red

After looking at your example files, I did the following, still with no joy. local.domain file $TTL 1d @ IN SOA server1.local.domain. ( 2003040801 ;Serial 10800 ;Refresh 3600 ;Retry 604800 ;Expire 43200 ) ;Minimum @ IN NS server1.local.domain. server1 IN A 192.168.0.2 local.domain. 86400 IN A 192.168.0.2 and the named.conf after the last line of the "root name servers"section zone "local.domain" in { type master; notify no; allow-update { none; }; file "local.domain"; }; Rebooted. The system did not hang but still no go. I can ping the DC and get a response by computer name but not domain name, I can also access it via server1 but not via local.domain Anyh other ideas? Is there not an easier way to tell the firewall to forward requests for that domain to the IP address? Thanks again!! RED

Thanks again. Here is what I did I created a file named local.domain in the /var/lib/named-chroot/var/named directory. This the name of the "internal" domain I am running here. it is not a public domain. Its contents are as follows $TTL 1d @ IN SOA server1.local.domain. ( 1 ;Serial 8H ;Refresh 2H ;Retry 4W ;Expire 1D );Minimum NS server1.local.domain. 1 IN PTR server1. server1 A 192.168.0.2 Then I added the following lines after the last line under the ------rootname servers------ section of the named.conf file in /var/lib/named-chroot/etc zone "0.168.192.in-addr.arpa" { type master; file "local.domain"; }; When i rebooted the system, it hung at bringing up the loopback interface. Once i booted to failsafe and removed the code added to the named.conf file it booted and all was good except I still did not have my desired behavior. I think I am on the right track but need to tweak this some more. You also mention a serial number. Is that generated somewhere or is it just determined by me? Thanks again. RED

Ok, since your quote seems to be from the named.local file, I added this line to the bottom of it. local.domain 86400 IN A 192.168.0.2 and restarted the named service. There was no change. Do I need to restart other services or reboot the system. Sorry if this seems elementary to you, but its confusing the hell out of me. RED

Thanks for the reply. I have found the files in the folders you mentioned. Now for the big one. EXACTLY what do I put where in these files? The computer name is "server1" the domain is "local.domain" and the ip address is 192.168.0.2 Thank You, RED

I am running into what I think is a pretty simple problem but do not have any idea how to fix it. I am using MNF to handle the firewall, DHCP, DNS Caching on my lan. I have a W2k Domain controller also set up that obviously needs DNS to handle domain communication and resolution. Here is my problem. The W2k DC is 192.168.0.2 the MNF system is 192.168.0.1. I have DHCP set to list 192.168.0.2 first in the list of DNS servers. If it do not do this, I cannot acess the domain, it says it cannot be found. Also, if the DC is off line, there is a significant amount of lag time when surfing the web. How and or where do I add the local.domain to the MNF so it can resolve internal address as well as external addresses without using the W2k DC. Ultimately want to list the DNS servers 192.168.0.1 then 192.168.0.2 and still be able to acces the domain properly. I have added the domain and the DC computername to the etchosts file, should I be adding it anywhere else? I hope this explains things well enough. Thanks RED

Ummmm....yes I have. Hence the reason for asking if I missed something in teh original post. The fact that I have looked at log files, doesn't mean I have seen ALL of the log files that could possibly have the information I am looking for. Thanks RED

Hi folks, my MNF 8.2 system is still plugging along and I am still pleased with its performance and capability. However I have run into a pretty peculiar problem and I am hoping someone may have some insight. Here is the problem. I have 3 web hosting accounts with the same host provider (who it is doesnt matter). 2 of the sites (site 1 and site 2 for reference) are hosted at the same IP address, and I am assuming on the same physical server. The 3rd site (site3) is hosted at a different IP address and so assumed to be a different physical box. I have been trying to add some specialized .asp code to the pages on site1 for the past few days. FREQUENTLY uploading pages, removing and updating scripts etc. Now I was very active on the site and my code seemed to cause some serious stabiltiy and performance issues at teh site while I was working on them. Lo and behold, sometime early yesterday afternoon, site1 and site2 became unavailable to me. I cannot access either via ftp, FrontPage, or with ANY web browser from ANY system behind my firewall (the MNF 8.2 box). ALL other web browsing, gaming, e-mail, ftp etc works for any and all sites I try, even site3 which is hosted by the same host company, but on a different ip/server. I shut down the firewall and connected one of the systems directly to my cable modem, and I can access site1 and site 2 just fine. When this system connected, it did receive a different IP address than the MNF box had. Reconnecting the MNF box and putting all systems back behind it results in the inability to access those to sites again. I might add that I have a dynamic IP address from my ISP but the MNF box managed to pull the same IP it had prior to being shut down. So far I have tried those things mentioned above, and the following: -Clearing web browser cache on all machines -Clear and rebuild the Squid web proxy cache -Disable Squid altogether -Disable Prelude IDS...which oddly enough shows scan attempts from the IP address of the 2 sites I cannot access, happening just prior to the problem. -opened up an all ports access rule to the IP address of the web server -Shutdown and reconfigured the caching DNS on the MNF box -Rebooted the MNF box numerous times. All attempts have resulted in the same behavior. I cannot reach site1 or site2 at that host. Site3 is always aaccessible as is all other internet traffic through my MNF box. I didn't see any kind of option that would automatically block traffic from an IP address that attempts multiple scans, nor do I see any specific errors when the sites don't load. If Squid is running, I receive thsi message, "While trying to retrieve the URL: http://<site1 or site2 here> The following error was encountered: Connection Failed The system returned: (110) Connection timed out The remote host or network may be down. Please try the request again." If squid is not running i receive the generic "Page cannot be displayed" message. I do not see anything in any of the logs that show traffic to/from this site is blocked. I am not convinced it has to do with my firewall, but I must search all possibilities at this time. I do believe my IP address somehow became blocked at the web host's end. Is there a log file I missed, something I should check? Is here any way for me to force the MNF box to grab a different IP address which will help support or disprove the idea that my IP may be blocked at the host? Thanks a bunch, RED

Hi all, Finally after some serious fussing with things, I could not be happier with my MNF 8.2 (at least i think it is 8.2) setup. A am just curious about an appearant "scheduled task". It seems that at 4am every day, the system experiences a sudden increase in "memory used for cache". I haven't the slightet clue just what is causing this, as there is little if any internet or network use at all at 4am, and there is no cooresponding increase in traffic across either NIC. Is there some program that is running that may be performing some sort of maintenance at that time? How can I check exactly what services etc. are starting at boot? Which ones can I prevent from starting to help streamline the system a bit? Thanks, RED[/img]

I feel like I am taliking to myself here and expecting an answer...oh god...I am answering myself. Well, after formatting with 3 different Linux OSs, I find that MNF is th eonly one that cannto detect the netwlrk cable bing connected and obtain an IP address for this NIC IPCOP, Smoothwall, and Redhat 7 are all able to get an IP address from the DHCP server. MNF insists there is no cable present. Again simply running "dhcpcd eth1" gets an address. The problem seems to be in the ifup file. I see some code in this file if check_link_down ${DEVICE}; then echo $failed; no link present. Check cable? This is the error message I am seeing, so it seems the cable is not detected. Where is this coming from? how do I fix it? Thanks again RED DO BE DO BE DO

Ok here is what I found out....The ISP, based on some testing, is definitley stopping users from snagging a static IP address. I reformatted this machine with Windows and obtained an IP from the ISP just fine. I did this to rule out hardware issues. Surfing was just fine, my attempts to surf if I used that same IP address or any other address staticly configured failed. Anyway..on to the rest of the show. After again installing MNF, every time I boot, I get this message "./ifup: localdomain... command not found Determining IP information....no link...Check cable?... FAILED" or very similar anyway. Once the system is booted and logged at the console. ifconfig does not display any information for the NIC (eth1). I run dhcpcd and I immediately get an IP address and ifconfig displays the expected IP information. Does anyone have any ideas on this? This was sooo much easier when I staticly set the IP, but low and behold leave it to our ISP to have things running the way THEY intend for them to. Oh!! almost for got the secret penguin password...DO BE DO BE DO Thanks, RED

I am about to do the big drag and drop right off the edge the bench to the trash can with this system . Now that thats off my chest, here is the problem. I finally got MNF working as expected. Time restrictions, site blocking, everything. Worked GREAT for about 15 days, ever since the first of the year, I have had much difficulty. The system will not stay connected for more than about 6 hours without a reboot see some other posts of mine. Thinking I may have had a bad WAN side NIC, I replaced that last night and everything seemed to be much better, until today that is. Now, even the reboot does not fix the issue. The internal side never fails even when we cannot reach the internet, which is why i thought maybe the WAN NIC went south. Here is the setup. P233 with, 64MB ram, 3GB drive, internal NIC is a 3com, external is Realtek 8139. The internal NIC is 192.168.0.1 and also is the DHCP server WAN NIC is set up static, however I do not get a static IP from MY ISP. I have however used teh same address for about a year and a half with no issues using my D-Link router. I guess this could be the issue in a nutshell. It is possible the ISP will not allow us to just kind of "hijack" an IP any longer. I have not been able to see if this is an issue because I cannot get the system to obtain an IP dynamically, I am assuming the fireewall is blocking the needed ports as well. Question is...does any of this make sense?? How do I config the firewall to allow it to get an IP addy from the ISP? I am also open to any other suggestions. Thank You RED

Thanks for the replies folks. My "Linux swap" partition is 247 MB. Far larger twice teh memory size of 64MB and far smaller than the 32 MB point at which the problem is seen. To be honest, after seeing this happen a few more times i have a few mor symptoms, so this may or may not be related and ther may actually not be a problem with the swap file anyway. We play Asheron's Call, and we play Asheron's Call ALOT. at any goiven time ther are 3 accounts connected and playing, plus the other users surfing and playing Xbox Live and such. Now, recently in my area, my cable provider had some hardware failures that I am assuming could have afected my system. Their problem was fixed on Thursday but had some minor difficulty on Friday morning. With no problems since except.... For no appearant reason, we just seem to lose connection to the AC server., but are able to reconnect immediately. No other internet capability seems to be affected when this happens. As far as NIC well the internal NIC is a 3 com and the external is a D-Link(realtek 8139). I probably should change this for another 3com or Intel chip NIC, but it seems to be working just fine for now. Thanks again folks!! RED

First, please firgive me if this is the wrong forum to post this issue, but since it deals with MNF, I thought it appropriate. My MSF system, a simple p233, 64MB, 3GB drive, is periodically "shutting down". Now this is not physlically rebooting or powering down or resetting, it just altogether stops transferring any data across the network cards. The NIC link indicator lights, and the dtat transferindicator lights are always displaying normal activity, even when the problem occurs. A simple roboot seems to fix the issue. Not being a linux type person (but learning along the way), I am unsure where to look for the proper logs to track this problem. I did notice a trend in the MNF web interface. That would be in the memusage graph. I notice the swap gradually increasing to about 32 MB at its peak. Oddly enough, the peak swap usage and the problem seem to coincide. Once rebooted the swap hovers very low, then gradually climbs again. This trend is seen in for each of the 3 times I have experienced the problem. Does anyone have any suggestions or comments? Thanks a bunch!! RED

Ok before I even get started, I am hoping to get teh correct secret penguin call "DO BEDO BE DOO"! Alright, here is the deal, I have MNF up and running and becoming more an d more familiar with this as the days go on. Now that I can get to the net and block sites as i wish, I want to allow access to my web server that sits behind the firewall. Now, my old hardware solution simply allowed me to forward port 80 to a specific IP address...I assume this shoudl be just as easy, however I am running into some snags. I want to forward port 80 from the WAN to the web server at 192.168.0.2 I have tried near every imagineable combination and cannot get the ports to forward at all. Can someone PLEASE indicate exactly what to put where on the rules configuration page? Thanks!! RED

Thanks for the reply. Maybe I should clarify a few things. I did not add Squid or Dan's, they were both installed by default with the MNF package, so one woudl assume they shoudl coexist just fine. If I am understanding this system correctly, squid handles proxy and web caching function of the package. Dan's handles the content filtering portion because Squid is not able to. There are no options to use one or the other. Squid is activated when you choose to use a proxy and web caching, Dan's is activated if you activate content filtering and set other rules such as access time periods. Now just for kicks and giggles, i entered a procy port and restarted i was then asked for a proxy IP, when I entered an ip (127.0.0.0) it was unable to connect. Squid is using port 3324(i think) so i cannot use the same one for Dan's. What port and IP do I set for Dan's is the real question, Thanks, RED

Ok...as a previous post of mine says, I have finally gotten MNF working and pretty well. I have on remaining issue. Dans Guardian and content filtering. I just cannot seem to get the proxy to block web sites nor honor time restrictions which I assume are controlled by dan's guardian. I have he squid proxy running and it seems to be functioning properly. I went ahead and logged at the console of the MNF box and tried to start dan's guardian I receive this error. proxyport Too short or missing Error parsing the dansguardian.conf file or other DansGuardian configuration files It DG is not running. Does anyone have any suggestions?? RED

Ok I got IE 6 to work as an admin browser for MNF9 Open IE>Tools>Internet Options>Privacy>Advanced Button Place a check in Override Automatic cookie handling and set the options under to "Accept" or Prompt". Obviously, if "Accept" is checked, youaccept all cookies, if "Prompt" is selected you will have to accept cookies as they com in. Good Luck RED BTW....I finally got my MNF system running as expected...Man what a job!! but it is looking pretty good so far.

Is there any workaround or way to utilize this "feature" for those of us with "different" tastes? RED

Ok heres the deal. Frustrated doesnt even come close to describing how I feel ATM. Installed MNF (9 is it?). Able to connect to the internet, surf, e-mail, newsgroups, ftp, and do everything except actually enter tha game of Asheron's call. Since I was able to get to the net i figured it must be one simple port, or a series of them that are needed. So I tried to open them. Go to firewall settings, rules and add a simple rule. Lan for the client, all for the server, and set the protocol and port and apply....seems that should do the trick. It shows up in the list of active rules but will not let anythign pass. Just to see if they are beign applied, I decide to open the door...WIDE. Set a new rule all to all tcp+udp and ports 0-65000. This should roll out the red carpet from the firewall and internal network to the internet. WRONG.... 3 sites I used...grc.com auditmypc.com and symantec's test site all indicate the test ports are blocked or stealth. I dont know. I am missing something, I just dont know what..if anyone can offer anything, I would appreciate it. Thanks, RED

Downloaded and installed the new MNF and low and behold I am able to connect with muh less configuration than SNF 7.2...AND AC connects but does not actually enter the game. I know which ports to open, so once I figure out which ones are blocking the connection, it looks like it will be AOK. Tried the Caching DNS and it didn't seem to do anything, I still had to let the client DNS to the ISPs DNS. Getting closer. RED

Well thank you all for the tips folks. Johnnyv...how would I setup the caching DNS server? And YES I have gone ahead and followed that documentation to the letter. the one thing that confuses me however is this. When I add ports to "open" the server chugs along for a bit then when the page appears that summarizes the ports that are open, the ports do not appear. Also, ther eis a section that show "Access Status"...mine is always DOWN. no matter what i do it always shows down. I was thinking of the Mandrake 9 as well but not quite sure just how minimal an install and what minimal install is. Then on top of that, I see the post below for the new Mandrake MNF being available and may try that as well. Thanks!! RED

That is an interesting question. If I set the clients to use the SNF box as the DNS, they can ping outside IPs by IP address but not by name. If I set the clients to the ISP DNS they can surf, ftp, send/receive email, connect to newsgroups, etc. and all is good until connecting to AC The SNF box can ping all internal addresses just fine. The problem comes down to this, and please don't be offended. I have really really tried to like Linux and Linux platformed solutions, and I want to get this one going because it offers EVERYTHING I want in a firewall solution in one small package, but damn!!!, it is frustrating when you follow directions, crossing every t and dotting every i and still cannot get something to work as expected. I even tried loading MNF 9.0 (following posted directions) on this box and got as far as trying to log in to the web admin panel and it tells me I dont have cookies enabled. I don't know, maybe I am not quite as savvy as I thought I was, but it sure seems odd that I can take the same box, throw windows 2000 server on it, enable RRAS, throw a firewall app on it and get it working in minutes, even playing AC. The unfortunate thing is, while I try to muddle my way through this, posting messages on this, and other boards and newsgroups, I really feel as though I don't belong. You are only the second person to EVER reply to a post I made on any linux board. Hence the question about the secret penguin handshake question. I know it is not anything personal but it sure feels like it. Thanks a bunch for anything you can offer. RED P.S. Some of my favorite commercials are the Budweiser penguin series...does that count for anything? "DO BE DO BE DOOOO"

Did I forget the secret penguin handshake or something? Hard to beleive that NO ONE has any input on this. RED

The 3com NIC is a 3c905cx. And for some reason shows up as unknown card but still allows a connection to the box through it. I am going to change the 3com NIC to something else and see what happens, Thanks, RED

Well my little saga continues. My initial test of this product was very favorable, except for the Asheron's call thing. After changing the hard drive in the system, adding a bit of memory and moving the NICs around so they are enumerated properly for my setup, and completely reinstalling, I have no connectivity unless the proxy services area enabled, and that is very slow. Here is the scoop P233MMX, 64MB memory, 3GB HD, Realtek 8139 chipset for the cable internet connection, 3com 3c590tx for intertnal network. Setup seemed to complete without any issues. I configured only the internal card initially and added the Internet connection from the web interface after installation. Now I am not much of a *nixer so please bear with me. when looking at the running services, everything seems to be inorder except xinetd. It indicates unknown status and details show something like PID exists but incorrect. The other thing is under Internet Access, it shows Access Status DOWN and START STOP TEST seem to do nothing. Am I correct in understanding the system should allow internet connectivity without the proxy running? I have tried all sorts of configurations. Even disabling the firewall altogether and i still cannot reach the internet with client systems. The system itself seems to be able to check for updates and download them, so I am fairly positive we have a good connection. Please don't think I have not tried to find out how to manage this issue myself, There just does not seem to be much documentation about this product available. I think once I cross this hurdle, I will be able to get Asheron's Call working as expected. If anyone can give me a bit of guidance, I would appreciate it. Thanks RED