The Linux TCP/IP server configuration page

Red Hat Linux

Last updated: 10/06/2000

The wireless Linux TCP/IP server setup guide (V1.0)
Configuration files of on0baf.baf.be.ampr.org (including RPMs)
The Linux Server Seminar

The Wireless Linux TCP/IP server setup guide

Parallel to the seminar mentioned before, a setup guide was being written to provide a step-by-step manual for configuring a wireless TCP/IP server from Linux installation to fully operable system. While the guide will probably evolve further, this page will provide the most recent version.

Current version is V1.0 (2000-06-05, 791807 bytes, Adobe Acrobat 3, English).

Future plans:

More detailed concept descriptions ('Inside ...') and test procedures
Switch to Red Hat Linux ?.? as reference system to enable experiments on new AX.25 protocol stacks, SQL database servers, Java/XML application servers, etc.

During the course, the following files were found to be missing on our CD-set:

The libc5 library, which is necessary for setting up the CLX DX-cluster (version 4.06)
An example configuration file for the IRC daemon
A script (created by Walter - ON4AWM) to create all newsgroups for INND
Packages required for CLX version 5.01:

Configuration files of on0baf.baf.be.ampr.org [44.144.181.1]

These are the configuration files of the UBA-RST/BAFARA TCP/IP server.

Notes before downloading:

For scripts (indicated by the word script in bold), don't forget to enable execute permissions using chmod!
More generally, some of the servers require their configuration files are owned by specific users/groups and could require specific file permissions. Therefor, it's good practice to check ownership and permission settings of the original distribution files, before replacing them by the files you find on this page. Afterwards, you can restore ownership using chgrp and permissions using chmod.
Some of the files on this webpage could have CR+LF pairs for line breaks. I can give you 2 tips:
- To view a file without the pair from within Windows, use Wordpad instead of Notepad. Wordpad, however, not always preserves the CR+LF setting when saving.
- To download the files from this page with minimal problems, use an FTP-client from Linux and set its mode to text or ascii. This will make sure that the files never arrive with CR+LF pairs on your Linux host.
If you find any errors on this page, please send me a notice at on1blu@qsl.net (if you accessed these pages through Internet) or at on1blu@on0baf.baf.be.ampr.org (if you accessed these pages through the ampr.org network).

And now the real work. You will find the configuration files organized by chapter in the original guide.

Installing Linux: http://www.redhat.com
- Base network configuration - /etc/sysconfig/network
- Fixing problem when starting plip - /etc/sysconfig/network-scripts/ifup-plip (script!)
- Fixing problem with regard to network routes - /etc/sysconfig/network-scripts/ifup-routes (script!)
- Fixing problem when mounting floppy drives - /etc/fstab
- Keeping the clock synchronized (in the seminar guide, this is handled in the XNTPD chapter) - /etc/cron.hourly/SynchClock (script!)
Customizing the kernel: http://www.linux.org
- Adjusting the kernel for AX.25 server - /usr/src/linux/include/net/ip_forward.h
- Kernel boot configuration - /etc/lilo.conf
Configuring AX.25
- The RPM packages: source - binaries - development library
- Basic configuration - /etc/conf.modules (loadable module lookup), /etc/rc.d/rc.serial (script for initializing the serial ports), /etc/ax25/axports (definition of AX.25 interfaces), /etc/ax25/nrports (definition of NetRom interfaces), /etc/ax25/rsports (definition of ROSE interfaces), /etc/ax25/ax25d.conf (AX.25 daemon configuration) and /etc/ax25/ttylinkd.conf (AX.25 keyboard-to-keyboard chat configuration).
- Enabling AX.25 for TCP/IP - /etc/sysconfig/network-scripts/ifup-ax (script for starting AX.25 interfaces), /etc/sysconfig/network-scripts/ifdown-ax (script for stopping AX.25 interfaces) and /etc/sysconfig/network-scripts/ifcfg-ax0 (AX.25 interface configuration).
- Routing - /etc/sysconfig/static-routes (IP routing - click for description) and /etc/ax25/static-axroute (script for AX.25 routing).
- Mapping IP addresses to hardware addresses - /etc/ax25/static-arp.
BIND (Berkeley Internet Name Domain): http://www.isc.org/products/BIND
- Local host configuration: /etc/resolv.conf, /etc/host.conf, /etc/hosts and /etc/networks
- Configuration: /etc/named.conf
- Loopback domain: /var/named/named.local
- Caching domain: /var/named/named.ca
- Authoritative zone file: /var/named/named.baf
- Authoritative reverse pointer file: /var/named/named.rbaf
Telnet
- Shell-replacement script for ordinary users, to avoid accidental remote access: /bin/ftponly
- Enabling the shell-replacement script: /etc/shells
FTP (File Transfer Protocol)
- Access settings - /etc/ftpaccess
- Script for synchronizing user information for reasonable display to anonymous users - /home/ftp/SynchUsers
sendmail (MTA for SMTP and others - Mail Transport Agent for Simple Mail Transfer Protocol): http://www.sendmail.org
- Configuration file: /etc/sendmail.cf
- Aliases for mail server: /etc/sendmail.cw
- User aliases: /etc/aliases
- Network scope for avoiding relay errors: /etc/mail/name_allow
Apache HTTP (HyperText Transfer Protocol) web server: http://www.apache.org
- Configuration file: /etc/httpd/conf/httpd.conf
- HTML locations configuration file: /etc/httpd/conf/srm.conf
INND (InterNet News Daemon) for NNTP (Network News Transport Protocol): http://www.isc.org/products/INN
- Configuration file: /etc/news/inn.conf
- User-access configuration: /etc/news/nnrp.access
- Expiration of news articles: /etc/news/expire.ctl
- List of hosts that are allowed to connect to your server (and their required passwords): /etc/news/hosts.nntp
- Hostname mappings and options for peers that participate in newsfeeds: /etc/news/innfeed.conf
- Newsfeed configuration: /etc/news/newsfeeds
- Configuration of peers your server will connect to for feeding news: /etc/news/nntpsend.ctl
- Associated passwords, necessary for connecting to other servers when setting up feeds: /etc/news/passwd.nntp
Undernet IRC (Internet Relay Chat) daemon: http://www.undernet.org
- The RPM packages: source - binaries
- Configuration file: /etc/ircd/ircd.conf
- Message Of The Day file: /etc/ircd/ircd.motd
- Short Message Of The Day file for remote users: /etc/ircd/remote.motd
- Adding the IRC service key: /etc/services
- Enabling the IRC daemon to be launched from the INET super-daemon: /etc/inetd.conf
NFS (Network File System)
- Mount points to be exported: /etc/exports
SMB (Session Management Block)
- Configuration file: /etc/smb.conf
Adding users
- Utility script for creating and setting permissions on personal web-page directories: /home/MakeUserHome (use this only for users that will be member of the popusers group! You could also make a version for memebers of the users group...).
mailgw (SMTP/NNTP <=> BBS gateway)
- The RPM packages: source - binaries
- Configuration file: /etc/mailgw/mailgw.conf
- E-mail destination address translation: /etc/mailgw/email-dst.map (Rename the file after download!)
- E-mail source address translation: /etc/mailgw/email-src.map (Rename the file after download!)
- HADDRESS destination address translation: /etc/mailgw/pbbs-dst.map (Rename the file after download!)
- HADDRESS destination address translation: /etc/mailgw/pbbs-src.map (Rename the file after download!)
- Newsgroup to bulletin area mapping: /etc/mailgw/newsgroup.map (Rename the file after download!)
- Bulletin areas to newsgroup mapping: /etc/mailgw/bulletin.map (Rename the file after download!)
- MTA configuration to intercept '.bbs' domains and route them to mailgw: /etc/sendmail.cf
- Newsfeed from INND to mailgw: /etc/news/newsfeeds
lnxforward (FBB-compatible BBS forwarding package)
- The RPM packages: source - binaries
- Configuration file: /etc/fbbforward/fbbforward.conf
- Script configuration file: /usr/local/fbbforward/lnxforward.equ
- AX.25 daemon entry for incoming forwarding sessions: /etc/ax25/ax25d.conf
PostgreSQL database server (necessary for CLX DX-cluster)
- Some path settings (done from a shell profile script): /var/lib/pgsql/.bash_profile (Rename the file after download!)
CLX DX-cluster: http://www.clx.muc.de
- Configuration file: /usr/local/clx/config/clx_par
- Link configuration file: /usr/local/clx/config/cluster_par, /usr/local/clx/exec/connect/on0eul.sh (Primary active link; rename the file after download!) & /usr/local/clx/exec/connect/on0nol.sh (Passive backup link; rename the file after download!)
- Dynamic library path: /etc/ld.so.conf
- Adding the CLX service key: /etc/services
- Enabling the CLX server to be accessed from the INET super-daemon: /etc/inetd.conf
- Enabling the CLX server to be called upon AX.25 connection requests: /etc/ax25/ax25d.conf
APC UPS (Uninterruptable Power Supply)
- The RPM packages: source - binaries
- Configuration file (configured for a Back-UPS 400): /etc/apcupsd.conf
Logging service
For legal reasons, we have to keep logs on server activity. On Linux systems, a logging infrastructure is available, which also makes sure that older log items are set apart to avoid the server to become sluggish after some time. This infrastructure is configurable, so that one can conform to his local legislation. The example shows a configuration that keeps logs for one year, but compresses the logs that were set aside (logs are set aside on a weekly basis).
- Log rotation: /etc/logrotate.conf
- Log rotation file for lnxforward: /etc/logrotate.d/lnxforward
- Replacement for lnxforward schedule script: /etc/cron.hourly/lnxforward (remove /etc/cron.hourly/lnxforward.all before installing this new one)
  This replacement will avoid the administrator to receive forward log E-mails every hour.

The Linux server seminar

The first Linux TCP/IP server seminar was held during october 1999. Many people attended and we hope they considered it useful and clear. Here are some pictures to give an impression: