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TCP/IP Setup in Linux

TCP/IP Setup in Linux

Like almost everything else in Linux, TCP/IP setup is a matter of preparing numerous
configuration files (text files you can edit with any text editor). Most of these configuration files
are in the /etc directory. The Red Hat installation program helps by hiding the details of the
TCP/IP configuration files. Nevertheless, it’s better if you know the names of the files and their
purposes so that you can edit the files manually, if necessary.

Cross Ref  The next few sections show you how to set up TCP/IP for an Ethernet LAN.
Chapter 13 covers dial-up networking under Linux, including topics such as PPP.
Appendix D discusses physical set up of Ethernet networks and types of Ehternet
cards supported by Linux.

Before you look at TCP/IP setup, make sure your system’s Ethernet card is properly installed
and detected by the Linux kernel. Also, you need to know the device names for the network
devices.

Learning Network-Device Names

For most devices, Linux uses files in the /dev directory. The networking devices, however, have
names defined internally in the kernel; no files for these devices exist in the /dev directory.
Following are the common network-device names in Linux:

lo—The loopback device. This device is used for efficient handling of network packets
sent from your system to itself (when, for example, an X client communicates with the X
server on the same system).

eth0—The first Ethernet card or 802.11b wireless network card. If you have more
Ethernet cards, they get device names eth1, eth2, and so on.

ppp0—The first serial port configured for a point-to-point link to another computer, using
Point-to-Point Protocol (PPP). If you have more serial ports configured for PPP
networking, they are assigned device names ppp1, ppp2, and so on.

sl0—The first serial port configured for Serial Line Internet Protocol (SLIP) networking.
SLIP is used for establishing a point-to-point link to a TCP/IP network. If you use a
second serial port for SLIP, it gets the device name sl1. SLIP is not used much anymore;
it has been superseded by PPP.

Insider Insight  You always have a loopback device (lo), whether or not you have a
network. The loopback device passes data from one process to
another without having to go out to a network. In fact, the whole
point of the loopback device is to allow network applications to
work, as long as the communicating processes are on the same
system.

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Cross Ref  PPP is popular in dial-up networks, in which you use a modem to dial in to
an Internet host (typically, a system at your work or your ISP) and establish
a connection to the Internet. Chapter 13 covers this subject in detail.

If you want to see the names of installed network devices on your system, try the following
command:

cat /proc/net/dev

This command shows the network-device names, as well as statistics on the number of
packets sent and received for a specific device.

Using Red Hat’s Network Configuration Tool

After you ensure that the Linux kernel is properly configured for TCP/IP, you have to make sure
that the appropriate configuration files exist. Red Hat Linux includes a network configuration
tool that enables you to configure various network interfaces on your system for TCP/IP
networking. You can run the network configuration tool to add a new network interface or to
alter information such as name servers and hostnames (you can also directly edit the
configuration files listed in the “Using TCP/IP Configuration Files” section).

Log in as root and from the GNOME desktop, select Main Menu>Programs>System>Network
Configuration to run the Network Configuration tool. The Network Configuration tool displays a
tabbed dialog box, as shown in Figure 6-6.

Figure 6-6: Configuring a TCP/IP Network with the Red Hat Network Configuration Tool.
You can configure various aspects of your network through the four tabs that appear along the
top of the dialog box. Specifically, the tabs enable you to do the following:

Devices—Lets you add a new network interface, specify the IP address of the interface,
and activate the interface. This information is stored in various files in the /etc/sysconfig
directory.

Hardware— Lets you add a new hardware device such as an Ethernet card, modem, or
an ISDN device. You can then provide information such as interrupt request (IRQ) and
I/O port numbers, and DMA channels for the device.

DNS—Lets you enter the hostname for your system and the IP addresses of name
servers. The name server addresses are stored in the /etc/resolv.conf file. The host name
is stored in the HOSTNAME variable in the /etc/sysconfig/ network file.

Hosts—Shows you the current contents of the /etc/hosts file and lets you add, remove,
or edit entries.

To configure the network interfaces, you need to assign IP addresses to each interface. If you
are running a private network, you may use IP addresses in the range 192.168.0.0 to

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192.168.255.255. (There are other ranges of addresses reserved for private networks, but this
range should suffice for most needs.) For example, I use the 192.168.0.0 address for a small
private network.

Testing the Network

After you run the Network Configuration tool, you may want to check whether or not the
network is up and running. If you have not rebooted your system yet, you have to run
/sbin/ifconfig to configure the Ethernet interface for your IP address. On a system whose IP
address is 192.168.0.4, you would type the following command (you have to be logged in as
root to do this):

/sbin/ifconfig eth0 192.168.0 netmask 255.255.255.0 broadcast 192.168.0.255

Now, you should use the ping utility program to verify whether or not another system on your
network is accessible. You need the IP address of another system on the network to use ping.
On my PC, I might try the following:

ping 192.168.0.1
PING 192.168.0.1 (192.168.0.1) from 192.168.0.2 : 56(84) bytes of data.
64 bytes from 192.168.0.1: icmp_seq=1 ttl=254 time=1.45 ms
64 bytes from 192.168.0.1: icmp_seq=2 ttl=254 time=1.35 ms
64 bytes from 192.168.0.1: icmp_seq=3 ttl=254 time=1.34 ms
64 bytes from 192.168.0.1: icmp_seq=4 ttl=254 time=1.35 ms
(press Ctrl-C here)

--- 192.168.0.1 ping statistics ---

4 packets transmitted, 4 received, 0% loss, time 3006ms
rtt min/avg/max/mdev = 1.347/1.378/1.457/0.058 ms

If the ping command shows that other systems on your network are reachable, you can
proceed to use other network programs, such as FTP and Telnet.

Using TCP/IP Configuration Files

Running the Red Hat network configuration tool may be enough to get TCP/IP configured on
your system. You may want to be familiar with the configuration files, however, so that you can
edit the files if necessary. For example, you can specify the name servers through the network
configuration tool, but you may want to add an alternate name servers directly to the
configuration file. To do so, you need to know about the /etc/resolv.conf file, which stores the
IP addresses of name servers.

The following sections describe the basic TCP/IP configuration files.

/etc/hosts
The /etc/hosts text file contains a list of IP addresses and hostnames for your local network. In
the absence of a name server, any network program on your system consults this file to
determine the IP address that corresponds to a hostname.

Following is the /etc/hosts file from my system, showing the IP addresses and names of other
hosts on my LAN:

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# Lines like these are comments.

# You must have the localhost line in the /etc/hosts file.
127.0.0.1 localhost.localdomain localhost
192.168.0.100 lnbp933 lnbp933.local.net
192.168.0.60 lnbp600
192.168.0.200 lnbp200 lnbp200.local.net
192.168.0.40 lnbp400 lnbp400.local.net
192.168.0.25 mac lnbmac lnbmac.local.net

As the example shows, each line in the file starts with an IP address, followed by the hostname
for that IP address. You can have more than one hostname for a given IP address.

/etc/networks
/etc/networks is another text file that contains the names and IP addresses of networks. These
network names are commonly used in the routing command (/sbin/route) to specify a network
by name instead of by its IP address.

Don’t be alarmed if your Linux PC does not have the /etc/networks file. Your TCP/IP network
works fine without this file. In fact, the Red Hat Linux installation program does not create a
/etc/networks file.

/etc/host.conf
Linux uses a resolver library to obtain the IP address that corresponds to a hostname. The
/etc/host.conf file specifies how names are resolved. A typical /etc/host.conf file might contain
the following lines:

order hosts, bind

multi on

The entries in the /etc/host.conf file tell the resolver library what services to use (and in which
order) to resolve names.

The order option indicates the order of services. The sample entry specifies that the resolver
library should first consult the /etc/hosts file, then check the name server to resolve a name. In
other words, this host.conf file says: “use static resolution prior to dynamic resolution.”

Insider Insight  The multi option determines whether or not a host in the /etc/hosts file can
have multiple IP addresses. Hosts that have more than one IP address are
called multihomed because the presence of multiple IP addresses implies
that the host has several network interfaces (the host “lives” in several
networks simultaneously).

/etc/resolv.conf
The /etc/resolv.conf file is another text file used by the resolver—a library that determines the
IP address for a hostname. Following is a sample /etc/resolv.conf file:

domain local.net
nameserver 164.109.1.3
nameserver 164.109.10.23

The first line specifies your system’s domain name. The nameserver line provides the IP
addresses of name servers for your domain. If you have multiple name servers, you should list
them on separate lines. They are queried in the order in which they appear in the file.

If you do not have a name server for your network, you can safely ignore this file. TCP/IP
should still work, even though you may not be able to refer to hosts by name. You do, however,
have to make sure that you have a /etc/host.conf file that is set up to use the /etc/hosts file.

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Insider Insight  If your system gets its IP address from a DHCP server, the DHCP client
also receives the IP addresses of name servers as well as the domain
name from the DHCP service. In this case, the DHCP client automatically
creates a /etc/resolv.conf file with the name server information it obtains
from the DHCP server.

/etc/hosts.allow
This file specifies which hosts are allowed to use the Internet services such as Telnet running
on your system. As explained in the section “Understanding the xinetd Configuration Files,” the
TCP wrapper consults the /etc/hosts.allow file before starting Internet services. It starts the
service only if the entries in the hosts.allow file imply that the requesting host is allowed to use
the services.

The entries in /etc/hosts.allow are in the form of a server:IP address format, where server refers
to the name of the program providing a specific Internet service, and IP address identifies the
host allowed to use that service. For example, if you want all hosts in your local network (which
has the class C address 192.168.0.0) to access the Telnet service (which is provided by the
in.telnetd program), add the following line in the /etc/hosts.allow file:

in.telnetd:192.168.0.

If you want to let all local hosts have access to all Internet services, you can use the ALL
keyword and rewrite the line as follows:

ALL:192.168.0.

Finally, to open all Internet services to all hosts, you can replace the IP address with ALL, as
follows:

ALL:ALL

You can also use host names in place of IP addresses.

Insider Insight  To learn the detailed syntax of the entries in the /etc/hosts.allow file, type
man hosts.allow at the Linux shell prompt.

/etc/hosts.deny
This file is just the opposite of /etc/hosts.allow—whereas hosts.allow specifies which hosts
may access Internet services (such as TELNET and FTP) on your system, the hosts.deny file
identifies the hosts that must be denied services. As explained in the section “Understanding
the xinetd Configuration Files,” the TCP wrapper consults the /etc/hosts.deny file if it does not
find any rules in the /etc/hosts.allow file that apply to the requesting host. The TCP wrapper
denies service if it finds in the hosts.deny file a rule that applies to the host.

The entries in /etc/hosts.deny file follow the same format as those in the /etc/hosts.allow file—
they are in the form of a server:IP address format, where server refers to the name of the
program providing a specific Internet service and IP address identifies the host allowed to use
that service.

If you have already set up entries in the /etc/hosts.allow file to allow access to specific hosts,
you can place the following line in /etc/hosts.deny to deny all other hosts access to any service
on your system:

ALL:ALL

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Insider Insight  To learn the detailed syntax of the entries in the /etc/hosts.deny file, type

man hosts.deny at the Linux shell prompt.

/etc/nsswitch.conf
This file, known as the name service switch (NSS) file, specifies how services, such as the
name resolver library, NIS, NIS+, and local configuration files such as /etc/hosts and
/etc/shadow, interact. Newer versions of Linux that use GNU C Library version 2 (glibc 2) or
later rely on the /etc/nsswitch.conf file to determine what takes precedence: a local
configuration file or a service such as DNS or NIS (see Chapter 18 to learn more about DNS
and NIS).

As an example, the following hosts entry in the /etc/nsswitch.conf file specifies that the
resolver library should first try the /etc/hosts file, then try NIS+, and finally try DNS:

hosts: files nisplus dns

Insider Insight  You can learn more about the /etc/nsswitch.conf file by typing info libc
"Name Service Switch" in a terminal window.

Configuring Networks at Boot Time

You want to start your network automatically every time you boot the system. For this to
happen, you have to put the appropriate commands in one or more startup scripts. The init
process runs immediately after Linux boots. The process consults the /etc/inittab file and
executes various commands (typically, shell scripts), depending on the current run level. For
example, in run level 3—the multiuser level—/etc/inittab specifies that init should run the script
file /etc/rc.d/rc with the argument 3.

Start Sidebar
Secret
In run levels 3 and 5, the startup script ends up executing the /etc/rc.d/init.d/ network script to
activate all networking interfaces. If you consult the /etc/rc.d/ init.d/network file, you will notice
that network initialization is done by using another set of files in the /etc/sysconfig directory.
The network activation script checks the variables defined in the /etc/sysconfig/network file to
decide whether or not to activate the network. In /etc/sysconfig/network, you should see a line
with the NETWORKING variable as follows:

NETWORKING=yes

The network is activated only if the NETWORKING variable is set to yes.

The /etc/rc.d/init.d/network script, in turn, executes a number of scripts in the /etc/sysconfig

/network-scripts directory to activate specific net- work interfaces. For example, to activate the
Ethernet interface eth0, the /etc/ sysconfig/network-scripts/ifup script is executed with
/etc/sysconfig/ network-scripts/ifcfg-eth0 as the configuration file. Here is what a typical
/etc/sysconfig/network-scripts/ifcfg-eth0 file contains:

DEVICE=eth0
IPADDR=192.168.0.200
NETMASK=255.255.255.0
BROADCAST=192.168.0.255
ONBOOT=yes
BOOTPROTO=none

As you can see, this file contains the network device name, as well as the IP address of the
interface and several other TCP/IP parameters. The ONBOOT variable indicates whether this

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network interface should be activated when Linux boots. If your PC has an Ethernet card, you
want to activate the interface at boot time; therefore, ONBOOT is set to yes.

The files in the /etc/sysconfig directory are created by the Red Hat Linux installation program
as you install Linux and also by the Red Hat network configuration tool when you configure the
network later on.

The /etc/sysconfig/network-scripts/ifup script essentially runs the following commands:

/sbin/ifconfig, to configure the specified network interface; in this case, the Ethernet card
(eth0)

/sbin/route, to set up the routing table for the activated network interface

If you have PCMCIA network cards, those network interfaces are configured and activated by
the /etc/init.d/pcmcia script, which, in turn, calls the /etc/ pcmcia/network script. The
/etc/pcmcia/network script then runs the /etc/ sysconfig/network-scripts/ifup script to bring
the interface up and /etc/sysconfig/network-scripts/ifdown script to bring the interface down.

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BackCover (/Linux+systems/red+hat+linux+9+professional+secrets/BackCover/)
Red Hat Linux 9 Professional Secrets (/Linux+systems/red+hat+linux+9+professional+secrets
/Red+Hat+Linux+9+Professional+Secrets/)
Introduction (/Linux+systems/red+hat+linux+9+professional+secrets/Introduction/)
Part I: Setting Up Red Hat Linux (/Linux+systems/red+hat+linux+9+professional+secrets
/Part+I+Setting+Up+Red+Hat+Linux/)
Chapter 1: An Overview of Red Hat Linux (/Linux+systems/red+hat+linux+9+professional+secrets
/Part+I+Setting+Up+Red+Hat+Linux/Chapter+1+An+Overview+of+Red+Hat+Linux/)
Chapter 2: Red Hat Linux Installation (/Linux+systems/red+hat+linux+9+professional+secrets
/Part+I+Setting+Up+Red+Hat+Linux/Chapter+2+Red+Hat+Linux+Installation/)
Chapter 3: 3X Window System Setup (/Linux+systems/red+hat+linux+9+professional+secrets
/Part+I+Setting+Up+Red+Hat+Linux/Chapter+3+3X+Window+System+Setup/)
Chapter 4: Printer Setup (/Linux+systems/red+hat+linux+9+professional+secrets
/Part+I+Setting+Up+Red+Hat+Linux/Chapter+4+Printer+Setup/)
Chapter 5: Sound Setup (/Linux+systems/red+hat+linux+9+professional+secrets
/Part+I+Setting+Up+Red+Hat+Linux/Chapter+5+Sound+Setup/)
Chapter 6: Network Setup (/Linux+systems/red+hat+linux+9+professional+secrets
/Part+I+Setting+Up+Red+Hat+Linux/Chapter+6+Network+Setup/)
Networking Basics (/Linux+systems/red+hat+linux+9+professional+secrets
/Part+I+Setting+Up+Red+Hat+Linux/Chapter+6+Network+Setup/Networking+Basics/)
TCP/IP and the Internet (/Linux+systems/red+hat+linux+9+professional+secrets
/Part+I+Setting+Up+Red+Hat+Linux/Chapter+6+Network+Setup/TCP+IP+and+the+Internet/)
TCP/IP Services and Client/Server Architecture (/Linux+systems
/red+hat+linux+9+professional+secrets/Part+I+Setting+Up+Red+Hat+Linux
/Chapter+6+Network+Setup/TCP+IP+Services+and+Client+Server+Architecture/)
TCP/IP Setup in Linux
TCP/IP Network Diagnostics (/Linux+systems/red+hat+linux+9+professional+secrets
/Part+I+Setting+Up+Red+Hat+Linux/Chapter+6+Network+Setup/TCP+IP+Network+Diagnostics/)
Summary (/Linux+systems/red+hat+linux+9+professional+secrets
/Part+I+Setting+Up+Red+Hat+Linux/Chapter+6+Network+Setup/Summary/)
Part II: Exploring Red Hat Linux (/Linux+systems/red+hat+linux+9+professional+secrets
/Part+II+Exploring+Red+Hat+Linux/)
Part III: Internetworking with Red Hat Linux (/Linux+systems/red+hat+linux+9+professional+secrets
/Part+III+Internetworking+with+Red+Hat+Linux/)
Part IV: Managing Red Hat Linux (/Linux+systems/red+hat+linux+9+professional+secrets
/Part+IV+Managing+Red+Hat+Linux/)
Part V: Programming Red Hat Linux (/Linux+systems/red+hat+linux+9+professional+secrets
/Part+V+Programming+Red+Hat+Linux/)
Part VI: Appendixes (/Linux+systems/red+hat+linux+9+professional+secrets/Part+VI+Appendixes/)
List of Figures (/Linux+systems/red+hat+linux+9+professional+secrets/List+of+Figures/)
List of Tables (/Linux+systems/red+hat+linux+9+professional+secrets/List+of+Tables/)
List of Code Examples (/Linux+systems/red+hat+linux+9+professional+secrets
/List+of+Code+Examples/)
List of Sidebars (/Linux+systems/red+hat+linux+9+professional+secrets/List+of+Sidebars/)

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