1.1. Mailing lists Belonging to the Skolelinux/Debian-edu Project

Sometimes when you are really stuck, and have no idea how to solve your problem, or maybe you don't even know how to formulate your problem, then it can be very comforting to know that there are several mailing lists out there dedicated to helping you.

There are various mailing lists out there, targeted at different types of users, and in different languages. Have a look at the web page http://developer.skolelinux.no/mailinglister.html

Have a look at 9 for help on setting up and configuring the mail client KMail.

1.2. IRC Chat Channel Skolelinux/Debian-edu

Another place to get help is via IRC, channel: #debian-edu (IRCnet (irc.pvv.ntnu.no, irc.ifi.uio.no, irc.uib.no)).

Have a look at Section 1.2 for help on setting up and configuring the an IRC-client.

1.3. Inviting a Skolelinux/Debian-edu Knowledgeable Person into Your Computer

The two ways ssh -l help localhost ssh help@localhost are equal.

As long as your Skolelinux/Debian-edu computer has network connection, it possible for someone else to remotely login to your computer with SSH and help you.

First you need to create a user. Refer to Chapter 11 for creating one. In the following, I assume that this newly-created user for this purpose has the username sshhelp. On the machine where your helping hand is logged in, you must also be able to login. Your helping hand must supply you with a username for this purpose; I will assume this username is helper. If the person that is going to help you is logged into a machine with the IP number 127.217.148.238, then you use the command

ssh helper@127.217.148.238 -R 2100:localhost:22

ssh -p 2100 sshhelp@localhost

The authenticity of host 'bla bla (bla.bla)' can't be established.
RSA key fingerprint is 32:0e:ef:60:f9:26:41:78:75:10:56:a4:29:23:0a:3e.
Are you sure you want to continue connecting (yes/no)?

Please have a look at the manual page for SSH,man ssh, or write man:ssh in the address field in the browser/file manager Konqueror, so that you understand the different options used in the commands above. If you are reading this document online with Konqueror then just click here man:ssh

1.4. Permanent Backdoor into a Skolelinux/Debian-edu Machine with a SSH Tunnel

There are places where the one in charge of the network is not you, and where this someone who is in charge of the network has blocked incoming SSH connections. If we could login to our server from anywhere, then our life as administrator would be very comfortable indeed. To overcome such showstoppers in the network, we have included in Skolelinux/Debian-edu a script, that sets up an SSH tunnel, similar to the one in Section 1.3, but with an added feature; no need for a helper on the other side, the script handles this for us. This script is located in the package debian-edu-config and once this package is installed, the script is found in /etc/init.d/open-backdoor. This script needs some information from you to run correctly:

RPORT=this is the port that you will be using on the remote machine that you use.
RHOST=this is the DNS name, or IP number to the remote machine that you use.  
RUSER=this is the username on the remote machine that you use.

RPORT=2100
RHOST=127.217.148.238
RUSER=help

When you have supplied the necessary parameters RPORT, RHOST and RUSER, you need to setup and configure the necessary SSH keys for the script, so that the script can setup the SSH tunnel automatically for you, without the intervention by a helping hand in Section 1.3. You must login as the user root on the machine where the backdoor-script is running; this can be a server, workstation or thin client server- your choice. Then you must run the command

ssh-keygen -t dsa

tjener:~# ssh-keygen -t dsa
Generating public/private dsa key pair.
Enter file in which to save the key (/root/.ssh/id_dsa):
Created directory '/root/.ssh'.
Enter passphrase (empty for no passphrase):
Enter same passphrase again:
Your identification has been saved in /root/.ssh/id_dsa.
Your public key has been saved in /root/.ssh/id_dsa.pub.
The key fingerprint is:
81:12:31:b9:04:1c:d0:da:23:1a:72:56:38:87:12:a5 root@tjener.intern

ssh-copy-id -i /root/.ssh/id_dsa.pub RUSER@RHOST

Now, you should be able to start the backdoor script with the command /etc/init.d/open-backdoor start , and with the command

ssh -p RPORT RUSER@localhost

Now is definitely the time to brush up your knowledge of scp, man scp or write man:scp in the address field in Konqueror.

(Man-in-the-Middle Attack)!

If you have a backdoor script running on many different Skolelinux/Debian-edu machines, then you will experience a frequent warning when trying to login to localhost @@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@ @ WARNING: REMOTE HOST IDENTIFICATION HAS CHANGED! @ @@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@ IT IS POSSIBLE THAT SOMEONE IS DOING SOMETHING NASTY! Someone could be eavesdropping on you right now (man-in-the-middle attack)! It is also possible that the RSA host key has just been changed. The fingerprint for the RSA key sent by the remote host is ba:bc:68:4c:0b:72:4b:89:d3:04:00:c3:ab:8b:b8:98. Please contact your system administrator. Add correct host key in /home/klausade/.ssh/known_hosts to get rid of this message. Offending key in /home/klausade/.ssh/known_hosts:2 RSA host key for localhost has changed and you have requested strict checking. Host key verification failed This is nothing to get scared about. It just means that you must delete (in this case line 2) the line in the file /home/klausade/.ssh/known_hosts containing localhost

1.5. More In-Depth Linux Documentation

There is an enormous amount of written material about every aspect concerning Linux and GNU. Online you'll find full in-depth books with +1000 pages, and shorter 1/2 DIN A4 pages. Your local bookstore should probably have at least 100 Linux relevant book titles available.

SSH(1)                  System General Commands Manual                  SSH(1)

NAME
     ssh - OpenSSH SSH client (remote login program)

SYNOPSIS
     ssh [-l login_name] hostname | user@hostname [command]

     ssh [-afgknqstvxACNPTX1246] [-b bind_address] [-c cipher_spec]
         [-e escape_char] [-i identity_file] [-l login_name] [-m mac_spec]
         [-o option] [-p port] [-F configfile] [-L port:host:hostport] [-R
         port:host:hostport] [-D port] hostname | user@hostname [command]

DESCRIPTION
     ssh (SSH client) is a program for logging into a remote machine and for
     executing commands on a remote machine.  It is intended to replace rlogin
     and rsh, and provide secure encrypted communications between two
     untrusted hosts over an insecure network.  X11 connections and arbitrary
     TCP/IP ports can also be forwarded over the secure channel.

     ssh connects and logs into the specified hostname.  The user must prove
     his/her identity to the remote machine using one of several methods
     depending on the protocol version used:

---

1.5.4. The Linux Documentation Project

More in-depth books and guides are located in "The Linux Documentation Project"- all in English,as well as other languages.

The Linux Documentation Project

A lot of already available documentation is ready to be installed on your Skolelinux/Debian-edu machine. Have a look at what is available with apt-cache search ldp and also apt-cache search documentation | more scroll down the list with the spacebar, and install what you find interesting with the command apt-get install packagename if I wanted to install the package doc-linux-html I would issue the command apt-get install doc-linux-html look at section Section 8.9 for more on howto install additional packages

---

1.5.5. Manuals for OpenOffice.org

The Norwegian Board of Education (Læringssenteret) have published small, handy manuals, in Norwegian for the different components of OpenOffice.org, such as Writer, Impress, Calc, Draw and the HTML-editor.

These manuals can be downloaded individually, or together (211 pages), from the Board of Education's web page at OpenOffice.org user manual

This kind of OpenOffice.org material also exists in your language.

2.1. Firewall/Router

The latest and final version of Coyote Linux is 2.24 The Coyote Linux Floppy Firewall Development has been discontinued, see Coyote Linux Floppy Firewall Development Discontinued Note that it is the _floppy_ version of Coyote Linux that is discontinued, there will be a replacement based on installation to harddrive available instead.

A short summary on things you need to create a Coyote Linux firewall/router for Skolelinux/Debian-edu.

• Just about any old computer, anything from Pentium 133MHz[1]. CPU and upward, with 16MB of RAM or more, no need for a hard drive or CD-ROM

• Two network cards, they can be type ISA or PCI. A mix is possible, 10Mbit or 100Mbit, support for 1Gbit should be available. Any type of network card supported by the Linux kernel is usable, but since there is no automatic detection of what kind of network card you are using, you must specify yourself when creating the Coyote Linux-floppy which drivers your network card uses. This means that it might be a bit troublesome to use no-name network cards. Personally, I prefer to use network cards from the manufacturer 3Com, as almost all PCI network cards from them use the module 3c59x.

  Short List of Network cards I use with Success in my Coyote Linux Machines, and Their Corresponding Driver Modules:

  1. 3Com509 Module:3c509

  2. 3Com900 Module:3c59x

  3. Intel Ethernet Pro 100 Module:eepro100

  4. 3Com590 Module:3c59x

  5. RTL8139 Module:8139cp or 8139too

• 2 diskettes, preferably new and unused

• 1 crossover network cable to connect Coyote Linux via the LAN-network card to the Skolelinux/Debian-edu eth0 network card[2]

• A machine with a floppy drive and an Internet connection, to download Coyote Linux; this can either be a Linux machine or a Windows machine, Coyote Linux. Source files exist for Linux and Windows- both produce a workable Coyote Linux floppy.

  The procedure for making this Coyote Linux floppy is similar on Linux and Windows, except that it's a command line script in Linux and a click&point thing in Windows.

• Download a copy of Coyote Linux, from coyotelinux.com, look in the section Downloads, then look in Coyote Linux - Floppy Firewall

  I keep a modified version of Coyote Linux on my Skolelinux/Debian-edu homepage. In that one I have set up the IP addresses correctly according to the Skolelinux/Debian-edu network. Get it from http://www.skolelinux.no/~klaus/coyote-2.24-slx.tar.gz

  What you are looking for exists in mainly two versions, one for Linux,( Linux Floppy Creator Scripts),and the other one for Windows, ( Coyote Linux Windows Disk Creator). Choose the one that suits you best- the resulting floppy will be the same.

The hardware specifications listed here are based on my own experience; yours may vary.

2.2. Main Server

The function of this profile is further described in Section 5.2

It is perfectly possible to combine different profile, to some extent, doing so naturally make the hardware requirement different than those mentioned here. Have a look at Section 2.7

The hardware specification for this profile depends mainly on how many users you have.

• You should opt for SCSI-disks, or SATA. Only use IDE-disks for small networks with few users.

  The size of the disk (or the RAID) is dictated by how many users you have, and how much space you give each of them. See TODOSection 8.10

• A network card of good quality, 100Mbit or 1000Mbit

• The CPU doesn't need to be very fast- about 500-1000MHz should do fine. This profile is mainly a file server profile.

• 512MB-1GB RAM should be enough.

The hardware specifications listed here are based on my own experience; your mileage may vary.

2.3. Thin Client Server

The function of this profile is further described in TODO Section 5.2

The most important, absolutely important thing is plenty of high quality ECC RAM.

• The amount of RAM you need depends on how many thin clients you have, and the pattern of use, see TODO the sidebar To-do. The rule of thumb says 64-124MB RAM on the thin client server for each thin client you have and about 256MB for the server itself. For about 40-50 thin clients 4GB of RAM is sufficient, which is also the maximum amount of RAM that a ready-compiled Linux kernel for Skolelinux/Debian-edu supports. See TODO Section 8.4 how to install a kernel with support for up to 4GB of RAM and multiprocessor(SMP). If you have more than 4GB of RAM in your server, then you must compile your own kernel with support for that. That is not (yet) the scope of this document, but the clue is to have in your kernel config file

  CONFIG_HIGHMEM64G=Y

• You definitely want to have two processors, that way one user can start a heavy process, such as Gimp, and lock up one CPU, and there will still be one easily available for the other users on the system. It's not crucial to have the fastest CPU available on the market, having two is more important.

• On a machine with the thin client server profile installed, no user data or home directories will be saved. All user data will be NFS-mounted from the machine with the profile main server. There is no need for a large disk on this machine, unless you choose to also use it as an external backup machine, see TODO the sidebar To-do. A 9GB disk is enough for such a machine, but it should be SCSI, because of the heavy load with many thin clients.

• You must have two network cards, of good quality. One card (eth0) will connect to the main server to get home directories; the other (eth1) will connect to the thin-client switch, this card should have 1000mbit speed, and the switch should have a 1000mbit uplink port.

Remember that each thin client uses about 2Mbit of network bandwidth, which means that on a 100Mbit network, you can't have more than about 50 thin clients. If you need more than that, you must get more thin client servers, or invest in a 1Gbit network. I would choose more thin client servers.

The hardware specifications listed here are based on my own experience; your mileage may vary.

2.4. The Thin Client

The function of this profile is further described in Section 5.2

• You need a machine with a video card that is possible to configure automatically, otherwise you must manually configure the video card by hand. You do not want to use old onboard ISA-based video cards- they are just trouble.

• You want to have a network card that is capable of a so-called PXE-boot. That means you won't need to make any boot floppies for the thin client, which is a bothersome thing. Boot floppies are bothersome to create, and they get lost. You need them every time you boot the thin client. With a PXE-card it's just plug&play- you turn on the machine, and that's it. PXE-network cards do cost a little bit more than normal network cards, but they're worth it, definitely.

  My Experience Says.... I've too often seen that the money saved by not buying PXE-network cards, is wasted many times when trying to get ordinary network cards to work in thin clients. As a minimum, I recommend that you buy a couple of them, just to test, and to use when you just want to get a thin client up and running quickly.

  If you don't have PXE-network cards, you must create boot floppies for your cards. You should first have a look at Section 8.7.3, that is a kind of universal boot floppy, with support for the 30 most common network cards. If that one doesn't work with your network card, then you can visit rom-o-matic.com and follow the online instructions there for making boot floppies. These boot floppies can be created from a Windows, Linux or Mac-machine.

• You need a minimum of 32MB RAM[3] in the thin client. In Skolelinux/Debian-edu there is the possibility to use swap over NFS to the thin client. This is done automatically if you add the MAC address of your thin client in /etc/dhcp3/dhcpd.conf. Have a look at Section 8.7.4

  The option to use or not to use swap over NFS to the thin client is set in the /opt/ltsp/i386/etc/lts.conf look out for this

          USE_NFS_SWAP       = Y
          SWAPFILE_SIZE      = 32m
  

  In this case swap over NFS is turned on, and the swapfilesize is 32MB, this swapfile is created on the thinclientserver, make sure you have enough space in the partition /var/opt/ltsp/swapfiles, if not have a look at Section 8.5.5 for increasing it.

• Your processor doesn't need to be faster than 100MHz.

• There is absolutely no need for a hard drive. It just makes noise, generates heat and uses unnecessary power. Remove it, or disable it physically.

• A floppy drive, if you want to use it in the thin client, see TODO 7

• A connector for USB, if you want to use it in the thin client, see TODO 6

• A PCI sound card, if you want to use sound on your thin client- only advisable if you have enough bandwidth available. Sound consumes plenty of bandwidth, see TODO 8

Plenty of people have wanted and tried to get the CD-ROM to work in a thin client, but without success. If you have managed to get it to work, please let me know.

2.5. Workstation

The function of this profile is further described in Section 5.2

The hardware requirement for this profile all depends on what you have available, the intended use of the machine, and how fast you want the machine to do things. Unlike the other server profiles such as main server and Thin-client server, this profile is mainly to be used by one user at a time, so making a "bad" hardware choice will only affect one user.

You will need a hard drive with a minimum size of about 1700MB plus 4 times the amount of RAM in the machine. There is no need for a big hard drive in this machine, unless you plan to use it as an external backup server TODO the sidebar To-do. If you do have a really big hard drive in this machine, and would like to put it to good use, you could add another lv to the machine, and use it to save big files such as video, images, ISO-images, see Section 8.5.8

If you have a rather small hard drive, but plenty of RAM, maybe as much as 940MB, then the swap partition alone would end up being almost 2GB big. If you think this is too much, then you can lower the amount of RAM that the installer sees by booting with the option Press F1 for help, or Enter to boot:linux mem=64m when you install Skolelinux/Debian-edu. This way the installer only sees 64MB of RAM, and will only make a 128MB big swap partition, see Figure 6-1. It is only during the first stage of installation that this low amount of RAM is seen by the system. Later all available RAM is visible and in use, but maybe you need to install a HIGHMEM-enabled kernel, see Section 8.4

It's also possible during installation to decide what size partitions the automatic partitioning will make. Have a look in directory /etc/autopartkit/ during install, use ALT-F2 and the editor nano to edit those files. Note: this is for advanced users only.

2.6. Laptop

The main focus of Skolelinux/Debian-edu is servers, not laptops. I suggest you have a look at plain Debian, Knoppix or any other Linux distribution.

If any other Linux distribution is out of the question, you must have Skolelinux/Debian-edu installed, then choose the profiles Standalone and Standalone-Extra

2.7. Combined profiles

At the moment there is 5 profiles available when installing Skolelinux/Debian-edu, see Section 5.2, some of these can be combined, some of these can not be combined.

---

2.7.3. Not all can be combined!

Do not mix any of the network profiles (mainserver, ltspserver or workstation) with any of the standalone profiles (standalone and standalone extra)

3.1. Hardware

A short summary of needed hardware for making Coyote Linux for Skolelinux/Debian-edu:

3.2. Placement of the firewall/router in a Skolelinux/Debian-edu Network

Although I keep mentioning the necessary firewall/router and Coyote Linux in the same sentences, that doesn't mean that you must use Coyote Linux for this purpose. You can use a dedicated router from any commercial manufacturer you like, or something similar to Coyote Linux such as FloppyFirewall, Gibraltar, M0n0wall, or even Debian. It's just that I personally prefer Coyote Linux. You must just remember that whatever firewall/router you use, it must be configured like A

The firewall/router has a defined role in the Skolelinux/Debian-edu network. Without it, the network will not function optimally.

Coyote Linux has two network cards, each having different roles. One network card is to be connected to the existing network, so that it gets connected to the Internet. In Coyote Linux, this network interface is called WAN, eth1, Internet. The other card, which is to be connected to your Skolelinux/Debian-edu network is called LAN, eth0, LAN network. This card is connected either directly to the Skolelinux/Debian-edu mainserver with a crossover cable (for small networks), or via a switch making a so-called 10.0.2/23-backbone network.

Don't mix up the different roles of eth0 and eth1 in Coyote Linux and Skolelinux/Debian-edu

A similar diagram with an overview of a complete Skolelinux/Debian-edu network is available in Chapter 4

3.3. Creation of a Coyote Linux Floppy

Basic Configuration of the firewall/router

• Regardless if you choose to create the Coyote Linux floppy on a Linux or Windows machine, the following configuration must be used. This also applies to any other firewall/router than Coyote Linux

  1. local network interface:

     IP Address: 10.0.2.1
     Netmask:    255.255.254.0
     Broadcast:  10.0.3.255
     Network:    10.0.2.0
     

  2. Install the Big Pond login software? [y/n]:n

     Press "n"

     I think this refers to some extra stuff you need if you happen to get net access from the provider Big Pond, but I'm not really sure. Anybody know?

  3. Do you want to enable the Coyote DHCP-server [y/n]: n

     Press "n"

     Since Skolelinux/Debian-edu already has a DHCP-server running, you must disable the DHCP-server on your firewall/router, and on any other machines you want to integrate into your Skolelinux/Debian-edu-network. Having two DHCP-servers on the same network usually doesn't work very well.

  4. Use 10.0.2.2 as syslog server, this ip-address is your mainserver

1. After you have downloaded the Coyote Linux source files, you need to unpack them. You must be superuser root to unpack them.

   tar zvxf coyote-2.24.tar.gz
   cd coyote
   ./makefloppysh

   If a new version of Coyote Linux exists at the time you read this, then you must replace the version 2.24 in the commands above with the version number you have downloaded.

2. When creating a Coyote Linux on a Linux machine, these are the questions asked, and the answers you should give:

   1. Coyote floppy builder script v2.9
      
      Please choose the desired capacity for the created floppy:
      
      1) 1.44MB (Safest and most reliable but may lack space needed for
                 some options)
      2) 1.68MB (Good reliability with extra space) - recommended
      3) 1.72MB (Most space but may not work on all systems or with all
                 diskettes)
      
      Enter selection:2

      Choose here what is recommended «1.68MB»

   2. Please select the type of Internet connection that your system uses.
      
      1) Standard Ethernet Connection
      2) PPP over Ethernet Connection
      3) PPP Dialup Connection
      
      Enter Selection: 

      Here you would normally choose option 1)

   3. Configuring system for Ethernet based Internet connection.
      By default, Coyote uses the following settings for the local network
      interface:
      
      IP Address: 192.168.0.1
      Netmask:    255.255.255.0
      Broadcast:  192.168.0.255
      Network:    192.168.0.0
      
      Would you like to change these settings? [Y/N]: y
      Enter local IP Address [192.168.0.1]: 10.0.2.1
      Enter local Netmask [255.255.255.0]: 255.255.254.0
      Enter local Broadcast [192.168.0.255]: 10.0.3.255
      Enter local network number [192.168.0.0]: 10.0.2.0
      

      These network settings for the local network must be changed, see A

   4. If you use my version of Coyote Linux from http://www.skolelinux.no/~klaus/coyote-2.24-slx.tar.gz then you will see this screen, where the correct network values already is there:

      IP Address: 10.0.2.1
      Netmask:    255.255.254.0
      Broadcast:  10.0.3.255
      Network:    10.0.2.0
      

   5. Does your Internet connection get its IP via DHCP? [y/n]:

      Answer yes(y) or no(n), according to you network configuration.

      If you do not get IP via DHCP, you need to fill in some information:

      Please enter the information for your static IP configuration
      Internet IP Address:
      Internet Subnet Mask [255.255.255.0]:
      Internet Broadcast [Enter = Default]:
      Internet Gateway Address:
      Domain Name:
      DNS Server 1:
      
      DNS Server 2 (optional):
      

   6. Enter your DHCP hostname:

      Normally you can leave this one blank

   7. Install the Big Pond login software? [y/n]:

      I think this refers to some extra stuff you need if you happen to get net access from the provider Big Pond, but I'm not really sure. Anybody know?

   8. Do you want to enable the Coyote DHCP server? [y/n]: n
      

      Here you must answer «n»!

   9. If you don't know what a DMZ is, just answer NO
      Do you want to configure a De-Militarized Zone? [Y/N]:  n
      

      Here can press just «n»

   10. You now need to specify the module name and parameters for your network cards.
       
       If you are using PCI or EISA cards, leave the IO and IRQ lines blank.
       
       Enter the module name for you local network card:

       This is the tricky part, knowing what type of driver modules to use for your network cards; even knowing what type of network cards you have is sometimes difficult. Have a look at Section 3.12 for an overview of available driver modules. Remember to not use the ending .o when writing what driver module to use.

       I prefer newer cards from 3Com. Almost all of them use the driver module 3c59x

   11. The default language of the Coyote Web Administrator is English
       Do you like to configure a different language ? [Y/N]: n
       

       Use English, it's much easier to get help, and use Google when there is a problem.

   12. Syslog server address:

       Here you can use the mainservers as syslog server, use 10.0.2.2.

3. You must now insert a floppy in the machine. Remember to turn the write protection off. The creation of the floppy will take a few minutes.

Make sure that you don't get any error messages related to unknown NIC modules, like this: Checking module deps for (wrong,bad)... Copying module: drivers/wrong.o Unable to copy module (drivers/wrong.o): No such file or directory Make sure you see something like this instead: Checking module deps for (e100,3c59x)... Module 3c59x dep = Module e100 dep = Copying module: drivers/e100.o Copying module: drivers/3c59x.o

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3.3.1. Creating a Coyote Linux Floppy on a Windows Machine

If you create the floppy on a Windows machine, it's almost the same procedure as with Linux.

Download the Source Files for Windows, probably from Windows Disk Creation Wizard v2.24.0

Figure 3-2. Coyote Linux Windows Creator Welcome Image

Here you just press 'Next'

Figure 3-3. Local Network Setup LAN

Here you must fill in the necessary network information; see A

Filling in the correct values for IP address and Netmask will make Coyote Linux correctly calculate the values for Broadcast address and Network address

Figure 3-4. Setting a Password on the Coyote Linux Floppy

Without this password, you can't logon your Coyote Linux machine later, see Section 3.6

Figure 3-5. Syslog Server

Just leave this blank, or have a look at 2.l

Figure 3-6. Type of Internet Connection WAN

Choose whatever is most appropriate for you. If you get a DHCP-assigned address, then it is likely that you will not need to give any more information about your connection.

Figure 3-7. Static IP configuration

If you have a static address, then fill in the appropriate values here.

Figure 3-8. Do not enable the Coyote Linux DHCP-server!

Do not enable the Coyote Linux DHCP-server. There is already one running on the mainserver

Figure 3-9. Choosing Driver Modules for Your Network Cards NIC

Drag and drop to choose the correct network cards in your Coyote Linux machine.

In this particular screenshot I'm using a 3com NIC for my LAN card, and an Intel pro 100 card for my WAN card.

Figure 3-10. Choose language

In order to best get support from the Internet, choose English.

Figure 3-11. Creating the Disk

Place a floppy in the floppy drive, and press 'Next'.

I strongly advise creating 2 or more floppies, it's very handy having a spare copy.

3.4. Upgrading to Newer Versions of Coyote Linux

This chapter should be moved to after the introductions to available commands in Coyote Linux

Coyote Linux is a product that is in active development and maintenance, just like Skolelinux/Debian-edu. That means that new versions are released quite often, with new features and security fixes. Especially because of the security fixes, you should always use the latest stable version of Coyote Linux

Since Coyote Linux runs solely from floppy, there is no system, per se, to upgrade. You must create a totally new floppy, as in Section 3.3. To make this process as easy as possible, there are some simple things to keep in mind.

1. Finding out what kind of network cards you have: If you have forgotten what kind of network cards you use and didn't write it down somewhere, then you can use the command lsmod to list all loaded driver modules that are in use. Maybe that way you'll remember which network cards you have.

   coyote# lsmod
   Module                  Size  Used by
   3c509                   7732   2
   ip_nat_quake3           1768   0 (unused)
   ip_nat_mms              2608   0 (unused)
   ip_nat_h323             2060   0 (unused)
   ip_nat_amanda            876   0 (unused)
   ip_nat_irc              1904   0 (unused)
   ip_nat_ftp              2384   0 (unused)
   ip_conntrack_quake3     1848   1
   ip_conntrack_mms        2704   1
   ip_conntrack_h323       2065   1
   ip_conntrack_egg        2280   0 (unused)
   ip_conntrack_amanda     1488   1
   ip_conntrack_irc        2672   1
   ip_conntrack_ftp        3440   1
   	  

   In this listing of loaded modules you see that the network card 3Com509 is in use, twice. For a list of supported modules, look in Section 3.12

   It would be best to write down somewhere what network cards you use in the machine.

2. What kind of port forwarding do you have?

   Information about your port forwarding rules, if you have made any, is in the file /etc/coyote/portforwards

   coyote# more /etc/coyote/portforwards
   port Y 10.0.2.2 tcp 2333 22 # Example - Secondary SSH

3.5. Coyote Linux Bootup

There are two network card in your Coyote Linux, one (LAN) is connected to the Skolelinux/Debian-edu server, either directly with a crossover cable, or via a switch, the other (WAN) is your network connection. Sometimes it can be a bit difficult to determine which of your network cards is which, especially if they are both of the same brand. The procedure I use to determine which card is which, is to use a crossover cable and connect it to the network card in the Skolelinux/Debian-edu main server. First I start the Coyote Linux without any cable in the network cards Then I use the crossover cable to connect Coyote Linux with the Skolelinux/Debian-edu main server, (make sure it goes into the NIC labeled eth0 if the mainserver is setup as a combi-server). Then I login to the main server and try to ping the Coyote Linux machine with the command ping -c10 10.0.2.1 or alternatively try to ping the main server from Coyote Linux with the command ping -c10 10.0.2.2. When you get an answer, like ping -c10 10.0.2.1 PING 10.0.2.1 (10.0.2.1): 56 data bytes 64 bytes from 10.0.2.1: icmp_seq=0 ttl=63 time=0.6 ms 64 bytes from 10.0.2.1: icmp_seq=1 ttl=63 time=0.3 ms 64 bytes from 10.0.2.1: icmp_seq=2 ttl=63 time=0.3 ms , then you have found the network card on the Coyote Linux that is to be labelled as LAN. Then we know that the other network card is WAN. This procedure will only work as long as you have managed to configure the LAN network card properly, as indicated during boot by the line LAN network: UP It's normal that you see WAN network: down at this point, since you have booted without any cables in the network cards. Once you have determined the role of each network card, then you reboot with all the cables connected.

Boot your Coyote Linux, making sure the Coyote Linux floppy is in the floppy drive, and that the machine has been configured in BIOS to boot from floppy.

You may now login, use the username 'root' and the password you set when you created the floppy (if you did this from Windows), or just press Enter (empty password)to login if you made the floppy on Linux

It's quit common that there is absolutely no visual feedback when you type in a password in Linux-system, this is in order to reveal as little information about your password as possible.

Once inside, press 'c' to get the status of your network. In this case we have a problem:

If all has gone well, they will both be 'up'

3.6. Coyote Linux Command Line Login

You can now login using the command line, with the username root, and empty password, which is the only user available in Coyote Linux. The first thing you must do is to set the root password for your Coyote Linux[4]

If you don't set any password on your Coyote Linux, then anybody can gain access to it by going to the address http://10.0.2.1:8180

You must set the root password, also called the system password, immediately for Coyote Linux!

coyote login: root

This what you see when login to Coyote Linux the Menu;

                Coyote Linux Gateway -- Configuration Menu


  1) Edit main configuration file         2) Change system password
  3) Edit rc.local script file            4) Custom firewall rules file
  5) Edit firewall configuration          6) Edit port forward configuration

  c) Show running configuration           f) Reload firewall
  r) Reboot system                        w) Write configuration to disk

  q) Exit Menu                            l) Logout
  ----------------------------------------------------------------------------
  Selection:

The first thing you must do, is change the root password. Choose 2) Change system password, do so by pressing «2» then press ENTER

You choose a password, minimum 5 characters, maximum 8 characters, which you type twice. Be aware that there is no output to the screen when you type the password, in case someone is looking over your shoulder.

Password changed.
Updating webadmin password...

Press ENTER to return to system menu.

If this is the feedback you get from Coyote Linux, then you have successfully changed the root password.

Since Coyote Linux runs from floppy, and stores everything in RAM, which is lost when you reboot Coyote Linux, you must save this new password to the floppy. Do this by choosing w) Write configuration to disk

Your new password is saved to the Coyote Linux floppy when you see this:

Backup script complete. Press ENTER to return to menu.

All changes you have made to Coyote Linux, are now saved to the floppy.

You can now reboot Coyote Linux, and you will see that the new password is in use. You can reboot Coyote Linux by pressing the ON/OFF-button on your Coyote Linux machine, or by choosing r) Reboot system from the Coyote Linux Menu.

If you have managed to get both network cards working, and Coyote Linux have a network connection, then you don't need to login using the command line anymore. In the future, you can use your web browser to login to Coyote Linux, look at Section 3.7

When choosing q) quit you will end up at the command line in Coyote Linux. If you need to go back to the Coyote Linux Menu, then type menu and press ENTER.

See Section 3.9 for a list of a few useful commands you can use from the command line in Coyote Linux

3.7. Coyote Linux Web Administrator

Coyote Linux has a nice and well-functioning web administrator that lets you perform almost all day-to-day operations. Point your web browser to the address http://10.0.2.1:8180

At this address you will be met by the Coyote Linux web administrator. Click on the link, and then write in the username root and the password you made, refer to Figure 3-15

All options and choices are done in the Main Menu to the left.

1. Information

   Choosing this will give you the status of your network cards, the IP addresses they have, uptime of Coyote Linux, load and such.

2. LAN configuration

   Here you have the option of changing the configuration of the LAN network card, the one that goes to the Skolelinux/Debian-edu network.

   Don't change anything here! Doing so will severely reduce the performance of your Skolelinux/Debian-edu network.

   	FIXME
   	Should parse the contents of change_ip_setup in here, later.

   Leave the values as they are, refer to A.

3. Internet configuration

   Here you have the chance of changing the values of your WAN network card, the one that goes to Internet. If you get a new ISP, or go from getting your IP address assigned by DHCP to having a static IP address, then this is the place to change that kind of information with no need for creating a new Coyote Linux floppy from scratch. See 2.b

4. DHCP configuration

   This gives you the chance to configure the DHCP-server that comes with Coyote Linux.

   Do not enable the DHCP-server in Coyote Linux! See 2.h

5. Administrative Configurations

   Here you can enable/disable services such as DNS, SSH, webadmin.

6. Port Forwarding

   Here you can change and enable port forwarding on Coyote Linux. This is a very practical and neat feature in a Skolelinux/Debian-edu network. Since Coyote Linux stops and blocks most connections, even passing SSH, it's nice to be able to use port forwarding and that way still get past Coyote Linux with incoming SSH-connection to the Skolelinux/Debian-edu network.

   With this port forwarding rule

   Yes 	TCP 	Any 	22 	10.0.2.2 	22 	No 	  SSH straight into Mainserver
   

   all SSH-connections coming to Coyote Linux will be redirected to the Skolelinux/Debian-edu main server. If this is advisable in your network, you must decide.

7. Simplified Firewall Configuration

   Here you can setup and configure the firewall rules in Coyote Linux. There are plenty of ready-made rules that you can use as examples.

8. Advanced Firewall Configuration<

9. QOS Configuration

   Here you can setup bandwidth limitations

10. System password

    Here you can change the root password, also known as the system password in Coyote Linux, just like you did using the command line in Section 3.6.

11. Configuration files

    This is the files that contains all your configurations.

12. Diagnostic tools

    Here you have useful tools, such as ping, gateway test, DNS server test, status of network.

13. Backup now

    If you have made any changes in Coyote Linux, then you must remember to write them to floppy, by choosing this Main Menu item, otherwise your changes will be gone when you reboot Coyote Linux. There is a red warning at the bottom of the screen whenever you make changes to Coyote Linux without having them written to the floppy.

14. Reboot system

    When you need to reboot Coyote Linux, you can do so from this Main Menu item. You will have to reconfirm this option.

    Figure 3-18. Reboot or shutdown Coyote Linux?

    

3.8. Login via SSH

Sometimes it might be necessary to login to Coyote Linux when there is no web browser available, or if you prefer to use the command line. Then you can use ssh to connect to Coyote Linux.

If you are logged in to a machine in the Skolelinux/Debian-edu network, then you use

ssh -l root 10.0.2.1

If you are outside of the Skolelinux/Debian-edu network, you must replace the value 10.0.2.1 with the appropriate value as seen for network card WAN in i. In this case, it would be

ssh -l root 192.168.1.10

You will be met by almost the same choices as when logged into the Coyote Linux web administrator, but presented in a text-based menu.

                Coyote Linux Gateway -- Configuration Menu


  1) Edit main configuration file         2) Change system password
  3) Edit rc.local script file            4) Custom firewall rules file
  5) Edit firewall configuration          6) Edit port forward configuration

  c) Show running configuration           f) Reload firewall
  r) Reboot system                        w) Write configuration to disk

  q) quit                                 e) Exit
  ----------------------------------------------------------------------------
  Selection:

You have almost the same options as when logged into the Coyote Linux web administrator, see Section 3.7 for a brief description of the different choices.

When choosing q) quit you will end up at the command line in Coyote Linux if you need to go back to the Coyote Linux Menu, then type menu and press ENTER.

If you see this when trying to login to Coyote Linux:

klaus@tjener:~$ ssh 10.0.2.1 -l root
@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@
@    WARNING: REMOTE HOST IDENTIFICATION HAS CHANGED!     @
@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@
IT IS POSSIBLE THAT SOMEONE IS DOING SOMETHING NASTY!
Someone could be eavesdropping on you right now (man-in-the-middle attack)!
It is also possible that the RSA host key has just been changed.
The fingerprint for the RSA key sent by the remote host is
34:b7:a3:9b:06:4c:e2:30:1b:0d:03:45:7b:22:b7:dd.
Please contact your system administrator.
Add correct host key in /skole/tjener/home0/klaus/.ssh/known_hosts to get rid of this message.
Offending key in /skole/tjener/home0/klaus/.ssh/known_hosts:27
RSA host key for 10.0.2.1 has changed and you have requested strict checking.
Host key verification failed.

Then it is most likely because you had previously logged into a different machine with the IP address 10.0.2.1, or you have changed a network card in Coyote Linux, or it is really a man-in-the-middle attack. The solution is to remove the offending key, in this case it's line number 27, in file /skole/tjener/home0/klaus/.ssh/known_hosts.

3.9. Useful Commands in Coyote Linux

Useful commands in Coyote Linux.

• ping

  Useful to find out if the network is working. This command will see if there is any connection to Skolelinux/Debian-edu main server

  coyote# ping -c5 10.0.2.2
  PING 10.0.2.2 (10.0.2.2): 56 data bytes
  64 bytes from 10.0.2.2: icmp_seq=0 ttl=64 time=0.9 ms
  64 bytes from 10.0.2.2: icmp_seq=1 ttl=64 time=0.5 ms

• uptime

  This command gives you the time Coyote Linux has been running since last boot.

  coyote# uptime
    2:37pm  up 80 days,  7:55, load average: 0.00, 0.00, 0.00
  

• dmesg

  This command prints the information that the Linux kernel has found on your machine, things such as amount of RAM, CPU, network cards. If the output from dmesg is too much for the size of your screen, then you can pipe the output to the pager 'more', and use SPACE to read it all,

  dmesg|more

• ifconfig

  Shows verbose information about your network cards.

  coyote# ifconfig
  eth0      Link encap:Ethernet  HWaddr 00:50:FC:F8:D2:44
            inet addr:10.0.2.1  Bcast:10.0.3.255  Mask:255.255.254.0
            UP BROADCAST RUNNING MULTICAST  MTU:1500  Metric:1
            RX packets:314723 errors:0 dropped:0 overruns:0 frame:0
            TX packets:312105 errors:0 dropped:0 overruns:0 carrier:0
            collisions:0 txqueuelen:1000
            RX bytes:53700845 (51.2 MiB)  TX bytes:277496136 (264.6 MiB)
            Interrupt:11 Base address:0x7000
  
  eth1      Link encap:Ethernet  HWaddr 00:E0:18:A8:B1:BA
            inet addr:192.168.100.133  Bcast:192.168.100.255  Mask:255.255.255.0
            UP BROADCAST RUNNING MULTICAST  MTU:1500  Metric:1
            RX packets:307395 errors:0 dropped:0 overruns:0 frame:0
            TX packets:281202 errors:0 dropped:0 overruns:0 carrier:0
            collisions:0 txqueuelen:1000
            RX bytes:272404311 (259.7 MiB)  TX bytes:47880640 (45.6 MiB)
            Interrupt:10 Base address:0xb800 Memory:e3000000-e3000038
  
  lo        Link encap:Local Loopback
            inet addr:127.0.0.1  Mask:255.0.0.0
            UP LOOPBACK RUNNING  MTU:16436  Metric:1
            RX packets:14565 errors:0 dropped:0 overruns:0 frame:0
            TX packets:14565 errors:0 dropped:0 overruns:0 carrier:0
            collisions:0 txqueuelen:0
            RX bytes:1290756 (1.2 MiB)  TX bytes:1290756 (1.2 MiB)
  
  
  

• lsmod

  This command lists loaded driver modules- useful to see which driver modules are used by the network cards.

  coyote# lsmod
  Module                  Size  Used by
  eepro100               17516   1
  3c59x                  24408   1
  mii                     1852   0 [eepro100]
  ip_nat_quake3           1608   0 (unused)
  ip_nat_mms              2448   0 (unused)
  ip_nat_h323             2044   0 (unused)
  ip_nat_amanda           1020   0 (unused)
  

  In this listing, you'll see that the network card driver modules Intel pro100 and 3com series 3c59x which include 3c590, 3c595, 3c900, 3c905 are loaded. See Section 3.12

• route

• traceroute

  Useful to trace the route a network packet takes; a nice way to find out where the problem really lies.

• showcfg

  Another command that gives information about the state of the network cards.

  Coyote running configuration display utility.
  
  Internet    (eth1): UP
  LAN network (eth0): UP
  
  -------------Internet configuration--------------
  IP Address   192.168.100.133 (Static)
  Netmask      255.255.255.0
  Gateway      192.168.100.2
  ----------------LAN configuration----------------
  IP Address   10.0.2.1
  Netmask      255.255.254.0
  Broadcast    10.0.3.255
  ----------------DNS configuration----------------
  domain localdomain
  nameserver 213.184.200.1
  nameserver 213.184.200.2
  -------------------------------------------------
  10:51am up 7 days, 20:53, load average: 0.00, 0.00, 0.00
  
  Press enter to return to system menu.
  

• free

  Use this command to see how much RAM you have in the machine, and how much is being used. This machine has 32MB of RAM.

  coyote# free
                total         used         free       shared      buffers
    Mem:        30860         6004        24856            0            0
   Swap:            0            0            0
  Total:        30860         6004        24856
  
  

• menu

  This commands starts the Coyote Linux Menu

                  Coyote Linux Gateway -- Configuration Menu
  
  
    1) Edit main configuration file         2) Change system password
    3) Edit rc.local script file            4) Custom firewall rules file
    5) Edit firewall configuration          6) Edit port forward configuration
  
    c) Show running configuration           f) Reload firewall
    r) Reboot system                        w) Write configuration to disk
  

• reboot

  coyote#reboot

  This will reboot your Coyote Linux

• shutdown

  coyote#halt

  This will turn off your Coyote Linux

3.10. Coyote Linux as an Ordinary DHCP-Server in a Non-Skolelinux/Debian-edu Network

Coyote Linux is a perfect candidate if you just need a DHCP-server for your network, regardless of what type of machines you have in your network- Linux, Windows or Mac.

The only thing you have to configure differently, is to enable the DHCP-server. See 2.h

A short summary of making a Coyote Linux DHCP-server:

Coyote Linux as an Ordinary DHCP-server

• Remember to answer Yes to the question «Do you want to enable the Coyote DHCP-server [y/n]:»

• Once you have your Coyote Linux DHCP-server running, you will probably need to use a different address to login to it, if you didn't change the default LAN configuration:

  Configuring system for Ethernet based Internet connection
  
  
  By default, Coyote uses the following settings for the local network
  interface:
  
  IP Address: 192.168.0.1
  Netmask:    255.255.255.0
  Broadcast:  192.168.0.255
  Network:    192.168.0.0
  
  Would you like to change these settings? [Y/N]: n
  
  

  then you'll have to use the address 192.168.0.1 instead of 10.0.2.1 when logging in to the Coyote Linux web administrator, see Section 3.7 and Section 3.8

  The new addresses are in this case:

  • ssh -l root 192.168.0.1

  • http://192.168.0.1:8180

3.11. Coyote Linux and different ISP

I have not yet encountered an ISP that didn't work with Coyote Linux. Please tell me if you know of one.

This is list of ISP's that I know work well with Coyote Linux

• Nextgentel, Norway

• Tele2 ADSL Privat, Norway

• Tele2 ADSL Bedrift, Norway

• UPC Chello Classis, Norway

• Utdanningsetaten (The Department of Education) in Oslo (Not yet tested on InnsIKT-schools)

  Due to a strange network policy at the Department of Education in Oslo, you must make the following changes at your mainserver:

  In the file /etc/bind/named.conf change the following stanza[5] :

          // forwarders {
          // By special request from the good people inside the Dept of Education in
          // Oslo:
          //      193.156.192.40;
          //      193.156.192.50;
          // Dept. of Education in Oslo  end of block
          //      0.0.0.0;
          // };
  
  

  change it to

             forwarders {
          // By special request from the good people inside the Dept of Education in
          // Oslo:
                  193.156.192.40;
                  193.156.192.50;
          // Dept. of Education in Oslo end of block
          //      0.0.0.0;
             };
  
  

  That means removing the comment-slashes in front of forwarders.

  If you don't do this, you will not be able to connect to the Internet due to DNS problems, and some BSD-network guy at the Department of Education will bite your head off.

  After you have made this change in /etc/bind/named.conf you must restart bind, with

  /etc/init.d/bind9 restart

• Telenor ADSL, Norway

• Høgskolen i Oslo (Oslo College)

  You must make the same bind changes as with the Department of Education Oslo.

If you need to use your ISP name-servers, then have a look at chapter dns-server for more info.

3.12. Supported network card and Driver Modules Used

tjener:~/coyote# ls  data/kernel/drivers/
3c501.o     eth16i.o               ne.o
3c503.o     ewrk3.o                ni5010.o
3c505.o     fealnx.o               ni52.o
3c507.o     forcedeth.o            ni65.o
3c509.o     hp100.o                pcnet32.o
3c515.o     hp.o                   ppp_async.o
3c59x.o     hp-plus.o              ppp_deflate.o
8139cp.o    ip_conntrack_amanda.o  ppp_generic.o
8139too.o   ip_conntrack_egg.o     pppoe.o
82596.o     ip_conntrack_ftp.o     pppox.o
8390.o      ip_conntrack_h323.o    ppp_synctty.o
ac3200.o    ip_conntrack_irc.o     sch_htb.o
amd8111e.o  ip_conntrack_mms.o     sch_ingress.o
at1700.o    ip_conntrack_quake3.o  sch_sfq.o
b44.o       ip_conntrack_rtsp.o    sis900.o
bridge.o    ip_conntrack_tftp.o    slhc.o
bsd_comp.o  ip_nat_amanda.o        smc9194.o
cls_fw.o    ip_nat_cuseeme.o       smc-ultra.o
cls_u32.o   ip_nat_ftp.o           softdog.o
cs89x0.o    ip_nat_h323.o          starfire.o
de4x5.o     ip_nat_irc.o           sundance.o
depca.o     ip_nat_mms.o           tlan.o
dgrs.o      ip_nat_quake3.o        tulip.o
dmfe.o      ip_nat_rtsp.o          typhoon.o
e100.o      ip_nat_tftp.o          via-rhine.o
e2100.o     lance.o                wd.o
eepro100.o  lp486e.o               winbond-840.o
eepro.o     mii.o                  zlib_deflate.o
eexpress.o  natsemi.o              zlib_inflate.o
epic100.o   ne2k-pci.o

---

3.12.2. The Special Case of 3Com 509 ISA network card

This is a very popular network card. My Coyote Linux has two of them, both produced in 1989, and running continuously for about 3 years in my Coyote Linux. Once you have managed to get them running, they will probably run for a long time. It's just a bit difficult sometimes to get them running.

They are ISA type, which means their IO, IRQ and such must be configured by hand, not automatically, which can be quite a challenge, especially if you use two of them in a machine.

The IO and IRQ on these cards must be configured with a old DOS-configuration program, which can be a bit hard to find these days.

This DOS-configuration program is called 3c5x9cfg.exe, and you use it like this;

1. Boot the machine into DOS, either MS-DOS or Freedos, or any other DOS variant. Using a W95 or W98 boot floppy is one way of doing it.

2. Once the machine is in DOS, insert the floppy with the program 3c5x9cfg.exe, and run it by typing 3c5x9cfg.exe using the DOS command line.

3. Once 3c5x9cfg.exe is started, then with each of your 3c509 network card, configure them with the option 'auto'

There have been reports of problems with two 3c509's in the same machine when one of the cards is a combo type, which is a type of card that has several different types of network connectors.

It's possible to find 3c5x9cfg.exe here: Ruprecht-Karls-Universität Heidelberg

3.13. Further Information about Coyote Linux

• Coyote Linux homepage

• Coyote Linux userforum, high activity

• Coyote Linux, FAQ, choose 2.x - General

• Another FAQ by Todd VerBeek

4.1. Useful diagram for placement of server according to choice of profiles.

---

4.1.2. The two profiles Main-server and Thinclientserver combined to make Combiserver

Figure 4-2. Combi-server.

In a relatively small setup, with just a handful (small or large), you can easily bypass using a dedicated backbone switch, and just use a crossovercable to connect the firewall with the combi-server.

Just beware that when you put the printer on a thinclient 192.168.0.0/24-network, the hostname printer00 doesn't work. Also make sure to edit the KDE Printwizard so that it searches the 192.168.0.0/24-network for printers, not it's default 10.0.2.0/23-network.

5.1. Preparing the Machine to Boot from CD-ROM

Maybe your machine is already configured to boot from the CD-ROM. Start your machine with the Skolelinux/Debian-edu CD in the CD-ROM.

If you then see something similar to the screenshot in Figure 6-1, then you can skip straight to Section 6.2; otherwise, keep on reading.

If your machine has the BIOS option to boot from CD-ROM, then setting the CD-ROM as the first boot option in the BIOS may help. Later when the first stage of installation is over, you should change it back, so that the machine will boot from the hard drive.

Normally, when you turn the computer on, you will see how to enter the BIOS setup. It's usually one of the keys F1, INS, F10 or maybe DEL. Refer to your manual, or the supplier of the computer, if you aren't able to get the machine to boot from the CD-ROM.

---

5.1.1. Using Smart Boot manager (SBM)

Another option, when the machine will not boot directly from CD-ROM, or you can't gain access to the BIOS, is to use SBM(Smart Boot Manager). This is a floppy that you boot from, which makes it possible to choose to boot from the CD-ROM. SBM is included on the Skolelinux/Debian-edu CD. Have a look in the directory install on the CD. There you will find a file called sbm.bin. Transfer this file to a floppy using the utility rawrite. In Windows, you'll find rawrite in the directory install as well. Have a look at the file rawrite2.txt for further info about rawrite

Do not try to simply copy sbm.bin to a floppy. That will not work. You have to use the utility rawrite

For further information about what SBM is, you should read the file README.sbm, you'll find that file in the directory install as well

If you have a running Linux system, then you mount your CD, and transfer sbm.bin with the command

mount /cdrom
dd if=/cdrom/install/sbm.bin of=/dev/fd0

You may need to change the mount point used for your CD-ROM, and possibly also for the floppy.

Once you have managed to create a bootable SMB floppy, this is what greets you:

Figure 5-1. SMB greeting screen

Under normal circumstances you may now just use the DOWN/UP-arrow on your keyboard to choose 'CD-ROM' end then just press ENTER

It doesn't matter whether you answer yes or no to the question about saving the changes

Figure 5-2. Saving changes

Figure 5-3. System settings

If you don't see any cd-rom entries, then you might have to rescan you computer for it. Press TAB to get the SBM menu, choose System Settings, then Rescan all boot records

Figure 5-4. Rescan all boot records

Further info about SMB (Smart Boot Manager) can be found at the projects homepage http://btmgr.webframe.org/

5.2. A Short Description of the Profiles in Skolelinux/Debian-edu

The profile description you see during installation, like in Figure 6-6 comes from the file src/debian-edu-install/debian/debian-edu-install.templates at alioth.debian.org

A Short Summary of the Different Profiles in Skolelinux/Debian-edu, and How They can be Combined

1. Main server

   All Skolelinux/Debian-edu networks must have one, and only one machine with this profile installed. You can combine this with workstation or thin client server if you like.

   Every Skolelinux network needs one, and only one machine running the 'Main Server' profile. This machine provides the (network)services (mainly file/network and LDAP), so without this machine the network does not work. Since this machine will hold all data files it will need a lot of hard disk space. Installing this option solely results in a machine without a Graphical User Interface(=GUI). If you want a GUI you'll need to include the workstation profile or thinclientserver [7]

2. Workstation

   Machines running the 'Workstation' profile are normal machines. Users logging on to a workstation are authenticated by the machine running the mainserver profile, and have their documents and personal settings stored in home directories on the machine running the mainserver profile.

   If you want access to peripherals such as CD/DVD-players/burners, digital cameras, scanners, then this is the profile you want to install.

3. Thin client server

   Machines running the thin client server profile are able to accept thin client connections. This profile also includes the workstation profile. To prevent network congestion machines running this profile need to have two network cards. All three profiles named so far, main server, workstation and thin client server, can be installed on the same machine.

   This profile also includes the profile workstation

4. Main server + thin client server(including workstation)

   This combination of profiles, also called a combi-profile, makes it possible to setup a complete Skolelinux/Debian-edu network with Workstations and thinclients using only one server. This is an acceptable solution if you only intend to run a small Skolelinux/Debian-edu network, maybe about 10-15 thin clients and a few workstations. For bigger installations this is definitely not advisable.

5. Main server + workstation

   This combination of profiles mainly gives you a main server with a GUI. If you don't like the idea of administering your main server from the command line, then this is the combination you should choose.

6. These two profiles, 'standalone' and 'standalone-extras', are not a part of the Skolelinux/Debian-edu network. For this reason, I will not yet deal with these profiles in this document.

   Standalone and standalone-extras

   The two profiles 'standalone' and 'standalone-extras' cannot be installed on the same machine together with any of the profiles main server, workstation and thin client server

   The 'standalone' profile is experimental and not yet functioning. Machines running the 'standalone' profile are meant to be run outside the Skolelinux/Debian-edu network (e.g. in the homes of pupils and teachers) as a standalone machine.

   The 'standalone-extras' profile is complementary to the 'standalone' profile, providing extra programs for it.

6.1. Where to get the Skolelinux/Debian-edu CD-ROM

There are basically two ways of getting the Skolelinux/Debian-edu CD-ROM. Either you download it yourself, or you get someone else to do it for you.

6.2. First Stage

The installation of Skolelinux/Debian-edu is divided into two stages, referred to as firststage and secondstage. The first stage starts when the machine boots from the Skolelinux/Debian-edu CD, and ends with the first reboot. The second stage starts when the machine boots from GRUB, and ends when the installation is finished and the machine reboots for all services to properly restart. It's during the second stage that you type the root password.

firststage usually takes about 10 minutes on a relatively fast machine, while secondstage takes a bit more, about 15-45 minutes.

The Different Steps in the First Stage of Installation

1. Power up your machine, making sure it is able to boot from the CD-ROM. See Section 5.1.

   If your machine is able to boot from the CD-ROM, then you will be met by this picture:

Throughout the installation you will only use the keyboard, no mouse.[8] You use TAB button to move between fields, and the SPACE button to make a selection, and to remove a selection, you use the UP/DOWN/LEFT/RIGHT arrows to move up and down in a selection list. You use ENTER to continue. Have a look at the keyboard layout image in Section 6.2.1.3 for an overview of the placement of these buttons.

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6.2.1. Different bootoptions

Under certain circumstances, it might be useful to know about some of the different bootoptions you can use when installing Skolelinux/Debian-edu.

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6.2.1.1. Reduce the amount of visible ram to the installer

The automatic partitioning that is used in Skolelinux/Debian-edu creates a swap-partition equal to 2 times the visible amount of ram, if you have 900MB or more of ram, then that swap-files becomes 1800MB in size. If this in your opinion is a waste of harddrive, then you can use the boot option mem=

Press F1 for help, or Enter to boot: linux mem=256m

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6.2.1.2. Use a 2.6-kernel, for better hardware support, especially for SATA-disks

If you have a machine with some very new hardware, you might want to use a 2.6-kernel, which contains more and better hardware support.

Press F1 for help, or Enter to boot: linux26

If you want to combine a 2.6-kernel and reduce the amount of ram, you use

Press F1 for help, or Enter to boot: linux26 mem=256m

If you have SATA-disks in your machine, and boot without a 2.6-kernel, you most likely will end up with the installer not seeing your harddisks, like this:

Figure 6-2. Disks not found

The solution is to use a 2.6-kernel, and then some, have a look at Section 6.2.4

You might also end up with the dreaded "No disks found" if you have a raidcontroller or scsi-controller that doesn't support Linux in you machine. In such a case, you should search Google for possible answers, in many such cases you solve the problem by manually loading the necessary modules during installation, have a look at Section 6.2.3.

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6.2.1.3. Less automatic installation: expert mode

It's possible to choose a less automatic installation, by booting with the option

Press F1 for help, or Enter to boot:expert

If you want to boot in expert mode with a 2.6-kernel, you use

Press F1 for help, or Enter to boot:expert26

Note that the keyboard layout at this stage is set to US, which means that the keys might be placed differently than what you are used to. The equal sign (=) key is 1 key to the left of the BACKSPACE, and the plus sign (+) key is SHIFT plus the equal key. The minus key (-) is placed 2 keys to the left of BACKSPACE. The underscore key (_) is SHIFT plus the minus-key. Figure 6-3. Keyboard with US layout, as seen from somewhere within Gnome controlpanel.

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6.2.6. Manually adjusting the partition size for automatic partitioning

If you know that the partitions that the automatic partitioning tool ,autopartkit,will make are either too small or too big, or you need more or fewer partitions, and you don't want to fiddle with resizing them afterwards, like in Section 8.5.2, then you have to choice of altering the tables that autopartkit uses. This is achieved in a virtual terminal, VT#2 using preferably the editor nano . The files are located in the directory /etc/autopartkit during installation. If you want to change any of these, than you must do so before you choose what profile to install, switch over to VT when you see the screen that describes the different profiles.

There is plenty of editor available, I've standardized on the one called nano throughout this document. It is installed by default, and it contains helptext, and is rather easy to use, unlike others, which is generally more powerful, but nano suffices. There is more about nano in Section 8.2.2. For now now I just say that when you start nano, you'll see at the bottom something like this: ^G Get Help ^O WriteOut ^R Read File ^Y Prev Page ^K Cut Text ^C Cur Pos ^X Exit ^J Justify ^W Where Is ^V Next Page ^U UnCut Txt ^T To Spell The ^-symbol means that you should press CTRL in combination with the letter, e.g CTRLand X is Exit.

The different *.table-files corresponds to different profiles, like this:

• Main-Server.table corresponds to the profile Mainserver, see Section 2.2

• Workstation+Thin-Client-Server.table corresponds to the profile Thinclient server, see Section 2.3

• Workstation.table corresponds to the profile Workstation, see Section 2.5

• Main-Server+Workstation.table corresponds to a combination of Mainserver and Workstation, see Section 2.7

• Main-Server+Thin-Client-Server.table corresponds to a combination of Mainserver and Thinclient server, see Section 2.7

If you wanted to increase the size of /usr when installing the profile Mainserver, you would in VT2 write nano /etc/autopartkit/Main-Server.table there you will see the line

/usr                  lvm:vg_system:lv_usr:default  448    4096

meaning that the partition /usr will be minimum 448MB big, and maximum 4096MB big (if the overall harddisk size allows this). If you want /usr to be 8000MB big, then you would edit the line to look like this

/usr                  lvm:vg_system:lv_usr:default  448    8000

If you would like to have a backup-partition on a machine installed with the profile Workstation, maybe when you have setup a simple backup-machine, like described in Section 9.4, then you would in VT2 write nano /etc/autopartkit/Workstation.table and add this line

/backup                  lvm:vg_system:lv_backup:default  10000    20000

that would create a backup-partition withe min/max-size of 10000MB/20000MB

You can of course add/delete, and change this later as you wish have a look at Section 8.5

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6.2.7. The Various Profiles in Skolelinux/Debian-edu

Figure 6-8. The Various Profiles in Skolelinux/Debian-edu

Have a look at Section 5.2 for a short description of the various profiles.

Have a look at the sidebar Keyboard Layout for a brief explanation of the different keyboard keys used during installation.

You choose the profiles you want to install by placing a mark in front of the desired profile by using the SPACEBAR to place the mark. To navigate between the different fields, you use TAB, and when you are done, move to OK and install by pressing ENTER.

If your hard drive is not recognised, then you may need to manually load the driver module for your hard drive, SCSI-controller or your RAID-controller; do this in VT#2, see Section 6.2.3

Figure 6-9. Combining different profiles

As mentioned in Section 2.7 it is fully possible to combine different profiles, in this case the machine will be installed with Main-server and Thinclientserver.

After you have chosen which profile to install, the necessary packages are installed. Hopefully, you have only chosen hardware that works out-of-the-box with Skolelinux/Debian-edu.

Figure 6-10. Warning! The contents of all your hard drives will be erased!

Everything you have on your hard drives will be deleted when installing Skolelinux/Debian-edu- don't try to avoid it. Skolelinux/Debian-edu will not easily co-exist together with any other operative system.[10]

To continue with the installation, you must choose Yes.

7.1. Second Stage

The installation of Skolelinux/Debian-edu is divided into two stages, referred to as firststage and secondstage. The first stage starts when the machine boots from the Skolelinux/Debian-edu CD, and ends at the first reboot. The second stage starts when the machine boots from GRUB, and ends when the installation is finished and the machine reboots for all services to properly restart. It's in the second stage that you type the root password.

firststage usually takes about 10 minutes on a relatively fast machine, while secondstage takes a bit more time, about 15-45 minutes.

The second stage of the Skolelinux/Debian-edu installation starts now.

Notice the countdown in the last line in this screenshot. GRUB is configured to automatically boot Skolelinux/Debian-edu after 5 seconds (in this concrete screenshot the counter has reached 3 seconds). The countdown can be stopped by pressing one of the Arrow keys. The arrow keys are also used to choose which of the available Linux kernels you want to boot. The automatic boot is very handy for booting the system unattended.

In the GRUB configuration file /boot/grub/menu.lst you can choose to change the default value for the countdown, the appearance of the GRUB menu, the name of the different kernels to boot, set a password, etc.

In this screenshot you have two boot choices.

Debian GNU/Linux, kernel 2.6.8-2-386 
Debian GNU/Linux, kernel 2.6.8-2-386 (recovery mode)

All this about GRUB should be moved to a later chapter, probably "finetuning"

Notice here that the system is using 2.6-kernels, that is because this installation was done with the boot-option linux26, see linux26

Usually you would just boot the default kernel without making any active choices, that is the line that does not contain (recovery mode). The line containing (recovery mode) is used when you need to either do some repair or maintenance on the system, like when you need to resize the lv-partition /usr. When booting with the option (recovery mode) only a few basic services is started, no GUI. Booting with (recovery mode) is the same as Runlevel 1, which also can be reached from the command line by typing init 1 See man init.

	Password Protecting your BIOS
	Remember to also put a password on your BIOS, so that it's not possible to change the boot order and boot from floppy, CD-ROM, or only from the hard drive.

Is your Server Placed in a Public Place?

If you have placed your server, against all sane advice, in a room with public access where everybody has physical access to the machine, then I advise you to immediately set a password on GRUB. grub-md5-crypt tjener:~# grub-md5-crypt Password: Retype password: $1$xZBDT0$8uoCO9XQGpBeXKnhUoU5A This encrypted password is now ready for use in /boot/grub/menu.lst To set a password on GRUB, you open the file /boot/grub/menu.lst with your favourite editor, and add the options password and lock in appropriate places, like: password --md5 $1$xZBDT0$8uoCO9XQGpBeXKnhUoU5A title Debian GNU/Linux, kernel 2.6.8-2-386 root (hd0,0) kernel /boot/vmlinuz-2.6.8-2-386 root=/dev/hda1 ro initrd /boot/initrd.img-2.6.8-2-386 savedefault boot title Debian GNU/Linux, kernel 2.6.8-2-386 (recovery mode) lock root (hd0,0) kernel /boot/vmlinuz-2.6.8-2-386 root=/dev/hda1 ro single initrd /boot/initrd.img-2.6.8-2-386 savedefault boot In this example, it's not possible to boot any other kernel than the normal kernel. Starting the GRUB command line is also not possible, without first providing the password, of course not in encrypted form. Remember to put appropriate access rights on the file /boot/grub/menu.lst so that ordinary users can't read it. chmod 600 /boot/grub/menu.lst

While booting Skolelinux/Debian-edu you will see a lot of seemingly cryptic messages scrolling by on your screen. These are useful messages from the Linux kernel.[12]

It is perfectly possible to "hide" these seemingly cryptic messages behind a nice image, that is accomplished with the application splashy, see splashy

Naturally such a fancy bootup screen is not something you want to use on a server, but maybe on a laptop, or a normal workstation.

Remember to insert the CD.

The password you are about to create, is the famous root password. With this password you will be able to do anything. Please read carefully the information provided on-screen.

This text is from skolelinux/src/rebuilds/shadow/debian/po Before proceeding, you need to set a password for 'root', the system administrative account. The root password shouldn't be easy to guess, and it shouldn't be a word found in the dictionary, or a word that could be easily associated with you, like your middle name. A good password will contain a mixture of letters, numbers and punctuation and will be changed at regular intervals. The root password is changed by running the 'passwd' program as root. Why such caution? The root account doesn't have the restrictions that normal user accounts have. A malicious or unqualified user with root access can have disastrous results. Note that you will not be able to see the password as you type it. Please enter the same root password again to verify you have typed it correctly.

You must type it twice, the same way both times. If you do it wrong, you get another chance.

Changing the Root Password The root password can be changed from the command line with the command passwd when you are logged in as root; you can also use the graphical tool kdepasswd found in K-menu->Tools->Change Password. Have a look at Chapter 11 to find out how to change the other administrative password, LDAP administrator.

After you have created the root password, the installation of packages in the second stage starts. Remember to insert the CD in the CD-ROM drive- you will be prompted to do so if you have forgotten. The rest of the installation takes about 15-45 minutes, depending on how fast your machine is.

You may now leave the machine, and take a well-deserved break. Have a refreshing drink. The installation will be completed without any further input from you.

	Upgrade your machine!
	First thing you should to now, is upgrading your machine, have a look at howto update and upgrade your machine.

Here you login with

Username: root
Password:

You can use TAB to move between the fields Username and Password, and then press ENTER to login, instead of using the mouse.

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7.1.1. Something Went Wrong...

7.1.1.1. Videocard not working

Sometimes something goes wrong during installation. The most frequent error is the failure to automatically configure the video card when you have chosen to install a machine that includes one of the profiles workstation or thinclientserver

It is not necessary for the thinclients that the videocard in the thinclientserver works.

Everything that happens during installation is logged in the file /var/log/installer.log. There is also plenty of useful information logged in the files in /var/log/debian-installer. When you need help with a problem that has occurred during installation, these files are very handy to have ready for diagnosing the problem. Always include instaler.log in your bug reports. See Chapter 1 to get help.

If you use a different monitor during installation than the machine normally will use, you might have to reconfigure the xserver, one fast way of doing that is with the commands xdebconfigurator and dexconf. Like this:

tjener:~# xdebconfigurator
/usr/sbin/ddcprobe NOT found!
/usr/sbin/detect NOT found!
VIDEO CARD: Cirrus Logic GD 5446
VIDEO CARD DEVICE:
VIDEO CARD VENDOR:
VIDEO DRIVER: cirrus
VIDEO DRIVER SRC: discover
VIDEO MEMORY:
POSSIBLE XSERVER: xfree86
XSERVER 3:
XSERVER 4: xfree86
DEBIAN PACKAGE: xserver-xfree86
MOUSE DEVICE: /dev/psaux
MOUSE PROTOCOL: PS/2
MOUSE WHEEL: 0
KEYBOARD RULES: xfree86
MONITOR: Xdebc Monitor
MONITOR ID:
SUGGESTED METHOD: Simple
MONITOR SIZE: 15 inches (380 mm)
MONITOR HOR SYNC: 28-50
MONITOR VER REFR: 43-75
MONITOR MODES: 1024x768, 800x600, 640x480
MONITOR MODE: 1024x768 @ 70Hz
MONITOR DEFAULT DEPTH: 16
tjener:~# dexconf
tjener:~# dpkg-reconfigure xserver-xfree86

If this didn't help, then use the output from lspci and write a bugreport. You might also need to include the output from

xdebconfigurator
xdebconfigurator -d
xdebconfigurator -i

You might also have some success editing the file /etc/X11/XF86Config-4

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7.1.1.2. Networkcards not found

Sometimes the installer doesn't recognise your networkcard, you will then see such a message:

Figure 7-11. Missing networkcard

If you are missing some of your networkcards, then it might just be that it's so new that Linux doesn't know about it yet, and are at loss when it comes to knowing which driver to use, sometimes it then helps to manually load the driver, but first you must find out what kind of networkcard you have, and what driver you need.

A useful command is lspci and lspci -vn, the later is much more verbose, once you know what driver you need, then load it manually with the command modprobe driver_name, to have it permanently loaded every time you boot, have a look at the file /etc/modules, it might also be that you just need to add the PCIID that you got from lspci to the file /usr/share/discover/pci.lst or maybe /usr/share/discover/pci-26.lst

The output of lspci might look like this:

tjener:~# lspci
0000:00:00.0 Host bridge: ServerWorks GCNB-LE Host Bridge (rev 32)
0000:00:00.1 Host bridge: ServerWorks GCNB-LE Host Bridge
0000:00:02.0 VGA compatible controller: ATI Technologies Inc Rage XL (rev 27)
0000:00:03.0 Ethernet controller: Intel Corp. 82540EM Gigabit Ethernet Controller (rev 02)

Have a look at the line mentioning " Ethernet controller", if I want more info about it, I use lspci -vn and pick out the stanza involving the pciid "0000:00:03.0"

tjener:~# lspc -vn
0000:00:03.0 0200: 8086:100e (rev 02)
        Subsystem: 1734:1107
        Flags: bus master, 66MHz, medium devsel, latency 32, IRQ 177
        Memory at fcde0000 (32-bit, non-prefetchable) [size=128K]
        I/O ports at 4400 [size=64]
        Capabilities: [dc] Power Management version 2
        Capabilities: [e4] PCI-X non-bridge device.
        Capabilities: [f0] Message Signalled Interrupts: 64bit+ Queue=0/0 Enable-

With this info, which might seem pointless to you, a search on Google or any of the Skolelinux/Debian-edu related helpchannels, see Chapter 1, will surely be able to help you.

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7.1.2. Turning off, or Rebooting the Machine

If your video card was correctly, automatically configured, and you have a nice, blue KDM login screen, then you can reboot and shutdown your machine by choosing menu-shutdown and there choose either shutdown or reboot.

Figure 7-12. reboot/shutdown from kdm

Luckily, this is not an option in the KDM for thin clients, otherwise anybody could reboot/shutdown the server.

If you have a machine installed only with the profile mainserver, then you have to login to reboot/shutdown the machine, as in Figure 7-9, then you login as user root. Then you can shutdown your machine with either of the commands halt,init 0 or shutdown -h now and reboot with reboot, shutdown -r now or init 6

If your machine stops with the message "Power Down" on the screen when you want to turn it off, you can try to see if loading the module apm helps. Be warned that not all servers like the module apm, especially machines with several processors. Run the command modprobe apm; if the machine doesn't complain, and the machine turns itself completely off, then you can permanently add the module by running the program modconf from the command line.

Figure 7-13. Now you may turn of the machine

modconf

Then find the line towards the bottom kernel/arch/i386/kernel and there choose apm. 

Figure 7-14. modconf apm

Just press ENTER when asked any questions. You know that the machine accepts apm when you see this:

Installation succeeded.

Please press ENTER when you are ready to continue.

Now it should turn itself off completely.

Just remember that not all machines like apm. Why do you want to turn off your server anyway?

You could also just have used nano /etc/modules and there added apm

8.1. The Famous Command Line

As with most other common operating systems, almost all of your day-to-day tasks can be carried out with the mouse by click-and-point. In addition to that, you can use the famous command line to do them as well. Why would you want to use the command line? Well, it's faster and you have more control over what is going on behind the buttons, so it's an alternative. Besides, sometimes the command line is all you have...

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8.1.1. Shell/Terminal

This is the easiest way of getting to the command line when you are in a graphical modus. Just start if from K-menu->Run command ...->konsole and there you write konsole, after you have pressed Run

Figure 8-1. run command

you should see a white windowapplication, that is konsole

Figure 8-2. konsole

Notice the #-square, that means you are running this konsole as root-user, if you run konsole as an ordinary user you wouldn't have the #-square there, but a $-dollar sign.

The behaviour of the so-called bash-prompt can be changed via the file .bashrc. If you change the line export PS1='\h:\w\$ ' into the line export PS1='FUSI.\h:\w\$ ' then the prompt would look like this FUSI.tjener:~# instead of tjener:~# this first comes into effect next time you start konsole. For more fun you can do with the bash-prompt, have a look at http://www.tldp.org/HOWTO/Bash-Prompt-HOWTO/

From this commandline you can do all you need to do, but in most cases that can also be achieved via some GUI based program.

8.2. How to Edit System Configuration Files

8.2.1. How to Edit System Configuration Files with kwrite

It's often nice to be able to edit system configuration files, like with GRUB or bothersome videocard. For this purpose you need a tool, a text editor. We do not use things such as bold, underlining or fancy fonts in these files, so for this purpose we don't need a huge fancy application. There are already several such applications installed with your Skolelinux/Debian-edu system. Some of these are command line based, (vi, vim, nano), while others have a graphical interface, like kwrite

Everybody should learn how to use the command line based editor nano sooner or later, preferably sooner.

For starters, try using kwrite, you'll find it in K-menu->Editors->Text editor you could also just write "kwrite" in Run command ...

This is what kwrite looks like with the file /etc/modules opened

Figure 8-3. kwrite

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8.2.2. How to Edit System Configuration Files

The same file as in Section 8.2.1 opened with the textbased (commandline) editor nano, the command used is

nano /etc/modules

  GNU nano 1.2.4                                                      File: /etc/modules
# /etc/modules: kernel modules to load at boot time.
#
# This file should contain the names of kernel modules that are
# to be loaded at boot time, one per line.  Comments begin with
# a "#", and everything on the line after them are ignored.

ide-cd
ide-detect
ide-disk
psmouse
apm

                            [ Read 11 lines ]
^G Get Help    ^O WriteOut     ^R Read File      ^Y Prev Page        ^K Cut Text        ^C Cur Pos
^X Exit        ^J Justify      ^W Where Is       ^V Next Page        ^U UnCut Txt       ^T To Spell 

What you should realize, is that you can always use nano, while kwrite needs a GUI to work.

If you need to edit a file on a different machine, say you sit on a thinclient, and want to edit some file on the fileserver (assuming you don't have a combi-server), then the following command, which involves ssh will do that. This will open the file in question on the fileserver as the user root: ssh root@tjener.intern 'nano /etc/modules' There is more about ssh in Section 9.3.

8.3. The Pager application More

Sometimes when you issue a command, such as dpkg -l or try to view a file in a Virtual Terminal or in a shell, the output is too much for one screen display. To make it easier to read, you can "pipe" it through the application more, like this

dpkg -l | more

The pipe is a key ( | ) on the keyboard that has two vertical lines one above the other. It often looks like a one full vertical line. Have a look at the keyboardlauoyt in Section 6.2.1.3

You can pipe the output of almost all command through more.

8.4. Installing a Kernel with Support for up to 4GB RAM and Multi-Processors

Due to the limited amount of space available on one CD, there is only one Linux kernel available on the Skolelinux/Debian-edu CD. So, the chosen Linux kernel is based on the lowest common denominator, which means that it should work on most kinds of hardware.

You can find out what kind of kernel you are running at the moment with the command uname -a, use this command later to verify that you have changed to a different kernel,if you choose to do so.

tjener:~# uname  -a
Linux tjener.intern 2.6.8-2-386 #1 Thu May 19 17:40:50 JST 2005 i686 GNU/Linux

Have a look at Section 8.9 for a more detailed description of apt-get and dpkg.

The keyword to look for when you want a Linux kernel with support for more RAM than LOWMEM=940M and more than one CPU, is SMP, aka Symmetric Multi-Processors. This command issued from a shell, will list available Linux kernels, ready for installation:

apt-cache search kernel-image | grep smp

kernel-image-2.4-686-smp - Linux kernel image for version 2.4 on PPro/Celeron/PII/PIII/P4 SMP
kernel-image-2.4-k7-smp - Linux kernel image for version 2.4 on AMD K7 SMP
kernel-image-2.4.27-2-686-smp - Linux kernel image for version 2.4.27 on PPro/Celeron/PII/PIII/P4 SMP
kernel-image-2.4.27-2-k7-smp - Linux kernel image for version 2.4.27 on AMD K7 SMP
kernel-image-2.6-686-smp - Linux kernel image for version 2.6 on PPro/Celeron/PII/PIII/P4 SMP.
kernel-image-2.6-amd64-k8-smp - Linux kernel image for version 2.6 on AMD64 SMP systems
kernel-image-2.6-em64t-p4-smp - Linux kernel image for version 2.6 on Intel EM64T SMP systems
kernel-image-2.6-k7-smp - Linux kernel image for version 2.6 on AMD K7 SMP.
kernel-image-2.6.8-11-amd64-k8-smp - Linux kernel image for version 2.6.8 on AMD64 SMP systems
kernel-image-2.6.8-11-em64t-p4-smp - Linux kernel image for version 2.6.8 on Intel EM64T SMP systems
kernel-image-2.6.8-2-686-smp - Linux kernel image for version 2.6.8 on PPro/Celeron/PII/PIII/P4 SMP.
kernel-image-2.6.8-2-k7-smp - Linux kernel image for version 2.6.8 on AMD K7 SMP.

There is no need to explicit specify the kernelversion, like 2.4.27 or 2.6.8, just use 2.4 or 2.6, so the above then boils down to

kernel-image-2.4-686-smp - Linux kernel image for version 2.4 on PPro/Celeron/PII/PIII/P4 SMP
kernel-image-2.4-k7-smp - Linux kernel image for version 2.4 on AMD K7 SMP
kernel-image-2.6-686-smp - Linux kernel image for version 2.6 on PPro/Celeron/PII/PIII/P4 SMP.
kernel-image-2.6-amd64-k8-smp - Linux kernel image for version 2.6 on AMD64 SMP systems
kernel-image-2.6-em64t-p4-smp - Linux kernel image for version 2.6 on Intel EM64T SMP systems
kernel-image-2.6-k7-smp - Linux kernel image for version 2.6 on AMD K7 SMP.

Now you just need to know what kind of processor you have, 686 (Intel), k7 (AMD), AMD64 or EM64T

Once you know which kernel is the correct one for your machine, you can install it with the command

apt-get install kernel-image-2.6-<your cpu>-smp

If you have Intel Xeon you would use

apt-get install kernel-image-2.6-686-smp

Or if you use 2.4-kernel

apt-get install kernel-image-2.4-<your cpu>-smp

If you have AMD Athlon(TM) MP 2000 you would use

apt-get install kernel-image-2.6-k7-smp

When you install the new kernel, you may see something like this:

tjener:~# apt-get update
tjener:~# apt-get install kernel-image-2.6-686-smp
Reading Package Lists... Done
Building Dependency Tree... Done
The following extra packages will be installed:
  kernel-image-2.6.8-2-686-smp
Suggested packages:
  lilo kernel-doc-2.6.8 kernel-source-2.6.8
Recommended packages:
  irqbalance
The following NEW packages will be installed:
  kernel-image-2.6-686-smp kernel-image-2.6.8-2-686-smp
0 upgraded, 2 newly installed, 0 to remove and 0 not upgraded.
Need to get 15.3MB of archives.
After unpacking 44.9MB of additional disk space will be used.
Do you want to continue? [Y/n]
Get:1 http://ftp.debian.org sarge/main kernel-image-2.6.8-2-686-smp 2.6.8-16 [15.3MB]
Get:2 http://ftp.debian.org sarge/main kernel-image-2.6-686-smp 101 [2154B]
Fetched 15.3MB in 1m13s (208kB/s)
Selecting previously deselected package kernel-image-2.6.8-2-686-smp.
(Reading database ... 80762 files and directories currently installed.)
Unpacking kernel-image-2.6.8-2-686-smp (from .../kernel-image-2.6.8-2-686-smp_2.6.8-16_i386.deb) ...
Selecting previously deselected package kernel-image-2.6-686-smp.
Unpacking kernel-image-2.6-686-smp (from .../kernel-image-2.6-686-smp_101_i386.deb) ...
Setting up kernel-image-2.6.8-2-686-smp (2.6.8-16) ...
File descriptor 3 left open
File descriptor 4 left open
File descriptor 5 left open
File descriptor 6 left open
File descriptor 7 left open
    Finding all volume groups
    Finding volume group "vg_data"
    Finding volume group "vg_system"
Searching for GRUB installation directory ... found: /boot/grub .
Testing for an existing GRUB menu.list file... found: /boot/grub/menu.lst .
Searching for splash image... none found, skipping...
Found kernel: /boot/vmlinuz-2.6.8-2-686-smp
Found kernel: /boot/vmlinuz-2.6.8-2-386
Updating /boot/grub/menu.lst ... done
Setting up kernel-image-2.6-686-smp (101) ...
	

You see here that I asked for the installation of kernel-image-2.6-686-smp, and it automatically translated that into installing kernel kernel-image-2.6.8-2-686-smp, and it also suggests some other packages to install.

	You Need to Reboot.
	In order for the newly-installed kernel to be taken into use, you must reboot. This is the only time you ever need to reboot your Skolelinux/Debian-edu machine, while installing other programs. There is no need for a reboot, except when installing a new kernel.

After you have installed a SMP-enabled kernel, and have rebooted your machine, you can use the commands free and cat /proc/cpuinfo to see if the newly-installed kernel sees all of your processors and RAM;

ltspserver00:~#free
             total       used       free     shared    buffers     cached
Mem:       4074752    4045556      29196          0     339248    2327780
-/+ buffers/cache:    1378528    2696224
Swap:      1835000       5852    1829148

Here I have trimmed the output a bit, removed the unnecessary output.

ltspserver00:~# cat /proc/cpuinfo
processor       : 0
vendor_id       : GenuineIntel
cpu family      : 15
model           : 2
model name      : Intel(R) Xeon(TM) CPU 2.66GHz

processor       : 1
vendor_id       : GenuineIntel
cpu family      : 15
model           : 2
model name      : Intel(R) Xeon(TM) CPU 2.66GHz

processor       : 2
vendor_id       : GenuineIntel
cpu family      : 15
model           : 2
model name      : Intel(R) Xeon(TM) CPU 2.66GHz

processor       : 3
vendor_id       : GenuineIntel
cpu family      : 15
model           : 2
model name      : Intel(R) Xeon(TM) CPU 2.66GHz

If you now run uname -a after you have installed a new kernel, you will see

tjener:~# uname  -a
Linux tjener.intern 2.6.8-2-686-smp #1 SMP Thu May 19 17:27:55 JST 2005 i686 GNU/Linux

8.5. Changing the Size of the LVM-Partitions

	Remember to reduce the size of the filesystem.
	You must remember to reduce the size of the filesystem that is on the volume before you shrink the volume itself, otherwise you will lose data. When shrinking the size of the filesystem, you must know the knew size of the volume, in blocks!!!!

Remember backing up your data before trying to resize your filesystems!

It's always smart to read the manual-pages regarding the commands you use. The manual-page for lvreduce, says it all: tjener:~# man lvreduce lvreduce allows you to reduce the size of a logical volume. Be careful when reducing a logical volume's size, because data in the reduced part is lost!!! You should therefore ensure that any filesystem on the volume is resized before running lvreduce so that the extents that are to be removed are not in use.

You should definitely supplement this short introduction to lvm with the full in-depth documentation on LVM which is available from The Linux Documentation Project under the link LVM-HOWTO

At the moment, there are 7 partitions of the lvm type in Skolelinux/Debian-edu. They are grouped in two different vg's, vg_system and vg_data:

1. /usr, see Section 8.5.1

2. /skole/tjener/home0, see Section 8.5.2

3. /skole/backup, see Section 8.5.3

4. /var, see Section 8.5.4

5. /var/opt/ltsp/swapfiles, see Section 8.5.5

6. swap, see Section 8.5.6

7. /var/spool/squid, see Section 8.5.7

tjener:~# apt-get install ash
Reading Package Lists... Done
Building Dependency Tree... Done
The following NEW packages will be installed:
  ash
0 upgraded, 1 newly installed, 0 to remove and 0 not upgraded.
Need to get 0B/14.9kB of archives.
After unpacking 69.6kB of additional disk space will be used.
Selecting previously deselected package ash.
(Reading database ... 33386 files and directories currently installed.)
Unpacking ash (from .../d/dash/ash_0.5.2-5_all.deb) ...
Setting up ash (0.5.2-5) ...

NFS.....

tjener:~# umount /var/
umount: /var: device is busy
umount: /var: device is busy

ltspserver05:~# free
             total       used       free     shared    buffers     cached
Mem:        256968      96684     160284          0       5536      48500
-/+ buffers/cache:      42648     214320
Swap:       524280          0     524280

ltspserver05:~# swapoff /dev/vg_system/lv_swap

ltspserver05:~# lvextend --size +200M /dev/vg_system/lv_swap
  Extending logical volume lv_swap to 712,00 MB
  Logical volume lv_swap successfully resized

ltspserver05:~# mkswap /dev/vg_system/lv_swap
Setting up swapspace version 1, size = 746582 kB
no label, UUID=fd634991-e5ca-4aac-9fe8-a000bde6bc38

ltspserver05:~# swapon /dev/vg_system/lv_swap

ltspserver05:~# free
             total       used       free     shared    buffers     cached
Mem:        256968      97036     159932          0       5768      48520
-/+ buffers/cache:      42748     214220
Swap:       729080          0     729080

ltspserver05:~# swapoff /dev/vg_system/lv_swap
ltspserver05:~# lvreduce --size -300M /dev/vg_system/lv_swap
  WARNING: Reducing active logical volume to 412,00 MB
  THIS MAY DESTROY YOUR DATA (filesystem etc.)
Do you really want to reduce lv_swap? [y/n]: y
  Reducing logical volume lv_swap to 412,00 MB
  Logical volume lv_swap successfully resized
ltspserver05:~# mkswap /dev/vg_system/lv_swap
Setting up swapspace version 1, size = 432009 kB
no label, UUID=9db01ef6-7623-4e5b-956e-b6fe607aec4f
ltspserver05:~# swapon /dev/vg_system/lv_swap
ltspserver05:~# free
             total       used       free     shared    buffers     cached
Mem:        256968      97576     159392          0       6456      48544
-/+ buffers/cache:      42576     214392
Swap:       421880          0     421880

umount: /var/spool/squid: device is busy

# cache_dir ufs /var/spool/squid 100 16 256

cache_dir ufs /var/spool/squid 500 32 256

---

8.5.8. Adding a New Volume(lv)

For things such as video and picture, as well as users that need extra file space, you might need to create a new volume. Let's pretend you need a volume for our video footage. Let us name it video, and place it in vg_data as /dev/vg_data/lv_video, and mount it at /skole/video

First you need to find out how much space you have available in vg_data

vgdisplay /dev/vg_data

or maybe there is more space in vg_system

vgdisplay /dev/vg_system

Another option that displays the same kind of information is

pvscan

You must create the mount point /skole/video

mkdir /skole/video

Then you create the new volume

lvcreate --size 2G --name lv_video vg_data

In this example, the size is 2GB. Have a look at lvm-home0 to find out how to resize this. Then you need to make a file system

mke2fs -j /dev/vg_data/lv_video

Then add this new partition, using your favourite texteditor, to /etc/fstab, otherwise this new partition won't be mounted automatically at boot. In our example you add this line at the end of /etc/fstab

/dev/vg_data/lv_video  /skole/video          ext3    defaults                0       2

Now you test your new partition by mounting it manually with mount /skole/video. Have a look at the size with

df -h /skole/video

---

8.5.8.1. Adding the New Volume to autofs

	Not tested with Sarge
	This has not yet been tested with Sarge. This warning will go away once it has been tested.

Skolelinux/Debian-edu uses autofs to export partitions to machines that might need them, workstation and thinclientserver needs to be able to mount the users home directories. So, if you have made another home partition, for example /skole/tjener/home1 and /skole/tjener/home2 then you must make sure that they are also exported along with /skole/tjener/home0 via autofs to the needed machines. The necessary information lies in the LDAP-database, so we must add this new information the LDAP-database. This is most easily done by adding this new information to a file, and then adding the contents of this file to our LDAP-database. Let's call this file /root/video.ldif, with these contents:

dn: cn=video,ou=tjener,ou=skole,ou=Automount,dc=skole,dc=skolelinux,dc=no
objectClass: top
objectClass: automount
cn: video
automountInformation: -rw,rsize=8192,wsize=8192,intr tjener:/skole/video
description: /skole/video mount point

This is the info that you want to add, like this:

/etc/init.d/slapd stop
/etc/init.d/nscd stop
slapadd -l /root/video.ldif
/etc/init.d/slapd start
/etc/init.d/nscd start

In addition, this partition must be added to the export file by adding the following line to the file /etc/exports

/skole/video @ltsp-server-hosts(rw,async) @workstation-hosts(rw,async) @server-hosts(rw,async)

	    

After that you must run exportfs -ra

tjener:/dev# pvscan
  PV /dev/hda6   VG vg_data     lvm2 [1.94 GB / 800.00 MB free]
  PV /dev/hda5   VG vg_system   lvm2 [2.73 GB / 692.00 MB free]
  Total: 2 [4.67 GB] / in use: 2 [4.67 GB] / in no VG: 0 [0   ]

tjener:/dev# pvcreate /dev/hdb
  Physical volume "/dev/hdb" successfully created

tjener:/dev# vgextend vg_data /dev/hdb
  Volume group "vg_data" successfully extended

tjener:/dev# pvscan
  PV /dev/hda6   VG vg_data     lvm2 [1.94 GB / 800.00 MB free]
  PV /dev/hdb    VG vg_data     lvm2 [6.83 GB / 6.83 GB free]
  PV /dev/hda5   VG vg_system   lvm2 [2.73 GB / 692.00 MB free]
  Total: 3 [11.50 GB] / in use: 3 [11.50 GB] / in no VG: 0 [0   ]

tjener:~# umount /skole/backup/
tjener:~# e2fsck -fy /dev/vg_data/lv_backup
tjener:~# resize2fs /dev/vg_data/lv_backup
tjener:~# lvextend --size +1000M /dev/vg_data/lv_backup
tjener:~# mount /skole/backup/
tjener:~# df -h /skole/backup
Filesystem            Size  Used Avail Use% Mounted on
/dev/mapper/vg_data-lv_backup
                      1.7G   17M  1.6G   2% /skole/backup
tjener:~# pvscan
  PV /dev/hda6   VG vg_data     lvm2 [1.94 GB / 0    free]
  PV /dev/hdb    VG vg_data     lvm2 [6.83 GB / 6.64 GB free]
  PV /dev/hda5   VG vg_system   lvm2 [2.73 GB / 692.00 MB free]
  Total: 3 [11.50 GB] / in use: 3 [11.50 GB] / in no VG: 0 [0   ]

8.6. Editing Host Netgroups

A "host netgroup" (hence "netgroup") can be compared to a guest list when you are inviting people to a party. You have made the guest list to avoid unwanted guests, for instance crooks. In a computer network, the guests are a bit different. They are "Internet hosts", e.g. printers, thin client servers or workstations. If these hosts are on the guest list, they are welcome to do their task on the network. If they are not, they are automatically kept out by the doorkeeper.

A netgroup thus keeps track of the guests, or "hosts" in "Internet lingo". It can also keep track of other netgroups, and this simplifies administration of, for example, access to the Internet or to a file server. It is much easier to administer groups of hosts than specifying every single host everywhere.

You have to use netgroups correctly to avoid extra administration. For example, it is useless to have a netgroup named "workstation-hosts" with 250 different hosts in it. It is better to use subgroups. The workstations could be grouped into "computerlab01-hosts", "computerlab02-hosts" and "teachers-hosts", and these could be subgroups to another netgroup named "workstation-hosts".

In the future, Skolelinux will probably use netgroups for various other tasks. Today they are used to prevent access of unwanted guests to the file server.

---

8.6.1. The Netgroup Module

To edit netgroups, you have to use Webmin. The module is named "Edit host netgroups" and is found under the "System"-tab.

Figure 8-4. Overview of Netgroups

On a newly-installed Skolelinux server, the following netgroups are added:

ltsp-server-hosts

All of the thin client servers in the network

printer-hosts

All of the printers in the network

server-hosts

All of the servers in the network. This is primarily "tjener", but if you move, for example, the backup service to another host, add that host here.

workstation-hosts

All of the groups containing workstations, or all of the workstations in a small network

all-hosts

This group contains no individual hosts, but all of the other netgroups.

	Naming Conventions
	Note that all of the netgroup names end with "-hosts". This is to make it easier to distinguish netgroups from other groups whenever necessary. We suggest you use the same naming convention.

8.7. Thin Client Setup

Each thin client has a wide range of options that can be changed on an individual thin client basis.

• Video card

• PXE-network card or regular network card

• Will it act as a print server?

• Serial, PS/2 , USB or scrollmouse?

All these options are specified in the file /opt/ltsp/i386/etc/lts.conf, but you need to assign each thin client a static IP address. You do this by adding the MAC address of the network card in your thin client, all done in the file /etc/dhcp3/dhcpd.conf There is also a Webmin module for this operation, https://tjener.intern:10000/dhcpd3/index.cgi

tjener:~# BootDisk522b.zipunzip BootDisk522b.zip
Archive:  BootDisk522b.zip
  inflating: rawrite2.exe
  inflating: ebnet522.dsk
  inflating: Readme.txt
	  

Jan  4 19:04:44 tjener dhcpd-2.2.x: DHCPDISCOVER from 00:00:86:4a:58:5a via eth1
Jan  4 19:04:44 tjener dhcpd-2.2.x: DHCPOFFER on 192.168.0.201 to 00:00:86:4a:58:5a via eth1
Jan  4 19:04:45 tjener dhcpd-2.2.x: DHCPREQUEST for 192.168.0.201 from 00:00:86:4a:58:5a via eth1
Jan  4 19:04:45 tjener dhcpd-2.2.x: DHCPACK on 192.168.0.201 to 00:00:86:4a:58:5a via eth1

        SCREEN_02          = shell

HWaddr 00:00:86:4A:58:5A

host ltsp010 {
        hardware ethernet     00:00:86:4a:58:5a;
        fixed-address         192.168.0.10;
	#filename              "/tftpboot/lts/vmlinuz-2.4.19-ltsp-1";
        filename              "/tftpboot/lts/pxelinux.0";
        #option option-128     e4:45:74:68:00:00;
        #option option-129     "NIC=3c509";
    }

#filename              "/tftpboot/lts/vmlinuz-2.4.26-ltsp-2";

filename              "/tftpboot/lts/pxelinux.0";

option option-128     e4:45:74:68:00:00;
option option-129     "NIC=3c509";
	  

---

8.7.5. Customising Thin Clients

In the file /opt/ltsp/i386/etc/lts.conf you have the possibility to specially customize each individual thin client. You can also make adaptations that cover all of the clients at once.

Here I want you to note that there is already a large document which describes how to set up thin clients ltsp.org Look in the documentation menu.

I have only mentioned the most important changes you can make in /opt/ltsp/i386/etc/lts.conf. I recommend that everyone should read the documentation that is found at http://www.ltsp.org

---

8.7.5.1. Printer Connected to a Thin Client

In order to specify that you have a printer connected to the parallel port of a thin client, the following lines must be added to the file /opt/ltsp/i386/etc/lts.conf :

[ltsp050]
PRINTER_0_DEVICE =/dev/lp0
PRINTER_0_TYPE   =P

exchange ltsp050 with the correct name of your thin client. See part Section 9.1.1.

---

8.7.5.2. Serial Mouse

Add the following to the file/opt/ltsp/i386/etc/lts.conf if you have a serial mouse (connected to the COM port)

[ltsp051]
X_MOUSE_PROTOCOL    = "Microsoft"
X_MOUSE_DEVICE      = "/dev/ttyS0"
X_MOUSE_RESOLUTION  = 400
X_MOUSE_BUTTONS     = 2
X_MOUSE_EMULATE3BTN = Y

---

8.7.5.3. Optical USB Mouse with Wheel

Add these lines to /opt/ltsp/i386/etc/lts.conf

X_MOUSE_PROTOCOL  = "ImPS/2"
X_MOUSE_DEVICE    = "/dev/input/mice"
	    

---

8.7.5.4. Scrolling Mouse

Add the following to /opt/ltsp/i386/etc/lts.conf if you have a scrolling mouse

[ltsp052]
X_MOUSE_PROTOCOL   = "ImPS/2"

It's not certain that this will make the wheel function; it may make your mouse go absolutely crazy.

---

8.7.5.5. Video Card Driver

Some video cards cannot be configured automatically. This is especially true of older video cards. So it may often be necessary to specify which video card driver must be used. Sometimes it may also be necessary to specify that an older version of XFree86 must be used. For example,with the Compaq Deskpro 4000 machine, an older version of XFree86 must be used, so for this type of video card we have to add the following lines to /opt/ltsp/i386/etc/lts.conf

[ltsp054]
XSERVER=XF86_SVGA

---

8.7.5.6. Screen Resolution

Sometimes it may be desirable to use a different resolution than 1024x768 which is normally the standard for thin clients. Not every video card can manage that resolution. It would also appear a little weird on 14" or 15" screens where 800x600 fits better. These files in /opt/ltsp/i386/etc/lts.conf make that possible:

[ltsp060]
X_MODE_0=800x600

---

8.7.5.7. Using the package ltps-utils

The package ltsp-utils is a great tool when it comes to administrating the thinclients without to much footjob. With it you can reboot/shutdown the clients, and query the contents of their /proc filesystem, which contains plenty of useful stuff. First you must activate it, you have the choice of activating the reading of /proc and the possibility to reboot/shutdown. It's configured in the file /opt/ltsp/i386/etc/lts.conf, placed it under the section [Default]

        ALLOW_SHUTDOWN     = Y
        ALLOW_PROCREAD     = Y

With ALLOW_SHUTDOWN = Y you may reboot/shutdown your thinclients using the commands

ltspinfo --reboot -h ltsp040
ltspinfo --shutdown -h ltsp040

If you have ALLOW_PROCREAD = Y you may query the /proc filesystem on the thinclients, like this:

tjener:~# ltspinfo --proc=meminfo -h ltsp040
        total:    used:    free:  shared: buffers:  cached:
Mem:  130322432 20234240 110088192        0    65536 11264000
Swap: 33550336        0 33550336

tjener:~# ltspinfo --proc=cpuinfo -h ltsp040
processor       : 0
vendor_id       : GenuineIntel
cpu family      : 6
model           : 6
model name      : Celeron (Mendocino)
stepping        : 0
cpu MHz         : 332.901


tjener:~# ltspinfo --cfg=ALL -h ltsp040
export LTSP_LOCAL_APPS="N"
export LTSP_USE_NFS_SWAP="Y"
export LTSP_HOSTNAME="ltsp040"
export LTSP_DEFAULT_SERVER="192.168.0.254"
export LTSP_KERNEL_VERSION="2.4.26-ltsp-2"
export LTSP_TYPE_0=""
export LTSP_TYPE_1=""
export LTSP_TYPE_2=""
export LTSP_DNS_SERVER="192.168.0.254"
export LTSP_NFS_SERVER="192.168.0.254"
export LTSP_SWAPFILE_SIZE="32m"
export LTSP_SYSLOG_HOST="192.168.0.254"
export LTSP_SNMPD=""
export LTSP_SOUND=""
export LTSP_XDM_SERVER="192.168.0.254"
export LTSP_XSERVER="mga"
export LTSP_DISABLE_ACCESS_CONTROL="N"

tjener:~# ltspinfo --proc=modules -h ltsp040
usbkbd                  3256   0 (unused)
hid                    14184   0 (unused)
usbmouse                1912   0 (unused)
mousedev                3924   1
keybdev                 1952   0 (unused)
input                   2976   0 [usbkbd hid usbmouse mousedev keybdev]
usb-uhci               20844   0 (unused)
usbcore                55520   0 [usbkbd hid usbmouse usb-uhci]
nfsswap                 2524   1
8139too                13256   1
mii                     2112   0 [8139too]
crc32                   2848   0 [8139too]

tjener:~# ltspinfo --proc=bus/pci/devices -h ltsp040 |cut -c6-13
80867180
80867181
80867110
80867111
80867112
80867113
10ec8139
102b1001

All these is useful commands for diagnostic purposes and for finetuning your thinclients.

Be very careful when using ALLOW_SHUTDOWN = Y, because everybody on your system can then reboot/shutdown a thinclient, regardless if someone is logged in at that thinclient. If you just need this feature for testing on a particular thinclient, then place the lines under [ltspXXX] instead of under [Default]

8.8. Do the Network Cards Work?

With the command

ifconfig

This command is also good for finding out which IP address the machine has, as well as its MAC address (which is called "HWaddr"). Another way to collect MAC addresses is to have a look at the syslog file at the time that you start up the machine whose MAC address you want to find. Then all you have to do is cut and paste. Use the command, as root, tail -f /var/log/syslog then you will see something like Jun 2 22:52:28 tjener dhcpd-2.2.x: DHCPDISCOVER from 00:02:b3:8f:66:76 via eth1 Jun 2 22:52:28 tjener dhcpd-2.2.x: DHCPOFFER on 192.168.0.13 to 00:02:53:8f:66:76 via eth1 Jun 2 22:52:29 tjener dhcpd-2.2.x: DHCPREQUEST for 192.168.0.13 from 00:02:53:8f:66:76 via eth1 Jun 2 22:52:29 tjener dhcpd-2.2.x: DHCPACK on 192.168.0.13 to 00:02:53:8f:66:76 via eth1 Use CTRL-C to stop the process.

This is what the output from the ifconfig on a mainserver should look:

tjener:~# ifconfig
eth0      Link encap:Ethernet  HWaddr 00:04:75:81:AA:78
          inet addr:10.0.2.2  Bcast:10.0.3.255  Mask:255.255.254.0
          UP BROADCAST RUNNING MULTICAST  MTU:1500  Metric:1
          RX packets:27892 errors:0 dropped:0 overruns:0 frame:0
          TX packets:26194 errors:0 dropped:0 overruns:0 carrier:0
          collisions:5 txqueuelen:100
          RX bytes:23495725 (22.4 MiB)  TX bytes:2810447 (2.6 MiB)
          Interrupt:11 Base address:0xdc00

lo        Link encap:Local Loopback
          inet addr:127.0.0.1  Mask:255.0.0.0
          UP LOOPBACK RUNNING  MTU:16436  Metric:1
          RX packets:44174 errors:0 dropped:0 overruns:0 frame:0
          TX packets:44174 errors:0 dropped:0 overruns:0 carrier:0
          collisions:0 txqueuelen:0
          RX bytes:11789085 (11.2 MiB)  TX bytes:11789085 (11.2 MiB)

While the output from ifconfig should look like this on a thinclient server:

eth0      Link encap:Ethernet  HWaddr 00:30:05:75:95:5E
          inet addr:10.0.2.10  Bcast:10.0.3.255  Mask:255.255.254.0
          inet6 addr: fe80::230:5ff:fe75:955e/64 Scope:Link
          UP BROADCAST RUNNING MULTICAST  MTU:1500  Metric:1
          RX packets:9749550 errors:0 dropped:0 overruns:0 frame:0
          TX packets:12174337 errors:0 dropped:0 overruns:0 carrier:0
          collisions:0 txqueuelen:1000
          RX bytes:851989409 (812.5 MiB)  TX bytes:3820253778 (3.5 GiB)
          Interrupt:169

eth1      Link encap:Ethernet  HWaddr 00:0E:0C:59:5E:84
          inet addr:192.168.0.254  Bcast:192.168.0.255  Mask:255.255.255.0
          inet6 addr: fe80::20e:cff:fe59:5e84/64 Scope:Link
          UP BROADCAST RUNNING MULTICAST  MTU:1500  Metric:1
          RX packets:430966587 errors:0 dropped:0 overruns:0 frame:0
          TX packets:511993119 errors:0 dropped:0 overruns:0 carrier:0
          collisions:0 txqueuelen:1000
          RX bytes:584433596 (557.3 MiB)  TX bytes:361859667 (345.0 MiB)
          Base address:0x2800 Memory:fc420000-fc440000

lo        Link encap:Local Loopback
          inet addr:127.0.0.1  Mask:255.0.0.0
          inet6 addr: ::1/128 Scope:Host
          UP LOOPBACK RUNNING  MTU:16436  Metric:1
          RX packets:269981 errors:0 dropped:0 overruns:0 frame:0
          TX packets:269981 errors:0 dropped:0 overruns:0 carrier:0
          collisions:0 txqueuelen:0
          RX bytes:126747627 (120.8 MiB)  TX bytes:126747627 (120.8 MiB)

If what you see is similar to the above, but you still can't get on the net, then you may have to do something with your DNS-setup. Have a look at this section in the documentation about Coyote Linux, Section 3.11.

Sometimes "someone" tries to change the configuration of the network card eth0 on the Main-server :do not do that! If you despite this advice have tried to change the eth0 setup, and things mysteriously stops working, then most likely your /etc/resolv.conf is messed up and wrong.

The file /etc/resolv.conf should on a Main-server look like this:

tjener:~# more /etc/resolv.conf
search intern
nameserver 127.0.0.1

8.9. Administration of Packages

In order to install packages, you need to define where you want to get them from, where your package reservoir is.

You define your package reservoir in the file /etc/apt/sources.list

You can either work with package administration via the command line or with the help of a graphical application such as KPackage 5, or Webmin 10

A quick introduction to the use of the command line for working with package administration is given in this section.

This is the content of the file that contains the information about your package reservoir:

#deb file:///cdrom/ sarge main local

deb cdrom:[Debian GNU/Linux edu _Sarge_ - Unofficial i386 Binary-1 (20050808)]/ unstable contrib local main non-free

# deb http://security.debian.org/ stable/updates main contrib non-free
#deb http://security.debian.org/ sarge/updates main contrib non-free
### Use (by uncommenting) either http or ftp, NOT both
### http based apt source: ----------------
# deb http://ftp.debian.org/debian/ sarge main contrib non-free
# deb http://non-us.debian.org/debian-non-US/ sarge/non-US main contrib non-free
# deb http://ftp.skolelinux.no/skolelinux/ sarge local
### ftp based apt source: -----------------
# deb ftp://ftp.debian.org/debian/ sarge main contrib non-free
# deb ftp://non-us.debian.org/debian-non-US/ sarge/non-US main contrib non-free
# deb ftp://ftp.skolelinux.no/skolelinux/ sarge local

Notice that the only line without a #-sign in the front is the line that says to use the cdrom that you used during installation. No other reservoir are activated. The first thing you should do is to activate the line that enables security upgrades, then some more reservoirs so that you can install additional packages.

For a start you can make it look like this:

#deb file:///cdrom/ sarge main local

#deb cdrom:[Debian GNU/Linux edu _Sarge_ - Unofficial i386 Binary-1 (20050808)]/ unstable contrib local main non-free

#deb http://security.debian.org/ stable/updates main contrib non-free
deb http://security.debian.org/ sarge/updates main contrib non-free
### Use (by uncommenting) either http or ftp, NOT both
### http based apt source: ----------------
deb http://ftp.debian.org/debian/ sarge main contrib non-free
deb http://non-us.debian.org/debian-non-US/ sarge/non-US main contrib non-free
deb http://ftp.skolelinux.no/skolelinux/ sarge local
### ftp based apt source: -----------------
# deb ftp://ftp.debian.org/debian/ sarge main contrib non-free
# deb ftp://non-us.debian.org/debian-non-US/ sarge/non-US main contrib non-free
# deb ftp://ftp.skolelinux.no/skolelinux/ sarge local

Notice that I placed a #-sign in front of the line containing "deb: cdrom", no need to install from cdrom when you have it available from the Internet.

If you add new lines to this file, then you have to update the database that contains information about what is available.

See Chapter 13 for other lines that you can add as sources for packages.

tjener:~# apt-get update
Get:1 http://ftp.skolelinux.no sarge/local Packages [17.4kB]
Ign http://ftp.skolelinux.no sarge/local Release
Get:2 http://non-us.debian.org sarge/non-US/main Packages [20B]
Get:3 http://non-us.debian.org sarge/non-US/main Release [102B]
Get:4 http://non-us.debian.org sarge/non-US/contrib Packages [20B]
Get:5 http://non-us.debian.org sarge/non-US/contrib Release [105B]
Get:6 http://non-us.debian.org sarge/non-US/non-free Packages [20B]
Get:7 http://non-us.debian.org sarge/non-US/non-free Release [106B]
Get:8 http://ftp.debian.org sarge/main Packages [3347kB]
Get:9 http://security.debian.org sarge/updates/main Packages [155kB]
Get:10 http://security.debian.org sarge/updates/main Release [110B]
Get:11 http://security.debian.org sarge/updates/contrib Packages [538B]
Get:12 http://security.debian.org sarge/updates/contrib Release [113B]
Get:13 http://security.debian.org sarge/updates/non-free Packages [20B]
Get:14 http://security.debian.org sarge/updates/non-free Release [114B]
Get:15 http://ftp.debian.org sarge/main Release [95B]
Get:16 http://ftp.debian.org sarge/contrib Packages [56.2kB]
Get:17 http://ftp.debian.org sarge/contrib Release [98B]
Get:18 http://ftp.debian.org sarge/non-free Packages [58.4kB]
Get:19 http://ftp.debian.org sarge/non-free Release [99B]
Fetched 3635kB in 23s (157kB/s)
Reading Package Lists... Done

---

8.9.2. Upgrading All Installed Packages to a Newer Version

Sometimes you will see a message concerning changes (Changelog) that concerns the packages that you are about to install/upgrade, such as unzip (5.50-1woody4) oldstable-security; urgency=low * Fixed CAN-2005-2475 again. Patch backported from 5.52-5. * Changed unzip banner line. This is a modified release. : Use the SPACEBAR on the keyboard to page through to the end of the message, where you will see * Fixed toctou vulnerability, CAN-2005-2475. (END) Press the Q-key, for Quit, and then you will see Fetched 60.2MB in 11m24s (87.9kB/s) Reading changelogs... Done apt-listchanges: Do you want to continue? [Y/n]? In order to continue you must press Y, for Yes.

All of the packages that have already been installed can be upgraded to a newer version with the command

apt-get upgrade

tjener:~# apt-get upgrade
Reading Package Lists... Done
Building Dependency Tree... Done
The following packages will be upgraded:
  apache apache-common apache2-utils bsdutils cfengine cfengine-doc courier-authdaemon courier-base courier-imap courier-imap-ssl courier-ldap
  courier-ssl cpio debian-edu-config debian-edu-install education-common education-main-server education-networked education-tasks libapr0 libice6
  libmysqlclient12 libpam-ldap libpcre3 libsensors3 libsm6 libsnmp-base libsnmp5 libssl0.9.7 libungif4g libx11-6 libxext6 libxft1 libxi6 libxmu6 libxmuu1
  libxp6 libxpm4 libxrandr2 libxt6 libxtrap6 libxtst6 localization-config lynx mount mysql-common ntp ntp-refclock ntp-server ntpdate openssl python2.3
  slbackup snmp squid squid-common tcpdump util-linux xdebconfigurator xfree86-common xlibs xlibs-data
62 upgraded, 0 newly installed, 0 to remove and 0 not upgraded.
Need to get 23.7MB of archives.
After unpacking 225kB disk space will be freed.
Do you want to continue? [Y/n] 

Just pressing Enter or pressing 'Y' and then Enter will download all these packages, and automatically install them for you. Maybe there will be a changelog displayed before the upgrade will start.

Sometimes it's really nice to know what is actually going to happen before you start to upgrade all installed packages. It's possible that it's not the right moment for you to start downloading several large packages. Maybe you need to wait until there is more bandwidth available. If you run apt-get upgrade --simulate then nothing will actually happen- the upgrade will only be simulated. If there is too much information on the screen, then you can try apt-get upgrade --simulate | more If it looks fine, then you run the above command again, taking away the --simulate It's also a good thing to consider using aptitude dist-upgrade in combination with apt-get upgrade, or instead of.

Once you are done with the upgrade, you should delete the packages that have been downloaded and placed in /var/cache/apt/archives/, you delete these with the command

apt-get clean

If you don't do this regularly the partition /var will fill up.

tjener:~# dpkg --list | grep apache
ii  apache         1.3.33-6       versatile, high-performance HTTP server
ii  apache-common  1.3.33-6       support files for all Apache webservers
ii  apache2-utils  2.0.54-4       utility programs for webservers

tjener:~# apt-cache search apache
apache - versatile, high-performance HTTP server
apache-common - support files for all Apache webservers
apache-dbg - debug versions of the Apache webservers
apache-dev - development kit for the Apache webserver
apache-doc - documentation for the Apache webserver
apache-perl - versatile, high-performance HTTP server with Perl support
apache-ssl - versatile, high-performance HTTP server with SSL support
apache-utils - utility programs for webservers (transitional package)

tjener:~# apt-cache showpkg kdissert
Package: kdissert
Versions:
0.3.8-1(/var/lib/apt/lists/ftp.debian.org_debian_dists_sarge_main_binary-i386_Packages)

Reverse Depends:
Dependencies:
0.3.8-1 - kdelibs4 (2 4:3.3.2-4.0.2) libc6 (2 2.3.2.ds1-4) libgcc1 (2 1:3.4.1-3) libqt3c102-mt (2 3:3.3.3) libstdc++5 (2 1:3.3.4-1)
Provides:
0.3.8-1 -
Reverse Provides:
tjener:~# apt-cache policy  kdissert
kdissert:
  Installed: (none)
  Candidate: 0.3.8-1
  Version Table:
     0.3.8-1 0
        500 http://ftp.debian.org sarge/main Packages

tjener:~# apt-get install  aterm --simulate
Reading Package Lists... Done
Building Dependency Tree... Done
The following NEW packages will be installed:
  aterm
0 upgraded, 1 newly installed, 0 to remove and 0 not upgraded.
Inst aterm (0.4.2-11 Debian:3.1r0/stable)
Conf aterm (0.4.2-11 Debian:3.1r0/stable)
tjener:~# apt-get install  aterm
Reading Package Lists... Done
Building Dependency Tree... Done
The following NEW packages will be installed:
  aterm
0 upgraded, 1 newly installed, 0 to remove and 0 not upgraded.
Need to get 91.6kB of archives.
After unpacking 287kB of additional disk space will be used.
Get:1 http://ftp.debian.org sarge/main aterm 0.4.2-11 [91.6kB]
Fetched 91.6kB in 1s (71.0kB/s)
Selecting previously deselected package aterm.
(Reading database ... 32924 files and directories currently installed.)
Unpacking aterm (from .../aterm_0.4.2-11_i386.deb) ...
Setting up aterm (0.4.2-11) ...

tjener:~# apt-get remove  aterm --simulate
Reading Package Lists... Done
Building Dependency Tree... Done
The following packages will be REMOVED:
  aterm
0 upgraded, 0 newly installed, 1 to remove and 0 not upgraded.
Remv aterm (0.4.2-11 Debian:3.1r0/stable)
tjener:~# apt-get remove  aterm
Reading Package Lists... Done
Building Dependency Tree... Done
The following packages will be REMOVED:
  aterm
0 upgraded, 0 newly installed, 1 to remove and 0 not upgraded.
Need to get 0B of archives.
After unpacking 287kB disk space will be freed.
Do you want to continue? [Y/n]
(Reading database ... 32936 files and directories currently installed.)
Removing aterm ...

tjener:~#  apt-cache policy webmin-slbackup
webmin-slbackup:
  Installed: 0.0.10-1
  Candidate: 0.0.10-1
  Version Table:
 *** 0.0.10-1 0
        500 http://ftp.skolelinux.no sarge/local Packages
        100 /var/lib/dpkg/status
     0.0.9-1 0
        500 http://ftp.debian.org sarge/main Packages

tjener:~# apt-get install webmin-slbackup=0.0.9-1 --simulate
Reading Package Lists... Done
Building Dependency Tree... Done
The following packages will be DOWNGRADED:
  webmin-slbackup
0 upgraded, 0 newly installed, 1 downgraded, 0 to remove and 0 not upgraded.
Inst webmin-slbackup [0.0.10-1] (0.0.9-1 Debian:3.1r0/stable)
Conf webmin-slbackup (0.0.9-1 Debian:3.1r0/stable)
tjener:~# apt-get install webmin-slbackup=0.0.9-1
Reading Package Lists... Done
Building Dependency Tree... Done
The following packages will be DOWNGRADED:
  webmin-slbackup
0 upgraded, 0 newly installed, 1 downgraded, 0 to remove and 0 not upgraded.
Need to get 22.0kB of archives.
After unpacking 131kB of additional disk space will be used.
Do you want to continue? [Y/n]
Get:1 http://ftp.debian.org sarge/main webmin-slbackup 0.0.9-1 [22.0kB]
Fetched 22.0kB in 0s (23.6kB/s)
dpkg - warning: downgrading webmin-slbackup from 0.0.10-1 to 0.0.9-1.
(Reading database ... 32924 files and directories currently installed.)
Preparing to replace webmin-slbackup 0.0.10-1 (using .../webmin-slbackup_0.0.9-1_all.deb) ...
Unpacking replacement webmin-slbackup ...
Setting up webmin-slbackup (0.0.9-1) ...

tjener:~# dpkg --install --no-act opera_8.51-20051114.5-shared-qt_en_sarge_i386.deb
Selecting previously deselected package opera.
(Reading database ... 32924 files and directories currently installed.)
Unpacking opera (from opera_8.51-20051114.5-shared-qt_en_sarge_i386.deb) ...
tjener:~# dpkg --install  opera_8.51-20051114.5-shared-qt_en_sarge_i386.deb
Selecting previously deselected package opera.
(Reading database ... 32924 files and directories currently installed.)
Unpacking opera (from opera_8.51-20051114.5-shared-qt_en_sarge_i386.deb) ...
dpkg: dependency problems prevent configuration of opera:
 opera depends on libqt3c102-mt; however:
  Package libqt3c102-mt is not installed.
dpkg: error processing opera (--install):
 dependency problems - leaving unconfigured
Errors were encountered while processing:
 opera

tjener:~# apt-get install --fix-broken --simulate
Reading Package Lists... Done
Building Dependency Tree... Done
Correcting dependencies... Done
The following extra packages will be installed:
  libaudio2 liblcms1 libmng1 libqt3c102-mt libxcursor1 libxft2
Suggested packages:
  nas liblcms-utils libqt3c102-mt-psql libqt3c102-mt-mysql libqt3c102-mt-odbc
The following NEW packages will be installed:
  libaudio2 liblcms1 libmng1 libqt3c102-mt libxcursor1 libxft2
0 upgraded, 6 newly installed, 0 to remove and 0 not upgraded.
1 not fully installed or removed.
Inst libaudio2 (1.7-2 Debian:3.1r0/stable) [opera ]
Inst liblcms1 (1.13-1 Debian:3.1r0/stable) [opera ]
Inst libmng1 (1.0.8-1 Debian:3.1r0/stable) [opera ]
Inst libxcursor1 (1.1.3-1 Debian:3.1r0/stable) [opera ]
Inst libxft2 (2.1.7-1 Debian:3.1r0/stable) [opera ]
Inst libqt3c102-mt (3:3.3.4-3 Debian:3.1r0/stable)
Conf libaudio2 (1.7-2 Debian:3.1r0/stable)
Conf liblcms1 (1.13-1 Debian:3.1r0/stable)
Conf libmng1 (1.0.8-1 Debian:3.1r0/stable)
Conf libxcursor1 (1.1.3-1 Debian:3.1r0/stable)
Conf libxft2 (2.1.7-1 Debian:3.1r0/stable)
Conf libqt3c102-mt (3:3.3.4-3 Debian:3.1r0/stable)
Conf opera (8.51-20051114.5 )
tjener:~# apt-get install --fix-broken
Reading Package Lists... Done
Building Dependency Tree... Done
Correcting dependencies... Done
The following extra packages will be installed:
  libaudio2 liblcms1 libmng1 libqt3c102-mt libxcursor1 libxft2
Suggested packages:
  nas liblcms-utils libqt3c102-mt-psql libqt3c102-mt-mysql libqt3c102-mt-odbc
The following NEW packages will be installed:
  libaudio2 liblcms1 libmng1 libqt3c102-mt libxcursor1 libxft2
0 upgraded, 6 newly installed, 0 to remove and 0 not upgraded.
1 not fully installed or removed.
Need to get 3489kB of archives.
After unpacking 8753kB of additional disk space will be used.
Do you want to continue? [Y/n]
Get:1 http://ftp.debian.org sarge/main libaudio2 1.7-2 [71.5kB]
Get:2 http://ftp.debian.org sarge/main liblcms1 1.13-1 [123kB]
Get:3 http://ftp.debian.org sarge/main libmng1 1.0.8-1 [171kB]
Get:4 http://ftp.debian.org sarge/main libxcursor1 1.1.3-1 [23.7kB]
Get:5 http://ftp.debian.org sarge/main libxft2 2.1.7-1 [54.4kB]
Get:6 http://ftp.debian.org sarge/main libqt3c102-mt 3:3.3.4-3 [3045kB]
Fetched 3489kB in 16s (212kB/s)
Selecting previously deselected package libaudio2.
(Reading database ... 33027 files and directories currently installed.)
Unpacking libaudio2 (from .../libaudio2_1.7-2_i386.deb) ...
Selecting previously deselected package liblcms1.
Unpacking liblcms1 (from .../liblcms1_1.13-1_i386.deb) ...
Selecting previously deselected package libmng1.
Unpacking libmng1 (from .../libmng1_1.0.8-1_i386.deb) ...
Selecting previously deselected package libxcursor1.
Unpacking libxcursor1 (from .../libxcursor1_1.1.3-1_i386.deb) ...
Selecting previously deselected package libxft2.
Unpacking libxft2 (from .../libxft2_2.1.7-1_i386.deb) ...
Selecting previously deselected package libqt3c102-mt.
Unpacking libqt3c102-mt (from .../libqt3c102-mt_3%3a3.3.4-3_i386.deb) ...
Setting up libaudio2 (1.7-2) ...

Setting up liblcms1 (1.13-1) ...

Setting up libmng1 (1.0.8-1) ...

Setting up libxcursor1 (1.1.3-1) ...

Setting up libxft2 (2.1.7-1) ...

Setting up libqt3c102-mt (3.3.4-3) ...

Setting up opera (8.51-20051114.5) ...

tjener:~# apt-cache policy opera
opera:
  Installed: 8.51-20051114.5
  Candidate: 8.51-20051114.5
  Version Table:
 *** 8.51-20051114.5 0
        100 /var/lib/dpkg/status
tjener:~# dpkg --list|grep opera
ii  opera          8.51-20051114. The Opera Web Browser

tjener:~# dpkg --listfiles opera  
/usr/bin
/usr/bin/opera
.
.
.
/etc
/etc/opera6rc
/etc/opera6rc.fixed

---

8.9.11. Finding Which Package a File Came From

If you want to know which package a specific package came from, the command

dpkg --search <filename>

will help you find out.

tjener:~#  dpkg --search /etc/opera6rc.fixed
opera: /etc/opera6rc.fixed

---

8.9.11.1. Unpacking the Files from a Package Without Installing Them

Maybe you have accidentally erased an important systems file, and you do not have any backup of it. What then? If you use the command

dpkg --search <filename>

you will find out which package the file originally comes from. That way you can unpack the package and get back the missing systems file.

First, you have to get the relevant .deb-package. When you have done that, you place it in the /tmp directory. You unpack the files in that directory with the command

dpkg --vextract <packagename> /tmp

which will then create the necessary directories in the /tmp directory and then place the files there.

Never unpack the package directly in the root-/-directory!

deb file:///var/www dpkg/

---

8.9.13. Upgrade of OpenOffice.org from 1.1.3 to 2.0

Skolelinux/Debian-eduis based on the version of Debian with the codename "Stable", that means the software that is included is thoroughly tested, and therefor deemed "Stable", this is all well and nice because that means your server will not crash, but it might mean that your users will crash your workday be demanding newer and uptodate software, then you must upgrade ..

Luckily you are not the only one with such demands coming from your users, and for this reason there has been put in place a framework where it is possible to install newer software on Debian Stable, which wasn't meant for it. Welcome "backports",http://www.backports.org/. Backports is a software repository holding such things as OpenOffice.org 2.0.

Before you install OpenOffice.org 2.0, it's vice to remove OpenOffice.org 1.1.3, like this: apt-get remove openoffice.org openoffice.org-bin openoffice.org-debian-files That will most likely remove most of the installed OpenOffice.org packages, to be sure use COLUMNS=160 dpkg -l | grep openoffice to see which is left, then remove those as well.

If you want to install anything from backports, the quickest way is to add this extra line to the file /etc/apt/sources.list

deb http://www.backports.org/debian/ sarge-backports main

Then do the usual

apt-get update

Then install OpenOffice.org 2.0 and some extra packages with the command

apt-get install openoffice.org openoffice.org-kde openoffice.org-l10n-nb openoffice.org-l10n-nn openoffice.org-l10n-de openoffice.org-l10n-fr --simulate

this will install just about all you need (and possibly some more)

Especially when it comes to installing software from "unofficial" repositories, like Backports, I strongly suggest running apt-get install with the --simulate switch the first time, just to see what actually will happen, before it happens, and when you are comfortable with what you see when using --simulate, or when you decide that you will try anyway, then just remove --simulate

Running with --simulate should yield something like this:

tjener:~# apt-get install openoffice.org openoffice.org-kde openoffice.org-l10n-nb openoffice.org-l10n-nn 
openoffice.org-l10n-de openoffice.org-l10n-fr --simulate                                                                                                                                        
Reading Package Lists... Done
Building Dependency Tree... Done
The following extra packages will be installed:
  libgnujaxp-java libgnujaxp-jni libneon24 libnspr4 libnss3 libsndfile1 libwpd8 libxt-java openoffice.org-base openoffice.org-calc openoffice.org-common
  openoffice.org-core openoffice.org-draw openoffice.org-impress openoffice.org-java-common openoffice.org-l10n-ca openoffice.org-l10n-el
  openoffice.org-l10n-en-us openoffice.org-l10n-es openoffice.org-l10n-nl openoffice.org-math openoffice.org-writer python-uno
Suggested packages:
  libservlet2.2-java libservlet2.3-java openoffice.org-help ooqstart-gnome oooqs-kde unixodbc ttf-dejavu prelink openoffice.org-hyphenation
  openoffice.org2-thesaurus msttcorefonts openoffice.org-gnome mozilla-browser openoffice.org-officebean java-gcj-compat j2re1.4 java2-runtime
  openoffice.org-filter-so52 openclipart-openoffice.org openoffice.org-thesaurus openoffice.org-mimelnk openoffice.org-gtk-gnome openclipart libmyodbc
  odbc-postgresql tdsodbc mdbtools libmysql-java libpg-java libsapdbc-java kaddressbook openoffice.org-hyphenation-ca openoffice.org2-thesaurus-ca
  openoffice.org-help-ca-2.0.1 openoffice.org-thesaurus-ca openoffice.org-help-ca openoffice.org-hyphenation-de openoffice.org2-thesaurus-de
  openoffice.org-help-de-2.0.1 openoffice.org-thesaurus-de openoffice.org-help-de openoffice.org-hyphenation-el openoffice.org2-thesaurus-el
  openoffice.org-help-el-2.0.1 openoffice.org-thesaurus-el myspell-dictionary-en-us openoffice.org-hyphenation-en-us openoffice.org2-thesaurus-en-us
  openoffice.org-help-en-us-2.0.1 openoffice.org-hyphenation-es openoffice.org2-thesaurus-es openoffice.org-help-es-2.0.1 openoffice.org-thesaurus-es
  openoffice.org-hyphenation-fr openoffice.org2-thesaurus-fr openoffice.org-help-fr-2.0.1 openoffice.org-thesaurus-fr openoffice.org-hyphenation-nb
  openoffice.org2-thesaurus-nb openoffice.org-help-nb-2.0.1 openoffice.org-thesaurus-nb openoffice.org-help-nb myspell-dictionary-nl
  openoffice.org-hyphenation-nl openoffice.org2-thesaurus-nl openoffice.org-help-nl-2.0.1 openoffice.org-thesaurus-nl openoffice.org-help-nl
  openoffice.org-hyphenation-nn openoffice.org2-thesaurus-nn openoffice.org-help-nn-2.0.1 openoffice.org-thesaurus-nn openoffice.org-help-nn
The following packages will be REMOVED:
  openoffice.org-help-el openoffice.org-help-en openoffice.org-help-es openoffice.org-help-fr openoffice.org-l10n-en
The following NEW packages will be installed:
  libgnujaxp-java libgnujaxp-jni libneon24 libnspr4 libnss3 libsndfile1 libwpd8 libxt-java openoffice.org openoffice.org-base openoffice.org-calc
  openoffice.org-common openoffice.org-core openoffice.org-draw openoffice.org-impress openoffice.org-java-common openoffice.org-kde
  openoffice.org-l10n-en-us openoffice.org-math openoffice.org-writer python-uno
The following packages will be upgraded:
  openoffice.org-l10n-ca openoffice.org-l10n-de openoffice.org-l10n-el openoffice.org-l10n-es openoffice.org-l10n-fr openoffice.org-l10n-nb
  openoffice.org-l10n-nl openoffice.org-l10n-nn
8 upgraded, 21 newly installed, 5 to remove and 258 not upgraded.                                                                                     

Pay closely attention to what will be Removed.

If what you see looks like what I see, then you can remove --simulate and install OpenOffice.org.

Once you are done with installing OpenOffice.org 2.0 you should/must remove the line in /etc/apt/sources.list that referees to backports, if you forget that, and run apt-get upgrade with those lines included, the consequence can be dire ...

---

8.9.14. Upgrade OpenClipart

If you follow these instructions and download to /tmp, then make sure you have enough space in /tmp. You need approximately 185MB space, check with df -h /tmp

One very good companion to OpenOffice.org is OpenClipart, I recommend using the one from Debian Testing, you must manually download them and install them with

dpkg --install

, see the chapter dpkg. You find the info about the latest version of OpenClipart at the page http://packages.debian.org/testing/graphics/openclipart, you actually need to download 4 packages:

OpenClipart packages

1. openclipart

2. openclipart-openoffice.org

3. openclipart-png

4. openclipart-svg

You can either download them on by one with you webbrowser, or use the helpful program wget from the commandline:

inouti@tjener:~$ mkdir /tmp/openclipartDeb
inouti@tjener:~$ cd /tmp/openclipartDeb
inouti@tjener:/tmp/openclipartDeb$ wget ftp://ftp.debian.de/debian/pool/main/o/openclipart/openclipart-openoffice.org_0.18+dfsg-4_all.deb
inouti@tjener:/tmp/openclipartDeb$ wget ftp://ftp.debian.de/debian/pool/main/o/openclipart/openclipart-png_0.18+dfsg-4_all.deb
inouti@tjener:/tmp/openclipartDeb$ wget ftp://ftp.debian.de/debian/pool/main/o/openclipart/openclipart-svg_0.18+dfsg-4_all.deb
inouti@tjener:/tmp/openclipartDeb$ wget ftp://ftp.debian.de/debian/pool/main/o/openclipart/openclipart_0.18+dfsg-4_all.deb

The version number, 0.18+dfsg-4, above for OpenClipart will likely change as time goes by, visit the Debian webpage for OpenClipart to find the new versionnumber.

Once you are down with the downloading, install the packages as root:

inouti@tjener:~$ su
Password:
tjener:/skole/tjener/home0/inouti# cd /tmp/openclipartDeb/
tjener:/tmp/openclipartDeb# dpkg --install openclipart*.deb
Selecting previously deselected package openclipart-openoffice.org.
(Reading database ... 83982 files and directories currently installed.)
Unpacking openclipart-openoffice.org (from openclipart-openoffice.org_0.18+dfsg-4_all.deb) ...
Selecting previously deselected package openclipart-png.
Unpacking openclipart-png (from openclipart-png_0.18+dfsg-4_all.deb) ...
Selecting previously deselected package openclipart-svg.
Unpacking openclipart-svg (from openclipart-svg_0.18+dfsg-4_all.deb) ...
Selecting previously deselected package openclipart.
Unpacking openclipart (from openclipart_0.18+dfsg-4_all.deb) ...
Setting up openclipart-png (0.18+dfsg-4) ...
Setting up openclipart-svg (0.18+dfsg-4) ...
Setting up openclipart-openoffice.org (0.18+dfsg-4) ...
Setting up openclipart (0.18+dfsg-4) ...
tjener:/tmp/openclipartDeb# exit
exit
inouti@tjener:/tmp/openclipartDeb$

Now you may delete these files, or let the system delete them next time you reboot.

inouti@tjener:/tmp/openclipartDeb$ rm openclipart*deb

8.10. The Quota System for Hard Drive Space

First we need some additional packages, install them with apt-get install quota quotatool

tjener:~# apt-get install quota quotatool --simulate
tjener:~# apt-get install quota quotatool

Then we must umount the partition we want to apply quota on

tjener:~# umount /skole/tjener/home0/

If you are using a 2-4-kernel, and not a 2.6-kernel, see booting with 2.6, you must manually insert the necessary module modprobe quota_v2 tjener:~# modprobe quota_v2 Warning: loading /lib/modules/2.4.27-2-386/kernel/fs/quota_v2.o will taint the kernel: no license See http://www.tux.org/lkml/#export-tainted for information about tainted modules Module quota_v2 loaded, with warnings You should add it to the file /etc/modules, so that it gets loaded automatically at boot, echo "quota_v2" >> /etc/modules

You might have to stopping nfs first, see resizing home0

You could probably also just run

mount -o remount,usrquota,grpquota /skole/tjener/home0/

Then we must mark that partition in /etc/fstab as having quotas, modify the home0-line so it looks like:

/dev/vg_data/lv_home0   /skole/tjener/home0     ext3    defaults,usrquota,grpquota      0 2

Then we may mount /skole/tjener/home0

tjener:~# mount /skole/tjener/home0/

Then we create the quota database files, and give the appropriate permissions

tjener:~# touch /skole/tjener/home0/aquota.user
tjener:~# touch /skole/tjener/home0/aquota.group
tjener:~# chmod 600 /skole/tjener/home0/aquota.user
tjener:~# chmod 600 /skole/tjener/home0/aquota.group

See that they have zero-size

tjener:~# ls -lh /skole/tjener/home0/aquota*
-rw-------  1 root root 0 2005-12-09 15:54 /skole/tjener/home0/aquota.group
-rw-------  1 root root 0 2005-12-09 15:54 /skole/tjener/home0/aquota.user

Now we populate the database files, and notice afterward that they no longer are of zerosize

tjener:~# quotacheck -avug
quotacheck: WARNING - Quotafile /skole/tjener/home0/aquota.user was probably truncated. Can't save quota settings...
quotacheck: WARNING - Quotafile /skole/tjener/home0/aquota.group was probably truncated. Can't save quota settings...
quotacheck: Scanning /dev/mapper/vg_data-lv_home0 [/skole/tjener/home0] done
quotacheck: Checked 3 directories and 3 files
tjener:~# ls -lh /skole/tjener/home0/aquota*
-rw-------  1 root root 32 2005-12-09 15:54 /skole/tjener/home0/aquota.group
-rw-------  1 root root 32 2005-12-09 15:54 /skole/tjener/home0/aquota.user

Note that if you have lots of data on /skole/tjener/home0, the scanning process might take a long time.

Then we activate quotas

tjener:~# quotaon -a

We still haven't given any users any quotas, but we may see what they are using

tjener:~# repquota /skole/tjener/home0
*** Report for user quotas on device /dev/mapper/vg_data-lv_home0
Block grace time: 7days; Inode grace time: 7days
                        Block limits                File limits
User            used    soft    hard  grace    used  soft  hard  grace
----------------------------------------------------------------------
ronja    --    7764       0       0            569     0     0
henrik   --    8328       0       0            569     0     0
anna     --   13232       0       0            684     0     0
agnes    --    7860       0       0            563     0     0
kristof  --    7856       0       0            606     0     0
matthias --   11044       0       0            668     0     0
sven     --   14848       0       0            650     0     0
gustav   --    8360       0       0            608     0     0
eli      --   10412       0       0            678     0     0
anna     --    7972       0       0            565     0     0
linemar  --    7804       0       0            564     0     0
marcus   --   15344       0       0            719     0     0
karl     --    7244       0       0            570     0     0
regine   --    9700       0       0            700     0     0

Now we are ready to put some quotas on our users. First we setup quotas for one user, then we use those settings for all our other users.

Lets setup for the user klaus, like this:

EDITOR=nano edquota -u klaus

Disk quotas for user klaus (uid 10011):
Filesystem                   blocks       soft       hard     inodes     soft     hard
/dev/mapper/vg_data-lv_home0       5252       6252       7252        275        0       0


                                     [ Read 3 lines ]
^G Get Help    ^O WriteOut    ^R Read File   ^Y Prev Page   ^K Cut Text    ^C Cur Pos
^X Exit        ^J Justify     ^W Where Is    ^V Next Page   ^U UnCut Txt   ^T To Spell   

Once you are done setting up quotas for one user, in this case the user klaus, you use the command

edquota -p klaus someone

There is also a Webmin module available for quotas.

apt-get install webmin-quota

#ERRFILE=$HOME/.xsession-errors&&
#
## attempt to create an error file; abort if we cannot
#if touch "$ERRFILE" 2> /dev/null && [ -w "$ERRFILE" ] &&
#  [ ! -L "$ERRFILE" ]; then
#  chmod 600 "$ERRFILE"
#elif ERRFILE=$(tempfile 2> /dev/null); then
#  if ! ln -sf "$ERRFILE" "${TMPDIR:=/tmp}/xsession-$USER"; then
#    message "warning: unable to symlink \"$TMPDIR/xsession-$USER\" to" \
#             "\"$ERRFILE\"; look for session log/errors in" \
#             "\"$TMPDIR/xsession-$USER\"."
#  fi
#else
# errormsg "unable to create X session log/error file; aborting."
#fi
#
#exec >>"$ERRFILE" 2>&1

errfile="/dev/null"
exec > "$errfile" 2>&1

9.1. Thinclient server

---

9.1.1. Adding a Printer to a Thin Client

Before you try to add a printer in Skolelinux/Debian-edu, you should really think about this before you get a printer. So check out the web pages on linuxprinting.org to find out if your printer is supported out-of-the-box by Linux. If you have a printer that is classified as a "paperweight", then get rid of it, or use it as a door stopper.

Recipe for Setting up a Printer on a Thin Client

• Plug the printer into the thin client. This example is for a printer on a parallel port, so we use /dev/lp0

• Add the MAC address of this thin client in Webmin, for example ltsp050, have a look at for howto lock a mac-address to a specific ip-address/hostname

• Use a text editor to open the file /opt/ltsp/i386/etc/lts/lts.conf, and add these lines

  [ltsp050]
  PRINTER_0_DEVICE =/dev/lp0
  PRINTER_0_TYPE   =P
  

  If this thin client needs other configuration lines, add them here as well; maybe its video card does not allow autodetection, etc.

• Go to K-menu->Control Center->System->Printing Manager and click on "the magic wand" icon to add a printer. Click on 'Next'. Then for backend selection choose 'Network printer(TCP)'. Click on 'Next'.

• Click on 'Settings'. Instead of 10.2.0, type 192.168.0, if the printer is connected to a thin client, leave the other values as they are. Click OK. Click on the button 'Scan', and it will then search for your printer, which will take about 30-60 seconds. In the large frame on the left, you will soon see information about the thin client that has an attached printer, choose that one, and the rest of the process of choosing printer and driver should be pretty easy, I hope. :-)

• When you try to print out a "test page", you may find that the printer reacts, but still nothing gets printed out. The printer's resolution may be set too high. Try it again with 150 ppt.

9.2. Ldap server

9.3. SSH server

9.4. rdiff backup server

There is a backup module included in Webmin. You find it under the tab "Servers" and "Skolelinux Backup", or https://tjener.intern:10000/slbackup

You should try running a few restores from your backup before it becomes seriously necessary.

• General, Figure 9-2

• Backup details, Figure 9-3

• Restore, Figure 9-6

• Maintenance, Figure 9-8

• SSH keys, Figure 9-9

Here you set up the details for the machine that is going to do the backup. The most important detail is where the backup is going to be stored. The default backup partition is the LVM partition /skole/backup, see section Section 8.5.3. But there is nothing to stop you from setting in an extra hard drive and storing your backup there instead.

If you are observant, you may have noticed that we place the backup on the same hard drive as the one we take backup of. Stupid? Not so, if we take backups as an extra service for our users in case they accidentally delete a file. It is, of course, stupid to store your backup on the same hard drive if the purpose is to guard against a drive getting broken. Then it is wiser to set up a machine with a workstation profile, see Section 2.5, and install some really large capacity hard drives and use slbackup to make the backup external..

It's smart to place the files being restored in the directory /tmp/<machinename>. Everything that is stored in this directory gets deleted when the machine reboots. In addition, by placing the files there, in this temporary directory, you make sure that you don't accidentally write over the wrong files (when you replace an old file with a new one that has the same name). After you have taken out the files that you need to restore, then you must go into this directory, /tmp/<machinename>, and use a file manager, see Section 12.1, to get out the files that you want.

In order to be able to take a backup over the network from other machines, without being asked each time for a password, SSH has been set up in such a way so that you only type in the password once. See ssh for more about ssh.

tjener:~# diff /etc/fstab /tmp/tjener/etc/fstab
7,8c7,8
< /dev/vg_data/lv_home  /skole/tjener/home0     ext3    defaults        0 2
< /dev/vg_data/lv_bakup /skole/backup   ext3    defaults        0 2
---
> /dev/vg_data/lv_home0 /skole/tjener/home0     ext3    defaults        0 2
> /dev/vg_data/lv_backup        /skole/backup   ext3    defaults        0 2

---

9.4.2. Dedicated machine to hold the backups

By setting up a machine with a "workstation",profile Section 2.5, and installing the necessary rdiff-applications, you can quickly set up a very user-friendly and powerful backup machine.

apt-get install rdiff-backup

ltspserver05:~# apt-get install rdiff-backup --simulate
Reading Package Lists... Done
Building Dependency Tree... Done
The following extra packages will be installed:
  librsync1 rdiff
The following NEW packages will be installed:
  librsync1 rdiff rdiff-backup
0 upgraded, 3 newly installed, 0 to remove and 119 not upgraded.
Inst librsync1 (0.9.7-1 Debian:3.1r0/stable)
Inst rdiff (0.9.7-1 Debian:3.1r0/stable)
Inst rdiff-backup (0.13.4-5 Debian:3.1r0/stable)
Conf librsync1 (0.9.7-1 Debian:3.1r0/stable)
Conf rdiff (0.9.7-1 Debian:3.1r0/stable)
Conf rdiff-backup (0.13.4-5 Debian:3.1r0/stable)
ltspserver05:~# apt-get install rdiff-backup
Reading Package Lists... Done
Building Dependency Tree... Done
The following extra packages will be installed:
  librsync1 rdiff
The following NEW packages will be installed:
  librsync1 rdiff rdiff-backup
0 upgraded, 3 newly installed, 0 to remove and 119 not upgraded.
Need to get 0B/197kB of archives.
After unpacking 770kB of additional disk space will be used.
Do you want to continue? [Y/n]
Selecting previously deselected package librsync1.
(Reading database ... 69270 files and directories currently installed.)
Unpacking librsync1 (from .../librsync1_0.9.7-1_i386.deb) ...
Selecting previously deselected package rdiff.
Unpacking rdiff (from .../rdiff_0.9.7-1_i386.deb) ...
Selecting previously deselected package rdiff-backup.
Unpacking rdiff-backup (from .../rdiff-backup_0.13.4-5_i386.deb) ...
Setting up librsync1 (0.9.7-1) ...

Setting up rdiff (0.9.7-1) ...
Setting up rdiff-backup (0.13.4-5) ...

When combined with making a backup volume, see Section 8.5.8, this is a fine way to do backups of files all the time.

To add a dedicated backupvolume, run this command

lvcreate --size 1G --name lv_backup vg_system
mkdir /backup
mke2fs -j /dev/vg_system/lv_backup

Don't forget to add a corresponding entry in /etc/fstab in this case it would be

/dev/vg_system/lv_backup  /backup          ext3    defaults                0       2

You must make sure that this machine has a locked ip-address, have a look at dhcp-server

Also make sure that you under the tab Backup details specify that the backup-server it external and remember to use the correct ip-address in the field Hostname or IP-address:, you could also stick with using the hostname backup, provided that you have made the correct changes to the DNS server, see DNS

---

9.4.3. Slbackup from the Command Line

There are commands that can be run from the command line, so you don't need to start a webbrowser and Webmin.

The command to list times backup is available from

rdiff-backup --list-increments tjener::/skole/backup/tjener

If you have the backups placed on a external machine, like described in then substitute "tjener" with the hostname or ip-address of that machine, and the path to where you have placed the backups, it might look like this:

rdiff-backup --list-increments 10.0.2.50::/backup/tjener

If you are logged in on the machine that holds the backup, you don't need to specify any hostname/ip-address, if you are logged in on the fileserver, you could just use rdiff-backup --list-increments /skole/backup/tjener

tjener:~# rdiff-backup --list-increments tjener::/skole/backup/tjener/
Password:
-----------------------------------------------------------------
Detected abilities for archive (read/write) file system:
  Characters needing quoting                   ''
  Ownership changing                           On
  Hard linking                                 On
  fsync() directories                          On
  Directory inc permissions                    On
  Access control lists                         Off
  Extended attributes                          Off
  Mac OS X style resource forks                Off
  Mac OS X Finder information                  Off
-----------------------------------------------------------------
Found 13 increments:
    increments.2005-09-24T22:45:23+02:00.dir   Sat Sep 24 21:45:23 2005
    increments.2005-09-25T22:45:22+02:00.dir   Sun Sep 25 21:45:22 2005
    increments.2005-09-26T22:48:25+02:00.dir   Mon Sep 26 21:48:25 2005
    increments.2005-09-27T22:45:23+02:00.dir   Tue Sep 27 21:45:23 2005
    increments.2005-09-28T22:48:23+02:00.dir   Wed Sep 28 21:48:23 2005
    increments.2005-09-29T23:15:18+02:00.dir   Thu Sep 29 22:15:18 2005
    increments.2005-09-30T23:14:56+02:00.dir   Fri Sep 30 22:14:56 2005
    increments.2005-10-01T23:14:07+02:00.dir   Sat Oct  1 22:14:07 2005
    increments.2005-10-02T23:13:02+02:00.dir   Sun Oct  2 22:13:02 2005
    increments.2005-10-03T23:14:12+02:00.dir   Mon Oct  3 22:14:12 2005
    increments.2005-10-04T23:14:58+02:00.dir   Tue Oct  4 22:14:58 2005
    increments.2005-10-06T00:00:44+02:00.dir   Wed Oct  5 23:00:44 2005
    increments.2005-10-06T23:56:50+02:00.dir   Thu Oct  6 22:56:50 2005
Current mirror: Fri Oct  7 22:59:53 2005

If you now want to restore some files, say from the date 2005-10-04T23:14:58 the files in /etc/network/interfaces and place them in /tmp/intefaces you could use

rdiff-backup --restore-as-of 2005-10-04T23:14:58 tjener::/skole/backup/tjener/etc/network/interfaces /tmp/interfaces

If you rather have the newest available file from the backup, you use the keyword "now" for date, like this

rdiff-backup --restore-as-of now tjener::/skole/backup/tjener/etc/network/interfaces /tmp/interfaces

--------------[ Session statistics ]--------------
StartTime 1086202803.00 (Wed Jun  2 21:00:03 2004)
EndTime 1086204514.88 (Wed Jun  2 21:28:34 2004)
ElapsedTime 1711.88 (28 minutes 31.88 seconds)
SourceFiles 56607
SourceFileSize 1625082476 (1.51 GB)
MirrorFiles 41244
MirrorFileSize 1060012665 (1011 MB)
NewFiles 15372
NewFileSize 564463215 (538 MB)
DeletedFiles 9
DeletedFileSize 65488 (64.0 KB)
ChangedFiles 344
ChangedSourceSize 667575185 (637 MB)
ChangedMirrorSize 666903101 (636 MB)
IncrementFiles 15725
IncrementFileSize 1936873 (1.85 MB)
TotalDestinationSizeChange 567006684 (541 MB)
Errors 0
--------------------------------------------------

Jun 02 21:28:36 - Successfully finished backing up client tjener
Jun 02 21:28:36 - Finished slbackup.

9.5. Samba server, windows file and print

In order to be able to add windows machines to the Skolelinux/Debian-edu domain, you need a samba-root password, you generate that with command

smbpasswd root

9.6. Munin systemstatistics server

It might take 5-10 minutes before changes to the Munin configurationsfiles are taken into effect.

If you point your browser to the url http://tjener.intern/munin you will see that Munin is already running on your , albeit not yet properly configured. You should see something like this:

I use the following convention, "Server" is the machine that gathers and displays the statistics, in a Skolelinux/Debian-edu network that is usually the Mainserver, "clients" are the machines that we want to monitor. There is two things we need to configure, setting up the clients so that the Mainserver can be allowed to gather the data, and telling the Mainserver which clients it should monitor. We should also make Munin use a more appropriate name than localhost, replace the following stanza in the file /etc/munin/munin.conf

[localhost.localdomain]
    address 127.0.0.1
    use_node_name yes

with something like

[tjener.intern]
    address 127.0.0.1
    use_node_name yes

Now that we have meaningful names, lets tell Munin which clients it should monitor. If you have a Thin Client server, with the "correct" ip-address of 10.0.2.10, then adding the following stanza to the file /etc/munin/munin.conf on the Mainserver will make Munin start monitoring that client:

[ltspserver00.intern]
    address 10.0.2.10
    use_node_name yes

Now we need to tell the client that the server is allowed to gather statistics, we do this by adding an extra line at the end of the file /etc/munin/munin-node.conf on the client:

allow ^10\.0\.2\.2$

When you have made changes to the file /etc/munin/munin-node.conf on the client, you must restart Munin with the command /etc/init.d/munin-node restart

After a few minutes you should see something like this:

---

9.6.1. SNMP Munin plugin

Some devices are SNMP capable, and there is no need for munin-node to be installed on such a device. SNMP capable devices include printers, embedded firewalls, routers and wireless accesspoints.

I personally use the FreeBSD based m0n0wallfirewall/router as my Skolelinux/Debian-edu router, to get Munin to monitor it, I first enable SNMP on the firewall, with the community string set to public. Then you need to add a line to the file /etc/munin/munin-node.conf on the server

allow ^10\.0\.2\.2

And also these two lines to the file /etc/munin/munin.conf

[gateway.intern]
    address 10.0.2.2

Note that eventhough the address of the device you want to monitor in this case is 10.0.2.1, you still must use the address of the server here, in this case 10.0.2.2

Now you must setup the Munin SNMP-plugins, you do this easiest with the included command

munin-node-configure-snmp gateway

In my case when run against my firewall, I get this in return:

tjener:~# munin-node-configure-snmp gateway
ln -s /usr/share/munin/plugins/snmp__if_err_ /etc/munin/plugins/snmp_gateway_if_err_1
ln -s /usr/share/munin/plugins/snmp__if_err_ /etc/munin/plugins/snmp_gateway_if_err_2
ln -s /usr/share/munin/plugins/snmp__if_ /etc/munin/plugins/snmp_gateway_if_1
ln -s /usr/share/munin/plugins/snmp__if_ /etc/munin/plugins/snmp_gateway_if_2

You are now supposed to copy and paste these four lines above, but make sure than you modify it a little bit, so that it includes the domain intern, like this:

tjener:~# ln -s /usr/share/munin/plugins/snmp__if_err_ /etc/munin/plugins/snmp_gateway.intern_if_err_1
tjener:~# ln -s /usr/share/munin/plugins/snmp__if_err_ /etc/munin/plugins/snmp_gateway.intern_if_err_2
tjener:~# ln -s /usr/share/munin/plugins/snmp__if_ /etc/munin/plugins/snmp_gateway.intern_if_1
tjener:~# ln -s /usr/share/munin/plugins/snmp__if_ /etc/munin/plugins/snmp_gateway.intern_if_2

After you have made changes to the file /etc/munin/munin-node.conf you must restart munin-node with

/etc/init.d/munin-node restart

After a few minutes, sometimes it takes as much as 10 minutes before anything happens, you should see something like this at http://tjener.intern/munin/intern/gateway.intern.html

Figure 9-13. Munin SNMP firewall

If you would like to test the SNMP capabilities of any of your devices, try running

snmpwalk -v 1 -c public 10.0.2.30

You might be rewarded with something rather meaningless like this, which is a good sign:

tjener:~# snmpwalk -v 1 -c  public 10.0.2.30
SNMPv2-MIB::sysDescr.0 = STRING: HP ETHERNET MULTI-ENVIRONMENT,ROM G.08.21,JETDIRECT,JD33,EEPROM G.08.21
SNMPv2-MIB::sysObjectID.0 = OID: SNMPv2-SMI::enterprises.11.2.3.9.1
SNMPv2-MIB::sysUpTime.0 = Timeticks: (9102780) 1 day, 1:17:07.80
SNMPv2-MIB::sysContact.0 = STRING:

If you when running munin-node-configure-snmp see something like this: Can't locate Net/SNMP.pm in @INC (@INC contains: /etc/perl /usr/local/lib/perl/5.8.4 /usr/local/share/perl/5.8.4 /usr/lib/perl5 /usr/share/perl5 /usr/lib/perl/5.8 /usr/share/perl/5.8 /usr/local/lib/site_perl .) at /usr/sbin/munin-node-configure-snmp line 29. BEGIN failed--compilation aborted at /usr/sbin/munin-node-configure-snmp line 29. then you are quit possibly missing some necessary perl stuff, I'm sure apt-get install libnet-snmp-perl will fix this.

It's also possible to use Munin together with SNMP to monitor Windows-machines.

9.7. DHCP server

After you have made any changes to /etc/dhcp3/dhcpd.conf, either by editing the file directly, or via Webmin, you need to restart the DHCP3-server for the changes to take affect. This is either done from the command line with /etc/init.d/dhcp3-server restart or in Webmin by pressing the button labeled 'Apply Changes'.

All servers in Skolelinux/Debian-edu, mainserver and thinclientserver, run DHCP-servers. This means that any machine, workstation, thinclient and other machines (laptops, Windows, Mac machines) will get a dynamic IP address, that is, the IP address given to the individual machine is likely to be different every time that machine connects.

In order to make your life easier, you should make these machines have a static IP address. Add their MAC addresses to the right group in the DHCP-setup.

To reduce complexity the dhcp-configuration file /etc/dhcp3/dhcpd.conf is identical on both profiles that has a dhcp-server running, Main-server and Thinclient-server, and also therefor also on the Combi-server. Therefor make sure that you use the correct url for webmin when editing the different stanzas in /etc/dhcp3/dhcpd.conf.

---

9.7.1. Thin Clients

host ltsp010 {
        hardware ethernet     00:00:00:00:00:00;
        fixed-address         ltsp010;
        #filename              "/tftpboot/lts/vmlinuz-2.4.26-ltsp-2";
        filename              "/tftpboot/lts/pxelinux.0";
        #option option-128     e4:45:74:68:00:00;
        #option option-129     "NIC=3c509";
    }

There are already 100 places set aside for 100 thin clients in the file /etc/dhcp3/dhcpd.conf

Thinclients must be attached to the networkcard with the name eth1 It is defined in the configuration of bind and that the name ltsp010 translates to the ip-address 192.168.0.10, and same with the name ltsp011 translating to 192.168.0.11.

If you want to edit any of the mac/ip-address for thinclients, then you must use the url https:://ip-of-thinclientserver:10000 if you have a dedicated Thinclient server, or use https://tjener.intern:10000 if you have a Combi-server

---

9.7.2. Workstation (Linux, Windows, Mac)

    host static00 {
       hardware ethernet 00:00:00:00:00:00;
       fixed-address static00;
    }
    host static01 {
       hardware ethernet 00:00:00:00:00:00;
       fixed-address static01;
    }
    host static02 {
       hardware ethernet 00:00:00:00:00:00;
       fixed-address static02;
    }
    host static03 {
       hardware ethernet 00:00:00:00:00:00;
       fixed-address static03;
    }

There is 4 places set aside for machines with a static IP address in the file /etc/dhcp3/dhcpd.conf. If you need more, then make more by using the ones provided there as a template.

The next one you make yourself will then look like this:

    host static04 {
       hardware ethernet 00:00:00:00:00:00;
       fixed-address static04;
    }

Workstation should be attached to the networkcard with the name eth0 if you have a combi-server, or to the same switch as other servers. It is defined in the configuration of bind and that the name static00 translates to the ip-address 10.0.2.50, and same with the name static01 translating to 10.0.2.51

If you want to edit any of the mac/ip-address for workstations, then you must use the url https://tjener.intern:10000

---

9.7.3. Printers

    host printer00 {
       hardware ethernet 00:00:00:00:00:00;
       fixed-address printer00;
    }

    host printer01 {
       hardware ethernet 00:00:00:00:00:00;
       fixed-address printer01;
    }

Printers should be attached to the networkcard with the name eth0 if you have a combi-server, or to the same switch as other servers. It is defined in the configuration of bind and that the name printer00 translates to the ip-address 10.0.2.30, and same with the name printer01 translating to 10.0.2.31.

If you want to edit any of the mac/ip-address for printers, then you must use the url https://tjener.intern:10000

Obviously, if you must place your printer in a thinclient network, e.g ip-range 192.168.0.0/24, then you must add it's mac-address under the stanza belonging to the thinclients.

group {
       host ltspserver00 {
       hardware ethernet 00:00:00:00:00:00;
       fixed-address ltspserver00;
    }

---

9.7.5. Changing the ip-range used by thinclients on networkcard eth1

In this example the machine is a Combi-server, one with both the profiler Main-server and Thinclient-server installed, if you do this in a network with the profile installed in different machines, then you might have to edit some additional files, maybe not, I just haven't tested that.

Sometimes, you need, due to the rest of your network, to change the ip-range that is used for the thinclients. The default ip-range is 192.168.0.0/24, which according to ipcalc gives this:

tjener:~# apt-get install ipcalc

tjener:~# ipcalc 192.168.0.0/24
Address:   192.168.0.0          11000000.10101000.00000000. 00000000
Netmask:   255.255.255.0 = 24   11111111.11111111.11111111. 00000000
Wildcard:  0.0.0.255            00000000.00000000.00000000. 11111111
=>
Network:   192.168.0.0/24       11000000.10101000.00000000. 00000000
HostMin:   192.168.0.1          11000000.10101000.00000000. 00000001
HostMax:   192.168.0.254        11000000.10101000.00000000. 11111110
Broadcast: 192.168.0.255        11000000.10101000.00000000. 11111111
Hosts/Net: 254                   Class C, Private Internet

So you see, 192.168.0.1 upto 192.168.0.254

Lets assume you prefer to use 172.16.0.0/24 instead.

tjener:~# ipcalc 172.16.0.0/24
Address:   172.16.0.0           10101100.00010000.00000000. 00000000
Netmask:   255.255.255.0 = 24   11111111.11111111.11111111. 00000000
Wildcard:  0.0.0.255            00000000.00000000.00000000. 11111111
=>
Network:   172.16.0.0/24        10101100.00010000.00000000. 00000000
HostMin:   172.16.0.1           10101100.00010000.00000000. 00000001
HostMax:   172.16.0.254         10101100.00010000.00000000. 11111110
Broadcast: 172.16.0.255         10101100.00010000.00000000. 11111111
Hosts/Net: 254                   Class B, Private Internet

Achieving this goal is a simple matter of replacing all instances of 192.168 with 172.16 in the following files:

• /opt/ltsp/i386/etc/lts.conf

• /etc/dhcp3/dhcpd.conf

• /etc/bind/debian-edu/db.intern

• /etc/bind/debian-edu/named-bind9.conf

• /etc/exports

• /etc/init.d/enable-nat

• /etc/network/interfaces

• /etc/hosts.allow

• /etc/squid/squid.conf

• Users of the editor vi can use :%s/192.168/172.16/gc which will search and replace, asking for confirmation in the process.

• Remember to take eth1 down/up

  ifdown eth1
  ifup eth1

• Rename the file /etc/bind/debian-edu/db.192.168 to /etc/bind/debian-edu/db.172.16

• This one is "funny", replace all instances of 168.192 with 16.172 in the file /etc/bind/debian-edu/named-bind9.conf

• Then you must restart bind, enable-nat, dhcp, exports and possibly also squid

  /etc/init.d/bind9 restart
  /etc/init.d/enable-nat restart
  /etc/init.d/dhcp3-server restart
  exportfs -ra
  /etc/init.d/squid restart

9.8. NTP clockserver

9.9. CUPS printserver

There is a bug in pr05, see bug #967. You fix it by running the command ln -sf /etc/cups/cupsd-debian-edu.conf /etc/cups/cupsd.conf

Once that bug is ironed out, adding printers and instantaneously making them available to all users, and seen by all server is a mather of simply just installing the printer.

If the printer is placed in the backbone switch, that is in the 10.0.2.0/23-network, logon to your Thinclientserver, or Combi-server, and use the built in printermanagement in KDE, which is just a graphic frontend to CUPS. Later you might opt for using a webbrowser and the address http://tjener.intern:631 or http://ltspserver00.intern:631, depending where you actually installed you printer.

You must use Konqueror, Firefox will not work.

In the screenshots below, notice that the Print system currently used: is CUPS. Make sure that it stays this way, and do not use any of the other printsystems, unless you really know what you are doing.

First open Konqueror, or just your filemanager, and enter the address print:/, from there choose Manager

If you are lazy, and a terminaljunkie, start it from the commandline konqueror print:/

Now go to Add and choose Add new printers/classes. You could of course just have started with the url print:/manager

Here you just press Next

Here you choose what kind of connection your printer has, I strongly recommend using a network printer, so in this case you must choose Network printer (TCP), then choose Next

9.10. DNS

Some ISP's require that you use their dns-servers directly, not the one in Skolelinux/Debian-edu.

You can setup forwarding as described in Coyote Linux , I'll repeat it here.

You can either edit the correct file directly, or use Webmin.

In the file /etc/bind/named.conf change the following stanza[16] :

// forwarders {
// By special request from the good people inside the Dept of Education in
// Oslo:
//      193.156.192.40;
//      193.156.192.50;
// Dept. of Education in Oslo  end of block
//      0.0.0.0;
// };

change it to

forward only;
forwarders {
//substitue the address 10.0.2.1 with whatever is appropriate.
10.0.2.1;
};

That means removing the comment-slashes in front of "forwarders".

After you have made this change in /etc/bind/named.conf you must restart bind, with

/etc/init.d/bind9 restart

If you use Webmin to do these changes, must must remember to restart bind by using the button labeld "Apply Changes", you find that on the first page of the bind-webminmodule. You can of course also use /etc/init.d/bind9 restart

You can also do this using Webmin, go to Webmin->Servers->BIND DNS Server->Forwarding and Transfers, or use the url https://tjener.intern:10000/bind/. There you enter your ip-addresses as in the screendump below:

9.11. Apache webserver

Skolelinux/Debian-edu comes with the Apache webserver, it almost works out-of-the bugs. It's just one small thing missing; telling the configuration file that the users home-directory is not in /home, but rather in /skole/tjener/home0. This has been reported as a bug, see bug 639. You must fix the config file /etc/apache/httpd.conf at about line 342, replace

    /home/*/public_html

    /skole/tjener/home0/*/public_html

Then Apache must be restarted

/etc/init.d/apache restart

Then make sure the the user has a directory called public_html with permissions 755 and owned by the user.

mkdir --mode=755 ~username/public_html
chown username:username ~username/public_html

If you don't feel like manually creating these public_html directories, then you can add them to /usr/share/webmin/ldap-users/createhomedir like this

# Make directory for public_html files, readable for everybody.
mkdir "$homedir/public_html"
chmod 0755 "$homedir/public_html"

If you already have created your users, this little one-liner will create public_html for all users:

for dir in $(getent passwd | grep home0 |cut -d":" -f6) ;
do mkdir $dir/public_html ;
chmod 755 $dir/public_html ;
chown --reference $dir:$dir $dir/public_html ;
done

Once the Apache config-file has been fixed, and the user has a directory public_html with correct permissions, then it's time to create a html-file, save it in public_html and see if this works. Create a document, in e.g OpenOffice.org, save it in html- format, and save it in the directory public_html under the name index.html

If everything works, you should be able to see that file in the url http://tjener.intern/~username

9.12. syslog server

Be aware that of the fact that the logfiles sometimes can become really really huge, and since they are placed in the directory /var/log which has limited space, they might fill up this partition 100% and then you will see services such as dhcp-server, proxy server,ldap authentication, simply stop functioning, since they can't write to any logfile. Therefor, make sure /var/log is big enough for all your logfiles. If /var/log suddenly becomes 100% full, then you can either resize it, according to resize of vg_system/lv_var, or if you are in a hurry, delete some old logfiles. Look for files in /var/log with the a numeric extension, like syslog.0, these files can be deleted, of course any information they might contain will be lost. I quick way to find 10 potential big files in /var/log is done like this tjener:~# cd /var/log/ tjener:/var/log# ls -lrSh | tail -n 10 -rw-r--r-- 1 root root 255K 2005-10-26 20:36 base-config.log.1 -rw-r----- 1 root adm 561K 2006-04-19 06:25 syslog.0 -rw-r----- 1 root adm 694K 2006-04-19 20:22 syslog -rw-r----- 1 root adm 702K 2006-04-19 20:22 daemon.log -rw-r----- 1 root adm 805K 2006-04-16 06:46 daemon.log.0 -rw-r----- 1 root adm 11M 2006-03-03 06:25 debug.4.gz -rw-r----- 1 root adm 12M 2006-03-03 06:25 kern.log.4.gz -rw-r----- 1 root adm 12M 2006-04-19 20:23 auth.log -rw-r----- 1 root adm 13M 2006-04-16 06:25 auth.log.0 -rw-rw-r-- 1 root utmp 290M 2006-04-19 20:23 lastlog.0 here I would delete the files lastlog.0 and auth.log.0

The mainserver in Skolelinux/Debian-edu is setup to receive the logfiles from the different machines in the Skolelinux/Debian-edu network, other machines such as Thin Clientserver, workstations. Other machines can be configured to send their logfiles to the mainserver as well, such as firewalls, routers and printers, this is achieved by specifying in the appropriate places on such devices the address 10.0.2.2 as remote syslog server.

In the case of the firewall/router Coyote Linux configuring it to use mainserver as remove syslog server is done during the creation of the floppy, but can also be done at a later time via http://10.0.2.1:8180 and there look for "Optional Configurations" and the field "Remote Logging Host", in this image

                Coyote Linux Gateway -- Configuration Menu


  1) Edit main configuration file         2) Change system password
  3) Edit rc.local script file            4) Custom firewall rules file
  5) Edit firewall configuration          6) Edit port forward configuration

  c) Show running configuration           f) Reload firewall
  r) Reboot system                        w) Write configuration to disk

  q) quit                                 e) Exit
  ----------------------------------------------------------------------------
  Selection: 1

LOGGING_HOST='10.0.2.2'

If you are using m0n0wall then you do that under Diagnostics, Logs, Settings and there add 10.0.2.2 to "IP address of remote syslog server", like this.

Once you have all machines and devices sending their syslog info to Mainserver, it's time to have a look at what is reported. The most important logfile is probably syslog, and looking at it in realtime as things are written to it is possible with tail --follow /var/log/syslog, here you see the log send by a Thin Clientserver as a thinclient boots up:

tjener:~# tail --follow /var/log/syslog
Dec 19 11:15:52 ltspserver01 dhcpd: DHCPACK on 192.168.0.10 to 00:01:02:4c:85:fb via eth1
Dec 19 11:15:52 ltspserver01 atftpd[22121]: Serving /tftpboot/pxelinux.0 to 192.168.0.10:2070
Dec 19 11:15:52 ltspserver01 atftpd[22121]: Serving /tftpboot/pxelinux.0 to 192.168.0.10:2071
Dec 19 11:15:52 ltspserver01 atftpd[22121]: Serving /tftpboot/pxelinux.cfg/01-00-01-02-4c-85-fb to 192.168.0.10:57089
Dec 19 11:15:52 ltspserver01 atftpd[22121]: Serving /tftpboot/pxelinux.cfg/C0A8000A to 192.168.0.10:57090
Dec 19 11:15:52 ltspserver01 atftpd[22121]: Serving /tftpboot/pxelinux.cfg/C0A8000 to 192.168.0.10:57091
Dec 19 11:15:52 ltspserver01 atftpd[22121]: Serving /tftpboot/pxelinux.cfg/C0A800 to 192.168.0.10:57092
Dec 19 11:15:52 ltspserver01 atftpd[22121]: Serving /tftpboot/pxelinux.cfg/C0A80 to 192.168.0.10:57093
Dec 19 11:15:52 ltspserver01 atftpd[22121]: Serving /tftpboot/pxelinux.cfg/C0A8 to 192.168.0.10:57094
Dec 19 11:15:52 ltspserver01 atftpd[22121]: Serving /tftpboot/pxelinux.cfg/C0A to 192.168.0.10:57095
Dec 19 11:15:52 ltspserver01 atftpd[22121]: Serving /tftpboot/pxelinux.cfg/C0 to 192.168.0.10:57096
Dec 19 11:15:52 ltspserver01 atftpd[22121]: Serving /tftpboot/pxelinux.cfg/C to 192.168.0.10:57097
Dec 19 11:15:52 ltspserver01 atftpd[22121]: Serving /tftpboot/pxelinux.cfg/default to 192.168.0.10:57098

You must be root to be allowed to read most of the files in /var/log. If you are logged on as a normal user, then you may become root with the command su

9.13. Webmin

9.14. Squid

Squid is a high-performance proxy caching server for web clients. What it actually does, is to try to prevent different users from fetching the same file several times, instead it keeps a copy of that file in it's cache, and the users get that copy instead. That is a lot faster than downloading the file every time, it's especially clear when you work with apt-get.

The squid server runs on the machine with the hostname webcache, which by default is the Main-server. Try to ping

ping -c4 webcache

tjener:~# ping -c3 webcache
PING tjener.intern (10.0.2.2) 56(84) bytes of data.
64 bytes from tjener.intern (10.0.2.2): icmp_seq=1 ttl=64 time=0.117 ms
64 bytes from tjener.intern (10.0.2.2): icmp_seq=2 ttl=64 time=0.153 ms
64 bytes from tjener.intern (10.0.2.2): icmp_seq=3 ttl=64 time=0.126 ms

--- tjener.intern ping statistics ---
3 packets transmitted, 3 received, 0% packet loss, time 1999ms
rtt min/avg/max/mdev = 0.117/0.132/0.153/0.015 ms

tjener:~# df -h /var/spool/squid/
Filesystem         	        Size  Used Avail Use% Mounted on
/dev/mapper/vg_system-lv_squid	469M   95M  349M  22% /var/spool/squid/

cache_dir ufs /var/spool/squid 400 32 256

tjener:~# /etc/init.d/squid stop
Stopping proxy server: (waiting....done) squid.
tjener:~# squid -z
2005/11/21 16:10:14| Creating Swap Directories
tjener:~# /etc/init.d/squid start
Starting proxy server: squid.

9.15. NFS-server

10.1. Deciding Which Directories the Users Should Have

To start with, every users get two directories created when the user is created

drwxrwx---        klaus klaus    priv
drwxrwxr-x        klaus klaus    pub

# Make a directory related to the subject mathematics 
mkdir "$homedir/mathematics"
chmod 0770 "$homedir/mathematics"

# Make a directory related to the subject English
mkdir "$homedir/English"
chmod 0770 "$homedir/English"

# Make a directory related to the subject German
mkdir "$homedir/German"
chmod 0770 "$homedir/German"

# Make a directory related to the subject French
mkdir "$homedir/French"
chmod 0770 "$homedir/French"

10.2. Automatic Start of Program at Login

There are some programs that your users surely use every time they login. So, it would be nice to be able to automatically start them up at login, instead of having to do it manually every time. This can be done by copying shortcuts to the program into the directory .kde/Autostart which is stored in the user's home directory.

The Autostart-directory is within a "hidden" directory, to be able to see this, you must go to the menu line in the Filemanager, click on View and then on Show Hidden Files.When you are done, you turn off the Show hidden files.

An easy way to get a hold of these short cuts is to first "drag" them from the K-menu by holding down the left mouse button and then "releasing" them on the desktop background, choosing "Copy here". Then you have a so-called shortcut file in the directory Desktop. You copy this file into the directory .kde/Autostart, which will automatically start the program when the user logs on.

10.3. Message to Users

xmotd  -popdown 25 -geometry 500x500 /usr/local/motd \
-xrm "*title.label: Today's Message"" -always
	

if [ -e "/usr/local/message/$USER" ]; then
exec /usr/X11R6/bin/xmessage -file /usr/local/message/$USER &
fi
	  

---

10.3.3. Giving a Message to All Users That are Logged on

This has not yet been verified to work with Sarge.

If you have a machine where you have installed both main server and thin client server, then you can use a little Perl script to give a message to all users that are logged on.

#!/usr/bin/perl -w

if (@ARGV != 3){
        print "Use:\n\txwall.pl keyword time message\n";
        print "\t keyword is the word you search with\n";
        print "\t time is the time in seconds you want the message to be visible\n";
        print "\t message is the message, should be written inside quotation marks\n";
        exit (1);
}

$SIG{CHLD}="IGNORE"; # in the unlikely event a child exits before the parent

my ($procmatch, $timeout, $message) = ($ARGV[0],$ARGV[1],$ARGV[2]);

foreach $pid (split /\s/,`/bin/pidof $procmatch`) {
        my ($display, $xauthority, $homedir);
        foreach $envvar (split /\00/,`cat /proc/$pid/environ`){
                if ($envvar=~/DISPLAY=(.*)/){ $display = $1; }
        }
        foreach $var (split /\n/, `cat /proc/$pid/status`){
                if ($var =~ /Uid:\s+?(\d*?)\s+?/) { my @uid = getpwuid($1); $homedir = $uid[7]; }
        }

        if ($display){
                if (fork() == 0) {
                        $ENV{DISPLAY}=$display; $ENV{XAUTHORITY}="$homedir/.Xauthority";
                        exec("xmessage -center -timeout $timeout '$message'");
                }
        }
}

This script is then saved as xwall.pl and used in the following manner

perl xwall.pl alarmd 10 "Hi! You will see this message for 10 seconds."

Sometimes it can be a bit tricky to find a process that can be used as a keyword that covers all logged in users. I have had good experience with using the process alarmd as a keyword. Try the command ps auxw|grep alarm then you will see if this keyword works for you.

Figure 10-1. Message to Everyone Logged in

---

10.3.4. Automatic User Log In

This is not smart security-wise, but very nice if, for example, you have a Skolelinux/Debian-edu network at home and you are the only user. Be aware that the user in question will be able to log in without being asked to give a password.

It is possible to automatically log in a specific user on a specific thin client when it gets turned on. This is done in the file /etc/kde3/kdm/kdmrc where the following lines are added:

[X-ltsp010:0-Core]
AutoLoginEnable=true
AutoLoginUser=klaus

Here the user klaus gets automatically logged in to the thin client ltsp010 when it gets turned on. In order for this to work, you need to lock the MAC address to the IP-address.

[X-ltsp058:0-Core]
AutoLoginEnable=true
AutoLoginUser=test

In this case, the user test gets automatically logged in on the thin client ltsp058.

Automatic User Log In- Advanced Use The possibility to log in people without having to type in usernames or passwords is really great when you want to stress test a Skolelinux/Debian-edu installation. You create a series of test users which are set up for automatic log in. That way you can get find out how the system behaves when there are many users logging in at the same time. If you combine this with automatic start, see Section 10.2 of several of the heavier applications such as Gimp, OpenOffice.org, Firefox, KStars then this test will be even more effective.

[X-ltsp059:0-Greeter]
PreselectUser=Default
DefaultUser=perbart
	  

10.4. Setting up Desktop, Menu bar, etc the Same for Everyone When the User is Created

There are some people who think that the appearance of the "desktop" which accompanies Skolelinux/Debian-edu is not totally optimal. Maybe you would like to give all of your users another background picture, other icons on the desktop, other icons on the K-menu and taskbar in KDE. It would be great if that could be done in such a way that everything was done once and for all in a simple fashion.

The secret lies in placing the files that you want all of your users to get when each user is created, in the correct directory, in this case in the directory named /etc/skel. If your users already exist, then see 7 og Section D.4.

Everything that is placed in the directory /etc/skel will get copied to the user's home directory when the user is created. For example, if a file test.txt is placed there, then it will be put in the home directory with the correct permissions and ownership.

What we want is for everyone from the start should get a predefined setup of background, desktop, K-menu, etc in KDE. The way this is done is to make a user which serves as a template. Call this user, for example, golden, see Chapter 11 to find out how to create a user. Now log in as this user and set up thing the way you want them to be. Then copy the directory that contains all of the relevant KDE configuration files into /etc/skel. You find the KDE configuration files in the directories under .kde

First create the directory /etc/skel/.kde with the command mkdir /etc/skel/.kde, then do the copying with the command

cp -ar /skole/tjener/home0/golden/.kde/* /etc/skel/.kde

Everything you see in your KDE desktop environment is a setting in one or another KDE configuration file. For example, the attributes for your shortcut icons are covered in the file Desktop/something-or-other.desktop. The following is part of the contents in the shortcut for OpenOffice.org Writer

[Desktop Entry]
Version=1.0
Encoding=UTF-8
Terminal=false
Categories=Application;Office;
Icon=ooo_writer
Exec=/usr/bin/oowriter %U
Type=Application
Name=OpenOffice.org Writer
Comment=OpenOffice.org Text Document
StartupNotify=false

11.1.

There are several systems for user information and administration in Skolelinux/Debian-edu, but now we use LDAP and the utility WLUS, and not /etc/passwd and its accompanying commands such as adduser, useradd, etc.

To get access to Webmin, point your favourite web browser to the address https://tjener .intern:10000/ldap-users You can use any webbrowser you want. You can also connect a Mac machine and run it from there, as long as the machine is within either of the Skolelinux/Debian-edu networks 10.0.2.0/23 or one of the 192.168.0.0/24, otherwise you need some advanced portforwarding on your firewall/router.

In the rare case that the link above doesn't take you directly to the correct Webmin module (Administrate users in ldap), but rather to the general Webmin startpage, then you find it under the tab System

If you login as a regular user, you may change your own password. This is actually the only way a users password should be changed, do not use the command passwd to change a users password.

Never let the webbrowser remember this password!!!

All these configuration is stored in the file /etc/webmin/ldap-users/config, which you can edit directly with a texteditor, such as nano

---

11.1.1. Manually move homedirectory and update info in ldap

If you prefer to have you users grouped into different directories, maybe according to which group they belong to, then you change that here, in the files with The prefix of the user home directory. Make sure you first create that sub-directory, with mkdir /skole/tjener/home0/2006, then you can use in the prefix-field /skole/tjener/home0/2006. From then on, all users that you create will be placed in /skole/tjener/home0/2006, change that later when you want users placed elsewhere.

If you forget to use the right prefix in the configuration, you have the possibility of running a script on the commandline that will rectify that error.

Lets take as example the user demo4, let's say we would like him to have homedirectory in /skole/tjener/home0/2006 , but we forgot to change the prefix parameter in the config file, so we must do it manually later. Fist we must create the directory 2006 in /skole/tjener/home0, then we must move the users homedir, and update the info in the ldap-database.

First lets see what kind of info we have on the user demo4.

tjener:~# getent passwd demo4
demo4:x:10016:10016:Test User:/skole/tjener/home0/demo4:/bin/bash

Here we clearly see that the users have homedirectory in /skole/tjener/home0/demo4. Then we run the script without any arguments, so that it tells us what arguments it expects:

tjener:~# /usr/share/debian-edu-config/tools/movehome
usage:\n\t/usr/share/debian-edu-config/tools/movehome <username> <newhome>

Now that we know the arguments it expects, lets use that

tjener:~# /usr/share/debian-edu-config/tools/movehome demo4 /skole/tjener/home0/2006
ldap_initialize( ldaps://ldap/ )
Enter LDAP Password:
replace homeDirectory:
        /skole/tjener/home0/2006/demo4
modifying entry "uid=demo4,ou=People,dc=skole,dc=skolelinux,dc=no"
modify complete

Notice that the argument <newhome> doesn't include the username portion of the homedirectory. Lets now restart the name service caching daemon, to speedup the updating of this new userinformation

tjener:~# /etc/init.d/nscd restart

Now lets see if this user has a new location of it's homedir, and that this information also is reflected in the ldap-database.

tjener:~# ls -lh /skole/tjener/home0/2006/
total 4,0K
drwxr-xr-x  5 demo4 demo4 4,0K 2005-11-21 17:47 demo4

The homedirectory has been moved.

tjener:~# getent passwd demo4
demo4:x:10016:10016:Test User:/skole/tjener/home0/2006/demo4:/bin/bash

The info has been updated in the ldap-database as well.

Although this seemed relatively easy to do, the implication of doing something wrong is huge. If you type the wrong password, the homedirectory will be moved, but the info in the ldap-database will not change, you are then left with a user where the system thinks the homedirectory is somewhere else than it actually is. The solution; call someone who can hack your ldap-database, or delete and add that user again. The script itself contains these calming words: # This tools take 2 parameters # User name and the location of the new home directory # use at own risk

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11.1.2. New user

Figure 11-4. New User

Now you should be ready to create new users. The first thing you should do is to create a test user. This is a user that you use as a template for setting up things exactly the way you want things to be for all of your users. Have a look at Chapter 10. There are two different ways to add new users, either one at a time, or a whole bunch at once using a fileimport with a so-called semicolon-separated file(;). By clicking on "New User(s)" you get up a rather long page. At the top is the possibility to add users manually one by one, by providing first/last name, together with password, if desired. A little farther down the page, you find the possibility to add several users at once, "Add users from file"

When you add a user in this way, the computer provides the username, and if you want, the password as well. But you can override this by ticking "Common password - Yes" and then typing in the password you want.

Remember to also choose what kind of role you want the new user to have.

Be very careful with whom you add to the group admin, there will one day be in place a regime where those who are members of that group will be able to change the password of other users.

Make sure that a normal user doesn't get the role admin, that user may then possibly in the future be able to change passwords of other users.

Figure 11-5. Result of New User

When new users have been added using WLUS, you get a receipt with information about name, username and password, in a format that makes it easy to print it out, clip it up and give it to the user.

/usr/share/debian-edu-config/tools/passwd admin
Enter new password for user admin: 
Reenter new password: 
Enter bind password:

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11.1.8. Direct Editing of Files in the LDAP-Database.

By using the command

slapcat -l /root/users.ldif

you will get a pure text file that contains the LDAP database. In this case, this is in the file named /root/users.ldif. This is a so-called ldif-file, ergo the file type "ldif". You must stop the slapd LDAP daemon, before you bring up this ldif-file This is, along with stopping nscd (Name Service Cache Daemon) is done with the commands

/etc/init.d/slapd stop
/etc/init.d/nscd stop
slapcat -l /root/users.ldif

Be aware the when you stop slapd, no one can login. Then you have to start it up again.

/etc/init.d/slapd start
/etc/init.d/nscd start

You can edit this file /root/userer.ldif with the help of your favourite text editor, for example nano Section 8.2.2

In this file you can make changes in usernames, home directories, groups, etc., the same as when you use the user administration module in Webmin, Chapter 11. The advantage of using an ldif-file is that you can change several things at once. This is the file you use if you have to reinstall and want to use the same usernames and passwords again- it is a little tedious to have to hand out 1000 new usernames and passwords.

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11.1.8.1. Putting the Old LDAP Database in a New Installation

This doesn't currently work as expected in Sarge, due to some problematic Samba SID that changes across reinstallations.

Sometimes you just have to do a reinstallation. In order not to inconvenience the users too much, it's nice to let them keep using their old passwords and usernames. If you have that specific ldif-file from LDAP, then you can just put it in the new installation and your users will be able to continue to use their old usernames and passwords.

Recipe for Carrying Over the LDAP Database

• On the old server, before you do the reinstallation, take out an ldif-file from LDAP,

  /etc/init/slapd stop
  slapcat -l /root/users.ldif

  Remember that whenslapd is stopped, no one can login.

• Move this file, /root/users.ldif, over to the new installation, either by using a USB-pendrive, or by using a CD.

• In order to be able to put in the old LDAP database with the help of your users.ldif, you have to delete the one that is already there. The database files are found in /var/lib/ldap. A good way to get rid of them is to move them to another directory, just in case you need them later.

  mkdir /root/dbb
  /etc/init/slapd stop
  /etc/init.d/nscd stop
  mv /var/lib/ldap/* /root/dbb
  slapadd -l users.ldif
  /etc/init/slapd start
  /etc/init.d/nscd start

  Now it's possible to use the old usernames and passwords. Remember that the old Webmin root password is the one to use.

d---------   5   10013   10013  4096 2005-11-21 17:47 demo1
d---------   5   10022   10022  4096 2005-11-21 17:47 demo10
d---------   5   10014   10014  4096 2005-11-21 17:47 demo2
d---------   5   10015   10015  4096 2005-11-21 17:47 demo3
d---------   5   10017   10017  4096 2005-11-21 17:47 demo5
d---------   5   10019   10019  4096 2005-11-21 17:47 demo7
d---------   5   10020   10020  4096 2005-11-21 17:47 demo8
d---------   5   10021   10021  4096 2005-11-21 17:47 demo9

tjener:~# /usr/share/debian-edu-config/tools/ldap-user-clean-attic.sh

usage: /usr/share/debian-edu-config/tools/ldap-user-clean-attic.sh <NUMBER_OF_DAYS>
  where NUMBER_OF_DAYS is the limit of which to delete users
  users will be delete from the "attic"
  and their home directory will be removed

tjener:~# /usr/share/debian-edu-config/tools/ldap-user-clean-attic.sh 0
Enter LDAP Password:

12.1. Konqueror, File Manager

You find the file manager in K-menu->Home Directory

Your home directory is that part of the hard drive where your files are stored. The symbol for your home directory is a house.

The file manager is, in fact, a web browser called Konqueror. In its current version, Konqueror is not a very good web browser. However, it does function great as a file manager.

12.2. Mozilla-Firefox

The version of Mozilla-Firefox that officially accompanies Debian Woody/Skolelinux is version 1.0.4, I will refer to it as Firefox

deb ftp://ftp.nerim.net/debian-marillat/ sarge main
	  

13.1. Acrobat Reader

By using your favourite text editor to add the line

deb ftp://ftp.nerim.net/debian-marillat/ sarge main

These are the necessary packages to install

tjener:~# apt-cache search acrobat
acroread - Adobe Acrobat Reader: Portable Document Format file viewer
acroread-plugins - Plugins for Adobe Acrobat(R) Reader
mozilla-acroread - Adobe Acrobat(R) Reader plugin for mozilla / Konqueror

apt-get install acroread acroread-plugins mozilla-acroread

13.2. Mplayer

This is a super multimedia player, which you can use to play DVD, AVI, MPEG, WMV, etc.

This program is not included with Skolelinux/Debian-edu; it must be downloaded. To do this, you have to add the following line to the file /etc/apt/sources.list

deb ftp://ftp.nerim.net/debian-marillat/ sarge main

apt-get update

apt-get install mplayer

Of course, you can use your favourite package manage instead, such as 5, or 10