot time again, because the system is looking in /etc/rc.d/rc5.d/ now.

To add services that aren't running at boot time, look in /etc/rc.d/init.d/ to see what's available, then make the symlinks. For example, I boot to runlevel 5, and I want to add xntpd (synchronizes my system clock over the Internet) at boot time. As root, I go into /etc/rc.d/rc5.d/ and do ln -s /etc/rc.d/init.d/xntpd S55xntpd. This creates a symlink to the script that starts xnptd. If I want to nicely shut down xntpd during a reboot/halt, I also do ln -s /etc/rc.d/init.d/xntpd K10xntpd.

For more info, dig around at LDP or Slackware's website. And always, always, always READ THE MAN PAGES.

Good luck.

 

[StuckMojo]

keoppster: slack doesn't use rc.1 rc.2 etc. it uses rc.local blah blah, more like BSD. (as far as i remember)

 

[Koeppster]

Ok, StcukMojo, thanks for the clarification. LOL

Other people's fingers seem to insist on transposing the vowels in my last name, it's a constant source of amusement for me. I don't find it that difficult, but then again I've lived with the name my whole life...hehehe.

 

[StuckMojo]

i wasn't paying attention

 

[neuralfx]

everything else has been answered, so i will answer the samba q's ok the "win2kbox" is what other windows clients see you as.. sambas make win clients think ur linux box is a windows2050 box.. its like the "hostname" u could type it "billgatesbrainchild" for the name if you want.. as for the "allowable hosts" that means it only lets the 2 networks 192.168.1., 192.168.2, and ur loopback address talk to samba, like the loopback 127.0.0.1.. thats all like if ur on 193.167.4.9, you cant talk to the samba without change the allowable hosts.. well thats my understanding.. good luck..
-neural

 

[stratusfear]

Thank you all for your help! You've answered a lot of the questions that have been arising lately