Suse Linux

SUSE Linux Enterprise
Server
10 www.novell.com
May 08, 2008 Installation and Administration
Installation and Administration
All content is copyright © Novell, Inc.
Legal Notice
This manual is protected under Novell intellectual property rights. By reproducing, duplicating or
distributing this manual you explicitly agree to conform to the terms and conditions of this license
agreement.
This manual may be freely reproduced, duplicated and distributed either as such or as part of a bundled
package in electronic and/or printed format, provided however that the following conditions are ful-
filled:
That this copyright notice and the names of authors and contributors appear clearly and distinctively
on all reproduced, duplicated and distributed copies. That this manual, specifically for the printed
format, is reproduced and/or distributed for noncommercial use only. The express authorization of
Novell, Inc must be obtained prior to any other use of any manual or part thereof.
For Novell trademarks, see the Novell Trademark and Service Mark list http://www.novell
.com/company/legal/trademarks/tmlist.html. * Linux is a registered trademark of
Linus Torvalds. All other third party trademarks are the property of their respective owners. A trademark
symbol (®, ™ etc.) denotes a Novell trademark; an asterisk (*) denotes a third party trademark.
All information found in this book has been compiled with utmost attention to detail. However, this
does not guarantee complete accuracy. Neither Novell, Inc., SUSE LINUX Products GmbH, the authors,
nor the translators shall be held liable for possible errors or the consequences thereof.
Contents
About This Guide xv
Part I Deployment 1
1 Planning for SUSE Linux Enterprise 3

1.1 Considerations for Deployment of a SUSE Linux Enterprise . . . . . . . . 5
1.2 Deployment of SUSE Linux Enterprise . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 5
1.3 Running SUSE Linux Enterprise . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 6
2 Deployment Strategies 7
2.1 Deploying up to 10 Workstations . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 7
2.2 Deploying up to 100 Workstations . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 9
2.3 Deploying More than 100 Workstations . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 16
3 Installation with YaST 17

3.1 IBM POWER: System Start-Up for Network Installation . . . . . . . . . 17
3.2 IBM System z: System Start-Up for Installation . . . . . . . . . . . . . 18
3.3 System Start-Up for Installation . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 18
3.4 The Installation Workflow . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 20
3.5 The Boot Screen . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 20
3.6 Language . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 24
3.7 IBM System z: Hard Disk Configuration . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 24
3.8 Media Check . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 27
3.9 License Agreement . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 27
3.10 Installation Mode . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 28
3.11 Clock and Time Zone . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 29
3.12 Installation Settings . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 29
3.13 Performing the Installation . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 34
3.14 Configuration of the Installed System . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 36
3.15 Graphical Login . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 44
4 Remote Installation 47
4.1 Installation Scenarios for Remote Installation . . . . . . . . . . . . . 47
4.2 Setting Up the Server Holding the Installation Sources . . . . . . . . . 56
4.3 Preparing the Boot of the Target System . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 66
4.4 Booting the Target System for Installation . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 76
4.5 Monitoring the Installation Process . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 81
5 Automated Installation 85
5.1 Simple Mass Installation . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 85
5.2 Rule-Based Autoinstallation . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 97
5.3 For More Information . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 102
6 Deploying Customized Preinstallations 103

6.1 Preparing the Master Machine . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 104
6.2 Customizing the Firstboot Installation . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 104
6.3 Cloning the Master Installation . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 112
6.4 Personalizing the Installation . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 113
7 Advanced Disk Setup 115

7.1 LVM Configuration . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 115
7.2 Soft RAID Configuration . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 123
8 System Configuration with YaST 129

8.1 YaST Language . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 130
8.2 The YaST Control Center . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 130
8.3 Software . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 132
8.4 Hardware . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 146
8.5 System . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 153
8.6 Network Devices . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 164
8.7 Network Services . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 165
8.8 AppArmor . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 172
8.9 Security and Users . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 172
8.10 Virtualization . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 181
8.11 Miscellaneous . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 182
8.12 YaST in Text Mode . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 185
8.13 Managing YaST from the Command Line . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 188
8.14 SaX2 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 191
8.15 Troubleshooting . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 197
9 Managing Software with ZENworks 199

9.1 Update from the Command Line with rug . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 200
9.2 Managing Packages with the ZEN Tools . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 204
1 0 Updating SUSE Linux Enterprise 211

10.1 Updating SUSE Linux Enterprise . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 211
10.2 Installing Service Packs . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 214
10.3 Software Changes from Version 9 to Version 10 . . . . . . . . . . . 224
Part II Administration 239
1 1 OpenWBEM 241
11.1 Setting Up OpenWBEM . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 243
11.2 Changing the OpenWBEM CIMOM Configuration . . . . . . . . . . . 248
1 2 Mass Storage over IP Networks—iSCSI 271

12.1 Setting Up an iSCSI Target . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 271
12.2 Configuring iSCSI Initiator . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 277
1 3 iSNS for Linux Overview 281

13.1 How iSNS Works . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 281
13.2 iSNS for Linux Installation and Setup . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 283
13.3 Setting Up iSNS . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 283
1 4 Oracle Cluster File System 2 287

14.1 O2CB Cluster Service . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 289
14.2 Disk Heartbeat . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 289
14.3 In-Memory File Systems . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 290
14.4 Management Utilities and Commands . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 291
14.5 OCFS2 Packages . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 293
14.6 Creating an OCFS2 Volume . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 293
14.7 Mounting an OCFS2 Volume . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 298
14.8 Additional Information . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 299
1 5 Access Control Lists in Linux 301

15.1 Traditional File Permissions . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 301
15.2 Advantages of ACLs . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 303
15.3 Definitions . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 303
15.4 Handling ACLs . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 304
15.5 ACL Support in Applications . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 312
1 6 RPM—the Package Manager 313

16.1 Verifying Package Authenticity . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 314
16.2 Managing Packages: Install, Update, and Uninstall . . . . . . . . . . . 314
16.3 RPM and Patches . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 315
16.4 Delta RPM Packages . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 317
16.5 RPM Queries . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 318
16.6 Installing and Compiling Source Packages . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 321
16.7 Compiling RPM Packages with build . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 323
16.8 Tools for RPM Archives and the RPM Database . . . . . . . . . . . . 324
1 7 System Monitoring Utilities 325

17.1 Debugging . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 326
17.2 Files and File Systems . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 328
17.3 Hardware Information . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 330
17.4 Networking . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 333
17.5 The /proc File System . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 334
17.6 Processes . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 337
17.7 System Information . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 341
17.8 User Information . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 345
17.9 Time and Date . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 345
1 8 Working with the Shell 347

18.1 Getting Started with the Bash Shell . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 348
18.2 Users and Access Permissions . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 359
18.3 Important Linux Commands . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 363
18.4 The vi Editor . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 374
Part III System 379
1 9 32-Bit and 64-Bit Applications in a 64-Bit System Environment 381

19.1 Runtime Support . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 382
19.2 Software Development . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 383
19.3 Software Compilation on Biarch Platforms . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 384
19.4 Kernel Specifications . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 386
2 0 Booting and Configuring a Linux System 387

20.1 The Linux Boot Process . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 387
20.2 The init Process . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 391
20.3 System Configuration via /etc/sysconfig . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 400
2 1 The Boot Loader 403

21.1 Selecting a Boot Loader . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 404
21.2 Booting with GRUB . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 404
21.3 Configuring the Boot Loader with YaST . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 414
21.4 Uninstalling the Linux Boot Loader . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 418
21.5 Creating Boot CDs . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 418
21.6 The Graphical SUSE Screen . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 419
2 2 Special System Features 423

22.1 Information about Special Software Packages . . . . . . . . . . . . 423
22.2 Virtual Consoles . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 430
22.3 Keyboard Mapping . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 430
22.4 Language and Country-Specific Settings . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 431
2 3 Printer Operation 437

23.1 The Workflow of the Printing System . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 439
23.2 Methods and Protocols for Connecting Printers . . . . . . . . . . . . 439
23.3 Installing the Software . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 440
23.4 Setting Up a Printer . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 441
23.5 Network Printers . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 445
23.6 Graphical Printing Interfaces . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 448
23.7 Printing from the Command Line . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 448
23.8 Special Features in SUSE Linux Enterprise . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 449
2 4 Dynamic Kernel Device Management with udev 461
24.1 The /dev Directory . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 461
24.2 Kernel uevents and udev . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 462
24.3 Drivers, Kernel Modules, and Devices . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 462
24.4 Booting and Initial Device Setup . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 463
24.5 Debugging udev Events . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 463
24.6 Influencing Kernel Device Event Handling with udev Rules . . . . . . . 464
24.7 Persistent Device Naming . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 465
24.8 The Replaced hotplug Package . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 466
2 5 File Systems in Linux 469

25.1 Terminology . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 469
25.2 Major File Systems in Linux . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 470
25.3 Some Other Supported File Systems . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 476
25.4 Large File Support in Linux . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 477
2 6 The X Window System 481

26.1 Manually Configuring the X Window System . . . . . . . . . . . . . 481
26.2 Installing and Configuring Fonts . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 488
2 7 Authentication with PAM 495

27.1 Structure of a PAM Configuration File . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 496
27.2 The PAM Configuration of sshd . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 497
27.3 Configuration of PAM Modules . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 500
2 8 Power Management 503

28.1 Power Saving Functions . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 504
28.2 APM . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 505
28.3 ACPI . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 507
28.4 Rest for the Hard Disk . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 514
28.5 The powersave Package . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 515
28.6 The YaST Power Management Module . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 524
2 9 Wireless Communication 529

29.1 Wireless LAN . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 529
Part IV Services 541
3 0 Basic Networking 543

30.1 IP Addresses and Routing . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 546
30.2 IPv6—The Next Generation Internet . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 549
30.3 Name Resolution . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 558
30.4 Configuring a Network Connection with YaST . . . . . . . . . . . . 560
30.5 Managing Network Connections with NetworkManager . . . . . . . . 579
30.6 Configuring a Network Connection Manually . . . . . . . . . . . . . 581
30.7 smpppd as Dial-up Assistant . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 597
3 1 SLP Services in the Network 601

31.1 Activating SLP . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 601
31.2 SLP Front-Ends in SUSE Linux Enterprise . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 602
31.3 Installation over SLP . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 602
31.4 Providing Services with SLP . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 603
3 2 Time Synchronization with NTP 605

32.1 Configuring an NTP Client with YaST . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 605
32.2 Configuring xntp in the Network . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 609
32.3 Setting Up a Local Reference Clock . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 609
3 3 The Domain Name System 611

33.1 DNS Terminology . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 611
33.2 Configuration with YaST . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 612
33.3 Starting the Name Server BIND . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 622
33.4 The Configuration File /etc/named.conf . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 624
33.5 Zone Files . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 628
33.6 Dynamic Update of Zone Data . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 633
33.7 Secure Transactions . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 633
33.8 DNS Security . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 635
3 4 DHCP 637
34.1 Configuring a DHCP Server with YaST . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 638
34.2 DHCP Software Packages . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 649
34.3 The DHCP Server dhcpd . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 650
3 5 Using NIS 655
35.1 Configuring NIS Servers . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 655
35.2 Configuring NIS Clients . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 661
3 6 LDAP—A Directory Service 663

36.1 LDAP versus NIS . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 664
36.2 Structure of an LDAP Directory Tree . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 665
36.3 Server Configuration with slapd.conf . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 669
36.4 Data Handling in the LDAP Directory . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 675
36.5 Configuring an LDAP Server with YaST . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 679
36.6 Configuring an LDAP Client with YaST . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 684
36.7 Configuring LDAP Users and Groups in YaST . . . . . . . . . . . . . 693
36.8 Browsing the LDAP Directory Tree . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 695
3 7 Samba 699
37.1 Terminology . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 699
37.2 Starting and Stopping Samba . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 701
37.3 Configuring a Samba Server . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 701
37.4 Configuring Clients . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 707
37.5 Samba as Login Server . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 708
37.6 Samba Server in the Network with Active Directory . . . . . . . . . . 709
37.7 Migrating a Windows NT Server to Samba . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 711
3 8 Sharing File Systems with NFS 715

38.1 Installing the Required Software . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 715
38.2 Importing File Systems with YaST . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 716
38.3 Importing File Systems Manually . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 717
38.4 Exporting File Systems with YaST . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 719
38.5 Exporting File Systems Manually . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 725
38.6 NFS with Kerberos . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 728
3 9 File Synchronization 729

39.1 Available Data Synchronization Software . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 729
39.2 Determining Factors for Selecting a Program . . . . . . . . . . . . . 731
39.3 Introduction to CVS . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 734
39.4 Introduction to rsync . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 737
4 0 The Apache HTTP Server 741
40.1 Quick Start . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 741
40.2 Configuring Apache . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 743
40.3 Starting and Stopping Apache . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 757
40.4 Installing, Activating, and Configuring Modules . . . . . . . . . . . . 759
40.5 Getting CGI Scripts to Work . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 766
40.6 Setting Up a Secure Web Server with SSL . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 769
40.7 Avoiding Security Problems . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 774
4 1 The Proxy Server Squid 781

41.1 Some Facts about Proxy Caches . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 782
41.2 System Requirements . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 783
41.3 Starting Squid . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 785
41.4 The Configuration File /etc/squid/squid.conf . . . . . . . . . . . . . 787
41.5 Configuring a Transparent Proxy . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 793
41.6 cachemgr.cgi . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 796
41.7 squidGuard . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 798
41.8 Cache Report Generation with Calamaris . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 799
Part V Security 801
4 2 Managing X.509 Certification 803

42.1 The Principles of Digital Certification . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 803
42.2 YaST Modules for CA Management . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 808
4 3 Masquerading and Firewalls 819

43.1 Packet Filtering with iptables . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 819
43.2 Masquerading Basics . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 822
43.3 Firewalling Basics . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 824
43.4 SuSEfirewall2 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 824
4 4 SSH: Secure Network Operations 831

44.1 The OpenSSH Package . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 831
44.2 The ssh Program . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 832
44.3 scp—Secure Copy . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 832
44.4 sftp—Secure File Transfer . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 833
44.5 The SSH Daemon (sshd)—Server-Side . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 833
44.6 SSH Authentication Mechanisms . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 834
44.7 X, Authentication, and Forwarding Mechanisms . . . . . . . . . . . . 836
4 5 Network Authentication—Kerberos 837

45.1 Kerberos Terminology . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 837
45.2 How Kerberos Works . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 839
45.3 Users' View of Kerberos . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 842
4 6 Installing and Administering Kerberos 845

46.1 Choosing the Kerberos Realms . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 845
46.2 Setting Up the KDC Hardware . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 846
46.3 Clock Synchronization . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 847
46.4 Configuring the KDC . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 847
46.5 Manually Configuring Kerberos Clients . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 850
46.6 Configuring a Kerberos Client with YaST . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 853
46.7 Remote Kerberos Administration . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 855
46.8 Creating Kerberos Host Principals . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 857
46.9 Enabling PAM Support for Kerberos . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 859
46.10 Configuring SSH for Kerberos Authentication . . . . . . . . . . . . . 860
46.11 Using LDAP and Kerberos . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 861
4 7 Encrypting Partitions and Files 865

47.1 Setting Up an Encrypted File System with YaST . . . . . . . . . . . . 866
47.2 Using Encrypted Home Directories . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 869
47.3 Using vi to Encrypt Single ASCII Text Files . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 870
4 8 Confining Privileges with AppArmor 871

48.1 Installing Novell AppArmor . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 872
48.2 Enabling and Disabling Novell AppArmor . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 872
48.3 Getting Started with Profiling Applications . . . . . . . . . . . . . 874
4 9 Security and Confidentiality 881

49.1 Local Security and Network Security . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 882
49.2 Some General Security Tips and Tricks . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 891
49.3 Using the Central Security Reporting Address . . . . . . . . . . . . 893
Part VI Troubleshooting 895
5 0 Help and Documentation 897

50.1 Using the SUSE Help Center . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 897
50.2 Man Pages . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 901
50.3 Info Pages . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 902
50.4 The Linux Documentation Project . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 902
50.5 Wikipedia: The Free Online Encyclopedia . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 903
50.6 Guides and Books . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 903
50.7 Package Documentation . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 904
50.8 Usenet . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 905
50.9 Standards and Specifications . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 905
5 1 Common Problems and Their Solutions 909

51.1 Finding and Gathering Information . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 909
51.2 Installation Problems . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 912
51.3 Boot Problems . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 920
51.4 Login Problems . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 923
51.5 Network Problems . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 929
51.6 Data Problems . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 934
51.7 IBM System z: Using initrd as a Rescue System . . . . . . . . . . . . 946
Index 951
About This Guide
This guide is intended for use by professional network and system administrators during
the actual planning, deployment, configuration, and operation of SUSE Linux Enter-
prise®. As such, it is solely concerned with ensuring that SUSE Linux Enterprise is
properly configured and that the required services on the network are available to allow
it to function properly as initially installed. This guide does not cover the process of
ensuring that SUSE Linux Enterprise offers proper compatibility with your enterprise's
application software or that its core functionality meets those requirements. It assumes
that a full requirements audit has been done and the installation has been requested or
that a test installation, for the purpose of such an audit, has been requested.
This guide contains the following:
Deployment
Before you install SUSE Linux Enterprise, choose the deployment strategy and
disk setup that is best suited for your scenario. Learn how to install your system
manually, how to use network installation setups, and how to perform an autoinstal-
lation. Configure the installed system with YaST to adapt it to your requirements.
Administration
SUSE Linux Enterprise offers a wide range of tools to customize various aspects
of the system. This part introduces a few of them.
System
Learn more about the underlying operating system by studying this part. SUSE
Linux Enterprise supports a number of hardware architectures and you can use this
to adapt your own applications to run on SUSE Linux Enterprise. The boot loader
and boot procedure information assists you in understanding how your Linux system
works and how your own custom scripts and applications may blend in with it.
Services
SUSE Linux Enterprise is designed to be a network operating system. It offers a
wide range of network services, such as DNS, DHCP, Web, proxy, and authentica-
tion services, and integrates well into heterogeneous environments including MS
Windows clients and servers.
Security
This edition of SUSE Linux Enterprise includes several security-related features.
It ships with Novell® AppArmor, which enables you to protect your applications
by restricting privileges. Secure login, firewalling, and file system encryption are
covered as well.
Troubleshooting
SUSE Linux Enterprise includes a wealth of applications, tools, and documentation
should you need them in case of trouble. Some of the most common problems that
can occur with SUSE Linux Enterprise and their solutions are discussed in detail.
1 Feedback
We want to hear your comments and suggestions about this manual and the other doc-
umentation included with this product. Please use the User Comments feature at the
bottom of each page of the online documentation and enter your comments there.
2 Documentation Updates
For the latest version of this documentation, see the SUSE Linux Enterprise Server
Web site [http://www.novell.com/documentation/sles10/index
.html].
3 Additional Documentation
For additional documentation on this product, refer to http://www.novell.com/
documentation/sles10/index.html:
Start-Up Guide
Basic information about installation types and work flows.
Architecture-Specific Information
Architecture-specific information needed to prepare a SUSE Linux Enterprise
Server target for installation.
xvi Installation and Administration

Novell AppArmor Administration Guide
An in-depth administration guide to Novell AppArmor that introduces application
confinement for heightened security in your environment.
Storage Administration Guide

An introduction to managing various types of storage devices on SUSE Linux En-
terprise.
Heartbeat Guide
An in-depth administration guide to setting up high availability scenarios with
Heartbeat.
Novell Virtualization Technology User Guide

An introduction to virtualization solutions based on SUSE Linux Enterprise and
the Xen* virtualization technology.
For a documentation overview on the SUSE® Linux Enterprise Desktop product, refer
to http://www.novell.com/documentation/sled10/index.html. The
following manuals are exclusively available for SUSE Linux Enterprise Desktop:
GNOME User Guide

A comprehensive guide to the GNOME desktop and its most important applications.
KDE User Guide

A comprehensive guide to the KDE desktop and its most important applications.
Deployment Guide
An in-depth guide for administrators facing the deployment and management of
SUSE Linux Enterprise Desktop.
Novell AppArmor Administration Guide

An in-depth administration guide to Novell AppArmor that introduces application
confinement for heightened security in your environment.
Many chapters in this manual contain links to additional documentation resources. This
includes additional documentation that is available on the system as well as documen-
tation available on the Internet.
About This Guide xvii

4 Documentation Conventions
The following typographical conventions are used in this manual:
• /etc/passwd: filenames and directory names
• placeholder: replace placeholder with the actual value
• PATH: the environment variable PATH
• ls, --help: commands, options, and parameters
• user: users or groups
• Alt, Alt + F1: a key to press or a key combination; keys are shown in uppercase as
on a keyboard
• File, File > Save As: menu items, buttons
• ►amd64 ipf: This paragraph is only relevant for the specified architectures. The
arrows mark the beginning and the end of the text block.◄
►ipseries s390 zseries: This paragraph is only relevant for the specified architec-
tures. The arrows mark the beginning and the end of the text block.◄
• Dancing Penguins (Chapter Penguins, ↑Another Manual): This is a reference to a

chapter in another manual.
xviii Installation and Administration

Part I. Deployment
Planning for SUSE Linux
Enterprise
The implementation of an operating system either in an existing IT environment or as
1
a completely new rollout must be carefully prepared. With SUSE Linux Enterprise 10,
get a variety of new features. It is impossible to describe all the new features here. The
following is just a list of major enhancements that might be of interest.
Xen 3.0 Virtualization

Runs many virtual machines on a single server, each with its own instance of an
operating system. For more information about this technology, see the virtualization
manual on http://www.novell.com/documentation/sles10/index
.html.
YaST
Several new configuration options have been developed for YaST. These are nor-
mally described in the chapters about the technology involved.
CIM Management with openWBEM

The Common Information Model Object Manager (CIMON) is a Web-based enter-
prise management utility. It provides a mature management framework. See also
Chapter 11, OpenWBEM (page 241).
SPident
The management utility SPident gives an overview of the installed software base
and clarifies the current service pack level of the system.
Directory Services
Several LDAP-compliant directory services are available:
Planning for SUSE Linux Enterprise 3

• Microsoft Active Directory
• OpenLDAP
Novell AppArmor
Harden your System with the Novell AppArmor technology. This service is de-
scribed in depth in Novell AppArmor Administration Guide (↑Novell AppArmor
Administration Guide).
iSCSI
iSCSI provides an easy and reasonably inexpensive solution for connecting Linux
computers to central storage systems. Find more information about iSCSI in
Chapter 12, Mass Storage over IP Networks—iSCSI (page 271).
Network File System v4

Starting with version 10, SUSE Linux Enterprise supports NFS also in version 4.
This gives you performance improvements, strong security, and a “stateful” protocol.
See also Chapter 38, Sharing File Systems with NFS (page 715).
Oracle Cluster File System 2

OCFS2 is a general-purpose journaling file system that is fully integrated in the
Linux 2.6 kernel and later. Find an overview of OCFS2 in Chapter 14, Oracle
Cluster File System 2 (page 287).
Heartbeat 2
Heartbeat 2 provides a cluster membership and messaging infrastructure. The setup
of such a cluster is described in the Heartbeat Guide.
Multipath I/O
Device mapping multipath IO features automatic configuration of the subsystem
for a large variety of setups. For details, see the chapter about multipath I/O in
Storage Administration Guide.
Linux Kernel Crash Dump

Debugging kernel-related problems is now much more comfortable when using
Kexec and Kdump. This technology is available on x86, AMD64, Intel 64, and
POWER platforms.
4 Installation and Administration

1.1 Considerations for Deployment of
a SUSE Linux Enterprise
At the beginning of the planning process, you should try to define the project goals and
needed features. This must be done individually for each project, but the questions to
answer should include the following:
• How many installations should be done? Depending on this, the best deployment
method differs. See also Chapter 2, Deployment Strategies (page 7).
• Will the system be in a hostile environment? Have a look at Chapter 49, Security
and Confidentiality (page 881) to get an overview of consequences.
• How will you get regular updates? All patches are provided online for registered
users. Find the registration and patch support database at http://www.novell
.com/suselinuxportal.
• Do you need help for your local installation? Novell provides training, support,
and consulting for all topics around SUSE Linux Enterprise. Find more information
about this at http://www.novell.com/products/
linuxenterpriseserver/.
• Do you need third-party products? Make sure that the required product is also
supported on the desired platform. Novell can also provide help to port software
to different platforms when needed.
1.2 Deployment of SUSE Linux

Enterprise
To make sure that your system will run flawlessly, always try to use certified hardware.
The hardware certification process is an ongoing process and the database of certified
hardware is updated regularly. Find the search form for certified hardware at http://
developer.novell.com/yessearch/Search.jsp.
Depending on the number of desired installations, it is beneficial to use installation

servers or even completely automatic installations. Have a look at Chapter 2, Deployment
Planning for SUSE Linux Enterprise 5

Strategies (page 7) for more information. When using the Xen virtualization technolo-
gies, network root file systems or network storage solutions like iSCSI should be con-
sidered. See also Chapter 12, Mass Storage over IP Networks—iSCSI (page 271).
SUSE Linux Enterprise provides you with a broad variety of services. Find an overview
of the documentation in this book in About This Guide (page xv). Most of the needed
configurations can be made with YaST, the SUSE configuration utility. In addition to
that, many manual configurations are described in the corresponding chapters.
In addition to the plain software installation, you should consider training the end users
of the systems as well as help desk staff.
1.3 Running SUSE Linux Enterprise

The SUSE Linux Enterprise operating system is a well-tested and stable system. Unfor-
tunately, this does not prevent hardware failures or other causes for downtime or data
loss. For any serious computing task where data loss could occur, a regular backup
should be done.
For optimal security and safe work, you should make regular updates of all the operated
machines. If you have a mission critical server, you should probably run a second
identical machine where you can apply all changes for testing purposes before doing
so on the real system. This also gives you the possibility to switch machines in case of
hardware failure.

Deployment Strategies
There are several different ways to deploy SUSE® Linux Enterprise. Choose from
2
various approaches ranging from a local installation using physical media or a network
installation server to a mass deployment using a remote-controlled, highly-customized,
and automated installation technique. Select the method that best matches your require-
ments.
2.1 Deploying up to 10 Workstations

If your deployment of SUSE Linux Enterprise only involves 1 to 10 workstations, the
easiest and least complex way of deploying SUSE Linux Enterprise is a plain manual
installation as featured in Chapter 3, Installation with YaST (page 17). Manual installa-
tion can be done in several different ways depending on your requirements:
Installing from the SUSE Linux Enterprise Media (page 8)

Consider this approach if you want to install a single, disconnected workstation.
Installing from a Network Server Using SLP (page 8)

Consider this approach if you have a single workstation or a small number of
workstations and if a network installation server announced via SLP is available.
Installing from a Network Server (page 9)

Consider this approach if you have a single workstation or a small number of
workstations and if a network installation server is available.
Deployment Strategies 7
Table 2.1 Installing from the SUSE Linux Enterprise Media
Installation Source SUSE Linux Enterprise media kit
Tasks Requiring Manual Inter- • Inserting the installation media

action
• Booting the installation target
• Changing media
• Determining the YaST installation scope
• Configuring the system with YaST system
Remotely Controlled Tasks None
Details Section 3.3.2, “Installing from the SUSE Linux En-

terprise Media” (page 19)
Table 2.2 Installing from a Network Server Using SLP
Installation Source Network installation server holding the SUSE Linux

Enterprise installation media
Tasks Requiring Manual • Inserting the boot disk

Interaction
• Booting installation target
• Configuring the system with YaST
Remotely Controlled Tasks None, but this method can be combined with VNC
Details Section 3.3.3, “Installing from a Network Server Using

SLP” (page 19)

Table 2.3 Installing from a Network Server
Installation Source Network installation server holding the SUSE Linux

Enterprise installation media
Tasks Requiring Manual • Inserting the boot disk

Interaction
• Providing boot options
• Booting the installation target
• Configuring the system with YaST
Remotely Controlled Tasks None, but method can be combined with VNC
Details Section 3.3.4, “Installing from a Network Source with-

out SLP” (page 20)
2.2 Deploying up to 100 Workstations

With a growing numbers of workstations to install, you certainly do not want to install
and configure each one of them manually. There are many automated or semiautomated
approaches as well as several options to perform an installation with minimal to no
physical user interaction.
Before considering a fully-automated approach, take into account that the more complex
the scenario gets the longer it takes to set up. If a time limit is associated with your de-
ployment, it might be a good idea to select a less complex approach that can be carried
out much more quickly. Automation makes sense for huge deployments and those that
need to be carried out remotely.
Choose from the following options:
Simple Remote Installation via VNC—Static Network Configuration (page 11)

Consider this approach in a small to medium scenario with a static network setup.
A network, network installation server, and VNC viewer application are required.
Simple Remote Installation via VNC—Dynamic Network Configuration (page 11)
Consider this approach in a small to medium scenario with dynamic network setup
through DHCP. A network, network installation server, and VNC viewer application
are required.
Remote Installation via VNC—PXE Boot and Wake on LAN (page 12)
Consider this approach in a small to medium scenario that should be installed via
network and without physical interaction with the installation targets. A network,
a network installation server, network boot images, network bootable target hard-
ware, and a VNC viewer application are required.
Simple Remote Installation via SSH—Static Network Configuration (page 12)

Consider this approach in a small to medium scenario with static network setup.
A network, network installation server, and SSH client application are required.
Remote Installation via SSH—Dynamic Network Configuration (page 13)

Consider this approach in a small to medium scenario with dynamic network setup
through DHCP. A network, network installation server, and SSH client application
are required.
Remote Installation via SSH—PXE Boot and Wake on LAN (page 13)
Consider this approach in a small to medium scenario that should be installed via
network and without physical interaction with the installation targets. A network,
a network installation server, network boot images, network bootable target hard-
ware, and an SSH client application are required.
Simple Mass Installation (page 14)

Consider this approach for large deployments to identical machines. If configured
to use network booting, physical interaction with the target systems is not needed
at all. A network, a network installation server, a remote controlling application
such as a VNC viewer or an SSH client, and an AutoYaST configuration profile
are required. If using network boot, a network boot image and network bootable
hardware are required as well.
Rule-Based Autoinstallation (page 15)

Consider this approach for large deployments to various types of hardware. If
configured to use network booting, physical interaction with the target systems is
not needed at all. A network, a network installation server, a remote controlling
application such as a VNC viewer or an SSH client, and several AutoYaST confi-
guration profiles as well as a rule setup for AutoYaST are required. If using network
boot, a network boot image and network bootable hardware are required as well.

Table 2.4 Simple Remote Installation via VNC—Static Network Configuration
Installation Source Network
Preparations • Setting up an installation source
• Booting from the installation media
Control and Monitoring Remote: VNC
Best Suited For small to medium scenarios with varying hardware
Drawbacks • Each machine must be set up individually
• Physical access is needed for booting
Details Section 4.1.1, “Simple Remote Installation via

VNC—Static Network Configuration” (page 48)
Table 2.5 Simple Remote Installation via VNC—Dynamic Network Configuration
Preparations • Setting up the installation source
Best Suited For Small to medium scenarios with varying hardware
VNC—Dynamic Network Configuration” (page 49)
Table 2.6 Remote Installation via VNC—PXE Boot and Wake on LAN
• Configuring DHCP, TFTP, PXE boot, and WOL
• Booting from the network
Best Suited For • Small to medium scenarios with varying hardware
• Completely remote installs; cross-site deployment
Drawbacks Each machine must be set up manually
Details Section 4.1.3, “Remote Installation via VNC—PXE

Boot and Wake on LAN” (page 51)
Table 2.7 Simple Remote Installation via SSH—Static Network Configuration
Control and Monitoring Remote: SSH

• Low bandwidth connections to target

SSH—Static Network Configuration” (page 52)
Table 2.8 Remote Installation via SSH—Dynamic Network Configuration
• Booting from installation media

SSH—Dynamic Network Configuration” (page 53)
Table 2.9 Remote Installation via SSH—PXE Boot and Wake on LAN
• Configuring DHCP, TFTP, PXE boot, and WOL
• Booting from the network
• Completely remote installs; cross-site deployment
Drawbacks Each machine must be set up individually
Details Section 4.1.6, “Remote Installation via SSH—PXE Boot

and Wake on LAN” (page 55)
Table 2.10 Simple Mass Installation
Installation Source Preferably network
Preparations • Gathering hardware information
• Creating AutoYaST profile
• Setting up the installation server
• Distributing the profile
• Setting up network boot (DHCP, TFTP, PXE, WOL)
or
Booting the target from installation media
Control and Monitoring Local or remote through VNC or SSH

Best Suited For • Large scenarios
• Identical hardware
• No access to system (network boot)
Drawbacks Applies only to machines with identical hardware
Details Section 5.1, “Simple Mass Installation” (page 85)
Table 2.11 Rule-Based Autoinstallation
Installation Source Preferably network
Preparations • Gathering hardware information
• Creating AutoYaST profiles
• Creating AutoYaST rules
• Setting up the installation server
• Distributing the profile
• Setting up network boot (DHCP, TFTP, PXE, WOL)
or
Booting the target from installation media
Control and Monitoring Local or remote through SSH or VNC
Best Suited For • Varying hardware
• Cross-site deployments
Drawbacks Complex rule setup
Details Section 5.2, “Rule-Based Autoinstallation” (page 97)
2.3 Deploying More than 100

Workstations
Most of the considerations brought up for medium installation scenarios in Section 2.1,
“Deploying up to 10 Workstations” (page 7) still hold true for large scale deployments.
However, with a growing number of installation targets, the benefits of a fully automated
installation method outweigh its disadvantages.
It pays off to invest a considerable amount of time to create a sophisticated rule and
class framework in AutoYaST to match the requirements of a huge deployment site.
Not having to touch each target separately can save you a tremendous amount of time
depending on the scope of your installation project.

Installation with YaST
After your hardware has been prepared for the installation of SUSE Linux Enterprise®
3
as described in the Architecture-Specific Information manual and after the connection
with the installation system has been established, you are presented with the interface
of SUSE Linux Enterprise's system assistant YaST. YaST guides you through the entire
installation and configuration procedure.
3.1 IBM POWER: System Start-Up for

Network Installation
For IBM POWER platforms, the system is initialized (IPL) as described in the Archi-
tecture-Specific Information manual. For a network installation, SUSE Linux Enterprise
Server does not show a splash screen or boot loader command line on these systems.
During the installation, load the kernel manually. YaST starts with its installation screen
as soon as a connection has been established to the installation system via VNC, X, or
SSH. Because there is no splash screen or boot loader command line, kernel or boot
parameters cannot be entered on screen, but must be included in the kernel image using
the mkzimage_cmdline utility. See the Preparation chapter in the Architecture-
Specific Information manual for a description.
TIP: IBM POWER: The Next Steps
To install, follow the description of the installation procedure with YaST starting
from Section 3.6, “Language” (page 24).
Installation with YaST 17

3.2 IBM System z: System Start-Up for
Installation
For IBM System z platforms, the system is initialized (IPL) as described in the Archi-
tecture-Specific Information manual. SUSE Linux Enterprise does not show a splash
screen on these systems. During the installation, load the kernel, initrd, and parmfile
manually. YaST starts with its installation screen as soon as a connection has been es-
tablished to the installation system via VNC, X, or SSH. Because there is no splash
screen, kernel or boot parameters cannot be entered on screen, but must be specified
in a parmfile (see the parmfile information in Appendix A, Appendix (↑Architecture-
Specific Information)).
TIP: IBM System z: The Next Steps
To install, follow the description of the installation procedure with YaST starting
from Section 3.6, “Language” (page 24).
3.3 System Start-Up for Installation

You can install SUSE Linux Enterprise from local installation sources, such as the
SUSE Linux Enterprise CDs or DVD, or from the network source of an FTP, HTTP,
SLP, or NFS server. Any of these approaches requires physical access to the system to
install and user interaction during the installation. The installation procedure is basically
the same regardless of the installation source.
3.3.1 Boot Options

Boot options other than CD or DVD exist and can be used if problems arise booting
from CD or DVD. These options are described in Table 3.1, “Boot Options” (page 19).

Table 3.1 Boot Options
Boot Option Description
DVD/CD-ROM This is the easiest boot option. This option can be used if the
system has a local CD/DVD-ROM drive that is supported by
Linux.
Floppy The images for generating boot floppies are located on CD/DVD
1 in the /boot directory. A README is available in the same
directory.
PXE or BOOTP This must be supported by the system's BIOS or firmware and
a boot server must be available in the network. This task can also
be handled by another SUSE Linux Enterprise system.
Hard Disk SUSE Linux Enterprise can also be booted from the hard disk.
To do this, copy the kernel (linux) and the installation system
(initrd) from the directory /boot/loader on CD/DVD 1
to the hard disk and add the appropriate entry to the boot loader.
3.3.2 Installing from the SUSE Linux

Enterprise Media
To install from the media, insert the first CD or DVD into the appropriate drive of the
system to install. Reboot the system to boot from the media and open the boot screen.
3.3.3 Installing from a Network Server Using

SLP
If your network setup supports OpenSLP and your network installation source has been
configured to announce itself via OpenSLP (described in Section 4.2, “Setting Up the
Server Holding the Installation Sources” (page 56)), boot the system from the media
or with another boot option. In the boot screen, select the desired installation option.
Press F4 then select SLP.

The installation program retrieves the location of the network installation source using
OpenSLP and configures the network connection with DHCP. If the DHCP network
configuration fails, you are prompted to enter the appropriate parameters manually.
The installation then proceeds as described below.
3.3.4 Installing from a Network Source

without SLP
If your network setup does not support OpenSLP for the retrieval of network installation
sources, boot the system from the media or with another boot option. In the boot screen,
select the desired installation option. Press F4 then select the desired network protocol
(NFS, HTTP, FTP, or SMB). Provide the server's address and the path to the installation
media.
The installation program retrieves the location of the network installation source using
OpenSLP and configures the network connection with DHCP. If the DHCP network
configuration fails, you are prompted to enter the appropriate parameters manually.
The installation then proceeds as described below.
3.4 The Installation Workflow

The SUSE Linux Enterprise installation is split into three main parts: preparation, in-
stallation, configuration. During the preparation phase you configure some basic param-
eters such as language, time, and desktop type. In the installation phase you decide
which software to install, where to install it and how to boot the installed system. Upon
finishing the installation the machine reboots into the newly installed system and starts
the configuration. In this stage you set up users and passwords, and configure network
and Internet access as well as hardware components such as printers.
3.5 The Boot Screen

The boot screen displays a number of options for the installation procedure. Boot from
Hard Disk boots the installed system and is selected default, because the CD/DVD is
often left in the drive. To install the system, select one of the installation options with
the arrow keys. The relevant options are:

Installation
The normal installation mode. All modern hardware functions are enabled. All
modern hardware functions are enabled.
Installation—ACPI Disabled
If the normal installation fails, this might be due to the system hardware not sup-
porting ACPI (advanced configuration and power interface). If this seems to be the
case, use this option to install without ACPI support.
Installation—Local APIC Disabled

If the normal installation fails, this might be due to the system hardware not sup-
porting local APIC (Advanced Programmable Interrupt Controllers). If this seems
to be the case, use this option to install without local APIC support.
If you are not sure, try one of the following options first: Installation—ACPI Dis-
abled or Installation—Safe Settings.
Installation—Safe Settings
Boots the system with the DMA mode (for CD-ROM drives) and power management
functions disabled.
Rescue System
Starts a minimal Linux system without a graphical user interface. For more infor-
mation, see Section “Using the Rescue System” (page 942).
Memory Test
Tests your system RAM using repeated read and write cycles. Terminate the test
by rebooting. For more information, see Section 51.2.5, “Fails to Boot” (page 916).
Installation options from the menu disable only the most problematic functions. If you
need to disable or set other functions, use the Boot Options prompt. Find detailed infor-
mation about kernel parameters at http://en.opensuse.org/Linuxrc.
Use the function keys indicated in the bar at the bottom of the screen to change the
language, resolution of the monitor, or installation source or to add an additional driver
from your hardware vendor:
F1 Help
Get context-sensitive help for the active element of the boot screen.

F2 Language
Select the display language for the installation. The default language is English.
F3 Video Mode
Select various graphical display modes for the installation. Select Text Mode if the
graphical installation causes problems.
F4 Source
Normally, the installation is performed from the inserted installation medium. Here,
select other sources, like FTP or NFS servers. If the installation is carried out in a
network with an SLP server, select one of the installation sources available on the
server with this option. Find information about SLP in Chapter 31, SLP Services
in the Network (page 601).
F5 Driver
Press this key to tell the system that you have an optional disk with a driver update
for SUSE Linux Enterprise. With File, load drivers directly from CD before the
installation starts. If you select Yes, you are prompted to insert the update disk at
the appropriate point in the installation process. The default option is No—not to
load a driver update.
After starting the installation, SUSE Linux Enterprise loads and configures a minimal
Linux system to run the installation procedure. To view the boot messages and copyright
notices during this process, press Esc. On completion of this process, the YaST installa-
tion program starts and displays the graphical installer.
TIP: Installation without a Mouse
If the installer does not detect your mouse correctly, use Tab for navigation,
arrow keys to scroll, and Enter to confirm a selection.
3.5.1 Providing Data to Access a SMT Server

If your network provides a SMT server to provide a local update source, you need to
equip the client with the server's URL. Client and server communicate solely via HTTPS
protocol, therefore you also need to enter a path to the server's certificate if the certificate
was not issued by a certificate authority. This information has to be entered at the boot
prompt.

smturl
URL of the SMT server. The URL has a fixed format
https://FQN/center/regsvc/ FQN has to be full qualified hostname of
the SMT server. Example:
smturl=https://smt.example.com/center/regsvc/
smtcert
Location of the SMT server's certificate. Specify one of the following locations:
URL
Remote location (http, https or ftp) from which the certificate can be download-
ed. Example:
smtcert=http://smt.example.com/smt-ca.crt
Floppy
Specifies a location on a floppy. The floppy has to be inserted at boot time,
you will not be prompted to insert it if it is missing. The value has to start with
the string floppy followed by the path to the certificate. Example:
smtcert=floppy/smt/smt-ca.crt
local path
Absolute path to the certificate on the local machine. Example:
smtcert=/data/inst/smt/smt-ca.cert
Interactive
Use ask to open a pop-up menu during the installation where you can specify
the path to the certificate. Do not use this option with AutoYaST. Example
smtcert=ask
Deactivate certificate installation

Use done if either the certificate will be installed by an add-on product, or if
you are using a certificate issued by an official certificate authority. Example:
smtcert=done
WARNING: Beware of typing errors
Make sure the values you enter are correct. If smturl has not been specified
correctly, the registration of the update source will fail. If a wrong value for

smtcert has been entered, you will be prompted for a local path to the certifi-
cate.
In case smtcert is not specified, it will default to http://FQN/smt.crt with

FQN being the name of the SMT server.
3.6 Language
YaST and SUSE Linux Enterprise in general can be configured to use different languages
according to your needs. The language selected here is also used for the keyboard layout.
In addition, YaST uses the language setting to guess a time zone for the system clock.
These settings can be modified later along with the selection of secondary languages
to install on your system.
You can change the language later during installation as described in Section 3.12,
“Installation Settings” (page 29). For information about language settings in the installed
system, see Section 8.1, “YaST Language” (page 130).
3.7 IBM System z: Hard Disk

Configuration
When installing on IBM System z platforms, the language selection dialog is followed
by a dialog to configure the attached hard disks. Select DASD, Fibre Channel Attached
SCSI Disks (ZFCP), or iSCSI for installation of SUSE Linux Enterprise.
After selecting Configure DASD Disks, an overview lists all available DASDs. To get
a clearer picture of the available devices, use the entry field located above the list to
specify a range of channels to display. To filter the list according to such a range, select
Filter. See Figure 3.1, “IBM System z: Selecting a DASD” (page 25).

Figure 3.1 IBM System z: Selecting a DASD
Now specify the DASDs to use for the installation by selecting the corresponding entries
in the list then clicking Select or Deselect. After that, activate and make the DASDs
available for the installation by selecting Perform Action > Activate. See Figure 3.2,
“IBM System z: Activating a DASD” (page 25). To format the DASDs, select Perform
Action > Format right away or use the YaST partitioner later as described in Sec-
tion 8.5.7, “Using the YaST Partitioner” (page 155).
Figure 3.2 IBM System z: Activating a DASD

Figure 3.3 IBM System z: Overview of Available ZFCP Disks
To use ZFCP disks for the SUSE Linux Enterprise installation, select Configure ZFCP
Disks in the selection dialog. This opens a dialog with a list of the ZFCP disks available
on the system. In this dialog, select Add to open another dialog in which to enter ZFCP
parameters. See Figure 3.3, “IBM System z: Overview of Available ZFCP Disks”
(page 26).
To make a ZFCP disk available for the SUSE Linux Enterprise installation, choose an
available Channel Number from the drop-down list. Get WWPNs (World Wide Port
Number) and Get LUNs (Logical Unit Number) return lists with available WWPNs and
FCP-LUNs, respectively, to choose from. When completed, exit the ZFCP dialog with
Next and the general hard disk configuration dialog with Finish to continue with the
rest of the configuration.
TIP: Adding DASD or zFCP Disks at a Later Stage
Adding DASD or zFCP disks is not only possible during the installation workflow,
but also when the installation proposal is shown. To add disks at that stage,
click Expert and scroll down. The DASD and zFCP entries are shown at the very
bottom.

After adding the disks, reread the partition table. Return to the installation
proposal screen and choose Partitioning then select Reread Partition Table.
This reads the new partition table and resets any previously entered information.
3.8 Media Check

The media check dialog appears only if you install from media created from downloaded
ISOs. If you install from the original media set, the dialog is skipped.
The media check examines the integrity of a medium. To start the media check, select
the drive in that contains the installation medium and click Start Check. The check can
take some time.
To test multiple media, wait until a result message appears in the dialog before changing
the medium. If the last medium checked is not the one with which you started the instal-
lation, YaST prompts for the appropriate medium before continuing with the installation.
WARNING: Failure of Media Check
If the media check fails, your medium is damaged. Do not continue the instal-
lation because installation may fail or you may lose your data. Replace the
broken medium and restart the installation process.
If the result of the media check is positive, click Next to continue the installation.
3.9 License Agreement

Read the license agreement that is displayed on screen thoroughly. If you agree to the
terms, choose Yes, I Agree to the License Agreement and click Next to confirm your
selection. If you do not agree to the license agreement, you cannot install SUSE Linux
Enterprise and the installation terminates.

3.10 Installation Mode
After a system analysis where YaST tries to find other installed systems or an already
existing SUSE Linux Enterprise system on your machine, YaST displays the installation
modes available:
New installation
Select this option to start a new installation from scratch.
Update an existing system

Select this option to update to a newer version. For more information about system
update, see Chapter 10, Updating SUSE Linux Enterprise (page 211).
Other Options
This option provides an opportunity to abort installation and boot or repair an in-
stalled system instead. To boot an already installed SUSE Linux Enterprise, select
Boot Installed System. If you have problems booting an already installed SUSE
Linux Enterprise, see Section 51.3, “Boot Problems” (page 920).
To repair an installed system that fails to boot, select Repair Installed System. Find
a description of the system repair options in Section “Using YaST System Repair”
(page 937).
NOTE: Updating an Installed System
Updating is only possible if an older SUSE Linux Enterprise system is already

installed. If no SUSE Linux Enterprise system is installed, you can only perform
a new installation.
You can choose to install add-on products together with your SUSE Linux Enterprise
system during the initial installation process or at any time later as described inSec-
tion 8.3.2, “Installing Add-On Products” (page 139). Add-on products are extensions
for your SUSE Linux Enterprise. An add-on product can include proprietary third-party
products or additional software for your system.
To include add-on products during the installation of SUSE Linux Enterprise, select
Include Add-On Products from Separate Media and click Next. In the next dialog, click
Add to select the source from which to install the add-on products. Many source types

are available, such as CD, FTP, or a local directory. After adding the add-on media,
you may need to agree to additional license agreements for third-party products.
3.11 Clock and Time Zone

In this dialog, select your region and time zone from the lists. During installation, both
are preselected according to the selected installation language. Choose between Local
Time and UTC (GMT) for Hardware Clock Set To. The selection depends on how the
BIOS hardware clock is set on your machine. If it is set to GMT, which corresponds
to UTC, your system can rely on SUSE Linux Enterprise to switch from standard time
to daylight saving time and back automatically. Click Change to set the current date
and time. When finished, click Next to continue the installation.
3.12 Installation Settings

After a thorough system analysis, YaST presents reasonable suggestions for all instal-
lation settings. Basic settings can be changed in the Overview tab, advanced options
are available on the Experts tab. To modify the suggestions, either click Change and
select the category to change or click on one of the headlines. After configuring any of
the items presented in these dialogs, you are always returned to the summary window,
which is updated accordingly.

Figure 3.4 Installation Settings
TIP: Resetting the changes to default values
You can reset all changes to the defaults by clicking Change > Reset to Defaults.
YaST then shows the original proposal again.
3.12.1 Overview
The options that sometimes need manual intervention in common installation situations
are presented in the Overview tab. Modify Partitioning, Software selection and Locale
settings here.
Keyboard Layout
To change the keyboard layout, select Keyboard Layout. By default, the layout corre-
sponds to the language chosen for installation. Select a keyboard layout from the list.
Use the Test field at the bottom of the dialog to check if you can enter special characters
of that layout correctly. Find more information about changing the keyboard layout in
Section 8.4.10, “Keyboard Layout” (page 150). When finished, click Accept to return
to the installation summary.

►zseries: On the IBM System z platforms, the installation is performed from a remote
terminal. The host as such has no keyboard or mouse locally connected to it. ◄
Partitioning
In most cases, YaST proposes a reasonable partitioning scheme that can be accepted
without change. YaST can also be used to customize the partitioning, but only experi-
enced users should change partitioning.
When you select the Partitioning for the first time, the YaST partitioning dialog displays
the proposed partition settings. To accept these settings, click Accept Proposal.
To make small changes in the proposal, select Base Partition Setup on This Proposal
and adjust partitioning in the next dialog. For a completely different partitioning, select
Create Custom Partition Setup. In the next dialog, choose a specific disk to partition
or Custom Partitioning if you want to have access to all disks. For more information
about custom partitioning, refer to Section 8.5.7, “Using the YaST Partitioner”
(page 155)the SUSE Linux Enterprise Server documentation. The YaST partitioner also
provides a tool for LVM creation. To create an LVM proposal, select Create LVM
Based Proposal. See Section 7.1, “LVM Configuration” (page 115) for more information
on LVM.
Software
SUSE Linux Enterprise contains a number of software packages for various application
purposes. Click Software in the suggestion window to start the software selection and
modify the installation scope according to your needs. Select your pattern from the list
in the middle and see the description in the right part of the window. Each pattern
contains a number of software packages needed for specific functions (e.g. Multimedia
or Office software). For a more detailed selection based on software packages to install,
select Details to switch to the YaST Software Manager. See Figure 3.5, “Installing and
Removing Software with the YaST Software Manager” (page 32).

Figure 3.5 Installing and Removing Software with the YaST Software Manager
You can also install additional software packages or remove software packages from
your system at any time later. For more information, refer to Section 8.3.1, “Installing
and Removing Software” (page 132).
NOTE: Default Desktop
The default desktop of SUSE Linux Enterprise is GNOME. To install KDE, click
Software and select KDE Desktop Environment from Graphical Environments.
Language
To change the system language or to configure support for secondary languages, select
Language. Select a language from the list. The primary language is used as the system
language. Choose a secondary languages to be able to switch to one of these languages
at any time without having to install additional packages. For more information, see
Section 8.5.15, “Language Selection” (page 163).

3.12.2 Expert
If you are an advanced user and want to configure booting or change the time zone or
default runlevel, select the Expert tab. It shows the following additional entries not
contained on the Overview tab:
System
This dialog presents all the hardware information YaST could obtain about your
computer. Select any item in the list and click Details to see detailed information
about the selected item. Advanced users can also change the PCI ID setup and
Kernel Settings by choosing System Settings.
Add-On Products
The added source for add-on media appears in the overview. Before you start the
installation of the SUSE Linux Enterprise, add, remove, or modify add-on products
here if needed.
Booting
►zseries: This module cannot be used to configure the boot loader (zipl) on the
IBM System z platforms. ◄
YaST proposes a boot configuration for your system. Normally, you can leave
these settings unchanged. However, if you need a custom setup, modify the proposal
for your system. For information, see Section 21.3, “Configuring the Boot Loader
with YaST” (page 414).
Time Zone
This is the same as the configuration shown earlier in Section 3.11, “Clock and
Time Zone” (page 29).
Default Runlevel
SUSE Linux Enterprise can boot to different runlevels. Normally there should be
no need to change anything here, but if necessary, set the default runlevel with this
dialog. Refer to Section 20.2.3, “Configuring System Services (Runlevel) with
YaST” (page 398) for information about runlevel configuration.

3.13 Performing the Installation
After making all installation settings, click Accept in the suggestion window to begin
the installation. Confirm with Install. Some software may require a license confirmation.
If your software selection includes such software, license confirmation dialogs are
displayed. Click Accept to install the software. When not agreeing to the license, click
I Disagree and the software will not be installed.
The installation usually takes between 15 and 30 minutes, depending on the system
performance and the software selected. During this procedure a slide show introduces
the features of SUSE Linux Enterprise. Choose Details to switch to the installation log.
As soon as all packages are installed, YaST boots into the new Linux system, after
which you can configure the hardware and set up system services.
3.13.1 IBM System z: IPLing the Installed

System
On the IBM System z platforms, another IPL must be performed after installing the
selected software packages. However, the procedure varies according to the type of
installation:
LPAR Installation
In the IBM System z HMC, select LOAD, select Clear, then enter the loading ad-
dress (the device address of the root device). If using a ZFCP disk as the boot device,
choose LOAD from SCSI and specify both ZFCP WWPN and LUN of the boot
device. Now start the loading process.
z/VM Installation
Shut down the installed system with the halt command. Log in to the VM guest
as LINUX1 and proceed to IPL the installed system. If using a ZFCP disk as the
boot device, specify both the ZFCP WWPN and LUN of the boot device before
initiating the IPL. The parameter length is limited to eight characters. Longer
numbers must be separated by spaces:
SET LOADDEV PORT 50050763 00C590A9 LUN 50010000 00000000
Finally, initiate the IPL:

IPL 151 CLEAR

3.13.2 IBM System z: Connecting to the
Installed System
After IPLing the installed system, establish a connection with it to complete the instal-
lation. The steps involved in this vary depending on the type of connection used at the
outset.
Using VNC to Connect

A message in the 3270 terminal asks you to connect to the Linux system using a VNC
client. This message is easily missed, however, because it is mixed with kernel messages
and because the terminal process might quit before you become aware of the message.
If nothing happens for five minutes, try to initiate a connection to the Linux system
using a VNC viewer.
If connecting using a Java-capable browser, enter the complete URL, consisting of the
IP address of the installed system along with the port number, in the following fashion:
http://<IP of installed system>:5801/
Using X to Connect
When IPLing the installed system, make sure that the X server used for the first phase
of the installation is still available. YaST opens on this X server to finish the installation.
Using SSH to Connect

IMPORTANT: IBM System z: Connecting from a Linux or UNIX System
Start SSH in an xterm. Other terminal emulators lack complete support for the
text-based interface of YaST.
A message in the 3270 terminal asks you to connect to the Linux system with an SSH
client. This message is easily missed, however, because it is mixed with kernel messages
and because the terminal process might quit before you become aware of the message.
Once the message appears, use SSH to log in to the Linux system as root. If the con-
nection is denied or times out, wait a few minutes then try again.

When the connection is established, execute the command
/usr/lib/YaST2/startup/YaST2.ssh. yast does not suffice in this case.
YaST then starts to complete the installation of the remaining packages and create an
initial system configuration.
3.14 Configuration of the Installed

System
The system is installed now but not configured for use. No users, hardware, or services
are configured, yet. If the configuration fails at one of the steps of this stage, it restarts
and continues from the last successful step.
First, provide a password for the account of the system administrator (the root user).
Configure your Internet access and network connection. With a working Internet con-
nection, you can perform an update of the system as part of the installation. You can
also connect to an authentication server for centralized user administration in a local
network. Finally, configure the hardware devices connected to the machine.
3.14.1 Password for the System

Administrator “root”
root is the name of the superuser, the administrator of the system. Unlike regular
users, who may or may not have permission to do certain things on the system, root
has unlimited power to do anything: change the system configuration, install programs,
and set up new hardware. If users forget their passwords or have other problems with
the system, root can help. The root account should only be used for system admin-
istration, maintenance, and repair. Logging in as root for daily work is rather risky:
a single mistake could lead to irretrievable loss of system files.
For verification purposes, the password for root must be entered twice. Do not forget
the root password. Once entered, this password cannot be retrieved.
When typing passwords, the characters are replaced by dots, so you do not see the string
you are typing. If you are unsure whether you typed the correct string, use the Test
Keyboard Layout field for testing purposes.

SUSE Linux Enterprise can use the DES, MD5, or Blowfish encryption algorithms for
passwords. The default encryption type is Blowfish. To change the encryption type,
click Expert Options > Encryption Type and select the new type.
The root can be changed any time later in the installed system. To do so run YaST
and start Security and Users > User Management.
3.14.2 Hostname and Domain Name

The hostname is the computer's name in the network. The domain name is the name of
the network. A hostname and domain are proposed by default. If your system is part
of a network, the hostname has to be unique in this network whereas the domain name
has to be common to all hosts on the network.
In many networks, the system receives its name over DHCP. In this case it is not nec-
essary to modify the hostname and domain name. Select Change Hostname via DHCP
instead. To be able to access your system using this hostname, even when it is not
connected to the network, select Write Hostname to /etc/hosts. If you often change
networks without restarting the desktop environment (e.g. when switching between
different WLANs), do not enable this option, because the desktop system may get
confused when the hostname in /etc/hosts changes.
To change hostname settings at any time after installation, use YaST Network Devices
> Network Card. For more information, see Section 30.4.1, “Configuring the Network
Card with YaST” (page 561).
3.14.3 Network Configuration

TIP: IBM System z: Network Configuration
For the IBM System z platforms, a working network connection is needed at

installation time to connect to the target system, the installation source, and
the YaST terminal controlling the process. The steps to set up the network are
discussed in the network configuration chapter of the Architecture-Specific In-
formation manual (Chapter 2, Preparing for Installation (↑Architecture-Specific
Information)). The IBM System z platforms only support the types of network
interfaces mentioned there (OSA Token Ring, OSA Ethernet, OSA Gigabit Eth-
ernet, OSA Express Fast Ethernet, Escon, IUCV, and OSA Express High-Speed

Token Ring). The YaST dialog simply displays the interface with its settings as
already configured. Just confirm this dialog to continue.
By default, Traditional Method without NetworkManager Applet is enabled. If desired,

you can also use NetworkManager to manage all your network devices. However, the
traditional method is the preferred option for server solutions. Find detailed information
about NetworkManager in Section 30.5, “Managing Network Connections with Net-
workManager” (page 579).
This configuration step also lets you configure the network devices of your system and
make security settings, for example, for a firewall or proxy. To configure your network
connection later, select Skip Configuration and click Next. Network hardware can also
be configured after the system installation has been completed. If you skip the network
device configuration, your system is left offline and is unable to retrieve any available
updates.
Apart from the device configuration, the following network settings can be configured
in this step:
Network Mode
Enable or disable the use of NetworkManager as described above.
Firewall
By default SuSEfirewall2 is enabled on all configured network interfaces. To
globally disable the firewall for this computer, click on disable. If the firewall is
enabled, you may open the SSH port in order to allow remote connections via secure
shell. To open the detailed firewall configuration dialog, click on Firewall. See
Section 43.4.1, “Configuring the Firewall with YaST” (page 825) for detailed infor-
mation.
IPv6
By default, the IPv6 support is enabled. To disable it, click Disable IPv6. For more
information about IPv6, see Section 30.2, “IPv6—The Next Generation Internet”
(page 549).
VNC Remote Administration

To administer your machine remotely by VNC, click Change > VNC Remote Ad-
ministration, enable remote administration, and open the port in the firewall. If you
have multiple network devices and want to select on which to open the port, click

Firewall Details and select the network device. You can also use SSH, a more secure
option, for remote administration.
Proxy
If you have a proxy server controlling the Internet access in your network, configure
the proxy URLs and authentication details in this dialog.
TIP: Resetting the Network Configuration to the Defaults
Reset the network settings to the original proposed values by clicking Change
> Reset to Defaults. This discards any changes made.
Test Internet Connection

After having configured a network connection, you can test it. For this purpose, YaST
establishes a connection to the SUSE Linux Enterprise server and downloads the latest
release notes. Read them at the end of the installation process. A successful test is also
a prerequisite for registering and updating online.
If you have multiple network interfaces, verify that the desired card is used to connect
to the Internet. If not, click Change Device.
To start the test, select Yes, Test Connection to the Internet and click Next. In the next
dialog, view the progress of the test and the results. Detailed information about the test
process is available via View Logs. If the test fails, click Back to return to the network
configuration to correct your entries.
If you do not want to test the connection at this point, select No, Skip This Test then
Next. This also skips downloading the release notes, configuring the customer center,
and updating online. These steps can be performed any time after the system has been
initially configured.
3.14.4 Novell Customer Center

Configuration
To get technical support and product updates, first register and activate your product.
Novell Customer Center Configuration provides assistance for doing so.

If you are offline or want to skip this step, select Configure Later. This also skips SUSE
Linux Enterprise online update.
In Include for Convenience, select whether to send unsolicited additional information

when registering. This simplifies the registration process. Click on Details to obtain
in-depth information about data privacy and the data collected.
Apart from activating and registering your product, this module also adds the official
update catalog to your configuration. This catalog provides fixes for known bugs or
security issues which can be installed via an online update.
To keep your catalogs valid, select Regularly Synchronize with Customer Center. This
option checks your catalogs and adds newly available catalogs or removes obsolete
ones. It does not touch manually added catalogs.
TIP: Technical Support
Find more information about the technical support at http://www.novell

.com/support/products/linuxenterpriseserver/.
3.14.5 Online Update

If the Novell Customer Center Configuration was successful, select whether to perform
a YaST online update. If there are any patched packages available on the servers,
download and install them now to fix known bugs or security issues. Directives on how
to perform an online update in the installed system are available at Section 8.3.5, “YaST
Online Update” (page 140)
IMPORTANT: Downloading Software Updates
The download of updates might take quite some time, depending on the
bandwidth of the Internet connection and the size of the update files. In case
the patch system itself is updated, the online update will restart and download
more patches after the restart. If the kernel was updated, the system will reboot
before completing the configuration.

3.14.6 Network Services
Having configured the network, a dialog opens in which to enable and configure two
important network services: a certificate authority and an OpenLDAP server. If preferred,
you can skip this configuration proposal for now. After the installation is finished,
configure and start the same services with the help of YaST.
Figure 3.6 Proposed Setup for Network Services
CA Management
The purpose of a CA (certificate authority) is to guarantee a trust relationship among
all network services communicating with each other. Without a CA, you can secure
server communications with SSL and TLS separately for each individual service.
By default, a CA is created and enabled during the installation. Find details about
the creation of a CA with YaST in Chapter 42, Managing X.509 Certification
(page 803).
OpenLDAP Server
You can run an LDAP service on your host to have a central facility manage a
range of configuration files. Typically, an LDAP server handles user account data,
but with SUSE Linux Enterprise it can also be used for mail, DHCP, and DNS data.

Find details about LDAP and its configuration with YaST in Chapter 36, LDAP—A
Directory Service (page 663).
TIP: Resetting the Service Configuration to Defaults
Restore the defaults by clicking Change > Reset to Defaults. This discards any
changes made.
3.14.7 Users
If network access was configured successfully during the previous steps of the installa-
tion, you can now choose from several user management options. If a network connection
has not been configured, create local user accounts. For detailed information about user
management, see Section 8.9.1, “User Management” (page 172)the SUSE Linux Enter-
prise Server documentation.
Local (/etc/passwd)
Users are administered locally on the installed host. This is a suitable option for
stand-alone workstations. User data is managed by the local file /etc/passwd.
All users who are entered in this file can log in to the system even if no network
is available.
If YaST found a former version of SUSE Linux Enterprise or another system using
/etc/passwd, it offers to import local users. To do so, check Read User Data
from a Previous Installation and click Choose. In the next dialog, select the users
to import and click OK.
LDAP
Users are administered centrally on an LDAP server for all systems in the network.
More information is available in Section 36.6, “Configuring an LDAP Client with
YaST” (page 684).
NIS
Users are administered centrally on a NIS server for all systems in the network.
See Section 35.2, “Configuring NIS Clients” (page 661) for more information.

Windows Domain
SMB authentication is often used in mixed Linux and Windows networks. Detailed
information is available in Section 37.6, “Samba Server in the Network with Active
Directory” (page 709).
NOTE: Content of the Authentication Menu
If you use the custom package selection and one or more authentication
methods are missing from the menu, the required packages probably are not
installed.
Along with the selected user administration method, you can use Kerberos authentication.
This is essential for integrating your SUSE Linux Enterprise to an Active Directory
domain, which is described in Section 37.6, “Samba Server in the Network with Active
Directory” (page 709). To use Kerberos authentication, select Set Up Kerberos Authen-
tication.
3.14.8 Release Notes

After completing the user authentication setup, YaST displays the release notes. Reading
them is recommended, because they contain important up-to-date information which
was not available when the manuals were printed. If you tested the Internet connection,
read the most recent version of the release notes, as fetched from SUSE Linux Enter-
prise's servers. Use Miscellaneous > Release Notes to view the release notes after instal-
lation.
3.14.9 Hardware Configuration

At the end of the installation, YaST opens a dialog for the configuration of the graphics
card and other hardware components connected to the system. Click the individual
components to start the hardware configuration. For the most part, YaST detects and
configures the devices automatically.
TIP: IBM System z: Hardware Configuration
On the IBM System z, there is no display that would be supported by XFree.

Accordingly, you do not find a Graphics Cards entry on these systems.

You can skip any peripheral devices and configure them later, as described in Section 8.4,
“Hardware” (page 146) . To skip the configuration, select Skip Configuration and click
Next.
However, you should configure the graphics card right away. Although the display
settings as configured by YaST should be generally acceptable, most users have very
strong preferences as far as resolution, color depth, and other graphics features are
concerned. To change these settings, select the respective item and set the values as
desired. To test your new configuration, click Test the Configuration.
TIP: Resetting Hardware Configuration to Defaults
You can cancel changes by clicking Change > Reset to Defaults. YaST then shows
the original proposal again.
3.14.10 Completing the Installation

After a successful installation, YaST shows the Installation Completed dialog. In this
dialog, select whether to clone your newly installed system forAutoYaST. To do so,
select Clone This System for AutoYaST. The profile of the current system is stored in
/root/autoyast.xml. Cloning is selected by default.
AutoYaST is a system for installing one or more SUSE Linux Enterprise systems auto-
matically without user intervention. AutoYaST installations are performed using a
control file with installation and configuration data. For detailed information, refer to
Chapter 5, Automated Installation (page 85). Finish the installation of SUSE Linux
Enterprise with Finish in the final dialog.
3.15 Graphical Login

TIP: IBM System z: No Graphical Login
The graphical login is not available on IBM System z platforms.
SUSE Linux Enterprise is now installed and configured. Unless you enabled the auto-
matic login function or customized the default runlevel, you should see the graphical

login on your screen in which to enter a username and password to log in to the system.
If automatic login is activated, the desktop starts automatically.

Remote Installation
SUSE Linux Enterprise® can be installed in several different ways. As well as the
4
usual media installation covered in Chapter 3, Installation with YaST (page 17), you
can choose from various network-based approaches or even take a completely hands-
off approach to the installation of SUSE Linux Enterprise.
Each method is introduced by means of two short check lists: one listing the prerequisites
for this method and the other illustrating the basic procedure. More detail is then pro-
vided for all the techniques used in these installation scenarios.
NOTE
In the following sections, the system to hold your new SUSE Linux Enterprise
installation is referred to as target system or installation target. The term instal-
lation source is used for all sources of installation data. This includes physical
media, such as CD and DVD, and network servers distributing the installation
data in your network.
4.1 Installation Scenarios for Remote

Installation
This section introduces the most common installation scenarios for remote installations.
For each scenario, carefully check the list of prerequisites and follow the procedure
outlined for this scenario. If in need of detailed instructions for a particular step, follow
the links provided for each one of them.
Remote Installation 47
IMPORTANT
The configuration of the X Window System is not part of any remote installation
process. After the installation has finished, log in to the target system as root,
enter telinit 3, and start SaX2 to configure the graphics hardware.
4.1.1 Simple Remote Installation via

VNC—Static Network Configuration
This type of installation still requires some degree of physical access to the target system
to boot for installation. The installation itself is entirely controlled by a remote worksta-
tion using VNC to connect to the installation program. User interaction is required as
with the manual installation in Chapter 3, Installation with YaST (page 17).
For this type of installation, make sure that the following requirements are met:
• Remote installation source: NFS, HTTP, FTP, or SMB with working network
connection
• Target system with working network connection
• Controlling system with working network connection and VNC viewer software
or Java-enabled browser (Firefox, Konqueror, Internet Explorer, or Opera)
• Physical boot medium (CD or DVD) for booting the target system
• Valid static IP addresses already assigned to the installation source and the control-
ling system
• Valid static IP address to assign to the target system
To perform this kind of installation, proceed as follows:
1 Set up the installation source as described in Section 4.2, “Setting Up the Server
Holding the Installation Sources” (page 56). Choose an NFS, HTTP, or FTP
network server. For an SMB installation source, refer to Section 4.2.5, “Managing
an SMB Installation Source” (page 64).

2 Boot the target system using the first CD or DVD of the SUSE Linux Enterprise
media kit.
3 When the boot screen of the target system appears, use the boot options prompt
to set the appropriate VNC options and the address of the installation source.
This is described in detail in Section 4.4, “Booting the Target System for Instal-
lation” (page 76).
The target system boots to a text-based environment, giving the network address
and display number under which the graphical installation environment can be
addressed by any VNC viewer application or browser. VNC installations announce
themselves over OpenSLP and can be found using Konqueror in service:/
or slp:/ mode.
4 On the controlling workstation, open a VNC viewing application or Web

browser and connect to the target system as described in Section 4.5.1, “VNC
Installation” (page 81).
5 Perform the installation as described in Chapter 3, Installation with YaST

(page 17). Reconnect to the target system after it reboots for the final part of the
installation.
6 Finish the installation.

VNC—Dynamic Network Configuration
to boot for installation. The network configuration is made with DHCP. The installation
itself is entirely controlled from a remote workstation using VNC to connect to the in-
staller, but still requires user interaction for the actual configuration efforts.
connection
• Physical boot medium (CD, DVD, or custom boot disk) for booting the target system
• Running DHCP server providing IP addresses
media kit.
to set the appropriate VNC options and the address of the installation source.
This is described in detail in Section 4.4, “Booting the Target System for Instal-
lation” (page 76).
and display number under which the graphical installation environment can be
addressed by any VNC viewer application or browser. VNC installations announce
themselves over OpenSLP and can be found using Konqueror in service:/
or slp:/ mode.


installation.

4.1.3 Remote Installation via VNC—PXE
Boot and Wake on LAN
This type of installation is completely hands-off. The target machine is started and
booted remotely. User interaction is only needed for the actual installation. This approach
is suitable for cross-site deployments.
To perform this type of installation, make sure that the following requirements are met:
connection
• TFTP server
• Running DHCP server for your network
• Target system capable of PXE boot, networking, and Wake on LAN, plugged in
and connected to the network
To perform this type of installation, proceed as follows:
network server or configure an SMB installation source as described in Sec-
tion 4.2.5, “Managing an SMB Installation Source” (page 64).
2 Set up a TFTP server to hold a boot image that can be pulled by the target system.
This is described in Section 4.3.2, “Setting Up a TFTP Server” (page 68).
3 Set up a DHCP server to provide IP addresses to all machines and reveal the lo-
cation of the TFTP server to the target system. This is described in Section 4.3.1,
“Setting Up a DHCP Server” (page 66).
4 Prepare the target system for PXE boot. This is described in further detail in
Section 4.3.5, “Preparing the Target System for PXE Boot” (page 75).
5 Initiate the boot process of the target system using Wake on LAN. This is de-
scribed in Section 4.3.7, “Wake on LAN” (page 75).


installation.

SSH—Static Network Configuration
to boot for installation and to determine the IP address of the installation target. The
installation itself is entirely controlled from a remote workstation using SSH to connect
to the installer. User interaction is required as with the regular installation described in
Chapter 3, Installation with YaST (page 17).
connection
• Controlling system with working network connection and working SSH client
software
• Physical boot medium (CD, DVD, or custom boot disk) for the target system
• Valid static IP addresses already assigned to the installation source and the control-
ling system
• Valid static IP address to assign to the target system

media kit.
to set the appropriate parameters for network connection, address of the installa-
tion source, and SSH enablement. This is described in detail in Section 4.4.3,
“Using Custom Boot Options” (page 78).
under which the graphical installation environment can be addressed by any SSH
client.
4 On the controlling workstation, open a terminal window and connect to the target
system as described in Section “Connecting to the Installation Program”
(page 83).

installation.

SSH—Dynamic Network Configuration
to boot for installation and determine the IP address of the installation target. The instal-
lation itself is entirely controlled from a remote workstation using VNC to connect to
the installer, but still requires user interaction for the actual configuration efforts.
connection
• Controlling system with working network connection and working SSH client
software
• Physical boot medium (CD or DVD) for booting the target system
• Running DHCP server providing IP addresses
media kit.
to pass the appropriate parameters for network connection, location of the instal-
lation source, and SSH enablement. See Section 4.4.3, “Using Custom Boot
Options” (page 78) for detailed instructions on the use of these parameters.
The target system boots to a text-based environment, giving you the network
address under which the graphical installation environment can be addressed by
any SSH client.
4 On the controlling workstation, open a terminal window and connect to the target
system as described in Section “Connecting to the Installation Program”
(page 83).

installation.

4.1.6 Remote Installation via SSH—PXE Boot
and Wake on LAN
This type of installation is completely hands-off. The target machine is started and
booted remotely.
To perform this type of installation, make sure that the following requirements are met:
connection
• TFTP server
• Running DHCP server for your network, providing a static IP to the host to install
• Target system capable of PXE boot, networking, and Wake on LAN, plugged in
and connected to the network
• Controlling system with working network connection and SSH client software
To perform this type of installation, proceed as follows:
network server. For the configuration of an SMB installation source, refer to
Section 4.2.5, “Managing an SMB Installation Source” (page 64).
2 Set up a TFTP server to hold a boot image that can be pulled by the target system.
This is described in Section 4.3.2, “Setting Up a TFTP Server” (page 68).
3 Set up a DHCP server to provide IP addresses to all machines and reveal the lo-
cation of the TFTP server to the target system. This is described in Section 4.3.1,
“Setting Up a DHCP Server” (page 66).
4 Prepare the target system for PXE boot. This is described in further detail in
Section 4.3.5, “Preparing the Target System for PXE Boot” (page 75).
5 Initiate the boot process of the target system using Wake on LAN. This is de-
scribed in Section 4.3.7, “Wake on LAN” (page 75).
6 On the controlling workstation, start an SSH client and connect to the target
system as described in Section 4.5.2, “SSH Installation” (page 83).

installation.
4.2 Setting Up the Server Holding the

Installation Sources
Depending on the operating system running on the machine to use as network installation
source for SUSE Linux Enterprise, there are several options for the server configuration.
The easiest way to set up an installation server is to use YaST on SUSE Linux Enterprise
Server 9 or 10 orSUSE Linux 9.3 and higher. On other versions of SUSE Linux Enter-
prise Server or SUSE Linux Enterprise, set up the installation source manually.
TIP
You can even use a Microsoft Windows machine as installation server for your
Linux deployment. See Section 4.2.5, “Managing an SMB Installation Source”
(page 64) for details.
4.2.1 Setting Up an Installation Server Using

YaST
YaST offers a graphical tool for creating network installation sources. It supports HTTP,
FTP, and NFS network installation servers.
1 Log in as root to the machine that should act as installation server.
2 Start YaST > Miscellaneous > Installation Server.

3 Select the server type (HTTP, FTP, or NFS). The selected server service is
started automatically every time the system starts. If a service of the selected
type is already running on your system and you want to configure it manually
for the server, deactivate the automatic configuration of the server service with
Do Not Configure Any Network Services. In both cases, define the directory in
which the installation data should be made available on the server.
4 Configure the required server type. This step relates to the automatic configuration
of server services. It is skipped when automatic configuration is deactivated.
Define an alias for the root directory of the FTP or HTTP server on which the
installation data should be found. The installation source will later be located
under ftp://Server-IP/Alias/Name (FTP) or under
http://Server-IP/Alias/Name (HTTP). Name stands for the name of
the installation source, which is defined in the following step. If you selected
NFS in the previous step, define wild cards and export options. The NFS server
will be accessible under nfs://Server-IP/Name.
TIP: Firewall Settings
Make sure that the firewall settings of your server system allow traffic
on the ports for HTTP, NFS, and FTP. If they currently do not, start the
YaST firewall module and open the respective ports.
5 Configure the installation source. Before the installation media are copied to their
destination, define the name of the installation source (ideally, an easily remem-
bered abbreviation of the product and version). YaST allows providing ISO im-
ages of the media instead of copies of the installation CDs. If you want this, acti-
vate the relevant check box and specify the directory path under which the ISO
files can be found locally. Depending on the product to distribute using this in-
stallation server, it might be that more add-on CDs or service pack CDs are re-
quired and should be added as extra installation sources. To announce your in-
stallation server in the network via OpenSLP, activate the appropriate option.
TIP
Consider announcing your installation source via OpenSLP if your network

setup supports this option. This saves you from entering the network in-
stallation path on every target machine. The target systems are just
booted using the SLP boot option and find the network installation source
without any further configuration. For details on this option, refer to
Section 4.4, “Booting the Target System for Installation” (page 76).
6 Upload the installation data. The most lengthy step in configuring an installation
server is copying the actual installation CDs. Insert the media in the sequence
requested by YaST and wait for the copying procedure to end. When the sources
have been fully copied, return to the overview of existing information sources
and close the configuration by selecting Finish.
Your installation server is now fully configured and ready for service. It is auto-
matically started every time the system is started. No further intervention is re-
quired. You only need to configure and start this service correctly by hand if you
have deactivated the automatic configuration of the selected network service
with YaST as an initial step.
To deactivate an installation source, select the installation source to remove then select
Delete. The installation data are removed from the system. To deactivate the network
service, use the respective YaST module.
If your installation server should provide the installation data for more than one product
of product version, start the YaST installation server module and select Add in the
overview of existing installation sources to configure the new installation source.
4.2.2 Setting Up an NFS Installation Source

Manually
Setting up an NFS source for installation is basically done in two steps. In the first step,
create the directory structure holding the installation data and copy the installation
media over to this structure. Second, export the directory holding the installation data
to the network.

To create a directory holding the installation data, proceed as follows:
1 Log in as root.
2 Create a directory that should later hold all installation data and change into this
directory. For example:
mkdir install/product/productversion
cd install/product/productversion
Replace product with an abbreviation of the product name and

productversion with a string that contains the product name and version.
3 For each CD contained in the media kit execute the following commands:
3a Copy the entire content of the installation CD into the installation server di-
rectory:
cp -a /media/path_to_your_CD-ROM_drive .
Replace path_to_your_CD-ROM_drive with the actual path under

which your CD or DVD drive is addressed. Depending on the type of drive
used in your system, this can be cdrom, cdrecorder, dvd, or
dvdrecorder.
3b Rename the directory to the CD number:

mv path_to_your_CD-ROM_drive CDx
Replace x with the actual number of your CD.
On SUSE Linux Enterprise Server, you can export the installation sources with NFS
using YaST. Proceed as follows:
1 Log in as root.
2 Start YaST > Network Services > NFS Server.
3 Select Start and Open Port in Firewall and click Next.
4 Select Add Directory and browse for the directory containing the installation
sources, in this case, productversion.
5 Select Add Host and enter the hostnames of the machines to which to export the
installation data. Instead of specifying hostnames here, you could also use wild
cards, ranges of network addresses, or just the domain name of your network.
Enter the appropriate export options or leave the default, which works fine in
most setups. For more information about the syntax used in exporting NFS shares,
read the exports man page.
6 Click Finish. The NFS server holding the SUSE Linux Enterprise installation
sources is automatically started and integrated into the boot process.
If you prefer manually exporting the installation sources via NFS instead of using the
YaST NFS Server module, proceed as follows:
1 Log in as root.
2 Open the file /etc/exports and enter the following line:

/productversion *(ro,root_squash,sync)
This exports the directory //productversion to any host that is part of this
network or to any host that can connect to this server. To limit the access to this
server, use netmasks or domain names instead of the general wild card *. Refer
to the export man page for details. Save and exit this configuration file.
3 To add the NFS service to the list of servers started during system boot, execute
the following commands:
insserv /etc/init.d/nfsserver
insserv /etc/init.d/portmap
4 Start the NFS server with rcnfsserver start. If you need to change the
configuration of your NFS server later, modify the configuration file and restart
the NFS daemon with rcnfsserver restart.
Announcing the NFS server via OpenSLP makes its address known to all clients in
your network.
1 Log in as root.
2 Enter the directory /etc/slp.reg.d/.

3 Create a configuration file called install.suse.nfs.reg containing the
following lines:
# Register the NFS Installation Server

service:install.suse:nfs://$HOSTNAME/path_to_instsource/CD1,en,65535
description=NFS Installation Source
Replace path_to_instsource with the actual path to the installation source

on your server.
4 Save this configuration file and start the OpenSLP daemon with rcslpd start.
For more information about OpenSLP, refer to the package documentation located under
/usr/share/doc/packages/openslp/ or refer to Chapter 31, SLP Services
in the Network (page 601).
4.2.3 Setting Up an FTP Installation Source

Manually
Creating an FTP installation source is very similar to creating an NFS installation source.
FTP installation sources can be announced over the network using OpenSLP as well.
1 Create a directory holding the installation sources as described in Section 4.2.2,

“Setting Up an NFS Installation Source Manually” (page 58).
2 Configure the FTP server to distribute the contents of your installation directory:
2a Log in as root and install the package vsftpd using the YaST package
manager.
2b Enter the FTP server root directory:

cd /srv/ftp
2c Create a subdirectory holding the installation sources in the FTP root direc-
tory:
mkdir instsource
Replace instsource with the product name.
2d Mount the contents of the installation repository into the change root envi-
ronment of the FTP server:
mount --bind path_to_instsource /srv/ftp/instsource
Replace path_to_instsource and instsource with values matching

your setup. If you need to make this permanent, add it to /etc/fstab.
2e Start vsftpd with vsftpd.
3 Announce the installation source via OpenSLP, if this is supported by your net-
work setup:
3a Create a configuration file called install.suse.ftp.reg under /etc/

slp.reg.d/ that contains the following lines:
# Register the FTP Installation Server

service:install.suse:ftp://$HOSTNAME/srv/ftp/instsource/CD1,en,65535
description=FTP Installation Source
Replace instsource with the actual name to the installation source direc-
tory on your server. The service: line should be entered as one continuous
line.
3b Save this configuration file and start the OpenSLP daemon with rcslpd
start.
4.2.4 Setting Up an HTTP Installation Source

Manually
Creating an HTTP installation source is very similar to creating an NFS installation
source. HTTP installation sources can be announced over the network using OpenSLP
as well.
1 Create a directory holding the installation sources as described in Section 4.2.2,

“Setting Up an NFS Installation Source Manually” (page 58).

2 Configure the HTTP server to distribute the contents of your installation directory:
2a Install the Web server Apache as described in Section 40.1.2, “Installation”

(page 742).
2b Enter the root directory of the HTTP server (/srv/www/htdocs) and

create a subdirectory that will hold the installation sources:
mkdir instsource
Replace instsource with the product name.
2c Create a symbolic link from the location of the installation sources to the
root directory of the Web server (/srv/www/htdocs):
ln -s /path_instsource /srv/www/htdocs/instsource
2d Modify the configuration file of the HTTP server (/etc/apache2/

default-server.conf) to make it follow symbolic links. Replace the
following line:
Options None
with
Options Indexes FollowSymLinks
2e Reload the HTTP server configuration using rcapache2 reload.
3 Announce the installation source via OpenSLP, if this is supported by your net-
work setup:
3a Create a configuration file called install.suse.http.reg under

/etc/slp.reg.d/ that contains the following lines:
# Register the HTTP Installation Server

service:install.suse:http://$HOSTNAME/srv/www/htdocs/instsource/CD1/,en,65535
description=HTTP Installation Source
Replace instsource with the actual path to the installation source on

your server. The service: line should be entered as one continuous line.
3b Save this configuration file and start the OpenSLP daemon using rcslpd
restart.
4.2.5 Managing an SMB Installation Source

Using SMB, you can import the installation sources from a Microsoft Windows server
and start your Linux deployment even with no Linux machine around.
To set up an exported Windows Share holding your SUSE Linux Enterprise installation
sources, proceed as follows:
1 Log in to your Windows machine.
2 Start Explorer and create a new folder that will hold the entire installation tree
and name it INSTALL, for example.
3 Export this share according the procedure outlined in your Windows documenta-
tion.
4 Enter this share and create a subfolder, called product. Replace product
with the actual product name.
5 Enter the INSTALL/product folder and copy each CD or DVD to a separate

folder, such as CD1 and CD2.
To use a SMB mounted share as installation source, proceed as follows:
1 Boot the installation target.
2 Select Installation.
3 Press F4 for a selection of installation sources.
4 Choose SMB and enter the Windows machine's name or IP address, the share
name (INSTALL/product/CD1, in this example), username, and password.
After you hit Enter, YaST starts and you can perform the installation.

4.2.6 Using ISO Images of the Installation
Media on the Server
Instead of copying physical media into your server directory manually, you can also
mount the ISO images of the installation media into your installation server and use
them as installation source. To set up an HTTP, NFS or FTP server that uses ISO images
instead of media copies, proceed as follows:
1 Download the ISO images and save them to the machine to use as the installation
server.
2 Log in as root.
3 Choose and create an appropriate location for the installation data, as described
in Section 4.2.2, “Setting Up an NFS Installation Source Manually” (page 58),
Section 4.2.3, “Setting Up an FTP Installation Source Manually” (page 61), or
Section 4.2.4, “Setting Up an HTTP Installation Source Manually” (page 62).
4 Create subdirectories for each CD or DVD.
5 To mount and unpack each ISO image to the final location, issue the following
command:
mount -o loop path_to_iso path_to_instsource/product/mediumx
Replace path_to_iso with the path to your local copy of the ISO image,
path_to_instsource with the source directory of your server, product
with the product name, and mediumx with the type (CD or DVD) and number
of media you are using.
6 Repeat the previous step to mount all ISO images needed for your product.
7 Start your installation server as usual, as described in Section 4.2.2, “Setting Up

an NFS Installation Source Manually” (page 58), Section 4.2.3, “Setting Up an
FTP Installation Source Manually” (page 61), or Section 4.2.4, “Setting Up an
HTTP Installation Source Manually” (page 62).
4.3 Preparing the Boot of the Target
System
This section covers the configuration tasks needed in complex boot scenarios. It contains
ready-to-apply configuration examples for DHCP, PXE boot, TFTP, and Wake on
LAN.
4.3.1 Setting Up a DHCP Server

There are two ways to set up a DHCP server. For SUSE Linux Enterprise Server 9 and
higher, YaST provides a graphical interface to the process. Users of any other SUSE
Linux-based products and non-SUSE Linux users should manually edit the configuration
files or use the front-end provided by their operating system vendors.
Setting Up a DHCP Server with YaST

To announce the TFTP server's location to the network clients and specify the boot
image file the installation target should use, add two declarations to your DHCP server
configuration.
1 Log in as root to the machine hosting the DHCP server.
2 Start YaST > Network Services > DHCP Server.
3 Complete the setup wizard for basic DHCP server setup.
4 Select Expert Settings and select Yes when warned about leaving the start-up di-
alog.
5 In the Configured Declarations dialog, select the subnet in which the new system
should be located and click Edit.
6 In the Subnet Configuration dialog select Add to add a new option to the subnet's
configuration.
7 Select filename and enter pxelinux.0 as the value.

8 Add another option (next-server) and set its value to the address of the TFTP
server.
9 Select OK and Finish to complete the DHCP server configuration.
To configure DHCP to provide a static IP address to a specific host, enter the Expert
Settings of the DHCP server configuration module (Step 4 (page 66)) and add a new
declaration of the host type. Add the options hardware and fixed-address to
this host declaration and provide the appropriate values.
Setting Up a DHCP Server Manually

All the DHCP server needs to do, apart from providing automatic address allocation to
your network clients, is to announce the IP address of the TFTP server and the file that
should be pulled in by the installation routines on the target machine.
1 Log in as root to the machine hosting the DHCP server.
2 Append the following lines to your DHCP server's configuration file located
under /etc/dhcpd.conf:
group {
# PXE related stuff
#
# "next server" defines the tftp server that will be used
next server ip_tftp_server:
#
# "filename" specifies the pxelinux image on the tftp server
# the server runs in chroot under /srv/tftpboot
filename "pxelinux.0";
}
Replace ip_of_the_tftp_server with the actual IP address of the TFTP

server. For more information about the options available in dhcpd.conf, refer
to the dhcpd.conf manual page.
3 Restart the DHCP server by executing rcdhcpd restart.
If you plan on using SSH for the remote control of a PXE and Wake on LAN installation,
explicitly specify the IP address DHCP should provide to the installation target. To
achieve this, modify the above-mentioned DHCP configuration according to the follow-
ing example:
group {
# PXE related stuff
#
# "next server" defines the tftp server that will be used
next server ip_tftp_server:
#
# "filename" specifies the pxelinux image on the tftp server
# the server runs in chroot under /srv/tftpboot
filename "pxelinux.0";
host test { hardware ethernet mac_address;
fixed-address some_ip_address; }
}
The host statement introduces the hostname of the installation target. To bind the
hostname and IP address to a specific host, you must know and specify the system's
hardware (MAC) address. Replace all the variables used in this example with the actual
values that match your environment.
After restarting the DHCP server, it provides a static IP to the host specified, enabling
you to connect to the system via SSH.
4.3.2 Setting Up a TFTP Server

Set up a TFTP server with YaST on SUSE Linux Enterprise Server and SUSE Linux
Enterprise or set it up manually on any other Linux operating system that supports
xinetd and tftp. The TFTP server delivers the boot image to the target system once it
boots and sends a request for it.
Setting Up a TFTP Server Using YaST

1 Log in as root.
2 Start YaST > Network Services > TFTP Server and install the requested package.
3 Click Enable to make sure that the server is started and included in the boot
routines. No further action from your side is required to secure this. xinetd starts
tftpd at boot time.
4 Click Open Port in Firewall to open the appropriate port in the firewall running
on your machine. If there is no firewall running on your server, this option is not
available.

5 Click Browse to browse for the boot image directory. The default directory
/tftpboot is created and selected automatically.
6 Click Finish to apply your settings and start the server.
Setting Up a TFTP Server Manually

1 Log in as root and install the packages tftp and xinetd.
2 If unavailable, create /srv/tftpboot and /srv/tftpboot/pxelinux

.cfg directories.
3 Add the appropriate files needed for the boot image as described in Section 4.3.3,
“Using PXE Boot” (page 70).
4 Modify the configuration of xinetd located under /etc/xinetd.d/ to make

sure that the TFTP server is started on boot:
4a If it does not exist, create a file called tftp under this directory with touch
tftp. Then run chmod 755 tftp.
4b Open the file tftp and add the following lines:
service tftp
{
socket_type = dgram
protocol = udp
wait = yes
user = root
server = /usr/sbin/in.tftpd
server_args = -s /srv/tftpboot
disable = no
}
4c Save the file and restart xinetd with rcxinetd restart.
4.3.3 Using PXE Boot
Some technical background information as well as PXE's complete specifications are
available in the Preboot Execution Environment (PXE) Specification (http://www
.pix.net/software/pxeboot/archive/pxespec.pdf).
1 Change to the directory of your installation repository and copy the linux,
initrd, message, and memtest files to the /srv/tftpboot directory
by entering the following:
cp -a boot/loader/linux boot/loader/initrd
boot/loader/message boot/loader/memtest /srv/tftpboot
2 Install the syslinux package directly from your installation CDs or DVDs
with YaST.
3 Copy the /usr/share/syslinux/pxelinux.0 file to the /srv/

tftpboot directory by entering the following:
cp -a /usr/share/syslinux/pxelinux.0 /srv/tftpboot
4 Change to the directory of your installation repository and copy the isolinux
.cfg file to /srv/tftpboot/pxelinux.cfg/default by entering the
following:
cp -a boot/loader/isolinux.cfg /srv/tftpboot/pxelinux.cfg/default
5 Edit the /srv/tftpboot/pxelinux.cfg/default file and remove the

lines beginning with gfxboot, readinfo, and framebuffer.
6 Insert the following entries in the append lines of the default failsafe and
apic labels:
insmod=kernel module
By means of this entry, enter the network kernel module needed to support
network installation on the PXE client. Replace kernel module with the
appropriate module name for your network device.

netdevice=interface
This entry defines the client's network interface that must be used for the
network installation. It is only necessary if the client is equipped with several
network cards and must be adapted accordingly. In case of a single network
card, this entry can be omitted.
install=nfs://ip_instserver/path_instsource/CD1
This entry defines the NFS server and the installation source for the client
installation. Replace ip_instserver with the actual IP address of your
installation server. path_instsource should be replaced with the actual
path to the installation sources. HTTP, FTP, or SMB sources are addressed
in a similar manner, except for the protocol prefix, which should read http,
ftp, or smb.
IMPORTANT
If you need to pass other boot options to the installation routines,

such as SSH or VNC boot parameters, append them to the install
entry. An overview of parameters and some examples are given in
Section 4.4, “Booting the Target System for Installation” (page 76).
An example /srv/tftpboot/pxelinux.cfg/default file follows.

Adjust the protocol prefix for the installation source to match your network setup
and specify your preferred method of connecting to the installer by adding the
vnc and vncpassword or the usessh and sshpassword options to the
install entry. The lines separated by \ must be entered as one continuous
line without a line break and without the \.
default linux
# default
label linux
kernel linux
append initrd=initrd ramdisk_size=65536 insmod=e100 \
install=nfs://ip_instserver/path_instsource/product/CD1
# failsafe
label failsafe
kernel linux
append initrd=initrd ramdisk_size=65536 ide=nodma apm=off acpi=off \
insmod=e100 install=nfs://ip_instserver/path_instsource/product/CD1
# apic
label apic
kernel linux
append initrd=initrd ramdisk_size=65536 apic insmod=e100 \
install=nfs://ip_instserver/path_instsource/product/CD1
# manual
label manual
kernel linux
append initrd=initrd ramdisk_size=65536 manual=1
# rescue
label rescue
kernel linux
append initrd=initrd ramdisk_size=65536 rescue=1
# memory test
label memtest
kernel memtest
# hard disk
label harddisk
localboot 0
implicit 0
display message
prompt 1
timeout 100
Replace ip_instserver and path_instsource with the values used in

your setup.
The following section serves as a short reference to the PXELINUX options used
in this setup. Find more information about the options available in the documen-
tation of the syslinux package located under /usr/share/doc/
packages/syslinux/.
4.3.4 PXELINUX Configuration Options

The options listed here are a subset of all the options available for the PXELINUX
configuration file.
DEFAULT kernel options...

Sets the default kernel command line. If PXELINUX boots automatically, it acts
as if the entries after DEFAULT had been typed in at the boot prompt, except the
auto option is automatically added, indicating an automatic boot.

If no configuration file is present or no DEFAULT entry is present in the configu-
ration file, the default is the kernel name “linux” with no options.
APPEND options...
Add one or more options to the kernel command line. These are added for both
automatic and manual boots. The options are added at the very beginning of the
kernel command line, usually permitting explicitly entered kernel options to override
them.
LABEL label KERNEL image APPEND options...

Indicates that if label is entered as the kernel to boot, PXELINUX should instead
boot image and the specified APPEND options should be used instead of the ones
specified in the global section of the file (before the first LABEL command). The
default for image is the same as label and, if no APPEND is given, the default
is to use the global entry (if any). Up to 128 LABEL entries are permitted.
Note that GRUB uses the following syntax:
title mytitle
kernel my_kernel my_kernel_options
initrd myinitrd
PXELINUX uses the following syntax:
label mylabel
kernel mykernel
append myoptions
Labels are mangled as if they were filenames and they must be unique after man-
gling. For example, the two labels “v2.1.30” and “v2.1.31” would not be distin-
guishable under PXELINUX because both mangle to the same DOS filename.
The kernel does not have to be a Linux kernel; it can be a boot sector or a COM-
BOOT file.
APPEND -
Append nothing. APPEND with a single hyphen as argument in a LABEL section
can be used to override a global APPEND.
LOCALBOOT type
On PXELINUX, specifying LOCALBOOT 0 instead of a KERNEL option means
invoking this particular label and causes a local disk boot instead of a kernel boot.
Argument Description
0 Perform a normal boot
4 Perform a local boot with the Universal

Network Driver Interface (UNDI) driver still
resident in memory
5 Perform a local boot with the entire PXE

stack, including the UNDI driver, still resi-
dent in memory
All other values are undefined. If you do not know what the UNDI or PXE stacks
are, specify 0.
TIMEOUT time-out
Indicates how long to wait at the boot prompt until booting automatically, in units
of 1/10 second. The time-out is canceled as soon as the user types anything on the
keyboard, assuming the user will complete the command begun. A time-out of zero
disables the time-out completely (this is also the default). The maximum possible
time-out value is 35996 (just less than one hour).
PROMPT flag_val
If flag_val is 0, displays the boot prompt only if Shift or Alt is pressed or Caps
Lock or Scroll Lock is set (this is the default). If flag_val is 1, always displays
the boot prompt.
F2 filename
F1 filename
..etc...
F9 filename
F10 filename
Displays the indicated file on the screen when a function key is pressed at the boot
prompt. This can be used to implement preboot online help (presumably for the
kernel command line options). For backward compatibility with earlier releases,

F10 can be also entered as F0. Note that there is currently no way to bind filenames
to F11 and F12.
4.3.5 Preparing the Target System for PXE

Boot
Prepare the system's BIOS for PXE boot by including the PXE option in the BIOS boot
order.
WARNING: BIOS Boot Order
Do not place the PXE option ahead of the hard disk boot option in the BIOS.
Otherwise this system would try to reinstall itself every time you boot it.
4.3.6 Preparing the Target System for Wake

on LAN
Wake on LAN (WOL) requires the appropriate BIOS option to be enabled prior to the
installation. Also, note down the MAC address of the target system. This data is needed
to initiate Wake on LAN.
4.3.7 Wake on LAN

Wake on LAN allows a machine to be turned on by a special network packet containing
the machine's MAC address. Because every machine in the world has a unique MAC
identifier, you do not need to worry about accidentally turning on the wrong machine.
IMPORTANT: Wake on LAN across Different Network Segments
If the controlling machine is not located in the same network segment as the
installation target that should be awakened, either configure the WOL requests
to be sent as multicasts or remotely control a machine on that network segment
to act as the sender of these requests.
Users of SUSE Linux Enterprise Server 9 and higher can use a YaST module called
WOL to easily configure Wake on LAN. Users of other versions of SUSE Linux-based
operating systems can use a command line tool.
4.3.8 Wake on LAN with YaST

1 Log in as root.
2 Start YaST > Network Services > WOL.
3 Click Add and enter the hostname and MAC address of the target system.
4 To turn on this machine, select the appropriate entry and click Wake up.
4.3.9 Manual Wake on LAN

1 Log in as root.
2 Start YaST > Software Management and install the package netdiag.
3 Open a terminal and enter the following command as root to wake the target:
ether-wake mac_of_target
Replace mac_of_target with the actual MAC address of the target.
4.4 Booting the Target System for

Installation
Basically, there are two different ways to customize the boot process for installation
apart from those mentioned under Section 4.3.7, “Wake on LAN” (page 75) and Sec-
tion 4.3.3, “Using PXE Boot” (page 70). You can either use the default boot options
and function keys or use the boot options prompt of the installation boot screen to pass
any boot options that the installation kernel might need on this particular hardware.

4.4.1 Using the Default Boot Options
The boot options are described in detail in Chapter 3, Installation with YaST (page 17).
Generally, just selecting Installation starts the installation boot process.
If problems occur, use Installation—ACPI Disabled or Installation—Safe Settings. For

more information about troubleshooting the installation process, refer to Section 51.2,
“Installation Problems” (page 912).
4.4.2 Using the F Keys

The menu bar at the bottom screen offers some advanced functionality needed in some
setups. Using the F keys, you can specify additional options to pass to the installation
routines without having to know the detailed syntax of these parameters (see Sec-
tion 4.4.3, “Using Custom Boot Options” (page 78)).
See the table below for a complete set of the options available.
Table 4.1 F Keys During Installation
Key Purpose Available Options Default Value
F1 Provide help None None
F2 Select the installation All supported languages English

language
F3 Change screen resolu- • Text mode • Default value

tion for installation depends on
• VESA your graphics
hardware
• resolution #1
• resolution #2
• ...
Key Purpose Available Options Default Value
F4 Select the installation • CD-ROM or DVD CD-ROM or DVD

source
• SLP
• FTP
• HTTP
• NFS
• SMB
• Hard Disk
F5 Apply driver update Driver None

disk
4.4.3 Using Custom Boot Options

Using the appropriate set of boot options helps facilitate your installation procedure.
Many parameters can also be configured later using the linuxrc routines, but using the
boot options is easier. In some automated setups, the boot options can be provided with
initrd or an info file.
The following table lists all installation scenarios mentioned in this chapter with the
required parameters for booting and the corresponding boot options. Just append all of
them in the order they appear in this table to get one boot option string that is handed
to the installation routines. For example (all in one line):
install=... netdevice=... hostip=...netmask=... vnc=... vncpassword=...
Replace all the values (...) in this string with the values appropriate for your setup.

Table 4.2 Installation (Boot) Scenarios Used in This Chapter
Installation Scenario Parameters Needed Boot Options

for Booting
Chapter 3, Installation None: system boots au- None needed

with YaST (page 17) tomatically
Section 4.1.1, “Simple • Location of the in- • install=(nfs,http,

Remote Installation via stallation server ftp,smb):///path
VNC—Static Network • Network device _to_instmedia
Configuration” (page 48) • IP address • netdevice=some
• Netmask _netdevice (only need-
• Gateway ed if several network de-
• VNC enablement vices are available)
• VNC password • hostip=some_ip
• netmask=some
_netmask
• gateway=ip_gateway
• vnc=1
• vncpassword=some
_password

VNC—Dynamic Net- • VNC enablement _to_instmedia
work Configuration” • VNC password • vnc=1
(page 49) • vncpassword=some
_password
Section 4.1.3, “Remote • Location of the in- Not applicable; process man-
Installation via stallation server aged through PXE and DHCP
VNC—PXE Boot and • Location of the
Wake on LAN” TFTP server
(page 51) • VNC enablement
• VNC password
Installation Scenario Parameters Needed Boot Options
for Booting

SSH—Static Network • Network device _to_instmedia
Configuration” (page 52) • IP address • netdevice=some
• Netmask _netdevice (only need-
• Gateway ed if several network de-
• SSH enablement vices are available)
• SSH password • hostip=some_ip
• netmask=some
_netmask
• gateway=ip_gateway
• usessh=1
• sshpassword=some
_password

SSH—Dynamic Network • SSH enablement _to_instmedia
Configuration” (page 53) • SSH password • usessh=1
• sshpassword=some
_password
Section 4.1.6, “Remote • Location of the in- Not applicable; process man-
Installation via stallation server aged through PXE and DHCP
SSH—PXE Boot and • Location of the
Wake on LAN” TFTP server
(page 55) • SSH enablement
• SSH password

TIP: More Information about linuxrc Boot Options
Find more information about the linuxrc boot options used for booting a Linux
system in /usr/share/doc/packages/linuxrc/linuxrc.html.
4.5 Monitoring the Installation

Process
There are several options for remotely monitoring the installation process. If the proper
boot options have been specified while booting for installation, either VNC or SSH can
be used to control the installation and system configuration from a remote workstation.
4.5.1 VNC Installation

Using any VNC viewer software, you can remotely control the installation of SUSE
Linux Enterprise from virtually any operating system. This section introduces the setup
using a VNC viewer application or a Web browser.
Preparing for VNC Installation

All you need to do on the installation target to prepare for a VNC installation is to
provide the appropriate boot options at the initial boot for installation (see Section 4.4.3,
“Using Custom Boot Options” (page 78)). The target system boots into a text-based
environment and waits for a VNC client to connect to the installation program.
The installation program announces the IP address and display number needed to connect
for installation. If you have physical access to the target system, this information is
provided right after the system booted for installation. Enter this data when your VNC
client software prompts for it and provide your VNC password.
Because the installation target announces itself via OpenSLP, you can retrieve the address
information of the installation target via an SLP browser without the need for any
physical contact to the installation itself provided your network setup and all machines
support OpenSLP:
1 Start the KDE file and Web browser Konqueror.
2 Enter service://yast.installation.suse in the location bar. The

target system then appears as an icon in the Konqueror screen. Clicking this icon
launches the KDE VNC viewer in which to perform the installation. Alternatively,
run your VNC viewer software with the IP address provided and add :1 at the
end of the IP address for the display the installation is running on.
Connecting to the Installation Program

Basically, there are two ways to connect to a VNC server (the installation target in this
case). You can either start an independent VNC viewer application on any operating
system or connect using a Java-enabled Web browser.
Using VNC, you can control the installation of a Linux system from any other operating
system, including other Linux flavors, Windows, or Mac OS.
On a Linux machine, make sure that the package tightvnc is installed. On a Windows
machine, install the Windows port of this application, which can be obtained at the
TightVNC home page (http://www.tightvnc.com/download.html).
To connect to the installation program running on the target machine, proceed as

follows:
1 Start the VNC viewer.
2 Enter the IP address and display number of the installation target as provided by
the SLP browser or the installation program itself:
ip_address:display_number
A window opens on your desktop displaying the YaST screens as in a normal

local installation.
Using a Web browser to connect to the installation program makes you totally indepen-
dent of any VNC software or the underlying operating system. As long as the browser
application has Java support enabled, you can use any browser (Firefox, Internet Ex-
plorer, Konqueror, Opera, etc.) to perform the installation of your Linux system.
To perform a VNC installation, proceed as follows:

1 Launch your preferred Web browser.
2 Enter the following at the address prompt:

http://ip_address_of_target:5801
3 Enter your VNC password when prompted to do so. The browser window now
displays the YaST screens as in a normal local installation.
4.5.2 SSH Installation

Using SSH, you can remotely control the installation of your Linux machine using any
SSH client software.
Preparing for SSH Installation

Apart from installing the appropriate software package (OpenSSH for Linux and PuTTY
for Windows), you just need to pass the appropriate boot options to enable SSH for
installation. See Section 4.4.3, “Using Custom Boot Options” (page 78) for details.
OpenSSH is installed by default on any SUSE Linux–based operating system.
Connecting to the Installation Program

1 Retrieve the installation target's IP address. If you have physical access to the
target machine, just take the IP address the installation routine provides at the
console after the initial boot. Otherwise take the IP address that has been assigned
to this particular host in the DHCP server configuration.
2 At a command line, enter the following command:

ssh -X root@ip_address_of_target
Replace ip_address_of_target with the actual IP address of the installation

target.
3 When prompted for a username, enter root.
4 When prompted for the password, enter the password that has been set with the
SSH boot option. After you have successfully authenticated, a command line
prompt for the installation target appears.
5 Enter yast to launch the installation program. A window opens showing the
normal YaST screens as described in Chapter 3, Installation with YaST (page 17).

Automated Installation
AutoYaST allows you to install SUSE® Linux Enterprise on a large number of machines
5
in parallel. The AutoYaST technology offers great flexibility to adjust deployments to
heterogeneous hardware. This chapter tells you how to prepare a simple automated in-
stallation and lay out an advanced scenario involving different hardware types and in-
stallation purposes.
5.1 Simple Mass Installation

IMPORTANT: Identical Hardware
This scenario assumes you are rolling out SUSE Linux Enterprise to a set of
machines with exactly the same hardware configuration.
To prepare for an AutoYaST mass installation, proceed as follows:
1 Create an AutoYaST profile that contains the installation details needed for your
deployment as described in Section 5.1.1, “Creating an AutoYaST Profile”
(page 86).
2 Determine the source of the AutoYaST profile and the parameter to pass to the
installation routines as described in Section 5.1.2, “Distributing the Profile and
Determining the autoyast Parameter” (page 88).
3 Determine the source of the SUSE Linux Enterprise installation data as described
in Section 5.1.3, “Providing the Installation Data” (page 91).
Automated Installation 85
4 Determine and set up the boot scenario for autoinstallation as described in Sec-
tion 5.1.4, “Setting Up the Boot Scenario” (page 91).
5 Pass the command line to the installation routines by adding the parameters
manually or by creating an info file as described in Section 5.1.5, “Creating
the info File” (page 93).
6 Start the autoinstallation process as described in Section 5.1.6, “Initiating and

Monitoring the Autoinstallation” (page 96).
5.1.1 Creating an AutoYaST Profile

An AutoYaST profile tells AutoYaST what to install and how to configure the installed
system to get a completely ready-to-use system in the end. It can be created in several
different ways:
• Clone a fresh installation from a reference machine to a set of identical machines
• Use the AutoYaST GUI to create and modify a profile to meet your requirements
• Use an XML editor and create a profile from scratch
To clone a fresh reference installation, proceed as follows:
1 Perform a normal installation.
2 After you complete the hardware configuration and read the release notes, check
Clone This Installation for AutoYaST, if it is not yet checked by default. This
creates a ready-to-use profile as /root/autoinst.xml that can be used to
create clones of this particular installation.
To use the AutoYaST GUI to create a profile from an existing system configuration
and modify it to your needs, proceed as follows:
1 As root, start YaST.
2 Select Miscellaneous > Autoinstallation to start the graphical AutoYaST front-

end.

3 Select Tools > Create Reference Control File to prepare AutoYaST to mirror the
current system configuration into an AutoYaST profile.
4 As well as the default resources, like boot loader, partitioning, and software se-
lection, you can add various other aspects of your system to the profile by
checking the items in the list in Create a Reference Control File.
5 Click Create to have YaST gather all the system information and write it to a
new profile.
6 To proceed, choose one of the following:
• If the profile is complete and matches your requirements, select File > Save
as and enter a filename for the profile, such as autoinst.xml.
• Modify the reference profile by selecting the appropriate configuration aspects

(such as “Hardware/Printer”) from the tree view to the left and clicking
Configure. The respective YaST module starts but your settings are written
to the AutoYaST profile instead of applied to your system. When done, select
File > Save as and enter a suitable name for the profile.
7 Leave the AutoYaST module with File > Exit.
Figure 5.1 Editing an AutoYaST Profile with the AutoYaST Front-End
5.1.2 Distributing the Profile and

Determining the autoyast Parameter
The AutoYaST profile can be distributed in several different ways. Depending on the
protocol used to distribute the profile data, different AutoYaST parameters are used to
make the profile location known to the installation routines on the client. The location
of the profile is passed to the installation routines by means of the boot prompt or an
info file that is loaded upon boot. The following options are available:
Profile Lo- Parameter Description

cation
File autoyast=file:// Makes the installation routines look for

/path the control file in specified path (relative
to source root directory—file:///
autoinst.xml if in the top directory
of a CD-ROM).

Profile Lo- Parameter Description
cation
Device autoyast=device:// Makes the installation routines look for

/path the control file on a storage device. Only
the device name is needed—/dev/sda1
is wrong, use sda1 instead.
Floppy autoyast=floppy:// Makes the installation routines look for

/path the control file on a floppy in the floppy
drive. This option is especially useful, if
you want to boot from CD-ROM.
If a control file cannot be retrieved from

the floppy disk, AutoYaST automatically
scans any USB device attached to your
machine.
USB autoyast=usb:// This option triggers a search for the con-

(Flash) /path trol file on any USB attached device.
Disk
NFS autoyast=nfs:// Has the installation routines retrieve the

/server/path control file from an NFS server.
HTTP autoyast=http:// Has the installation routines retrieve the

/server/path control file from an HTTP server.
HTTPS autoyast=https:// Has the installation routines retrieve the

/server/path control file from an HTTPS server.
TFTP autoyast=tftp:// Has the installation routines retrieve the

/server/path control file from a TFTP server.
FTP autoyast=ftp:// Has the installation routines retrieve the

/server/path control file from an FTP server.
Replace the server and path placeholders with values matching your actual setup.
AutoYaST includes a feature that allows binding certain profiles to the client's MAC
address. Without having to alter the autoyast= parameter, you can have the same
setup install several different instances using different profiles.
To use this, proceed as follows:
1 Create separate profiles with the MAC address of the client as the filename and
put them on the HTTP server that holds your AutoYaST profiles.
2 Omit the exact path including the filename when creating the autoyast= pa-
rameter, for example:
autoyast=http://192.0.2.91/
3 Start the autoinstallation.
YaST tries to determine the location of the profile in the following way:
1. YaST searches for the profile using its own IP address in uppercase hexadecimal,
for example, 192.0.2.91 is C000025B.
2. If this file is not found, YaST removes one hex digit and tries again. This action
is repeated eight times until the file with the correct name is found.
3. If that still fails, it tries looking for a file with the MAC address of the clients as
the filename. The MAC address of the example client is 0080C8F6484C.
4. If the MAC address–named file cannot be found, YaST searches for a file named
default (in lowercase). An example sequence of addresses where YaST
searches for the AutoYaST profile looks as follows:
C000025B
C000025
C00002
C0000
C000
C00
C0
C
0080C8F6484C
default

5.1.3 Providing the Installation Data
The installation data can be provided by means of the product CDs or DVDs or using
a network installation source. If the product CDs are used as the installation source,
physical access to the client to install is needed, because the boot process needs to be
initiated manually and the CDs need to be changed.
To provide the installation sources over the network, set up a network installation
server (HTTP, NFS, FTP) as described in Section 4.2.1, “Setting Up an Installation
Server Using YaST” (page 56). Use an info file to pass the server's location to the
installation routines.
5.1.4 Setting Up the Boot Scenario

The client can be booted in several different ways:
Network Boot
As for a normal remote installation, autoinstallation can be initiated with Wake on
LAN and PXE, the boot image and control file can be pulled in via TFTP, and the
installation sources from any network installation server.
Bootable CD-ROM
You can use the original SUSE Linux Enterprise media to boot the system for au-
toinstallation and pull in the control file from a network location or a floppy. Alter-
natively, create your own custom CD-ROM holding both the installation sources
and the AutoYaST profile.
The following sections provide a basic outline of the procedures for network boot or
boot from CD-ROM.
Preparing for Network Boot

Network booting with Wake on LAN, PXE, and TFTP is discussed in Section 4.1.3,
“Remote Installation via VNC—PXE Boot and Wake on LAN” (page 51). To make
the setup introduced there work for autoinstallation, modify the featured PXE Linux
configuration file (/srv/tftp/pxelinux.cfg/default) to contain the
autoyast parameter pointing to the location of the AutoYaST profile. An example
entry for a standard installation looks like this:
default linux
# default label linux

kernel linux append initrd=initrd ramdisk_size=65536 insmod=e100 \
install=http://192.168.0.22/install/suse-enterprise/
The same example for autoinstallation looks like this:
default linux
# default label linux

kernel linux append initrd=initrd ramdisk_size=65536 insmod=e100 \
install=http://192.168.0.22/install/suse-enterprise/ \
autoyast=nfs://192.168.0.23/profiles/autoinst.xml
Replace the example IP addresses and paths with the data used in your setup.
Preparing to Boot from CD-ROM

There are several ways in which booting from CD-ROM can come into play in Auto-
YaST installations. Choose from the following scenarios:
Boot from SUSE Linux Enterprise Media, Get the Profile over the Network
Use this approach if a totally network-based scenario is not possible (for example,
if your hardware does not support PXE) and you have physical access to system
to install during most of the process.
You need:
• The SUSE Linux Enterprise media
• A network server providing the profile data (see Section 5.1.2, “Distributing the
Profile and Determining the autoyast Parameter” (page 88) for details)
• A floppy containing the info file that tells the installation routines where to find
the profile
or

Access to the boot prompt of the system to install where you manually enter the
autoyast= parameter
Boot and Install from SUSE Linux Enterprise Media, Get the Profile from a Floppy
Use this approach if an entirely network-based installation scenario would not
work. It requires physical access to the system to install for turning on the target
machine, or, in the second case, to enter the profile's location at the boot prompt.
In both cases, you may also need to change media depending on the scope of instal-
lation.
You need:
• The SUSE Linux Enterprise media
• A floppy holding both the profile and the info file
or
Access to the boot prompt of the target to enter the autoyast= parameter
Boot and Install from Custom Media, Get the Profile from the Media
If you just need to install a limited number of software packages and the number
of targets is relatively low, creating your own custom CD holding both the installa-
tion data and the profile itself might prove a good idea, especially if no network is
available in your setup.
5.1.5 Creating the info File

The installation routines at the target need to be made aware of all the different compo-
nents of the AutoYaST framework. This is done by creating a command line containing
all the parameters needed to locate the AutoYaST components, installation sources,
and the parameters needed to control the installation process.
Do this by manually passing these parameters at the boot prompt of the installation or
by providing a file called info that is read by the installation routines (linuxrc). The
former requires physical access to any client to install, which makes this approach un-
suitable for large deployments. The latter enables you to provide the info file on some
media that is prepared and inserted into the clients' drives prior to the autoinstallation.
Alternatively, use PXE boot and include the linuxrc parameters in the pxelinux
.cfg/default file as shown in Section “Preparing for Network Boot” (page 91).
The following parameters are commonly used for linuxrc. For more information, refer
to the AutoYaST package documentation under /usr/share/doc/packages/
autoyast.
IMPORTANT: Separating Parameters and Values
When passing parameters to linuxrc at the boot prompt, use = to separate

parameter and value. When using an info file, separate parameter and value
with :.
Keyword Value
netdevice The network device to use for network setup (for

BOOTP/DHCP requests). Only needed if several network
devices are available.
hostip When empty, the client sends a BOOTP request. Otherwise

the client is configured using the specified data.
netmask Netmask.
gateway Gateway.
nameserver Name server.
autoyast Location of the the control file to use for the automatic in-
stallation, such as
autoyast=http://192.168.2.1/profiles/.
install Location of the installation source, such as

install=nfs://192.168.2.1/CDs/.
vnc If set to 1, enables VNC remote controlled installation.
vncpassword The password for VNC.
usessh If set to 1, enables SSH remote controlled installation.

If your autoinstallation scenario involves client configuration via DCHP and a network
installation source and you want to monitor the installation process using VNC, your
info would look like this:
autoyast:profile_source install:install_source vnc:1 vncpassword:some_password
If you prefer a static network setup at installation time, your info file would look like
the following:
autoyast:profile_source \
install:install_source \
hostip:some_ip \
netmask:some_netmask \
gateway:some_gateway
The \ indicate that the line breaks have only been added for the sake of readability. All
options must be entered as one continuous string.
The info data can be made available to linuxrc in various different ways:
• As a file in the root directory of a floppy that is in the client's floppy drive at instal-
lation time.
• As a file in the root directory of the initial RAM disk used for booting the system
provided either from custom installation media or via PXE boot.
• As part of the AutoYaST profile. In this case, the AutoYaST file needs to be called
info to enable linuxrc to parse it. An example for this approach is given below.
linuxrc looks for a string (start_linuxrc_conf) in the profile that represents the
beginning of the file. If it is found, it parses the content starting from that string and
finishes when the string end_linuxrc_conf is found. The options are stored in the
profile as follows:
....
<install>
....
<init>
<info_file>
<![CDATA[
#
# Don't remove the following line:
# start_linuxrc_conf
#
install: nfs:server/path
vnc: 1
vncpassword: test
autoyast: file:///info
# end_linuxrc_conf
# Do not remove the above comment
#
]]>
</info_file>
</init>
......
</install>
....
linuxrc loads the profile containing the boot parameters instead of the traditional info
file. The install: parameter points to the location of the installation sources. vnc
and vncpassword indicate the use of VNC for installation monitoring. The
autoyast parameter tells linuxrc to treat info as an AutoYaST profile.
5.1.6 Initiating and Monitoring the

Autoinstallation
After you have provided all the infrastructure mentioned above (profile, installation
source, and info file), you can go ahead and start the autoinstallation. Depending on
the scenario chosen for booting and monitoring the process, physical interaction with
the client may be needed:
• If the client system boots from any kind of physical media, either product media
or custom CDs, you need to insert these into the client's drives.
• If the client is not switched on via Wake on LAN, you need to at least switch on
the client machine.
• If you have not opted for remote controlled autoinstallation, the graphical feedback
from AutoYaST is sent to the client's attached monitor or, if you use a headless
client, to a serial console.
To enable remote controlled autoinstallation, use the VNC or SSH parameters described
in Section 5.1.5, “Creating the info File” (page 93) and connect to the client from
another machine as described in Section 4.5, “Monitoring the Installation Process”
(page 81).

5.2 Rule-Based Autoinstallation
The following sections introduce the basic concept of rule-based installation using
AutoYaST and provide an example scenario that enables you to create your own custom
autoinstallation setup.
5.2.1 Understanding Rule-Based

Autoinstallation
Rule-based AutoYaST installation allows you to cope with heterogeneous hardware
environments:
• Does your site contain hardware of different vendors?
• Are the machines on your site of different hardware configuration (for example,
using different devices or using different memory and disk sizes)?
• Do you intend to install across different domains and need to distinguish between
them?
What rule-based autoinstallation does is, basically, generate a custom profile to match
a heterogeneous scenario by merging several profiles into one. Each rule describes one
particular distinctive feature of your setup (such as disk size) and tells AutoYaST which
profile to use when the rule matches. Several rules describing different features of your
setup are combined in an AutoYaST rules.xml file. The rule stack is then processed
and AutoYaST generates the final profile by merging the different profiles matching
the AutoYaST rules into one. To illustrate this procedure, refer to Section 5.2.2, “Ex-
ample Scenario for Rule-Based Autoinstallation” (page 99).
Rule-based AutoYaST offers you great flexibility in planning and executing your SUSE
Linux Enterprise deployment. You can:
• Create rules for matching any of the predefined system attributes in AutoYaST
• Combine multiple system attributes (such as disk size and kernel architecture) into
one rule by using logical operators
• Create custom rules by running shell scripts and passing their output to the Auto-
YaST framework. The number of custom rules is limited to five.
NOTE
For more information about rule creation and usage with AutoYaST, refer to
the package's documentation under /usr/share/doc/packages/
autoyast2/html/index.html, Chapter Rules and Classes.
To prepare for a rule-based AutoYaST mass installation, proceed as follows:
1 Create several AutoYaST profiles that contain the installation details needed for
your heterogeneous setup as described in Section 5.1.1, “Creating an AutoYaST
Profile” (page 86).
2 Define rules to match the system attributes of your hardware setup as shown in
Section 5.2.2, “Example Scenario for Rule-Based Autoinstallation” (page 99).
3 Determine the source of the AutoYaST profile and the parameter to pass to the
installation routines as described in Section 5.1.2, “Distributing the Profile and
Determining the autoyast Parameter” (page 88).
4 Determine the source of the SUSE Linux Enterprise installation data as described
in Section 5.1.3, “Providing the Installation Data” (page 91)
5 Pass the command line to the installation routines by adding the parameters
manually or by creating an info file as described in Section 5.1.5, “Creating
the info File” (page 93).
6 Determine and set up the boot scenario for autoinstallation as described in Sec-
tion 5.1.4, “Setting Up the Boot Scenario” (page 91).
7 Start the autoinstallation process as described in Section 5.1.6, “Initiating and

Monitoring the Autoinstallation” (page 96).

5.2.2 Example Scenario for Rule-Based
Autoinstallation
To get a basic understanding of how rules are created, think of the following example,
depicted in Figure 5.2, “AutoYaST Rules” (page 100). One run of AutoYaST installs
the following setup:
A Print Server
This machine just needs a minimal installation without a desktop environment and
a limited set of software packages.
Workstations in the Engineering Department

These machines need a desktop environment and a broad set of development soft-
ware.
Laptops in the Sales Department

These machines need a desktop environment and a limited set of specialized appli-
cations, such as office and calendaring software.
Figure 5.2 AutoYaST Rules
AutoYaST Directory
Enigineering Department
Computers
rules.xml File
Rule 1
Rule 2 Eng. Profile
Rule 3
Sales Profile
Sales Department
Laptops
Merge Process Print Server

Profile
Print Server
In a first step, use one of the methods outlined in Section 5.1.1, “Creating an AutoYaST
Profile” (page 86) to create profiles for each use case. In this example, you would
create print.xml, engineering.xml, and sales.xml.

In the second step, create rules to distinguish the three hardware types from one another
and to tell AutoYaST which profile to use. Use an algorithm similar to the following
to set up the rules:
1. Does the machine have an IP of 192.168.27.11? Then make it the print server.
2. Does the machine have PCMCIA hardware and feature an Intel chipset? Then
consider it an Intel laptop and install the sales department software selection.
3. If none of the above is true, consider the machine a developer workstation and install
accordingly.
Roughly sketched, this translates into a rules.xml file with the following content:
<?xml version="1.0"?>
<!DOCTYPE autoinstall SYSTEM "/usr/share/autoinstall/dtd/rules.dtd">
<autoinstall xmlns="http://www.suse.com/1.0/yast2ns"
xmlns:config="http://www.suse.com/1.0/configns">
<rules config:type="list">
<rule>
<hostaddress>
<match>192.168.27.11</match>
<match_type>exact</match_type>
</hostaddress>
<result>
<profile>print.xml</profile>
<continue config:type="boolean">false</continue>
</result>
</rule>
<rule>
<haspcmcia>
<match>1</match>
</haspcmcia>
<custom1>
<script>
if grep -i intel /proc/cpuinfo > /dev/null; then
echo -n "intel"
else
echo -n "non_intel"
fi;
</script>
<match>*</match>
</custom1>
<result>
<profile>sales.xml</profile>
</result>

<operator>and</operator>
</rule>
<rule>
<haspcmcia>
<match>0</match>
</haspcmcia>
<result>
<profile>engineering.xml</profile>
</result>
</rule>
</rules>
</autoinstall>
When distributing the rules file, make sure that the rules directory resides under the
profiles directory specified in the autoyast=protocol:serverip/
profiles/ URL. AutoYaST looks for a rules subdirectory containing a file named
rules.xml first then loads and merges the profiles specified in the rules file.
The rest of the autoinstallation procedure is carried out as usual.
5.3 For More Information

For in-depth information about the AutoYaST technology, refer to the documentation
installed along with the software. It is located under /usr/share/doc/packages/
autoyast2. The most recent edition of this documentation can be found at http://
www.suse.de/~ug/autoyast_doc/index.html.

Deploying Customized
Preinstallations
Rolling out customized preinstallations of SUSE Linux Enterprise to a large number
6
of identical machines spares you from installing each one of them separately and provides
a standardized installation experience for the end users. With YaST firstboot, create
customized preinstallation images and determine the workflow for the final personal-
ization steps that involve end user interaction. This is different from AutoYaST that
allows completely automated installations; for more information, see Chapter 5, Auto-
mated Installation (page 85).
Creating a custom installation, rolling it out to your hardware, and personalizing the
final product involves the following steps:
1 Prepare the master machine whose disk should be cloned to the client machines.
For more information, refer to Section 6.1, “Preparing the Master Machine”
(page 104).
2 Customize the firstboot workflow. For more information, refer to Section 6.2,
“Customizing the Firstboot Installation” (page 104).
3 Clone the master machine's disk and roll this image out to the clients' disks. For
more information, refer to Section 6.3, “Cloning the Master Installation”
(page 112).
4 Have the end user personalize the instance of SUSE Linux Enterprise. For more
information, refer to Section 6.4, “Personalizing the Installation” (page 113).
Deploying Customized Preinstallations 103

6.1 Preparing the Master Machine
To prepare a master machine for a firstboot workflow, proceed as follows:
1 Insert the installation media into the master machine.
2 Boot the machine.
3 Perform a normal installation including all necessary configuration steps and

wait for the installed machine to boot. Also install the yast2-firstboot
package.
4 To define your own workflow of YaST configuration steps for the end user or
add your own YaST modules to this workflow, proceed to Section 6.2, “Customiz-
ing the Firstboot Installation” (page 104). Otherwise proceed directly to Step 5
(page 104).
5 Enable firstboot as root:
5a Create an empty file /etc/reconfig_system to trigger firstboot's exe-

cution. This file will be deleted, once the firstboot configuration has been
successfully accomplished. Create this file using the following command:
touch /etc/reconfig_system
5b Enable the firstboot service through the YaST Runlevel Editor.
6 Proceed to Section 6.3, “Cloning the Master Installation” (page 112).
6.2 Customizing the Firstboot

Installation
Customizing the firstboot installation may involve several different components. Cus-
tomizing them is optional. If you do not make any changes, firstboot performs the in-
stallation using the default settings. The following options are available:

• Customizing messages to the user as described in Section 6.2.1, “Customizing
YaST Messages” (page 105).
• Customizing licenses and license actions as described in Section 6.2.2, “Customizing

the License Action” (page 106).
• Customizing the release notes to display as described in Section 6.2.3, “Customizing

the Release Notes” (page 107).
• Customizing the order and number of components involved in the installation as

described in Section 6.2.4, “Customizing the Workflow” (page 107).
• Configuring additional optional scripts as described in Section 6.2.5, “Configuring

Additional Scripts” (page 112).
To customize any of these components, adjust the following configuration files:
/etc/sysconfig/firstboot
Configure various aspects of firstboot, such as release notes, scripts, and license
actions.
/etc/YaST2/firstboot.xml
Configure the installation workflow by enabling or disabling components or adding
custom ones.
6.2.1 Customizing YaST Messages

By default, an installation of SUSE Linux Enterprise contains several default messages
that are localized and displayed at certain stages of the installation process. These include
a welcome message, a license message, and a congratulatory message at the end of in-
stallation. You can replace any of these with your own versions and include localized
versions of them in the installation. To include your own welcome message, proceed
as follows:
1 Log in as root.
2 Open the /etc/sysconfig/firstboot configuration file and apply the

following changes:

2a Set FIRSTBOOT_WELCOME_DIR to the directory path where you want to
store the files containing the welcome message and the localized versions,
for example:
FIRSTBOOT_WELCOME_DIR="/usr/share/firstboot/"
2b If your welcome message has filenames other than welcome.txt and

welcome_locale.txt (where locale matches the ISO 639 language
codes such as “cs” or “de”), specify the filename pattern in
FIRSTBOOT_WELCOME_PATTERNS. For example:
FIRSTBOOT_WELCOME_PATTERNS="mywelcome.txt"
If unset, the default value of welcome.txt is assumed.
3 Create the welcome file and the localized versions and place them in the directory
specified in the /etc/sysconfig/firstboot configuration file.
Proceed in a similar way to configure customized license and finish messages. These
variables are FIRSTBOOT_LICENSE_DIR and FIRSTBOOT_FINISH_FILE.
6.2.2 Customizing the License Action

You can customize the way the installation system reacts to a user not accepting the
license agreement. There are three different ways in which the system could react to a
user's failure to accept the license:
halt
The firstboot installation is aborted and the entire system shuts down. This is the
default setting.
continue
The firstboot installation continues.
abort
The firstboot installation is aborted, but the system tries to boot.
Make your choice and set LICENSE_REFUSAL_ACTION to the appropriate value.

6.2.3 Customizing the Release Notes
Depending on whether you have changed the instance of SUSE Linux Enterprise you
are deploying with firstboot, you probably need to educate the end users about important
aspects of their new operating system. A standard installation uses release notes, dis-
played during one of the final stages of the installation, to provide important information
to the users. To have your own modified release notes displayed as part of a firstboot
installation, proceed as follows:
1 Create your own release notes file. Use the RTF format as in the example file in
/usr/share/doc/release-notes and save the result as
RELEASE-NOTES.en.rtf (for English).
2 Store optional localized versions next to the original version and replace the en
part of the filename with the actual ISO 639 language code, such as de for Ger-
man.
3 Open the firstboot configuration file from /etc/sysconfig/firstboot

and set FIRSTBOOT_RELEASE_NOTES_PATH to the actual directory where
the release notes files are stored.
6.2.4 Customizing the Workflow

By default, a standard firstboot workflow includes the following components:
• Language Selection
• Welcome
• License Agreement
• Host Name
• Network
• Time and Date
• Desktop
• root Password

• User Authentication Method
• User Management
• Hardware Configuration
• Finish Setup
This standard layout of a firstboot installation workflow is not mandatory. You can
enable or disable certain components or hook your own modules into the workflow.
To modify the firstboot workflow, manually edit the firstboot configuration file /etc/
YaST2/firstboot.xml. This XML file is a subset of the standard control.xml
file that is used by YaST to control the installation workflow.
The following overview provides you with enough background to modify the firstboot
installation workflow. In it, see the basic syntax of the firstboot configuration file and
how the key elements are configured.
Example 6.1 Configuring the Proposal Screens
…
<proposals config:type="list">❶
<proposal>❷
<name>firstboot_hardware</name>❸
<mode>installation</mode>❹
<stage>firstboot</stage>❺
<label>Hardware Configuration</label>❻
<proposal_modules config:type="list">❼
<proposal_module>printer</proposal_module>❽
</proposal_modules>
</proposal>
<proposal>
…
</proposal>
</proposals>
❶ The container for all proposals that should be part of the firstboot workflow.
❷ The container for an individual proposal.
❸ The internal name of the proposal.
❹ The mode of this proposal. Do not make any changes here. For a firstboot instal-
lation, this must be set to installation.

❺ The stage of the installation process at which this proposal is invoked. Do not
make any changes here. For a firstboot installation, this must be set to
firstboot.
❻ The label to be displayed on the proposal.
❼ The container for all modules that are part of the proposal screen.
❽ One or more modules that are part of the proposal screen.
The next section of the firstboot configuration file consists of the workflow definition.
All modules that should be part of the firstboot installation workflow must be listed
here.
Example 6.2 Configuring the Workflow Section
<workflows config:type="list">
<workflow>
<defaults>
<enable_back>yes</enable_back>
<enable_next>yes</enable_next>
<archs>all</archs>
</defaults>
<stage>firstboot</stage>
<label>Configuration</label>
<mode>installation</mode>
… <!–– list of modules ––>
</modules>
</workflow>
</workflows>
…
The overall structure of the workflows section is very similar to that of the
proposals section. A container holds the workflow elements and the workflow ele-
ments all include stage, label and mode information just as the proposals introduced in
Example 6.1, “Configuring the Proposal Screens” (page 108). The most notable difference
is the defaults section, which contains basic design information for the workflow
components:
enable_back
Include the Back button in all dialogs.
enable_next
Include the Next button in all dialogs.

archs
Specify the hardware architectures on which this workflow should be used.
Example 6.3 Configuring the List of Workflow Components
<modules config:type="list">❶
<module>❷
<label>Language</label>❸
<enabled config:type="boolean">false</enabled>❹
<name>firstboot_language</name>❺
</module>
<modules>
❶ The container for all components of the workflow.

❷ The module definition.
❸ The label displayed with the module.
❹ The switch to enable or disable this component in the workflow.
❺ The module name. The module itself must be located under /usr/share/
YaST2/clients and have the .ycp file suffix.
To make changes to the number or order of proposal screens during the firstboot instal-
lation, proceed as follows:
1 Open the firstboot configuration file at /etc/YaST2/firstboot.xml.
2 Delete or add proposal screens or change the order of the existing ones:
• To delete an entire proposal, remove the proposal element including all

its subelements from the proposals section and remove the respective
module element (with subelements) from the workflow.
• To add a new proposal, create a new proposal element and fill in all the
required subelements. Make sure that the proposal exists as a YaST module
in /usr/share/YaST2/clients.
• To change the order of proposals, move the respective module elements

containing the proposal screens around in the workflow. Note that there may
be dependencies to other installation steps that require a certain order of
proposals and workflow components.

3 Apply your changes and close the configuration file.
You can always change the workflow of the configuration steps when the default does
not meet your needs. Enable or disable certain modules in the workflow or add your
own custom ones.
To toggle the status of a module in the firstboot workflow, proceed as follows:
1 Open the /etc/YaST2/firstboot.xml configuration file.
2 Change the value for the enabled element from true to false to disable
the module or from false to true to enable it again.
<module>
<label>Time and Date</label>
<enabled config:type="boolean">true</enabled>
<name>firstboot_timezone</name>
</module>
3 Apply your changes and close the configuration file.
To add a custom made module to the workflow, proceed as follows:
1 Create your own YaST module and store the module file module_name.ycp
in /usr/share/YaST2/clients.
2 Open the /etc/YaST2/firstboot.xml configuration file.
3 Determine at which point of the workflow your new module should be run. In
doing so, make sure that possible dependencies to other steps in the workflow
are taken into account and resolved.
4 Create a new module element inside the modules container and add the appro-
priate subelements:
<modules config:type="list">
…
<module>
<label>my_module</label>
<enabled config:type="boolean">true</enabled>
<name>filename_my_module</name>
</module>
</modules>

4a Enter the label to display on your module in the label element.
4b Make sure that enabled is set to true to have your module included in
the workflow.
4c Enter the filename of your module in the name element. Omit the full path
and the .ycp suffix.
5 Apply your settings and close the configuration file.
TIP: For More Information
For more information about YaST development, refer to http://developer

.novell.com/wiki/index.php/YaST.
6.2.5 Configuring Additional Scripts

firstboot can be configured to execute additional scripts after the firstboot workflow
has been completed. To add additional scripts to the firstboot sequence, proceed as
follows:
1 Open the /etc/sysconfig/firstboot configuration file and make sure

that the path specified for SCRIPT_DIR is correct. The default value is /usr/
share/firstboot/scripts.
2 Create your shell script, store it in the specified directory, and apply the appropri-
ate file permissions.
6.3 Cloning the Master Installation

Clone the master machine's disk using any of the imaging mechanisms available to you
and roll these images out to the target machines.

6.4 Personalizing the Installation
As soon as the cloned disk image is booted, firstboot starts and the installation proceeds
exactly as laid out in Section 6.2.4, “Customizing the Workflow” (page 107). Only the
components included in the firstboot workflow configuration are started. Any other
installation steps are skipped. The end user adjusts language, keyboard, network, and
password settings to personalize the workstation. Once this process is finished, a firstboot
installed system behaves as any other instance of SUSE Linux Enterprise.

Advanced Disk Setup
Sophisticated system configurations require particular disk setups. All common parti-
7
tioning tasks can be done with YaST. To get persistent device naming with block devices,
use the block devices below /dev/disk/by-id/. Logical Volume Management
(LVM) is a disk partitioning scheme that is designed to be much more flexible than the
physical partitioning used in standard setups. Its snapshot functionality enables easy
creation of data backups. Redundant Array of Independent Disks (RAID) offers increased
data integrity, performance, and fault tolerance. SUSE® Linux Enterprise Server also
supports multipath I/O. For details, see the chapter about multipath I/O in Storage Ad-
ministration Guide. Starting with SUSE Linux Enterprise 10, there is also the option
to use iSCSI as a networked disk. Read more about iSCSI in Chapter 12, Mass Storage
over IP Networks—iSCSI (page 271).
7.1 LVM Configuration

This section briefly describes the principles behind LVM and its basic features that
make it useful under many circumstances. In Section 7.1.2, “LVM Configuration with
YaST” (page 118), learn how to set up LVM with YaST.
WARNING
Using LVM might be associated with increased risk, such as data loss. Risks also
include application crashes, power failures, and faulty commands. Save your
data before implementing LVM or reconfiguring volumes. Never work without
a backup.
Advanced Disk Setup 115

7.1.1 The Logical Volume Manager
The Logical Volume Manager (LVM) enables flexible distribution of hard disk space
over several file systems. It was developed because sometimes the need to change the
segmentation of hard disk space arises only after the initial partitioning during installation
has already been done. Because it is difficult to modify partitions on a running system,
LVM provides a virtual pool (volume group, VG for short) of memory space from
which logical volumes (LVs) can be created as needed. The operating system accesses
these LVs instead of the physical partitions. Volume groups can span more than only
one disk so that several disks or parts of them may constitute one single VG. This way,
LVM provides a kind of abstraction from the physical disk space that allows its segmen-
tation to be changed in a much easier and safer way than physical repartitioning does.
Background information regarding physical partitioning can be found in Section “Par-
tition Types” (page 156) and Section 8.5.7, “Using the YaST Partitioner” (page 155).
Figure 7.1 Physical Partitioning versus LVM
DISK DISK 1 DISK 2
PART PART PART PART PART PART PART PART
VG 1 VG 2
LV 1 LV 2 LV 3 LV 4
MP MP MP MP MP MP MP
Figure 7.1, “Physical Partitioning versus LVM” (page 116) compares physical partitioning
(left) with LVM segmentation (right). On the left side, one single disk has been divided
into three physical partitions (PART), each with a mount point (MP) assigned so that
the operating system can access them. On the right side, two disks have been divided
into two and three physical partitions each. Two LVM volume groups (VG 1 and VG 2)
have been defined. VG 1 contains two partitions from DISK 1 and one from DISK 2.
VG 2 contains the remaining two partitions from DISK 2. In LVM, the physical disk
partitions that are incorporated in a volume group are called physical volumes (PVs).
Within the volume groups, four logical volumes (LV 1 through LV 4) have been defined,
which can be used by the operating system via the associated mount points. The border

between different logical volumes need not be aligned with any partition border. See
the border between LV 1 and LV 2 in this example.
LVM features:
• Several hard disks or partitions can be combined in a large logical volume.
• Provided the configuration is suitable, an LV (such as /usr) can be enlarged when

the free space is exhausted.
• Using LVM, it is possible to add hard disks or LVs in a running system. However,
this requires hot-swappable hardware that is capable of such actions.
• It is possible to activate a "striping mode" that distributes the data stream of a logical
volume over several physical volumes. If these physical volumes reside on different
disks, this can improve the reading and writing performance just like RAID 0.
• The snapshot feature enables consistent backups (especially for servers) in the
running system.
With these features, using LVM already makes sense for heavily used home PCs or
small servers. If you have a growing data stock, as in the case of databases, music
archives, or user directories, LVM is just the right thing for you. This would allow file
systems that are larger than the physical hard disk. Another advantage of LVM is that
up to 256 LVs can be added. However, keep in mind that working with LVM is different
from working with conventional partitions. Instructions and further information about
configuring LVM is available in the official LVM HOWTO at http://tldp.org/
HOWTO/LVM-HOWTO/.
Starting from kernel version 2.6, LVM version 2 is available, which is downward-
compatible with the previous LVM and enables the continued management of old volume
groups. When creating new volume groups, decide whether to use the new format or
the downward-compatible version. LVM 2 does not require any kernel patches. It makes
use of the device mapper integrated in kernel 2.6. This kernel only supports LVM ver-
sion 2. Therefore, when talking about LVM, this section always refers to LVM version 2.
Instead of LVM 2, you can use EVMS (Enterprise Volume Management System),
which offers a uniform interface for logical volumes and RAID volumes. Like LVM 2,
EVMS makes use of the device mapper in kernel 2.6.

7.1.2 LVM Configuration with YaST
The YaST LVM configuration can be reached from the YaST Expert Partitioner (see
Section 8.5.7, “Using the YaST Partitioner” (page 155)). This partitioning tool enables
you to edit and delete existing partitions and create new ones that should be used with
LVM. There, create an LVM partition by first clicking Create > Do not format then
selecting 0x8E Linux LVM as the partition identifier. After creating all the partitions to
use with LVM, click LVM to start the LVM configuration.
Creating Volume Groups

If no volume group exists on your system yet, you are prompted to add one (see Fig-
ure 7.2, “Creating a Volume Group” (page 118)). It is possible to create additional groups
with Add group, but usually one single volume group is sufficient. system is suggested
as a name for the volume group in which the SUSE Linux Enterprise® system files are
located. The physical extent size defines the size of a physical block in the volume
group. All the disk space in a volume group is handled in chunks of this size. This value
is normally set to 4 MB and allows for a maximum size of 256 GB for physical and
logical volumes. The physical extent size should only be increased, for example, to 8,
16, or 32 MB, if you need logical volumes larger than 256 GB.
Figure 7.2 Creating a Volume Group

Configuring Physical Volumes
Once a volume group has been created, the following dialog lists all partitions with either
the “Linux LVM” or “Linux native” type. No swap or DOS partitions are shown. If a
partition is already assigned to a volume group, the name of the volume group is shown
in the list. Unassigned partitions are indicated with “--”.
If there are several volume groups, set the current volume group in the selection box
to the upper left. The buttons in the upper right enable creation of additional volume
groups and deletion of existing volume groups. Only volume groups that do not have
any partitions assigned can be deleted. All partitions that are assigned to a volume group
are also referred to as a physical volumes (PV).
Figure 7.3 Physical Volume Setup
To add a previously unassigned partition to the selected volume group, first click the
partition then Add Volume. At this point, the name of the volume group is entered next
to the selected partition. Assign all partitions reserved for LVM to a volume group.
Otherwise, the space on the partition remains unused. Before exiting the dialog, every
volume group must be assigned at least one physical volume. After assigning all phys-
ical volumes, click Next to proceed to the configuration of logical volumes.

Configuring Logical Volumes
After the volume group has been filled with physical volumes, define the logical volumes
the operating system should use in the next dialog. Set the current volume group in a
selection box to the upper left. Next to it, the free space in the current volume group is
shown. The list below contains all logical volumes in that volume group. All normal
Linux partitions to which a mount point is assigned, all swap partitions, and all already
existing logical volumes are listed here. Add, Edit, and Remove logical volumes as
needed until all space in the volume group has been exhausted. Assign at least one
logical volume to each volume group.
Figure 7.4 Logical Volume Management
To create a new logical volume, click Add and fill out the pop-up that opens. As for
partitioning, enter the size, file system, and mount point. Normally, a file system, such
as reiserfs or ext2, is created on a logical volume and is then designated a mount point.
The files stored on this logical volume can be found at this mount point on the installed
system. Additionally it is possible to distribute the data stream in the logical volume
among several physical volumes (striping). If these physical volumes reside on different
hard disks, this generally results in a better reading and writing performance (like
RAID 0). However, a striping LV with n stripes can only be created correctly if the
hard disk space required by the LV can be distributed evenly to n physical volumes.

If, for example, only two physical volumes are available, a logical volume with three
stripes is impossible.
WARNING: Striping
YaST has no chance at this point to verify the correctness of your entries con-
cerning striping. Any mistake made here is apparent only later when the LVM
is implemented on disk.
Figure 7.5 Creating Logical Volumes
If you have already configured LVM on your system, the existing logical volumes can
be entered now. Before continuing, assign appropriate mount points to these logical
volumes too. With Next, return to the YaST Expert Partitioner and finish your work
there.
Direct LVM Management

If you already have configured LVM and only want to change something, there is an
alternative way to do that. In the YaST Control Center, select System > LVM. Basically
this dialog allows the same actions as described above with the exception of physical

partitioning. It shows the existing physical volumes and logical volumes in two lists
and you can manage your LVM system using the methods already described.
7.1.3 Storage Management with EVMS

The Enterprise Volume Management System 2 (EVMS2) is a rich, extensible volume
manager with built-in cluster awareness. Its plug-in framework allows plug-ins to add
functionality for support and knowledge of any partition type. Being cluster-aware,
EVMS2 guarantees that managed devices are named identically on each node in the
cluster for easier management.
EVMS2 provides a unified interface (evmsgui and command line) for managing the
following storage resources:
• Physical disks and logical devices on local media and SAN-based media, including
iSCSI
• Software RAIDs 0, 1, 4, and 5 for high availability
• Cluster-aware multipath I/O for fault tolerance
• Cluster storage objects with the Cluster Segment Manager (CSM) plug-in
• Volumes for all file systems that have a file system interface module (FSIM) for
EVMS2
• Snapshots of volumes
In SUSE Linux Enterprise Server 10, new features include the following:
• EVMS2 and CLVM2 (Cluster Linux Volume Manager 2) use the same multidisk
(MD) drivers and device mapper (DM) drivers in the kernel.
• File system plug-ins are available for Heartbeat 2 Cluster Manager and Oracle
Cluster File System 2.
EVMS Devices
The EVMS Administration Utility distinguishes five different levels of devices:

Disks
This is the lowest level of device. All devices that may be accessed as a physical
disk are treated as disks.
Segments
Segments consist of partitions and other memory regions on a disk, such as the
master boot record (MBR).
Containers
These are the counterparts of volume groups in LVM.
Regions
The available devices are grouped into LVM2 and RAID here.
Volumes
All devices, regardless of whether they are represented by a real partition, a logical
volume, or a RAID device are available with their respective mount points.
If you choose to use EVMS, you must replace your device names with the EVMS device
names. Simple partitions are found in /dev/evms/, logical volumes in /dev/evms/
lvm/, and RAID devices in /dev/evms/md. To activate EVMS at boot time, add
boot.evms to the boot scripts in the YaST runlevel editor. See also Section 20.2.3,
“Configuring System Services (Runlevel) with YaST” (page 398).
For More Information

For information about using EVMS to manage storage resources, see the Storage Ad-
ministration Guide that is available in /usr/share/doc/manual/sles-stor
_evms_en after installing the package sles-stor_evms_en. More common in-
formation about EVMS is also available in EVMS User Guide [http://evms
.sourceforge.net/users_guide/] at the EVMS project [http://evms
.sourceforge.net/], hosted on SourceForge*.
7.2 Soft RAID Configuration

The purpose of RAID (redundant array of independent disks) is to combine several
hard disk partitions into one large virtual hard disk to optimize performance, data secu-
rity, or both. Most RAID controllers use the SCSI protocol because it can address a

larger number of hard disks in a more effective way than the IDE protocol and is more
suitable for parallel processing of commands. There are some RAID controllers that
support IDE or SATA hard disks. Soft RAID provides the advantages of RAID systems
without the additional cost of hardware RAID controllers. However, this requires some
CPU time and has memory requirements that make it unsuitable for real high perfor-
mance computers.
7.2.1 RAID Levels

SUSE® Linux Enterprise offers the option of combining several hard disks into one
soft RAID system with the help of YaST—a very reasonable alternative to hardware
RAID. RAID implies several strategies for combining several hard disks in a RAID
system, each with different goals, advantages, and characteristics. These variations are
commonly known as RAID levels.
Common RAID levels are:
RAID 0
This level improves the performance of your data access by spreading out blocks
of each file across multiple disk drives. Actually, this is not really a RAID, because
it does not provide data backup, but the name RAID 0 for this type of system has
become the norm. With RAID 0, two or more hard disks are pooled together. The
performance is very good, but the RAID system is destroyed and your data lost if
even one hard disk fails.
RAID 1
This level provides adequate security for your data, because the data is copied to
another hard disk 1:1. This is known as hard disk mirroring. If a disk is destroyed,
a copy of its contents is available on another one. All of them except one could be
damaged without endangering your data. However, if damage is not detected, it
also may happen that damaged data is mirrored to the correct disk and data corrup-
tion happens that way. The writing performance suffers a little in the copying process
compared to when using single disk access (10 to 20 % slower), but read access is
significantly faster in comparison to any one of the normal physical hard disks,
because the data is duplicated so can be parallel scanned. Generally it can be said
that Level 1 provides nearly twice the read transaction rate of single disks and almost
the same write transaction rate as single disks.

RAID 2 and RAID 3
These are not typical RAID implementations. Level 2 stripes data at the bit level
rather than the block level. Level 3 provides byte-level striping with a dedicated
parity disk and cannot service simultaneous multiple requests. Both levels are only
rarely used.
RAID 4
Level 4 provides block-level striping just like Level 0 combined with a dedicated
parity disk. In the case of a data disk failure, the parity data is used to create a re-
placement disk. However, the parity disk may create a bottleneck for write access.
Nevertheless, Level 4 is sometimes used.
RAID 5
RAID 5 is an optimized compromise between Level 0 and Level 1 in terms of
performance and redundancy. The hard disk space equals the number of disks used
minus one. The data is distributed over the hard disks as with RAID 0. Parity blocks,
created on one of the partitions, are there for security reasons. They are linked to
each other with XOR, enabling the contents to be reconstructed by the corresponding
parity block in case of system failure. With RAID 5, no more than one hard disk
can fail at the same time. If one hard disk fails, it must be replaced as soon as pos-
sible to avoid the risk of losing data.
Other RAID Levels

Several other RAID levels have been developed (RAIDn, RAID 10, RAID 0+1,
RAID 30, RAID 50, etc.), some of them being proprietary implementations created
by hardware vendors. These levels are not very widespread, so are not explained
here.
7.2.2 Soft RAID Configuration with YaST

The YaST soft RAID configuration can be reached from the YaST Expert Partitioner,
described in Section 8.5.7, “Using the YaST Partitioner” (page 155). This partitioning
tool enables you to edit and delete existing partitions and create new ones that should
be used with soft RAID. There, create RAID partitions by first clicking Create > Do
not format then selecting 0xFD Linux RAID as the partition identifier. For RAID 0 and
RAID 1, at least two partitions are needed—for RAID 1, usually exactly two and no
more. If RAID 5 is used, at least three partitions are required. It is recommended to
take only partitions of the same size. The RAID partitions should be stored on different
hard disks to decrease the risk of losing data if one is defective (RAID 1 and 5) and to

optimize the performance of RAID 0. After creating all the partitions to use with RAID,
click RAID > Create RAID to start the RAID configuration.
In the next dialog, choose between RAID levels 0, 1, and 5 (see Section 7.2.1, “RAID
Levels” (page 124) for details). After Next is clicked, the following dialog lists all parti-
tions with either the “Linux RAID” or “Linux native” type (see Figure 7.6, “RAID
Partitions” (page 126)). No swap or DOS partitions are shown. If a partition is already
assigned to a RAID volume, the name of the RAID device (for example, /dev/md0)
is shown in the list. Unassigned partitions are indicated with “--”.
Figure 7.6 RAID Partitions
To add a previously unassigned partition to the selected RAID volume, first click the
partition then Add. At this point, the name of the RAID device is entered next to the
selected partition. Assign all partitions reserved for RAID. Otherwise, the space on the
partition remains unused. After assigning all partitions, click Next to proceed to the
settings dialog where you can fine-tune the performance (see Figure 7.7, “File System
Settings” (page 127)).

Figure 7.7 File System Settings
As with conventional partitioning, set the file system to use as well as encryption and
the mount point for the RAID volume. Checking Persistent Superblock ensures that
the RAID partitions are recognized as such when booting. After completing the confi-
guration with Finish, see the /dev/md0 device and others indicated with RAID in the
expert partitioner.
7.2.3 Troubleshooting
Check the file /proc/mdstats to find out whether a RAID partition has been de-
stroyed. In the event of a system failure, shut down your Linux system and replace the
defective hard disk with a new one partitioned the same way. Then restart your system
and enter the command mdadm /dev/mdX --add /dev/sdX. Replace 'X' with
your particular device identifiers. This integrates the hard disk automatically into the
RAID system and fully reconstructs it.
7.2.4 For More Information

Configuration instructions and more details for soft RAID can be found in the HOWTOs
at:

• http://www.novell.com/documentation/sles10/stor_evms/
data/bookinfo.html
• /usr/share/doc/packages/mdadm/Software-RAID.HOWTO.html
• http://en.tldp.org/HOWTO/Software-RAID-HOWTO.html
Linux RAID mailing lists are also available, such as http://marc.theaimsgroup

.com/?l=linux-raid&r=1&w=2.

System Configuration with
YaST
In SUSE Linux Enterprise, YaST handles both the installation and configuration of
8
your system. This chapter describes the configuration of system components (hardware),
network access, and security settings, and administration of users. Find a short introduc-
tion to the text-based YaST interface in Section 8.12, “YaST in Text Mode” (page 185).
For a description of manual system configuration, see Section 20.3, “System Configu-
ration via /etc/sysconfig” (page 400).
Configure the system with YaST using various YaST modules. Depending on the
hardware platform and the installed software, there are different ways to access YaST
in the installed system.
In KDE or GNOME, start the YaST Control Center from the main menu. Before YaST
starts, you are prompted to enter the root password, because YaST needs system ad-
ministrator permissions to change the system files.
To start YaST from the command line, enter the commands su (for changing to the
user root) and yast2. To start the text version, enter yast instead of yast2. Also
use the command yast to start the program from one of the virtual consoles.
For hardware platforms that do not support a display device of their own and for remote
administration on other hosts, run YaST remotely. First, open a console on the host on
which to display YaST and enter the command
ssh -X root@<system-to-configure> to log in to the system to configure
as root and redirect the X server output to your terminal. Following the successful
SSH login, enter yast2 to start YaST in graphical mode.
System Configuration with YaST 129

To start YaST in text mode on another system, use
ssh root@<system-to-configure> to open the connection. Then start YaST
with yast.
To save time, the individual YaST modules can be started directly. To start a module,
enter yast2 module_name. View a list of all module names available on your
system with yast2 -l or yast2 --list. Start the network module, for example,
with yast2 lan.
8.1 YaST Language

To change the language of YaST, select System > Language Selection in the YaST
Control Center. Choose a language, exit the YaST Control Center, log out of the system,
then log in again. The next time you start YaST, the new language setting is used. This
also changes the language for the entire system.
If you need work in a different language but do not want to change the system language
setting, run the YaST with the LANG variable set to your preferred language. Use a long
language code in the format langcode_statecode. For example, for American
English, enter LANG="en_US" yast2.
This command starts YaST using the specified language. The language is only valid
for this YaST session. The language settings of the terminal, other users, and your
other sessions remain unchanged.
If you run YaST remotely over SSH, YaST uses the language settings of your local
system.
8.2 The YaST Control Center

When you start YaST in the graphical mode, the YaST Control Center, as shown in
Figure 8.1, “The YaST Control Center” (page 131), opens. The left frame contains the
available categories. When you click a category, its contents are listed in the right frame.
Then select the desired module. For example, if you select Hardware and click Sound
in the right frame, a configuration dialog opens for the sound card. The configuration
of the individual items usually consists of several steps. Press Next to proceed to the
following step.

The left frame of most modules displays the help text, which offers suggestions for
configuration and explains the required entries. To get help in modules without a help
frame, press F1 or choose Help. After selecting the desired settings, complete the pro-
cedure by pressing Accept on the last page of the configuration dialog. The configuration
is then saved.
Figure 8.1 The YaST Control Center
NOTE: YaST Software Management Gtk and Qt Front-Ends
YaST comes with two front-ends depending on the desktop installed on your
system. By default, the YaST gtk front-end runs on the GNOME desktop, and
the YaST qt front-end on the other desktops. This is defined with the WANT_UI
variable in the /sbin/yast2 script. Feature-wise, the gtk front-end is very
similar to the qt front-end described in the manuals. One exception is the gtk
software management module, which differs considerably from the qt port.

8.3 Software
8.3.1 Installing and Removing Software
To install, uninstall, and update software on your machine, use Software > Software
Management. This opens a package manager dialog as shown in Figure 8.2, “YaST
Package Manager” (page 132).
Figure 8.2 YaST Package Manager
In SUSE® Linux Enterprise, software is available in the form of RPM packages. Nor-
mally, a package contains everything needed for a program: the program itself, the
configuration files, and all documentation. A list of individual packages is displayed
to the right in the individual package window. The content of this list is determined by
the currently selected filter. If, for example, the Patterns filter is selected, the individual
package window displays all packages of the current selection.
In the package manager, each package has a status that determines what to do with the
package, such as “Install” or “Delete.” This status is shown by a symbol in a status box
at the beginning of the line. Change the status by clicking or selecting the desired status
from the menu that opens when the item is right-clicked. Depending on the current sit-

uation, some of the possible status flags may not be available for selection. For example,
a package that has not yet been installed cannot be set to “Delete.” View the available
status flags with Help > Symbols.
The font color used for various packages in the individual package window provides
additional information. Installed packages for which a newer version is available on
the installation media are displayed in blue. Installed packages whose version numbers
are higher than those on the installation media are displayed in red. However, because
the version numbering of packages is not always linear, the information may not be
perfect, but should be sufficient to indicate problematic packages. If necessary, check
the version numbers.
Installing Packages
To install packages, select packages for installation and click Accept. Selected packages
should have the Install status icon. The package manager automatically checks the de-
pendencies and selects any other required packages (resolution of dependencies). To
view other packages required for installation before clicking Accept, choose Extras >
Show Automatic Package Changes from the main menu. After installing packages,
continue working with the package manager by clicking Install More or close it by
clicking Finish.
The package manager provides preselected groups for installation. You can select an
entire group instead of single packages. To view these groups, use Filter in the left
frame.
TIP: List of All Available Packages
To display all packages on your installation media, use the filter Package Groups
and select zzz All at the bottom of the tree. SUSE Linux Enterprise contains a
number of packages and it might take some time to display this long list.
Installing and Removing Patterns

The Patterns filter groups the program packages according to application purpose, such
as file or print server. The various groups of the Patterns filter are listed with the installed
packages preselected.

Click the status box at the beginning of a line to install or uninstall this pattern. Select
a status directly by right-clicking the pattern and using the context menu. From the in-
dividual package overview to the right, which displays the packages included in the
current pattern, select and deselect individual packages.
Installing and Removing Language Support

To find language-specific packages, such as translated texts for the user interface of
programs, documentation, and fonts, use the Languages filter. This filter shows a list
of all languages supported by SUSE Linux Enterprise. If you select one of these, the
right frame shows all packages available for this language. Among these, all packages
applying to your current software selection are automatically tagged for installation.
To uninstall a language from your system, select a language from the language list and
uncheck the status box at the beginning of a line.
NOTE
Because language-specific packages may depend on other packages, the package

manager may select additional packages for installation.
Packages and Installation Sources

If you want to find only packages from the specific source, use the Installation Sources
filter. In the default configuration, this filter shows a list of all packages from the selected
source. To restrict the list, use a secondary filter.
To view a list of the all installed packages from the selected installation source, select
the filter Installation Sources then select Installation Summary from Secondary Filters
and deactivate all check boxes except Keep.
The package status in the individual package window can be changed as usual. However,
the changed package may no longer meet the search criteria. To remove such packages
from the list, update the list with Update List.

Installing Source Packages
A package containing the source files for the program is usually available. The sources
are not needed for running the program, but you may want to install the sources to
compile a custom version of the program.
To install sources for selected program, mark the check box in the Source column. If
you cannot see a check box, your installation sources do not contain the source of the
package.
Saving the Package Selection

If you want to install the same packages on several computers, you can save your con-
figuration to file and use it for other systems. To save your package selection, choose
File > Export from the menu. To import a prepared selection, use File > Import.
IMPORTANT: Hardware Compatibility
Because this function saves the exact package list, it is only reliable when the
hardware is identical on the source and target systems. For more complicated
situations, AutoYaST, described in Chapter 5, Automated Installation (page 85),
may be a better choice.
Removing Packages
To remove packages, assign the correct status to the packages to remove and click Ac-
cept. Selected packages should have the Delete status. If a package required by other
installed packages is marked for deletion, the package manager issues an alert with
detailed information and alternative solutions.
Reinstalling Packages
If you find damaged files that belong to package or you want to reinstall the original
version of a package from your installation media, reinstall the package. To reinstall
packages, select packages for reinstallation and click Accept. Selected packages should
have the Update status. If any dependency issues arise with installed packages, the
package manager issues an alert with detailed information and alternative solutions.

Searching for Packages, Applications, and Files
To find a specific package, use the Search filter. Enter a search string and click Search.
By specifying various search criteria, you can restrict the search to display a few or
even only one package. You can also define special search patterns using wild cards
and regular expressions in Search Mode.
TIP: Quick Search
In addition to the Search filter, all lists of the package manager feature a quick
search. Simply enter a letter to move the cursor to the first package in the list
whose name begins with this letter. The cursor must be in the list (by clicking
the list).
To find a package by name, select Name, enter the name of the package to find in the
search field, and click Search. To find a package by text in the description, select
Summary and Descriptions, enter a search string, and click Search.
To search for the package that contains a certain file, enter the name of the file, select
RPM "Provides", and click Search. To find all packages that depend on a particular
package, select RPM "Requires", enter the name of package, and click Search.
If you are familiar with the package structure of SUSE Linux Enterprise, you can use
the Package Groups filter to find packages by subject. This filter sorts the program
packages by subjects, such as applications, development, and hardware, in a tree
structure to the left. The more you expand the branches, the more specific the selection
is. This means fewer packages are displayed in the individual package window.
Installation Summary
After selecting the packages for installation, update, or deletion, view the installation
summary with Installation Summary. It shows how packages will be affected when you
click Accept. Use the check boxes to the left to filter the packages to view in the indi-
vidual package window. For example, to check which packages are already installed,
deactivate all check boxes except Keep.
The package status in the individual package window can be changed as usual. However,
the respective package may no longer meet the search criteria. To remove such packages
from the list, update the list with Update List.

Information about Packages
Get information about the selected package with the tabs in the bottom right frame. If
another version of the package is available, you get information about both versions.
The Description tab with the description of the selected package is automatically active.
To view information about package size, version, installation media, and other technical
details, select Technical Data. Information about provided and required files is in De-
pendencies. To view available versions with their installation sources, click Versions.
Disk Usage
During the selection of the software, the resource window at the bottom left of the
module displays the prospective disk usage of all mounted file systems. The colored
bar graph grows with every selection. As long as it remains green, there is sufficient
space. The bar color slowly changes to red as you approach the limit of disk space. If
you select too many packages for installation, an alert is displayed.
Checking Dependencies
Some packages depend on other packages. This means that the software of the package
only works properly if another package is also installed. There are some packages with
identical or similar functionality. If these packages use the same system resource, they
should not be installed at the same time (package conflict).
When the package manager starts, it examines the system and displays installed pack-
ages. When you select to install and remove packages, the package manager can auto-
matically check the dependencies and select any other required packages (resolution
of dependencies). If you select or deselect conflicting packages, the package manager
indicates this and submits suggestions for solving the problem (resolution of conflicts).
To activate the automatic dependency check, select Autocheck, located under the infor-
mation window. With Autocheck activated, any change of a package status triggers an
automatic check. This is a useful feature, because the consistency of the package selec-
tion is monitored permanently. However, this process consumes resources and can slow
down the package manager. For this reason, the automatic check is not activated by
default. Regardless of the state of Autocheck, a consistency check is performed when
you confirm your selection with Accept.

If you click Check, located under the information window, the package manager checks
if the current package selection results in any unresolved package dependencies or
conflicts. In the event of unresolved dependencies, the required additional packages
are selected automatically. For package conflicts, the package manager opens a dialog
that shows the conflict and offers various options for solving the problem.
For example, sendmail and postfix may not be installed concurrently. Figure 8.3,
“Conflict Management of the Package Manager” (page 138) shows the conflict message
prompting you to make a decision. postfix is already installed. Accordingly, you
can refrain from installing sendmail, remove postfix, or take the risk and ignore
the conflict.
WARNING: Handling Package Conflicts
Unless you are very experienced, follow the suggestions of YaST when handling
package conflicts, because otherwise the stability and functionality of your
system could be endangered by the existing conflict.
Figure 8.3 Conflict Management of the Package Manager

Installing -devel Packages
The package manager provides functions for quick and easy installation of devel and
debug packages. To install all devel packages for your installed system, choose Extras
> Install All Matching — -devel Packages. To install all debug packages for your in-
stalled system, choose Extras > Install All Matching — -debuginfo Packages.
8.3.2 Installing Add-On Products

Add-on products are extensions for your system. You can install a third party add-on
product or a special extension of your SUSE Linux Enterprise, for example, the SDK
add-on or a CD with binary drivers. To install a new add-on, use Software > Add-On
Product. You can select various types of product media, like CD, FTP or local directory.
You can work also directly with ISO files. To add an add-on as ISO file media, select
Local Directory then choose ISO Images.
After successfully adding the add-on media, the package manager window appears. If
the add-on provides a new pattern, see the new item in the Patterns filter. To view the
list of all packages from the selected installation source, select the filter Installation
Sources and choose the installation source to view. To view packages from a selected
add-on by package groups, select the secondary filter Package Groups.
TIP: Creating Custom Add-On Products
Create your own add-on products with YaST Add-On Creator. Read about the
YaST add-on creator at http://developer.novell.com/wiki/index
.php/Creating_Add-On_Media_with_YaST. Find technical background
information at http://developer.novell.com/wiki/index.php/
Creating_Add-Ons.
8.3.3 Selecting the Installation Source

You can use multiple installation sources of several types. Select them and enable their
use for installation or update using Software > Installation Source. For example, you
can specify SUSE Software Development Kit as an installation source. When started,
it displays a list of all previously registered sources. Following a normal installation
from CD, only the installation CD is listed. Click Add to include additional sources in

this list. Sources can be CDs, DVDs, or network sources, such as NFS and FTP servers.
Even directories on the local hard disk can be selected as the installation medium. See
the detailed YaST help text for more details.
All registered sources have an activation status in the first column of the list. Enable
or disable individual installation sources by clicking Activate or Deactivate. During
the installation of software packages or updates, YaST selects a suitable entry from the
list of activated installation sources. When you exit the module with Close, the current
settings are saved and applied to the configuration modules Software Management and
System Update.
8.3.4 Registering SUSE Linux Enterprise

To get technical support and product updates, your system must be registered and acti-
vated. If you skipped the registration during installation, register with the help of the
Novell Customer Center Configuration module from Software. This dialog is the same
as that described in Section 3.14.4, “Novell Customer Center Configuration” (page 39).
8.3.5 YaST Online Update

Install important updates and improvements with YaST Online Update. The current
updates for your SUSE Linux Enterprise are available from the product specific update
catalogs containing patches. To add or remove catalogs, use the Software > Installation
Source module, described in Section 8.3.3, “Selecting the Installation Source” (page 139).
NOTE: Error on Accessing the Update Catalog
If you are not able to access the update catalog, this might be due to an expired
subscription. Normally, SUSE Linux Enterprise comes with a one or three years
subscription, during which you have access to the update catalog. This access
will be denied once the subscription ends.
In case of an access denial to the update catalog you will see a warning message
with a recommendation to visit the Novell Customer Center and check your
subscription. The Novell Customer Center is available at http://www.novell
.com/center/.

To install updates and improvements with YaST, run Software > Online Update. All
new patches (except the optional ones) that are currently available for your system are
already marked for installation. Clicking Accept automatically installs these patches.
After the installation has completed, confirm with Finish. Your system is now up-to-
date.
Definition of Terms
Package
A package is a compressed file in rpm format that contains the files for a particular
program.
Patch
A patch consists of one or more packages—either full packages or patchrpm or
deltarpm packages— and may also introduce dependencies to packages that are
not installed yet.
patchrpm
A patchrpm consists only of files that have been updated since it was first released
for SUSE Linux Enterprise 10. Its download size is usually considerably smaller
than the size of a package.
deltarpm
A deltarpm consists only of the binary diff between two defined versions of a
package and therefore, has the smallest download size. Before being installed, the
rpm package has to be rebuild on the local machine.
Installing Patches Manually

The Online Update window consists of five sections. The list of all patches available
is on the left. Find the description of the selected patch displayed below the list of
patches. The disk usage is displayed at the bottom of the left column. The right column
lists the packages included in the selected patch (a patch can consist of several packages)
and, below, a detailed description of the selected package.

Figure 8.4 YaST Online Update
The patch display lists the available patches for SUSE Linux Enterprise. The patches
are sorted by security relevance. The color of the patch name, as well as a pop-up
window under the mouse cursor, indicate the security status of the patch: Security
(red), Recommended (blue), or Optional (black). There are three different views
on patches. Use Show Patch Category to toggle the views:
Installable Patches (default view)

Currently not installed patches that apply to packages installed on your system.
Installable and Installed Patches

All patches that apply to packages installed on your system.
All Patches
All patches available for SUSE Linux Enterprise.
A list entry consists of a symbol and the patch name. For a list of possible symbols,
press Shift + F1. Actions required by Security and Recommended patches are au-
tomatically preset. These actions are Autoinstall, Autoupdate, or Autodelete. Actions
for Optional patches are not preset—right-click on a patch and choose an action
from the list.

If you install an up-to-date package from a catalog other than the update catalog, the
requirements of a patch for this package may be fulfilled with this installation. In this
case a check mark is displayed in front of the patch summary. The patch will be visible
in the list until you mark it for installation. This will in fact not install the patch (because
the package already is up-to-date), but mark the patch as having been installed.
Most patches include updates for several packages. If you want to change actions for
single packages, right-click on a package in the package window and choose an action.
Once you have marked all patches and packages as desired, proceed with Accept.
TIP: Disabling deltarpms
Since rebuilding rpm packages from deltarpms is a memory and CPU time
consuming task, certain setups or hardware configuration might require to
disable the usage of deltarpms for performance sake. To disable the use of
deltarpms edit the file /etc/zypp/zypp.conf and set
download.use_deltarpm to false.
Another alternative for updating software is the ZENworks updater applet for KDE and
GNOME. The ZENworks updater helps monitor new patches. It also provides a quick
update function. For more information, refer to Section 9.2, “Managing Packages with
the ZEN Tools” (page 204).
8.3.6 Automatic Online Update

YaST also offers the possibility to set up an automatic update. Select Software > Auto-
matic Online Update. Configure a Daily or a Weekly update. Some patches, such as
kernel updates, require user interaction, which would cause the automatic update pro-
cedure to stop. Check Skip Interactive Patches for the update procedure to proceed au-
tomatically. In this case, run a manual Online Update from time to install patches that
require interaction.
When Only Download Patches is checked, the patches are downloaded at the specified
time but not installed. They must be installed manually. The patches are downloaded
to the rug cache directory, /var/cache/zmd/web, by default. Use the command
rug get-prefs cache-directory to get the current rug cache directory. For
more information about rug, see Section 9.1, “Update from the Command Line with
rug” (page 200).

8.3.7 Updating from a Patch CD
NOTE
On s390 systems, the Patch CD update option is not available.
The Patch CD Update module from the Software section installs patches from CD, not
from an FTP server. The advantage lies in a much faster update with CD. After the
patch CD is inserted, all patches on the CD are displayed in the dialog. Select the desired
packages for installation from the list of patches. The module issues an error message
if no patch CD is present. Insert the patch CD then restart the module.
8.3.8 Updating the System

Update the version of SUSE Linux Enterprise installed on your system with Software
> System Update. During operation, you can only update application software, not the
base system. To update the base system, boot the computer from an installation medium,
such as CD. When selecting the installation mode in YaST, select Update.
The procedure for updating the system is similar to a new installation. Initially, YaST
examines the system, determines a suitable update strategy, and presents the results in
a suggestion dialog. Click Change or the individual items to change any details.
Update Options
Set the update method for your system. Two options are available.
Update with Installation of New Software and Features Based on the Selection
To update the entire system to the latest versions of software, select one of the
predefined selections. These selections ensure that packages that did not exist pre-
viously are also installed.
Only Update Installed Packages

This option merely updates packages that already exist on the system. No new
features are installed.

Additionally, you can use Delete Outdated Packages to remove packages that do not
exist in the new version. By default, this option is preselected to prevent outdated
packages from unnecessarily occupying hard disk space.
Packages
Click Packages to start the package manager and select or deselect individual packages
for update. Any package conflicts should be resolved with the consistency check. The
use of the package manager is covered in detail in Section 8.3.1, “Installing and Remov-
ing Software” (page 132).
Backup
During the update, the configuration files of some packages may be replaced by those
of the new version. Because you may have modified some of the files in your current
system, the package manager normally makes backup copies of the replaced files. With
this dialog, determine the scope of these backups.
IMPORTANT: Scope of the Backup
This backup does not include the software. It only contains configuration files.
Language
Primary and other languages currently installed on the system are listed here. Change
them by clicking Language in the displayed configuration or with Change > Language.
Optionally, adapt the keyboard layout and time zone to the region where the primary
language is spoken. Find more about language selection in Section 8.5.15, “Language
Selection” (page 163).
Important Information about Updates

The system update is a very complex procedure. For each program package, YaST must
first check which version is installed on the computer then determine what needs to be
done to replace the old version with the new version correctly. YaST also tries to adopt
any personal settings of the installed packages.

In most cases, YaST replaces old versions with new ones without problems. A backup
of the existing system should be performed prior to updating to ensure that existing
configurations are not lost during the update. Conflicts can then be resolved manually
after the update has finished.
8.3.9 Installing into a Directory

This YaST module allows you to install packages into a directory specified by you.
Select where to place the root directory, how to name directories, and the type of system
and software to install. After entering this module, YaST determines the system settings
and lists the default directory, installation instructions, and software to install. Edit
these settings by clicking Change. All changes must be confirmed by clicking Accept.
After changes have been made, click Next until informed that the installation is complete.
Click Finish to exit the dialog.
8.3.10 Checking Media

If you encounter any problems using the SUSE Linux Enterprise installation media,
you can check the CDs or DVDs with Software > Media Check. Media problems are
more likely to occur with media you burn yourself. To check that a SUSE Linux Enter-
prise CD or DVD is error-free, insert the medium into the drive and run this module.
Click Start for YaST to check the MD5 checksum of the medium. This may take several
minutes. If any errors are detected, you should not use this medium for installation.
8.4 Hardware
New hardware must first be installed or connected as directed by the vendor. Turn on
external devices and start the appropriate YaST module. Most devices are automatically
detected by YaST and the technical data is displayed. If the automatic detection fails,
YaST offers a list of devices (model, vendor, etc.) from which to select the suitable
device. Consult the documentation enclosed with your hardware for more information.

IMPORTANT: Model Designations
If your model is not included in the device list, try a model with a similar des-
ignation. However, in some cases the model must match exactly, because sim-
ilar designations do not always indicate compatibility.
8.4.1 Infrared Device

Configure an infrared device with Hardware > Infrared Device. Click Start IrDa to
begin configuration. You can configure Port and Limit Baud Rate here.
8.4.2 Graphics Card and Monitor

Configure graphics cards and monitors with Hardware > Graphics Card and Monitor.
It uses the the SaX2 interface, described in Section 8.14, “SaX2” (page 191).
8.4.3 Printer
Configure a printer with Hardware > Printer. If a printer is properly connected to the
system, it should be detected automatically. Find detailed instructions for configuring
printers with YaST in Section 23.4, “Setting Up a Printer” (page 441).
8.4.4 Hard Disk Controller

Normally, the hard disk controller of your system is configured during the installation.
If you add controllers, integrate these into the system with Hardware > Disk Controller.
You can also modify the existing configuration, but this is generally not necessary.
The dialog presents a list of detected hard disk controllers and enables assignment of
the suitable kernel module with specific parameters. Use Test Loading of Module to
check if the current settings work before they are saved permanently in the system.

WARNING: Configuration of the Hard Disk Controller
It is advised to test the settings before making them permanent in the system.
Incorrect settings can prevent the system from booting.
8.4.5 Hardware Information

Display detected hardware and technical data using Hardware > Hardware Information.
Click any node of the tree for more information about a device. This module is especially
useful, for example, when submitting a support request for which you need information
about your hardware.
Save the hardware information displayed to a file by clicking Save to File. Select the
desired directory and filename then click Save to create the file.
8.4.6 IDE DMA Mode

Activate and deactivate the DMA mode for your IDE hard disks and your IDE CD and
DVD drives in the installed system with Hardware > IDE DMA Mode. This module
does not have any effect on SCSI devices. DMA modes can substantially increase the
performance and data transfer speed in your system.
During installation, the current SUSE Linux Enterprise kernel automatically activates
DMA for hard disks but not for CD drives, because default DMA activation for all
drives often causes problems with CD drives. Use the DMA module to activate DMA
for your drives. If the drive supports the DMA mode without any problems, the data
transfer rate of your drive can be increased by activating DMA.
NOTE
DMA (direct memory access) means that your data can be transferred directly
to the RAM, bypassing the processor control.
8.4.7 IBM System z: DASD Devices

To add a DASD to the installed system, there are two possibilities:

YaST
To add a DASD to an installed system, use the YaST DASD module (Hardware
> DASD). In the first screen, select the disks to make available to your Linux instal-
lation and click Perform Action. Select Activate then leave the dialog with Next.
Command Line
Issue the following command:
dasd_configure 0.0.0150 1 0
Replace 0.0.0150 with the actual channel number to which the DASD is attached.
The last zero of the command line should be 1 if the DASD should be accessed in
DIAG mode.
NOTE
In either case, you must run the commands
mkinitrd
zipl
to make the changes persistent.
8.4.8 IBM System z: ZFCP

To add further FCP-attached SCSI devices to the installed system, use the YaST ZFCP
module (Hardware > ZFCP). Select Add to add an additional device. Select the Channel
Number (adapter) from the list and specify both WWPN and FCP-LUN. Finalize the
setup by selecting Next and Close. Verify that the device has been added by checking
the output of cat /proc/scsi/scsi.
NOTE
To make the changes persistent through a reboot, run the following commands:
mkinitrd
zipl

8.4.9 Joystick
Configure a joystick connected to the sound card with Hardware > Joystick. Select
your joystick type in the list provided. If your joystick is not listed, select Generic
Analog Joystick. After selecting your joystick, make sure that it is connected then click
Test to test the functionality. Click Continue and YaST installs the required files. After
the Joystick Test window appears, test the joystick by moving it in all directions and
pressing all buttons. Each movement should be displayed in the window. If you are
satisfied with the settings, click OK to return to the module and Finish to complete
configuration.
If you have a USB device, this configuration is not necessary. Plug in the joystick and
start using it.
8.4.10 Keyboard Layout

To configure the keyboard for the console, run YaST in text mode then use Hardware
> Keyboard Layout. After clicking the module, the current layout is displayed. To
choose another keyboard layout, select the desired layout from the list provided. Test
the layout in Test by pressing keys on the keyboard.
Fine-tune the settings by clicking Expert Settings. Adjust the key repeat rate and delay
and configure the start-up state by choosing the desired settings in Start-Up States. For
Devices to Lock, enter a space-separated list of devices to which to apply the Scroll
Lock, Num Lock, and Caps Lock settings. Click OK to complete the fine-tuning. Finally,
after all selections have been made, click Accept for your changes to take effect.
To set up the keyboard for the graphical environment, run the graphical YaST then select
Keyboard Layout. Find information about the graphical configuration in Section 8.14.3,
“Keyboard Properties” (page 195).
8.4.11 Mouse Model

When configuring the mouse for the graphical environment, click Mouse Model to access
the SaX2 mouse configuration. Refer to Section 8.14.2, “Mouse Properties” (page 194)
for details.

To configure your mouse for the text environment, use YaST in text mode. After entering
text mode and selecting Hardware > Mouse Model, use the keyboard arrow keys to
choose your mouse from the provided list. Then click Accept to save the settings and
exit the module.
8.4.12 Sound
Most sound cards are detected automatically and configured with reasonable values
during initial installation. To install a card added later or modify settings, use Hardware
> Sound. It is also possible to switch the sequence of the cards.
Figure 8.5 Sound Configuration
If YaST cannot detect your sound card automatically, proceed as follows:
1 Click Add to open a dialog in which to select a sound card vendor and model.
Refer to your sound card documentation for the information required. Find a
reference list of sound cards supported by ALSA with their corresponding sound
modules in /usr/share/doc/packages/alsa/cards.txt and at
http://www.alsa-project.org/alsa-doc/. After making your se-
lection, click Next.

2 In Sound Card Configuration, choose the configuration level in the first setup
screen:
Quick automatic setup

You are not required to go through any of the further configuration steps
and no sound test is performed. The sound card is configured automatically.
Normal setup
Adjust the output volume and play a test sound.
Advanced setup with possibility to change options

Customize all settings manually.
In this dialog, there is also a shortcut to the joystick configuration. Click Joystick
configuration and select the joystick type in the following dialog to configure a
joystick. Click Next to continue.
3 In Sound Card Volume, test your sound configuration and make adjustments to
the volume. You should start at about ten percent to avoid damage to your hearing
or the speakers. A test sound should be audible when you click Test. If you cannot
hear anything, increase the volume. Press Next > Finish to complete the sound
configuration.
To change the configuration of a sound card, go to the Sound Configuration dialog,

select a displayed Card Model, and click Edit. Use Delete to remove a sound card
completely.
Click Other to customize one of the following options manually:
Volume
Use this dialog for setting the volume.
Start Sequencer
For playback of MIDI files, check this option.
Set as Primary Card

Click Set as Primary Card to adjust the sequence of your sound cards. The sound
device with index 0 is the default device used by the system and the applications.
The volume and configuration of all sound cards installed are saved when you click
Finish in the YaST sound module. The mixer settings are saved to the file /etc/

asound.conf and the ALSA configuration data is appended to the end of the files
/etc/modprobe.d/sound and /etc/sysconfig/hardware.
8.5 System
This group of modules is designed to help you manage your system. All modules in
this group are system-related and serve as valuable tools for ensuring that your system
runs properly and your data is managed efficiently.
TIP: IBM System z: Continuing
For IBM System z, continue with Section 8.5.3, “Boot Loader Configuration”
(page 154).
8.5.1 Backup
Create a backup of both your system and data using System > System Backup. However,
the backup created by the module does not include the entire system. The system is
backed up by saving important storage areas on your hard disk that may be crucial when
trying to restore a system, such as the partition table or master boot record (MBR). It
can also include the XML configuration acquired from the installation of the system,
which is used for AutoYaST. Data is backed up by saving changed files of packages
accessible on installation media, entire packages that are unaccessible (such as online
updates), and files not belonging to packages, such as many of the configuration files
in /etc or the directories under /home.
8.5.2 Restoration
With System > System Restoration, restore your system from a backup archive created
with System Backup. First, specify where the archives are located (removable media,
local hard disks, or network file systems). Click Next to view the description and contents
of the individual archives and select what to restore from the archives.
You can also uninstall packages that were added since the last backup and reinstall
packages that were deleted since the last backup. These two steps enable you to restore
the exact system state at the time of the last backup.

WARNING: System Restoration
Because this module normally installs, replaces, or uninstalls many packages

and files, use it only if you have experience with backups. Otherwise you may
lose data.
8.5.3 Boot Loader Configuration

To configure booting for systems installed on your computer, use the System > Boot
Loader module. A detailed description of how to configure the boot loader with YaST
is available in Section 21.3, “Configuring the Boot Loader with YaST” (page 414).
8.5.4 Clustering
Find information about Heartbeat and high availability configuration with YaST in
Heartbeat Guide.
8.5.5 LVM
The logical volume manager (LVM) is a tool for custom partitioning of hard disks with
logical drives. Find information about LVM in Section 7.1, “LVM Configuration”
(page 115).
8.5.6 EVMS
The enterprise volume management system (EVMS) is, like LVM, a tool for custom
partitioning and grouping of hard disks into virtual volumes. It is flexible, extensible,
and can be tailored using a plug-in model to individual needs of various volume man-
agement systems.
EVMS is compatible with existing memory and volume management systems, like
DOS, Linux LVM, GPT (GUID partition table), IBM System z, Macintosh, and BSD
partitions. More information is provided at http://evms.sourceforge.net/.

8.5.7 Using the YaST Partitioner
With the expert partitioner, shown in Figure 8.6, “The YaST Partitioner” (page 155),
manually modify the partitioning of one or several hard disks. Partitions can be added,
deleted, resized, and edited. Also access the soft RAID, EVMS, and LVM configuration
from this YaST module.
WARNING: Repartitioning the Running System
Although it is possible to repartition your system while it is running, the risk

of making a mistake that causes data loss is very high. Try to avoid repartitioning
your installed system and always do a complete backup of your data before
attempting to do so.
Figure 8.6 The YaST Partitioner
TIP: IBM System z: Device Names
IBM System z recognize only DASD and SCSI hard disks. IDE hard disks are not
supported. This is why these devices appear in the partition table as dasda or
sda for the first recognized device.

All existing or suggested partitions on all connected hard disks are displayed in the list
of the YaST Expert Partitioner dialog. Entire hard disks are listed as devices without
numbers, such as /dev/hda or /dev/sda (or /dev/dasda). Partitions are listed
as parts of these devices, such as /dev/hda1 or /dev/sda1 (or /dev/dasda1,
respectively). The size, type, file system, and mount point of the hard disks and their
partitions are also displayed. The mount point describes where the partition appears in
the Linux file system tree.
If you run the expert dialog during installation, any free hard disk space is also listed
and automatically selected. To provide more disk space to SUSE Linux Enterprise®,
free the needed space starting from the bottom toward the top of the list (starting from
the last partition of a hard disk toward the first). For example, if you have three partitions,
you cannot use the second exclusively for SUSE Linux Enterprise and retain the third
and first for other operating systems.
Partition Types
TIP: IBM System z: Hard Disks
On the IBM System z platforms, SUSE Linux Enterprise Server supports SCSI
hard disks as well as DASDs (direct access storage devices). While SCSI disks
can be partitioned as described below, DASDs can have no more than three
partition entries in their partition tables.
Every hard disk has a partition table with space for four entries. An entry in the partition
table can correspond to a primary partition or an extended partition. Only one extended
partition entry is allowed, however.
A primary partition simply consists of a continuous range of cylinders (physical disk

areas) assigned to a particular operating system. With primary partitions only, you are
limited to four partitions per hard disk, because more do not fit in the partition table.
This is why extended partitions are used. Extended partitions are also continuous ranges
of disk cylinders, but an extended partition may itself be subdivided into logical parti-
tions. Logical partitions do not require entries in the partition table. In other words, an
extended partition is a container for logical partitions.
If you need more than four partitions, create an extended partition as the fourth partition
or earlier. This extended partition should span the entire remaining free cylinder range.
Then create multiple logical partitions within the extended partition. The maximum

number of logical partitions is 15 on SCSI, SATA, and Firewire disks and 63 on (E)IDE
disks. It does not matter which types of partitions are used for Linux. Primary and log-
ical partitions both work fine.
TIP: Hard Disks with a GPT Disk Label
For architectures using the GPT disk label, the number of primary partitions is
not restricted. Consequently, there are no logical partitions.
Creating a Partition
To create a partition from scratch, proceed as follows:
1 Select Create. If several hard disks are connected, a selection dialog appears in
which to select a hard disk for the new partition.
2 Specify the partition type (primary or extended). Create up to four primary parti-
tions or up to three primary partitions and one extended partition. Within the
extended partition, create several logical partitions (see Section “Partition Types”
(page 156)).
3 Select the file system to use and a mount point. YaST suggests a mount point
for each partition created. Refer to Chapter 25, File Systems in Linux (page 469)
for details on the various file systems.
4 Specify additional file system options if your setup requires them. This is neces-
sary, for example, if you need persistent device names. For details on the available
options, refer to Section “Editing a Partition” (page 158).
5 Click OK > Apply to apply your partitioning setup and leave the partitioning
module.
If you created the partition during installation, you are returned to the installation
overview screen.

Editing a Partition
When you create a new partition or modify an existing partition, set various parameters.
For new partitions, suitable parameters are set by YaST and usually do not require any
modification. To edit your partition setup manually, proceed as follows:
1 Select the partition.
2 Click Edit to edit the partition and set the parameters:
File System ID
Even if you do not want to format the partition at this stage, assign it a file
system ID to ensure that the partition is registered correctly. Possible values
include Linux, Linux swap, Linux LVM, Linux EVMS, and Linux RAID. For
LVM and RAID details, refer to Section 7.1, “LVM Configuration” (page 115)
and Section 7.2, “Soft RAID Configuration” (page 123).
File System
Change the file system or format the partition here. Changing the file system
or reformatting partitions irreversibly deletes all data from the partition . For
details on the various file systems, refer to Chapter 25, File Systems in Linux
(page 469).
File System Options

Set various parameters for the selected file system here. The defaults are
acceptable for most situations.
Encrypt File System

If you activate the encryption, all data is written to the hard disk in encrypted
form. This increases the security of sensitive data, but slightly reduces the
system speed, because the encryption takes some time. More information
about the encryption of file systems is provided in Chapter 47, Encrypting
Partitions and Files (page 865).
Fstab Options
Specify various parameters contained in the global file system administration
file (/etc/fstab). The default settings should suffice for most setups.
You can, for example, change the file system identification from the device
name to a volume label. In the volume label, use all characters except / and
space.

Mount Point
Specify the directory at which the partition should be mounted in the file
system tree. Select from various YaST proposals or enter any other name.
3 Select OK > Apply to activate the partition.
Expert Options
Expert opens a menu containing the following commands:
Reread Partition Table

Rereads the partitioning from disk. For example, you need this after manual parti-
tioning in the text console.
Delete Partition Table and Disk Label

This completely overwrites the old partition table. For example, this can be helpful
if you have problems with unconventional disk labels. Using this method, all data
on the hard disk is lost.
More Partitioning Tips

The following section comprises a few hints and tips on partitioning that should help
you in taking the right decisions while setting up your system.
TIP: Cylinder Numbers
Note, that different partitioning tools may start counting the cylinders of a
partition with 0 or with 1. When calculating the number of cylinders, you should
always use the difference between the last and the first cylinder number and
add one.
If the partitioning is performed by YaST and other partitions are detected in the system,
these partitions are also added to the /etc/fstab file to enable easy access to this
data. This file contains all partitions in the system with their properties, such as the file
system, mount point, and user permissions.

Example 8.1 /etc/fstab: Partition Data
/dev/sda1 /data1 auto noauto,user 0 0
The partitions, regardless of whether they are Linux or FAT partitions, are specified
with the options noauto and user. This allows any user to mount or unmount these
partitions as needed. For security reasons, YaST does not automatically enter the exec
option here, which is needed for executing programs from the location. However, to
run programs from there, you can enter this option manually. This measure is necessary
if you encounter system messages such as “bad interpreter” or “Permission denied”.
Partitioning and LVM

From the expert partitioner, access the LVM configuration with LVM (see Section 7.1,
“LVM Configuration” (page 115)). However, if a working LVM configuration already
exists on your system, it is automatically activated as soon as you enter the LVM con-
figuration for the first time in a session. In this case, any disks containing a partition
belonging to an activated volume group cannot be repartitioned because the Linux
kernel cannot reread the modified partition table of a hard disk when any partition on
this disk is in use. However, if you already have a functioning LVM configuration on
your system, physical repartitioning should not be necessary. Instead, change the con-
figuration of the logical volumes.
At the beginning of the physical volumes (PVs), information about the volume is written
to the partition. To reuse such a partition for other non-LVM purposes, it is advisable
to delete the beginning of this volume. For example, in the VG system and PV /dev/
sda2, do this with the command dd if=/dev/zero of=/dev/sda2 bs=512
count=1.
WARNING: File System for Booting
The file system used for booting (the root file system or /boot) must not be
stored on an LVM logical volume. Instead, store it on a normal physical partition.

8.5.8 PCI Device Drivers
TIP: IBM System z: Continuing
For IBM System z, continue with Section 8.5.12, “System Services (Runlevel)”
(page 162).
Each kernel driver contains a list of device IDs of all devices it supports. If a new device
is not in any driver's database, the device is treated as unsupported, even if it can be
used with an existing driver. With this YaST module from System section, you can add
PCI IDs. Only advanced users should attempt to use this YaST module.
Figure 8.7 Adding a PCI ID
To add an ID, click Add and select how to assign it: by selecting a PCI device from a
list or by manually entering PCI values. In the first option, select the PCI device from
the provided list then enter the driver or directory name. If the directory is left empty,
the driver name is used as the directory name. When assigning PCI ID values manually,
enter the appropriate data to set up a PCI ID. Click OK to save your changes.

To edit a PCI ID, select the device driver from the list and click Edit. Edit the information
and click OK to save your changes. To delete an ID, select the driver and click Delete.
The ID immediately disappears from the list. When finished, click OK.
8.5.9 Power Management

The System > Power Management module helps you work with saving energy technolo-
gies. It is especially important on laptops to extend their operational time. Find detailed
information about using this module in Section 28.6, “The YaST Power Management
Module” (page 524).
8.5.10 Powertweak Configuration

Powertweak is a SUSE Linux utility for tweaking your system to peak performance by
tuning some kernel and hardware configurations. It should be used only by advanced
users. After starting it with System > Powertweak, it detects your system settings and
lists them in tree form in the left frame of the module. You can also use Search to find
a configuration variable. Select the option to tweak to display it on the screen along
with its directory and settings. To save the settings, click Finish then confirm it by
clicking OK.
8.5.11 Profile Manager

Create, manage, and switch among system configurations with System > Profile Man-
agement, the YaST system configuration profile management (SCPM) module. This
is especially useful for mobile computers that are used in different locations (in different
networks) and by different users. Nevertheless, this feature is useful even for stationary
machines, because it enables the use of various hardware components or test configura-
tions.
8.5.12 System Services (Runlevel)

Configure runlevels and the services that start in them with System > System Services
(Runlevel). For more information about the runlevels in SUSE Linux Enterprise and a
description of the YaST runlevel editor, refer to Section 20.2.3, “Configuring System
Services (Runlevel) with YaST” (page 398).

8.5.13 /etc/sysconfig Editor
The directory /etc/sysconfig contains the files with the most important settings
for SUSE Linux Enterprise. Use System > /etc/sysconfig Editor to modify the values
and save them to the individual configuration files. Generally, manual editing is not
necessary, because the files are automatically adapted when a package is installed or a
service is configured. More information about /etc/sysconfig and the YaST
sysconfig editor is available in Section 20.3.1, “Changing the System Configuration
Using the YaST sysconfig Editor” (page 400).
8.5.14 Time and Date Configuration

The time zone is initially set during installation, but you can change it with System >
Date and Time. Also use this to change the current system date and time.
To change the time zone, select the region in the left column and the location or time
zone in the right column. With Hardware Clock Set To, set whether the system clock
should use Local Time or UTC (Coordinated Universal Time). UTC is often used in
Linux systems. Machines with additional operating systems, such as Microsoft Windows,
mostly use local time.
Set the current system time and date with Change. In the dialog that opens, modify the
time and date by entering new values or adjusting them with the arrow buttons. Press
Apply to save the changes.
8.5.15 Language Selection

The primary and secondary languages for your system are set during installation.
However, they can be changed at any time using System > Language. The primary
language set in YaST applies to the entire system, including YaST and the desktop en-
vironment. This is the language you expect to use most of the time. Secondary languages
are languages that are sometimes needed by users for a variety of purposes, such as
desktop language or word processing.

Figure 8.8 Setting the Language
Select the main language to use for your system in Primary Language. To adjust the
keyboard or time zone to this setting, enable Adapt Keyboard Layout or Adapt Time
Zone.
Set how locale variables are set for the root user with Details. Also use Details to set
the primary language to a dialect not available in the main list. These settings are written
into the file /etc/sysconfig/language.
8.6 Network Devices

All network devices connected to the system must be initialized before they can be used
by a service. The detection and configuration of these devices is done in the module
group Network Devices.
8.6.1 DSL, ISDN, Modem, or Network Card

To configure a DSL, ISDN, or network interface or a modem, select the appropriate
module from the Network Devices section. For a device that is detected automatically,

select it from the list then click Edit. If your device has not been detected, click Add
and select it manually. To edit an existing device, select it then click Edit. For more
detailed information, see Section 30.4, “Configuring a Network Connection with YaST”
(page 560). For wireless network interfaces, see Chapter 29, Wireless Communication
(page 529).
TIP: CDMA and GPRS Modems
You can configure supported CDMA and GPRS modems as regular modems in
the YaST modem module.
8.7 Network Services

This group contains tools to configure all kinds of services in the network. These include
name resolution, user authentication, and file services.
8.7.1 Mail Transfer Agent

You can configure your mail settings in Network Services > Mail Transfer Agent if you
send your e-mail with sendmail, postfix, or the SMTP server of your provider. You can
fetch mail via the fetchmail program, for which you can also enter the details of the
POP3 or IMAP server of your provider. Alternatively, use a mail program of your
choice, such as KMail or Evolution, to set your access data. In this case, you do not
need this module.
To configure your mail with YaST, specify the type of your connection to the Internet
in the first dialog. Choose one of the following options:
Permanent
Select this option if you have a dedicated line to the Internet. Your machine is online
permanently, so no dial-up is required. If your system is part of a local network
with a central e-mail server, select this option to ensure permanent access to your
e-mail messages.
Dial-Up
This item is relevant for users who have a computer at home, are not located in a
network, and occasionally connect to the Internet.

No Connection
If you do not have access to the Internet and are not located in a network, you
cannot send or receive e-mail.
Activate virus scanning for your incoming and outgoing e-mail with AMaViS by select-
ing that option. The package is installed automatically as soon as you activate the mail
filtering feature. In the following dialogs, specify the outgoing mail server (usually the
SMTP server of your provider) and the parameters for incoming mail. Set the diverse
POP or IMAP servers for mail reception by various users. Using this dialog, you can
also assign aliases, use masquerading, or set up virtual domains. Click Finish to exit
the mail configuration.
8.7.2 Mail Server

IMPORTANT: LDAP-Based Mail Server Configuration
The mail server module of SUSE Linux Enterprise only works if the users, groups,
and the DNS and DHCP services are managed with LDAP.
The mail server module allows configuration of SUSE Linux Enterprise as a mail
server. YaST assists with the following steps of the configuration process:
Global Settings
Configures the identification of the local mail server and the maximum size of in-
coming or outgoing messages and the type of mail transport.
Local Delivery
Configures the type of local mail delivery.
Mail Transport
Configures special transport routes for mail depending on its target address.
SPAM Prevention
Configures the SPAM protection settings of the mail server. This activates the tool
AMaViS. Set up the type and strictness of the SPAM check.
Mail Server Relaying

Determines from which networks the mail server cannot be used for sending non-
local mail.

Fetching Mail
Configures mail pick-up from external mail accounts over various protocols.
Mail Server Domains

This determines for which domains the mail server should be responsible. At least
one master domain must be configured if the server should not run as a null client
used exclusively for sending mail without receiving any.
Distinguish among three domain types:
main
Main or master domain of the local mail server
local
All users who can receive mail in a master domain can also receive mail in a
local domain. In the case of a message within the local domain, only the portion
before the @ is evaluated.
virtual
Only users with an explicit address within a virtual domain receive mail. Vir-
tual mail addresses are set up in the user management module of YaST.
8.7.3 Other Available Services

Many other network modules are available in YaST Network Services.
DHCP Server
Use this to set up a custom DHCP server in only a few steps. Chapter 34, DHCP
(page 637) provides basic knowledge about the subject and a step-by-step description
of the configuration process.
DNS Server
Configuring a DNS server that is responsible for name resolution is recommended
for larger networks. You can use DNS Server for this as described in Section 33.2,
“Configuration with YaST” (page 612). Chapter 33, The Domain Name System
(page 611) provides background information about DNS.
DNS and Hostname

Use this module to configure the hostname and DNS if these settings were not al-
ready made while configuring the network devices. Also use it to change the host-

name and domain name. If the provider has been configured correctly for DSL,
modem, or ISDN access, the list of name servers contains the entries that were ex-
tracted automatically from the provider data. If you are located in a local network,
you might receive your hostname via DHCP, in which case you should not modify
the name.
HTTP Server
To run your own Web server, configure Apache in HTTP Server. Find more infor-
mation in Chapter 40, The Apache HTTP Server (page 741).
Hostnames
When booting and in small networks, you can use Hostnames for hostname resolu-
tion instead of DNS. The entries in this module reflect the data of the file /etc/
hosts. For more information, read Section “ /etc/hosts ” (page 587).
Kerberos Client
If you have a Kerberos server in your network for network authentication, use
Kerberos Client. A detailed description of the client configuration with YaST is
available in Section 46.6, “Configuring a Kerberos Client with YaST” (page 853).
LDAP Client
If using LDAP for user authentication in the network, configure the client in LDAP
Client. Information about LDAP and a detailed description of the client configuration
with YaST are available in Section 36.6, “Configuring an LDAP Client with YaST”
(page 684).
LDAP Server
The LDAP server can keep various data in a central directory and distribute it to
all clients in your network. Mostly it is used to store shared contact information
but its function is not limited to that. An LDAP server can be used also for authen-
tication. Information about LDAP and a detailed description of the server configu-
ration with YaST are available in Chapter 36, LDAP—A Directory Service
(page 663).
NFS Client
With NFS client, mount directories provided by NFS server in your own file trees.
Use NFS Client to configure your system to access an NFS server in the network.
NFS Server
With NFS, run a file server that all members of your network can access. This file
server can be used to make certain applications, files, and storage space available

to users. In NFS Server, you can configure your host as an NFS server and determine
the directories to export for general use by the network users. All users with the
appropriate permissions can mount these directories in their own file trees. A de-
scription of the YaST module and background information about NFS are provided
in Chapter 38, Sharing File Systems with NFS (page 715).
NIS Client
If you run NIS server to administer user data on a central place and distribute it to
the clients, configure the client here. Detailed information about NIS client and
configuration with YaST is available in Section 35.2, “Configuring NIS Clients”
(page 661).
NIS Server
If you run more than one system, local user administration (using the files /etc/
passwd and /etc/shadow) is impractical and requires a lot of maintenance.
In this case, administer user data on a central server and distribute it to the clients
from there. NIS is one option for this. Detailed information about NIS and its
configuration with YaST is available in Section 35.1.1, “Configuring a NIS Master
Server” (page 656).
NTP Client
NTP (network time protocol) is a protocol for synchronizing hardware clocks over
a network. Information about NTP and instructions for configuring it with YaST
are available in Chapter 32, Time Synchronization with NTP (page 605).
Network Services (xinetd)

Configure the network services (such as finger, talk, and ftp) to start when SUSE
Linux Enterprise boots using Network Services. These services enable external
hosts to connect to your computer. Various parameters can be configured for every
service. By default, the master service that manages the individual services (inetd
or xinetd) is not started.
When this module starts, choose whether to start inetd or xinetd. The selected
daemon can be started with a standard selection of services. Alternatively, compose
your own selection of services with Add, Delete, and Edit.

WARNING: Configuring Network Services (xinetd)
The composition and adjustment of network services on a system is a

complex procedure that requires a comprehensive understanding of the
concept of Linux services. The default settings are usually sufficient.
Proxy
Configure Internet proxy client settings in Proxy. Click Enable Proxy then enter
the desired proxy settings. You can test these settings by clicking Test Proxy Set-
tings. A small window informs you whether your proxy settings work correctly.
After your settings have been entered and tested, save them by clicking Accept.
Remote Administration
To administer your machine remotely from another machine, use Remote Adminis-
tration. To maintain your system remotely, use a VNC client, such as krdc, or a
Java-enabled browser. Although remote administration using VNC is simple and
fast, it is less secure than using SSH, so you should always keep this in mind when
using a VNC server. Find detailed information about installing with a VNC client
in Section 4.1.1, “Simple Remote Installation via VNC—Static Network Configu-
ration” (page 48).
Allow remote administration by selecting Allow Remote Administration in Remote

Administration Settings. Selecting Do Not Allow Remote Administration disables
this function. Click Open Port in Firewall to allow access to your computer.
Clicking Firewall Details displays network interfaces with open ports in the firewall.
Select the desired interface and click OK to return to the main dialog. Click Accept
to complete the configuration.
The YaST Remote Administration module is highly recommended for configuring

VNC on your machine. Although the SaX2 interface also allows you to set remote
access properties, it is not a substitute for YaST. It only enables you to configure
your X server as a host for VNC sessions.
Routing
Use Routing to configure the paths data takes over the network. In most cases, only
enter the IP address of the system through which to send all data in Default Gateway.
To create more complicated configurations, use Expert Configuration.

Samba Server
In a heterogeneous network consisting of Linux and Windows hosts, Samba controls
the communication between the two worlds. Information about Samba and the
configuration of servers is provided in Chapter 37, Samba (page 699).
SLP Server
With service location protocol (SLP), you can configure clients in your network
without knowledge of server names and services that these servers provide. Detailed
information about SLP servers and configuration with YaST are described in
Chapter 31, SLP Services in the Network (page 601).
TFTP Server
A TFTP server in not an FTP server. While an FTP server uses the File Transfer
Protocol (FTP), a TFTP server uses the much simpler Trivial File Transfer Protocol
(TFTP) without security features. TFTP servers are usually used to boot diskless
workstations, X terminals, and routers. Detailed information about TFTP servers
and configuration with YaST are described in Section 4.3.2, “Setting Up a TFTP
WOL
WOL (wake on LAN) refers to the possibility of waking up a computer from
standby mode over the network using special packages. It only works with mother-
boards that support this functionality in their BIOS. WOL configuration with YaST
is described in Section 4.3.7, “Wake on LAN” (page 75).
Windows Domain Membership

In a heterogeneous network consisting of Linux and Windows hosts, Samba controls
the communication between the two worlds. With the Samba Client module, you
can configure your computer as member of a Windows domain. Find information
about Samba and the configuration of clients in Chapter 37, Samba (page 699).
iSCSI Target
iSCSI technology provides an easy and reasonably inexpensive solution for con-
necting Linux computers to central storage systems. To configure the server side,
use Miscellaneous > iSCSI Target. Find more information about configuration of
iSCSI with YaST in Chapter 12, Mass Storage over IP Networks—iSCSI (page 271).

iSCSI Initiator
To configure a connection to central storage, use Miscellaneous > iSCSI Initiator.
Find more information about configuration of iSCSI with YaST in Chapter 12,
Mass Storage over IP Networks—iSCSI (page 271).
8.8 AppArmor
Novell AppArmor is designed to provide easy-to-use application security for both
servers and workstations. Novell AppArmor is an access control system that lets you
specify which files each program may read, write, and execute. To enable or disable
Novell AppArmor on your system, use AppArmor Control Panel. Information about
Novell AppArmor and a detailed description of the configuration with YaST are
available in Novell AppArmor Administration Guide (↑Novell AppArmor Administration
Guide).
8.9 Security and Users

A basic aspect of Linux is its multiuser capability. Consequently, several users can
work independently on the same Linux system. Each user has a user account identified
by a login name and a personal password for logging in to the system. All users have
their own home directories where personal files and configurations are stored.
8.9.1 User Management

Create and edit users with Security and Users > User Management. It provides an
overview of users in the system, including NIS, LDAP, Samba, and Kerberos users if
requested. If you are part of an extensive network, click Set Filter to list all users cate-
gorically. You can also customize the filter settings by clicking Customize Filter.
TIP: Applying Configuration Changes without Closing the Module
Whenever you need to make multiple configuration changes and want to avoid
restarting the user and group configuration module for every single one of
these changes, use Write Changes Now to save your changes without exiting
the configuration module.

Adding Users
To add a new user, proceed as follows:
1 Click Add.
2 Enter the necessary data for User Data. If you do not need to adjust any more
detailed settings for this new user, proceed to Step 5 (page 173).
3 To change a user's ID, home directory name, default home, group, group mem-
berships, directory permissions, or login shell, open the Details tab and change
the default values.
4 To adjust user's password expiration, length, and expiration warnings, use the
Password Settings tab.
5 Write the user account configuration by clicking Accept.
The new user can immediately log in with the created login name and password.
Deleting Users
To delete a user, proceed as follows:
1 Select the user from the list.
2 Click Delete.
3 Determine whether to delete or keep the home directory of the user to delete.
4 Click Yes to apply your settings.
Changing the Login Configuration

To change the login configuration, proceed as follows:
1 Select the user from the list.
2 Click Edit.

3 Adjust the settings under User Data, Details, and Password Settings.
4 Save the user account configuration by clicking Accept.
Managing Encrypted Home Directories

You can create an encrypted home directory as part of the user account creation. To
create an encrypted home directory for a user, proceed as follows:
1 Click Add.
2 Enter the required data for User Data.
3 In the Details tab, activate Use Encrypted Home Directory.
4 Apply your settings with Accept.
To create an encrypted home for an existing user, proceed as follows:
1 Select a user from the list and click Edit.
2 In the Details tab, enable Use Encrypted Home Directory.
3 Enter the password of the selected user.
To disable the encryption of home directories, proceed as follows:
1 Select a user from the list and click Edit.
2 In the Details tab, disable Use Encrypted Home Directory.
3 Enter the password of the selected user.
For more information about encrypted homes, see Section 47.2, “Using Encrypted
Home Directories” (page 869).

Auto Login
WARNING: Using Auto Login
Using the auto login feature on any system that can be physically accessed by
more than one person is a potential security risk. Any user accessing this system
can manipulate the data on it. If your system contains confidential data, do
not use the auto login functionality.
If you are the only user of your system, you can configure auto login. It automatically
logs a user into the system after start. Only one selected user can use the auto login
function. Auto login works only with KDM or GDM.
To activate auto login, select the user from the list of users and click Expert Options >
Login Settings. Then choose Auto Login and click OK.
To deactivate this functionality, select the user and click Expert Options > Login Settings.
Then uncheck Auto Login and click OK.
Login without a Password

WARNING: Allowing Login without a Password
Using the passwordless login feature on any system that can be physically ac-
cessed by more than one person is a potential security risk. Any user accessing
this system can manipulate the data on it. If your system contains confidential
data, do not use this functionality.
Login without a password automatically logs a user into the system after the user enters
the username in the login manager. It is available to multiple users on a system and
works only with KDM or GDM.
To activate the function, select the user from the list of users and click Expert Options
> Login Settings. Then choose Passwordless Login and click OK.
To deactivate this function, select the user for whom to disable this functionality from
the list of users and click Expert Options > Login Settings. Then uncheck Passwordless
Login and click OK.

Disabling User Login
To create a system user that should not be able to log in to the system but under whose
identity several system-related tasks should be managed, disable the user login when
creating the user account. Proceed as follows:
1 Click Add.
2 Enter the required data for User Data.
3 Check Disable User Login.
To disable login for an existing user, proceed as follows:
1 Select the user from the list and click Edit.
2 Check Disable User Login in User Data.
Enforcing Password Policies

On any system with multiple users, it is a good idea to enforce at least basic password
security policies. Users should change their passwords regularly and use strong pass-
words that cannot easily be exploited. For information about how to enforce stricter
password rules, refer to Section 8.9.3, “Local Security” (page 179). To enforce password
rotation, create a password expiration policy.
To configure the password expiration policy for a new user, proceed as follows:
1 Click Add.
2 Enter the required data in User Data.
3 Adjust the values in Password Settings.

To change the password expiration policy for an existing user, proceed as follows:
1 Select the user from the list and click Edit.
2 Adjust the values in Password Settings.
You can limit the lifetime of any user account by specifying a date of expiration for
this particular account. Specify the Expiration Date in the YYYY-MM-DD format and
leave the user configuration. If no Expiration Date is given, the user account never
expires.
Changing the Default Settings for New Users

When creating new local users, several defaults settings are used by YaST. You can
change these default settings to meet your requirements:
1 Select Expert Options > Defaults for New Users.
2 Apply your changes to any or all of the following items:
• Default Group
• Secondary Groups
• Default Login Shell
• Path Prefix for Home Directory
• Skeleton for Home Directory
• Umask for Home Directory
• Default Expiration Date
• Days after Password Expiration Login is Usable
3 Apply your changes with Accept.

Several other security-related default settings can be changed using the Local Security
module. Refer to Section 8.9.3, “Local Security” (page 179) for information.
Changing the Password Encryption

NOTE
Changes in password encryption apply only to local users.
SUSE Linux Enterprise can use DES, MD5, or Blowfish for password encryption. The
default password encryption method is Blowfish. The encryption method is set during
installation of the system, as described in Section 3.14.1, “Password for the System
Administrator “root”” (page 36). To change the password encryption method in the
installed system, select Expert Options > Password Encryption.
Changing the Authentication and User Sources

The user administration method (such as NIS, LDAP, Kerberos, or Samba) is set during
installation, as described in Section 3.14.7, “Users” (page 42). To change the user au-
thentication method in the installed system, select Expert Options > Authentication and
User Sources. The module provides a configuration overview and the option to configure
the client. Advanced client configuration is also possible using this module.
8.9.2 Group Management

To create and edit groups, select Security and Users > Group Management or click
Groups in the user administration module. Both dialogs have the same functionality,
allowing you to create, edit, or delete groups.
The module gives an overview of all groups. As in the user management dialog, change
filter settings by clicking Set Filter.
To add a group, click Add and enter the appropriate data. Select group members from
the list by checking the corresponding box. Click Accept to create the group. To edit a
group, select the group to edit from the list and click Edit. Make all necessary changes
then save them with Accept. To delete a group, simply select it from the list and click
Delete.

Click Expert Options for advanced group management. Find more about these options
in Section 8.9.1, “User Management” (page 172).
8.9.3 Local Security

To apply a set of security settings to your entire system, use Security and Users > Local
Security. These settings include security for booting, login, passwords, user creation,
and file permissions. SUSE Linux Enterprise offers three preconfigured security sets:
Home Workstation, Networked Workstation, and Network Server. Modify the defaults
with Details. To create your own scheme, use Custom Settings.
The detailed or custom settings include:
Password Settings
To have new passwords checked by the system for security before they are accepted,
click Check New Passwords and Test for Complicated Passwords. Set the minimum
password length for newly created users. Define the period for which the password
should be valid and how many days in advance an expiration alert should be issued
when the user logs in to the text console.
Boot Settings
Set how the key combination Ctrl + Alt + Del should be interpreted by selecting
the desired action. Normally, this combination, when entered in the text console,
causes the system to reboot. Do not modify this setting unless your machine or
server is publicly accessible and you are afraid someone could carry out this action
without authorization. If you select Stop, this key combination causes the system
to shut down. With Ignore, this key combination is ignored.
If you use the KDE login manager (KDM), set permissions for shutting down the
system in Shutdown Behavior of KDM. Give permission to Only root (the system
administrator), All Users, Nobody, or Local Users. If Nobody is selected, the system
can only be shut down from the text console.
Login Settings
Typically, following a failed login attempt, there is a waiting period lasting a few
seconds before another login is possible. This makes it more difficult for password
sniffers to log in. Optionally activate Record Successful Login Attempts. If you
suspect someone is trying to discover your password, check the entries in the system
log files in /var/log. To grant other users access to your graphical login screen

over the network, enable Allow Remote Graphical Login. Because this access
possibility represents a potential security risk, it is inactive by default.
User Addition
Every user has a numerical and an alphabetical user ID. The correlation between
these is established using the file /etc/passwd and should be as unique as pos-
sible. Using the data in this screen, define the range of numbers assigned to the
numerical part of the user ID when a new user is added. A minimum of 500 is
suitable for users. Automatically generated system users start with 1000. Proceed
in the same way with the group ID settings.
Miscellaneous Settings
To use predefined file permission settings, select Easy, Secure, or Paranoid. Easy
should be sufficient for most users. The setting Paranoid is extremely restrictive
and can serve as the basic level of operation for custom settings. If you select
Paranoid, remember that some programs might not work correctly or even at all,
because users no longer have permission to access certain files.
Also set which user should launch the updatedb program, if installed. This pro-
gram, which automatically runs on a daily basis or after booting, generates a
database (locatedb) in which the location of each file on your computer is stored.
If you select Nobody, any user can find only the paths in the database that can be
seen by any other (unprivileged) user. If root is selected, all local files are indexed,
because the user root, as superuser, may access all directories. Make sure that
the options Current Directory in root's Path and Current Directory in Path of
Regular Users are deactivated. Only advanced users should consider using these
options because these settings may pose a significant security risk if used incorrectly.
To have some control over the system even if it crashes, click Enable Magic SysRq
Keys.
Click Finish to complete your security configuration.
8.9.4 Certificate Management

Certificates are used for communication and can also be found, for example, on company
ID cards. To manage them or import a common server certificate, use Security and
Users > CA Management. Detailed information about certificates, their technologies,
and management with YaST are provided in Chapter 42, Managing X.509 Certification
(page 803).

8.9.5 Firewall
SuSEfirewall2 can protect your machine against attacks from the Internet. Configure
it with Security and Users > Firewall. Find detailed information about SuSEfirewall2
in Chapter 43, Masquerading and Firewalls (page 819).
TIP: Automatic Activation of the Firewall
YaST automatically starts a firewall with suitable settings on every configured

network interface. Start this module only if you want to reconfigure the firewall
with custom settings or deactivate it.
8.10 Virtualization
Virtualization makes it possible to run several operating systems on one physical ma-
chine. The hardware for the different systems is provided virtually. Virtualization YaST
modules provide configuration for the Xen virtualization system. For more information
about this technology, see the virtualization manual on http://www.novell.com/
documentation/sles10/index.html..
The following modules are available in the Virtualization section:
Installing Hypervisor and Tools

Before you start using Xen, install a kernel with Xen support and related tools. To
install them, use Virtualization > Install Hypervisor and Tools. After installation
reboot your system to use the Xen kernel.
Creating Virtual Machines

After you successfully installed the Xen hypervisor and tools, you can install virtual
machines on your virtual server. To install a virtual machine, use Virtualization >
Create Virtual Machines.

8.11 Miscellaneous
The YaST Control Center has several modules that cannot easily be classified into the
first six module groups. They can be used for things like viewing log files and installing
drivers from a vendor CD.
8.11.1 Custom Installation CD Creation

With Miscellaneous > CD Creator, you can create a customized installation CD from
your original installation set. To start creation, click Add. Use the package manager to
select the packages or an AutoYaST control file to use a preconfigured AutoYaST
profile for creation.
8.11.2 Installation Server Configuration

For network installation, an installation server is required. To configure such a server,
use Miscellaneous > Installation Server. Find more information about the configuration
of an installation server with YaST in Section 4.2.1, “Setting Up an Installation Server
Using YaST” (page 56).
8.11.3 Autoinstallation
The AutoYaST tool is intended for automated installation. In Miscellaneous > Autoin-
stallation, prepare profiles for this tool. Find detailed information about automated in-
stallation with AutoYaST in Chapter 5, Automated Installation (page 85). The informa-
tion about using the Autoinstallation module is in Section 5.1.1, “Creating an AutoYaST
Profile” (page 86).
8.11.4 Support Query

Miscellaneous > Support Query offers the possibility to collect all system information
needed by the support team to find your problem so you can get help to solve it as soon
is possible. Regarding your query, select the problem category in the following window.
When all information is gathered, attach it to your support request.

8.11.5 Release Notes
The release notes are an important source about installation, update, configuration, and
technical issues. The release notes are continuously updated and published through
online update. Use Miscellaneous > Release Notes to view the release notes.
8.11.6 Start-Up Log

View information concerning the start-up of the computer in Miscellaneous > Start-Up
Log. This is one of the first places you might want to look when encountering problems
with the system or when troubleshooting. It shows the boot log /var/log/boot
.msg, which contains the screen messages displayed when the computer starts. Viewing
the log can help determine if the computer started properly and if all services and
functions were started correctly.
8.11.7 System Log

Use Miscellaneous > System Log to view the system log that keeps track of the operations
of your computer in var/log/messages. Kernel messages, sorted according to
date and time, are also recorded here. View the status of certain system components
using the box at the top. The following options are possible from the system log and
boot log modules:
/var/log/messages
This is the general system log file. Here, view kernel messages, users logging in
as root, and other useful information.
/proc/cpuinfo
This displays processor information, including its type, make, model, and perfor-
mance.
/proc/dma
This shows which DMA channels are currently being used.
/proc/interrupts
This shows which interrupts are in use and how many of each have been in use.

/proc/iomem
This displays the status of input/output memory.
/proc/ioports
This shows which I/O ports are in use at the moment.
/proc/meminfo
This displays memory status.
/proc/modules
This displays the individual modules.
/proc/mounts
This displays devices currently mounted.
/proc/partitions
This shows the partitioning of all hard disks.
/proc/version
This displays the current version of Linux.
/var/log/YaST2/y2log
This displays all YaST log messages.
/var/log/boot.msg
This displays information concerning the start-up of the system.
/var/log/faillog
This displays login failures.
/var/log/warn
This displays all system warnings.
8.11.8 Vendor Driver CD

Install device drivers from a Linux driver CD that contains drivers for SUSE Linux
Enterprise with Miscellaneous > Vendor Driver CD. When installing SUSE Linux En-
terprise from scratch, use this YaST module to load the required drivers from the vendor
CD after the installation.

8.12 YaST in Text Mode
This section is intended for system administrators and experts who do not run an X
server on their systems and depend on the text-based installation tool. It provides basic
information about starting and operating YaST in text mode.
When YaST is started in text mode, the YaST Control Center appears first. See Fig-
ure 8.9, “Main Window of YaST in Text Mode” (page 185). The main window consists
of three areas. The left frame, which is surrounded by a thick white border, features the
categories to which the various modules belong. The active category is indicated by a
colored background. The right frame, which is surrounded by a thin white border, pro-
vides an overview of the modules available in the active category. The bottom frame
contains the buttons for Help and Exit.
Figure 8.9 Main Window of YaST in Text Mode
When the YaST Control Center is started, the category Software is selected automati-
cally. Use ↓ and ↑ to change the category. To start a module from the selected category,
press →. The module selection now appears with a thick border. Use ↓ and ↑ to select
the desired module. Keep the arrow keys pressed to scroll through the list of available
modules. When a module is selected, the module title appears with a colored background
and a brief description is displayed in the bottom frame.

Press Enter to start the desired module. Various buttons or selection fields in the module
contain a letter with a different color (yellow by default). Use Alt + yellow_letter to
select a button directly instead of navigating there with Tab. Exit the YaST Control
Center by pressing Alt + Q or by selecting Quit and pressing Enter.
8.12.1 Navigation in Modules

The following description of the control elements in the YaST modules assumes that
all function keys and Alt key combinations work and are not assigned different global
functions. Read Section 8.12.2, “Restriction of Key Combinations” (page 187) for infor-
mation about possible exceptions.
Navigation among Buttons and Selection Lists

Use Tab and Alt + Tab or Shift + Tab to navigate among the buttons and the frames
containing selection lists.
Navigation in Selection Lists

Use the arrow keys (↑ and ↓) to navigate among the individual elements in an active
frame containing a selection list. If individual entries within a frame exceed its
width, use Shift + → or Shift + ← to scroll horizontally to the right and left. Alter-
natively, use Ctrl + E or Ctrl + A. This combination can also be used if using → or
← would result in changing the active frame or the current selection list, as in the
Control Center.
Buttons, Radio Buttons, and Check Boxes

To select buttons with empty square brackets (check boxes) or empty parentheses
(radio buttons), press Space or Enter. Alternatively, radio buttons and check boxes
can be selected directly with Alt + yellow_letter. In this case, you do not need to
confirm with Enter. If you navigate to an item with Tab, press Enter to execute the
selected action or activate the respective menu item.
Function Keys
The F keys (F1 to F12) enable quick access to the various buttons. Which function
keys are actually mapped to which buttons depends on the active YaST module,
because the different modules offer different buttons (Details, Info, Add, Delete,
etc.). Use F10 for OK, Next, and Finish. Press F1 to access the YaST help, which
shows the functions mapped to the individual F keys.

Figure 8.10 The Software Installation Module
8.12.2 Restriction of Key Combinations

If your window manager uses global Alt combinations, the Alt combinations in YaST
might not work. Keys like Alt or Shift can also be occupied by the settings of the termi-
nal.
Replacing Alt with Esc

Alt shortcuts can be executed with Esc instead of Alt. For example, Esc – H replaces
Alt + H. (First press Esc, then press H.)
Backward and Forward Navigation with Ctrl + F and Ctrl + B

If the Alt and Shift combinations are occupied by the window manager or the ter-
minal, use the combinations Ctrl + F (forward) and Ctrl + B (backward) instead.
Restriction of Function Keys

The F keys are also used for functions. Certain function keys might be occupied
by the terminal and may not be available for YaST. However, the Alt key combina-
tions and function keys should always be fully available on a pure text console.

8.13 Managing YaST from the
Command Line
When a task only needs to be done once, the graphical or ncurses interface is usually
the best solution. If a task needs to be done repeatedly, it might be easier to use the
YaST command line interface. Custom scripts can also use this interface for automating
tasks.
View a list of all module names available on your system with yast -l or yast
--list. To display the available options of a module, enter yast module_name
help. If a module does not have a command line mode, a message informs you of this.
To display help for a module's command options, enter yast module_name

command help. To set the option value, enter yast module_name command
option=value.
Some modules do not support the command line mode because command line tools
with the same functionality already exist. The modules concerned and the command
line tools available are:
sw_single
sw_single provides package management and system update functionality. Use
rug instead of YaST in your scripts. Refer to Section 9.1, “Update from the
Command Line with rug” (page 200).
online_update_setup
online_update_setup configures automatic updating of your system. This
can be configured with cron.
inst_suse_register
With inst_suse_register, register your SUSE Linux Enterprise. For more
information about the registration, see Section 8.3.4, “Registering SUSE Linux
Enterprise” (page 140).
hwinfo
hwinfo provides information about the hardware of your system. The command
hwinfo does the same.

GenProf, LogProf, SD_AddProfile, SD_DeleteProfile, SD_EditProfile, SD_Report,
and subdomain
These modules control or configure AppArmor. AppArmor has its own command
line tools.
8.13.1 Managing Users

The YaST commands for user management, unlike traditional commands, considers
the configured authentication method and default user management settings of your
system when creating, modifying, or removing users. For example, you do not need
create home directory or copy skel files during or after the user addition. If you enter
the username and password, all other settings are made automatically in accordance
with default configuration. The functionality provided by the command line is the same
as in the graphical interface.
The YaST module users is used for user management. To display the command op-
tions, enter yast users help.
To add multiple users, create a /tmp/users.txt file with a list of users to add.
Enter one username per line and use the following script:
Example 8.2 Adding Multiple Users
#!/bin/bash
#
# adds new user, the password is same as username
#
for i in `cat /tmp/users.txt`;

do
yast users add username=$i password=$i
done
Similarly to adding, you can delete users defined in /tmp/users.txt:

Example 8.3 Removing Multiple Users
#!/bin/bash
#
# the home will be not deleted
# to delete homes, use option delete_home
#
for i in `cat /tmp/users.txt`;

do
yast users delete username=$i
done
8.13.2 Configuring the Network and Firewall

Network and firewall configuration commands are often wanted in scripts. Use yast
lan for network configuration and yast firewall.
To display the YaST network card configuration options, enter yast lan help. To
display the YaST firewall card configuration options, enter yast firewall help.
The network and firewall configurations with YaST are persistent. After reboot, it is
not necessary to execute scripts again.
To display a configuration summary for the network, use yast lan list. The first
item in the output of Example 8.4, “Sample Output of yast lan list” (page 190)
is a device ID. To get more information about the configuration of the device, use yast
lan show id=<number>. In this example, the correct command is yast lan
show id=0.
Example 8.4 Sample Output of yast lan list
0 Digital DECchip 21142/43, DHCP
The command line interface of the YaST firewall configuration is a fast and easy way
to enable or disable services, ports, or protocols. To display allowed services, ports,
and protocols, use yast firewall services show. For examples of how to
enable a service or port, use yast firewall services help. To enable mas-
querading, enter yast firewall masquerade enable.

8.14 SaX2
Configure the graphical environment of your system with Hardware > Graphics Card
and Monitor. This opens the SUSE Advanced X11 Configuration interface (SaX2),
where you can configure devices such as your mouse, keyboard, or display devices.
This interface can also accessed from the GNOME main menu with Computer > More
Applications > System > Sax2 or the KDE main menu with System > Configuration >
SaX2.
8.14.1 Card and Monitor Properties

Adjust the settings for your graphics card and display device in Card and Monitor
Properties. If you have more than one graphics card installed, each device is shown in
a separate dialog reachable by a tab. At the top of the dialog, see the current settings
for the selected graphics card and the monitor that is attached to it. If more than one
screen can be connected to the card (dual head), the monitor on the primary output is
shown. Normally, the card and display device are detected automatically by the system
during installation. However, you can tune many parameters manually or even change
the display device completely.
Figure 8.11 Card and Monitor Properties

TIP: Autodetecting New Display Hardware
If you change your display hardware after installation, use sax2 -r on the
command line to cause SaX2 to detect your hardware. You must be root to
run SaX2 from the command line.
Graphics Card
It is not possible to change the graphics card because only known models are supported
and these are detected automatically. However, you can change many options that affect
the behavior of the card. Normally, this should not be necessary because the system
already has set them up appropriately during installation. If you are an expert and want
to tweak some of the options, click Options next to the graphics card and select the
option to change. To assign a value needed to a certain option, enter this value in the
dialog that appears after selecting that option. Click OK to close the options dialog.
Monitor
To change the current settings for the monitor, click Change next to the monitor. A
new dialog opens in which to adjust various monitor-specific settings. This dialog has
several tabs for various aspects of monitor operation. Select the first tab to manually
select the vendor and model of the display device in two lists. If your monitor is not
listed, you can choose one of the VESA or LCD modes that suit your needs or, if you
have a vendor driver disk or CD, click Utility Disk and follow the instructions on the
screen to use it. Check Activate DPMS to use display power management signaling.
Display Size, with the geometrical properties of the monitor, and Sync Frequencies,
with the ranges for the horizontal and vertical sync frequencies of your monitor, are
normally set up correctly by the system, but you can modify these values manually.
After making all adjustments, click OK to close this dialog.
WARNING: Changing Monitor Frequencies
Although there are safety mechanisms, you should still be very careful when
changing the allowed monitor frequencies manually. Incorrect values might
destroy your monitor. You should always refer to the monitor's manual before
changing frequencies.

Resolution and Color Depth
The resolution and color depth can be chosen directly from two lists in the middle of
the dialog. The resolution you select here marks the highest resolution to use. All
common resolutions down to 640x480 are also added to the configuration automatically.
Depending on the graphical desktop used, you can switch to any of these later without
the need for reconfiguration.
Dual Head
If you have a graphics card with two outputs installed in your computer, you can connect
two screens to your system. Two screens that are attached to the same graphics card
are referred to as dual head. SaX2 automatically detects multiple display devices in the
system and prepares the configuration accordingly. To use the dual head mode of a
graphics card, check Activate Dual Head Mode at the bottom of the dialog and click
Configure to set the dual head options and the arrangement of the screens in the dual
head dialog.
The tabs in the row at the top of the dialog each correspond to a graphics card in your
system. Select the card to configure and set its multihead options in the dialog below.
In the upper part of the multihead dialog, click Change to configure the additional
screen. The possible options are the same as for the first screen. Choose the resolution
to use for this screen from the list. Select one of three possible multihead modes.
Cloned Multihead
In this mode, all monitors display the same contents. The mouse is only visible on
the main screen.
Xinerama Multihead
All screens combine to form a single large screen. Program windows can be posi-
tioned freely on all screens or scaled to a size that fills more than one monitor.
NOTE
Linux currently does not offer 3D support for Xinerama multihead environ-
ments. In this case, SaX2 deactivates the 3D support.
The arrangement of the dual head environment describes the sequence of the individual
screens. By default, SaX2 configures a standard layout that follows the sequence of the

detected screens, arranging all screens in a row from left to right. In the Arrangement
part of the dialog, determine the way the monitors are arranged by selecting one of the
sequence buttons. Click OK to close the dialog.
TIP: Using a Beamer with Laptop Computers
To connect a beamer to a laptop computer, activate dual head mode. In this

case, SaX2 configures the external output with a resolution of 1024x768 and
a refresh rate of 60 Hz. These values suit most beamers very well.
Multihead
If you have more than one graphics card installed in your computer, you can connect
more than one screen to your system. Two or more screens that are attached to different
graphics cards are referred to as multihead. SaX2 automatically detects multiple
graphics cards in the system and prepares the configuration accordingly. By default,
SaX2 configures a standard layout that follows the sequence of the detected graphics
cards, arranging all screens in a row from left to right. The additional Arrangement tab
allows for changing this layout manually. Drag the icons representing the individual
screens in the grid and click OK to close the dialog.
Testing the Configuration

Click OK in the main window after completing the configuration of your monitor and
your graphics card, then test your settings. This ensures that your configuration is suitable
for your devices. If the image is not steady, terminate the test immediately by pressing
Ctrl+Alt+Backspace and reduce the refresh rate or the resolution and color depth.
NOTE
Regardless of whether you run a test, all modifications are only activated when
you restart the X server.
8.14.2 Mouse Properties

Adjust the settings for your mouse in Mouse Properties. If you have more than one
mouse with different drivers installed, each driver is shown in a separate tab. Multiple

devices operated by the same driver are shown as one mouse. Activate or deactivate
the currently selected mouse with the check box at the top of the dialog. Below the
check box, see the current settings for that mouse. Normally, the mouse is detected
automatically, but you can change it manually if the automatic detection fails. Refer to
the documentation for your mouse for a description of the model. Click Change to select
the vendor and model from two lists then click OK to confirm your selection. In the
options part of the dialog, set various options for operating your mouse.
Activate 3-Button Emulation

If your mouse has only two buttons, a third button is emulated when you click both
buttons simultaneously.
Activate Mouse Wheel

Check this box to use a scroll wheel.
Invert X-Axis and Invert Y-Axis

If one of these options is selected, the mouse pointer moves in the opposite direction.
For touch pads, this feature is sometimes useful.
Emulate Wheel with Mouse Button

If your mouse does not have a scroll wheel but you want to use similar functional-
ity, you can assign an additional button for this. Select the button to use. While
pressing this button, any movement of the mouse is translated into scroll wheel
commands. This feature is especially useful with trackballs.
When you are satisfied with your settings, click OK to confirm your changes.
NOTE
Any changes you make here take effect only after you restart the X server.
8.14.3 Keyboard Properties

Use this dialog to adjust the settings for operating your keyboard in the graphical envi-
ronment. In the upper part of the dialog, select the type, language layout, and variant.
Use the test field at the bottom of the dialog to check if special characters are displayed
correctly. Select additional layouts and variants to use from the list in the middle. De-
pending on the type of your desktop, these may be switched in the running system

without the need for reconfiguration. After you click OK, the changes are applied im-
mediately.
8.14.4 Tablet Properties

Use this dialog to configure a graphics tablet attached to your system. Click the
Graphics Tablet tab to select vendor and model from the lists. Currently, only a limited
number of graphics tablets is supported. To activate the tablet, check Activate This
Tablet at the top of the dialog.
In the Port and Mode dialog, configure the connection to the tablet. SaX2 enables the
configuration of graphics tablets connected to the USB port or the serial port. If your
tablet is connected to the serial port, verify the port. /dev/ttyS0 refers to the first
serial port. /dev/ttyS1 refers to the second. Additional ports use similar notation.
Choose appropriate Options from the list and select the Primary Tablet Mode suitable
for your needs.
If your graphics tablet supports electronic pens, configure them in Electronic Pens.
Add eraser and pen and set their properties after clicking Properties.
When you are satisfied with the settings, click OK to confirm your changes.
8.14.5 Touchscreen Properties

Use this dialog to configure touchscreens attached to your system. If you have more
than one touchscreen installed, each device is shown in a separate dialog reachable by
a tab. To activate the currently selected touchscreen, check Assign a Touchscreen to
Display at the top of the dialog. Select vendor and model from the lists below and set
an appropriate Connection Port at the bottom. You can configure touchscreens connected
to the USB port or the serial port. If your touchscreen is connected to the serial port,
verify the port. /dev/ttyS0 refers to the first serial port. /dev/ttyS1 refers to the
second. Additional ports use similar notation. When you are satisfied with your settings,
click OK to confirm your changes.

8.15 Troubleshooting
All error messages and alerts are logged in the directory /var/log/YaST2. The
most important file for finding YaST problems is y2log.

More information about YaST can be found on the following Web sites and directories:
• /usr/share/doc/packages/yast2—Local YaST development documen-

tation
• http://www.opensuse.org/YaST_Development—The YaST project

page in the openSUSE wiki
• http://forge.novell.com/modules/xfmod/project/
?yast—Another YaST project page

Managing Software with
ZENworks
SUSE Linux Enterprise is ready for integration into an environment administrated by
9
Novell ZENworks Linux Management. It includes an open source ZENworks manage-
ment agent, back-end daemon, and user space software management tools. Novell
ZENworks package management tools use a ZENworks Linux Management server to
download packages and updates. If no ZENworks Linux Management server is available
in your local network, your system can get updates from the Novell Customer Center,
which is described in Section 3.14.4, “Novell Customer Center Configuration” (page 39).
The back-end daemon for the Novell ZENworks Linux Management Agent is the
ZENworks Management Daemon (ZMD). ZMD performs software management func-
tions. The daemon is started automatically during boot.
Check the status of the daemon with rczmd status. To start the daemon, enter
rczmd start. To restart it, use rczmd restart. Deactivate it with rczmd
stop.
ZMD can also be started with special options to control its behavior. To have ZMD
always start with some special options permanently, set ZMD_OPTIONS in /etc/
sysconfig/zmd then run SuSEconfig. The available options are:
-n, --no-daemon
Do not run the daemon in the background.
-m, --no-modules
Do not load any modules.
Managing Software with ZENworks 199

-s, --no-services
Do not load initial services.
-r, --no-remote
Do not start remote services.
ZMD configuration is stored in /etc/zmd/zmd.conf. You can change the configu-

ration manually or with rug. The URL for the ZENworks service that zmd uses at
initial start-up and a registration key are stored in /var/lib/zmd. Updates are
downloaded to the ZMD cache in /var/cache/zmd.
ZMD is the back-end only. The software management tasks are initiated through the
command line tool rug or the graphical Software Updater applet.
9.1 Update from the Command Line

with rug
rug uses the zmd daemon to install, update, and remove software according to the
commands given. It can either install software from local files, or from servers. You
may use one or more remote servers, known as services. Supported services are mount
for local files, and yum or ZENworks for servers.
rug sorts software from services into catalogs (also known as channels), which corre-
spond to groups of similar software. For example, one catalog might contain software
from an update server as well as software from a third-party software vendor. You are
able to subscribe to individual catalogs in order to control the display of available
packages and prevent the accidental installation of unwanted software. Operations
usually are performed only on software from catalogs to which you are subscribed.
9.1.1 Obtaining Information from rug

rug provides a wide range of useful information. It allows you to check the status of
zmd, view registered services and catalogs, or see information about available patches.
If the zmd is not used for a certain period of time, it can be switched to sleep mode. To
check the zmd status and reactivate the daemon, use rug ping. This command wakes
zmd up and logs its status information.

To see your registered services, use rug sl, and to see which services are supported
on your system, use rug st.
To check for new patches, use rug pch. To get information about a patch, enter
rug patch-info patch.
9.1.2 Subscribing to rug Services

By default, a newly installed system is subscribed to several services. To add a new
service, use rug sa URI service_name. Replace service_name with a
meaningful and unique string that identifies the new service.
.com/center/.
9.1.3 Installing and Removing Software with

rug
To install a package from any subscribed catalogs, use rug in package_name.
To install from a selected catalog only, use -c catalog name. Get more information
about a package with rug if package_name.
To remove a package, use rug rm package_name. If other packages depend on

this package, rug displays their names, versions, and types. Confirm if you want to
remove the package anyway.

9.1.4 rug User Management
One the main advantages of rug is its user management. Normally, only root can
update or install new packages. With rug, you can assign the right to update the system
to other users and restrict them, for example, to only updating without the possibility
to remove software. Privileges you can grant are:
install
The user may install new software
lock
The user may set package locks
remove
The user may remove software
subscribe
The user may change channel subscriptions
trusted
The user is considered as trusted, so he is able to install packages without package
signatures
upgrade
The user may update software packages
view
This allows the user to see which software is installed on the machine and which
software is in available channels. The option is relevant only to remote users. Local
users are normally permitted to view installed and available packages.
superuser
Permits all rug commands except user management and settings, which must be
done locally.
To give a user permission to update the system, use the rug ua username upgrade
command. Replace username by the name of the user. To revoke the privileges of a
user, use command rug ud username. To list users with their rights, use rug ul.

To change the current privileges of a user, use rug ue username and replace the
username by the name of the desired user. You get a list with the rights of the selected
user. The edit command is interactive. Use plus (+) or minus (-) to add or remove
the user's privileges and press Enter. For example, to permit the user to delete software,
enter +remove. To save and quit, press Enter at a blank prompt.
9.1.5 Scheduling Updates

Using rug, the system can be updated automatically (for example, by scripts). The
simplest example is a fully automatic update. To do this, configure a cron job as root
that executes rug up -y. The up -y option downloads and installs the patches from
your catalogs without confirmation.
However, you may not want the patches to be installed automatically, but may want to
retrieve them and select the patches for installation at a later time. To download patches
only, use the rug up -dy command. The up -dy option downloads the patches
from your catalogs without confirmation and saves them to the rug cache. The default
location of the rug cache is /var/cache/zmd.
9.1.6 Configuring rug

rug allows you to customize its setup via a set of preferences. Some of them are pre-
configured during installation. Use rug get command to get a list of the preferences
available. To edit a preference, enter rug set preference. For example, adjust
settings if you need to update your system through a proxy. Before downloading the
updates, send your username and password to the proxy server. To do so, use the fol-
lowing commands:
rug set proxy-url url_path
rug set proxy-username name
rug set proxy-password password
Replace url_path by the name of your proxy server. Replace name by your username.
Replace password by your password.

For more information about updating from the command line, enter rug --help or
see the rug(1) man page. The --help option is also available for all rug commands.
If, for example, you need help for rug update, enter rug update --help.
9.2 Managing Packages with the ZEN

Tools
The ZEN tools serve as graphical front-ends for the ZENworks Management Daemon
(zmd), allowing you easily to install or remove software, apply security updates, and
manage services and catalogs with just a few clicks.
9.2.1 Getting Permissions

Managing packages on a Linux system requires root privileges. The ZEN tools and
rug have their own user management system that allows users to install software up-
dates. When a user first invokes an action that requires special privileges in the ZEN
tools, a prompt for the root password appears. When the password has been verified,
The ZEN tools automatically add the user's account to the user management system
with update permissions. To review or change these settings, use the rug user manage-
ment commands (see Section 9.1.4, “rug User Management” (page 202) for information).
9.2.2 Obtaining and Installing Software

Updates
Software Updater resides in the notification area (GNOME) or the system tray (KDE)
of your panel as an icon depicting a globe. It changes color and appearance depending
on the availability of a network link and new updates. Once a day, Software Updater
automatically checks whether updates for your system are available (right-click the
application icon and choose Refresh to force an immediate check). The Software Updater
applet in the panel changes from a globe to an exclamation mark on an orange back-
ground when new updates are available.

.com/center/.
Left-click the panel icon to open the updater window. It displays a list of patches and
new package versions available. Each entry has a short description and, if applicable,
a category icon: Security patches are marked with a yellow shield. Optional patches
are marked with a light blue circle. Recommended patches are not marked with an icon.
Security patches are listed first, then recommended patches, optional patches, and finally
new package versions. Use the links All, Packages, and Patches to filter the list of
packages displayed.
NOTE: Packages versus Patches
Officially released updates from Novell show up as Patches. New package ver-
sions from other sources show up as Packages.
To get details about a certain entry, mark it with the mouse and click the Details link
under the list window. To select an entry for installation, mark the entry's check box.
Use the links All and None to select or deselect all patches. Clicking Update installs
the selected programs.

Figure 9.1 Selecting the Software Updates
9.2.3 Installing Software

To install software packages, start Install Software from the menu or run
zen-installer. The interface is almost identical to Software Updater (see Sec-
tion 9.2.2, “Obtaining and Installing Software Updates” (page 204)). The only difference
is a search panel you can use to search for packages or to filter the list. Mark the check
box of packages that should be installed then press Install to start the package installation.
Possible dependencies on other packages are automatically resolved by the installer.
9.2.4 Remove Software

Start Remove Software from the menu or run zen-remover to uninstall software
packages. The list of packages can be narrowed with the links Products (uninstalls the

complete products), Patterns (see Section “Installing and Removing Patterns” (page 133)
for details on patterns), Packages, and Patches. Mark the check box of a list entry that
should be removed then press Remove to start the package uninstallation. If other
packages depend on the ones marked by you, these are also removed. You must confirm
the removal of additional packages. If you click Cancel in the confirmation dialog, no
packages are uninstalled.
9.2.5 Configuring the Software Updater

To configure the ZEN tools, click Configure in the application window. A window with
three tabs opens: Services, Catalogs, and Preferences.
Services and Catalogs

Services are basically sources that provide software packages and information about
these packages. Each service can offer one or more catalogs.
The service tab lists all services available together with type and status information (if
you cannot see the latter two, adjust the window size). Use Remove Service or Add
Service to add or remove services. The following service types are available:
YUM
An HTTP, HTTPS, or FTP server using the RPM-MD format for the package data.
ZYPP
ZYPP services are the YaST installation sources added with Software > Installation
Source in YaST. Use Software Updater or YaST to add installation sources. The
source from which you initially installed (DVD or CD-ROM in most cases) is
preconfigured. If you change or delete this source, replace it with another valid
installation source (ZYPP service), because otherwise you cannot install new soft-
ware.
NOTE: Terminology
The terms YaST installation source, YaST package repository, and ZYPP
service are the same name for a source from which you can install software.

Mount
With Mount, embed a directory mounted on your machine. This is useful, for ex-
ample, in a network that regularly mirrors the Novell YUM server and exports its
content to the local network. To add the directory, provide the full path to the direc-
tory in Service URI.
NU
NU stands for Novell Update. Novell provides updates for SUSE Linux Enterprise
exclusively as NU services. If you configured update during installation, the official
Novell NU server is already present in the list.
If you skipped the update configuration during installation, run suse_register

on the command line or the YaST module Software > Product Registration as user
root. The Novell Update server is automatically added to Software Updater.
RCE and ZENworks

Opencarpet, Red Carpet Enterprise, or ZENworks services are only available if
your company or organization has set up these services within your internal network.
This may, for example, be the case if your organization is using third-party software
for which updates are deployed on a single server.
After SUSE Linux Enterprise is installed, two services are preconfigured: your installa-
tion source (DVD, CD-ROM, or network resource) as a ZYPP service and a SUSE
Linux Enterprise update server as a NU service, which was added during product reg-
istration. Normally there is no need to change these settings. If you do not see a NUYUM
service, open a root shell and execute the command suse_register. A service
is added automatically.
Catalogs
Services are able to provide packages for different pieces of software or for different
software versions (typically RCE or ZENworks services do so). These are organized
in different categories called catalogs. Subscribe or unsubscribe from a catalog by
marking or unmarking the check box in front of it.
At the moment, the SUSE Linux services (YUM and ZYPP) do not provide different
catalogs. Each service only has one catalog. If Software Updater was configured during
installation or with suse_register, it subscribes to the YUM and ZYPP catalogs
automatically. If you manually add a service, you must subscribe to its catalogs.

Preferences
On the Preferences tab, specify whether Software Updater should be launched at start-
up or not. As user root, you can also modify the Software Updater settings. As an
unprivileged user, you can only view the settings. Refer to the rug man page for an
explanation of the settings.

Find more information about ZENworks Linux Management and ZMD at http://
www.novell.com/products/zenworks/linuxmanagement/index.html.

Updating SUSE Linux
Enterprise
SUSE® Linux Enterprise provides the option of updating an existing system to the new
10
version without completely reinstalling it. No new installation is needed. Old data, such
as home directories and system configuration, is kept intact. During the life cycle of
the product, you can apply Service Packs to increase system security and correct software
defects. Install from a local CD or DVD drive or from a central network installation
source.
10.1 Updating SUSE Linux Enterprise

Follow the steps outlined in this section, if you want to update from SUSE Linux Enter-
prise Server 9 to SUSE Linux Enterprise Server 10, for example. You can also follow
these steps if you want to update from SUSE Linux Enterprise 10 SP1 to SUSE Linux
Enterprise 10 SP2.
Software tends to “grow” from version to version. Therefore, take a look at the available
partition space with df before updating. If you suspect you are running short of disk
space, secure your data before updating and repartition your system. There is no general
rule of thumb regarding how much space each partition should have. Space requirements
depend on your particular partitioning profile and the software selected.
10.1.1 Preparations
Before updating, copy the old configuration files to a separate medium, such as tape
device, removable hard disk, USB stick, or ZIP drive, to secure the data. This primarily
Updating SUSE Linux Enterprise 211

applies to files stored in /etc as well as some of the directories and files in /var and
/opt. You may also want to write the user data in /home (the HOME directories) to
a backup medium. Back up this data as root. Only root has read permission for all
local files.
Before starting your update, make note of the root partition. The command df / lists
the device name of the root partition. In Example 10.1, “List with df -h” (page 212),
the root partition to write down is /dev/hda3 (mounted as //).
Example 10.1 List with df -h
Filesystem Size Used Avail Use% Mounted on

/dev/hda3 74G 22G 53G 29% /
tmpfs 506M 0 506M 0% /dev/shm
/dev/hda5 116G 5.8G 111G 5% /home
/dev/hda1 44G 4G 40G 9% /data
10.1.2 Possible Problems

If you update a default system from the previous version to this version, YaST works
out necessary changes and performs them. Depending on your customizations, some
steps or the entire update procedure may fail and you must resort to copying back your
backup data. Check the following issues before starting the system update.
Checking passwd and group in /etc

Before updating the system, make sure that /etc/passwd and /etc/group do not
contain any syntax errors. For this purpose, start the verification utilities pwck and
grpck as root and eliminate any reported errors.
PostgreSQL
Before updating PostgreSQL (postgres), dump the databases. See the manual page
of pg_dump. This is only necessary if you actually used PostgreSQL prior to your
update.

10.1.3 Updating with YaST
Following the preparation procedure outlined in Section 10.1.1, “Preparations”
(page 211), you can now update your system:
1 Optionally, prepare an installation server. For background information, see Sec-

tion 4.2.1, “Setting Up an Installation Server Using YaST” (page 56).
2 Boot the system as for the installation, described in Section 3.3, “System Start-
Up for Installation” (page 18). In YaST, choose a language and select Update
in the Installation Mode dialog. Do not select New Installation.
3 YaST determines whether there are multiple root partitions. If there is only one,
continue with the next step. If there are several, select the right partition and
confirm with Next (/dev/hda3 was selected in the example in Section 10.1.1,
“Preparations” (page 211)). YaST reads the old fstab on this partition to analyze
and mount the file systems listed there.
4 In the Installation Settings dialog, adjust the settings according to your require-
ments. Normally, you can leave the default settings untouched, but if you intend
to enhance your system, check the packages offered in the Software Selection
submenus or add support for additional languages.
4a Click Update Options to update only software that is already installed (Only
Update Installed Packages) or to add new software and features to the system
according to selected patterns. It is advisable to accept the suggestion. You
can adjustment it later with YaST.
4b You also have the possibility to make backups (Backup) of various system
components. Selecting backups slows down the update process. Use this
option if you do not have a recent system backup.
5 Click Accept and confirm Start Update to start the software installation process.
At the end of the installation read the release notes and then click Finish to restart the
computer and log in.

10.2 Installing Service Packs
Use Service Packs to update a SUSE Linux Enterprise installation. There are several
different ways in which you can apply a Service Pack. You can either update the existing
installation or start a whole new installation using the Service Pack media. Possible
scenarios for updating the system and setting up a central network installation source
are described here.
TIP: Installation Changes
Read the installation instructions on the Service Pack media for further changes.
10.2.1 Setting Up a Network Installation

Source for Service Pack Media
As with the initial installation of SUSE Linux Enterprise, it is much more efficient
having a central installation source on your network to serve all clients rather than in-
stalling all of them separately using a set of physical media.
Configuring a Network Installation Source on SUSE

Linux Enterprise Using YaST
Basically, follow the procedure outlined in Section 4.2, “Setting Up the Server Holding
the Installation Sources” (page 56). Just add another installation source called SLE-10-
SP-x-arch, SLES-10-SP-x-arch, or SLED-10-SP-x-arch (where x is the number
of the Service Pack and arch is the name of your hardware architecture) and make it
available via NFS, HTTP, or FTP.
10.2.2 Installing a Service Pack

NOTE
To update an existing SUSE Linux Enterprise 10 system to a SUSE Linux Enterprise

10 Service Pack (SP), see Section 10.2.3, “Updating to a Service Pack” (page 217).

Installing a SUSE Linux Enterprise Service Pack is very similar to installing the original
SUSE Linux Enterprise media. As with the original installation, you can choose to install
from a local CD or DVD drive or from a central network installation source.
Installing from a Local CD or DVD Drive

Before starting a new installation of a SUSE Linux Enterprise SP, ensure that all of the
Service Pack installation media (CDs or DVD) are available.
Procedure 10.1 Booting from the Service Pack Medium
1 Insert the first SUSE Linux Enterprise SP medium (CD 1 or DVD 1) and boot
your machine. A boot screen similar to the original installation of SUSE Linux
Enterprise 10 is displayed.
2 Select Installation and continue as outlined in the YaST installation instructions

in Chapter 3, Installation with YaST (page 17).
Network Installation
Before starting a network installation of an SUSE Linux Enterprise SP, make sure that
the following requirements are met:
• A network installation source set up according to Section 10.2.1, “Setting Up a

Network Installation Source for Service Pack Media” (page 214).
• A working network connection both on the installation server and the target machine
that includes a name service, DHCP (optional, but needed for PXE boot), and
OpenSLP (optional).
• The SUSE Linux Enterprise SP CD 1 or DVD 1 to boot the target system or a target
system set up for PXE boot according to Section 4.3.5, “Preparing the Target System
for PXE Boot” (page 75).
Network Installation—Boot from CD or DVD

To perform a network installation using the SP CD or DVD as the boot medium, proceed
as follows:

1 Insert the SUSE Linux Enterprise SP CD 1 or DVD 1 and boot your machine.
A boot screen similar to the original installation of SUSE Linux Enterprise 10
is displayed.
2 Select Installation to boot the SP kernel then use F3 to select a type of network
installation source (FTP, HTTP, NFS, or SMB).
3 Provide the appropriate path information or select SLP as the installation source.
4 Select the appropriate installation server from those offered or use the boot options
prompt to provide the type of installation source and its actual location as in
Section 3.3.4, “Installing from a Network Source without SLP” (page 20). YaST
starts.
Finish the installation as outlined in Chapter 3, Installation with YaST (page 17).
Network Installation—PXE Boot

To perform a network installation of a SUSE Linux Enterprise Service Pack via network,
proceed as follows:
1 Adjust the setup of your DHCP server to provide the address information needed
for PXE boot according to Section 4.3.5, “Preparing the Target System for PXE
Boot” (page 75).
2 Set up a TFTP server to hold the boot image needed for PXE boot.
Use the first CD or DVD of your SUSE Linux Enterprise Service Pack for this
and otherwise follow the instructions in Section 4.3.2, “Setting Up a TFTP
3 Prepare PXE boot and Wake-on-LAN on the target machine.
4 Initiate the boot of the target system and use VNC to remotely connect to the
installation routine running on this machine. See Section 4.5.1, “VNC Installation”
(page 81) for more information.
5 Accept the license agreement then select a language, default desktop, and other
installation settings.
6 Click Yes, Install to start the installation.

7 Continue as usual with the installation (entering a password for root, completing
the network configuration, testing your Internet connection, activating the Online
Update service, selecting the user authentication method, and entering a username
and password).
For detailed instructions for installing SUSE Linux Enterprise, see Chapter 3,
Installation with YaST (page 17).
10.2.3 Updating to a Service Pack

There are two preferred ways to update the system to the Service Pack (SP) feature
level. One way is to boot from the SP medium. The alternative is to run YaST Online
Update or zen-updater and select the Update to Service Pack X patch. By updating to
the new feature level, additional features like new drivers or software enhancements
are available to your system.
WARNING: Do not miss the Update to Service Pack patch
If you do not select the Update to Service Pack patch, your system will stay at
the previous feature level and you will get bug fixes and security updates for
a limited time only (for SUSE Linux Enterprise 10 SP2 this period is now extended
to six months). Thus for ongoing system integrity it is recommended to switch
to the new feature level as early as possible.
Other update ways are running rug commands manually, using the Patch CD (see
Section 8.3.7, “Updating from a Patch CD” (page 144)), or making use of a locally in-
stalled SMT system.
NOTE
On s390 systems, the Patch CD update option is not available.
Booting from the SP Medium for the Update

Boot from the SP medium and choose Update as the installation mode in YaST. For
more detailed information and finishing the update, see Section 10.1.3, “Updating with
YaST” (page 213).

Starting with YaST Online Update
Before initiating the YaST Online Update to update to the SP feature level, make sure
that the following requirements are met:
• The system must be online throughout the entire update process, because this process
requires access to the Novell Customer Center.
• If your setup involves third party software or add-on software, test this procedure
on another machine to make sure that the dependencies are not broken by the update.
• Make sure that the entire process is completed successfully. Otherwise the system
becomes inconsistent.
You can only update to Service Pack 2, if Service Pack 1 is fully installed beforehand.
If this is not already the case, update to Service Pack 1 first as outlined in Section “SUSE
Linux Enterprise GA to SP1 and SP2” (page 223).
Figure 10.1 Service Pack 1 Package Management Update

Figure 10.2 Update to Service Pack 2
NOTE
During update migration using YaST Online Update, the ZMD stack is updated
and the ZMD daemon is restarted, too. Therefore, it is advisable to avoid using
any other software management tools such as rug, zen-updater,
zen-installer and zen-remover. It is recommended to quit the
zen-updater during the migration.
1 In a running SUSE Linux Enterprise system, select Computer > YaST > Software
> Online Update.
If you are not logged in as root, enter the root password when prompted.
2 The Online Update dialog appears. Several patches are preselected. Scroll down
the patch list and verify that the package management related patches and the
SUSE Linux Enterprise 10 SP2 maintenance stack update (slesp1u-libzypp)
are actually preselected. Then press Accept to apply the selected updates.

3 The Patch Download and Installation dialog tracks the progress log. When Total
Progress reaches 100%, click Close. The Online Update will then restart auto-
matically.
4 Once restarted, press Accept to apply all available updates together with a new
kernel. When installed, you must reboot the system.
5 In the restarted Online Update you now should scroll down the patch list and
select Update to Service Pack 2 (move-to-sles10-sp2) as shown in Fig-
ure 10.2, “Update to Service Pack 2” (page 219). In the pop-up window, click
Accept to confirm the start of the update procedure to the service pack feature
level.
The move-to-sles10-sp2 patch is marked optional. If you do not select

it, your system will stay at the SP1 feature level and you will get bug fixes and
security updates only for a limited time (six month after the availibility of SP2).
6 The Patch Download and Installation dialog tracks the progress log of the migra-
tion patch installation. When Total Progress reaches 100%, click Finish.
7 Start YaST Online Updates again. Apply the product-sles10-sp2 and

slesp2o-sp2_online patch to bring the system to the SP2 level. Both these
patches are preselected because they are mandatory, if you installed
move-to-sles10-sp2 during the steps before.
8 Click Close to finish the update to SUSE Linux Enterprise 10 SP2 and reboot.
Starting with zen-updater

For background information about ZENworks, see Chapter 9, Managing Software with
ZENworks (page 199).
Before initiating the online update using zen-updater to progress to the SP feature level,
make sure that the requirements are met as listed in Section “Starting with YaST Online
Update” (page 218).

Figure 10.3 Apply SLE10 SP2 Maintenance Stack Update
1 In a running SUSE Linux Enterprise system, start the zen-updater by clicking

the updater icon at the bottom.
TIP: Waking up ZMD
If you see the ZMD not running message, check in a terminal as root
with rczmd status whether ZMD is alive. In case of trouble enter rug
restart --clean to force a restart and cleanup of ZMD and its
database.
2 Apply all maintenance updates available for your system.
3 Apply the SLE10 SP2 maintenance stack update (slesp1u-libzypp). These

items should be preselected and clicking Update should initiate this step. After
resolving all dependencies click Apply. Confirm the message pop-up by clicking
Close when finished.

4 In the restarted Software Updater, page down and select the optional
move-to-sles10-sp2 patch and apply it. If you do not select it, your system
will stay at the SP1 feature level and you will get bug fixes and security updates
only for a limited time (six month after the availibility of SP2).
5 In the Software Updater apply the product-sles10-sp2 and

slesp2o-sp2_online patch to bring the system to the SP2 level. Both these
patches are mandatory, if you installed move-to-sles10-sp2 during the
steps before, and therefore are preselected.
6 Click Close to finish the update to SUSE Linux Enterprise 10 SP2 and reboot.
Using rug
For background information about rug command line tool, see Section 9.1, “Update
from the Command Line with rug” (page 200). Use rug, if you need a scriptable solution
for the update.
Before initiating the online update using rug to progress to the SP feature level, make
sure that the requirements are met as listed in Section “Starting with YaST Online Up-
date” (page 218).
This it the minimal command sequence needed to migrate the system to the SP2 patch
level:
rug in -t patch slesp1u-libzypp && rug ping -a
rug in -t patch move-to-sles10-sp2 && rug ping -a
rug refresh && rug ping -a
rug up -t patch -g recommended && rug ping -a
reboot
NOTE
rug ping -a ensures, that the ZMD initialization is complete after the previ-
ous rug command.

SUSE Linux Enterprise GA to SP1 and SP2
NOTE
The following steps are only relevant, if your system is still running at the GA
patch level.
Figure 10.4 Update to Service Pack 1
1 In a running SUSE Linux Enterprise system (GA), select Computer > YaST >
Software > Online Update.
2 The Online Update dialog appears. Scroll down the patch list and select Update
to Service Pack 1 as shown in Figure 10.4, “Update to Service Pack 1” (page 223).
In the pop-up window, click Accept to confirm the start of the update procedure
to the service pack feature level.

3 The Patch Download and Installation dialog tracks the progress log of the migra-
tion patch installation. When Total Progress reaches 100%, click Finish.
4 Run the online update a second time. Once done, in the Patch Download and
Installation click Close. During this second run YaST installs the kernel and all
the other software.
5 Click Finish when you see Installation Finished reported near the end of the
progress log.
6 To finish the update, manually reboot the system to activate the new kernel.
Now SUSE Linux Enterprise runs at the SP1 patch level. Continue with Section
“Starting with YaST Online Update” (page 218) to promote the system to the SP2 patch
level.
10.3 Software Changes from Version

9 to Version 10
The individual aspects changed from version 9 to version 10 are outlined in the following
in detail. This summary indicates, for example, whether basic settings have been com-
pletely reconfigured, whether configuration files have been moved to other places, or
whether common applications have been significantly changed. Significant modifications
that affect the daily use of the system at either the user level or the administrator level
are mentioned here.
NOTE: Software Changes from SLES 10 to SLES 10 SP 1
For a detailed list of software and configuration changes from SUSE Linux En-
terprise Server 10 to SUSE Linux Enterprise Server 10 SP1, refer to the release
notes of the service pack. View them in the installed system using the YaST
release notes module.

10.3.1 Multiple Kernels
It is possible to install multiple kernels side by side. This feature is meant to allow ad-
ministrators to upgrade from one kernel to another by installing the new kernel, verifying
that the new kernel works as expected, then uninstalling the old kernel. While YaST
does not yet support this feature, kernels can easily be installed and uninstalled from
the shell using rpm -i package.rpm.
The default boot loader menus contain one kernel entry. Before installing multiple
kernels, it is useful to add an entry for the extra kernels, so they can be selected easily.
The kernel that was active before installing the new kernel can be accessed as vmlinuz
.previous and initrd.previous. By creating a boot loader entry similar to the
default entry and having this entry refer to vmlinuz.previous and initrd
.previous instead of vmlinuz and initrd, the previously active kernel can be
accessed. Alternatively, GRUB and LILO support wild card boot loader entries. Refer
to the GRUB info pages (info grub) and to the lilo.conf(5) manual page for
details.
10.3.2 Changes with Kernel Modules

The following kernel modules are no longer available:
• km_fcdsl—AVM Fritz!Card DSL
• km_fritzcapi—AVM FRITZ! ISDN Adapters
The following kernel module package was changed internally:
• km_wlan—Various drivers for wireless LAN cards. The madwifi driver for
Atheros WLAN cards from km_wlan was removed.
For technical reasons, it was necessary to drop support for Ralink WLAN cards. The
following modules were not part of the distribution and will not be added in the future:
• ati-fglrx—ATI FireGL Graphics Cards
• nvidia-gfx—NVIDIA gfx driver
• km_smartlink-softmodem—Smart Link Soft Modem

10.3.3 Console Number Change and Serial
Devices
As of 2.6.10, serial devices on ia64 are named based on the order of ACPI and PCI
enumeration. The first device in the ACPI name space (if any) becomes /dev/ttyS0,
the second becomes /dev/ttyS1, etc., and PCI devices are named sequentially
starting after the ACPI devices.
On HP systems, you must reconfigure the EFI console then you can drop the console
parameter from the kernel boot command. As a work-around, you can try
console=ttyS1... as a boot parameter instead of console=ttyS0....
Find details in /usr/src/linux/Documentation/ia64/serial.txt, which is part of the

kernel-source software package.
10.3.4 LD_ASSUME_KERNEL Environment

Variable
Do not set the LD_ASSUME_KERNEL environment variable any longer. In the past,
it was possible to use it to enforce LinuxThreads support, which was dropped. If you
set LD_ASSUME_KERNEL=2.4.x in SUSE Linux Enterprise 10, everything breaks
because ld.so looks for glibc and related tools in a path that does not exist.
10.3.5 Stricter tar Syntax

The tar usage syntax is stricter now. The tar options must come before the file or
directory specifications. Appending options, like --atime-preserve or
--numeric-owner, after the file or directory specification makes tar fail. Check
your backup scripts. Commands such as the following no longer work:
tar czf etc.tar.gz /etc --atime-preserve
See the tar info pages for more information.

10.3.6 Apache 2 Replaced with Apache 2.2
The Apache Web server (version 2) has been replaced with version 2.2. For Apache
version 2.2, Chapter 40, The Apache HTTP Server (page 741) was completely reworked.
In addition, find generic upgrade information at http://httpd.apache.org/
docs/2.2/upgrading.html and the description of new features at http://
httpd.apache.org/docs/2.2/new_features_2_2.html.
10.3.7 Kerberos for Network Authentication

Kerberos is the default for network authentication instead of heimdal. Converting
an existing heimdal configuration automatically is not possible. During a system update,
backup copies of configuration files are created as shown in Table 10.1, “Backup Files”
(page 227).
Table 10.1 Backup Files
Old File Backup File
/etc/krb5.conf /etc/krb5.conf.heimdal
/etc/krb5.keytab /etc/krb5.keytab.heimdal
The client configuration (/etc/krb5.conf) is very similar to the one of heimdal.

If nothing special was configured, it is enough to replace the parameter
kpasswd_server with admin_server.
It is not possible to copy the server-related (kdc and kadmind) data. After the system
update, the old heimdal database is still available under /var/heimdal. MIT kerberos
maintains the database under /var/lib/kerberos/krb5kdc. For more informa-
tion, see Chapter 45, Network Authentication—Kerberos (page 837) and Chapter 46,
Installing and Administering Kerberos (page 845).

10.3.8 Hotplug Events Handled by the udev
Daemon
Hotplug events are now completely handled by the udev daemon (udevd). The event
multiplexer system in /etc/hotplug.d and /etc/dev.d is no longer used. Instead,
udevd calls all hotplug helper tools directly according to its rules. Udev rules and
helper tools are provided by udev and various other packages.
10.3.9 Firewall Activation During the

Installation
To increase security, the enclosed firewall solution SuSEFirewall2 is activated at the
end of the installation in the proposal dialog. This means that all ports are closed initially
and can be opened in the proposal dialog if necessary. By default, you cannot log in
from remote systems. It also interferes with network browsing and multicast applications,
such as SLP, Samba ("Network Neighborhood"), and some games. You can fine-tune
the firewall settings using YaST.
If network access is required during the installation or configuration of a service, the

respective YaST module opens the needed TCP and UDP ports of all internal and ex-
ternal interfaces. If this is not desired, close the ports in the YaST module or specify
other detailed firewall settings.
10.3.10 KDE and IPv6 Support

By default, IPv6 support is not enabled for KDE. You can enable it using the /etc/
sysconfig editor of YaST. The reason for disabling this feature is that IPv6 addresses
are not properly supported by all Internet service providers and, as a consequence, this
would lead to error messages while browsing the Web and delays while displaying Web
pages.
10.3.11 Online Update and Delta Packages

Online Update now supports a special kind of RPM package that only stores the binary
difference from a given base package. This technique significantly reduces the package

size and download time at the expense of higher CPU load for reassembling the final
package. See /usr/share/doc/packages/deltarpm/README for technical
details.
10.3.12 Print System Configuration

At the end of the installation (proposal dialog), the ports needed for the print system
must be open in the firewall configuration. Port 631/TCP and port 631/UDP are needed
for CUPS and should not be closed for normal operation. Port 515/TCP (for the old
LPD protocol) and the ports used by Samba must also be open for printing via LPD or
SMB.
10.3.13 Change to X.Org

The change from XFree86 to X.Org is facilitated by compatibility links that enable access
to important files and commands with the old names.
Table 10.2 Commands
XFree86 X.Org
XFree86 Xorg
xf86config xorgconfig
xf86cfg xorgcfg
Table 10.3 Log Files in /var/log
XFree86 X.Org
XFree86.0.log Xorg.0.log
XFree86.0.log.old Xorg.0.log.old
In the course of the change to X.Org, the packages were renamed from XFree86* to
xorg-x11*.

10.3.14 X.Org Configuration File
The configuration tool SaX2 writes the X.Org configuration settings into /etc/X11/
xorg.conf. During an installation from scratch, no compatibility link from
XF86Config to xorg.conf is created.
10.3.15 XView and OpenLook Support

Dropped
The packages xview, xview-devel, xview-devel-examples, olvwm, and
xtoolpl were dropped. In the past, only the XView (OpenLook) base system was
provided. The XView libraries are no longer provided after the system update. Even
more important, OLVWM (OpenLook Virtual Window Manager) is no longer available.
10.3.16 Terminal Emulators for X11

A number of terminal emulators were removed because they are either no longer
maintained or do not work in the default environment, especially by not supporting
UTF-8. SUSE Linux Enterprise Server offers standard terminals, such as xterm, the
KDE and GNOME terminals, and mlterm (Multilingual Terminal Emulator for X),
which might be a replacement for aterm and eterm.
10.3.17 OpenOffice.org (OOo)

Directories
OOo is now installed in /usr/lib/ooo-2.0 instead of /opt/OpenOffice
.org. The default directory for user settings is now ~/.ooo-2.0 instead of ~/
OpenOffice.org1.1.
Wrapper
There are some new wrappers for starting the OOo components. The new names
are shown in Table 10.4, “Wrapper” (page 231).

Table 10.4 Wrapper
Old New
/usr/X11R6/bin/OOo-calc /usr/bin/oocalc
/usr/X11R6/bin/OOo-draw /usr/bin/oodraw
/usr/X11R6/bin/OOo-impress /usr/bin/ooimpress
/usr/X11R6/bin/OOo-math /usr/bin/oomath
/usr/X11R6/bin/OOo-padmin /usr/sbin/oopadmin
/usr/X11R6/bin/OOo-setup –
/usr/X11R6/bin/OOo-template /usr/bin/oofromtemplate
/usr/X11R6/bin/OOo-web /usr/bin/ooweb
/usr/X11R6/bin/OOo-writer /usr/bin/oowriter
/usr/X11R6/bin/OOo /usr/bin/ooffice
/usr/X11R6/bin/OOo-wrapper /usr/bin/ooo-wrapper
The wrapper now supports the option --icons-set for switching between KDE
and GNOME icons. The following options are no longer supported:
--default-configuration, --gui, --java-path, --skip-check,
--lang (the language is now determined by means of locales),
--messages-in-window, and --quiet.
KDE and GNOME Support

KDE and GNOME extensions are available in the OpenOffice_org-kde and
OpenOffice_org-gnome packages.

10.3.18 Sound Mixer kmix
The sound mixer kmix is preset as the default. For high-end hardware, there are other
mixers, like QAMix. KAMix, envy24control (only ICE1712), or hdspmixer (only RME
Hammerfall).
10.3.19 DVD Burning

In the past, a patch was applied to the cdrecord binary from the cdrecord package
to support burning DVDs. Instead, a new binary cdrecord-dvd is installed that has
this patch.
The growisofs program from the dvd+rw-tools package can now burn all DVD
media (DVD+R, DVD-R, DVD+RW, DVD-RW, DVD+RL). Try using that one instead
of the patched cdrecord-dvd.
10.3.20 Starting Manual Installation at the

Kernel Prompt
The Manual Installation mode is gone from the boot loader screen. You can still get
linuxrc into manual mode using manual=1 at the boot prompt. Normally this is not
necessary because you can set installation options at the kernel prompt directly, such
as textmode=1 or a URL as the installation source.
10.3.21 JFS: Not Supported Anymore

Due to technical problems with JFS, it is no longer supported. The kernel file system
driver is still there, but YaST does not offer partitioning with JFS.
10.3.22 AIDE as a Tripwire Replacement

As an intrusion detection system, use AIDE (package name aide), which is released
under the GPL. Tripwire is no longer available on SUSE Linux.

10.3.23 PAM Configuration
New Configuration Files (containing comments for more information)
common-auth
Default PAM configuration for auth section
common-account
Default PAM configuration for account section
common-password
Default PAM configuration for password changing
common-session
Default PAM configuration for session management
You should include these default configuration files from within your application-spe-
cific configuration file, because it is easier to modify and maintain one file instead of
the approximately forty files that used to exist on the system. If you install an application
later, it inherits the already applied changes and the administrator is not required to re-
member to adjust the configuration.
The changes are simple. If you have the following configuration file (which should be
the default for most applications):
#%PAM-1.0
auth required pam_unix2.so
account required pam_unix2.so
password required pam_pwcheck.so
password required pam_unix2.so use_first_pass use_authtok
#password required pam_make.so /var/yp
session required pam_unix2.so
you can change it to:

#%PAM-1.0
auth include common-auth
account include common-account
password include common-password
session include common-session

10.3.24 Becoming the Superuser Using su
By default, calling su to become root does not set the PATH for root. Either call
su - to start a login shell with the complete environment for root or set
ALWAYS_SET_PATH to yes in /etc/default/su if you want to change the default
behavior of su.
10.3.25 Changes in the powersave Package

The configuration files in /etc/sysconfig/powersave have changed:
Table 10.5 Split Configuration Files in /etc/sysconfig/powersave
Old Now Split Into
/etc/sysconfig/powersave/ common
common
cpufreq
events
battery
sleep
thermal
/etc/powersave.conf has become obsolete. Existing variables have been moved

to the files listed in Table 10.5, “Split Configuration Files in /etc/sysconfig/powersave”
(page 234). If you changed the “event” variables in /etc/powersave.conf, these
must now be adapted in /etc/sysconfig/powersave/events.
The names of sleep states have changed from:
• suspend (ACPI S4, APM suspend)
• standby (ACPI S3, APM standby)

To:
• suspend to disk (ACPI S4, APM suspend)
• suspend to ram (ACPI S3, APM suspend)
• standby (ACPI S1, APM standby)
10.3.26 Powersave Configuration Variables

Names of the powersave configuration variables are changed for consistency, but the
sysconfig files are still the same. Find more information in Section 28.5.1, “Configuring
the powersave Package” (page 516).
10.3.27 PCMCIA
cardmgr no longer manages PC cards. Instead, as with Cardbus cards and other sub-
systems, a kernel module manages them. All necessary actions are executed by
hotplug. The pcmcia start script has been removed and cardctl is replaced by
pccardctl. For more information, see /usr/share/doc/packages/
pcmciautils/README.SUSE.
10.3.28 Setting Up D-BUS for Interprocess

Communication in .xinitrc
Many applications now rely on D-BUS for interprocess communication (IPC). Calling
dbus-launch starts dbus-daemon. The systemwide /etc/X11/xinit/
xinitrc uses dbus-launch to start the window manager.
If you have a local ~/.xinitrc file, you must change it accordingly. Otherwise ap-
plications like f-spot, banshee, tomboy, or Network Manager banshee might fail. Save
your old ~/.xinitrc. Then copy the new template file into your home directory
with:
cp /etc/skel/.xinitrc.template ~/.xinitrc
Finally, add your customizations from the saved .xinitrc.

10.3.29 NTP-Related Files Renamed
For reasons of compatibility with LSB (Linux Standard Base), most configuration files
and the init script were renamed from xntp to ntp. The new filenames are:
• /etc/slp.reg.d/ntp.reg
• /etc/init.d/ntp
• /etc/logrotate.d/ntp
• /usr/sbin/rcntp
• /etc/sysconfig/ntp
10.3.30 File System Change Notification for

GNOME Applications
For proper functionality, GNOME applications depend on file system change notification
support. For local-only file systems, install the gamin package (preferred) or run the
FAM daemon. For remote file systems, run FAM on both the server and client and open
the firewall for RPC calls by FAM.
GNOME (gnome-vfs2 and libgda) contains a wrapper that picks gamin or fam to provide
file system change notification:
• If the FAM daemon is not running, gamin is preferred (Rationale: Inotify is support-
ed only by gamin and it is more efficient for local file systems).
• If the FAM daemon is running, FAM is preferred (Rationale: If FAM is running,

you probably want remote notification, which is supported only by FAM).
10.3.31 Starting an FTP Server (vsftpd)

By default, xinetd no longer starts the vsftpd FTP server. It is now a stand-alone
daemon and you must configure it with the YaST runtime editor.

10.3.32 Firefox 1.5: The URL Open Command
With Firefox 1.5, the method for applications to open a Firefox instance or window has
changed. The new method was already partly available in former versions where the
behavior was implemented in the wrapper script.
If your application does not use mozilla-xremote-client or firefox

-remote, you do not need to change anything. Otherwise the new command to open
a URL is firefox url and it does not matter whether Firefox is already running or
not. If it is already running, it follows the preference configured in Open links from
other applications in.
From the command line, you can influence the behavior by using firefox
-new-window url or firefox -new-tab url.

Part II. Administration
OpenWBEM
Novell® has embraced the open standard strategies of Web-Based Enterprise Manage-
11
ment (WBEM) proposed by the Distributed Management Task Force (DMTF)
[http://www.dmtf.org/home]. Implementing these strategies can substantially
reduce the level of complexity associated with managing disparate systems in your
network.
The following information describes a few of the components proposed by the DMTF
standards. Understanding what these are and how they relate to each other can help you
understand what OpenWBEM is and how you most effectively use it in your network.
• Web-Based Enterprise Management (WBEM) is a set of management and Internet

standard technologies developed to unify the management of enterprise computing
environments. WBEM provides the ability for the industry to deliver a well-inte-
grated set of standards-based management tools leveraging the emerging Web
technologies. The DMTF has developed a core set of standards that make up WBEM:
• A data model: the Common Information Model (CIM) standard
• An encoding specification: CIM-XML Encoding Specification
• A transport mechanism: CIM operations over HTTP
• The Common Information Model (CIM) is a conceptual information model that

describes management and is not bound to a particular implementation. This allows
for the interchange of management information between management systems and
applications. This can be either agent-to-manager or manager-to-manager commu-
OpenWBEM 241
nications that provide for distributed system management. There are two parts to
CIM: the CIM Specification and the CIM Schema.
The CIM Specification describes the language, naming, and meta schema. The
meta schema is a formal definition of the model. It defines the terms used to express
the model and their usage and semantics. The elements of the meta schema are
Classes, Properties, and Methods. The meta schema also supports Indications and
Associations as types of Classes, and References as types of Properties.
The CIM Schema provides the actual model descriptions. The CIM Schema supplies
a set of classes with properties and associations that provide a well understood
conceptual framework within which it is possible to organize the available informa-
tion about the managed environment.
• The Common Information Model Object Manager (CIMOM) is a CIM object

manager or, more specifically, an application that manages objects according to
the CIM standard.
• CIMOM providers are software that performs specific tasks within the CIMOM
that are requested by client applications. Each provider instruments one or more
aspects of the CIMOM's schema.
SUSE® Linux Enterprise Server contains the open source CIMOM from the Open-
WBEM project [http://openwbem.org].
The Web-Based Enterprise Management software selection includes a set of packages

that contain basic Novell providers, including some sample providers, and a base set
of accompanying Novell schemas.
As Novell moves forward with OpenWBEM and development of specific providers, it

will provide tools that offer the following important features:
• Efficient monitoring of network systems
• Recording of alterations within existing management configurations
• Hardware inventory and asset management
Understanding how the OpenWBEM CIMOM is set up and how to configure it can
help you monitor and manage disparate systems in your network with more confidence
and ease.

11.1 Setting Up OpenWBEM
To set up OpenWBEM, select the Web-Based Enterprise Management software selection
or pattern in YaST when you install SUSE Linux Enterprise Server or select it as a
component to install on a server that is already running SUSE Linux Enterprise Server.
This software selection includes the following packages:
cim-schema, Common Information Model (CIM) Schema:

This package contains the Common Information Model (CIM). CIM is a model
for describing overall management information in a network or enterprise environ-
ment. CIM consists of a specification and a schema. The specification defines the
details for integration with other management models. The schema provides the
actual model descriptions.
openwbem, Web Based Enterprise Management (WBEM) Implementation:

This package contains an implementation of OpenWBEM. OpenWBEM is a set
of software components that help facilitate the deployment of the Distributed
Management Task Force (DMTF) CIM and WBEM technologies. If you are not
familiar with the DMTF and its technologies, you can visit the DMTF Web site
[http://www.dmtf.org].
openwbem-base-providers:
This package contains a Novell Linux instrumentation of base operating system
components such as computer, system, operating system, and processes for the
OpenWBEM CIMOM.
openwbem-smash-providers:
This package contains a Novell Linux instrumentation of the Systems Management
Architecture for Server Hardware (SMASH) providers for the OpenWBEM
CIMOM.
yast2-cim, YaST2 - CIM Bindings:

This package adds CIM bindings to YaST2 (YaST2 is the Graphical User Interface
of the SUSE System Tools Manager). These bindings provide a client interface to
the Common Information Model Object Manager (CIMOM).
This section includes the following information:
• Section 11.1.1, “Starting, Stopping, or Checking Status for owcimomd” (page 244)
OpenWBEM 243
• Section 11.1.2, “Ensuring Secure Access” (page 244)
• Section 11.1.3, “Setting Up Logging” (page 247)
11.1.1 Starting, Stopping, or Checking

Status for owcimomd
When Web-Based Enterprise Management software is installed, the daemon, owcimomd,
is started by default. The following table explains how to start, stop, and check status
for owcimomd.
Table 11.1 Commands for Managing owcimomd
Task Linux Command
Start owcimomd As root in a console shell, enter rcowcimomd

start.
Stop owcimomd As root in a console shell, enter rcowcimomd

stop.
Check owcimomd status As root in a console shell, enter rcowcimomd

status.
11.1.2 Ensuring Secure Access

The default setup of OpenWBEM is relatively secure. However, you might want to re-
view the following to ensure access to OpenWBEM components is as secure as desired
for your organization.
• Section “Certificates” (page 245)
• Section “Ports” (page 245)
• Section “Authentication” (page 247)

Certificates
Secure Socket Layers (SSL) transports require a certificate for secure communications
to occur. When OES is installed, OpenWBEM has a self-signed certificate generated
for it.
If desired, you can replace the path for the default certificate with a path to a commercial
certificate that you have purchased or with a different certificate that you have generated
in the http_server.SSL_cert = path_filename setting in the /etc/
openwbem/openwbem.conf file.
The default generated certificate is in the following location:
/etc/openwbem/servercert.pem
If you want to generate a new certificate, use the following command. Running this
command replaces the current certificate, so Novell recommends making a copy of the
old certificate before generating a new one.
As root in a console shell, enter

sh/etc/openwbem/owgencert
If you want to change the certificate that OpenWBEM uses, see Section 11.2.2,
“Changing the Certificate Configuration” (page 256).
Ports
OpenWBEM is configured by default to accept all communications through a secure
port, 5989. The following table explains the port communication setup and recommended
configuration.
Table 11.2 Port Communication Setup and Recommended Configurations
Port Type Notes and Recommendations
5989 Secure The secure port that OpenWBEM communications use via HTTPS
services.
This is the default configuration.
OpenWBEM 245
Port Type Notes and Recommendations
With this setting, all communications between the CIMOM and

client applications are encrypted when sent over the Internet be-
tween servers and workstations. Users must authenticate through
the client application to view this information.
Novell recommends that you maintain this setting in the configura-

tion file.
In order for the OpenWBEM CIMOM to communicate with the

necessary applications, this port must be open in routers and fire-
walls if they are present between the client application and the
nodes being monitored.
5988 Unse- The unsecure port that OpenWBEM communications use via HTTP
cure services.
This setting is disabled by default.
With this setting, all communications between the CIMOM and

client applications are open for review when sent over the Internet
between servers and workstations by anyone without any authenti-
cation.
Novell recommends that you use this setting only when attempting
to debug a problem with the CIMOM. As soon as the problem is
resolved, set the non-secure port option back to Disabled.
In order for the OpenWBEM CIMOM to communicate with the

necessary applications that require non-secure access, this port
must be open in routers and firewalls if they are present between
the client application and the nodes being monitored.
If you want to change the default port assignments, see Section 11.2.3, “Changing the
Port Configuration” (page 257).

Authentication
The following authentication settings are set and enabled as the default for OpenWBEM
in SUSE Linux Enterprise Server.
You can change any of the default settings. See Section 11.2.1, “Changing the Authen-
tication Configuration” (page 248).
• http_server.allow_local_authentication = true
• http_server.ssl_client_verification = disabled
• http_server.use_digest = false
• owcimomd.allow_anonymous = false
• owcimomd.allowed_users = root
• owcimomd.authentication_module =
/usr/lib/openwbem/authentication/libpamauthentication.so
The OpenWBEM CIMOM is PAM enabled by default; therefore the local root user
can authenticate to the OpenWBEM CIMOM with local root user credentials.
11.1.3 Setting Up Logging

You can change any of the default settings. For more information, see Section 11.2.4,
“Changing the Default Logging Configuration” (page 258).
By default, logging for OpenWBEM is set up as follows.
• log.main.components = *
• log.main.level = ERROR
• log.main.type = syslog
This means that owcimomd logging is set up to go to the /var/log/messages file

or to other files depending on the configuration of syslogd. It logs all errors for all
components (owcimomd).
OpenWBEM 247
11.2 Changing the OpenWBEM
CIMOM Configuration
When OpenWBEM CIMOM (owcimomd) starts, it reads it run-time configuration from
the openwbem.conf file. The openwbem.conffile is located in the /etc/
openwbem directory.
Any setting that has the options commented out with a semicolon (;) or pound sign (#)
uses the default setting.
When making changes to this file, you can use any text editor that saves the file in a
format that is native to the platform you are using.
You can change any of the settings in the openwbem.conf file. This section discusses
the following configuration settings:
• Section 11.2.1, “Changing the Authentication Configuration” (page 248)
• Section 11.2.2, “Changing the Certificate Configuration” (page 256)
• Section 11.2.3, “Changing the Port Configuration” (page 257)
• Section 11.2.4, “Changing the Default Logging Configuration” (page 258)
• Section 11.2.5, “Configuring Debug Logging” (page 266)
• Section 11.2.6, “Configuring Additional Logs” (page 267)
11.2.1 Changing the Authentication

Configuration
When changing the Authentication configuration, there are several things that you can
control:
• Who can access the CIMOM
• What authentication module is used

See the following settings:
• Section “http_server.allow_local_authentication ” (page 249)
• Section “http_server.digest_password_file ” (page 250)
• Section “http_server.ssl_client_verification ” (page 250)
• Section “http_server.ssl_trust_store ” (page 251)
• Section “http_server.use_digest” (page 252)
• Section “owcimomd.ACL_superuser” (page 253)
• Section “owcimomd.allow_anonymous” (page 253)
• Section “owcimomd.allowed_users” (page 254)
• Section “owcimomd.authentication_module” (page 255)
• Section “simple_auth.password_file” (page 255)
http_server.allow_local_authentication
Purpose
Directs the http_server to allow local authentication without supplying a password, re-
lying on local system file permissions.
You can use this setting with the Basic or Digest settings.
Syntax
http_server.allow_local_authentication = option
Option Description
true Enables local authentication.
This is the default setting.
OpenWBEM 249
Option Description
false Disables local authentication.
Example
http_server.allow_local_authentication = true
http_server.digest_password_file
Purpose
Specifies a location for the password file. This is required if the http_server.use_digest
setting is enabled.
Syntax
http_server.digest_password_file = path_filename
The following is the default path and filename for the digest password file:
/etc/openwbem/digest_auth.passwd
Example
http_server.digest_password_file =
/etc/openwbem/digest_auth.passwd
http_server.ssl_client_verification
Purpose
Determines whether the server should attempt to authenticate clients with SSL Client
Certificate verification.

Syntax:
http_server.ssl_client_verification = option
Option Description
autoupdate Specifies the same functionality as the Optional option; however,

previously unknown client certificates that pass HTTP authenti-
cation are added to a trust store so that subsequent client connec-
tions with the same certificate do not require HTTP authentica-
tion.
disabled Disables client certificate checking.
optional Allows a trusted certificate to be authenticated (no HTTP authen-

tication is necessary).
Also allows an untrusted certificate to pass the SSL handshake

if the client passes the HTTP authentication.
required Requires a trusted certificate for the SSL handshake to succeed.
Example
http_server.ssl_client_verification = disabled
http_server.ssl_trust_store
Purpose
Specifies a directory containing the OpenSSL trust store.
Syntax
http_server.ssl_trust_store = path
The following is the default path for the trust store file.
OpenWBEM 251
/etc/openwbem/truststore
Example
http_server.ssl_trust_store = /etc/openwbem/truststore
http_server.use_digest
Purpose
Directs the HTTP server to use Digest authentication, which bypasses the Basic authen-
tication mechanism. To use digest, you must set up the digest password file using
owdigestgenpass.
Digest doesn’t use the authentication module specified by the owcimomd.authentica-

tion_module configuration setting.
Syntax
http_server.use_digest = option
Option Description
false Enables the Basic authentication mechanism.
true Disables the Basic authentication mechanism.
Example
http_server.use_digest = false

owcimomd.ACL_superuser
Purpose
Specifies the username of the user that has access to all Common Information Model
(CIM) data in all namespaces maintained by the owcimomd. This user can be used to
administer the /root/security name space, which is where all ACL user rights
are stored.
ACL processing is not enabled until the OpenWBEM_Acl1.0.mof file has been im-
ported.
Syntax
owcimomd.ACL_superuser = username
Example
owcimomd.ACL_superuser = root
owcimomd.allow_anonymous
Purpose
Enables or disables anonymous logins to owcimomd.
Syntax
owcimomd.allow_anonymous = option
Option Description
false Requires login with a username and password to access owci-

momd data.
This is the default and recommended setting.
true Allows anonymous logins to owcimomd.
OpenWBEM 253
Option Description
This disables authentication. No username or password is required

to access owcimomd data.
Example
owcimomd.allowed_anonymous = false
owcimomd.allowed_users
Purpose
Specifies a list of users who are allowed to access owcimomd data.
Syntax
owcimomd.allowed_users = option
Option Description
username Specifies one or more users who are allowed to access the owci-
momd data.
Separate each username with a space.
The root user is the default setting.
* Allows all users to authenticate (for example, if you choose to

control access with ACLs instead).
This option is enforced for all authentication methods unless

owcimomd.allow_anonymous is set to true.
Example
owcimomd.allowed_users = bcwhitely jkcarey jlanderson

owcimomd.authentication_module
Purpose
Specifies the authentication module that is used by owcimomd. This setting should be
an absolute path to the shared library containing the authentication module.
Syntax
owcimomd.authentication_module = path_filename
The following is the default path and filename for the authentication modules:
Example
owcimomd.authentication_module =
simple_auth.password_file
Purpose
Specifies the path to the password file when the simple authentication module is used.
Syntax
simple_auth.password_file = path_filename
Example
simple_auth.password_file =
/etc/openwbem/simple_auth.passwd
OpenWBEM 255
11.2.2 Changing the Certificate
Configuration
The http_server.SSL_cert and the http_server.SSL_key settings specify the location of
the file or files that contains the host's private key and the certificate that is used by
OpenSSL for HTTPS communications.
The .pem files are located in the following default location:
/etc/openwbem/servercert.pem
/etc/openwbem/serverkey.pem
Syntax
http_server.SSL_cert = path_filename
or
http_server.SSL_key = path_filename
NOTE
Both the key and certificate can be in the same file. In this case, the values of
http_server.SSL_cert and http_server.SSL_key would be the same.
Examples
http_server.SSL_cert = /etc/openwbem/servercert.pem
http_server.SSL_key = /etc/openwbem/servercert.pem
http_server.SSL_key = /etc/openwbem/serverkey.pem

11.2.3 Changing the Port Configuration
The http_server.http_port and server.https_port settings specify the port number that
owcimomd listens on for all HTTP and HTTPS communications.
Syntax
http_server.http_port = option
or
http_server.https_port = option
Option Description
Specific_port_number Specify the specific port for HTTP or HTTPS com-

munications.
For HTTP, the default port is 5988.
For HTTPS, the default port is 5989.
-1 Disables HTTP or HTTPS connections (for example,

if you only want to support HTTPS connections).
0 Dynamically assigns a port number at runtime.
Example
These settings disable the HTTP port and enable port 5989 for HTTPS communications:
http_server.http_port = -1
http_server.https_port = 5989
OpenWBEM 257
11.2.4 Changing the Default Logging
Configuration
The following log settings in the owcimomd.conf file let you specify where and how
much logging occurs, the type of errors logged, and the log size, filename, and format:
• Section “log.main.categories” (page 258)
• Section “log.main.components” (page 259)
• Section “log.main.format” (page 260)
• Section “log.main.level” (page 263)
• Section “log.main.location” (page 264)
• Section “log.main.max_backup_index” (page 264)
• Section “log.main.max_file_size” (page 265)
• Section “log.main.type” (page 265)
If you want to set up debug logging, see Section 11.2.5, “Configuring Debug Logging”
(page 266).
If you want to set up additional logs, see Section 11.2.6, “Configuring Additional Logs”
(page 267).
log.main.categories
Purpose
Specifies the categories the log outputs.
Syntax
log.main.categories = option

Option Description
category_name Specifies the categories to be logged using a space delimited

list.
The categories used in owcimomd are:
• DEBUG
• ERROR
• FATAL
• INFO
For more information about these options, see Section

“log.main.level” (page 263).
If specified in this option, the predefined categories are not

treated as levels, but as independent categories. No default is
available; and if a category is not set, no categories are logged
and the log.main.level setting is used.
* All categories are logged.
Example
log.main.categories = FATAL ERROR INFO
log.main.components
Purpose
Specifies the components that the log outputs.
OpenWBEM 259
Syntax
log.main.components = option
Option Description
component_name Specifies the components to be logged (such as owcimomd)

using a space-delimited list.
Providers can use their own components.
* Specifies that all components are logged.
Example
log.main.components = owcimomd nssd
log.main.format
Purpose
Specifies the format (text mixed with printf() style conversion specifiers) of the log
messages.
Syntax
log.main.format = conversion_specifier
Option Specifies
%% %
%c Component (such as owcimomd)
%d Date

Option Specifies
Can be followed by a date format specifier enclosed between

braces. For example, %d{%H:%M:%S} or %d{%d %b %Y
%H:%M:%S}. If no date format specifier is given, then ISO
8601 format is assumed.
The only addition is %Q, which is the number of milliseconds.
For more information about the date format specifiers, see the
documentation for the strftime() function found in the <ctime>
header.
%e Message as XML CDATA. This includes the “<![CDATA[“

and ending “]]>”
%F Filename
%l Filename and line number. For example, file.cpp(100)
%L Line number
%M Method name where the logging request was issued (only works
on C++ compilers which support __PRETTY_FUNCTION__
or C99’s __func__).
%m Message
%n Platform-dependent line separator character (\n) or characters

(\r\n).
%p Category, also known as level or priority.
%r Number of milliseconds elapsed between the start of the appli-

cation and the creation of the logging event.
%t Thread ID
\n New line
OpenWBEM 261
Option Specifies
\t Tab
\r Line feed
\\ \
\x<hexDigits> Character represented in hexadecimal
It is possible to change the minimum field width, the maximum field width, and justifi-
cation. The optional format modifier is placed between the percent sign (%) and the
conversion character. The first optional format modifier is the left justification flag,
which is the minus (-) character. The optional minimum field width modifier follows,
which is an integer that represents the minimum number of characters to output. If the
data item requires fewer characters, it is padded with spaces on either the left or the
right, according to the justification flag. If the data item is larger than the minimum
field width, the field is expanded to accommodate the data.
The maximum field width modifier is designated by a period (.) followed by a decimal
constant. If the data item is longer than the maximum field, then the extra characters
are removed from the beginning of the data item (by default) or from the end (if the
left justification flag was specified).
Examples
Log4j TTCC layout:
"%r [%t] %-5p %c - %m"
Similar to TTCC but with some fixed-size fields:
"%-6r [%15.15t] %-5p %30.30c - %m"
XML output conforming to log4j.dtd 1.2, which can be processed by Chainsaw (if used,
this must be on one line; it is split up here for readability):
"<log4j:event logger="%c" timestamp="%d{%s%Q}" level="%p"

thread="%t"> <log4j:message>%e</log4j:message>

<log4j:locationInfo class="" method="" file="%F"
line="%L"/></log4j:event>"
The following is the default:
log.main.format = [%t]%m
log.main.level
Purpose
Specifies the level the log outputs. If set, the log outputs all predefined categories at
and above the specified level.
Syntax
log.main.level = option
Option Description
DEBUG Logs all Debug, Info, Error, and Fatal error messages.
ERROR Logs all Error and Fatal error messages.
FATAL Logs only Fatal error messages.
INFO Logs all Info, Error, and Fatal error messages.
Example
log.main. level = ERROR
OpenWBEM 263
log.main.location
Purpose
Specifies the location of the log file owcimomd uses when the log.main.type setting
option specifies that logging is sent to a file.
Syntax
log.main.location = path_filename
Example
log.main.location = /system/cimom/var/owcimomd.log
log.main.max_backup_index
Purpose
Specifies the amount of backup logs that are kept before the oldest is erased.
Syntax
log.main.backup_index = option
Option Description
unsigned_integer_above_0 Specifies the number of backup logs kept.
The default setting is 1 log file.
0 No backup logs are made and the log is trun-

cated when it reaches the maximum file size.
Example
log.main.max_backup_index = 1

log.main.max_file_size
Purpose
Specifies the maximum size (in KB) that the owcimomd log can grow to.
Syntax
log.main.max_file_size = option
Option Description
unsigned Limits the log to a certain size in KB.

_integer_in_KB
0 Lets the log grow to an unlimited size.
Example
log.main.max_file_size = 0
log.main.type
Purpose
Specifies the type of main log owcimomd uses.
Syntax
log.main.type = option
Option Description
file Sends all messages to a file that is identified in the

log.main.location configuration setting.
OpenWBEM 265
Option Description
null Disables logging.
syslog Sends all messages to the syslog interface.
Example
log.main.type = syslog
11.2.5 Configuring Debug Logging

If owcimomd is run in debug mode, then the debug log is active with the following
settings:
• log.debug.categories = *
• log.debug.components = *
• log.debug.format = [%t] %m
• log.debug.level = *
• log.debug.type = stderr
Debug Log with Color

If you want a color version of the debug log, use the following ASCII escape codes:
log.debug.format =
\x1b[1;37;40m[\x1b[1;31;40m%-.6t\x1b[1;37;40m]\x1b[1;32;40m
%m\x1b[0;37;40m
If you want to use additional colors, use the following codes with the
log.debug.format command:

Table 11.3 Additional Color Codes for the log.debug.format Command
Color Codes
red \x1b[1;31;40m
dark red \x1b[0;31;40m
green \x1b[1;32;40m
dark green \x1b[0;32;40m
yellow \x1b[1;33;40m
dark yellow \x1b[0;33;40m
blue \x1b[1;34;40m
dark blue \x1b[0;34;40m
purple \x1b[1;35;40m
dark purple \x1b[0;35;40m
cyan \x1b[1;36;40m
dark cyan \x1b[0;36;40m
white \x1b[1;37;40m
dark white \x1b[0;37;40m
gray \x1b[0;37;40m
reset color \x1b[0;37;40m
11.2.6 Configuring Additional Logs

If you want to create additional logs, list the log names under this setting:
OpenWBEM 267
owcimomd.additional_logs = logname
Separate multiple lognames spaces.
Syntax
owcimomd.additional_logs = logname
For each log, the following settings apply:
• log.log_name.categories
• log.log_name.components
• log.log_name.format
• log.log_name.level
• log.log_name.location
• log.log_name.max_backup_index
• log.log_name.max_file_size
Example
owcimomd.additional_logs = errorlog1 errorlog2 errorlog3

For more information about OpenWBEM, see the following information:
• Documents in usr/share/doc/packages/openwbem on the local server

filesystem:
• readme
• openwbem-faq.html

• A Novell Cool Solutions Article: An Introduction to WBEM and OpenWBEM in
SUSE Linux [http://www.novell.com/coolsolutions/feature/
14625.html]
• OpenWBEM Web site [http://www.openwbem.org]
• DMTF Web site [http://www.dmtf.org]
OpenWBEM 269
Mass Storage over IP
Networks—iSCSI
One of the central tasks in computer centers and when operating servers is providing
12
hard disk capacity for server systems. Fiber channel is often used for this purpose in
the mainframe sector. So far, UNIX computers and the majority of servers are not
connected to central storage solutions.
linux-iSCSI provides an easy and reasonably inexpensive solution for connecting Linux
computers to central storage systems. In principle, iSCSI represents a transfer of SCSI
commands on the IP level. If a program starts an inquiry for such a device, the operating
system produces the necessary SCSI commands. These are then embedded in IP packages
and encrypted as necessary by software that is commonly known as an iSCSI initiator.
The packages are then transferred to the corresponding iSCSI remote station, also called
iSCSI target.
Many storage solutions provide access over iSCSI, but it is also possible to run a Linux
server that provides an iSCSI target. In this case, it is important to set up the Linux
server optimized for file system services. The iSCSI target just accesses block devices
in Linux. Therefore it is possible to use RAID solutions to increase disk space as well
as a lot of memory to improve data caching. For more information about RAID, also
see Section 7.2, “Soft RAID Configuration” (page 123).
12.1 Setting Up an iSCSI Target

SUSE® Linux Enterprise Server comes with an open source iSCSI target solution that
evolved from the Ardis iSCSI target. A basic setup can be done with YaST, but to take
full advantage of iSCSI, a manual setup is required.
Mass Storage over IP Networks—iSCSI 271

12.1.1 Creating iSCSI Targets with YaST
The iSCSI target configuration exports existing block devices or file system images to
iSCSI initiators. First create the needed block devices with YaST or create file system
images. For an overview of partitioning, see Section 8.5.7, “Using the YaST Partitioner”
(page 155). File system images must be created manually. For example, if you want to
create the image /var/lib/xen/images/xen-0 with the size 4GB, first make
sure that the directory is there then create the image itself:
mkdir -p /var/lib/xen/images
dd if=/dev/zero of=/var/lib/xen/images/xen-0 seek=1M bs=4096 count=1
To configure the iSCSI target, run the iSCSI Target module in YaST. The configuration
is split into three tabs. In the Service tab, select the start mode and the firewall settings.
If you want to access the iSCSI target from a remote machine, select Open Port in
Firewall. If a iSNS server should manage the discovery and access control, activate
iSNS Access Control and enter the IP address of your iSNS Server. Note, that you cannot
use even valid hostnames, but must use the IP address. For more about iSNS, read
Chapter 13, iSNS for Linux Overview (page 281).
The Global tab provides settings for the iSCSI server. The authentication set here is
used for the discovery of services, not for accessing the targets. If you do not want to
restrict the access to the discovery, use No Authentication.
If authentication is needed, there are two possibilities to consider. One is that an initiator
must prove that it has the permissions to run a discovery on the iSCSI target. This is
done with Incoming Authentication. The other is that the iSCSI target must prove to
the initiator that it is the expected target. Therefore, the iSCSI target can also provide
a username and password. This is done with Outgoing Authentication. Find more infor-
mation about authentication in RFC 3720 (see http://www.ietf.org/rfc/
rfc3720.txt).
The targets are defined in the Targets tab. Use Add to create a new iSCSI target. The
first dialog asks for information about the device to export.
Target
The Target line has a fixed syntax that looks like the following:
iqn.yyyy-mm.<reversed domain name>

It always starts with iqn. yyyy-mm is the format of the date when this target is ac-
tivated. Find more about naming conventions in RFC 3722 (see http://www
.ietf.org/rfc/rfc3722.txt).
Identifier
The Identifier is freely selectable. It should follow some scheme to make the whole
system more structured.
LUN
It is possible to assign several LUNs to a target. To do this, select a target in the
Targets tab then click Edit. There, add new LUNs to an existing target.
Path
Add the path to the block device or file system image to export.
The next menu configures the access restrictions of the target. The configuration is very
similar to the configuration of the discovery authentication. In this case, at least an in-
coming authentication should be setup.
Next finishes the configuration of the new target, and brings you back to the overview
page of the Target tab. Activate your changes by clicking on Finish.
12.1.2 Configuring an iSCSI Target Manually

Configure an iSCSI target in /etc/ietd.conf. All parameters in this file before
the first Target declaration are global for the file. Authentication information in this
portion has a special meaning—it is not global, but is used for the discovery of the
iSCSI target.
If you have access to an iSNS server, the first thing to configure is telling the target
about this server. Note, that the address of the iSNS server must always be given as
IP address. A normal domain name is not sufficient. The configuration for this function-
ality looks like the following:
iSNSServer 192.168.1.111
iSNSAccessControl no
This configuration makes the iSCSI target register itself with the iSNS server, which
in turn provides the discovery for initiators. For more about iSNS read Chapter 13,

iSNS for Linux Overview (page 281). Note that the access control for the iSNS discovery
is not supported. Just keep iSNSAccessControl no.
All direct iSCSI authentication may be done in two directions. The iSCSI target can
require the iSCSI initiator to authenticate with the IncomingUser, which can be
added multiple times. The iSCSI initiator may also require the iSCSI target to authenti-
cate. Use OutgoingUser for this. Both have the same syntax:
IncomingUser <username> <password>
OutgoingUser <username> <password>
The authentication is followed by one or several target definitions. For each target, add
a Target section. This section always starts with a Target identifier followed by
definitions of logical unit numbers:
Target iqn.yyyy-mm.<reversed domain name>[:identifier]
Lun 0 Path=/dev/mapper/system-v3
Lun 1 Path=/dev/hda4
Lun 2 Path=/var/lib/xen/images/xen-1,Type=fileio
In the Target line, yyyy-mm is the date when this target is activated, and identifier
is freely selectable. Find more about naming conventions in RFC 3722 (see http://
www.ietf.org/rfc/rfc3722.txt). Three different block devices are exported
in this example. The first one is a logical volume (see also Section 7.1, “LVM Configu-
ration” (page 115)), the second is an IDE partition, and the third is an image available
in the local file system. All these look like block devices to an iSCSI initiator.
Before activating the iSCSI target, add at least one IncomingUser after the Lun
definitions. It does the authentication for the use of this target.
To activate all your changes, restart the iscsitarget daemon with rcopen-iscsi
restart. Check your configuration in the /proc file system:
cat /proc/net/iet/volume
tid:1 name:iqn.2006-02.com.example.iserv:systems
lun:0 state:0 iotype:fileio path:/dev/mapper/system-v3
lun:1 state:0 iotype:fileio path:/dev/hda4
lun:2 state:0 iotype:fileio path:/var/lib/xen/images/xen-1
There are many more options that control the behavior of the iSCSI target. Find them
in the manual page of ietd.conf.
Active sessions are also displayed in the /proc file system. For each connected initiator,
an extra entry is added to /proc/net/iet/session:

cat /proc/net/iet/session
tid:1 name:iqn.2006-02.com.example.iserv:system-v3
sid:562949957419520
initiator:iqn.2005-11.de.suse:cn=rome.example.com,01.9ff842f5645
cid:0 ip:192.168.178.42 state:active hd:none dd:none
sid:281474980708864 initiator:iqn.2006-02.de.suse:01.6f7259c88b70
12.1.3 Configuring Online Targets with

ietadm
When changes to the iSCSI target configuration are necessary, you always must restart
the target to activate changes that are done in the configuration file. Unfortunately, all
active sessions are interrupted in this process. To maintain an undisturbed operation,
the changes should be done in the main configuration file /etc/ietd.conf, but
also made manually to the current configuration with the administration utility ietadm.
To create a new iSCSI target with a LUN, first update your configuration file. The ad-
ditional entry could be:
Target iqn.2006-02.com.example.iserv:system2
Lun 0 Path=/dev/mapper/system-swap2
IncomingUser joe secret
To set up this configuration manually, proceed as follows:
1 Create a new target with the command ietadm --op new --tid=2
--params Name=iqn.2006-02.com.example.iserv:system2.
2 Add a logical unit with ietadm --op new --tid=2 --lun=0

--params Path=/dev/mapper/system-swap2.
3 Set the username and password combination on this target with ietadm --op
new --tid=2 --user
--params=IncomingUser=joe,Password=secret.
4 Check the configuration with cat /proc/net/iet/volume.
It is also possible to delete active connections. First, check all active connections with
the command cat /proc/net/iet/session. This may look like:

cat /proc/net/iet/session
tid:1 name:iqn.2006-03.com.example.iserv:system
sid:281474980708864 initiator:iqn.1996-04.com.example:01.82725735af5
To delete the session with the session ID 281474980708864, use the command ietadm
--op delete --tid=1 --sid=281474980708864 --cid=0. Be aware
that this makes the device unaccessible on the client system and processes accessing
this device are likely to hang.
ietadm can also be used to change various configuration parameters. Obtain a list of
the global variables with ietadm --op show --tid=1 --sid=0. The output
looks like:
InitialR2T=Yes
ImmediateData=Yes
MaxConnections=1
MaxRecvDataSegmentLength=8192
MaxXmitDataSegmentLength=8192
MaxBurstLength=262144
FirstBurstLength=65536
DefaultTime2Wait=2
DefaultTime2Retain=20
MaxOutstandingR2T=1
DataPDUInOrder=Yes
DataSequenceInOrder=Yes
ErrorRecoveryLevel=0
HeaderDigest=None
DataDigest=None
OFMarker=No
IFMarker=No
OFMarkInt=Reject
IFMarkInt=Reject
All of these parameters may be changed easily. For example, if you want to change the
maximum number of connections to two, use ietadm --op update --tid=1
--params=MaxConnections=2. In the file /etc/ietd.conf, the associated
line should look like MaxConnections 2.
WARNING: Update ietd.conf According to Changes with ietadm
The changes that you make with the command ietadm are not permanent
for the system. These changes are lost at the next reboot if they are not added

to the configuration file /etc/ietd.conf. Depending on the usage of iSCSI
in your network, this may lead to severe problems.
There are several more options available for the command ietadm. Find an overview
with ietadm -h. The abbreviations there are target ID (tid), session ID (sid), and
connection ID (cid). They can also be found in /proc/net/iet/session.
12.2 Configuring iSCSI Initiator

iSCSI initiator, also called client, can be used to connect to any iSCSI target. This is
not restricted to the iSCSI target solution explained above. The configuration of iSCSI
initiator involves two major steps—the discovery of available iSCSI targets and the
setup of an iSCSI session. Both can be done with YaST.
12.2.1 Using YaST for the iSCSI Initiator

Configuration
The configuration is divided into three tabs. The Service tab may be used to enable the
iSCSI initiator at boot time. It also offers to set a unique Initiator Name and an iSNS
server to use for the discovery. The default port for iSNS is 3205. The Connected
Targets tab gives an overview of the currently connected iSCSI targets. Like the Dis-
covered Targets tab, it gives the option to add new targets to the system. Discovered
Targets is the tab to start with. It provides the possibility of discovering iSCSI targets
in the network.
1 Use Discovery to open the discovery dialog.
2 Enter the IP address and change the port if necessary.
3 If necessary, add the Incoming or Outgoing authentication.
4 Use Next to start the discovery.
After a successful discovery, use Login to activate the target. You will be asked for
authentication information to use the selected iSCSI target. Next finishes the configura-
tion. If everything went well, the target now appears in Connected Targets.

The virtual iSCSI device is now available. Find the actual device with lsscsi:
lsscsi
[1:0:0:0] disk IET VIRTUAL-DISK 0 /dev/sda
12.2.2 Setting Up the iSCSI Initiator

Manually
Both the discovery and the configuration of iSCSI connections require a running iscsid.
When running the discovery the first time, the internal database of the iSCSI initiator
is created in the directory /var/lib/open-iscsi.
If your discovery is password protected, provide the authentication information to iscsid.

Because the internal database does not exist when doing the first discovery, it cannot
be used at this time. Instead, the configuration file /etc/iscsid.conf must be
edited to provide the information. To add your password information for the discovery,
add the following lines to the end of /etc/iscsid.conf:
discovery.sendtargets.auth.authmethod = CHAP
discovery.sendtargets.auth.username = <username>
discovery.sendtargets.auth.password = <password>
The discovery stores all received values in an internal persistent database. In addition,
it displays all detected targets. Run this discovery with the command iscsiadm -m
discovery --type=st --portal=<targetip>. The output should look
like:
149.44.171.99:3260,1 iqn.2006-02.com.example.iserv:systems
To discover the available targets on a iSNS server, use the command iscsiadm
--mode discovery --type isns --portal <targetip>
For each target defined on the iSCSI target, one line appears. Learn how to obtain more
information about the stored data in Section 12.2.3, “The iSCSI Client Databases”
(page 279).
The special --login option of iscsiadm creates all needed devices:

iscsiadm -m node -n iqn.2006-02.com.example.iserv:systems --login
The newly generated devices show up in the output of lsscsi and can now be accessed
by mount.

12.2.3 The iSCSI Client Databases
All information that was discovered by the iSCSI initiator is stored in two database
files that reside in /var/lib/open-iscsi. There is one database for the discovery
of targets and one for the discovered nodes. When accessing a database, you first must
select if you want to get your data from the discovery or from the node database. Do
this with the -m discovery and -m node parameters of iscsiadm. Using
iscsiadm just with one of these parameters gives an overview of the stored records:
iscsiadm -m discovery
149.44.171.99:3260,1 iqn.2006-02.com.example.iserv:systems
The target name in this example is

iqn.2006-02.com.example.iserv:systems. This name is needed for all
actions that relate to this special data set. To examine the content of the data record
with the ID iqn.2006-02.com.example.iserv:systems, use the following
command:
iscsiadm -m node --targetname iqn.2006-02.com.example.iserv:systems
node.name = iqn.2006-02.com.example.iserv:systems
node.transport_name = tcp
node.tpgt = 1
node.active_conn = 1
node.startup = manual
node.session.initial_cmdsn = 0
node.session.reopen_max = 32
node.session.auth.authmethod = CHAP
node.session.auth.username = joe
node.session.auth.password = ********
node.session.auth.username_in = <empty>
node.session.auth.password_in = <empty>
node.session.timeo.replacement_timeout = 0
node.session.err_timeo.abort_timeout = 10
node.session.err_timeo.reset_timeout = 30
node.session.iscsi.InitialR2T = No
node.session.iscsi.ImmediateData = Yes
....
To edit the value of one of these variables, use the command iscsiadm with the
update operation. For example, if you want iscsid to log in to the iSCSI target when
it initializes, set the variable node.startup to the value automatic:
iscsiadm -m node -n iqn.2006-02.com.example.iserv:systems --op=update
--name=node.startup --value=automatic
Remove obsolete data sets with the operation delete. If the target
iqn.2006-02.com.example.iserv:systems is no longer a valid record,

delete this record with the command iscsiadm -m node -n
iqn.2006-02.com.example.iserv:systems --op=delete. Use this
option with caution because it deletes the record without any additional confirmation
prompt.
To get a list of all discovered targets, run the command iscsiadm -m node.

The iSCSI protocol has been available for several years. There are many reviews and
additional documentation comparing iSCSI with SAN solutions, doing performance
benchmarks, or just describing hardware solutions. Important pages for more information
about open-iscsi are:
• http://www.open-iscsi.org/
• http://www.open-iscsi.org/cgi-bin/wiki.pl
• http://www.novell.com/coolsolutions/appnote/15394.html
There is also some online documentation available. See the manual pages of iscsiadm,
iscsid, ietd.conf, and ietd and the example configuration file /etc/iscsid
.conf.

iSNS for Linux Overview
Storage area networks (SANs) can contain many disk drives that are dispersed across
13
complex networks. This can make device discovery and device ownership difficult.
iSCSI initiators must be able to identify storage resources in the SAN and determine
whether they have access to them.
Internet Storage Name Service (iSNS) is a standards-based service that is available

with SUSE Linux Enterprise Server (SLES) 10 Support Pack 2. iSNS facilitates the
automated discovery, management, and configuration of iSCSI devices on a TCP/IP
network. iSNS provides intelligent storage discovery and management services compa-
rable to those found in Fibre Channel networks.
13.1 How iSNS Works

For an iSCSI initiator to discover iSCSI targets, it needs to identify which devices in
the network are storage resources and what IP addresses it needs to access them. A
query to an iSNS server returns a list of iSCSI targets and the IP addresses that the ini-
tiator has permission to access.
Using iSNS, you create iSNS discovery domains and discovery domain sets. You then
group or organize iSCSI targets and initiators into discovery domains and group the
discovery domains into discovery domain sets. By dividing storage nodes into domains,
you can limit the discovery process of each host to the most appropriate subset of targets
registered with iSNS, which allows the storage network to scale by reducing the number
of unnecessary discoveries and by limiting the amount of time each host spends estab-
iSNS for Linux Overview 281

lishing discovery relationships. This lets you control and simplify the number of targets
and initiators that must be discovered.
Figure 13.1 iSNS Discovery Domains and Discovery Domain Sets
Both, iSCSI targets and iSCSI initiators use iSNS clients to initiate transactions with
iSNS servers using the iSNS protocol. They then register device attribute information
in a common discovery domain, download information about other registered clients,
and receive asynchronous notification of events that occur in their discovery domain.
iSNS servers respond to iSNS protocol queries and requests made by iSNS clients using
the iSNS protocol. iSNS servers initiate iSNS protocol state change notifications and
store properly authenticated information submitted by a registration request in an iSNS
database.
Some of the benefits provided by iSNS for Linux include:
• Provides an information facility for registration, discovery, and management of

networked storage assets.
• Integrates with the DNS infrastructure.
• Consolidates registration, discovery, and management of iSCSI storage.
• Simplifies storage management implementations.
• Improves scalability compared to other discovery methods.
An example of the benefits iSNS provides can be better understood through the following
scenario:

Suppose you have a company that has 100 iSCSI initiators and 100 iSCSI targets. De-
pending on your configuration, all iSCSI initiators could potentially try to discover and
connect to any of the 100 iSCSI targets. This could create a discovery and connection
nightmare. By grouping initiators and targets into discovery domains, you can prevent
iSCSI initiators in one department from discovering the iSCSI targets in another depart-
ment. The result is that the iSCSI initiators in a specific department only discover those
iSCSI targets that are part of the department’s Discovery Domain.
13.2 iSNS for Linux Installation and

Setup
iSNS for Linux is included with SLES 10 SP2, but is not installed or configured by
default. You must install the iSNS package modules (isns and yast2-isns modules) and
configure or set up iSNS to use it.
NOTE
iSNS can be installed on the same server as an iSCSI target or initiator. Using
an iSCSI target and initiator on the same machine is not supported.
To install iSNS for Linux:
1 Start YaST and select Software Management.
2 In the search field, enter isns.
3 Select both the isns and yast2-isns packages, then click Accept.
13.3 Setting Up iSNS

iSNS must be started at the server. You can do this by entering rcisns start or
/etc/init.d/isns start at the server console of the server where you install
it. You can also use the stop, status, and restart options with iSNS.
iSNS can also be configured to start automatically each time the server is rebooted. To
do this

1 Start YaST and under Network Services, select iSNS Server.
2 With the Service tab selected, specify the IP address of your iSNS server, then
click Save Address.
3 In the Service Start section of the screen, select When Booting.
You can also choose to start the iSNS server manually. You must then use the
rcisns start command to start the service each time the server is restarted.
13.3.1 Creating iSNS Discovery Domains

In order for iSCSI initiators and targets to use the iSNS service, they must belong to a
discovery domain. A default discovery domain named default DD is automatically
created when you install the iSNS service. The existing iSCSI targets and initiators that
have been configured to use iSNS are automatically added to the default discovery do-
main.
To create a new discovery domain:
2 Click the Discovery Domains tab, then click the Create Discovery Domain button.
You can also select an existing discovery domain and click the Delete button to
remove that discovery domain.
3 Specify the name of the discovery domain you are creating, then click OK.
13.3.2 Creating iSNS Discovery Domain Sets

Discovery domains must belong to a discovery domain set. You can create a discovery
domain and add nodes to that discovery domain, but it is not active and the iSNS service
does not function unless you add the discovery domain to a discovery domain set. A
default discovery domain set named default DDS is automatically created when you
install iSNS and the default discovery domain is automatically added to that domain
set.
To create a discovery domain set:

2 Click the Discovery Domains Sets tab, then click the Create Discovery Domain
Set button.
You can also select an existing discovery domain set and click the Delete button
to remove that discovery domain set.
3 Specify the name of the discovery domain set you are creating, then click OK.
13.3.3 Adding iSCSI Nodes to a Discovery

Domain
2 Click the iSCSI Nodes tab and ensure the iSCSI targets and initiators that you
want to use the iSNS service are listed.
If an iSCSI target or initiator is not listed, you might need to restart the iSCSI
service on the node. You can do this by running the rcopen-iscsi restart
command to restart an initiator or the rciscsitarget restart command
to restart a target.
You can select an iSCSI node and click the Delete button to remove that node
from the iSNS database. This is useful if you are no longer using an iSCSI node
or have renamed it.
The iSCSI node will be automatically added to the list (iSNS database) again
when you restart the iSCSI service or reboot the server unless you remove or
comment out the iSNS portion of the iSCSI configuration file.
3 Click the Discovery Domains tab, select the desired discovery domain, then click
the Display Members button.
4 Click Add existing iSCSI Node, select the node you want to add to the domain,
then click Add Node.
5 Repeat the last step for as many nodes as you want to add to the discovery domain,
then click Done when you are finished adding nodes.

An iSCSI node can belong to more than one discovery domain.
13.3.4 Adding Discovery Domains to a

Discovery Domain Set
2 Click the Discovery Domains Set tab.
3 Select Create Discovery Domain Set to add a new set to the list of discovery
domain sets.
4 Choose a discovery domain set to modify.
5 Click Add Discovery Domain, select the discovery domain you want to add to
the discovery domain set, then click Add Discovery Domain.
6 Repeat the last step for as many discovery domains as you want to add to the
discovery domain set, then click Done.
A discovery domain can belong to more than one discovery domain set.

The linuxisns project is hosted at http://sourceforge.net/projects/
linuxisns/. The Mailinglist for this project is found at http://sourceforge
.net/mailarchive/forum.php?forum_name=linuxisns-discussion.
General information about iSNS was written down in rfc4171. See also http://
www.ietf.org/rfc/rfc4171.

Oracle Cluster File System 2
Oracle Cluster File System 2 (OCFS2) is a general-purpose journaling file system that
14
is fully integrated in the Linux 2.6 kernel and later. OCFS2 allows you to store applica-
tion binary files, data files, and databases on devices in a SAN. All nodes in a cluster
have concurrent read and write access to the file system. A distributed lock manager
helps prevent file access conflicts. OCFS2 supports up to 32,000 subdirectories and
millions of files in each directory. The O2CB cluster service (a driver) runs on each
node to manage the cluster.
OCFS2 was added to SUSE Linux Enterprise Server 9 to support Oracle Real Application
Cluster (RAC) databases and its application files, Oracle Home. In SUSE Linux Enter-
prise Server 10 and later, OCFS2 can be used for any of the following storage solutions:
• Oracle RAC and other databases
• General applications and workloads
• XEN image store in a cluster
XEN virtual machines and virtual servers can be stored on OCFS2 volumes that
are mounted by cluster servers to provide quick and easy portability of XEN virtual
machines between servers.
• LAMP (Linux, Apache, MySQL, and PHP | PERL | Python) stacks
In addition, it is fully integrated with Heartbeat 2.
As a high-performance, symmetric, parallel cluster file system, OCFS2 supports the

following functions:
Oracle Cluster File System 2 287

• An application’s files are available to all nodes in the cluster. Users simply install
it once on an OCFS2 volume in the cluster.
• All nodes can concurrently read and write directly to storage via the standard file
system interface, enabling easy management of applications that run across a cluster.
• File access is coordinated through the Distributed Lock Manager (DLM).
DLM control is good for most cases, but an application’s design might limit scala-
bility if it contends with the DLM to coordinate file access.
• Storage backup functionality is available on all back-end storage. An image of the

shared application files can be easily created, which can help provide effective
disaster recovery.
OCFS2 also provides the following capabilities:
• Metadata caching
• Metadata journaling
• Cross-node file data consistency
• A GTK GUI-based administration via the ocfs2console utility
• Operation as a shared-root file system
• Support for multiple-block sizes (each volume can have a different block size) up
to 4 KB, for a maximum volume size of 16 TB
• Support for up to 255 cluster nodes
• Context-dependent symbolic link (CDSL) support for node-specific local files
• Asynchronous and direct I/O support for database files for improved database per-
formance

14.1 O2CB Cluster Service
The O2CB cluster service is a set of modules and in-memory file systems that are re-
quired to manage OCFS2 services and volumes. You can enable these modules to be
loaded and mounted during system boot. For instructions, see Section 14.6.2, “Config-
uring OCFS2 Services” (page 294).
Table 14.1 O2CB Cluster Service Stack
Service Description
Node Manager (NM) Keeps track of all the nodes in the /etc/ocfs2/
cluster.conf file
Heartbeat (HB) Issues up/down notifications when nodes join or leave

the cluster
TCP Handles communications between the nodes with the

TCP protocol
Distributed Lock Manager Keeps track of all locks and their owners and status
(DLM)
CONFIGFS User space configuration file system. For details, see

Section 14.3, “In-Memory File Systems” (page 290)
DLMFS User space interface to the kernel space DLM. For de-
tails, see Section 14.3, “In-Memory File Systems”
(page 290)
14.2 Disk Heartbeat

OCFS2 requires the nodes to be alive on the network. The O2CB cluster service sends
regular keepalive packages to ensure that they are alive. It uses a private connection
between nodes instead of the LAN to avoid network delays that might be interpreted
as a node disappearing and thus, lead to a node’s self-fencing.

The OC2B cluster service communicates the node status via a disk heartbeat. The
heartbeat system file resides on the Storage Area Network (SAN), where it is available
to all nodes in the cluster. The block assignments in the file correspond sequentially to
each node’s slot assignment.
Each node reads the file and writes to its assigned block in the file at two-second inter-
vals. Changes to a node’s time stamp indicates the node is alive. A node is dead if it
does not write to the heartbeat file for a specified number of sequential intervals, called
the heartbeat threshold. Even if only a single node is alive, the O2CB cluster service
must perform this check, because another node could be added dynamically at any time.
You can modify the disk heartbeat threshold in the /etc/sysconfig/o2cb file,
using the O2CB_HEARTBEAT_THRESHOLD parameter. The wait time is calculated
as follows:
(O2CB_HEARTBEAT_THRESHOLD value - 1) * 2 = threshold in seconds
For example, if the O2CB_HEARTBEAT_THRESHOLD value is set at the default value

of 7, the wait time is 12 seconds ((7 - 1) * 2 = 12).
14.3 In-Memory File Systems

OCFS2 uses two in-memory file systems for communications:
Table 14.2 In-Memory File Systems Used by OCFS2
In-Memory Description Mount Point

File System
configfs Communicates the list of nodes in the cluster to

/config
the in-kernel node manager, and communicates the
resource used for the heartbeat to the in-kernel
heartbeat thread
ocfs2_dlmfs Communicates locking and unlocking for cluster-

/dlm
wide locks on resources to the in-kernel distributed
lock manager that keeps track of all locks and their
owners and status

14.4 Management Utilities and
Commands
OCFS2 stores node-specific parameter files on the node. The cluster configuration file
( /etc/ocfs2/cluster.conf) resides on each node assigned to the cluster.
The ocfs2console utility is a GTK GUI-based interface for managing the configu-
ration of the OCFS2 services in the cluster. Use this utility to set up and save the /etc/
ocfs2/cluster.conf file to all member nodes of the cluster. In addition, you can
use it to format, tune, mount, and umount OCFS2 volumes.
IMPORTANT
The file browser column in the ocfs2console utility is prohibitively slow and
inconsistent across the cluster. We recommend that you use the ls(1) com-
mand to list files instead.
Additional OCFS2 utilities are described in the following table. For information about
syntax for these commands, see their man pages.
Table 14.3 OCFS2 Utilities
OCFS2 Utili- Description

ty
de- Examines the state of the OCFS file system for the purpose of debug-
bugfs.ocfs2 ging.
fsck.ocfs2 Checks the file system for errors and optionally repairs errors.
mkfs.ocfs2 Creates an OCFS2 file system on a device, usually a partition on a

shared physical or logical disk. This tool requires the O2CB cluster
service to be up.
mount- Detects and lists all OCFS2 volumes on a clustered system. Detects
ed.ocfs2 and lists all nodes on the system that have mounted an OCFS2 device
or lists all OCFS2 devices.

OCFS2 Utili- Description
ty
ocfs2cdsl Creates a context-dependent symbolic link (CDSL) for a specified

filename (file or directory) for a node. A CDSL filename has its own
image for a specific node, but has a common name in the OCFS2.
tune.ocfs2 Changes OCFS2 file system parameters, including the volume label,
number of node slots, journal size for all node slots, and volume size.
Use the following commands to manage O2CB services. For more information about
the o2cb command syntax, see its man page.
Table 14.4 O2CB Commands
Command Description
/etc/init.d/o2cb status Reports whether the o2cb services are loaded and mounted
/etc/init.d/o2cb load Loads the O2CB modules and in-memory file systems
/etc/init.d/o2cb online The cluster named ocfs2 gets online

ocfs2
At least one node in the cluster must be active for the
cluster to be online.
/etc/init.d/o2cb offline The cluster named ocfs2 gets offline

ocfs2
/etc/init.d/o2cb unload Unloads the O2CB modules and in-memory file systems
/etc/init.d/o2cb start If the cluster is set up to load on boot, starts the cluster
ocfs2 named ocfs2 by loading o2cb and onlining the cluster
At least one node in the cluster must be active for the

cluster to be online.

Command Description
/etc/init.d/o2cb stop If the cluster is set up to load on boot, stops the cluster
ocfs2 named ocfs2 by offlining the cluster and unloading the
O2CB modules and in-memory file systems
14.5 OCFS2 Packages

The OCFS2 kernel module ( ocfs2) is installed automatically in SUSE Linux Enterprise
Server 10 and later. To use OCFS2, use YaST (or the command line if you prefer) to
install the ocfs2-tools and ocfs2console packages on each node in the cluster.
1 Log in as the root user, then open the YaST Control Center.
2 Select Software > Software Management.
3 In the Search field, enter ocfs2.
The software packages ocfs2-tools and ocfs2console should be listed

in the right panel. If they are selected, the packages are already installed.
4 If you need to install the packages, select them, then click Install and follow the
on-screen instructions.
14.6 Creating an OCFS2 Volume

Follow the procedures in this section to configure your system to use OCFS2 and to
create OCFS2 volumes.
14.6.1 Prerequisites
Before you begin, do the following:

• Initialize, carve, or configure RAIDs (Redundant Array of Independent Disks) on
the SAN disks, as needed, to prepare the devices you plan to use for your OCFS2
volumes. Leave the devices as free space.
We recommend that you store application files and data files on different OCFS2
volumes, but it is only mandatory to do so if your application volumes and data
volumes have different requirements for mounting. For example, the Oracle RAC
database volume requires the datavolume and nointr mounting options, but
the Oracle Home volume should never use these options.
• Make sure that the ocfs2console, and ocfs2-tools packages are installed.
Use YaST or command line methods to install them if they are not. For YaST in-
structions, see Section 14.5, “OCFS2 Packages” (page 293).
14.6.2 Configuring OCFS2 Services

Before you can create OCFS2 volumes, you must configure OCFS2 services. In the
following procedure, you generate the /etc/ocfs2/cluster.conf file, save the
cluster.conf file on all nodes, and create and start the O2CB cluster service (
o2cb).
Follow the procedure in this section for one node in the cluster.
1 Open a terminal window and log in as the root user.
2 If the o2cb cluster service is not already enabled, enter chkconfig --add
o2cb.
When you add a new service, chkconfig ensures that the service has either a
start or a kill entry in every run level.
3 If the ocfs2 service is not already enabled, enter chkconfig --add ocfs2.
4 Configure the o2cb cluster service driver to load on boot.
4a Enter /etc/init.d/o2cb configure
4b At the Load O2CB driver on boot (y/n) [n] prompt, enter y

(yes) to enable load on boot.

4c At the Cluster to start on boot (Enter “none” to
clear) [ocfs2] prompt, enter none. This choice presumes that you
are setting up OCFS2 for the first time or resetting the service. You specify
a cluster name in the next step when you set up the /etc/ocfs2/cluster
.conf file.
5 Use the ocfs2console utility to set up and save the /etc/ocfs2/cluster

.conf file to all member nodes of the cluster.
This file should be the same on all the nodes in the cluster. Use the following
steps to set up the first node. Later, you can use the ocfs2console to add new
nodes to the cluster dynamically and to propagate the modified cluster.conf
file to all nodes.
However, if you change other settings, such as the cluster name and IP address,
you must restart the cluster for the changes to take effect, as described in Step 6
(page 296).
5a Open the ocfs2console GUI by entering ocfs2console.
5b In the ocfs2console, select Cluster > Cluster Nodes.
If cluster.conf is not present, the console will create one with a default
cluster name of ocfs2. Modify the cluster name as desired.
5c In the Node Configuration dialog box, click Add to open the Add Node dialog
box.
5d In the Add Node dialog box, specify the unique name of your primary node,
a unique IP address (such as 192.168.1.1), and the port number (optional,
default is 7777), then click OK.
The ocfs2console console assigns node slot numbers sequentially from

0 to 254.
5e In the Node Configuration dialog box, click Apply, then click Close to dismiss
the Add Node dialog box.
5f Click Cluster > Propagate Configuration to save the cluster.conf file

to all nodes.

6 If you need to restart the OCFS2 cluster for the changes to take effect, enter the
following lines, waiting in between for the process to return a status of OK.
/etc/init.d/o2cb stop
/etc/init.d/o2cb start
14.6.3 Creating an OCFS2 Volume

Creating an OCFS2 file system and adding new nodes to the cluster should be performed
on only one of the nodes in the cluster.
2 If the O2CB cluster service is offline, start it by entering the following command
then wait for the process to return a status of OK.
/etc/init.d/o2cb online ocfs2
Replace ocfs2 with the actual cluster name of your OCFS2 cluster.
The OCFS2 cluster must be online, because the format operation must first ensure
that the volume is not mounted on any node in the cluster.
3 Create and format the volume using one of the following methods:
• In EVMSGUI, go to the Volumes page, select Make a file system > OCFS2,
then specify the configuration settings.
• Use the mkfs.ocfs2 utility. For information about the syntax for this
command, refer to the mkfs.ocfs2 man page.
• In the ocfs2console, click Tasks > Format, select a device in the

Available Devices list that you want to use for your OCFS2 volume, specify
the configuration settings for the volume, then click OK to format the volume.
See the following table for recommended settings.

OCFS2 Pa- Description and Recommendation
rameter
Volume la- A descriptive name for the volume to make it uniquely identifi-
bel able when it is mounted on different nodes.
Use the tunefs.ocfs2 utility to modify the label as needed.
Cluster size Cluster size is the smallest unit of space allocated to a file to
hold the data.
Options are 4, 8, 16, 32, 64, 128, 256, 512, and 1024 KB. Cluster
size cannot be modified after the volume is formatted.
Oracle recommends a cluster size of 128 KB or larger for

database volumes. Oracle also recommends a cluster size of 32
or 64 KB for Oracle Home.
Number of The maximum number of nodes that can concurrently mount a

node slots volume. On mounting, OCFS2 creates separate system files,
such as the journals, for each of the nodes. Nodes that access
the volume can be a combination of little-endian architectures
(such as x86, x86-64, and ia64) and big-endian architectures
(such as ppc64 and s390x).
Node-specific files are referred to as local files. A node slot

number is appended to the local file. For example: journal:0000
belongs to whatever node is assigned to slot number 0.
Set each volume’s maximum number of node slots when you

create it, according to how many nodes that you expect to con-
currently mount the volume. Use the tunefs.ocfs2 utility
to increase the number of node slots as needed; the value cannot
be decreased.
Block size The smallest unit of space addressable by the file system.
Specify the block size when you create the volume.

OCFS2 Pa- Description and Recommendation
rameter
Options are 512 bytes (not recommended), 1 KB, 2 KB, or 4

KB (recommended for most volumes). Block size cannot be
modified after the volume is formatted.
14.7 Mounting an OCFS2 Volume

2 If the O2CB cluster service is offline, start it by entering the following command,
then wait for the process to return a status of OK.
/etc/init.d/o2cb online ocfs2
Replace ocfs2 with the actual cluster name of your OCFS2 cluster.
The OCFS2 cluster must be online, because the format operation must ensure
that the volume is not mounted on any node in the cluster.
3 Use one of the following methods to mount the volume.
• In the ocfs2console, select a device in the Available Devices list and

click Mount. Optionally, specify the directory mount point and mount options
and click OK.
• Mount the volume from the command line, using the mount command.
• Mount the volume from the /etc/fstab file on system boot.
Mounting an OCFS2 volume takes about 5 seconds, depending on how long it

takes for the heartbeat thread to stabilize. On a successful mount, the device list
in the ocfs2console shows the mount point along with the device.

TIP: Adding New Nodes
When new nodes try to connect to the cluster, they are not allowed to
join because the nodes have not added them to their connection list. To
solve this issue, manually go to each node and issue the following com-
mand to update the respective connection list:
o2cb_ctl -H -n ocfs2 -t cluster -a online=yes
For information about mounting an OCFS2 volume using any of these methods,
see the OCFS2 User Guide [http://oss.oracle.com/projects/
ocfs2/documentation/] on the OCFS2 project at Oracle [http://oss
.oracle.com/projects/ocfs2/].
When running Oracle RAC, make sure to use the datavolume and nointr
mounting options for OCFS2 volumes that contain the Voting diskfile (CRS),
Cluster registry (OCR), Data files, Redo logs, Archive logs, and Control files.
Do not use these options when mounting the Oracle Home volume.
Option Description
Ensures that the Oracle processes open the files with the o_direct
datavolume
flag.
No interruptions. Ensures the IO is not interrupted by signals.

nointr
14.8 Additional Information

For information about using OCFS2, see the OCFS2 User Guide [http://oss
.oracle.com/projects/ocfs2/documentation/] on the OCFS2 project
at Oracle [http://oss.oracle.com/projects/ocfs2/].

Access Control Lists in Linux
POSIX ACLs (access control lists) can be used as an expansion of the traditional per-
15
mission concept for file system objects. With ACLs, permissions can be defined more
flexibly than the traditional permission concept allows.
The term POSIX ACL suggests that this is a true POSIX (portable operating system
interface) standard. The respective draft standards POSIX 1003.1e and POSIX 1003.2c
have been withdrawn for several reasons. Nevertheless, ACLs as found on many systems
belonging to the UNIX family are based on these drafts and the implementation of file
system ACLs as described in this chapter follows these two standards as well. They
can be viewed at http://wt.xpilot.org/publications/posix.1e/.
15.1 Traditional File Permissions

The basics of traditional Linux file permissions are explained in Section 18.2, “Users
and Access Permissions” (page 359). More advanced features are the setuid, setgid, and
sticky bit.
15.1.1 The setuid Bit

In certain situations, the access permissions may be too restrictive. Therefore, Linux
has additional settings that enable the temporary change of the current user and group
identity for a specific action. For example, the passwd program normally requires
root permissions to access /etc/passwd. This file contains some important informa-
tion, like the home directories of users and user and group IDs. Thus, a normal user
Access Control Lists in Linux 301

would not be able to change passwd, because it would be too dangerous to grant all
users direct access to this file. A possible solution to this problem is the setuid mecha-
nism. setuid (set user ID) is a special file attribute that instructs the system to execute
programs marked accordingly under a specific user ID. Consider the passwd command:
-rwsr-xr-x 1 root shadow 80036 2004-10-02 11:08 /usr/bin/passwd
You can see the s that denotes that the setuid bit is set for the user permission. By
means of the setuid bit, all users starting the passwd command execute it as root.
15.1.2 The setgid Bit

The setuid bit applies to users. However, there is also an equivalent property for groups:
the setgid bit. A program for which this bit was set runs under the group ID under which
it was saved, no matter which user starts it. Therefore, in a directory with the setgid bit,
all newly created files and subdirectories are assigned to the group to which the direc-
tory belongs. Consider the following example directory:
drwxrws--- 2 tux archive 48 Nov 19 17:12 backup
You can see the s that denotes that the setgid bit is set for the group permission. The
owner of the directory and members of the group archive may access this directory.
Users that are not members of this group are “mapped” to the respective group. The
effective group ID of all written files will be archive. For example, a backup program
that runs with the group ID archive is able to access this directory even without root
privileges.
15.1.3 The Sticky Bit

There is also the sticky bit. It makes a difference whether it belongs to an executable
program or a directory. If it belongs to a program, a file marked in this way is loaded
to RAM to avoid needing to get it from the hard disk each time it is used. This attribute
is used rarely, because modern hard disks are fast enough. If this bit is assigned to a
directory, it prevents users from deleting each other's files. Typical examples include
the /tmp and /var/tmp directories:
drwxrwxrwt 2 root root 1160 2002-11-19 17:15 /tmp

15.2 Advantages of ACLs
Traditionally, three permission sets are defined for each file object on a Linux system.
These sets include the read (r), write (w), and execute (x) permissions for each of three
types of users—the file owner, the group, and other users. In addition to that, it is pos-
sible to set the set user id, the set group id, and the sticky bit. This lean concept is fully
adequate for most practical cases. However, for more complex scenarios or advanced
applications, system administrators formerly had to use a number of tricks to circumvent
the limitations of the traditional permission concept.
ACLs can be used as an extension of the traditional file permission concept. They allow
assignment of permissions to individual users or groups even if these do not correspond
to the original owner or the owning group. Access control lists are a feature of the
Linux kernel and are currently supported by ReiserFS, Ext2, Ext3, JFS, and XFS. Using
ACLs, complex scenarios can be realized without implementing complex permission
models on the application level.
The advantages of ACLs are evident if you want to replace a Windows server with a
Linux server. Some of the connected workstations may continue to run under Windows
even after the migration. The Linux system offers file and print services to the Windows
clients with Samba. With Samba supporting access control lists, user permissions can
be configured both on the Linux server and in Windows with a graphical user interface
(only Windows NT and later). With winbindd, part of the samba suite, it is even
possible to assign permissions to users only existing in the Windows domain without
any account on the Linux server.
15.3 Definitions
user class
The conventional POSIX permission concept uses three classes of users for assign-
ing permissions in the file system: the owner, the owning group, and other users.
Three permission bits can be set for each user class, giving permission to read (r),
write (w), and execute (x).
access ACL
The user and group access permissions for all kinds of file system objects (files
and directories) are determined by means of access ACLs.

default ACL
Default ACLs can only be applied to directories. They determine the permissions
a file system object inherits from its parent directory when it is created.
ACL entry
Each ACL consists of a set of ACL entries. An ACL entry contains a type, a qual-
ifier for the user or group to which the entry refers, and a set of permissions. For
some entry types, the qualifier for the group or users is undefined.
15.4 Handling ACLs

Table 15.1, “ACL Entry Types” (page 305) summarizes the six possible types of ACL
entries, each defining permissions for a user or a group of users. The owner entry defines
the permissions of the user owning the file or directory. The owning group entry defines
the permissions of the file's owning group. The superuser can change the owner or
owning group with chown or chgrp, in which case the owner and owning group entries
refer to the new owner and owning group. Each named user entry defines the permissions
of the user specified in the entry's qualifier field. Each named group entry defines the
permissions of the group specified in the entry's qualifier field. Only the named user
and named group entries have a qualifier field that is not empty. The other entry defines
the permissions of all other users.
The mask entry further limits the permissions granted by named user, named group,
and owning group entries by defining which of the permissions in those entries are ef-
fective and which are masked. If permissions exist in one of the mentioned entries as
well as in the mask, they are effective. Permissions contained only in the mask or only
in the actual entry are not effective—meaning the permissions are not granted. All
permissions defined in the owner and owning group entries are always effective. The
example in Table 15.2, “Masking Access Permissions” (page 305) demonstrates this
mechanism.
There are two basic classes of ACLs: A minimum ACL contains only the entries for
the types owner, owning group, and other, which correspond to the conventional per-
mission bits for files and directories. An extended ACL goes beyond this. It must contain
a mask entry and may contain several entries of the named user and named group types.

Table 15.1 ACL Entry Types
Type Text Form
owner user::rwx
named user user:name:rwx
owning group group::rwx
named group group:name:rwx
mask mask::rwx
other other::rwx
Table 15.2 Masking Access Permissions
Entry Type Text Form Permissions
named user user:geeko:r-x r-x
mask mask::rw- rw-
effective permissions: r--
15.4.1 ACL Entries and File Mode Permission

Bits
Figure 15.1, “Minimum ACL: ACL Entries Compared to Permission Bits” (page 306)
and Figure 15.2, “Extended ACL: ACL Entries Compared to Permission Bits” (page 306)
illustrate the two cases of a minimum ACL and an extended ACL. The figures are
structured in three blocks—the left block shows the type specifications of the ACL
entries, the center block displays an example ACL, and the right block shows the re-
spective permission bits according to the conventional permission concept, for example,
as displayed by ls -l. In both cases, the owner class permissions are mapped to the

ACL entry owner. Other class permissions are mapped to the respective ACL entry.
However, the mapping of the group class permissions is different in the two cases.
Figure 15.1 Minimum ACL: ACL Entries Compared to Permission Bits
In the case of a minimum ACL—without mask—the group class permissions are mapped
to the ACL entry owning group. This is shown in Figure 15.1, “Minimum ACL: ACL
Entries Compared to Permission Bits” (page 306). In the case of an extended ACL—with
mask—the group class permissions are mapped to the mask entry. This is shown in
Figure 15.2, “Extended ACL: ACL Entries Compared to Permission Bits” (page 306).
Figure 15.2 Extended ACL: ACL Entries Compared to Permission Bits
This mapping approach ensures the smooth interaction of applications, regardless of

whether they have ACL support. The access permissions that were assigned by means
of the permission bits represent the upper limit for all other “fine adjustments” made
with an ACL. Changes made to the permission bits are reflected by the ACL and vice
versa.
15.4.2 A Directory with an Access ACL

With getfacl and setfacl on the command line, you can access ACLs. The usage
of these commands is demonstrated in the following example.

Before creating the directory, use the umask command to define which access permis-
sions should be masked each time a file object is created. The command umask 027
sets the default permissions by giving the owner the full range of permissions (0),
denying the group write access (2), and giving other users no permissions at all (7).
umask actually masks the corresponding permission bits or turns them off. For details,
consult the umask man page.
mkdir mydir creates the mydir directory with the default permissions as set by
umask. Use ls -dl mydir to check whether all permissions were assigned correctly.
The output for this example is:
drwxr-x--- ... tux project3 ... mydir
With getfacl mydir, check the initial state of the ACL. This gives information
like:
# file: mydir
# owner: tux
# group: project3
user::rwx
group::r-x
other::---
The first three output lines display the name, owner, and owning group of the directory.
The next three lines contain the three ACL entries owner, owning group, and other. In
fact, in the case of this minimum ACL, the getfacl command does not produce any
information you could not have obtained with ls.
Modify the ACL to assign read, write, and execute permissions to an additional user
geeko and an additional group mascots with:
setfacl -m user:geeko:rwx,group:mascots:rwx mydir
The option -m prompts setfacl to modify the existing ACL. The following argument
indicates the ACL entries to modify (multiple entries are separated by commas). The
final part specifies the name of the directory to which these modifications should be
applied. Use the getfacl command to take a look at the resulting ACL.
# file: mydir
# owner: tux
# group: project3
user::rwx
user:geeko:rwx
group::r-x
group:mascots:rwx

mask::rwx
other::---
In addition to the entries initiated for the user geeko and the group mascots, a mask
entry has been generated. This mask entry is set automatically so that all permissions
are effective. setfacl automatically adapts existing mask entries to the settings
modified, unless you deactivate this feature with -n. mask defines the maximum effec-
tive access permissions for all entries in the group class. This includes named user,
named group, and owning group. The group class permission bits displayed by ls -dl
mydir now correspond to the mask entry.
drwxrwx---+ ... tux project3 ... mydir
The first column of the output contains an additional + to indicate that there is an ex-
tended ACL for this item.
According to the output of the ls command, the permissions for the mask entry include
write access. Traditionally, such permission bits would mean that the owning group
(here project3) also has write access to the directory mydir. However, the effective
access permissions for the owning group correspond to the overlapping portion of the
permissions defined for the owning group and for the mask—which is r-x in our ex-
ample (see Table 15.2, “Masking Access Permissions” (page 305)). As far as the effective
permissions of the owning group in this example are concerned, nothing has changed
even after the addition of the ACL entries.
Edit the mask entry with setfacl or chmod. For example, use chmod g-w mydir.
ls -dl mydir then shows:
drwxr-x---+ ... tux project3 ... mydir
getfacl mydir provides the following output:

# file: mydir
# owner: tux
# group: project3
user::rwx
user:geeko:rwx # effective: r-x
group::r-x
group:mascots:rwx # effective: r-x
mask::r-x
other::---
After executing the chmod command to remove the write permission from the group
class bits, the output of the ls command is sufficient to see that the mask bits must
have changed accordingly: write permission is again limited to the owner of mydir.

The output of the getfacl confirms this. This output includes a comment for all those
entries in which the effective permission bits do not correspond to the original permis-
sions, because they are filtered according to the mask entry. The original permissions
can be restored at any time with chmod g+w mydir.
15.4.3 A Directory with a Default ACL

Directories can have a default ACL, which is a special kind of ACL defining the access
permissions that objects in the directory inherit when they are created. A default ACL
affects both subdirectories and files.
Effects of a Default ACL

There are two ways in which the permissions of a directory's default ACL are passed
to the files and subdirectories:
• A subdirectory inherits the default ACL of the parent directory both as its default
ACL and as an access ACL.
• A file inherits the default ACL as its access ACL.
All system calls that create file system objects use a mode parameter that defines the
access permissions for the newly created file system object. If the parent directory does
not have a default ACL, the permission bits as defined by the umask are subtracted
from the permissions as passed by the mode parameter, with the result being assigned
to the new object. If a default ACL exists for the parent directory, the permission bits
assigned to the new object correspond to the overlapping portion of the permissions of
the mode parameter and those that are defined in the default ACL. The umask is dis-
regarded in this case.
Application of Default ACLs

The following three examples show the main operations for directories and default
ACLs:
1. Add a default ACL to the existing directory mydir with:

setfacl -d -m group:mascots:r-x mydir

The option -d of the setfacl command prompts setfacl to perform the fol-
lowing modifications (option -m) in the default ACL.
Take a closer look at the result of this command:

getfacl mydir
# file: mydir
# owner: tux
# group: project3
user::rwx
user:geeko:rwx
group::r-x
group:mascots:rwx
mask::rwx
other::---
default:user::rwx
default:group::r-x
default:group:mascots:r-x
default:mask::r-x
default:other::---
getfacl returns both the access ACL and the default ACL. The default ACL is
formed by all lines that start with default. Although you merely executed the
setfacl command with an entry for the mascots group for the default ACL,
setfacl automatically copied all other entries from the access ACL to create a
valid default ACL. Default ACLs do not have an immediate effect on access per-
missions. They only come into play when file system objects are created. These
new objects inherit permissions only from the default ACL of their parent directory.
2. In the next example, use mkdir to create a subdirectory in mydir, which inherits
the default ACL.
mkdir mydir/mysubdir
getfacl mydir/mysubdir
# file: mydir/mysubdir
# owner: tux
# group: project3
user::rwx
group::r-x
group:mascots:r-x
mask::r-x
other::---
default:user::rwx
default:group::r-x
default:group:mascots:r-x

default:mask::r-x
default:other::---
As expected, the newly-created subdirectory mysubdir has the permissions from

the default ACL of the parent directory. The access ACL of mysubdir is an exact
reflection of the default ACL of mydir. The default ACL that this directory will
hand down to its subordinate objects is also the same.
3. Use touch to create a file in the mydir directory, for example, touch
mydir/myfile. ls -l mydir/myfile then shows:
-rw-r-----+ ... tux project3 ... mydir/myfile
The output of getfacl mydir/myfile is:

# file: mydir/myfile
# owner: tux
# group: project3
user::rw-
group::r-x # effective:r--
group:mascots:r-x # effective:r--
mask::r--
other::---
touch uses a mode with the value 0666 when creating new files, which means
that the files are created with read and write permissions for all user classes, pro-
vided no other restrictions exist in umask or in the default ACL (see Section
“Effects of a Default ACL” (page 309)). In effect, this means that all access permis-
sions not contained in the mode value are removed from the respective ACL entries.
Although no permissions were removed from the ACL entry of the group class,
the mask entry was modified to mask permissions not set in mode.
This approach ensures the smooth interaction of applications, such as compilers,

with ACLs. You can create files with restricted access permissions and subsequently
mark them as executable. The mask mechanism guarantees that the right users
and groups can execute them as desired.
15.4.4 The ACL Check Algorithm

A check algorithm is applied before any process or application is granted access to an
ACL-protected file system object. As a basic rule, the ACL entries are examined in the
following sequence: owner, named user, owning group or named group, and other. The

access is handled in accordance with the entry that best suits the process. Permissions
do not accumulate.
Things are more complicated if a process belongs to more than one group and would
potentially suit several group entries. An entry is randomly selected from the suitable
entries with the required permissions. It is irrelevant which of the entries triggers the
final result “access granted”. Likewise, if none of the suitable group entries contains
the required permissions, a randomly selected entry triggers the final result “access
denied”.
15.5 ACL Support in Applications

ACLs can be used to implement very complex permission scenarios that meet the re-
quirements of modern applications. The traditional permission concept and ACLs can
be combined in a smart manner. The basic file commands (cp, mv, ls, etc.) support
ACLs, as do Samba and Konqueror.
Unfortunately, many editors and file managers still lack ACL support. When copying
files with Emacs, for instance, the ACLs of these files are lost. When modifying files
with an editor, the ACLs of files are sometimes preserved and sometimes not, depending
on the backup mode of the editor used. If the editor writes the changes to the original
file, the access ACL is preserved. If the editor saves the updated contents to a new file
that is subsequently renamed to the old filename, the ACLs may be lost, unless the ed-
itor supports ACLs. Except for the star archiver, there are currently no backup applica-
tions that preserve ACLs.

Detailed information about ACLs is available at http://acl.bestbits.at/.
Also see the man pages for getfacl(1), acl(5), and setfacl(1).

RPM—the Package Manager
RPM (RPM Package Manager) is used for managing software packages. Its main
16
commands are rpm and rpmbuild. The powerful RPM database can be queried by
the users, system administrators, and package builders for detailed information about
the installed software.
Essentially, rpm has five modes: installing, uninstalling, or updating software packages;
rebuilding the RPM database; querying RPM bases or individual RPM archives; integrity
checking of packages; and signing packages. rpmbuild can be used to build installable
packages from pristine sources.
Installable RPM archives are packed in a special binary format. These archives consist
of the program files to install and certain meta information used during the installation
by rpm to configure the software package or stored in the RPM database for documen-
tation purposes. RPM archives normally have the extension .rpm.
TIP: Software Development Packages
For a number of packages, the components needed for software development

(libraries, headers, include files, etc.) have been put into separate packages.
These development packages are only needed if you want to compile software
yourself, for example, the most recent GNOME packages. They can be identified
by the name extension -devel, such as the packages alsa-devel,
gimp-devel, and kdelibs3-devel.
RPM—the Package Manager 313

16.1 Verifying Package Authenticity
RPM packages have a GnuPG signature. The key including the fingerprint is:
1024D/9C800ACA 2000-10-19 SuSE Package Signing Key <[email protected]>

Key fingerprint = 79C1 79B2 E1C8 20C1 890F 9994 A84E DAE8 9C80 0ACA
The command rpm --checksig package-1.2.3.rpm can be used to verify

the signature of an RPM package to determine whether it really originates from SUSE
or from another trustworthy facility. This is especially recommended for update packages
from the Internet. The SUSE public package signature key normally resides in /root/
.gnupg/. The key is additionally located in the directory /usr/lib/rpm/gnupg/
to enable normal users to verify the signature of RPM packages.
16.2 Managing Packages: Install,

Update, and Uninstall
Normally, the installation of an RPM archive is quite simple: rpm -i package.rpm.
With this command, the package is installed, but only if its dependencies are fulfilled
and there are no conflicts with other packages. With an error message, rpm requests
those packages that need to be installed to meet dependency requirements. In the
background, the RPM database ensures that no conflicts arise—a specific file can only
belong to one package. By choosing different options, you can force rpm to ignore
these defaults, but this is only for experts. Otherwise, risk compromising the integrity
of the system and possibly jeopardize the ability to update the system.
The options -U or --upgrade and -F or --freshen can be used to update a

package, for example, rpm -F package.rpm. This command removes the files of
the old version and immediately installs the new files. The difference between the two
versions is that -U installs packages that previously did not exist in the system, but -F
merely updates previously installed packages. When updating, rpm updates configuration
files carefully using the following strategy:
• If a configuration file was not changed by the system administrator, rpm installs
the new version of the appropriate file. No action by the system administrator is
required.

• If a configuration file was changed by the system administrator before the update,
rpm saves the changed file with the extension .rpmorig or .rpmsave (backup
file) and installs the version from the new package, but only if the originally installed
file and the newer version are different. If this is the case, compare the backup file
(.rpmorig or .rpmsave) with the newly installed file and make your changes
again in the new file. Afterwards, be sure to delete all .rpmorig and .rpmsave
files to avoid problems with future updates.
• .rpmnew files appear if the configuration file already exists and if the noreplace
label was specified in the .spec file.
Following an update, .rpmsave and .rpmnew files should be removed after compar-
ing them, so they do not obstruct future updates. The .rpmorig extension is assigned
if the file has not previously been recognized by the RPM database.
Otherwise, .rpmsave is used. In other words, .rpmorig results from updating from
a foreign format to RPM. .rpmsave results from updating from an older RPM to a
newer RPM. .rpmnew does not disclose any information as to whether the system
administrator has made any changes to the configuration file. A list of these files is
available in /var/adm/rpmconfigcheck. Some configuration files (like /etc/
httpd/httpd.conf) are not overwritten to allow continued operation.
The -U switch is not just an equivalent to uninstalling with the -e option and installing
with the -i option. Use -U whenever possible.
To remove a package, enter rpm -e package. rpm only deletes the package if there
are no unresolved dependencies. It is theoretically impossible to delete Tcl/Tk, for ex-
ample, as long as another application requires it. Even in this case, RPM calls for assis-
tance from the database. If such a deletion is—for whatever reason and under unusual
circumstances—impossible, even if no additional dependencies exist, it may be helpful
to rebuild the RPM database using the option --rebuilddb.
16.3 RPM and Patches

To guarantee the operational security of a system, update packages must be installed
in the system from time to time. Previously, a bug in a package could only be eliminated
by replacing the entire package. Large packages with bugs in small files could easily

result in large amounts of data. However the SUSE RPM offers a feature enabling the
installation of patches in packages.
The most important considerations are demonstrated using pine as an example:
Is the patch RPM suitable for my system?

To check this, first query the installed version of the package. For pine, this can be
done with
rpm -q pine
pine-4.44-188
Then check if the patch RPM is suitable for this version of pine:
rpm -qp --basedon pine-4.44-224.i586.patch.rpm
pine = 4.44-188
pine = 4.44-195
pine = 4.44-207
This patch is suitable for three different versions of pine. The installed version in
the example is also listed, so the patch can be installed.
Which files are replaced by the patch?

The files affected by a patch can easily be seen in the patch RPM. The rpm param-
eter -P allows selection of special patch features. Display the list of files with the
following command:
rpm -qpPl pine-4.44-224.i586.patch.rpm
/etc/pine.conf
/etc/pine.conf.fixed
/usr/bin/pine
or, if the patch is already installed, with the following command:

rpm -qPl pine
/etc/pine.conf
/etc/pine.conf.fixed
/usr/bin/pine
How can a patch RPM be installed in the system?

Patch RPMs are used just like normal RPMs. The only difference is that a suitable
RPM must already be installed.

Which patches are already installed in the system and for which package versions?
A list of all patches installed in the system can be displayed with the command
rpm -qPa. If only one patch is installed in a new system (as in this example), the
list appears as follows:
rpm -qPa
pine-4.44-224
If, at a later date, you want to know which package version was originally installed,
this information is also available in the RPM database. For pine, this information
can be displayed with the following command:
rpm -q --basedon pine
pine = 4.44-188
More information, including information about the patch feature of RPM, is available
in the man pages of rpm and rpmbuild.
16.4 Delta RPM Packages

Delta RPM packages contain the difference between an old and a new version of an
RPM package. Applying a delta RPM on an old RPM results in the complete new RPM.
It is not necessary to have a copy of the old RPM, because a delta RPM can also work
with an installed RPM. The delta RPM packages are even smaller in size than patch
RPMs, which is an advantage when transferring update packages over the Internet. The
drawback is that update operations with delta RPMs involved consume considerably
more CPU cycles than plain or patch RPMs.
The prepdeltarpm, writedeltarpm, and applydeltarpm binaries are part

of the delta RPM suite (package deltarpm) and help you create and apply delta RPM
packages. With the following commands, create a delta RPM called new.delta.rpm.
The following command assumes that old.rpm and new.rpm are present:
prepdeltarpm -s seq -i info old.rpm > old.cpio
prepdeltarpm -f new.rpm > new.cpio
xdelta delta -0 old.cpio new.cpio delta
writedeltarpm new.rpm delta info new.delta.rpm
Finally, remove the temporary working files old.cpio, new.cpio, and delta.
Using applydeltarpm, you can reconstruct the new RPM from the file system if
the old package is already installed:

applydeltarpm new.delta.rpm new.rpm
To derive it from the old RPM without accessing the file system, use the -r option:
applydeltarpm -r old.rpm new.delta.rpm new.rpm
See /usr/share/doc/packages/deltarpm/README" for technical details.
16.5 RPM Queries

With the -q option, rpm initiates queries, making it possible to inspect an RPM archive
(by adding the option -p) and also to query the RPM database of installed packages.
Several switches are available to specify the type of information required. See Table 16.1,
“The Most Important RPM Query Options” (page 318).
Table 16.1 The Most Important RPM Query Options
-i Package information
-l File list
-f FILE Query the package that contains the file FILE (the full
path must be specified with FILE)
-s File list with status information (implies -l)
-d List only documentation files (implies -l)
-c List only configuration files (implies -l)
--dump File list with complete details (to be used with -l, -c, or
-d)
--provides List features of the package that another package can re-
quest with --requires
--requires, -R Capabilities the package requires
--scripts Installation scripts (preinstall, postinstall, uninstall)

For example, the command rpm -q -i wget displays the information shown in
Example 16.1, “rpm -q -i wget” (page 319).
Example 16.1 rpm -q -i wget

Name : wget Relocations: (not relocatable)
Version : 1.9.1 Vendor: SUSE LINUX AG,
Nuernberg, Germany
Release : 50 Build Date: Sat 02 Oct 2004
03:49:13 AM CEST
Install date: Mon 11 Oct 2004 10:24:56 AM CEST Build Host: f53.suse.de
Group : Productivity/Networking/Web/Utilities Source RPM:
wget-1.9.1-50.src.rpm
Size : 1637514 License: GPL
Signature : DSA/SHA1, Sat 02 Oct 2004 03:59:56 AM CEST, Key ID
a84edae89c800aca
Packager : http://www.suse.de/feedback
URL : http://wget.sunsite.dk/
Summary : A tool for mirroring FTP and HTTP servers
Description :
Wget enables you to retrieve WWW documents or FTP files from a server.
This can be done in script files or via the command line.
[...]
The option -f only works if you specify the complete filename with its full path. Provide
as many filenames as desired. For example, the following command
rpm -q -f /bin/rpm /usr/bin/wget
results in:
rpm-4.1.1-191
wget-1.9.1-50
If only part of the filename is known, use a shell script as shown in Example 16.2,
“Script to Search for Packages” (page 319). Pass the partial filename to the script shown
as a parameter when running it.
Example 16.2 Script to Search for Packages

#! /bin/sh
for i in $(rpm -q -a -l | grep $1); do
echo "\"$i\" is in package:"
rpm -q -f $i
echo ""
done

The command rpm -q --changelog rpm displays a detailed list of change infor-
mation about a specific package, sorted by date. This example shows information about
the package rpm.
With the help of the installed RPM database, verification checks can be made. Initiate
these with -V, -y, or --verify. With this option, rpm shows all files in a package
that have been changed since installation. rpm uses eight character symbols to give
some hints about the following changes:
Table 16.2 RPM Verify Options
5 MD5 check sum
S File size
L Symbolic link
T Modification time
D Major and minor device numbers
U Owner
G Group
M Mode (permissions and file type)
In the case of configuration files, the letter c is printed. For example, for changes to
/etc/wgetrc (wget):
rpm -V wget
S.5....T c /etc/wgetrc
The files of the RPM database are placed in /var/lib/rpm. If the partition /usr
has a size of 1 GB, this database can occupy nearly 30 MB, especially after a complete
update. If the database is much larger than expected, it is useful to rebuild the database
with the option --rebuilddb. Before doing this, make a backup of the old database.
The cron script cron.daily makes daily copies of the database (packed with gzip)
and stores them in /var/adm/backup/rpmdb. The number of copies is controlled

by the variable MAX_RPMDB_BACKUPS (default: 5) in /etc/sysconfig/backup.
The size of a single backup is approximately 1 MB for 1 GB in /usr.
16.6 Installing and Compiling Source

Packages
All source packages carry a .src.rpm extension (source RPM).
TIP
Source packages can be copied from the installation medium to the hard disk
and unpacked with YaST. They are not, however, marked as installed ([i]) in
the package manager. This is because the source packages are not entered in
the RPM database. Only installed operating system software is listed in the RPM
database. When you “install” a source package, only the source code is added
to the system.
The following directories must be available for rpm and rpmbuild in /usr/src/
packages (unless you specified custom settings in a file like /etc/rpmrc):
SOURCES
for the original sources (.tar.bz2 or .tar.gz files, etc.) and for distribution-
specific adjustments (mostly .diff or .patch files)
SPECS
for the .spec files, similar to a meta Makefile, which control the build process
BUILD
all the sources are unpacked, patched, and compiled in this directory
RPMS
where the completed binary packages are stored
SRPMS
here are the source RPMs

When you install a source package with YaST, all the necessary components are installed
in /usr/src/packages: the sources and the adjustments in SOURCES and the
relevant .spec file in SPECS.
WARNING
Do not experiment with system components (glibc, rpm, sysvinit, etc.),

because this endangers the operability of your system.
The following example uses the wget.src.rpm package. After installing the package
with YaST, you should have files similar to the following listing:
/usr/src/packages/SOURCES/nops_doc.diff
/usr/src/packages/SOURCES/toplev_destdir.diff
/usr/src/packages/SOURCES/wget-1.9.1+ipvmisc.patch
/usr/src/packages/SOURCES/wget-1.9.1-brokentime.patch
/usr/src/packages/SOURCES/wget-1.9.1-passive_ftp.diff
/usr/src/packages/SOURCES/wget-LFS-20040909.tar.bz2
/usr/src/packages/SOURCES/wget-wrong_charset.patch
/usr/src/packages/SPECS/wget.spec
rpmbuild -b X /usr/src/packages/SPECS/wget.spec starts the com-

pilation. X is a wild card for various stages of the build process (see the output of
--help or the RPM documentation for details). The following is merely a brief expla-
nation:
-bp
Prepare sources in /usr/src/packages/BUILD: unpack and patch.
-bc
Do the same as -bp, but with additional compilation.
-bi
Do the same as -bp, but with additional installation of the built software. Caution:
if the package does not support the BuildRoot feature, you might overwrite confi-
guration files.
-bb
Do the same as -bi, but with the additional creation of the binary package. If the
compile was successful, the binary should be in /usr/src/packages/RPMS.

-ba
Do the same as -bb, but with the additional creation of the source RPM. If the
compilation was successful, the binary should be in /usr/src/packages/
SRPMS.
--short-circuit
Skip some steps.
The binary RPM created can now be installed with rpm -i or, preferably, with rpm
-U. Installation with rpm makes it appear in the RPM database.
16.7 Compiling RPM Packages with

build
The danger with many packages is that unwanted files are added to the running system
during the build process. To prevent this, use build, which creates a defined environ-
ment in which the package is built. To establish this chroot environment, the build
script must be provided with a complete package tree. This tree can be made available
on the hard disk, via NFS, or from DVD. Set the position with build --rpms
directory. Unlike rpm, the build command looks for the SPEC file in the source
directory. To build wget (like in the above example) with the DVD mounted in the
system under /media/dvd, use the following commands as root:
cd /usr/src/packages/SOURCES/
mv ../SPECS/wget.spec .
build --rpms /media/dvd/suse/ wget.spec
Subsequently, a minimum environment is established at /var/tmp/build-root.

The package is built in this environment. Upon completion, the resulting packages are
located in /var/tmp/build-root/usr/src/packages/RPMS.
The build script offers a number of additional options. For example, cause the script
to prefer your own RPMs, omit the initialization of the build environment, or limit the
rpm command to one of the above-mentioned stages. Access additional information
with build --help and by reading the build man page.

16.8 Tools for RPM Archives and the
RPM Database
Midnight Commander (mc) can display the contents of RPM archives and copy parts
of them. It represents archives as virtual file systems, offering all usual menu options
of Midnight Commander. Display the HEADER with F3. View the archive structure
with the cursor keys and Enter. Copy archive components with F5.
KDE offers the kpackage tool as a front-end for rpm. A full-featured package manager
is available as a YaST module (see Section 8.3.1, “Installing and Removing Software”
(page 132)).

System Monitoring Utilities
A number of programs and mechanisms, some of which are presented here, can be used
17
to examine the status of your system. Also described are some utilities that are useful
for routine work, along with their most important parameters.
For each of the commands introduced, examples of the relevant outputs are presented.
In these examples, the first line is the command itself (after the > or # sign prompt).
Omissions are indicated with square brackets ([...]) and long lines are wrapped
where necessary. Line breaks for long lines are indicated by a backslash (\).
# command -x -y
output line 1
output line 2
output line 3 is annoyingly long, so long that \
we have to break it
output line 3
[...]
output line 98
output line 99
The descriptions have been kept short to allow as many utilities as possible to be men-
tioned. Further information for all the commands can be found in the man pages. Most
of the commands also understand the parameter --help, which produces a brief list
of the possible parameters.
System Monitoring Utilities 325

17.1 Debugging
17.1.1 Specifying the Required Library: ldd
Use the command ldd to find out which libraries would load the dynamic executable
specified as argument.
tux@mercury:~> ldd /bin/ls
linux-gate.so.1 => (0xffffe000)
librt.so.1 => /lib/librt.so.1 (0xb7f97000)
libacl.so.1 => /lib/libacl.so.1 (0xb7f91000)
libc.so.6 => /lib/libc.so.6 (0xb7e79000)
libpthread.so.0 => /lib/libpthread.so.0 (0xb7e67000)
/lib/ld-linux.so.2 (0xb7fb6000)
libattr.so.1 => /lib/libattr.so.1 (0xb7e63000)
Static binaries do not need any dynamic libraries.

tux@mercury:~> ldd /bin/sash
not a dynamic executable
tux@mercury:~> file /bin/sash
/bin/sash: ELF 32-bit LSB executable, Intel 80386, version 1 (SYSV), for
GNU/Linux 2.6.4, statically linked, for GNU/Linux 2.6.4, stripped
17.1.2 Library Calls of a Program Run:

ltrace
The command ltrace enables you to trace the library calls of a process. This command
is used in a similar fashion to strace. The parameter -c outputs the number and du-
ration of the library calls that have occurred:
tux@mercury:~> ltrace -c find ~
% time seconds usecs/call calls function
------ ----------- ----------- --------- --------------------
34.37 6.758937 245 27554 __errno_location
33.53 6.593562 788 8358 __fprintf_chk
12.67 2.490392 144 17212 strlen
11.97 2.353302 239 9845 readdir64
2.37 0.466754 27 16716 __ctype_get_mb_cur_max
1.17 0.230765 27 8358 memcpy
[...]
0.00 0.000036 36 1 textdomain
------ ----------- ----------- --------- --------------------
100.00 19.662715 105717 total

17.1.3 System Calls of a Program Run:
strace
The utility strace enables you to trace all the system calls of a process currently
running. Enter the command in the normal way, adding strace at the beginning of
the line:
tux@mercury:~> strace ls
execve("/bin/ls", ["ls"], [/* 61 vars */]) = 0
uname({sys="Linux", node="mercury", ...}) = 0
brk(0) = 0x805c000
access("/etc/ld.so.preload", R_OK) = -1 ENOENT (No such file or \
directory)
open("/etc/ld.so.cache", O_RDONLY) = 3
fstat64(3, {st_mode=S_IFREG|0644, st_size=89696, ...}) = 0
mmap2(NULL, 89696, PROT_READ, MAP_PRIVATE, 3, 0) = 0xb7ef2000
close(3) = 0
open("/lib/librt.so.1", O_RDONLY) = 3
read(3, "\177ELF\1\1\1\0\0\0\0\0\0\0\0\0\3\0\3\0\1\0\0\0000\36\0"..., 512) \
= 512
fstat64(3, {st_mode=S_IFREG|0755, st_size=36659, ...}) = 0
[...]
stat64(1, {st_mode=S_IFCHR|0620, st_rdev=makedev(136, 0), ...}) = 0
mmap2(NULL, 4096, PROT_READ|PROT_WRITE, MAP_PRIVATE|MAP_ANONYMOUS, -1, 0) \
= 0xb7ca7000
write(1, "bin Desktop Documents music\tM"..., 55bin Desktop Documents \
\ music Music public_html tmp
) = 55
close(1) = 0
munmap(0xb7ca7000, 4096) = 0
exit_group(0) = ?
For example, to trace all attempts to open a particular file, use the following:
tux@mercury:~> strace -e open ls .bashrc
open("/etc/ld.so.cache", O_RDONLY) = 3
open("/lib/librt.so.1", O_RDONLY) = 3
open("/lib/libacl.so.1", O_RDONLY) = 3
open("/lib/libc.so.6", O_RDONLY) = 3
open("/lib/libpthread.so.0", O_RDONLY) = 3
open("/lib/libattr.so.1", O_RDONLY) = 3
[...]
To trace all the child processes, use the parameter -f. The behavior and output format
of strace can be largely controlled. For information, see man strace.

17.2 Files and File Systems
17.2.1 Determine the File Type: file
The command file determines the type of a file or a list of files by checking /etc/
magic.
tux@mercury:~> file /usr/bin/file
/usr/bin/file: ELF 32-bit LSB executable, Intel 80386, version 1 (SYSV), \
for GNU/Linux 2.2.5, dynamically linked (uses shared libs), stripped
The parameter -f list specifies a file with a list of filenames to examine. The -z
allows file to look inside compressed files:
tux@mercury:~> file /usr/share/man/man1/file.1.gz
usr/share/man/man1/file.1.gz: gzip compressed data, from Unix, max compression
tux@mercury:~> file -z /usr/share/man/man1/file.1.gz
/usr/share/man/man1/file.1.gz: ASCII troff or preprocessor input text \
(gzip compressed data, from Unix, max compression)
17.2.2 File Systems and Their Usage: mount,

df, and du
The command mount shows which file system (device and type) is mounted at which
mount point:
tux@mercury:~> mount
/dev/sda3 on / type reiserfs (rw,acl,user_xattr)
proc on /proc type proc (rw)
sysfs on /sys type sysfs (rw)
udev on /dev type tmpfs (rw)
devpts on /dev/pts type devpts (rw,mode=0620,gid=5)
/dev/sda1 on /boot type ext2 (rw,acl,user_xattr)
/dev/sda4 on /local type reiserfs (rw,acl,user_xattr)
/dev/fd0 on /media/floppy type subfs (rw,nosuid,nodev,noatime,fs=floppyfss,p

Obtain information about total usage of the file systems with the command df. The
parameter -h (or --human-readable) transforms the output into a form understand-
able for common users.
tux@mercury:~> df -h
Filesystem Size Used Avail Use% Mounted on
/dev/sda3 11G 3.2G 6.9G 32% /
udev 252M 104K 252M 1% /dev
/dev/sda1 16M 6.6M 7.8M 46% /boot
/dev/sda4 27G 34M 27G 1% /local
Display the total size of all the files in a given directory and its subdirectories with the
command du. The parameter -s suppresses the output of detailed information. -h
again transforms the data into a human-readable form:
tux@mercury:~> du -sh /local
1.7M /local
17.2.3 Additional Information about ELF

Binaries
Read the content of binaries with the readelf utility. This even works with ELF files
that were built for other hardware architectures:
tux@mercury:~> readelf --file-header /bin/ls
ELF Header:
Magic: 7f 45 4c 46 01 01 01 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00
Class: ELF32
Data: 2's complement, little endian
Version: 1 (current)
OS/ABI: UNIX - System V
ABI Version: 0
Type: EXEC (Executable file)
Machine: Intel 80386
Version: 0x1
Entry point address: 0x8049b60
Start of program headers: 52 (bytes into file)
Start of section headers: 81112 (bytes into file)
Flags: 0x0
Size of this header: 52 (bytes)
Size of program headers: 32 (bytes)
Number of program headers: 9
Size of section headers: 40 (bytes)
Number of section headers: 30
Section header string table index: 29

17.2.4 File Properties: stat
The command stat displays file properties:
tux@mercury:~> stat /etc/profile
File: `/etc/profile'
Size: 8080 Blocks: 16 IO Block: 4096 regular file
Device: 806h/2054d Inode: 64942 Links: 1
Access: (0644/-rw-r--r--) Uid: ( 0/ root) Gid: ( 0/ root)
Access: 2007-07-16 23:28:18.000000000 +0200
Modify: 2006-09-19 14:45:01.000000000 +0200
Change: 2006-12-05 14:54:55.000000000 +0100
The parameter --filesystem produces details of the properties of the file system
in which the specified file is located:
tux@mercury:~> stat /etc/profile --filesystem
File: "/etc/profile"
ID: 0 Namelen: 255 Type: reiserfs
Block size: 4096 Fundamental block size: 4096
Blocks: Total: 2622526 Free: 1809771 Available: 1809771
Inodes: Total: 0 Free: 0
17.3 Hardware Information

17.3.1 PCI Resources: lspci
The command lspci lists the PCI resources:
mercury:~ # lspci
00:00.0 Host bridge: Intel Corporation 82845G/GL[Brookdale-G]/GE/PE \
DRAM Controller/Host-Hub Interface (rev 01)
00:01.0 PCI bridge: Intel Corporation 82845G/GL[Brookdale-G]/GE/PE \
Host-to-AGP Bridge (rev 01)
00:1d.0 USB Controller: Intel Corporation 82801DB/DBL/DBM \
(ICH4/ICH4-L/ICH4-M) USB UHCI Controller #1 (rev 01)
00:1d.7 USB Controller: Intel Corporation 82801DB/DBM \
(ICH4/ICH4-M) USB2 EHCI Controller (rev 01)
00:1e.0 PCI bridge: Intel Corporation 82801 PCI Bridge (rev 81)
00:1f.0 ISA bridge: Intel Corporation 82801DB/DBL (ICH4/ICH4-L) \
LPC Interface Bridge (rev 01)
00:1f.1 IDE interface: Intel Corporation 82801DB (ICH4) IDE \

Controller (rev 01)
00:1f.3 SMBus: Intel Corporation 82801DB/DBL/DBM (ICH4/ICH4-L/ICH4-M) \
SMBus Controller (rev 01)
00:1f.5 Multimedia audio controller: Intel Corporation 82801DB/DBL/DBM \
(ICH4/ICH4-L/ICH4-M) AC'97 Audio Controller (rev 01)
01:00.0 VGA compatible controller: Matrox Graphics, Inc. G400/G450 (rev 85)
02:08.0 Ethernet controller: Intel Corporation 82801DB PRO/100 VE (LOM) \
Ethernet Controller (rev 81)
Using -v results in a more detailed listing:

mercury:~ # lspci
[...]
02:08.0 Ethernet controller: Intel Corporation 82801DB PRO/100 VE (LOM)\
Ethernet Controller (rev 81)
Subsystem: Fujitsu Siemens Computer GmbH: Unknown device 1001
Flags: bus master, medium devsel, latency 66, IRQ 11
Memory at d1000000 (32-bit, non-prefetchable) [size=4K]
I/O ports at 3000 [size=64]
Capabilities: [dc] Power Management version 2
Information about device name resolution is obtained from the file /usr/share/
pci.ids. PCI IDs not listed in this file are marked “Unknown device.”
The parameter -vv produces all the information that could be queried by the program.
To view the pure numeric values, use the parameter -n.
17.3.2 USB Devices: lsusb

The command lsusb lists all USB devices. With the option -v, print a more detailed
list. The detailed information is read from the directory /proc/bus/usb/. The fol-
lowing is the output of lsusb with these USB devices attached: hub, memory stick,
hard disk, and mouse.
mercury:/ # lsusb
Bus 004 Device 007: ID 0ea0:2168 Ours Technology, Inc. Transcend JetFlash \
2.0 / Astone USB Drive
Bus 004 Device 006: ID 04b4:6830 Cypress Semiconductor Corp. USB-2.0 IDE \
Adapter
Bus 004 Device 005: ID 05e3:0605 Genesys Logic, Inc.
Bus 004 Device 001: ID 0000:0000
Bus 003 Device 001: ID 0000:0000
Bus 002 Device 001: ID 0000:0000
Bus 001 Device 005: ID 046d:c012 Logitech, Inc. Optical Mouse
Bus 001 Device 001: ID 0000:0000

17.3.3 Information about a SCSI Device:
scsiinfo
The command scsiinfo lists information about a SCSI device. With the option -l,
list all SCSI devices known to the system (similar information is obtained via the
command lsscsi). The following is the output of scsiinfo -i /dev/sda,
which gives information about a hard disk. The option -a gives even more information.
mercury:/ # scsiinfo -i /dev/sda
Inquiry command
---------------
Relative Address 0
Wide bus 32 0
Wide bus 16 1
Synchronous neg. 1
Linked Commands 1
Command Queueing 1
SftRe 0
Device Type 0
Peripheral Qualifier 0
Removable? 0
Device Type Modifier 0
ISO Version 0
ECMA Version 0
ANSI Version 3
AENC 0
TrmIOP 0
Response Data Format 2
Vendor: FUJITSU
Product: MAS3367NP
Revision level: 0104A0K7P43002BE
The option -d puts out a defects list with two tables of bad blocks of a hard disk: first
the one supplied by the vendor (manufacturer table) and second the list of bad blocks
that appeared in operation (grown table). If the number of entries in the grown table
increases, it might be a good idea to replace the hard disk.

17.4 Networking
17.4.1 Show the Network Status: netstat
netstat shows network connections, routing tables (-r), interfaces (-i), masquerade
connections (-M), multicast memberships (-g), and statistics (-s).
tux@mercury:~> netstat -r
Kernel IP routing table
Destination Gateway Genmask Flags MSS Window irtt Iface
192.168.2.0 * 255.255.254.0 U 0 0 0 eth0
link-local * 255.255.0.0 U 0 0 0 eth0
loopback * 255.0.0.0 U 0 0 0 lo
default 192.168.2.254 0.0.0.0 UG 0 0 0 eth0
tux@mercury:~> netstat -i
Kernel Interface table
Iface MTU Met RX-OK RX-ERR RX-DRP RX-OVR TX-OK TX-ERR TX-DRP TX-OVR Flg
eth0 1500 0 1624507 129056 0 0 7055 0 0 0 BMNRU
lo 16436 0 23728 0 0 0 23728 0 0 0 LRU
When displaying network connections or statistics, you can specify the socket type to
display: TCP (-t), UDP (-u), or raw (-r). The -p option shows the PID and name
of the program to which each socket belongs.
The following example lists all TCP connections and the programs using these connec-
tions.
mercury:~ # netstat -t -p
Active Internet connections (w/o servers)
Proto Recv-Q Send-Q Local Address Foreign Address State PID/Pro
tcp 0 0 mercury:33513 www.novell.com:www-http ESTABLISHED 6862/fi

tcp 0 352 mercury:ssh mercury2.:trc-netpoll ESTABLISHED
19422/s
tcp 0 0 localhost:ssh localhost:17828 ESTABLISHED -
In the following, statistics for the TCP protocol are displayed:

tux@mercury:~> netstat -s -t
Tcp:
2427 active connections openings
2374 passive connection openings
0 failed connection attempts
0 connection resets received
1 connections established
27476 segments received

26786 segments send out
54 segments retransmited
0 bad segments received.
6 resets sent
[...]
TCPAbortOnLinger: 0
TCPAbortFailed: 0
TCPMemoryPressures: 0
17.5 The /proc File System

The /proc file system is a pseudo file system in which the kernel reserves important
information in the form of virtual files. For example, display the CPU type with this
command:
tux@mercury:~> cat /proc/cpuinfo
processor : 0
vendor_id : AuthenticAMD
cpu family : 6
model : 8
model name : AMD Athlon(tm) XP 2400+
stepping : 1
cpu MHz : 2009.343
cache size : 256 KB
fdiv_bug : no
[...]
Query the allocation and use of interrupts with the following command:
tux@mercury:~> cat /proc/interrupts
CPU0
0: 3577519 XT-PIC timer
1: 130 XT-PIC i8042
2: 0 XT-PIC cascade
5: 564535 XT-PIC Intel 82801DB-ICH4
7: 1 XT-PIC parport0
8: 2 XT-PIC rtc
9: 1 XT-PIC acpi, uhci_hcd:usb1, ehci_hcd:usb4
10: 0 XT-PIC uhci_hcd:usb3
11: 71772 XT-PIC uhci_hcd:usb2, eth0
12: 101150 XT-PIC i8042
14: 33146 XT-PIC ide0
15: 149202 XT-PIC ide1
NMI: 0
LOC: 0
ERR: 0
MIS: 0

Some of the important files and their contents are:
/proc/devices
Available devices
/proc/modules
Kernel modules loaded
/proc/cmdline
Kernel command line
/proc/meminfo
Detailed information about memory usage
/proc/config.gz
gzip-compressed configuration file of the kernel currently running
Further information is available in the text file /usr/src/linux/

Documentation/filesystems/proc.txt. Find information about processes
currently running in the /proc/NNN directories, where NNN is the process ID (PID)
of the relevant process. Every process can find its own characteristics in /proc/
self/:
tux@mercury:~> ls -l /proc/self
lrwxrwxrwx 1 root root 64 2007-07-16 13:03 /proc/self -> 5356
tux@mercury:~> ls -l /proc/self/
total 0
dr-xr-xr-x 2 tux users 0 2007-07-16 17:04 attr
-r-------- 1 tux users 0 2007-07-16 17:04 auxv
-r--r--r-- 1 tux users 0 2007-07-16 17:04 cmdline
lrwxrwxrwx 1 tux users 0 2007-07-16 17:04 cwd -> /home/tux
-r-------- 1 tux users 0 2007-07-16 17:04 environ
lrwxrwxrwx 1 tux users 0 2007-07-16 17:04 exe -> /bin/ls
dr-x------ 2 tux users 0 2007-07-16 17:04 fd
-rw-r--r-- 1 tux users 0 2007-07-16 17:04 loginuid
-r--r--r-- 1 tux users 0 2007-07-16 17:04 maps
-rw------- 1 tux users 0 2007-07-16 17:04 mem
-r--r--r-- 1 tux users 0 2007-07-16 17:04 mounts
-rw-r--r-- 1 tux users 0 2007-07-16 17:04 oom_adj
-r--r--r-- 1 tux users 0 2007-07-16 17:04 oom_score
lrwxrwxrwx 1 tux users 0 2007-07-16 17:04 root -> /
-rw------- 1 tux users 0 2007-07-16 17:04 seccomp
-r--r--r-- 1 tux users 0 2007-07-16 17:04 smaps
-r--r--r-- 1 tux users 0 2007-07-16 17:04 stat
[...]
dr-xr-xr-x 3 tux users 0 2007-07-16 17:04 task
-r--r--r-- 1 tux users 0 2007-07-16 17:04 wchan

The address assignment of executables and libraries is contained in the maps file:
tux@mercury:~> cat /proc/self/maps
08048000-0804c000 r-xp 00000000 03:03 17753 /bin/cat
0804c000-0804d000 rw-p 00004000 03:03 17753 /bin/cat
0804d000-0806e000 rw-p 0804d000 00:00 0 [heap]
b7d27000-b7d5a000 r--p 00000000 03:03 11867 /usr/lib/locale/en_GB.utf8/
b7d5a000-b7e32000 r--p 00000000 03:03 11868 /usr/lib/locale/en_GB.utf8/
b7e32000-b7e33000 rw-p b7e32000 00:00 0
b7e33000-b7f45000 r-xp 00000000 03:03 8837 /lib/libc-2.3.6.so
b7f45000-b7f46000 r--p 00112000 03:03 8837 /lib/libc-2.3.6.so
b7f46000-b7f48000 rw-p 00113000 03:03 8837 /lib/libc-2.3.6.so
b7f48000-b7f4c000 rw-p b7f48000 00:00 0
b7f52000-b7f53000 r--p 00000000 03:03 11842 /usr/lib/locale/en_GB.utf8/
[...]
b7f5b000-b7f61000 r--s 00000000 03:03 9109 /usr/lib/gconv/gconv-module
b7f61000-b7f62000 r--p 00000000 03:03 9720 /usr/lib/locale/en_GB.utf8/
b7f62000-b7f76000 r-xp 00000000 03:03 8828 /lib/ld-2.3.6.so
b7f76000-b7f78000 rw-p 00013000 03:03 8828 /lib/ld-2.3.6.so
bfd61000-bfd76000 rw-p bfd61000 00:00 0 [stack]
ffffe000-fffff000 ---p 00000000 00:00 0 [vdso]
17.5.1 procinfo
Important information from the /proc file system is summarized by the command
procinfo:
tux@mercury:~> procinfo
Linux 2.6.18.8-0.5-default (geeko@buildhost) (gcc 4.1.2 20061115) #1 2CPU
Memory: Total Used Free Shared Buffers

Mem: 2060604 2011264 49340 0 200664
Swap: 2104472 112 2104360
Bootup: Tue Jul 10 10:29:15 2007 Load average: 0.86 1.10 1.11 3/118 21547
user : 2:43:13.78 0.8% page in : 71099181 disk 1: 2827023r 968

nice : 1d 22:21:27.87 14.7% page out: 690734737
system: 13:39:57.57 4.3% page act: 138388345
IOwait: 18:02:18.59 5.7% page dea: 29639529
hw irq: 0:03:39.44 0.0% page flt: 9539791626
sw irq: 1:15:35.25 0.4% swap in : 69
idle : 9d 16:07:56.79 73.8% swap out: 209
uptime: 6d 13:07:11.14 context : 542720687
irq 0: 141399308 timer irq 14: 5074312 ide0

irq 1: 73784 i8042 irq 50: 1938076 uhci_hcd:usb1, ehci_
irq 4: 2 irq 58: 0 uhci_hcd:usb2
irq 6: 5 floppy [2] irq 66: 872711 uhci_hcd:usb3, HDA I
irq 7: 2 irq 74: 15 uhci_hcd:usb4

irq 8: 0 rtc irq 82: 178717720 0 PCI-MSI e
irq 9: 0 acpi irq169: 44352794 nvidia
irq 12: 3 irq233: 8209068 0 PCI-MSI l
To see all the information, use the parameter -a. The parameter -nN produces updates
of the information every N seconds. In this case, terminate the program by pressing Q.
By default, the cumulative values are displayed. The parameter -d produces the differ-
ential values. procinfo -dn5 displays the values that have changed in the last five
seconds:
17.6 Processes
17.6.1 Interprocess Communication: ipcs
The command ipcs produces a list of the IPC resources currently in use:
------ Shared Memory Segments --------
key shmid owner perms bytes nattch status
0x00000000 58261504 tux 600 393216 2 dest
0x00000000 58294273 tux 600 196608 2 dest
0x00000000 83886083 tux 666 43264 2
0x00000000 83951622 tux 666 192000 2
0x00000000 83984391 tux 666 282464 2
0x00000000 84738056 root 644 151552 2 dest
------ Semaphore Arrays --------

key semid owner perms nsems
0x4d038abf 0 tux 600 8
------ Message Queues --------

key msqid owner perms used-bytes messages
17.6.2 Process List: ps

The command ps produces a list of processes. Most parameters must be written without
a minus sign. Refer to ps --help for a brief help or to the man page for extensive
help.

To list all processes with user and command line information, use ps axu:
tux@mercury:~> ps axu
USER PID %CPU %MEM VSZ RSS TTY STAT START TIME COMMAND
root 1 0.0 0.0 696 272 ? S 12:59 0:01 init [5]
root 2 0.0 0.0 0 0 ? SN 12:59 0:00 [ksoftirqd
root 3 0.0 0.0 0 0 ? S< 12:59 0:00 [events
[...]
tux 4047 0.0 6.0 158548 31400 ? Ssl 13:02 0:06 mono-best
tux 4057 0.0 0.7 9036 3684 ? Sl 13:02 0:00 /opt/gnome
tux 4067 0.0 0.1 2204 636 ? S 13:02 0:00 /opt/gnome
tux 4072 0.0 1.0 15996 5160 ? Ss 13:02 0:00 gnome-scre
tux 4114 0.0 3.7 130988 19172 ? SLl 13:06 0:04 sound-juic
tux 4818 0.0 0.3 4192 1812 pts/0 Ss 15:59 0:00 -bash
tux 4959 0.0 0.1 2324 816 pts/0 R+ 16:17 0:00 ps axu
To check how many sshd processes are running, use the option -p together with the
command pidof, which lists the process IDs of the given processes.
tux@mercury:~> ps -p `pidof sshd`
PID TTY STAT TIME COMMAND
3524 ? Ss 0:00 /usr/sbin/sshd -o PidFile=/var/run/sshd.init.pid
4813 ? Ss 0:00 sshd: tux [priv]
4817 ? R 0:00 sshd: tux@pts/0
The process list can be formatted according to your needs. The option -L returns a list
of all keywords. Enter the following command to issue a list of all processes sorted by
memory usage:
tux@mercury:~> ps ax --format pid,rss,cmd --sort rss
PID RSS CMD
2 0 [ksoftirqd/0]
3 0 [events/0]
4 0 [khelper]
5 0 [kthread]
11 0 [kblockd/0]
12 0 [kacpid]
472 0 [pdflush]
473 0 [pdflush]
[...]
4028 17556 nautilus --no-default-window --sm-client-id default2
4118 17800 ksnapshot
4114 19172 sound-juicer
4023 25144 gnome-panel --sm-client-id default1
4047 31400 mono-best --debug /usr/lib/beagle/Best.exe --autostarted
3973 31520 mono-beagled --debug /usr/lib/beagle/BeagleDaemon.exe --bg --aut

17.6.3 Process Tree: pstree
The command pstree produces a list of processes in the form of a tree:
tux@mercury:~> pstree
init-+-NetworkManagerD
|-acpid
|-3*[automount]
|-cron
|-cupsd
|-2*[dbus-daemon]
|-dbus-launch
|-dcopserver
|-dhcpcd
|-events/0
|-gpg-agent
|-hald-+-hald-addon-acpi
| `-hald-addon-stor
|-kded
|-kdeinit-+-kdesu---su---kdesu_stub---yast2---y2controlcenter
| |-kio_file
| |-klauncher
| |-konqueror
| |-konsole-+-bash---su---bash
| | `-bash
| `-kwin
|-kdesktop---kdesktop_lock---xmatrix
|-kdesud
|-kdm-+-X
| `-kdm---startkde---kwrapper
[...]
The parameter -p adds the process ID to a given name. To have the command lines
displayed as well, use the -a parameter:
17.6.4 Processes: top

The command top, which stands for "table of processes," displays a list of processes
that is refreshed every two seconds. To terminate the program, press Q. The parameter
-n 1 terminates the program after a single display of the process list. The following
is an example output of the command top -n 1:

tux@mercury:~> top -n 1
top - 17:06:28 up 2:10, 5 users, load average: 0.00, 0.00, 0.00
Tasks: 85 total, 1 running, 83 sleeping, 1 stopped, 0 zombie
Cpu(s): 5.5% us, 0.8% sy, 0.8% ni, 91.9% id, 1.0% wa, 0.0% hi, 0.0% si
Mem: 515584k total, 506468k used, 9116k free, 66324k buffers
Swap: 658656k total, 0k used, 658656k free, 353328k cached
PID USER PR NI VIRT RES SHR S %CPU %MEM TIME+ COMMAND

1 root 16 0 700 272 236 S 0.0 0.1 0:01.33 init
2 root 34 19 0 0 0 S 0.0 0.0 0:00.00 ksoftirqd/0
3 root 10 -5 0 0 0 S 0.0 0.0 0:00.27 events/0
4 root 10 -5 0 0 0 S 0.0 0.0 0:00.01 khelper
5 root 10 -5 0 0 0 S 0.0 0.0 0:00.00 kthread
11 root 10 -5 0 0 0 S 0.0 0.0 0:00.05 kblockd/0
12 root 20 -5 0 0 0 S 0.0 0.0 0:00.00 kacpid
472 root 20 0 0 0 0 S 0.0 0.0 0:00.00 pdflush
473 root 15 0 0 0 0 S 0.0 0.0 0:00.06 pdflush
475 root 11 -5 0 0 0 S 0.0 0.0 0:00.00 aio/0
474 root 15 0 0 0 0 S 0.0 0.0 0:00.07 kswapd0
681 root 10 -5 0 0 0 S 0.0 0.0 0:00.01 kseriod
839 root 10 -5 0 0 0 S 0.0 0.0 0:00.02 reiserfs/0
923 root 13 -4 1712 552 344 S 0.0 0.1 0:00.67 udevd
1343 root 10 -5 0 0 0 S 0.0 0.0 0:00.00 khubd
1587 root 20 0 0 0 0 S 0.0 0.0 0:00.00 shpchpd_event
1746 root 15 0 0 0 0 S 0.0 0.0 0:00.00 w1_control
1752 root 15 0 0 0 0 S 0.0 0.0 0:00.00 w1_bus_master1
2151 root 16 0 1464 496 416 S 0.0 0.1 0:00.00 acpid
2165 messageb 16 0 3340 1048 792 S 0.0 0.2 0:00.64 dbus-daemon
2166 root 15 0 1840 752 556 S 0.0 0.1 0:00.01 syslog-ng
2171 root 16 0 1600 516 320 S 0.0 0.1 0:00.00 klogd
2235 root 15 0 1736 800 652 S 0.0 0.2 0:00.10 resmgrd
2289 root 16 0 4192 2852 1444 S 0.0 0.6 0:02.05 hald
2403 root 23 0 1756 600 524 S 0.0 0.1 0:00.00 hald-addon-acpi
2709 root 19 0 2668 1076 944 S 0.0 0.2 0:00.00 NetworkManagerD
2714 root 16 0 1756 648 564 S 0.0 0.1 0:00.56 hald-addon-stor
If you press F while top is running, a menu opens with which to make extensive changes
to the format of the output.
The parameter -U UID monitors only the processes associated with a particular user.
Replace UID with the user ID of the user. top -U `id -u` returns the UID of the
user on the basis of the username and displays his processes.

17.7 System Information
17.7.1 System Activity Information: sar
To use sar, sadc (system activity data collector) needs to be running. Check its status
or start it with rcsysstat {start|status}.
sar can generate extensive reports on almost all important system activities, among
them CPU, memory, IRQ usage, IO, or networking. With its many options, it is too
complex to explain further here. Refer to the man page for extensive documentation
with examples.
17.7.2 Memory Usage: free

The utility free examines RAM usage. Details of both free and used memory and
swap areas are shown:
tux@mercury:~> free
total used free shared buffers cached
Mem: 515584 501704 13880 0 73040 334592
-/+ buffers/cache: 94072 421512
Swap: 658656 0 658656
The options -b,-k,-m,-g show output in bytes, KB, MB, or GB, respectively. The
parameter -d delay ensures that the display is refreshed every delay seconds. For
example, free -d 1.5 produces an update every 1.5 seconds.
17.7.3 User Accessing Files: fuser

It can be useful to determine what processes or users are currently accessing certain
files. Suppose, for example, you want to unmount a file system mounted at /mnt.
umount returns "device is busy." The command fuser can then be used to determine
what processes are accessing the device:
tux@mercury:~> fuser -v /mnt/*
USER PID ACCESS COMMAND

/mnt/notes.txt tux 26597 f.... less

Following termination of the less process, which was running on another terminal,
the file system can successfully be unmounted.
17.7.4 Kernel Ring Buffer: dmesg

The Linux kernel keeps certain messages in a ring buffer. To view these messages,
enter the command dmesg:
$ dmesg
[...]
end_request: I/O error, dev fd0, sector 0
subfs: unsuccessful attempt to mount media (256)
e100: eth0: e100_watchdog: link up, 100Mbps, half-duplex
NET: Registered protocol family 17
IA-32 Microcode Update Driver: v1.14 <[email protected]>
microcode: CPU0 updated from revision 0xe to 0x2e, date = 08112004
IA-32 Microcode Update Driver v1.14 unregistered
bootsplash: status on console 0 changed to on
NET: Registered protocol family 10
Disabled Privacy Extensions on device c0326ea0(lo)
IPv6 over IPv4 tunneling driver
powernow: This module only works with AMD K7 CPUs
bootsplash: status on console 0 changed to on
Older events are logged in the files /var/log/messages and /var/log/warn.
17.7.5 List of Open Files: lsof

To view a list of all the files open for the process with process ID PID, use -p. For
example, to view all the files used by the current shell, enter:
tux@mercury:~> lsof -p $$
COMMAND PID USER FD TYPE DEVICE SIZE NODE NAME
bash 5552 tux cwd DIR 3,3 1512 117619 /home/tux
bash 5552 tux rtd DIR 3,3 584 2 /
bash 5552 tux txt REG 3,3 498816 13047 /bin/bash
bash 5552 tux mem REG 0,0 0 [heap] (stat: No such
bash 5552 tux mem REG 3,3 217016 115687 /var/run/nscd/passwd
bash 5552 tux mem REG 3,3 208464 11867 /usr/lib/locale/en_GB.
bash 5552 tux mem REG 3,3 1386997 8837 /lib/libc-2.3.6.so
bash 5552 tux mem REG 3,3 13836 8843 /lib/libdl-2.3.6.so
bash 5552 tux mem REG 3,3 290856 12204 /lib/libncurses.so.5.5
bash 5552 tux mem REG 3,3 26936 13004 /lib/libhistory.so.5.1
bash 5552 tux mem REG 3,3 190200 13006 /lib/libreadline.so.5.

bash 5552 tux mem REG 3,3 21544 9109 /usr/lib/gconv/gconv-m
bash 5552 tux mem REG 3,3 97165 8828 /lib/ld-2.3.6.so
bash 5552 tux 0u CHR 136,5 7 /dev/pts/5
The special shell variable $$, whose value is the process ID of the shell, has been used.
The command lsof lists all the files currently open when used without any parameters.
Because there are often thousands of open files, listing all of them is rarely useful.
However, the list of all files can be combined with search functions to generate useful
lists. For example, list all used character devices:
tux@mercury:~> lsof | grep CHR
X 5646 root mem CHR 1,1 1006 /dev/mem
lsof 5673 tux 0u CHR 136,5 7 /dev/pts/5
lsof 5673 tux 2u CHR 136,5 7 /dev/pts/5
grep 5674 tux 1u CHR 136,5 7 /dev/pts/5
grep 5674 tux 2u CHR 136,5 7 /dev/pts/5
17.7.6 Kernel and udev Event Sequence

Viewer: udevmonitor
udevmonitor listens to the kernel uevents and events sent out by a udev rule and
prints the device path (DEVPATH) of the event to the console. This is a sequence of
events while connecting a USB memory stick:

UEVENT[1138806687] add@/devices/pci0000:00/0000:00:1d.7/usb4/4-2/4-2.2
UEVENT[1138806687] add@/devices/pci0000:00/0000:00:1d.7/usb4/4-2/4-2.2/4-2.2
UEVENT[1138806687] add@/class/scsi_host/host4
UEVENT[1138806687] add@/class/usb_device/usbdev4.10
UDEV [1138806687] add@/devices/pci0000:00/0000:00:1d.7/usb4/4-2/4-2.2
UDEV [1138806687] add@/devices/pci0000:00/0000:00:1d.7/usb4/4-2/4-2.2/4-2.2
UDEV [1138806687] add@/class/scsi_host/host4
UDEV [1138806687] add@/class/usb_device/usbdev4.10
UEVENT[1138806692] add@/devices/pci0000:00/0000:00:1d.7/usb4/4-2/4-2.2/4-2.2
UEVENT[1138806692] add@/block/sdb
UEVENT[1138806692] add@/class/scsi_generic/sg1
UEVENT[1138806692] add@/class/scsi_device/4:0:0:0
UDEV [1138806693] add@/devices/pci0000:00/0000:00:1d.7/usb4/4-2/4-2.2/4-2.2
UDEV [1138806693] add@/class/scsi_generic/sg1
UDEV [1138806693] add@/class/scsi_device/4:0:0:0
UDEV [1138806693] add@/block/sdb
UEVENT[1138806694] add@/block/sdb/sdb1
UDEV [1138806694] add@/block/sdb/sdb1
UEVENT[1138806694] mount@/block/sdb/sdb1
UEVENT[1138806697] umount@/block/sdb/sdb1
17.7.7 Server Resources Used by X11 Clients:

xrestop
xrestop provides statistics for each connected X11 client's server-side resource. The
output is very similar to Section 17.6.4, “Processes: top” (page 339).
xrestop - Display: localhost:0
Monitoring 40 clients. XErrors: 0
Pixmaps: 42013K total, Other: 206K total, All: 42219K total
res-base Wins GCs Fnts Pxms Misc Pxm mem Other Total PID Identifier
3e00000 385 36 1 751 107 18161K 13K 18175K ? NOVELL: SU
4600000 391 122 1 1182 889 4566K 33K 4600K ? amaroK - S
1600000 35 11 0 76 142 3811K 4K 3816K ? KDE Deskto
3400000 52 31 1 69 74 2816K 4K 2820K ? Linux Shel
2c00000 50 25 1 43 50 2374K 3K 2378K ? Linux Shel
2e00000 50 10 1 36 42 2341K 3K 2344K ? Linux Shel
2600000 37 24 1 34 50 1772K 3K 1775K ? Root - Kon
4800000 37 24 1 34 49 1772K 3K 1775K ? Root - Kon
2a00000 209 33 1 323 238 1111K 12K 1123K ? Trekstor25
1800000 182 32 1 302 285 1039K 12K 1052K ? kicker
1400000 157 121 1 231 477 777K 18K 796K ? kwin
3c00000 175 36 1 248 168 510K 9K 520K ? de.comp.la
3a00000 326 42 1 579 444 486K 20K 506K ? [opensuse-
0a00000 85 38 1 317 224 102K 9K 111K ? Kopete
4e00000 25 17 1 60 66 63K 3K 66K ? YaST Contr
2400000 11 10 0 56 51 53K 1K 55K 22061 suseplugge
0e00000 20 12 1 50 92 50K 3K 54K 22016 kded

3200000 6 41 5 72 84 40K 8K 48K ? EMACS
2200000 54 9 1 30 31 42K 3K 45K ? SUSEWatche
4400000 2 11 1 30 34 34K 2K 36K 16489 kdesu
1a00000 255 7 0 42 11 19K 6K 26K ? KMix
3800000 2 14 1 34 37 21K 2K 24K 22242 knotify
1e00000 10 7 0 42 9 15K 624B 15K ? KPowersave
3600000 106 6 1 30 9 7K 3K 11K 22236 konqueror
2000000 10 5 0 21 34 9K 1K 10K ? klipper
3000000 21 7 0 11 9 7K 888B 8K ? KDE Wallet
17.8 User Information

17.8.1 Who Is Doing What: w
With the command w, find out who is logged onto the system and what each user is
doing. For example:
tux@mercury:~> w
16:33:03 up 3:33, 2 users, load average: 0.14, 0.06, 0.02
USER TTY LOGIN@ IDLE JCPU PCPU WHAT
tux :0 16:33 ?xdm? 9.42s 0.15s /bin/sh /opt/kde3/bin/startk
tux pts/0 15:59 0.00s 0.19s 0.00s w
If any users of other systems have logged in remotely, the parameter -f shows the
computers from which they have established the connection.
17.9 Time and Date

17.9.1 Time Measurement with time
Determine the time spent by commands with the time utility. This utility is available
in two versions: as a shell built-in and as a program (/usr/bin/time).
tux@mercury:~> time find . > /dev/null
real 0m4.051s
user 0m0.042s
sys 0m0.205s

Working with the Shell
When booting your Linux system, you are usually directed to a graphical user interface
18
that guides you through the login process and the following interactions with the system.
Although graphical user interfaces have become very important and user-friendly, using
them is not the only way to communicate with your system. You can also use a text-
oriented communication like a command line interpreter, usually called the shell, where
you can enter commands. Because Linux provides options to start shell windows from
the graphical user interface, you can easily use both methods.
In administration, shell-based applications are especially important for controlling

computers over slow network links or if you want to perform tasks as root on the
command line. For Linux “newbies” it might be rather unusual to enter commands in
a shell, but you will soon realize that the shell is not only for administrators—in fact,
using the shell is often the quickest and easiest way to perform some daily tasks.
There are several shells for UNIX or Linux. The default shell in SUSE® Linux Enterprise
is Bash (GNU Bourne-Again Shell).
This chapter deals with a couple of basics you need to know for using the shell. This
includes the following topics: how to enter commands, the directory structure of Linux,
how to work with files and directories and how to use some basic functions, the user
and permission concept of Linux, an overview of important shell commands, and a
short introduction to the vi editor, which is a default editor always available in Unix
and Linux systems.
Working with the Shell 347

18.1 Getting Started with the Bash
Shell
In Linux, you can use the command line parallel to the graphical user interface and
easily switch between them. To start a terminal window from the graphical user interface
in KDE, click the Konsole icon in the panel. In GNOME, click the GNOME Terminal
icon in the panel.
The Konsole or the GNOME Terminal window appears, showing the prompt on the
first line like in Figure 18.1, “Example of a Bash Terminal Window” (page 348). The
prompt usually shows your login name (in this example, tux), the hostname of your
computer (here, knox), and the current path (in this case, your home directory, indicated
by the tilde symbol, ~). When you are logged in on a remote computer this information
always shows you which system you are currently working on. When the cursor is after
this prompt, you can send commands directly to your computer system.
Figure 18.1 Example of a Bash Terminal Window
18.1.1 Entering Commands

A command consists of several elements. The first element is always the actual com-
mand, followed by parameters or options. You can type a command and edit it by using
←, →, <—, Del, and Space. You can also add options or correct typing errors. The
command is executed when you press Enter.

IMPORTANT: No News Is Good News
The shell is not verbose: in contrast to some graphical user interfaces, it usually
does not provide confirmation messages when commands have been executed.
Messages only appear in case of problems or errors.
Also keep this in mind for commands to delete objects. Before entering a
command like rm for removing a file, you should know if you really want to
get rid of the object: it will be deleted irretrievably, without enquiry.
Using Commands without Options

Look at the structure of commands using a simple example: the ls command, used to
list the contents of a directory. The command can be used with or without options. En-
tering the plain ls command shows the contents of the current directory:
Figure 18.2 The ls Command
Unlike in other operating systems, files in Linux may have a file extension, such as
.txt, but do not need to have one. This makes it difficult to differentiate between files
and folders in this output of the ls. By default, the colors can give you a hint: directories
are usually shown in blue, files in black.
Using Commands with Options

A better way to get more details about the contents of a directory is using the ls com-
mand with a string of options. Options modify the way a command works so that you
can get it to do specific tasks. Options are separated from the command with a blank

and are prefixed with a hyphen. The ls -l command shows the contents of the same
directory in full detail (long listing format):
Figure 18.3 The ls -l Command
On the left of each object name, information about the object is shown in several
columns. The most important are the following: The first column shows the file type
of the object (in this example, d for directory or - for normal files). The next nine
columns show the user permissions for the object. Columns 11 and 12 show the name
of the file owner and the group (in this case, tux and users). Find information about
user permissions and the user concept of Linux in Section 18.2, “Users and Access
Permissions” (page 359). The next column shows the file size in bytes. Then date and
time of the last change are displayed. The last column shows the object name.
If you want to see even more, you can combine two options for the ls command and
enter ls -la. The shell now also shows hidden files in the directory, indicated by a
dot in front (for example, .hiddenfile).
Getting Help
Nobody is expected to know all options of all commands by heart. If you remember
the command name but are not sure about the options, you can enter the command
followed by a blank and --help. This --help option exists for many commands.
Entering ls --help displays all the options for the ls command.

18.1.2 Linux Directory Structure
Because the shell does not offer a graphical overview of directories and files like the
tree view in a file manager, it is useful to have some basic knowlegde of the default
directory structure in a Linux system. You can think of directories as electronic folders
in which files, programs, and subdirectories are stored. The top level directory in the
hierarchy is the root directory, referred to as //. This is the place from which all other
directories can be accessed.
Figure 18.4 shows the standard directory tree in Linux, with the home directories of
the example users yxz, linux, and tux. The /home directory contains the directories
in which the individual users can store their personal files.
NOTE: Home Directory in a Network Environment
If you are working in a network environment, your home directory may not be
called /home. It can be mapped to any directory in the file system.
The following list provides a brief description of the standard directories in Linux.
Figure 18.4 Excerpt from a Standard Directory Tree

/
bin boot dev etc home lib media mnt opt proc root sbin srv sys tmp usr var
vmlinuz kde gnome
ld.so
hda sda st0
yxz linux tux X11R6 bin etc lib local sbin share
bin Mail test.c f2c
bin lib man bin lib ftp man doc man
xdm xterm xv bin lib pub faq howto packages

Table 18.1 Overview of a Standard Directory Tree
// Root directory, starting point of the directory tree
/home Personal directories of users
/dev Device files that represent hardware components
/etc Important files for system configuration
/etc/init.d Boot scripts
/bin, /sbin Programs needed early in the boot process (/bin) and
for the administrator (/sbin)
/usr, /usr/local All application programs and local, distribution-indepen-

dent extensions (/usr/local)
/usr/bin, /usr/ Generally accessible programs (/usr/bin) and reserved

sbin for the system administrator ( /usr/sbin)
/usr/share/doc Various documentation files
/tmp, /var/tmp Temporary files (do not save files in this directory unless
you do not need them)
/opt Optional software, larger add-on program packages (such

as KDE, GNOME, and Netscape)
/proc Process file system
/sys System file system where all device information for the
kernel is gathered
/var/log System log files

18.1.3 Working with Directories and Files
To address a certain file or directory, you must specify the path leading to that directory
or file. There are two ways to specify a path:
• The entire (absolute) path from the root directory to the respective file
• A path starting from the current directory (relative path)
Absolute paths always start with a slash. Relative paths do not have a slash at the begin-
ning.
NOTE: Linux Is Case-Sensitive
Linux distinguishes between uppercase and lowercase in the file system. For
example, entering test.txt or Test.txt makes a difference in Linux. Keep
this in mind when entering filenames or paths.
To change directories, use the cd command.
• To switch to your home directory, enter cd.
• Refer to the current directory with a dot (.). This is mainly useful for other com-
mands (cp, mv, …).
• The next higher level in the tree is represented by two dots (..). For example, to
switch to the parent directory of your current directory, enter cd ...
Examples of Addressing a File

The cd commands in Section 18.1.3, “Working with Directories and Files” (page 353)
used relative paths. You can use also absolute paths. For example, suppose you want
to copy a file from your home directory to a subdirectory of /tmp:
1 First, from your home directory create a subdirectory in /tmp:
1a If your current directory is not your home directory, enter cd ~ to switch

to it. From anywhere in the file system, you can reach your home directory
by entering cd ~.

1b In your home directory, enter mkdir /tmp/test. mkdir stands for
“make directory”. This command creates a new directory named test in
the /tmp directory. In this case, use an absolute path to create the directory.
1c To check what happened, now enter ls -l /tmp. The new directory test
should appear in the list of contents of the /tmp directory.
2 Now create a new file in your home directory and copy it to the /tmp/test
directory by using a relative path.
2a Enter touch myfile.txt. The touch command with the myfile.txt

option creates a new, empty file named myfile.txt in your current direc-
tory.
2b Check this by entering ls -l. The new file should appear in the list of
contents.
2c Enter cp myfile.txt ../tmp/test. This copies myfile.txt to

the directory /tmp/test without changing the name of the file.
2d Check this by entering ls -l /tmp/test. The file myfile.txt should

appear in the list of contents for /tmp/test.
To list the contents of home directories of other users, enter ls ~username . In the
example directory tree in Figure 18.4, “Excerpt from a Standard Directory Tree”
(page 351), one of the sample users is tux. In this case, ls ~tux would list the contents
of the home directory of tux.
NOTE: Handling Blanks in Filenames or Directory Names
If a filename contains a space, either escape the space using a back slash (\)
in front of the blank or enclose the filename in single or double quotes. Other-
wise Bash interprets a filename like My Documents as the names of two files
or directories. The difference between single and double quotes is that variable
expansion takes place within double quotes. Single quotes ensure that the shell
sees the quoted string literally.

18.1.4 Useful Features of the Shell
Entering commands in Bash can include a lot of typing. In the following, get to know
some features of the Bash that can make your work a lot easier and save a lot of typing.
History and Completion

By default, Bash “remembers” commands you have entered. This feature is called his-
tory. To repeat a command that has been entered before, press ↑ until the desired com-
mand appears at the prompt. Press ↓ to move forward through the list of previously
entered commands. Use Ctrl + R to search in the history.
You can edit the selected command, for example, changing the name of a file, before
you execute the command by pressing Enter. To edit the command line, just move the
cursor to the desired position using the arrow keys and start typing.
Completing a filename or directory name to its full length after typing its first letters
is another helpful feature of Bash. To do so, type the first letters then press →|. If the
filename or path can be uniquely identified, it is completed at once and the cursor moves
to the end of the filename. You can then enter the next option of the command, if nec-
essary. If the filename or path cannot be uniquely identified (because there are several
filenames starting with the same letters), the filename or path is only completed up to
the point where again several options are possible. You can then obtain a list of them
by pressing →| a second time. After this, you can enter the next letters of the file or
path then try completion again by pressing →|. When completing filenames and paths
with the help of →|, you can simultaneously check whether the file or path you want
to enter really exists (and you can be sure of getting the spelling right).
Wild Cards
Another convenience offered by the shell is wild cards for pathname expansion. Wild
cards are characters that can stand for other characters. There are three different types
of these in Bash:
?
Matches exactly one arbitrary character
*
Matches any number of characters

[set]
Matches one of the characters from the group specified inside the square brackets,
which is represented here by the string set. As part of set you can also specify
character classes using the syntax [:class:], where a class is one of alnum,
alpha, ascii, etc.
Using ! or ^ at the beginning of the group ([!set]) matches one character other
than those identified by set.
Assuming that your test directory contains the files Testfile, Testfile1,
Testfile2, and datafile.
• The command ls Testfile? lists the files Testfile1 and Testfile2.
• The command ls Testfile? lists the files Testfile1 and Testfile2.
• With ls Test*, the list also includes Testfile.
• The command ls *fil* shows all the sample files.
• Use the set wild card to address all sample files whose last character is a number:
ls Testfile[1-9] or, using classes, ls Testfile[[:digit:]].
Of the four types of wild cards, the most inclusive one is the asterisk. It could be used
to copy all files contained in one directory to another one or to delete all files with one
command. The command rm *fil*, for instance, would delete all files in the current
directory whose name includes the string fil.
Viewing Files with Less and More

Linux includes two small programs for viewing text files directly in the shell: less
and more. Rather than starting an editor to read a file like Readme.txt, simply enter
less Readme.txt to display the text in the console window. Use Space to scroll
down one page. Use Page Up and Page Down to move forward or backward in the text.
To exit less, press Q.
Instead of less, you can also use the older program more. However, it is less convenient
because it does not allow you to scroll backwards.

The program less got its name from the the precept that less is more and can also be
used to view the output of commands in a convenient way. To see how this works, read
Section “Redirection and Pipes” (page 357).
Redirection and Pipes

Normally, the standard output in the shell is your screen or the console window and
the standard input is the keyboard. However, the shell provides functions by which you
can redirect the input or the output to another object, such as a file or another command.
With the help of the symbols > and <, for example, you can forward the output of a
command to a file (output redirection) or use a file as input for a command (input
redirection). For example, if you want to write the output of a command such as ls to
a file, enter ls -l > file.txt. This creates a file named file.txt that contains
the list of contents of your current directory as generated by the ls command. However,
if a file named file.txt already exists, this command overwrites the existing file.
To prevent this, use >>. Entering ls -l >> file.txt simply appends the output
of the ls command to an already existing file named file.txt. If the file does not
exist, it is created.
Sometimes it is also useful to use a file as the input for a command. For example, with
the tr command, you can replace characters redirected from a file and write the result
to the standard output, your screen. Suppose you want to replace all characters t of
your file.txt from the example above with x and print this to your screen. Do so
by entering tr t x < file.txt.
Just like the standard output, the standard error output is sent to the console. To redirect
the standard error output to a file named errors, append 2> errors to the corre-
sponding command. Both standard output and standard error are saved to one file named
alloutput if you append >& alloutput.
Using pipelines or pipes is also a sort redirection, although the use of the pipe is not
constrained to files. With a pipe (|), you can combine several commands, using the
output of one command as input for the next command. For example, to view the contents
or your current directory in less, enter ls | less. This only makes sense if the
normal output with ls would be too lengthy. For instance, if you view the contents of
the dev directory with ls /dev, you only see a small portion in the window. View
the entire list with ls /dev | less.

18.1.5 Archives and Data Compression
Now that you have already created a number of files and directories, consider the subject
of archives and data compression. Suppose you want to have the entire test directory
packed in one file that you can save on a USB stick as a backup copy or send by e-mail.
To do so, use the command tar (for tape archiver). With tar --help, view all the
options for the tar command. The most important of these options are explained here:
-c
(for create) Create a new archive.
-t
(for table) Display the contents of an archive.
-x
(for extract) Unpack the archive.
-v
(for verbose) Show all files on screen while creating the archive.
-f
(for file) Choose a filename for the archive file. When creating an archive, this
option must always be given as the last one.
To pack the test directory with all its files and subdirectories into an archive named
testarchive.tar, do the following:
1 Open a shell.
2 Use cd to your home directory where the test directory is located.
3 Enter tar -cvf testarchive.tar test. The -c option creates the

archive, making it a file as directed by -f. The -v option lists the files as they
are processed.
4 View the contents of the archive file with tar -tf testarchive.tar.
The test directory with all its files and directories has remained unchanged on your
hard disk. To unpack the archive, enter tar -xvf testarchive.tar, but do not
try this yet.

For file compression, the obvious choice is gzip or, for a even better compression ratio,
bzip2. Just enter gzip testarchive.tar (or bzip2 testarchive.tar,
but gzip is used in this example). With ls, now see that the file testarchive.tar
is no longer there and that the file testarchive.tar.gz has been created instead.
This file is much smaller and therefore much better suited for transfer via e-mail or
storage on a USB stick.
Now, unpack this file in the test2 directory created earlier. To do so, enter cp
testarchive.tar.gz test2 to copy the file to that directory. Change to the
directory with cd test2. A compressed archive with the .tar.gz extension can
be unzipped with the gunzip command. Enter gunzip testarchive.tar.gz,
which results in the file testarchive.tar, which then needs to be extracted or
untarred with tar -xvf testarchive.tar. You can also unzip and extract a
compressed archive in one step with tar -xvf testarchive.tar.gz (adding
the -z option is no longer required). With ls, you can see that a new test directory
has been created with the same contents as your test directory in your home directory.
18.1.6 Cleaning Up
After this crash course, you should be familiar with the basics of the Linux shell or
command line. You may want to clean up your home directory by deleting the various
test files and directories using the rm and rmdir commands. In Section 18.3, “Important
Linux Commands” (page 363), find a list of the most important commands and a brief
description of their functions.
18.2 Users and Access Permissions

Since its inception in the early 1990s, Linux has been developed as a multiuser system.
Any number of users can work on it simultaneously. Users need to log in to the system
before starting a session at their workstations. Each user has a username with a corre-
sponding password. This differentiation of users guarantees that unauthorized users
cannot see files for which they do not have permission. Larger changes to the system,
such as installing new programs, are also usually impossible or restricted for normal
users. Only the root user, or super user, has the unrestricted capacity to make changes
to the system and unlimited access to all files. Those who use this concept wisely, only
logging in with full root access when necessary, can cut back the risk of unintentional
loss of data. Because under normal circumstances only root can delete system files or

format hard disks, the threat from the Trojan horse effect or from accidentally entering
destructive commands can be significantly reduced.
18.2.1 File System Permissions

Basically, every file in a Linux file system belongs to a user and a group. Both of these
proprietary groups and all others can be authorized to write, read, or execute these files.
A group, in this case, can be defined as a set of connected users with certain collective
rights. For example, call a group working on a certain project project3. Every user
in a Linux system is a member of at least one proprietary group, normally users.
There can be as many groups in a system as needed, but only root is able to add
groups. Every user can find out, with the command groups, of which groups he is a
member.
File Access
The organization of permissions in the file system differs for files and directories.
File permission information can be displayed with the command ls -l. The
output could appear as in Example 18.1, “Sample Output Showing File Permissions”
(page 360).
Example 18.1 Sample Output Showing File Permissions

-rw-r----- 1 tux project3 14197 Jun 21 15:03 Roadmap
As shown in the third column, this file belongs to user tux. It is assigned to the
group project3. To discover the user permissions of the Roadmap file, the first
column must be examined more closely.
- rw- r-- ---
Type Users Permissions Group Permissions Permissions for Other

Users
This column consists of one leading character followed by nine characters grouped
in threes. The first of the ten letters stands for the type of file system component.
The hyphen (–) shows that this is a file. A directory (d), a link (l), a block device
(b), or a character device could also be indicated.

The next three blocks follow a standard pattern. The first three characters refer to
whether the file is readable (r) or not (–). A w in the middle portion symbolizes
that the corresponding object can be edited and a hyphen (–) means it is not possible
to write to the file. An x in the third position denotes that the object can be executed.
Because the file in this example is a text file and not one that is executable, exe-
cutable access for this particular file is not needed.
In this example, tux has, as owner of the file Roadmap, read (r) and write access
(w) to it, but cannot execute it (x). The members of the group project3 can read
the file, but they cannot modify it or execute it. Other users do not have any access
to this file. Other permissions can be assigned by means of ACLs (access control
lists).
Directory Permissions
Access permissions for directories have the type d. For directories, the individual
permissions have a slightly different meaning.
Example 18.2 Sample Output Showing Directory Permissions

drwxrwxr-x 1 tux project3 35 Jun 21 15:15 ProjectData
In Example 18.2, “Sample Output Showing Directory Permissions” (page 361), the
owner (tux) and the owning group (project3) of the directory ProjectData
are easy to recognize. In contrast to the file access permissions from File Access
(page 360), the set reading permission (r) means that the contents of the directory
can be shown. The write permission (w) means that new files can be created. The
executable permission (x) means that the user can change to this directory. In the
above example, the user tux as well as the members of the group project3 can
change to the ProjectData directory (x), view the contents (r), and add or
delete files (w). The rest of the users, on the other hand, are given less access. They
may enter the directory (x) and browse through it (r), but not insert any new files
(w).
18.2.2 Modifying File Permissions

Changing Access Permissions
The access permissions of a file or directory can be changed by the owner and, of
course, by root with the command chmod followed by the parameters changing
the permissions and one or more filenames. The parameters form different cate-
gories:

1. Users concerned
• u (user)—owner of the file
• g (group)—group that owns the file
• o (others)—additional users (if no parameter is given, the changes apply to all

categories)
2. A character for deletion (–), setting (=), or insertion (+)
3. The abbreviations
• r—read
• w—write
• x—execute
4. Filename or filenames separated by spaces
If, for example, the user tux in Example 18.2, “Sample Output Showing Directory
Permissions” (page 361) also wants to grant other users write (w) access to the di-
rectory ProjectData, he can do this using the command chmod o+w
ProjectData.
If, however, he wants to deny all users other than himself write permissions, he
can do this by entering the command chmod go-w ProjectData. To prohibit
all users from adding a new file to the folder ProjectData, enter chmod -w
ProjectData. Now, not even the owner can create a new file in the directory
without first reestablishing write permissions.
Changing Ownership Permissions

Other important commands to control the ownership and permissions of the file
system components are chown (change owner) and chgrp (change group). The
command chown can be used to transfer ownership of a file to another user.
However, only root is permitted to perform this change.
Suppose the file Roadmap from Example 18.2, “Sample Output Showing Directory
Permissions” (page 361) should no longer belong to tux, but to the user geeko.
root should then enter chown geeko Roadmap.

chgrp changes the group ownership of the file. However, the owner of the file
must be a member of the new group. In this way, the user tux from Example 18.1,
“Sample Output Showing File Permissions” (page 360) can switch the group owning
the file ProjectData to project4 with the command chgrp project4
ProjectData, as long as he is a member of this new group.
18.3 Important Linux Commands

This section gives insight into the most important commands. There are many more
commands than listed in this chapter. Along with the individual commands, parameters
are listed and, where appropriate, a typical sample application is introduced. To learn
more about the various commands, use the manual pages, accessed with man followed
by the name of the command, for example, man ls.
In the man pages, move up and down with PgUp and PgDn. Move between the beginning
and the end of a document with Home and End. End this viewing mode by pressing Q.
Learn more about the man command itself with man man.
In the following overview, the individual command elements are written in different
typefaces. The actual command and its mandatory options are always printed as
command option. Specifications or parameters that are not required are placed in
[square brackets].
Adjust the settings to your needs. It makes no sense to write ls file if no file named
file actually exists. You can usually combine several parameters, for example, by
writing ls -la instead of ls -l -a.
18.3.1 File Commands

The following section lists the most important commands for file management. It covers
anything from general file administration to manipulation of file system ACLs.
File Administration
ls [options] [files]
If you run ls without any additional parameters, the program lists the contents of
the current directory in short form.

-l
Detailed list
-a
Displays hidden files
cp [options] source target

Copies source to target.
-i
Waits for confirmation, if necessary, before an existing target is overwritten
-r
Copies recursively (includes subdirectories)
mv [options] source target

Copies source to target then deletes the original source.
-b
Creates a backup copy of the source before moving
-i
Waits for confirmation, if necessary, before an existing targetfile is
overwritten
rm [options] files
Removes the specified files from the file system. Directories are not removed by
rm unless the option -r is used.
-r
Deletes any existing subdirectories
-i
Waits for confirmation before deleting each file
ln [options] source target

Creates an internal link from source to target. Normally, such a link points
directly to source on the same file system. However, if ln is executed with the
-s option, it creates a symbolic link that only points to the directory in which
source is located, enabling linking across file systems.

-s
Creates a symbolic link
cd [options] [directory]
Changes the current directory. cd without any parameters changes to the user's
home directory.
mkdir [options] directory

Creates a new directory.
rmdir [options] directory

Deletes the specified directory if it is already empty.
chown [options] username[:[group]] files

Transfers ownership of a file to the user with the specified username.
-R
Changes files and directories in all subdirectories
chgrp [options] groupname files

Transfers the group ownership of a given file to the group with the specified
group name. The file owner can only change group ownership if a member of both
the current and the new group.
chmod [options] mode files

Changes the access permissions.
The mode parameter has three parts: group, access, and access type.
group accepts the following characters:
u
User
g
Group
o
Others
For access, grant access with + and deny it with -.

The access type is controlled by the following options:
r
Read
w
Write
x
Execute—executing files or changing to the directory
s
Setuid bit—the application or program is started as if it were started by the
owner of the file
As an alternative, a numeric code can be used. The four digits of this code are
composed of the sum of the values 4, 2, and 1—the decimal result of a binary mask.
The first digit sets the set user ID (SUID) (4), the set group ID (2), and the sticky
(1) bits. The second digit defines the permissions of the owner of the file. The third
digit defines the permissions of the group members and the last digit sets the per-
missions for all other users. The read permission is set with 4, the write permission
with 2, and the permission for executing a file is set with 1. The owner of a file
would usually receive a 6 or a 7 for executable files.
gzip [parameters] files

This program compresses the contents of files using complex mathematical algo-
rithms. Files compressed in this way are given the extension .gz and need to be
uncompressed before they can be used. To compress several files or even entire
directories, use the tar command.
-d
Decompresses the packed gzip files so they return to their original size and
can be processed normally (like the command gunzip)
tar options archive files

tar puts one or more files into an archive. Compression is optional. tar is a quite
complex command with a number of options available. The most frequently used
options are:
-f
Writes the output to a file and not to the screen as is usually the case

-c
Creates a new tar archive
-r
Adds files to an existing archive
-t
Outputs the contents of an archive
-u
Adds files, but only if they are newer than the files already contained in the
archive
-x
Unpacks files from an archive (extraction)
-z
Packs the resulting archive with gzip
-j
Compresses the resulting archive with bzip2
-v
Lists files processed
The archive files created by tar end with .tar. If the tar archive was also com-
pressed using gzip, the ending is .tgz or .tar.gz. If it was compressed using
bzip2, the ending is .tar.bz2.
locate patterns
This command is only available if you have installed the findutils-locate
package. The locate command can find in which directory a specified file is lo-
cated. If desired, use wild cards to specify filenames. The program is very speedy,
because it uses a database specifically created for the purpose (rather than searching
through the entire file system). This very fact, however, also results in a major
drawback: locate is unable to find any files created after the latest update of its
database. The database can be generated by root with updatedb.
updatedb [options]
This command performs an update of the database used by locate. To include
files in all existing directories, run the program as root. It also makes sense to

place it in the background by appending an ampersand (&), so you can immediately
continue working on the same command line (updatedb &). This command
usually runs as a daily cron job (see cron.daily).
find [options]
With find, search for a file in a given directory. The first argument specifies the
directory in which to start the search. The option -name must be followed by a
search string, which may also include wild cards. Unlike locate, which uses a
database, find scans the actual directory.
Commands to Access File Contents

file [options] [files]
With file, detect the contents of the specified files.
-z
Tries to look inside compressed files
cat [options] files

The cat command displays the contents of a file, printing the entire contents to
the screen without interruption.
-n
Numbers the output on the left margin
less [options] files

This command can be used to browse the contents of the specified file. Scroll half
a screen page up or down with PgUp and PgDn or a full screen page down with
Space. Jump to the beginning or end of a file using Home and End. Press Q to exit
the program.
grep [options] searchstring files

The grep command finds a specific search string in the specified files. If the search
string is found, the command displays the line in which searchstring was
found along with the filename.
-i
Ignores case

-H
Only displays the names of the respective files, but not the text lines
-n
Additionally displays the numbers of the lines in which it found a hit
-l
Only lists the files in which searchstring does not occur
diff [options] file1 file2

The diff command compares the contents of any two files. The output produced
by the program lists all lines that do not match. This is frequently used by program-
mers who need only send their program alterations and not the entire source code.
-q
Only reports whether the two files differ
-u
Produces a “unified” diff, which makes the output more readable
File Systems
mount [options] [device] mountpoint
This command can be used to mount any data media, such as hard disks, CD-ROM
drives, and other drives, to a directory of the Linux file system.
-r
Mount read-only
-t filesystem
Specify the file system, commonly ext2 for Linux hard disks, msdos for
MS-DOS media, vfat for the Windows file system, and iso9660 for CDs
For hard disks not defined in the file /etc/fstab, the device type must also be
specified. In this case, only root can mount it. If the file system should also be
mounted by other users, enter the option user in the appropriate line in the /etc/
fstab file (separated by commas) and save this change. Further information is
available in the mount(1) man page.

umount [options] mountpoint
This command unmounts a mounted drive from the file system. To prevent data
loss, run this command before taking a removable data medium from its drive.
Normally, only root is allowed to run the commands mount and umount. To
enable other users to run these commands, edit the /etc/fstab file to specify
the option user for the respective drive.
18.3.2 System Commands

The following section lists a few of the most important commands needed for retrieving
system information and controlling processes and the network.
System Information
df [options] [directory]
The df (disk free) command, when used without any options, displays information
about the total disk space, the disk space currently in use, and the free space on all
the mounted drives. If a directory is specified, the information is limited to the
drive on which that directory is located.
-h
Shows the number of occupied blocks in gigabytes, megabytes, or kilobytes—in
human-readable format
-T
Type of file system (ext2, nfs, etc.)
du [options] [path]
This command, when executed without any parameters, shows the total disk space
occupied by files and subdirectories in the current directory.
-a
Displays the size of each individual file
-h
Output in human-readable form
-s
Displays only the calculated total size

free [options]
The command free displays information about RAM and swap space usage,
showing the total and the used amount in both categories. See Section 22.1.6, “The
free Command” (page 428) for more information.
-b
Output in bytes
-k
Output in kilobytes
-m
Output in megabytes
date [options]
This simple program displays the current system time. If run as root, it can also
be used to change the system time. Details about the program are available in the
date(1) man page.
Processes
top [options]
top provides a quick overview of the currently running processes. Press H to access
a page that briefly explains the main options for customizing the program.
ps [options] [process ID]

If run without any options, this command displays a table of all your own programs
or processes—those you started. The options for this command are not preceded
by hyphen.
aux
Displays a detailed list of all processes, independent of the owner
kill [options] process ID

Unfortunately, sometimes a program cannot be terminated in the normal way. In
most cases, you should still be able to stop such a runaway program by executing
the kill command, specifying the respective process ID (see top and ps). kill
sends a TERM signal that instructs the program to shut itself down. If this does not
help, the following parameter can be used:

-9
Sends a KILL signal instead of a TERM signal, bringing the specified process
to an end in almost all cases
killall [options] processname

This command is similar to kill, but uses the process name (instead of the process
ID) as an argument, killing all processes with that name.
Network
ping [options] hostname or IP address
The ping command is the standard tool for testing the basic functionality of TCP/IP
networks. It sends a small data packet to the destination host, requesting an imme-
diate reply. If this works, ping displays a message to that effect, which indicates
that the network link is basically functioning.
-c number
Determines the total number of packages to send and ends after they have been
dispatched (by default, there is no limitation set)
-f
flood ping: sends as many data packages as possible; a popular means, reserved
for root, to test networks
-i value
Specifies the interval between two data packages in seconds (default: one
second)
nslookup
The domain name system resolves domain names to IP addresses. With this tool,
send queries to name servers (DNS servers).
telnet [options] hostname or IP address [port]

Telnet is actually an Internet protocol that enables you to work on remote hosts
across a network. telnet is also the name of a Linux program that uses this protocol
to enable operations on remote computers.

WARNING
Do not use telnet over a network on which third parties can “eavesdrop.”
Particularly on the Internet, use encrypted transfer methods, such as ssh,
to avoid the risk of malicious misuse of a password (see the man page for
ssh).
Miscellaneous
passwd [options] [username]
Users may change their own passwords at any time using this command. The ad-
ministrator root can use the command to change the password of any user on the
system.
su [options] [username]
The su command makes it possible to log in under a different username from a
running session. Specify a username and the corresponding password. The password
is not required from root, because root is authorized to assume the identity of
any user. When using the command without specifying a username, you are
prompted for the root password and change to the superuser (root).
-
Use su - to start a login shell for the different user
halt [options]
To avoid loss of data, you should always use this program to shut down your system.
reboot [options]
Does the same as halt except the system performs an immediate reboot.
clear
This command cleans up the visible area of the console. It has no options.

There are many more commands than listed in this chapter. For information about
other commands or more detailed information, the O'Reilly publication Linux in a
Nutshell is recommended.

18.4 The vi Editor
Text editors are still used for many system administration tasks as well as for program-
ming. In the world of Unix, vi stands out as an editor that offers comfortable editing
functions and is more ergonomic than many editors with mouse support.
18.4.1 Operating Modes

NOTE: Display of Keys
In the following, find several commands that you can enter in vi by just pressing
keys. These appear in uppercase as on a keyboard. If you need to enter a key
in uppercase, this is stated explicitly by showing a key combination including
the Shift key.
Basically, vi makes use of three operating modes: insert mode, command mode, and
extended mode. The keys have different functions depending on the mode. On start-up,
vi is normally set to the command mode. The first thing to learn is how to switch between
the modes:
Command Mode to Insert Mode

There are many possibilities, including A for append, I for insert, or O for a new
line under the current line.
Insert Mode to Command Mode

Press Esc to exit the insert mode. vi cannot be terminated in insert mode, so it is
important to get used to pressing Esc.
Command Mode to Extended Mode

The extended mode of vi can be activated by entering a colon (:). The extended or
ex mode is similar to an independent line-oriented editor that can be used for various
simple and more complex tasks.
Extended Mode to Command Mode

After executing a command in extended mode, the editor automatically returns to
command mode. If you decide not to execute any command in extended mode,
delete the colon with <—. The editor returns to command mode.

It is not possible to switch directly from insert mode to extended mode without first
switching to command mode.
vi, like other editors, has its own procedure for terminating the program. You cannot
terminate vi while in insert mode. First, exit insert mode by pressing Esc. Subsequently,
you have two options:
1. Exit without saving: To terminate the editor without saving the changes, enter : –
Q – ! in command mode. The exclamation mark (!) causes vi to ignore any changes.
2. Save and exit: There are several possibilities to save your changes and terminate
the editor. In command mode, use Shift + Z Shift + Z. To exit the program saving
all changes using the extended mode, enter : – W – Q. In extended mode, w stands
for write and q for quit.
18.4.2 vi in Action
vi can be used as a normal editor. In insert mode, enter text and delete text with the <—
and Del keys. Use the arrow keys to move the cursor.
However, these control keys often cause problems, because there are many terminal
types that use special key codes. This is where the command mode comes into play.
Press Esc to switch from insert mode to command mode. In command mode, move the
cursor with H, J, K, and L. The keys have the following functions:
H
Move one character to the left
J
Move one line down
K
Move one line up
L
Move one character to the right
The commands in command mode allow diverse variations. To execute a command

several times, simply enter the number of repetitions before entering the actual command.
For example, enter 5 L to move the cursor five characters to the right.

A selection of important commands is shown in Table 18.2, “Simple Commands of the
vi Editor” (page 376) This list is far from complete. More complete lists are available
in the documentation found in Section 18.4.3, “For More Information” (page 377)
Table 18.2 Simple Commands of the vi Editor
Esc Change to command mode
I Change to insert mode (characters appear at the current cursor

position)
A Change to insert mode (characters are inserted after the current

cursor position)
Shift + A Change to insert mode (characters are added at the end of the
line)
Shift + R Change to replace mode (overwrite the old text)
R Replace the character under the cursor
O Change to insert mode (a new line is inserted after the current

one)
Shift + O Change to insert mode (a new line is inserted before the cur-
rent one)
X Delete the current character
D–D Delete the current line
D–W Delete up to the end of the current word
C–W Change to insert mode (the rest of the current word is over-
written by the next entries you make)
U Undo the last command
Ctrl + R Redo the change that was undone

Shift + J Join the following line with the current one
. Repeat the last command

vi supports a wide range of commands. It enables the use of macros, shortcuts, named
buffers, and many other useful features. A detailed description of the various options
would exceed the scope of this manual. SUSE Linux Enterprise comes with vim (vi
improved), an improved version of vi. There are numerous information sources for this
application:
• vimtutor is an interactive tutor for vim.
• In vim, enter the command :help to get help for many subjects.
• A book about vim is available online at http://www.truth.sk/vim/

vimbook-OPL.pdf.
• The Web pages of the vim project at http://www.vim.org feature all kinds
of news, mailing lists, and other documentation.
• A number of vim sources are available on the Internet: http://www.selflinux

.org/selflinux/html/vim.html, http://www.linuxgazette.com/
node/view/9039, and http://www.apmaths.uwo.ca/~xli/vim/vim
_tutorial.html. See http://linux-universe.com/HOWTO/
Vim-HOWTO/vim-tutorial.html for further links to tutorials.
IMPORTANT: The VIM License
vim is “charityware,” which means that the authors do not charge any money
for the software but encourage you to support a nonprofit project with a
monetary contribution. This project solicits help for poor children in Uganda.
More information is available online at http://iccf-holland.org/index
.html, http://www.vim.org/iccf/, and http://www.iccf.nl/.

Part III. System
32-Bit and 64-Bit Applications
in a 64-Bit System
Environment
SUSE Linux Enterprise® is available for several 64-bit platforms. This does not neces-
19
sarily mean that all the applications included have already been ported to 64-bit plat-
forms. SUSE Linux Enterprise supports the use of 32-bit applications in a 64-bit system
environment. This chapter offers a brief overview of how this support is implemented
on 64-bit SUSE Linux Enterprise platforms. It explains how 32-bit applications are
executed (runtime support) and how 32-bit applications should be compiled to enable
them to run both in 32-bit and 64-bit system environments. Additionally, find information
about the kernel API and an explanation of how 32-bit applications can run under a 64-
bit kernel.
NOTE: 31-Bit Applications on IBM System z:
s390 on IBM System z uses a 31-bit environment. References to 32-bit applica-

tions in the following also apply to 31-bit applications.
SUSE Linux Enterprise for the 64-bit platforms ia64, ppc64, s390x, and x86_64 is de-
signed so that existing 32-bit applications run in the 64-bit environment “out-of-the-
box.” The corresponding 32-bit platforms are x86 for ia64, ppc for ppc64, s390 for
s390x, and x86 for x86_64. This support means that you can continue to use your pre-
ferred 32-bit applications without waiting for a corresponding 64-bit port to become
available. The current ppc64 system runs most applications in 32-bit mode, but you
can run 64-bit applications.
32-Bit and 64-Bit Applications in a 64-Bit System Environment 381

19.1 Runtime Support
IMPORTANT: Conflicts between Application Versions
If an application is available both for 32-bit and 64-bit environments, parallel

installation of both versions is bound to lead to problems. In such cases, decide
on one of the two versions and install and use this.
To be executed correctly, every application requires a range of libraries. Unfortunately,

the names for the 32-bit and 64-bit versions of these libraries are identical. They must
be differentiated from each other in another way.
The same approach is used for the 64-bit platforms ppc64, s390x, and x86_64: To retain
compatibility with the 32-bit version, the libraries are stored at the same place in the
system as in the 32-bit environment. The 32-bit version of libc.so.6 is located under
/lib/libc.so.6 in both the 32-bit and 64-bit environments.
All 64-bit libraries and object files are located in directories called lib64. The 64-bit
object files you would normally expect to find under /lib, /usr/lib, and /usr/
X11R6/lib are now found under /lib64, /usr/lib64, and /usr/X11R6/
lib64. This means that there is space for the 32-bit libraries under /lib, /usr/lib
and /usr/X11R6/lib, so the filename for both versions can remain unchanged.
Subdirectories of 32-bit /lib directories whose data content does not depend on the
word size are not moved. For example, the X11 fonts are still found in the usual location
under /usr/X11R6/lib/X11/fonts. This scheme conforms to LSB (Linux
Standards Base) and FHS (File System Hierarchy Standard).
►ipf: The 64-bit libraries for ia64 are located in the standard lib directories. In such
cases, there is neither a lib64 directory or a lib32 directory. ia64 executes the 32-
bit x86 code under an emulation. A set of basic libraries is installed in /emul/
ia32-linux/lib and /emul/ia32-linux/usr/X11R6/lib. ◄

19.2 Software Development
All 64-bit architectures support the development of 64-bit objects. The level of support
for 32-bit compiling depends on the architecture. These are the various implementation
options for the tool chain from GCC (GNU Compiler Collection) and binutils, which
include the assembler as and the linker ld:
Biarch Compiler
Both 32-bit and 64-bit objects can be generated with a biarch development tool
chain. The compilation of 64-bit objects is the default on almost all platforms. 32-
bit objects can be generated if special flags are used. This special flag is -m32 for
GCC (-m31 for generating s390 binaries). The flags for the binutils are architecture-
dependent, but GCC transfers the correct flags to linkers and assemblers. A biarch
development tool chain currently exists for amd64 (supports development for x86
and amd64 instructions), for s390x, and for ppc64. 32-bit objects are normally
created on the ppc64 platform. The -m64 flag must be used to generate 64-bit ob-
jects.
No Support
SUSE Linux Enterprise does not support the direct development of 32-bit software
on all platforms. To develop applications for x86 under ia64, use the corresponding
32-bit version of SUSE Linux Enterprise.
All header files must be written in an architecture-independent form. The installed 32-
bit and 64-bit libraries must have an API (application programming interface) that
matches the installed header files. The normal SUSE Linux Enterprise environment is
designed according to this principle. In the case of manually updated libraries, resolve
these issues yourself.

19.3 Software Compilation on Biarch
Platforms
To develop binaries for the other architecture on a biarch architecture, the respective
libraries for the second architecture must additionally be installed. These packages are
called rpmname-32bit or rpmname-x86 (for ia64) if the second architecture is a
32-bit architecture or rpmname-64bit if the second architecture is a 64-bit architec-
ture. You also need the respective headers and libraries from the rpmname-devel
packages and the development libraries for the second architecture from
rpmname-devel-32bit or rpmname-devel-64bit.
For example, to compile a program that uses libaio on a system whose second archi-
tecture is a 32-bit architecture (x86_64 or s390x), you need the following RPMs:
libaio-32bit
32-bit runtime package
libaio-devel-32bit
Headers and libraries for 32-bit development
libaio
64-bit runtime package
libaio-devel
64-bit development headers and libraries
Most open source programs use an autoconf-based program configuration. To use

autoconf for configuring a program for the second architecture, overwrite the normal
compiler and linker settings of autoconf by running the configure script with
additional environment variables.
The following example refers to an x86_64 system with x86 as the second architecture.
Examples for s390x with s390 as the second architecture or ppc64 with ppc as the second
architecture would be similar. This example does not apply to ia64 where you do not
build 32-bit packages.

TIP
When using s390 as second architecture, you have to use -m31 instead of
-m32, because this is a 31 bit system.
1 Use the 32-bit compiler:

CC="gcc -m32"
2 Instruct the linker to process 32-bit objects (always use gcc as the linker front-
end):
LD="gcc -m32"
3 Set the assembler to generate 32-bit objects:

AS="gcc -c -m32"
4 Determine that the libraries for libtool and so on come from /usr/lib:
LDFLAGS="-L/usr/lib"
5 Determine that the libraries are stored in the lib subdirectory:

--libdir=/usr/lib
6 Determine that the 32-bit X libraries are used:

--x-libraries=/usr/X11R6/lib/
Not all of these variables are needed for every program. Adapt them to the respective
program.
An example configure call to compile a native 32-bit application on x86_64, ppc64,

or s390x could appear as follows:
CC="gcc -m32" \
LDFLAGS="-L/usr/lib;" \
.configure \
--prefix=/usr \
--libdir=/usr/lib
make
make install

19.4 Kernel Specifications
The 64-bit kernels for x86_64, ppc64, and s390x offer both a 64-bit and a 32-bit kernel
ABI (application binary interface). The latter is identical with the ABI for the corre-
sponding 32-bit kernel. This means that the 32-bit application can communicate with
the 64-bit kernel in the same way as with the 32-bit kernel.
The 32-bit emulation of system calls for a 64-bit kernel does not support all the APIs
used by system programs. This depends on the platform. For this reason, a small number
of applications, like lspci, must be compiled on non-ppc64 platforms as 64-bit pro-
grams to function properly. On IBM System z, not all ioctls are available in the 32-bit
kernel ABI.
A 64-bit kernel can only load 64-bit kernel modules that have been specially compiled
for this kernel. It is not possible to use 32-bit kernel modules.
TIP
Some applications require separate kernel-loadable modules. If you intend to

use such a 32-bit application in a 64-bit system environment, contact the
provider of this application and Novell to make sure that the 64-bit version of
the kernel-loadable module and the 32-bit compiled version of the kernel API
are available for this module.

Booting and Configuring a
Linux System
Booting a Linux system involves various different components. The hardware itself is
20
initialized by the BIOS, which starts the kernel by means of a boot loader. After this
point, the boot process with init and the runlevels is completely controlled by the oper-
ating system. The runlevel concept enables you to maintain setups for everyday usage
as well as to perform maintenance tasks on the system.
20.1 The Linux Boot Process

The Linux boot process consists of several stages each represented by another compo-
nent. The following list briefly summarizes the boot process and features all the major
components involved.
1. BIOS After the computer has been turned on, the BIOS initializes the screen
and keyboard and tests the main memory. Up to this stage, the machine does not
access any mass storage media. Subsequently, the information about the current
date, time, and the most important peripherals are loaded from the CMOS values.
When the first hard disk and its geometry are recognized, the system control
passes from the BIOS to the boot loader. If the BIOS supports network booting,
it is also possible to configure a boot server that provides the boot loader. On x86
systems, PXE boot is needed. Other architectures commonly use the BOOTP
protocol to get the boot loader.
2. Boot Loader The first physical 512-byte data sector of the first hard disk is
loaded into the main memory and the boot loader that resides at the beginning of
this sector takes over. The commands executed by the boot loader determine the
Booting and Configuring a Linux System 387

remaining part of the boot process. Therefore, the first 512 bytes on the first hard
disk are referred to as the Master Boot Record (MBR). The boot loader then
passes control to the actual operating system, in this case, the Linux kernel. More
information about GRUB, the Linux boot loader, can be found in Chapter 21, The
Boot Loader (page 403). For a network boot, the BIOS acts as the boot loader. It
gets the image to start from the boot server then starts the system. This is completely
independent of local hard disks.
3. Kernel and initramfs To pass system control, the boot loader loads both the
kernel and an initial RAM–based file system (initramfs) into memory. The contents
of the initramfs can be used by the kernel directly. initramfs contains a small exe-
cutable called init that handles the mounting of the real root file system. If special
hardware drivers are needed before the mass storage can be accessed, they must
be in initramfs. For more information about initramfs, refer to Section 20.1.1,
“initramfs” (page 388). If the system does not have a local hard disk, initramfs must
provide the root file system to the kernel. This can be done with the help of a net-
work block device like iSCSI or SAN, but it is also possible to use NFS as the root
device.
4. init on initramfs This program performs all actions needed to mount the
proper root file system, like providing kernel functionality for the needed file
system and device drivers for mass storage controllers with udev. After the root
file system has been found, it is checked for errors and mounted. If this has been
successful, the initramfs is cleaned and the init program on the root file system is
executed. For more information about init, refer to Section 20.1.2, “init on
initramfs” (page 389). Find more information about udev in Chapter 24, Dynamic
Kernel Device Management with udev (page 461).
5. init init handles the actual booting of the system through several different levels
providing different functionality. init is described in Section 20.2, “The init Process”
(page 391).
20.1.1 initramfs
initramfs is a small cpio archive that the kernel can load to a RAM disk. It provides a
minimal Linux environment that enables the execution of programs before the actual
root file system is mounted. This minimal Linux environment is loaded into memory
by BIOS routines and does not have specific hardware requirements other than sufficient

memory. initramfs must always provide an executable named init that should execute
the actual init program on the root file system for the boot process to proceed.
Before the root file system can be mounted and the operating system can be started,
the kernel needs the corresponding drivers to access the device on which the root file
system is located. These drivers may include special drivers for certain kinds of hard
drives or even network drivers to access a network file system. The needed modules
for the root file system may be loaded by init on initramfs. After the modules are loaded,
udev provides the initramfs with the needed devices. Later in the boot process, after
changing the root file system, it is necessary to regenerate the devices. This is done by
boot.udev with the command udevtrigger.
If you need to change hardware (e.g. hard disks) in an installed system and this hardware
requires different drivers to be present in the kernel at boot time, you must update the
initramfs file. This is done in the same way as with its predecessor, initrd—by
calling mkinitrd. Calling mkinitrd without any argument creates an initramfs.
Calling mkinitrd -R creates an initrd. In SUSE Linux Enterprise®, the modules to
load are specified by the variable INITRD_MODULES in /etc/sysconfig/
kernel. After installation, this variable is automatically set to the correct value. The
modules are loaded in exactly the order in which they appear in INITRD_MODULES.
This is only important if you rely on the correct setting of the device files /dev/sd?.
However, in current systems you also may use the device files below /dev/disk/
that are sorted in several subdirectories, named by-id, by-path and by-uuid, and
always represent the same disk. This is also possible at install time by specifying the
respective mount option.
IMPORTANT: Updating initramfs or initrd
The boot loader loads initramfs or initrd in the same way as the kernel. It is
not necessary to reinstall GRUB after updating initramfs or initrd, because GRUB
searches the directory for the right file when booting.
20.1.2 init on initramfs

The main purpose of init on initramfs is to prepare the mounting of and access to the
real root file system. Depending on your system configuration, init is responsible for
the following tasks.

Loading Kernel Modules
Depending on your hardware configuration, special drivers may be needed to access
the hardware components of your computer (especially your hard drive). To access
the root file system, the kernel needs to load the proper file system drivers.
Providing Block Special Files

For each loaded module, the kernel generates device events. udev handles these
events and generates the required block special files on a RAM file system in /dev.
Without those special files, the file system and other devices would not be accessi-
ble.
Managing RAID and LVM Setups

If you configured your system to hold the root file system under RAID or LVM,
init sets up LVM or RAID to enable access to the root file system later. Find infor-
mation about RAID in Section 7.2, “Soft RAID Configuration” (page 123). Find
information about LVM in Section 7.1, “LVM Configuration” (page 115). Find in-
formation about EVMS and special storage settings in Storage Administration
Guide.
Managing Network Configuration

If you configured your system to use a network-mounted root file system (mounted
via NFS), init must make sure that the proper network drivers are loaded and that
they are set up to allow access to the root file system.
If the file system resides on a networked block device like iSCSI or SAN, connection
to the storage server is also set up by the initramfs.
When init is called during the initial boot as part of the installation process, its tasks
differ from those mentioned earlier:
Finding the Installation Medium

As you start the installation process, your machine loads an installation kernel and
a special initrd with the YaST installer from the installation medium. The YaST
installer, which is run in a RAM file system, needs to have information about the
location of the installation medium to access it and install the operating system.
Initiating Hardware Recognition and Loading Appropriate Kernel Modules

As mentioned in Section 20.1.1, “initramfs” (page 388), the boot process starts with
a minimum set of drivers that can be used with most hardware configurations. init
starts an initial hardware scanning process that determines the set of drivers suitable
for your hardware configuration. The names of the modules needed for the boot

process are written to INITRD_MODULES in /etc/sysconfig/kernel.
These names are used to generate a custom initramfs that is needed to boot the
system. If the modules are not needed for boot but for coldplug, the modules are
written to /etc/sysconfig/hardware/hwconfig-*. All devices that are
described with configuration files in this directory are initialized in the boot process.
Loading the Installation System or Rescue System

As soon as the hardware has been properly recognized, the appropriate drivers have
been loaded, and udev has created the device special files, init starts the installation
system, which contains the actual YaST installer, or the rescue system.
Starting YaST
Finally, init starts YaST, which starts package installation and system configuration.
20.2 The init Process

The program init is the process with process ID 1. It is responsible for initializing the
system in the required way. init is started directly by the kernel and resists signal 9,
which normally kills processes. All other programs are either started directly by init or
by one of its child processes.
init is centrally configured in the /etc/inittab file where the runlevels are defined
(see Section 20.2.1, “Runlevels” (page 391)). The file also specifies which services and
daemons are available in each of the levels. Depending on the entries in /etc/
inittab, several scripts are run by init. For reasons of clarity, these scripts, called
init scripts, all reside in the directory /etc/init.d (see Section 20.2.2, “Init Scripts”
(page 394)).
The entire process of starting the system and shutting it down is maintained by init.
From this point of view, the kernel can be considered a background process whose task
is to maintain all other processes and adjust CPU time and hardware access according
to requests from other programs.
20.2.1 Runlevels
In Linux, runlevels define how the system is started and what services are available in
the running system. After booting, the system starts as defined in /etc/inittab in

the line initdefault. Usually this is 3 or 5. See Table 20.1, “Available Runlevels”
(page 392). As an alternative, the runlevel can be specified at boot time (by adding the
runlevel number at the boot prompt, for instance). Any parameters that are not directly
evaluated by the kernel itself are passed to init. To boot into runlevel 3, just add the
single number 3 to the boot prompt.
Table 20.1 Available Runlevels
Runlevel Description
0 System halt
S or 1 Single user mode
2 Local multiuser mode without remote network (NFS, etc.)
3 Full multiuser mode with network
4 Not used
5 Full multiuser mode with network and X display manag-

er—KDM, GDM, or XDM
6 System reboot
IMPORTANT: Avoid Runlevel 2 with a Partition Mounted via NFS
You should not use runlevel 2 if your system mounts a partition like /usr via
NFS. The system might behave unexpectedly if program files or libraries are
missing because the NFS service is not available in runlevel 2 (local multiuser
mode without remote network).
To change runlevels while the system is running, enter telinit and the corresponding
number as an argument. Only the system administrator is allowed to do this. The fol-
lowing list summarizes the most important commands in the runlevel area.
telinit 1 or shutdown now

The system changes to single user mode. This mode is used for system maintenance
and administration tasks.

telinit 3
All essential programs and services (including network) are started and regular
users are allowed to log in and work with the system without a graphical environ-
ment.
telinit 5
The graphical environment is enabled. Usually a display manager like XDM, GDM,
or KDM is started. If autologin is enabled, the local user is logged in to the prese-
lected window manager (GNOME or KDE or any other window manager).
telinit 0 or shutdown -h now

The system halts.
telinit 6 or shutdown -r now

The system halts then reboots.
Runlevel 5 is the default runlevel in all SUSE Linux Enterprise standard installations.
Users are prompted for login with a graphical interface or the default user is logged in
automatically. If the default runlevel is 3, the X Window System must be configured
properly, as described in Chapter 26, The X Window System (page 481), before the run-
level can be switched to 5. If this is done, check whether the system works in the desired
way by entering telinit 5. If everything turns out as expected, you can use YaST
to set the default runlevel to 5.
WARNING: Errors in /etc/inittab May Result in a Faulty System Boot
If /etc/inittab is damaged, the system might not boot properly. Therefore,

be extremely careful while editing /etc/inittab. Always let init reread
/etc/inittab with the command telinit q before rebooting the machine.
Generally, two things happen when you change runlevels. First, stop scripts of the
current runlevel are launched, closing down some programs essential for the current
runlevel. Then start scripts of the new runlevel are started. Here, in most cases, a number
of programs are started. For example, the following occurs when changing from runlevel
3 to 5:
1. The administrator (root) requests init to change to a different runlevel by entering

telinit 5.

2. init checks the current runlevel (runlevel) and determines it should start /etc/
init.d/rc with the new runlevel as a parameter.
3. Now rc calls the stop scripts of the current runlevel for which there is no start
script in the new runlevel. In this example, these are all the scripts that reside in
/etc/init.d/rc3.d (old runlevel was 3) and start with a K. The number
following K specifies the order to run the scripts with the stop parameter, because
there are some dependencies to consider.
4. The last things to start are the start scripts of the new runlevel. In this example,
these are in /etc/init.d/rc5.d and begin with an S. Again, the number that
follows the S determines the sequence in which the scripts are started.
When changing into the same runlevel as the current runlevel, init only checks /etc/
inittab for changes and starts the appropriate steps, for example, for starting a
getty on another interface. The same functionality may be achieved with the command
telinit q.
20.2.2 Init Scripts

There are two types of scripts in /etc/init.d:
Scripts Executed Directly by init

This is the case only during the boot process or if an immediate system shutdown
is initiated (power failure or a user pressing Ctrl + Alt + Del). For IBM System z
systems, this is the case only during the boot process or if an immediate system
shutdown is initiated (power failure or via “signal quiesce”). The execution of these
scripts is defined in /etc/inittab.
Scripts Executed Indirectly by init

These are run when changing the runlevel and always call the master script
/etc/init.d/rc, which guarantees the correct order of the relevant scripts.
All scripts are located in /etc/init.d. Scripts that are run at boot time are called
through symbolic links from /etc/init.d/boot.d. Scripts for changing the run-
level are called through symbolic links from one of the subdirectories (/etc/init
.d/rc0.d to /etc/init.d/rc6.d). This is just for clarity reasons and avoids
duplicate scripts if they are used in several runlevels. Because every script can be exe-
cuted as both a start and a stop script, these scripts must understand the parameters

start and stop. The scripts also understand the restart, reload,
force-reload, and status options. These different options are explained in Ta-
ble 20.2, “Possible init Script Options” (page 395). Scripts that are run directly by init
do not have these links. They are run independently from the runlevel when needed.
Table 20.2 Possible init Script Options
Option Description
start Start service.
stop Stop service.
restart If the service is running, stop it then restart it. If it is not

running, start it.
reload Reload the configuration without stopping and restarting

the service.
force-reload Reload the configuration if the service supports this.

Otherwise, do the same as if restart had been given.
status Show the current status of service.
Links in each runlevel-specific subdirectory make it possible to associate scripts with

different runlevels. When installing or uninstalling packages, these links are added and
removed with the help of the program insserv (or using /usr/lib/lsb/install
_initd, which is a script calling this program). See the insserv(8) man page for details.
All of these settings may also be changed with the help of the YaST module. If you
need to check the status on the command line, use the tool chkconfig, described in the
chkconfig(8) man page.
A short introduction to the boot and stop scripts launched first or last, respectively,
follows as well as an explanation of the maintaining script.
boot
Executed while starting the system directly using init. It is independent of the
chosen runlevel and is only executed once. Here, the /proc and /dev/pts file
systems are mounted and blogd (boot logging daemon) is activated. If the system

is booted for the first time after an update or an installation, the initial system con-
figuration is started.
The blogd daemon is a service started by boot and rc before any other one. It is
stopped after the actions triggered by these scripts (running a number of subscripts,
for example, making block special files available) are completed. blogd writes any
screen output to the log file /var/log/boot.msg, but only if and when /var
is mounted read-write. Otherwise, blogd buffers all screen data until /var becomes
available. Get further information about blogd on the blogd(8) man page.
The script boot is also responsible for starting all the scripts in /etc/init.d/
boot.d with a name that starts with S. There, the file systems are checked and
loop devices are configured if needed. The system time is also set. If an error occurs
while automatically checking and repairing the file system, the system administrator
can intervene after first entering the root password. Last executed is the script
boot.local.
boot.local
Here, enter additional commands to execute at boot before changing into a runlevel.
It can be compared to AUTOEXEC.BAT on DOS systems.
boot.setup
This script is executed when changing from single user mode to any other runlevel
and is responsible for a number of basic settings, such as the keyboard layout and
initialization of the virtual consoles.
halt
This script is only executed while changing into runlevel 0 or 6. Here, it is executed
either as halt or as reboot. Whether the system shuts down or reboots depends
on how halt is called.
rc
This script calls the appropriate stop scripts of the current runlevel and the start
scripts of the newly selected runlevel.
You can create your own scripts and easily integrate them into the scheme described
above. For instructions about formatting, naming, and organizing custom scripts, refer
to the specifications of the LSB and to the man pages of init, init.d, chkconfig,
and insserv. Additionally consult the man pages of startproc and killproc.

WARNING: Faulty init Scripts May Halt Your System
Faulty init scripts may hang your machine. Edit such scripts with great care and,
if possible, subject them to heavy testing in the multiuser environment. Find
some useful information about init scripts in Section 20.2.1, “Runlevels”
(page 391).
To create a custom init script for a given program or service, use the file /etc/init
.d/skeleton as a template. Save a copy of this file under the new name and edit
the relevant program and filenames, paths, and other details as needed. You may also
need to enhance the script with your own parts, so the correct actions are triggered by
the init procedure.
The INIT INFO block at the top is a required part of the script and must be edited.
See Example 20.1, “A Minimal INIT INFO Block” (page 397).
Example 20.1 A Minimal INIT INFO Block

### BEGIN INIT INFO
# Provides: FOO
# Required-Start: $syslog $remote_fs
# Required-Stop: $syslog $remote_fs
# Default-Start: 3 5
# Default-Stop: 0 1 2 6
# Description: Start FOO to allow XY and provide YZ
### END INIT INFO
In the first line of the INFO block, after Provides:, specify the name of the program
or service controlled by this init script. In the Required-Start: and
Required-Stop: lines, specify all services that need to be started or stopped before
the service itself is started or stopped. This information is used later to generate the
numbering of script names, as found in the runlevel directories. After
Default-Start: and Default-Stop:, specify the runlevels in which the service
should automatically be started or stopped. Finally, for Description:, provide a
short description of the service in question.
To create the links from the runlevel directories (/etc/init.d/rc?.d/) to the

corresponding scripts in /etc/init.d/, enter the command insserv
new-script-name. The insserv program evaluates the INIT INFO header to create
the necessary links for start and stop scripts in the runlevel directories (/etc/init
.d/rc?.d/). The program also takes care of the correct start and stop order for each
runlevel by including the necessary numbers in the names of these links. If you prefer

a graphical tool to create such links, use the runlevel editor provided by YaST, as de-
scribed in Section 20.2.3, “Configuring System Services (Runlevel) with YaST”
(page 398).
If a script already present in /etc/init.d/ should be integrated into the existing

runlevel scheme, create the links in the runlevel directories right away with insserv or
by enabling the corresponding service in the runlevel editor of YaST. Your changes
are applied during the next reboot—the new service is started automatically.
Do not set these links manually. If something is wrong in the INFO block, problems
will arise when insserv is run later for some other service. The manually-added
service will be removed with the next run of insserv for this script.
20.2.3 Configuring System Services

(Runlevel) with YaST
After starting this YaST module with YaST > System > System Services (Runlevel), it
displays an overview listing all the available services and the current status of each
service (disabled or enabled). Decide whether to use the module in Simple Mode or in
Expert Mode. The default Simple Mode should be sufficient for most purposes. The left
column shows the name of the service, the center column indicates its current status,
and the right column gives a short description. For the selected service, a more detailed
description is provided in the lower part of the window. To enable a service, select it
in the table then select Enable. The same steps apply to disable a service.

Figure 20.1 System Services (Runlevel)
For detailed control over the runlevels in which a service is started or stopped or to
change the default runlevel, first select Expert Mode. The current default runlevel or
“initdefault” (the runlevel into which the system boots by default) is displayed at the
top. Normally, the default runlevel of a SUSE Linux Enterprise system is runlevel 5
(full multiuser mode with network and X). A suitable alternative might be runlevel 3
(full multiuser mode with network).
This YaST dialog allows the selection of one of the runlevels (as listed in Table 20.1,
“Available Runlevels” (page 392)) as the new default. Additionally use the table in this
window to enable or disable individual services and daemons. The table lists the services
and daemons available, shows whether they are currently enabled on your system, and,
if so, for which runlevels. After selecting one of the rows with the mouse, click the
check boxes representing the runlevels (B, 0, 1, 2, 3, 5, 6, and S) to define the runlevels
in which the selected service or daemon should be running. Runlevel 4 is undefined to
allow creation of a custom runlevel. A brief description of the currently selected service
or daemon is provided below the table overview.
With Start, Stop, or Refresh, decide whether a service should be activated. Refresh
status checks the current status. Set or Reset lets you select whether to apply your
changes to the system or to restore the settings that existed before starting the runlevel
editor. Selecting Finish saves the changed settings to disk.

WARNING: Faulty Runlevel Settings May Damage Your System
Faulty runlevel settings may render a system unusable. Before applying your
changes, make absolutely sure that you know their consequences.
20.3 System Configuration via

/etc/sysconfig
The main configuration of SUSE Linux Enterprise is controlled by the configuration
files in /etc/sysconfig. The individual files in /etc/sysconfig are only read
by the scripts to which they are relevant. This ensures that network settings, for example,
only need to be parsed by network-related scripts.
There are two ways to edit the system configuration. Either use the YaST sysconfig
Editor or edit the configuration files manually.
20.3.1 Changing the System Configuration

Using the YaST sysconfig Editor
The YaST sysconfig editor provides an easy-to-use front-end to system configuration.
Without any knowledge of the actual location of the configuration variable you need
to change, you can just use the built-in search function of this module, change the value
of the configuration variable as needed, and let YaST take care of applying these
changes, updating configurations that depend on the values set in sysconfig and
restarting services.
WARNING: Modifying /etc/sysconfig/* Files Can Damage Your

Installation
Do not modify the /etc/sysconfig files if you lack previous experience

and knowledge. It could do considerable damage to your system. The files in
/etc/sysconfig include a short comment for each variable to explain what
effect they actually have.

Figure 20.2 System Configuration Using the sysconfig Editor
The YaST sysconfig dialog is split into three parts. The left part of the dialog shows a
tree view of all configurable variables. When you select a variable, the right part displays
both the current selection and the current setting of this variable. Below, a third window
displays a short description of the variable's purpose, possible values, the default value,
and the actual configuration file from which this variable originates. The dialog also
provides information about which configuration script is executed after changing the
variable and which new service is started as a result of the change. YaST prompts you
to confirm your changes and informs you which scripts will be executed after you leave
the dialog by selecting Finish. Also select the services and scripts to skip for now, so
they are started later. YaST applies all changes automatically and restarts any services
involved for your changes to take an effect.
20.3.2 Changing the System Configuration

Manually
To manually change the system configuration, proceed as follows
1 Become root.

2 Bring the system into single user mode (runlevel 1) with init 1.
3 Change the configuration files as needed with an editor of your choice.
If you do not use YaST to change the configuration files in /etc/sysconfig,

make sure that empty variable values are represented by two quotation marks
(KEYTABLE="") and that values with blanks in them are enclosed in quotation
marks. Values consisting of one word only do not need to be quoted.
4 Execute SuSEconfig to make sure that the changes take effect.
5 Bring your system back to the previous runlevel with a command like init
default_runlevel. Replace default_runlevel with the default run-
level of the system. Choose 5 if you want to return to full multiuser with network
and X or choose 3 if you prefer to work in full multiuser with network.
This procedure is mainly relevant when changing systemwide settings, such as the
network configuration. Small changes should not require going into single user mode,
but you may still do so to make absolutely sure that all the programs concerned are
correctly restarted.
TIP: Configuring Automated System Configuration
To disable the automated system configuration by SuSEconfig, set the variable

ENABLE_SUSECONFIG in /etc/sysconfig/suseconfig to no. Do not
disable SuSEconfig if you want to use the SUSE installation support. It is also
possible to disable the autoconfiguration partially.

The Boot Loader
This chapter describes how to configure GRUB, the boot loader used in SUSE Linux
21
Enterprise®. A special YaST module is available for performing all settings. If you are
not familiar with the subject of booting in Linux, read the following sections to acquire
some background information. This chapter also describes some of the problems fre-
quently encountered when booting with GRUB and their solutions.
This chapter focuses on boot management and the configuration of the boot loader
GRUB. The boot procedure as a whole is outlined in Chapter 20, Booting and Config-
uring a Linux System (page 387). A boot loader represents the interface between machine
(BIOS) and the operating system (SUSE Linux Enterprise). The configuration of the
boot loader directly impacts the start of the operating system.
The following terms appear frequently in this chapter and might need some explanation:
Master Boot Record

The structure of the MBR is defined by an operating system–independent conven-
tion. The first 446 bytes are reserved for the program code. They typically hold
part of a boot loader program or an operating system selector. The next 64 bytes
provide space for a partition table of up to four entries (see Section “Partition
Types” (page 156)). The partition table contains information about the partitioning
of the hard disk and the file system types. The operating system needs this table
for handling the hard disk. With conventional generic code in the MBR, exactly
one partition must be marked active. The last two bytes of the MBR must contain
a static “magic number” (AA55). An MBR containing a different value is regarded
as invalid by some BIOSs, so is not considered for booting.
The Boot Loader 403

Boot Sectors
Boot sectors are the first sectors of hard disk partitions with the exception of the
extended partition, which merely serves as a “container” for other partitions. These
boot sectors have 512 bytes of space for code used to boot an operating system in-
stalled in the respective partition. This applies to boot sectors of formatted DOS,
Windows, and OS/2 partitions, which also contain some important basic data of
the file system. In contrast, the boot sectors of Linux partitions are initially empty
after setting up a file system other than XFS. Therefore, a Linux partition is not
bootable by itself, even if it contains a kernel and a valid root file system. A boot
sector with valid code for booting the system has the same magic number as the
MBR in its last two bytes (AA55).
21.1 Selecting a Boot Loader

By default, the boot loader GRUB is used in SUSE Linux Enterprise. However, in some
cases and for special hardware and software constellations, LILO may be necessary. If
you update from an older SUSE Linux Enterprise version that uses LILO, LILO is in-
stalled.
Information about the installation and configuration of LILO is available in the Support
Database under the keyword LILO and in /usr/share/doc/packages/lilo.
21.2 Booting with GRUB

GRUB (Grand Unified Bootloader) comprises two stages. stage1 consists of 512 bytes
and its only task is to load the second stage of the boot loader. Subsequently, stage2 is
loaded. This stage contains the main part of the boot loader.
In some configurations, an intermediate stage 1.5 can be used, which locates and loads
stage 2 from an appropriate file system. If possible, this method is chosen by default
on installation or when initially setting up GRUB with YaST.
stage2 is able to access many file systems. Currently, Ext2, Ext3, ReiserFS, Minix, and
the DOS FAT file system used by Windows are supported. To a certain extent, XFS,
and UFS and FFS used by BSD systems are also supported. Since version 0.95, GRUB
is also able to boot from a CD or DVD containing an ISO 9660 standard file system
pursuant to the “El Torito” specification. Even before the system is booted, GRUB can

access file systems of supported BIOS disk devices (floppy disks or hard disks, CD
drives, and DVD drives detected by the BIOS). Therefore, changes to the GRUB con-
figuration file (menu.lst) do not require a reinstallation of the boot manager. When
the system is booted, GRUB reloads the menu file with the valid paths and partition
data of the kernel or the initial RAM disk (initrd) and locates these files.
The actual configuration of GRUB is based on three files that are described below:
/boot/grub/menu.lst
This file contains all information about partitions or operating systems that can be
booted with GRUB. Without this information, the GRUB command line prompts
the user for how to proceed (see Section “Editing Menu Entries during the Boot
Procedure” (page 410) for details).
/boot/grub/device.map
This file translates device names from the GRUB and BIOS notation to Linux device
names.
/etc/grub.conf
This file contains the commands, parameters, and options the GRUB shell needs
for installing the boot loader correctly.
GRUB can be controlled in various ways. Boot entries from an existing configuration
can be selected from the graphical menu (splash screen). The configuration is loaded
from the file menu.lst.
In GRUB, all boot parameters can be changed prior to booting. For example, errors
made when editing the menu file can be corrected in this way. Boot commands can also
be entered interactively at a kind of input prompt (see Section “Editing Menu Entries
during the Boot Procedure” (page 410)). GRUB offers the possibility of determining
the location of the kernel and the initrd prior to booting. In this way, you can even
boot an installed operating system for which no entry exists in the boot loader configu-
ration.
GRUB actually exists in two versions: as a boot loader and as a normal Linux program
in /usr/sbin/grub. This program is referred to as the GRUB shell. It provides an
emulation of GRUB in the installed system and can be used to install GRUB or test
new settings before applying them. The functionality to install GRUB as the boot
loader on a hard disk or floppy disk is integrated in GRUB in the form of the commands
install and setup. This is available in the GRUB shell when Linux is loaded.
The Boot Loader 405

21.2.1 The GRUB Boot Menu
The graphical splash screen with the boot menu is based on the GRUB configuration
file /boot/grub/menu.lst, which contains all information about all partitions or
operating systems that can be booted by the menu.
Every time the system is booted, GRUB loads the menu file from the file system. For
this reason, GRUB does not need to be reinstalled after every change to the file. Use
the YaST boot loader to modify the GRUB configuration as described in Section 21.3,
“Configuring the Boot Loader with YaST” (page 414).
The menu file contains commands. The syntax is very simple. Every line contains a
command followed by optional parameters separated by spaces like in the shell. For
historical reasons, some commands permit an = in front of the first parameter. Comments
are introduced by a hash (#).
To identify the menu items in the menu overview, set a title for every entry. The
text (including any spaces) following the keyword title is displayed as a selectable
option in the menu. All commands up to the next title are executed when this menu
item is selected.
The simplest case is the redirection to boot loaders of other operating systems. The
command is chainloader and the argument is usually the boot block of another
partition, in GRUB block notation. For example:
chainloader (hd0,3)+1
The device names in GRUB are explained in Section “Naming Conventions for Hard
Disks and Partitions” (page 407). This example specifies the first block of the fourth
partition of the first hard disk.
Use the command kernel to specify a kernel image. The first argument is the path to
the kernel image in a partition. The other arguments are passed to the kernel on its
command line.
If the kernel does not have built-in drivers for access to the root partition or a recent
Linux system with advanced hotplug features is used, initrd must be specified with
a separate GRUB command whose only argument is the path to the initrd file. Be-
cause the loading address of the initrd is written into the loaded kernel image, the
command initrd must follow after the kernel command.

The command root simplifies the specification of kernel and initrd files. The only
argument of root is a device or a partition. This device is used for all kernel, initrd,
or other file paths for which no device is explicitly specified until the next root com-
mand.
The boot command is implied at the end of every menu entry, so it does not need to
be written into the menu file. However, if you use GRUB interactively for booting, you
must enter the boot command at the end. The command itself has no arguments. It
merely boots the loaded kernel image or the specified chain loader.
After writing all menu entries, define one of them as the default entry. Otherwise,
the first one (entry 0) is used. You can also specify a time-out in seconds after which
the default entry should boot. timeout and default usually precede the menu entries.
An example file is described in Section “An Example Menu File” (page 408).
Naming Conventions for Hard Disks and Partitions

The naming conventions GRUB uses for hard disks and partitions differ from those
used for normal Linux devices. It more closely resembles the simple disk enumeration
the BIOS does and the syntax is similar to that used in some BSD derivatives. In GRUB,
the numbering of the partitions starts with zero. This means that (hd0,0) is the first
partition of the first hard disk. On a common desktop machine with a hard disk connected
as primary master, the corresponding Linux device name is /dev/hda1.
The four possible primary partitions are assigned the partition numbers 0 to 3. The
logical partitions are numbered from 4:
(hd0,0) first primary partition of the first hard disk

(hd0,1) second primary partition
(hd0,2) third primary partition
(hd0,3) fourth primary partition (usually an extended partition)
(hd0,4) first logical partition
(hd0,5) second logical partition
Being dependent on BIOS devices, GRUB does not distinguish between IDE, SATA,
SCSI, and hardware RAID devices. All hard disks recognized by the BIOS or other
controllers are numbered according to the boot sequence preset in the BIOS.
Unfortunately, it is often not possible to map the Linux device names to BIOS device
names exactly. It generates this mapping with the help of an algorithm and saves it to
The Boot Loader 407

the file device.map, which can be edited if necessary. Information about the file
device.map is available in Section 21.2.2, “The File device.map” (page 411).
A complete GRUB path consists of a device name written in parentheses and the path
to the file in the file system in the specified partition. The path begins with a slash. For
example, the bootable kernel could be specified as follows on a system with a single
IDE hard disk containing Linux in its first partition:
(hd0,0)/boot/vmlinuz
An Example Menu File

The following example shows the structure of a GRUB menu file. The example instal-
lation has a Linux boot partition under /dev/hda5, a root partition under /dev/
hda7, and a Windows installation under /dev/hda1.
gfxmenu (hd0,4)/message
color white/blue black/light-gray
default 0
timeout 8
title linux
kernel (hd0,4)/vmlinuz root=/dev/hda7 vga=791
initrd (hd0,4)/initrd
title windows
chainloader(hd0,0)+1
title floppy
chainloader(fd0)+1
title failsafe
kernel (hd0,4)/vmlinuz.shipped root=/dev/hda7 ide=nodma \
apm=off acpi=off vga=normal nosmp maxcpus=0 3
initrd (hd0,4)/initrd.shipped
The first block defines the configuration of the splash screen:
The background image message is located in the top directory of the /dev/
hda5 partition.

Color scheme: white (foreground), blue (background), black (selection), and light
gray (background of the selection). The color scheme has no effect on the splash
screen, only on the customizable GRUB menu that you can access by exiting the
splash screen with Esc.
default 0
The first menu entry title linux is the one to boot by default.
timeout 8
After eight seconds without any user input, GRUB automatically boots the default
entry. To deactivate automatic boot, delete the timeout line. If you set timeout
0, GRUB boots the default entry immediately.
The second and largest block lists the various bootable operating systems. The sections
for the individual operating systems are introduced by title.
• The first entry (title linux) is responsible for booting SUSE Linux Enterprise.
The kernel (vmlinuz) is located in the first logical partition (the boot partition)
of the first hard disk. Kernel parameters, such as the root partition and VGA mode,
are appended here. The root partition is specified according to the Linux naming
convention (/dev/hda7/), because this information is read by the kernel and
has nothing to do with GRUB. The initrd is also located in the first logical
partition of the first hard disk.
• The second entry is responsible for loading Windows. Windows is booted from the
first partition of the first hard disk (hd0,0). The command chainloader +1
causes GRUB to read and execute the first sector of the specified partition.
• The next entry enables booting from floppy disk without modifying the BIOS set-
tings.
• The boot option failsafe starts Linux with a selection of kernel parameters that
enables Linux to boot even on problematic systems.
The menu file can be changed whenever necessary. GRUB then uses the modified set-
tings during the next boot. Edit the file permanently using YaST or an editor of your
choice. Alternatively, make temporary changes interactively using the edit function of
GRUB. See Section “Editing Menu Entries during the Boot Procedure” (page 410).
The Boot Loader 409

Editing Menu Entries during the Boot Procedure
In the graphical boot menu, select the operating system to boot with the arrow keys. If
you select a Linux system, you can enter additional boot parameters at the boot prompt.
To edit individual menu entries directly, press Esc to exit the splash screen and get to
the GRUB text-based menu then press E. Changes made in this way only apply to the
current boot and are not adopted permanently.
IMPORTANT: Keyboard Layout during the Boot Procedure
The US keyboard layout is the only one available when booting. See Figure 51.1,
“US Keyboard Layout” (page 916) for a figure.
Editing menu entries facilitates the repair of a defective system that can no longer be
booted, because the faulty configuration file of the boot loader can be circumvented by
manually entering parameters. Manually entering parameters during the boot procedure
is also useful for testing new settings without impairing the native system.
After activating the editing mode, use the arrow keys to select the menu entry of the
configuration to edit. To make the configuration editable, press E again. In this way,
edit incorrect partitions or path specifications before they have a negative effect on the
boot process. Press Enter to exit the editing mode and return to the menu. Then press
B to boot this entry. Further possible actions are displayed in the help text at the bottom.
To enter changed boot options permanently and pass them to the kernel, open the file
menu.lst as the user root and append the respective kernel parameters to the existing
line, separated by spaces:
title linux
kernel (hd0,0)/vmlinuz root=/dev/hda3 additional parameter
GRUB automatically adopts the new parameters the next time the system is booted.
Alternatively, this change can also be made with the YaST boot loader module. Append
the new parameters to the existing line, separated by spaces.

21.2.2 The File device.map
The file device.map maps GRUB and BIOS device names to Linux device names.
In a mixed system containing IDE and SCSI hard disks, GRUB must try to determine
the boot sequence by a special procedure, because GRUB may not have access to the
BIOS information on the boot sequence. GRUB saves the result of this analysis in the
file /boot/grub/device.map. For a system on which the boot sequence in the
BIOS is set to IDE before SCSI, the file device.map could appear as follows:
(fd0) /dev/fd0
(hd0) /dev/hda
(hd1) /dev/sda
Because the order of IDE, SCSI, and other hard disks depends on various factors and
Linux is not able to identify the mapping, the sequence in the file device.map can
be set manually. If you encounter problems when booting, check if the sequence in this
file corresponds to the sequence in the BIOS and use the GRUB prompt to modify it
temporarily if necessary. After the Linux system has booted, the file device.map
can be edited permanently with the YaST boot loader module or an editor of your
choice.
IMPORTANT: SATA Disks
Depending on the controller, SATA disks are either recognized as IDE (/dev/hdx)
or SCSI (/dev/sdx) devices.
After manually changing device.map, execute the following command to reinstall

GRUB. This command causes the file device.map to be reloaded and the commands
listed in grub.conf to be executed:
grub --batch < /etc/grub.conf
The Boot Loader 411

21.2.3 The File /etc/grub.conf
The third most important GRUB configuration file after menu.lst and device.map
is /etc/grub.conf. This file contains the commands, parameters, and options the
GRUB shell needs for installing the boot loader correctly:
root (hd0,4)
install /grub/stage1 (hd0,3) /grub/stage2 0x8000 (hd0,4)/grub/menu.lst
quit
Meaning of the individual entries:
root (hd0,4)
This command tells GRUB to apply the following commands to the first logical
partition of the first hard disk (the location of the boot files).
install parameter
The command grub should be run with the parameter install. stage1 of the
boot loader should be installed in the the extended partition container
(/grub/stage1 (hd0,3)). This is a slightly esoteric configuration, but it is
known to work in many cases. stage2 should be loaded to the memory address
0x8000 (/grub/stage2 0x8000). The last entry
((hd0,4)/grub/menu.lst) tells GRUB where to look for the menu file.
21.2.4 Setting a Boot Password

Even before the operating system is booted, GRUB enables access to file systems. Users
without root permissions can access files in your Linux system to which they have no
access once the system is booted. To block this kind of access or prevent users from
booting certain operating systems, set a boot password.
IMPORTANT: Boot Password and Splash Screen
If you use a boot password for GRUB, the usual splash screen is not displayed.

As the user root, proceed as follows to set a boot password:
1 At the root prompt, encrypt the password using grub-md5-crypt:
# grub-md5-crypt
Password: ****
Retype password: ****
Encrypted: $1$lS2dv/$JOYcdxIn7CJk9xShzzJVw/
2 Paste the encrypted string into the global section of the file menu.lst:
default 0
timeout 8
password --md5 $1$lS2dv/$JOYcdxIn7CJk9xShzzJVw/
Now GRUB commands can only be executed at the boot prompt after pressing
P and entering the password. However, users can still boot all operating systems
from the boot menu.
3 To prevent one or several operating systems from being booted from the boot
menu, add the entry lock to every section in menu.lst that should not be
bootable without entering a password. For example:
title linux
kernel (hd0,4)/vmlinuz root=/dev/hda7 vga=791
lock
After rebooting the system and selecting the Linux entry from the boot menu,
the following error message is displayed:
Error 32: Must be authenticated
Press Enter to enter the menu. Then press P to get a password prompt. After en-
tering the password and pressing Enter, the selected operating system (Linux in
this case) should boot.
The Boot Loader 413

21.3 Configuring the Boot Loader with
YaST
The easiest way to configure the boot loader in your SUSE Linux Enterprise system is
to use the YaST module. In the YaST Control Center, select System > Boot Loader. As
in Figure 21.1, “Boot Loader Settings” (page 414), this shows the current boot loader
configuration of your system and allows you to make changes.
Figure 21.1 Boot Loader Settings
Use the Section Management tab to edit, change, and delete boot loader sections for
the individual operating systems. To add an option, click Add. To change the value of
an existing option, select it with the mouse and click Edit. To remove an existing entry,
select it and click Delete. If you are not familiar with boot loader options, read Sec-
tion 21.2, “Booting with GRUB” (page 404) first.
Use the Boot Loader Installation tab to view and change settings related to type, location,
and advanced loader settings.
Access advanced configuration options from the drop-down menu that opens after you
click on Other. The build-in editor lets you change the GRUB configuration files (see

Section 21.2, “Booting with GRUB” (page 404) for details). You can also delete the
existing configuration and Start from Scratch or let YaST Propose a New Configuration.
It is also possible to write the configuration to disk or reread the configuration from the
disk. To restore the original Master Boot Record that was saved during the installation,
choose Restore MBR of Hard Disk.
21.3.1 Boot Loader Type

Set the boot loader type in Boot Loader Installation. The default boot loader in SUSE
Linux Enterprise is GRUB. To use LILO, proceed as follows:
Procedure 21.1 Changing the Boot Loader Type
1 Select the Boot Loader Installation tab.
2 For Boot Loader, select LILO.
3 In the dialog box that opens, select one of the following actions:
Propose New Configuration

Have YaST propose a new configuration.
Convert Current Configuration

Have YaST convert the current configuration. When converting the configu-
ration, some settings may be lost.
Start New Configuration from Scratch

Write a custom configuration. This action is not available during the instal-
lation of SUSE Linux Enterprise.
Read Configuration Saved on Disk

Load your own /etc/lilo.conf. This action is not available during the
installation of SUSE Linux Enterprise.
4 Click OK to save the changes
5 Click Finish in the main dialog to apply the changes.
The Boot Loader 415

During the conversion, the old GRUB configuration is saved to disk. To use it, simply
change the boot loader type back to GRUB and choose Restore Configuration Saved
before Conversion. This action is available only on an installed system.
NOTE: Custom Boot Loader
To use a boot loader other than GRUB or LILO, select Do Not Install Any Boot
Loader. Read the documentation of your boot loader carefully before choosing
this option.
21.3.2 Boot Loader Location

To change the location of the boot loader, follow these steps:
Procedure 21.2 Changing the Boot Loader Location
1 Select the Boot Loader Installation tab then select one of the following options
for Boot Loader Location:
Boot from Boot Partition

The boot sector of the /boot partition.
Boot from Extended Partition

This installs the boot loader in the extended partition container.
Boot from Master Boot Record

This installs the boot loader in the MBR of the first disk (according to the
boot sequence preset in the BIOS).
Boot from Root Partition

This installs the boot loader in the boot sector of the // partition.
Custom Boot Partition

Use this option to specify the location of the boot loader manually.
2 Click Finish to apply your changes.

21.3.3 Default System
To change the system that is booted by default, proceed as follows:
Procedure 21.3 Setting the Default System
1 Open the Section Management tab.
2 Select the desired entry from the list.
3 Click Set as Default.
4 Click Finish to activate these changes.
21.3.4 Boot Loader Time-Out

The boot loader does not boot the default system immediately. During the time-out,
you can select the system to boot or write some kernel parameters. To set the boot
loader time-out, proceed as follows:
Procedure 21.4 Changing the Boot Loader Time-Out
1 Open the Boot Loader Installation tab.
2 Click Boot Loader Options.
3 Change the value of Timeout in Seconds by typing in a new value, clicking the
appropriate arrow key with your mouse, or by using the arrow keys on the key-
board.
4 Click OK.
5 Click Finish to save the changes.
21.3.5 Security Settings

Using this YaST module, you can also set a password to protect booting. This gives
you an additional level of security.
The Boot Loader 417

Procedure 21.5 Setting a Boot Loader Password
1 Open the Boot Loader Installation tab.
2 Click Boot Loader Options.
3 Set your password in Password for the Menu Interface.
4 Click OK.
5 Click Finish to save the changes.
21.4 Uninstalling the Linux Boot

Loader
YaST can be used to uninstall the Linux boot loader and restore the MBR to the state
it had prior to the installation of Linux. During the installation, YaST automatically
creates a backup copy of the original MBR and restores it on request.
To uninstall GRUB, start the YaST boot loader module (System > Boot Loader). Select
Other > Restore MBR of Hard Disk and confirm with Yes, Rewrite.
21.5 Creating Boot CDs

If problems occur booting your system using a boot manager or if the boot manager
cannot be installed on the MBR of your hard disk or a floppy disk, it is also possible
to create a bootable CD with all the necessary start-up files for Linux. This requires a
CD writer installed in your system.
Creating a bootable CD-ROM with GRUB merely requires a special form of stage2
called stage2_eltorito and, optionally, a customized menu.lst. The classic
files stage1 and stage2 are not required.
Procedure 21.6 Creating Boot CDs
1 Change into a directory in which to create the ISO image, for example: cd /tmp

2 Create a subdirectory for GRUB:
mkdir -p iso/boot/grub
3 Copy the kernel, the files stage2_eltorito, initrd, menu.lst, and

message to iso/boot/:
cp /boot/vmlinuz iso/boot/
cp /boot/initrd iso/boot/
cp /boot/message iso/boot/
cp /usr/lib/grub/stage2_eltorito iso/boot/grub
cp /boot/grub/menu.lst iso/boot/grub
4 Adjust the path entries in iso/boot/grub/menu.lst to make them point

to a CD-ROM device. Do this by replacing the device name of the hard disks,
listed in the format (sd*), in the pathnames with the device name of the CD-
ROM drive, which is (cd):
timeout 8
default 0
gfxmenu (cd)/boot/message
title Linux
root (cd)
kernel /boot/vmlinuz root=/dev/sda5 vga=794 resume=/dev/sda1 \
splash=verbose showopts
initrd /boot/initrd
Use splash=silent instead of splash=verbose to prevent the boot

messages from appearing during the boot procedure.
5 Create the ISO image with the following command:

mkisofs -R -b boot/grub/stage2_eltorito -no-emul-boot \
-boot-load-size 4 -boot-info-table -o grub.iso /tmp/iso
6 Write the resulting file grub.iso to a CD using your preferred utility. Do not
burn the ISO image as data file, but use the option for burning a CD image in
your burning utility.
21.6 The Graphical SUSE Screen

Since SUSE Linux 7.2, the graphical SUSE screen is displayed on the first console if
the option vga=value is used as a kernel parameter. If you install using YaST, this
The Boot Loader 419

option is automatically activated in accordance with the selected resolution and the
graphics card. There are three ways to disable the SUSE screen, if desired:
Disabling the SUSE Screen When Necessary

Enter the command echo 0 >/proc/splash on the command line to disable
the graphical screen. To activate it again, enter echo 1 >/proc/splash.
Disabling the SUSE screen by default.

Add the kernel parameter splash=0 to your boot loader configuration. Chapter 21,
The Boot Loader (page 403) provides more information about this. However, if you
prefer the text mode, which was the default in earlier versions, set vga=normal.
Completely Disabling the SUSE Screen

Compile a new kernel and disable the option Use splash screen instead of boot logo
in framebuffer support.
TIP
Disabling framebuffer support in the kernel automatically disables the

splash screen as well. SUSE cannot provide any support for your system if
you run it with a custom kernel.
This section lists some of the problems frequently encountered when booting with
GRUB and a short description of possible solutions. Some of the problems are covered
in articles in the Knowledge base at http://support.novell.com/. Use the
search dialog to search for keywords like GRUB, boot, and boot loader.
GRUB and XFS

XFS leaves no room for stage1 in the partition boot block. Therefore, do not
specify an XFS partition as the location of the boot loader. This problem can be
solved by creating a separate boot partition that is not formatted with XFS.
GRUB Reports GRUB Geom Error

GRUB checks the geometry of connected hard disks when the system is booted.
Sometimes, the BIOS returns inconsistent information and GRUB reports a GRUB
Geom Error. If this is the case, use LILO or update the BIOS. Detailed information

about the installation, configuration, and maintenance of LILO is available in the
Support Database under the keyword LILO.
GRUB also returns this error message if Linux was installed on an additional hard
disk that is not registered in the BIOS. stage1 of the boot loader is found and
loaded correctly, but stage2 is not found. This problem can be remedied by regis-
tering the new hard disk in the BIOS.
System Containing IDE and SCSI Hard Disks Does Not Boot
During the installation, YaST may have incorrectly determined the boot sequence
of the hard disks. For example, GRUB may regard /dev/hda as hd0 and /dev/
sda as hd1, although the boot sequence in the BIOS is reversed (SCSI before
IDE).
In this case, correct the hard disks during the boot process with the help of the
GRUB command line. After the system has booted, edit device.map to apply
the new mapping permanently. Then check the GRUB device names in the files
/boot/grub/menu.lst and /boot/grub/device.map and reinstall the
boot loader with the following command:
Booting Windows from the Second Hard Disk

Some operating systems, such as Windows, can only boot from the first hard disk.
If such an operating system is installed on a hard disk other than the first hard disk,
you can effect a logical change for the respective menu entry.
...
title windows
map (hd0) (hd1)
map (hd1) (hd0)
chainloader(hd1,0)+1
...
In this example, Windows is started from the second hard disk. For this purpose,
the logical order of the hard disks is changed with map. This change does not affect
the logic within the GRUB menu file. Therefore, the second hard disk must be
specified for chainloader.
The Boot Loader 421

Extensive information about GRUB is available at http://www.gnu.org/
software/grub/. Also refer to the grub info page. You can also search for the
keyword “GRUB” in the Technical Information Search at http://www.novell
.com/support to get information about special issues.

Special System Features
This chapter starts with information about various software packages, the virtual con-
22
soles, and the keyboard layout. We talk about software components like bash, cron,
and logrotate, because they were changed or enhanced during the last release cycles.
Even if they are small or considered of minor importance, users may want to change
their default behavior, because these components are often closely coupled with the
system. The chapter is finished by a section about language and country-specific settings
(I18N and L10N).
22.1 Information about Special

Software Packages
The programs bash, cron, logrotate, locate, ulimit, and free, and the file
resolv.conf are very important for system administrators and many users. Man
pages and info pages are two useful sources of information about commands, but both
are not always available. GNU Emacs is a popular and very configurable text editor.
22.1.1 The bash Package and /etc/profile

Bash is the default system shell. When used as a login shell, it reads several initialization
files. Bash processes them in the order they appear in this list:
1. /etc/profile
Special System Features 423

2. ~/.profile
3. /etc/bash.bashrc
4. ~/.bashrc
Make custom settings in ~/.profile or ~/.bashrc. To ensure the correct process-

ing of these files, it is necessary to copy the basic settings from /etc/skel/
.profile or /etc/skel/.bashrc into the home directory of the user. It is rec-
ommended to copy the settings from /etc/skel after an update. Execute the following
shell commands to prevent the loss of personal adjustments:
mv ~/.bashrc ~/.bashrc.old
cp /etc/skel/.bashrc ~/.bashrc
mv ~/.profile ~/.profile.old
cp /etc/skel/.profile ~/.profile
Then copy personal adjustments back from the *.old files.
22.1.2 The cron Package

If you want to run commands regularly and automatically in the background at predefined
times, cron is the tool to use. cron is driven by specially formatted time tables. Some
of of them come with the system and users can write their own tables if needed.
The cron tables are located in /var/spool/cron/tabs. /etc/crontab serves

as a systemwide cron table. Enter the username to run the command directly after the
time table and before the command. In Example 22.1, “Entry in /etc/crontab” (page 424),
root is entered. Package-specific tables, located in /etc/cron.d, have the same
format. See the cron man page (man cron).
Example 22.1 Entry in /etc/crontab

1-59/5 * * * * root test -x /usr/sbin/atrun && /usr/sbin/atrun
You cannot edit /etc/crontab by calling the command crontab -e. This file
must be loaded directly into an editor, modified, then saved.
A number of packages install shell scripts to the directories /etc/cron.hourly,

/etc/cron.daily, /etc/cron.weekly, and /etc/cron.monthly, whose
execution is controlled by /usr/lib/cron/run-crons. /usr/lib/cron/

run-crons is run every 15 minutes from the main table (/etc/crontab). This
guarantees that processes that may have been neglected can be run at the proper time.
To run the hourly, daily, or other periodic maintenance scripts at custom times,
remove the time stamp files regularly using /etc/crontab entries (see Example 22.2,
“/etc/crontab: Remove Time Stamp Files” (page 425), which removes the hourly one
before every full hour, the daily one once a day at 2:14 a.m., etc.).
Example 22.2 /etc/crontab: Remove Time Stamp Files

59 * * * * root rm -f /var/spool/cron/lastrun/cron.hourly
14 2 * * * root rm -f /var/spool/cron/lastrun/cron.daily
29 2 * * 6 root rm -f /var/spool/cron/lastrun/cron.weekly
44 2 1 * * root rm -f /var/spool/cron/lastrun/cron.monthly
Alternatively, set DAILY_TIME in /etc/sysconfig/cron to the time at which

cron.daily should start. The setting of MAX_NOT_RUN ensures that the daily jobs
get triggered to run, even if the user did not turn on the computer at the specified
DAILY_TIME for a longer period of time. The maximum value of MAX_NOT_RUN is
14 days.
The daily system maintenance jobs are distributed to various scripts for reasons of
clarity. They are contained in the package aaa_base. /etc/cron.daily contains,
for example, the components suse.de-backup-rpmdb, suse.de-clean-tmp,
or suse.de-cron-local.
22.1.3 Log Files: Package logrotate

There are a number of system services (daemons) that, along with the kernel itself,
regularly record the system status and specific events to log files. This way, the admin-
istrator can regularly check the status of the system at a certain point in time, recognize
errors or faulty functions, and troubleshoot them with pinpoint precision. These log
files are normally stored in /var/log as specified by FHS and grow on a daily basis.
The logrotate package helps control the growth of these files.
Configure logrotate with the file /etc/logrotate.conf. In particular, the

include specification primarily configures the additional files to read. Programs that
produce log files install individual configuration files in /etc/logrotate.d. For
example, such files ship with the packages, e.g. apache2 (/etc/logrotate.d/
apache2) and syslogd (/etc/logrotate.d/syslog).

Example 22.3 Example for /etc/logrotate.conf
# see "man logrotate" for details
# rotate log files weekly
weekly
# keep 4 weeks worth of backlogs

rotate 4
# create new (empty) log files after rotating old ones

create
# uncomment this if you want your log files compressed

#compress
# RPM packages drop log rotation information into this directory

include /etc/logrotate.d
# no packages own lastlog or wtmp - we'll rotate them here

#/var/log/wtmp {
# monthly
# create 0664 root utmp
# rotate 1
#}
# system-specific logs may be also be configured here.
logrotate is controlled through cron and is called daily by /etc/cron.daily/

logrotate.
IMPORTANT
The create option reads all settings made by the administrator in /etc/
permissions*. Ensure that no conflicts arise from any personal modifications.
22.1.4 The locate Command

locate, a command for quickly finding files, is not included in the standard scope of
installed software. If desired, install the package findutils-locate. The updatedb
process is started automatically every night or about 15 minutes after booting the system.

22.1.5 The ulimit Command
With the ulimit (user limits) command, it is possible to set limits for the use of system
resources and to have these displayed. ulimit is especially useful for limiting the
memory available for applications. With this, an application can be prevented from
using too much memory on its own, which could bring the system to a standstill.
ulimit can be used with various options. To limit memory usage, use the options
listed in Table 22.1, “ulimit: Setting Resources for the User” (page 427).
Table 22.1 ulimit: Setting Resources for the User
-m Maximum size of physical memory
-v Maximum size of virtual memory
-s Maximum size of the stack
-c Maximum size of the core files
-a Display of limits set
Systemwide entries can be made in /etc/profile. There, enable creation of core

files, needed by programmers for debugging. A normal user cannot increase the values
specified in /etc/profile by the system administrator, but can make special entries
in ~/.bashrc.
Example 22.4 ulimit: Settings in ~/.bashrc

# Limits of physical memory:
ulimit -m 98304
# Limits of virtual memory:

ulimit -v 98304
Memory amounts must be specified in KB. For more detailed information, see man
bash.

IMPORTANT
Not all shells support ulimit directives. PAM (for instance, pam_limits)
offers comprehensive adjustment possibilities if you depend on encompassing
settings for these restrictions.
22.1.6 The free Command

The free command is somewhat misleading if your goal is to find out how much
RAM is currently being used. That information can be found in /proc/meminfo.
These days, users with access to a modern operating system, such as Linux, should not
really need to worry much about memory. The concept of available RAM dates back
to before the days of unified memory management. The slogan free memory is bad
memory applies well to Linux. As a result, Linux has always made the effort to balance
out caches without actually allowing free or unused memory.
Basically, the kernel does not have direct knowledge of any applications or user data.
Instead, it manages applications and user data in a page cache. If memory runs short,
parts of it are written to the swap partition or to files, from which they can initially be
read with the help of the mmap command (see man mmap).
The kernel also contains other caches, such as the slab cache, where the caches used
for network access are stored. This may explain differences between the counters in
/proc/meminfo. Most, but not all of them, can be accessed via /proc/slabinfo.
22.1.7 The /etc/resolv.conf File

Domain name resolution is handled through the file /etc/resolv.conf. Refer to
Chapter 33, The Domain Name System (page 611).
This file is updated by the script /sbin/modify_resolvconf exclusively, with

no other program having permission to modify /etc/resolv.conf directly. Enforc-
ing this rule is the only way to guarantee that the system's network configuration and
the relevant files are kept in a consistent state.

22.1.8 Man Pages and Info Pages
For some GNU applications (such as tar), the man pages are no longer maintained. For
these commands, use the --help option to get a quick overview of the info pages,
which provide more in-depth instructions. info is GNU's hypertext system. Read an
introduction to this system by entering info info. Info pages can be viewed with
Emacs by entering emacs -f info or directly in a console with info. You can
also use tkinfo, xinfo, or the help system to view info pages.
22.1.9 Settings for GNU Emacs

GNU Emacs is a complex work environment. The following sections cover the confi-
guration files processed when GNU Emacs is started. More information is available at
http://www.gnu.org/software/emacs/.
On start-up, Emacs reads several files containing the settings of the user, system admin-
istrator, and distributor for customization or preconfiguration. The initialization file ~/
.emacs is installed to the home directories of the individual users from /etc/skel.
.emacs, in turn, reads the file /etc/skel/.gnu-emacs. To customize the program,
copy .gnu-emacs to the home directory (with cp /etc/skel/.gnu-emacs
~/.gnu-emacs) and make the desired settings there.
.gnu-emacs defines the file ~/.gnu-emacs-custom as custom-file. If users

make settings with the customize options in Emacs, the settings are saved to ~/
.gnu-emacs-custom.
With SUSE® Linux Enterprise, the emacs package installs the file site-start.el
in the directory /usr/share/emacs/site-lisp. The file site-start.el is
loaded before the initialization file ~/.emacs. Among other things, site-start
.el ensures that special configuration files distributed with Emacs add-on packages,
such as psgml, are loaded automatically. Configuration files of this type are located
in /usr/share/emacs/site-lisp, too, and always begin with suse-start-.
The local system administrator can specify systemwide settings in default.el.
More information about these files is available in the Emacs info file under Init File:
info:/emacs/InitFile. Information about how to disable loading these files (if
necessary) is also provided at this location.

The components of Emacs are divided into several packages:
• The base package emacs.
• emacs-x11 (usually installed): the program with X11 support.
• emacs-nox: the program without X11 support.
• emacs-info: online documentation in info format.
• emacs-el: the uncompiled library files in Emacs Lisp. These are not required at
runtime.
• Numerous add-on packages can be installed if needed: emacs-auctex (for La-

TeX), psgml (for SGML and XML), gnuserv (for client and server operation),
and others.
22.2 Virtual Consoles

Linux is a multiuser and multitasking system. The advantages of these features can be
appreciated even on a stand-alone PC system. In text mode, there are six virtual consoles
available. Switch between them using Alt + F1 to Alt + F6. The seventh console is re-
served for X and the tenth console shows kernel messages. More or fewer consoles can
be assigned by modifying the file /etc/inittab.
To switch to a console from X without shutting it down, use Ctrl + Alt + F1 to Ctrl +
Alt + F6. To return to X, press Alt + F7.
22.3 Keyboard Mapping

To standardize the keyboard mapping of programs, changes were made to the following
files:
/etc/inputrc
/etc/X11/Xmodmap
/etc/skel/.Xmodmap
/etc/skel/.exrc
/etc/skel/.less
/etc/skel/.lesskey
/etc/csh.cshrc

/etc/termcap
/usr/lib/terminfo/x/xterm
/usr/share/X11/app-defaults/XTerm
/usr/share/emacs/VERSION/site-lisp/term/*.el
These changes only affect applications that use terminfo entries or whose configu-
ration files are changed directly (vi, less, etc.). Applications not shipped with the
system should be adapted to these defaults.
Under X, the compose key (multikey) can be accessed using Ctrl + Shift (right). Also
see the corresponding entry in /etc/X11/Xmodmap.
Further settings are possible using the X Keyboard Extension (XKB). This extension
is also used by the desktop environments GNOME (gswitchit) and KDE (kxkb).
Information about XKB is available in /etc/X11/xkb/README and the doc-

uments listed there.
Detailed information about the input of Chinese, Japanese, and Korean (CJK)
is available at Mike Fabian's page: http://www.suse.de/~mfabian/
suse-cjk/input.html.
22.4 Language and Country-Specific

Settings
The system is, to a very large extent, internationalized and can be modified for local
needs in a flexible manner. In other words, internationalization (I18N) allows specific
localizations (L10N). The abbreviations I18N and L10N are derived from the first and
last letters of the words and, in between, the number of letters omitted.
Settings are made with LC_ variables defined in the file /etc/sysconfig/
language. This refers not only to native language support, but also to the categories
Messages (Language), Character Set, Sort Order, Time and Date, Numbers, and Money.
Each of these categories can be defined directly with its own variable or indirectly with
a master variable in the file language (see the locale man page).

RC_LC_MESSAGES, RC_LC_CTYPE, RC_LC_COLLATE, RC_LC_TIME,
RC_LC_NUMERIC, RC_LC_MONETARY
These variables are passed to the shell without the RC_ prefix and represent the
listed categories. The shell profiles concerned are listed below. The current setting
can be shown with the command locale.
RC_LC_ALL
This variable, if set, overwrites the values of the variables already mentioned.
RC_LANG
If none of the previous variables are set, this is the fallback. By default, only
RC_LANG is set. This makes it easier for users to enter their own values.
ROOT_USES_LANG
A yes or no variable. If it is set to no, root always works in the POSIX environ-
ment.
The variables can be set with the YaST sysconfig editor (see Section 20.3.1, “Changing
the System Configuration Using the YaST sysconfig Editor” (page 400)). The value of
such a variable contains the language code, country code, encoding, and modifier. The
individual components are connected by special characters:
LANG=<language>[[_<COUNTRY>].<Encoding>[@<Modifier>]]
22.4.1 Some Examples

You should always set the language and country codes together. Language settings
follow the standard ISO 639 available at http://www.evertype.com/
standards/iso639/iso639-en.html and http://www.loc.gov/
standards/iso639-2/. Country codes are listed in ISO 3166 available at http://
www.din.de/gremien/nas/nabd/iso3166ma/codlstp1/en_listp1
.html.
It only makes sense to set values for which usable description files can be found in
/usr/lib/locale. Additional description files can be created from the files in
/usr/share/i18n using the command localedef. The description files are part
of the glibc-i18ndata package. A description file for en_US.UTF-8 (for English
and United States) can be created with:

localedef -i en_US -f UTF-8 en_US.UTF-8
LANG=en_US.UTF-8
This is the default setting if American English is selected during installation. If you
selected another language, that language is enabled but still with UTF-8 as the
character encoding.
LANG=en_US.ISO-8859-1
This sets the language to English, country to United States, and the character set
to ISO-8859-1. This character set does not support the Euro sign, but it can be
useful sometimes for programs that have not been updated to support UTF-8. The
string defining the charset (ISO-8859-1 in this case) is then evaluated by pro-
grams like Emacs.
LANG=en_IE@euro
The above example explicitly includes the Euro sign in a language setting. Strictly
speaking, this setting is obsolete now, because UTF-8 also covers the Euro symbol.
It is only useful if an application does not support UTF-8, but ISO-8859-15.
SuSEconfig reads the variables in /etc/sysconfig/language and writes the

necessary changes to /etc/SuSEconfig/profile and /etc/SuSEconfig/
csh.cshrc. /etc/SuSEconfig/profile is read or sourced by /etc/
profile. /etc/SuSEconfig/csh.cshrc is sourced by /etc/csh.cshrc.
This makes the settings available systemwide.
Users can override the system defaults by editing their ~/.bashrc accordingly. For
instance, if you do not want to use the systemwide en_US for program messages, include
LC_MESSAGES=es_ES so messages are displayed in Spanish instead.
22.4.2 Locale Settings in ~/.i18n

If you are not satisfied with locale system defaults, change the settings in ~/.i18n
according to the Bash scripting syntax. Entries in ~/.i18n override system defaults
from /etc/sysconfig/language. Use the same variable names but without the
RC_ namespace prefixes, for example, use LANG instead of RC_LANG:
LANG=cs_CZ.UTF-8
LC_COLLATE=C

22.4.3 Settings for Language Support
Files in the category Messages are, as a rule, only stored in the corresponding language
directory (like en) to have a fallback. If you set LANG to en_US and the message file
in /usr/share/locale/en_US/LC_MESSAGES does not exist, it falls back to
/usr/share/locale/en/LC_MESSAGES.
A fallback chain can also be defined, for example, for Breton to French or for Galician
to Spanish to Portuguese:
LANGUAGE="br_FR:fr_FR"
LANGUAGE="gl_ES:es_ES:pt_PT"
If desired, use the Norwegian variants Nynorsk and Bokmål instead (with additional
fallback to no):
LANG="nn_NO"
LANGUAGE="nn_NO:nb_NO:no"
or
LANG="nb_NO"
LANGUAGE="nb_NO:nn_NO:no"
Note that in Norwegian, LC_TIME is also treated differently.
One problem that can arise is a separator used to delimit groups of digits not being
recognized properly. This occurs if LANG is set to only a two-letter language code like
de, but the definition file glibc uses is located in /usr/share/lib/de_DE/LC
_NUMERIC. Thus LC_NUMERIC must be set to de_DE to make the separator definition
visible to the system.

• The GNU C Library Reference Manual, Chapter “Locales and Internationalization”.
It is included in glibc-info.

• Markus Kuhn, UTF-8 and Unicode FAQ for Unix/Linux, currently at http://
www.cl.cam.ac.uk/~mgk25/unicode.html.
• Unicode-Howto, by Bruno Haible: /usr/share/doc/howto/en/html/

Unicode-HOWTO.html.

Printer Operation
SUSE Linux Enterprise® supports printing with many types of printers, including remote
23
network printers. Printers can be configured with YaST or manually. Both graphical
and command line utilities are available for starting and managing print jobs. If your
printer does not work as expected, refer to Section 23.9, “Troubleshooting” (page 453).
CUPS is the standard print system in SUSE Linux Enterprise. CUPS is highly user-
oriented. In many cases, it is compatible with LPRng or can be adapted with relatively
little effort. LPRng is included in SUSE Linux Enterprise only for reasons of compati-
bility.
Printers can be distinguished by interface, such as USB or network, and printer language.
When buying a printer, make sure that the printer has an interface (like USB or parallel
port) that is available on your hardware and a suitable printer language. Printers can be
categorized on the basis of the following three classes of printer languages:
PostScript Printers
PostScript is the printer language in which most print jobs in Linux and Unix are
generated and processed by the internal print system. This language is already quite
old and very efficient. If PostScript documents can be processed directly by the
printer and do not need to be converted in additional stages in the print system, the
number of potential error sources is reduced. Because PostScript printers are subject
to substantial license costs, these printers usually cost more than printers without
a PostScript interpreter.
Standard Printer (Languages Like PCL and ESC/P)

Although these printer languages are quite old, they are still undergoing expansion
to address new features in printers. In the case of known printer languages, the
Printer Operation 437

print system can convert PostScript jobs to the respective printer language with the
help of Ghostscript. This processing stage is referred to as interpreting. The best-
known languages are PCL, which is mostly used by HP printers and their clones,
and ESC/P, which is used by Epson printers. These printer languages are usually
supported by Linux and produce a decent print result. Linux may not be able to
address some functions of extremely new and fancy printers, because the open
source developers may still be working on these features. Except for HP developing
hpijs drivers, there are currently no printer manufacturers who develop Linux
drivers and make them available to Linux distributors under an open source license.
Most of these printers are in the medium price range.
Proprietary Printers (Also Called GDI Printers)

These printers do not support any of the common printer languages. They use their
own undocumented printer languages, which are subject to change when a new
edition of a model is released. Usually only Windows drivers are available for these
printers. See Section 23.9.1, “Printers without Standard Printer Language Support”
Before you buy a new printer, refer to the following sources to check how well the
printer you intend to buy is supported:
http://www.linuxprinting.org/
The LinuxPrinting.org printer database.
http://www.cs.wisc.edu/~ghost/
The Ghostscript Web page.
/usr/share/doc/packages/ghostscript/catalog.devices
List of included drivers.
The online databases always show the latest Linux support status. However, a Linux
distribution can only integrate the drivers available at production time. Accordingly, a
printer currently rated as “perfectly supported” may not have had this status when the
latest SUSE Linux Enterprise version was released. Thus, the databases may not neces-
sarily indicate the correct status, but only provide an approximation.

23.1 The Workflow of the Printing
System
The user creates a print job. The print job consists of the data to print plus information
for the spooler, such as the name of the printer or the name of the printer queue, and,
optionally, information for the filter, such as printer-specific options.
At least one dedicated printer queue exists for every printer. The spooler holds the print
job in the queue until the desired printer is ready to receive data. When the printer is
ready, the spooler sends the data through the filter and back-end to the printer.
The filter converts the data generated by the application that is printing (usually
PostScript or PDF, but also ASCII, JPEG, etc.) into printer-specific data (PostScript,
PCL, ESC/P, etc.). The features of the printer are described in the PPD files. A PPD
file contains printer-specific options with the parameters needed to enable them on the
printer. The filter system makes sure that options selected by the user are enabled.
If you use a PostScript printer, the filter system converts the data into printer-specific
PostScript. This does not require a printer driver. If you use a non-PostScript printer,
the filter system converts the data into printer-specific data using Ghostscript. This re-
quires a Ghostscript printer driver suitable for your printer. The back-end receives the
printer-specific data from the filter then passes it to the printer.
23.2 Methods and Protocols for

Connecting Printers
There are various possibilities for connecting a printer to the system. The configuration
of the CUPS print system does not distinguish between a local printer and a printer
connected to the system over the network. In Linux, local printers must be connected
as described in the manual of the printer manufacturer. CUPS supports serial, USB,
parallel, and SCSI connections. For more information about the printer connection,
read the article CUPS in a Nutshell in the Support Database at http://en.opensuse
.org/SDB:CUPS_in_a_Nutshell.
►zseries: Printers and similar devices provided by the z/VM that you can connect
locally with the IBM System z mainframes are not supported by CUPS or LPRng. On

these platforms, printing is only possible over the network. The cabling for network
printers must be installed according to the instructions of the printer manufacturer. ◄
WARNING: Changing Cable Connections in a Running System
When connecting the printer to the machine, do not forget that only USB de-
vices can be plugged in or unplugged during operation. To avoid damaging
your system or printer, shut down the system before changing any connections
that are not USB.
23.3 Installing the Software

PPD (PostScript printer description) is the computer language that describes the prop-
erties, like resolution, and options, such as the availability of a duplex unit. These de-
scriptions are required for using various printer options in CUPS. Without a PPD file,
the print data would be forwarded to the printer in a “raw” state, which is usually not
desired. During the installation of SUSE Linux Enterprise, many PPD files are prein-
stalled to enable even printers without PostScript support to be used.
To configure a PostScript printer, the best approach is to get a suitable PPD file. Many
PPD files are available in the package manufacturer-PPDs, which is automatically
installed within the scope of the standard installation. See Section 23.8.3, “PPD Files
in Various Packages” (page 450) and Section 23.9.2, “No Suitable PPD File Available
for a PostScript Printer” (page 454).
New PPD files can be stored in the directory /usr/share/cups/model/ or added

to the print system with YaST (as described in Section “Adding PPD Files with YaST”
(page 444)). Subsequently, the PPD file can be selected during the installation.
Be careful if a printer manufacturer wants you to install entire software packages in

addition to modifying configuration files. First, this kind of installation would result in
the loss of the support provided by SUSE Linux Enterprise and, second, print commands
may work differently and the system may no longer be able to address devices of other
manufacturers. For this reason, the installation of manufacturer software is not recom-
mended.

23.4 Setting Up a Printer
YaST can be used to configure a local printer that is directly connected to your machine
(normally with USB or parallel port) or to set up printing over the network. It is also
possible to add PPD (PostScript Printer Description) files for your printer with YaST.
23.4.1 Configuring Local Printers

If an unconfigured local printer is detected, YaST starts automatically to configure it.
YaST can configure the printer automatically if the parallel or USB port can be set up
automatically and the connected printer can be detected. The printer model must also
be listed in the database used during the automatic hardware detection.
If the printer model is unknown or cannot be automatically detected, configure it man-

ually. There are two possible reasons why a printer is not automatically detected:
• The printer does not identify itself correctly. This may apply to very old devices.
Try to configure your printer as described in Section “Configuring Manually”
(page 441).
• If the manual configuration does not work, communication between printer and
computer is not possible. Check the cable and the plugs to make sure that the
printer is properly connected. If this is the case, the problem may not be printer-
related, but rather a USB or parallel port–related problem.
Configuring Manually
To manually configure the printer, select Hardware > Printer in the YaST control
center. This opens the main Printer Configuration window, where the detected devices
are listed in the upper part. The lower part lists any queues configured so far (refer to
Section 23.1, “The Workflow of the Printing System” (page 439) for more information
about print queues). If no printer was detected, both parts of the configuration window
are empty. Use Edit to change the configuration of a listed printer or Add to set up a
printer not automatically detected. Editing an existing configuration uses the same di-
alogs as in Adding a Local Printer Manually (page 442).
In Printer Configuration, you can also Delete an existing entry. Clicking Other opens
a list with advanced options. Select Restart Detection, to manually start the automatic

printer detection. If more than one printer is connected to the machine or more than
one queue is configured for a printer, you can mark the active entry as the default. CUPS
Expert Settings and Change IPP Listen are advanced configuration options— refer to
Chapter 23, Printer Operation (page 437) for details.
Procedure 23.1 Adding a Local Printer Manually
TIP: YaST Print Test
To make sure that everything works correctly, the crucial configuration steps
can be checked with the print test function of YaST. The test page also pro-
vides important information about the configuration tested. If the output is
garbled, for example, with several pages almost empty, you can stop the
printer by first removing all paper then stopping the test from YaST.
1 Start YaST and choose Hardware > Printer to open the Printer Configuration
dialog.
2 Click Add to open the Printer Type window.
3 Choose Directly Connected Printers.
4 Select the port to which the printer is connected (usually USB or parallel port)
and choose the device in the next configuration screen. It is recommended to
Test the Printer Connection at this point. If problems occur, select the correct
device or choose Back to return to the previous dialog.
5 In Queue Name, set up a print queue. Specifying a Name for Printing is manda-
tory. It is recommended to choose a recognizable name—with this name, you
can later identify the printer in the printing dialogs of applications. Use Printer
Description and Printer Location to further describe the printer. This is optional,
but useful if you have more than one printer connected to the machine or if you
set up a print server. Do Local Filtering should be checked—it is needed for local
printers.
6 In Printer Model, specify the printer by Manufacturer and Model. If your printer
is not listed, you can try UNKNOWN MANUFACTURER from the manufacturer
list and select an appropriate standard language (the set of commands controlling
the printer) from the model list (refer to your printer's documentation to find out

which language your printer understands). If this does not work, refer to Section
“Adding PPD Files with YaST” (page 444) for another possible solution.
7 The Configuration screen lists a summary of the printer setup. This dialog is also
shown when editing an existing printer configuration from the start screen of this
YaST module.
Figure 23.1 Printer Configuration Summary
The summary contains the following entries, which you can also modify with
Edit:
• Name and basic settings, Printer Model, and Connection let you change en-
tries made while following this procedure.
• Refer to Section “Choosing an Alternative PPD File with YaST” (page 444)
for details on PPD file.
• With Filter settings fine-tune the printer setup. Configure options like Page
Size, Color Mode, and Resolution here.
• By default, every user is able to use the printer. With Restriction settings,
list users that are forbidden to use the printer or list users that are allowed to
use it.

• With State and banner settings you can, for example, deactivate the printer
by changing its state and specify whether a page with a Starting Banner or
Ending Banner is printed before or after each job (the default is not to print
them).
Adding PPD Files with YaST

If your printer does not show up in the Printer Model dialog, a PPD (PostScript Printer
Description) file for your model is missing (see Section 23.3, “Installing the Software”
(page 440) for more information about PPD files). With Add PPD File to Database, add
a PPD file from the local file system or an FTP or HTTP server.
Get PPD files directly from your printer vendor or from the driver CD of the printer
(see Section 23.9.2, “No Suitable PPD File Available for a PostScript Printer” (page 454)
for details). An alternative source for PPD files is http://www.linuxprinting
.org/, the “Linux Printing Database”. When downloading PPD files from linuxprint-
ing.org, keep in mind that it always shows the latest Linux support status, which is not
necessarily met by SUSE Linux Enterprise.
Choosing an Alternative PPD File with YaST

For many printer models, several PPD files are available. When configuring the printer,
YaST defaults to the one marked recommended as a general rule. To get a list of
PPD files available for a printer, select PPD file in Configuration then click Edit. See
Figure 23.1, “Printer Configuration Summary” (page 443).
Normally it should not be necessary to change the PPD file—the PPD file chosen by
YaST should produce the best results. However, if you want a color printer to print
only in black and white, for example, it is most convenient to use a PPD file that does
not support color printing. If you experience performance problems with a PostScript
printer when printing graphics, it may help to switch from a PostScript PPD file to a
PCL PPD file (provided your printer understands PCL).

23.4.2 Configuring Network Printers with
YaST
Network printers are not detected automatically. They must be configured manually
using the YaST printer module. Depending on your network setup, you can print to a
print server (CUPS, LPD, SMB, or IPX) or directly to a network printer (preferably via
TCP). Ask your network administrator for details on configuring a network printer in
your environment.
Procedure 23.2 Configuring a Network Printer with YaST
1 Start YaST and choose Hardware > Printer to open the Printer Configuration
dialog.
2 Click Add to open the Printer Type window.
3 Choose Network Printers to open a dialog in which to specify further details that
should be provided by your network administrator.
23.5 Network Printers

A network printer can support various protocols, some of them even concurrently. Al-
though most of the supported protocols are standardized, some manufacturers expand
(modify) the standard because they test systems that have not implemented the standard
correctly or because they want to provide certain functions that are not available in the
standard. Manufacturers then provide drivers for only a few operating systems, elimi-
nating difficulties with those systems. Unfortunately, Linux drivers are rarely provided.
The current situation is such that you cannot act on the assumption that every protocol
works smoothly in Linux. Therefore, you may have to experiment with various options
to achieve a functional configuration.
IMPORTANT: Remote Access Settings
By default, the cupsd only listens on internal network interfaces (localhost).

When setting up a CUPS network server you need to adjust the Listen direc-
tive in /etc/cups/cupsd.conf to listen to the outer network.
CUPS supports the socket, LPD, IPP, and smb protocols.

socket
Socket refers to a connection in which the data is sent to an Internet socket without
first performing a data handshake. Some of the socket port numbers that are com-
monly used are 9100 or 35. The device URI (uniform resource identifier) syntax
is socket://IP.of.the.printer:port, for example,
socket://192.168.2.202:9100/.
LPD (Line Printer Daemon)

The proven LPD protocol is described in RFC 1179. Under this protocol, some
job-related data, such as the ID of the printer queue, is sent before the actual print
data is sent. Therefore, a printer queue must be specified when configuring the
LPD protocol for the data transmission. The implementations of diverse printer
manufacturers are flexible enough to accept any name as the printer queue. If nec-
essary, the printer manual should indicate what name to use. LPT, LPT1, LP1, or
similar names are often used. An LPD queue can also be configured on a different
Linux or Unix host in the CUPS system. The port number for an LPD service is
515. An example device URI is lpd://192.168.2.202/LPT1.
IPP (Internet Printing Protocol)

IPP is a relatively new (1999) protocol based on the HTTP protocol. With IPP,
more job-related data is transmitted than with the other protocols. CUPS uses IPP
for internal data transmission. This is the preferred protocol for a forwarding queue
between two CUPS servers. The name of the print queue is necessary to configure
IPP correctly. The port number for IPP is 631. Example device URIs are
ipp://192.168.2.202/ps and ipp://192.168.2.202/printers/ps.
SMB (Windows Share)

CUPS also supports printing on printers connected to Windows shares. The protocol
used for this purpose is SMB. SMB uses the port numbers 137, 138, and 139.
Example device URIs are
smb://user:password@workgroup/smb.example.com/printer,
smb://user:[email protected]/printer, and
smb://smb.example.com/printer.
The protocol supported by the printer must be determined before configuration. If the
manufacturer does not provide the needed information, the command nmap, which
comes with the nmap package, can be used to guess the protocol. nmap checks a host
for open ports. For example:
nmap -p 35,137-139,515,631,9100-10000 printerIP

23.5.1 Configuring CUPS with Command
Line Tools
Apart from setting CUPS options with YaST when configuring a network printer, CUPS
can be configured with command line tools like lpadmin and lpoptions. You need
a device URI consisting of a back-end, such as USB, and parameters, like /dev/usb/
lp0. For example, the full URI could be parallel:/dev/lp0 (printer connected
to the first parallel port) or usb:/dev/usb/lp0 (first detected printer connected to
the USB port).
With lpadmin, the CUPS server administrator can add, remove, or manage class and
print queues. To add a print queue, use the following syntax:
lpadmin -p queue -v device-URI -P PPD-file -E
Then the device (-v) is available as queue (-p), using the specified PPD file (-P).
This means that you must know the PPD file and the name of the device to configure
the printer manually.
Do not use -E as the first option. For all CUPS commands, -E as the first argument
sets use of an encrypted connection. To enable the printer, -E must be used as shown
in the following example:
lpadmin -p ps -v parallel:/dev/lp0 -P \
/usr/share/cups/model/Postscript.ppd.gz -E
The following example configures a network printer:

lpadmin -p ps -v socket://192.168.2.202:9100/ -P \
/usr/share/cups/model/Postscript-level1.ppd.gz -E
For more options of lpadmin, see the man page of lpadmin(1).
During printer setup, certain options are set as default. These options can be modified
for every print job (depending on the print tool used). Changing these default options
with YaST is also possible. Using command line tools, set default options as follows:
1 First, list all options:

lpoptions -p queue -l
Example:
Resolution/Output Resolution: 150dpi *300dpi 600dpi

The activated default option is identified by a preceding asterisk (*).
2 Change the option with lpadmin:

lpadmin -p queue -o Resolution=600dpi
3 Check the new setting:

lpoptions -p queue -l
Resolution/Output Resolution: 150dpi 300dpi *600dpi
When a normal user runs lpoptions, the settings are written to ~/.lpoptions.
However, root settings are written to /etc/cups/lpoptions.
23.6 Graphical Printing Interfaces

Tools such as xpp and the KDE program KPrinter provide a graphical interface for
choosing queues and setting both CUPS standard options and printer-specific options
made available through the PPD file. You can even use KPrinter as the standard printing
interface of non-KDE applications. In the print dialog of these applications, specify
either kprinter or kprinter --stdin as the print command. The command to
use depends on how the application transmits the data—just try which one results in
starting KPrinter. If set up correctly, the application should open the KPrinter dialog
whenever a print job is issued from it, so you can use the dialog to select a queue and
set other printing options. This requires that the application's own print setup does not
conflict with that of KPrinter and that printing options are only changed through
KPrinter after it has been enabled.
23.7 Printing from the Command Line

To print from the command line, enter lp -d queuename filename, substituting
the corresponding names for queuename and filename.
Some applications rely on the lp command for printing. In this case, enter the correct
command in the application's print dialog, usually without specifying filename, for
example, lp -d queuename.

23.8 Special Features in SUSE Linux
Enterprise
A number of CUPS features have been adapted for SUSE Linux Enterprise. Some of
the most important changes are covered here.
23.8.1 CUPS and Firewall

After having performed a default installation of SUSE Linux Enterprise, SuSEfirewall2
is active and the external network devices are configured to be in the External
Zone which blocks incoming traffic. These default settings have to be adjusted when
using CUPS. More information about the SUSEfirewall2 configuration is available in
Section 43.4, “SuSEfirewall2” (page 824).
CUPS Client
Normally a CUPS client runs on a regular workstation located in a network behind a
firewall. In this case it is recommended to configure the external network devices to
be in the Internal Zone, so the workstation is reachable from within the network.
CUPS Server
If the CUPS server is part of network protected by a firewall, the external network device
should be configured to be in the Internal Zone of the firewall. When being part
of the external zone, the TCP and UDP port 631 needs to be opened in order to make
the CUPS server available in the network.

23.8.2 Changes in the CUPS Print Service
Generalized Functionality for BrowseAllow and
BrowseDeny
The access permissions set for BrowseAllow and BrowseDeny apply to all kinds
of packages sent to cupsd. The default settings in /etc/cups/cupsd.conf are
as follows:
BrowseAllow @LOCAL
BrowseDeny All
and
<Location />
Order Deny,Allow
Deny From All
Allow From 127.0.0.1
Allow From 127.0.0.2
Allow From @LOCAL
</Location>
In this way, only LOCAL hosts can access cupsd on a CUPS server. LOCAL hosts are
hosts whose IP addresses belong to a non-PPP interface (interfaces whose
IFF_POINTOPOINT flags are not set) and whose IP addresses belong to the same
network as the CUPS server. Packets from all other hosts are rejected immediately.
cupsd Activated by Default

In a standard installation, cupsd is activated automatically, enabling comfortable access
to the queues of CUPS network servers without any additional manual actions. The
items in Section “Generalized Functionality for BrowseAllow and BrowseDeny”
(page 450) are vital preconditions for this feature, because otherwise the security would
not be sufficient for an automatic activation of cupsd.
23.8.3 PPD Files in Various Packages

The YaST printer configuration sets up the queues for CUPS using only the PPD files
installed in /usr/share/cups/model. To find the suitable PPD files for the
printer model, YaST compares the vendor and model determined during hardware de-

tection with the vendors and models in all PPD files available in /usr/share/cups/
model on the system. For this purpose, the YaST printer configuration generates a
database from the vendor and model information extracted from the PPD files. When
you select a printer from the list of vendors and models, receive the PPD files matching
the vendor and model.
The configuration using only PPD files and no other information sources has the advan-
tage that the PPD files in /usr/share/cups/model can be modified freely. The
YaST printer configuration recognizes changes and regenerates the vendor and model
database. For example, if you only have PostScript printers, normally you do not need
the Foomatic PPD files in the cups-drivers package or the Gimp-Print PPD files
in the cups-drivers-stp package. Instead, the PPD files for your PostScript
printers can be copied directly to /usr/share/cups/model (if they do not already
exist in the manufacturer-PPDs package) to achieve an optimum configuration
for your printers.
CUPS PPD Files in the cups Package

The generic PPD files in the cups package have been complemented with adapted
Foomatic PPD files for PostScript level 1 and level 2 printers:
• /usr/share/cups/model/Postscript-level1.ppd.gz
• /usr/share/cups/model/Postscript-level2.ppd.gz
PPD Files in the cups-drivers Package

Normally, the Foomatic printer filter foomatic-rip is used together with Ghostscript
for non-PostScript printers. Suitable Foomatic PPD files have the entries *NickName:
... Foomatic/Ghostscript driver and *cupsFilter: ...
foomatic-rip. These PPD files are located in the cups-drivers package.
YaST prefers a Foomatic PPD file if a Foomatic PPD file with the entry *NickName:
... Foomatic ... (recommended) matches the printer model and the
manufacturer-PPDs package does not contain a more suitable PPD file.

Gimp-Print PPD Files in the cups-drivers-stp
Package
Instead of foomatic-rip, the CUPS filter rastertoprinter from Gimp-Print
can be used for many non-PostScript printers. This filter and suitable Gimp-Print PPD
files are available in the cups-drivers-stp package. The Gimp-Print PPD files
are located in /usr/share/cups/model/stp/ and have the entries *NickName:
... CUPS+Gimp-Print and *cupsFilter: ... rastertoprinter.
PPD Files from Printer Manufacturers in the

manufacturer-PPDs Package
The manufacturer-PPDs package contains PPD files from printer manufacturers
that are released under a sufficiently liberal license. PostScript printers should be con-
figured with the suitable PPD file of the printer manufacturer, because this file enables
the use of all functions of the PostScript printer. YaST prefers a PPD file from the
manufacturer-PPDs package if the following conditions are met:
• The vendor and model determined during the hardware detection match the vendor
and model in a PPD file from the manufacturer-PPDs package.
• The PPD file from the manufacturer-PPDs package is the only suitable PPD
file for the printer model or a there is a Foomatic PPD file with a *NickName:
... Foomatic/Postscript (recommended) entry that also matches the
printer model.
Accordingly, YaST does not use any PPD file from the manufacturer-PPDs
package in the following cases:
• The PPD file from the the manufacturer-PPDs package does not match the
vendor and model. This may happen if the manufacturer-PPDs package con-
tains only one PPD file for similar models, for example, if there is no separate PPD
file for the individual models of a model series, but the model name is specified in
a form like Funprinter 1000 series in the PPD file.
• The Foomatic PostScript PPD file is not recommended. This may be because the
printer model does not operate efficiently enough in PostScript mode, for example,
the printer may be unreliable in this mode because it has too little memory or the

printer is too slow because its processor is too weak. Furthermore, the printer may
not support PostScript by default, for example, because PostScript support is only
available as an optional module.
If a PPD file from the manufacturer-PPDs package is suitable for a PostScript

printer, but YaST cannot configure it for these reasons, select the respective printer
model manually in YaST.
The following sections cover some of the most frequently encountered printer hardware
and software problems and ways to solve or circumvent these problems. Among the
topics covered are GDI printers, PPD files, and port configuration. Common network
printer problems, defective printouts, and queue handling are also addressed.
23.9.1 Printers without Standard Printer

Language Support
These printers do not support any common printer language and can only be addressed
with special proprietary control sequences. Therefore they can only work with the op-
erating system versions for which the manufacturer delivers a driver. GDI is a program-
ming interface developed by Microsoft* for graphics devices. Usually the manufacturer
delivers drivers only for Windows and because the Windows driver uses the GDI inter-
face, these printers are also called GDI printers. The actual problem is not the program-
ming interface, but the fact that these printers can only be addressed with the proprietary
printer language of the respective printer model.
Some GDI printers can be switched to operate either in GDI mode or one of the standard
printer languages. See the manual of the printer whether it is possible. Some models
require a special Windows software to do the switch (note that the Windows printer
driver may always switch the printer back into GDI mode when printing from Windows).
For other GDI printers there are extension modules for a standard printer language
available.
Some manufacturers provide proprietary drivers for their printers. The disadvantage of
proprietary printer drivers is that there is no guarantee that these work with the installed
print system and that they are suitable for the various hardware platforms. In contrast,

printers that support a standard printer language do not depend on a special print system
version or a special hardware platform.
Instead of spending time trying to make a proprietary Linux driver work, it may be
more cost-effective to purchase a supported printer. This would solve the driver problem
once and for all, eliminating the need to install and configure special driver software
and obtain driver updates that may be required due to new developments in the print
system.
23.9.2 No Suitable PPD File Available for a

PostScript Printer
If the manufacturer-PPDs package does not contain any suitable PPD file for a
PostScript printer, it should be possible to use the PPD file from the driver CD of the
printer manufacturer or download a suitable PPD file from the Web page of the printer
manufacturer.
If the PPD file is provided as a zip archive (.zip) or a self-extracting zip archive (.exe),
unpack it with unzip. First, review the license terms of the PPD file. Then use the
cupstestppd utility to check if the PPD file complies with “Adobe PostScript
Printer Description File Format Specification, version 4.3.” If the utility returns “FAIL,”
the errors in the PPD files are serious and are likely to cause major problems. The
problem spots reported by cupstestppd should be eliminated. If necessary, ask the
printer manufacturer for a suitable PPD file.
23.9.3 Parallel Ports

The safest approach is to connect the printer directly to the first parallel port and to select
the following parallel port settings in the BIOS:
• I/O address: 378 (hexadecimal)
• Interrupt: irrelevant
• Mode: Normal, SPP, or Output Only
• DMA: disabled

If the printer cannot be addressed on the parallel port despite these settings, enter the
I/O address explicitly in accordance with the setting in the BIOS in the form 0x378
in /etc/modprobe.conf. If there are two parallel ports that are set to the I/O ad-
dresses 378 and 278 (hexadecimal), enter these in the form 0x378,0x278.
If interrupt 7 is free, it can be activated with the entry shown in Example 23.1, “ /etc/
modprobe.conf: Interrupt Mode for the First Parallel Port ” (page 455). Before acti-
vating the interrupt mode, check the file /proc/interrupts to see which interrupts
are already in use. Only the interrupts currently being used are displayed. This may
change depending on which hardware components are active. The interrupt for the
parallel port must not be used by any other device. If you are not sure, use the polling
mode with irq=none.
Example 23.1 /etc/modprobe.conf: Interrupt Mode for the First Parallel Port
alias parport_lowlevel parport_pc
options parport_pc io=0x378 irq=7
23.9.4 Network Printer Connections

Identifying Network Problems
Connect the printer directly to the computer. For test purposes, configure the
printer as a local printer. If this works, the problems are related to the network.
Checking the TCP/IP Network

The TCP/IP network and name resolution must be functional.
Checking the Remote Accessibility

By default, the cupsd only listens on internal network interfaces (localhost).
Check whether the Listen directive(s) in /etc/cups/cupsd.conf allow
access from the outer network:
Listen 192.168.2,*:631
Checking the Firewall Settings

A CUPS server either needs to be in the internal firewall zone or, when being in
the external zone, must be able to send and receive data on the UDP and TCP port
631.

Checking a Remote lpd
Use the following command to test if a TCP connection can be established to lpd
(port 515) on host:
netcat -z host 515 && echo ok || echo failed
If the connection to lpd cannot be established, lpd may not be active or there
may be basic network problems.
As the user root, use the following command to query a (possibly very long)
status report for queue on remote host, provided the respective lpd is active
and the host accepts queries:
echo -e "\004queue" \
| netcat -w 2 -p 722 host 515
If lpd does not respond, it may not be active or there may be basic network prob-
lems. If lpd responds, the response should show why printing is not possible on
the queue on host. If you receive a response like that in Example 23.2, “Error
Message from lpd” (page 456), the problem is caused by the remote lpd.
Example 23.2 Error Message from lpd

lpd: your host does not have line printer access
lpd: queue does not exist
printer: spooling disabled
printer: printing disabled
Checking a Remote cupsd

By default, the CUPS network server should broadcast its queues every 30 seconds
on UDP port 631. Accordingly, the following command can be used to test whether
there is a CUPS network server in the network.
netcat -u -l -p 631 & PID=$! ; sleep 40 ; kill $PID
If a broadcasting CUPS network server exists, the output appears as shown in Ex-
ample 23.3, “Broadcast from the CUPS Network Server” (page 456).
Example 23.3 Broadcast from the CUPS Network Server

ipp://192.168.2.202:631/printers/queue
►zseries: Take into account that IBM System z ethernet devices do not receive
broadcasts by default. ◄

The following command can be used to test if a TCP connection can be established
to cupsd (port 631) on host:
netcat -z host 631 && echo ok || echo failed
If the connection to cupsd cannot be established, cupsd may not be active or

there may be basic network problems. lpstat -h host -l -t returns a
(possibly very long) status report for all queues on host, provided the respective
cupsd is active and the host accepts queries.
The next command can be used to test if the queue on host accepts a print job
consisting of a single carriage-return character. Nothing should be printed. Possibly,
a blank page may be ejected.
echo -en "\r" \
| lp -d queue -h host
Troubleshooting a Network Printer or Print Server Box

Spoolers running in a print server box sometimes cause problems when they have
to deal with a lot of print jobs. Because this is caused by the spooler in the print
server box, there is nothing you can do about it. As a work-around, circumvent the
spooler in the print server box by addressing the printer connected to the print
server box directly with TCP socket. See Section 23.5, “Network Printers”
(page 445).
In this way, the print server box is reduced to a converter between the various forms
of data transfer (TCP/IP network and local printer connection). To use this method,
you need to know the TCP port on the print server box. If the printer is connected
to the print server box and powered on, this TCP port can usually be determined
with the nmap utility from the nmap package some time after the print server box
is powered on. For example, nmap IP-address may deliver the following
output for a print server box:
Port State Service
23/tcp open telnet
80/tcp open http
515/tcp open printer
631/tcp open cups
9100/tcp open jetdirect
This output indicates that the printer connected to the print server box can be ad-
dressed via TCP socket on port 9100. By default, nmap only checks a number of
commonly known ports listed in /usr/share/nmap/nmap-services. To
check all possible ports, use the command nmap

-p from_port-to_port IP-address. This may take some time. For further
information, refer to the man page of nmap.
Enter a command like

echo -en "\rHello\r\f" | netcat -w 1 IP-address port
cat file | netcat -w 1 IP-address port
to send character strings or files directly to the respective port to test if the printer
can be addressed on this port.
23.9.5 Defective Printouts without Error

Message
For the print system, the print job is completed when the CUPS back-end completes
the data transfer to the recipient (printer). If the further processing on the recipient fails,
for example, if the printer is not able to print the printer-specific data, the print system
does not notice this. If the printer is not able to print the printer-specific data, select a
different PPD file that is more suitable for the printer.
23.9.6 Disabled Queues

If the data transfer to the recipient fails entirely after several attempts, the CUPS back-
end, such as USB or socket, reports an error to the print system (to cupsd). The
back-end decides whether and how many attempts make sense until the data transfer
is reported as impossible. Because further attempts would be in vain, cupsd disables
printing for the respective queue. After eliminating the cause of the problem, the system
administrator must reenable printing with the command /usr/bin/enable.
23.9.7 CUPS Browsing: Deleting Print Jobs

If a CUPS network server broadcasts its queues to the client hosts via browsing and a
suitable local cupsd is active on the client hosts, the client cupsd accepts print jobs
from applications and forwards them to the cupsd on the server. When cupsd accepts
a print job, it is assigned a new job number. Therefore, the job number on the client
host is different from the job number on the server. Because a print job is usually for-
warded immediately, it cannot be deleted with the job number on the client host, because

the client cupsd regards the print job as completed as soon as it has been forwarded
to the server cupsd.
To delete the print job on the server, use a command such as lpstat -h
cups.example.com -o to determine the job number on the server, provided the
server has not already completed the print job (that is, sent it completely to the printer).
Using this job number, the print job on the server can be deleted:
cancel -h cups.example.com queue-jobnnumber
23.9.8 Defective Print Jobs and Data

Transfer Errors
Print jobs remain in the queues and printing resumes if you switch the printer off and
on or shut down and reboot the computer during the printing process. Defective print
jobs must be removed from the queue with cancel.
If a print job is defective or an error occurs in the communication between the host and
the printer, the printer prints numerous sheets of paper with unintelligible characters,
because it is unable to process the data correctly. To deal with this, follow these steps:
1 To stop printing, remove all paper from ink jet printers or open the paper trays
of laser printers. High-quality printers have a button for canceling the current
printout.
2 The print job may still be in the queue, because jobs are only removed after they
are sent completely to the printer. Use lpstat -o or lpstat -h
cups.example.com -o to check which queue is currently printing. Delete
the print job with cancel queue-jobnumber or cancel -h
cups.example.com queue-jobnumber.
3 Some data may still be transferred to the printer even though the print job has
been deleted from the queue. Check if a CUPS back-end process is still running
for the respective queue and terminate it. For example, for a printer connected
to the parallel port, the command fuser -k /dev/lp0 can be used to termi-
nate all processes that are still accessing the printer (more precisely: the parallel
port).

4 Reset the printer completely by switching it off for some time. Then insert the
paper and turn on the printer.
23.9.9 Debugging the CUPS Print System

Use the following generic procedure to locate problems in the CUPS print system:
1 Set LogLevel debug in /etc/cups/cupsd.conf.
2 Stop cupsd.
3 Remove /var/log/cups/error_log* to avoid having to search through

very large log files.
4 Start cupsd.
5 Repeat the action that led to the problem.
6 Check the messages in /var/log/cups/error_log* to identify the cause

of the problem.

Dynamic Kernel Device
Management with udev
Since version 2.6, the kernel is capable of adding or removing almost any device in the
24
running system. Changes in device state (whether a device is plugged in or removed)
need to be propagated to userspace. Devices need to be configured as soon as they are
plugged in and discovered. Users of a certain device need to be informed about any
state changes of this device. udev provides the needed infrastructure to dynamically
maintain the device node files and symbolic links in the /dev directory. udev rules
provide a way to plug external tools into the kernel device event processing. This enables
you to customize udev device handling, for example, by adding certain scripts to execute
as part of kernel device handling, or request and import additional data to evaluate
during device handling.
24.1 The /dev Directory

The device nodes in the /dev directory provide access to the corresponding kernel
devices. With udev, the /dev directory reflects the current state of the kernel. Every
kernel device has one corresponding device file. If a device is disconnected from the
system, the device node is removed.
The content of the /dev directory is kept on a temporary file system and all files are
created from scratch at every system start-up. Manually created or changed files inten-
tionally do not survive a reboot. Static files and directories that should always be present
in the /dev directory regardless of the state of the corresponding kernel device can be
placed in the /lib/udev/devices directory. At system start-up, the contents of
that directory is copied to the /dev directory with the same ownership and permissions
as the files in /lib/udev/devices.
Dynamic Kernel Device Management with udev 461

24.2 Kernel uevents and udev
The required device information is exported by the sysfs file system. For every device
the kernel has detected and initialized, a directory with the device name is created. It
contains attribute files with device-specific properties. Every time a device is added or
removed, the kernel sends a uevent to notify udev of the change.
The udev daemon reads and parses all provided rules from the /etc/udev/rules
.d/*.rules files once at start-up and keeps them in memory. If rules files are
changed, added, or removed, the daemon receives an event and updates the in-memory
representation of the rules.
Every received event is matched against the set of provides rules. The rules can add or
change event environment keys, request a specific name for the device node to create,
add symlinks pointing to the node, or add programs to run after the device node is cre-
ated. The driver core uevents are received from a kernel netlink socket.
24.3 Drivers, Kernel Modules, and

Devices
The kernel bus drivers probe for devices. For every detected device, the kernel creates
an internal device structure and the driver core sends a uevent to the udev daemon. Bus
devices identify themselves by a specially-formatted ID, which tells what kind of device
it is. Usually these IDs consist of vendor and product ID and other subsystem-specific
values. Every bus has its own scheme for these IDs, called MODALIAS. The kernel
takes the device information, composes a MODALIAS ID string from it, and sends that
string along with the event. For a USB mouse, it looks like this:
MODALIAS=usb:v046DpC03Ed2000dc00dsc00dp00ic03isc01ip02
Every device driver carries a list of known aliases for devices it can handle. The list is
contained in the kernel module file itself. The program depmod reads the ID lists and
creates the file modules.alias in the kernel's /lib/modules directory for all
currently available modules. With this infrastructure, module loading is as easy as
calling modprobe for every event that carries a MODALIAS key. If modprobe
$MODALIAS is called, it matches the device alias composed for the device with the

aliases provided by the modules. If a matching entry is found, that module is loaded.
All this is triggered by udev and happens automatically.
24.4 Booting and Initial Device Setup

All device events happening during the boot process before the udev daemon is running
are lost, because the infrastructure to handle these events lives on the root file system
and is not available at that time. To cover that loss, the kernel provides a uevent file
for every device in the sysfs file system. By writing add to that file, the kernel resends
the same event as the one lost during boot. A simple loop over all uevent files in
/sys triggers all events again to create the device nodes and perform device setup.
As an example, a USB mouse present during boot may not be initialized by the early
boot logic, because the driver is not available that time. The event for the device discov-
ery was lost and failed to find a kernel module for the device. Instead of manually
searching for possibly connected devices, udev just requests all device events from the
kernel after the root file system is available, so the event for the USB mouse device
just runs again. Now it finds the kernel module on the mounted root file system and the
USB mouse can be initialized.
From userspace, there is no visible difference between a device coldplug sequence and
a device discovery during runtime. In both cases, the same rules are used to match and
the same configured programs are run.
24.5 Debugging udev Events

The program udevmonitor can be used to visualize the driver core events and the
timing of the udev event processes.
UEVENT[1132632714.285362] add@/devices/pci0000:00/0000:00:1d.1/usb2/2-2
UEVENT[1132632714.288166] add@/devices/pci0000:00/0000:00:1d.1/usb2/2-2/2-2:1.0
UEVENT[1132632714.309485] add@/class/input/input6
UEVENT[1132632714.309511] add@/class/input/input6/mouse2
UEVENT[1132632714.309524] add@/class/usb_device/usbdev2.12
UDEV [1132632714.348966] add@/devices/pci0000:00/0000:00:1d.1/usb2/2-2
UDEV [1132632714.420947] add@/devices/pci0000:00/0000:00:1d.1/usb2/2-2/2-2:1.0
UDEV [1132632714.427298] add@/class/input/input6
UDEV [1132632714.434223] add@/class/usb_device/usbdev2.12
UDEV [1132632714.439934] add@/class/input/input6/mouse2

The UEVENT lines show the events the kernel has sent over netlink. The UDEV lines
show the finished udev event handlers. The timing is printed in microseconds. The time
between UEVENT and UDEV is the time udev took to process this event or the udev
daemon has delayed its execution to synchronize this event with related and already
running events. For example, events for hard disk partitions always wait for the main
disk device event to finish, because the partition events may rely on the data the main
disk event has queried from the hardware.
udevmonitor --env shows the complete event environment:
UDEV [1132633002.937243] add@/class/input/input7

UDEV_LOG=3
ACTION=add
DEVPATH=/class/input/input7
SUBSYSTEM=input
SEQNUM=1043
PHYSDEVPATH=/devices/pci0000:00/0000:00:1d.1/usb2/2-2/2-2:1.0
PHYSDEVBUS=usb
PHYSDEVDRIVER=usbhid
PRODUCT=3/46d/c03e/2000
NAME="Logitech USB-PS/2 Optical Mouse"
PHYS="usb-0000:00:1d.1-2/input0"
UNIQ=""
EV=7
KEY=70000 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0
REL=103
udev also sends messages to syslog. The default syslog priority that controls which
messages are sent to syslog is specified in the udev configuration file /etc/udev/
udev.conf. The log priority of the running daemon can be changed with
udevcontrol log_priority=level/number.
24.6 Influencing Kernel Device Event

Handling with udev Rules
A udev rule can match any property the kernel adds to the event itself or any information
that the kernel exports to sysfs. The rule can also request additional information from
external programs. Every event is matched against all provided rules. All rules are lo-
cated in the /etc/udev/rules.d directory.

Every line in the rules file contains at least one key value pair. There are two kinds of
keys, match and assignment keys. If all match keys match their values, the rule is applied
and the assignment keys are assigned the specified value. A matching rule may specify
the name of the device node, add symlinks pointing to the node, or run a specified
program as part of the event handling. If no matching rule is found, the default device
node name is used to create the device node. The rule syntax and the provided keys to
match or import data are described in the udev man page.
24.7 Persistent Device Naming

The dynamic device directory and the udev rules infrastructure make it possible to
provide stable names for all disk devices—regardless of their order of recognition or
the connection used for the device. Every appropriate block device the kernel creates
is examined by tools with special knowledge about certain buses, drive types, or file
systems. Along with the dynamic kernel-provided device node name, udev maintains
classes of persistent symbolic links pointing to the device:
/dev/disk
|-- by-id
| |-- scsi-SATA_HTS726060M9AT00_MRH453M4HWHG7B -> ../../sda
| |-- scsi-SATA_HTS726060M9AT00_MRH453M4HWHG7B-part1 -> ../../sda1
| |-- usb-Generic_STORAGE_DEVICE_02773 -> ../../sdd
| `-- usb-Generic_STORAGE_DEVICE_02773-part1 -> ../../sdd1
|-- by-label
| |-- Photos -> ../../sdd1
| |-- SUSE10 -> ../../sda7
| `-- devel -> ../../sda6
|-- by-path
| |-- pci-0000:00:1f.2-scsi-0:0:0:0 -> ../../sda
| |-- pci-0000:00:1f.2-scsi-0:0:0:0-part1 -> ../../sda1
| |-- pci-0000:00:1f.2-scsi-1:0:0:0 -> ../../sr0
| |-- usb-02773:0:0:2 -> ../../sdd
| |-- usb-02773:0:0:2-part1 -> ../../sdd1
`-- by-uuid
|-- 159a47a4-e6e6-40be-a757-a629991479ae -> ../../sda7
|-- 3e999973-00c9-4917-9442-b7633bd95b9e -> ../../sda6
`-- 4210-8F8C -> ../../sdd1

24.8 The Replaced hotplug Package
The formerly used hotplug package is entirely replaced by udev and the udev-related
kernel infrastructure. The following parts of the former hotplug infrastructure have
been made obsolete or had their functionality taken over by udev:
/etc/hotplug/*.agent
No longer needed or moved to /lib/udev
/etc/hotplug/*.rc
Replaced by the /sys/*/uevent trigger
/etc/hotplug/blacklist
Replaced by the blacklist option in modprobe.conf
/etc/dev.d/*
Replaced by the udev rule RUN key
/etc/hotplug.d/*
Replaced by the udev rule RUN key
/sbin/hotplug
Replaced by udevd listening to netlink; only used in the initial RAM file system
until the root file system can be mounted, then it is disabled
/dev/*
Replaced by dynamic udev and static content in /lib/udev/devices/*
The following files and directories contain the crucial elements of the udev infrastructure:
/etc/udev/udev.conf
Main udev configuration file
/etc/udev/rules.d/*
udev event matching rules
/lib/udev/devices/*
Static /dev content

/lib/udev/*
Helper programs called from udev rules

For more information about the udev infrastructure, refer to the following man pages:
udev
General information about udev, keys, rules, and other important configuration is-
sues.
udevinfo
udevinfo can be used to query device information from the udev database.
udevd
Information about the udev event managing daemon.
udevmonitor
udevmonitor prints the kernel and udev event sequence to the console. This tool is
mainly used for debugging purposes.

File Systems in Linux
SUSE Linux Enterprise® ships with a number of different file systems, including Rei-
25
serFS, Ext2, Ext3, and XFS, from which to choose at installation time. Each file system
has its own advantages and disadvantages that can make it more suited to a scenario.
To meet the requirements of high-performance clustering scenarios, SUSE Linux En-
terprise Server includes OCFS2 (Oracle Cluster File System 2).
25.1 Terminology
metadata
A file system–internal data structure that assures all the data on disk is properly
organized and accessible. Essentially, it is “data about the data.” Almost every file
system has its own structure of metadata, which is part of why the file systems
show different performance characteristics. It is extremely important to maintain
metadata intact, because otherwise all data on the file system could become inac-
cessible.
inode
Inodes contain various information about a file, including size, number of links,
pointers to the disk blocks where the file contents are actually stored, and date and
time of creation, modification, and access.
journal
In the context of a file system, a journal is an on-disk structure containing a kind
of log in which the file system stores what it is about to change in the file system's
metadata. Journaling greatly reduces the recovery time of a Linux system because
File Systems in Linux 469

it obsoletes the lengthy search process that checks the entire file system at system
start-up. Instead, only the journal is replayed.
25.2 Major File Systems in Linux

Unlike two or three years ago, choosing a file system for a Linux system is no longer
a matter of a few seconds (Ext2 or ReiserFS?). Kernels starting from 2.4 offer a variety
of file systems from which to choose. The following is an overview of how these file
systems basically work and which advantages they offer.
It is very important to bear in mind that there may be no file system that best suits all
kinds of applications. Each file system has its particular strengths and weaknesses,
which must be taken into account. Even the most sophisticated file system cannot replace
a reasonable backup strategy, however.
The terms data integrity and data consistency, when used in this chapter, do not refer
to the consistency of the user space data (the data your application writes to its files).
Whether this data is consistent must be controlled by the application itself.
IMPORTANT: Setting Up File Systems
Unless stated otherwise in this chapter, all the steps required to set up or
change partitions and file systems can be performed using YaST.
25.2.1 ReiserFS
Officially one of the key features of the 2.4 kernel release, ReiserFS has been available
as a kernel patch for 2.2.x SUSE kernels since version 6.4. ReiserFS was designed by
Hans Reiser and the Namesys development team. It has proven itself to be a powerful
alternative to Ext2. Its key assets are better disk space utilization, better disk access
performance, and faster crash recovery.
ReiserFS's strengths, in more detail, are:
Better Disk Space Utilization

In ReiserFS, all data is organized in a structure called B*-balanced tree. The tree
structure contributes to better disk space utilization because small files can be stored

directly in the B* tree leaf nodes instead of being stored elsewhere and just main-
taining a pointer to the actual disk location. In addition to that, storage is not allo-
cated in chunks of 1 or 4 KB, but in portions of the exact size needed. Another
benefit lies in the dynamic allocation of inodes. This keeps the file system more
flexible than traditional file systems, like Ext2, where the inode density must be
specified at file system creation time.
Better Disk Access Performance

For small files, file data and “stat_data” (inode) information are often stored next
to each other. They can be read with a single disk I/O operation, meaning that only
one access to disk is required to retrieve all the information needed.
Fast Crash Recovery

Using a journal to keep track of recent metadata changes makes a file system check
a matter of seconds, even for huge file systems.
Reliability through Data Journaling

ReiserFS also supports data journaling and ordered data modes similar to the con-
cepts outlined in the Ext3 section, Section 25.2.3, “Ext3” (page 472). The default
mode is data=ordered, which ensures both data and metadata integrity, but
uses journaling only for metadata.
25.2.2 Ext2
The origins of Ext2 go back to the early days of Linux history. Its predecessor, the
Extended File System, was implemented in April 1992 and integrated in Linux 0.96c.
The Extended File System underwent a number of modifications and, as Ext2, became
the most popular Linux file system for years. With the creation of journaling file systems
and their astonishingly short recovery times, Ext2 became less important.
A brief summary of Ext2's strengths might help understand why it was—and in some
areas still is—the favorite Linux file system of many Linux users.
Solidity
Being quite an “old-timer,” Ext2 underwent many improvements and was heavily
tested. This may be the reason why people often refer to it as rock-solid. After a
system outage when the file system could not be cleanly unmounted, e2fsck starts
to analyze the file system data. Metadata is brought into a consistent state and
pending files or data blocks are written to a designated directory (called lost

+found). In contrast to journaling file systems, e2fsck analyzes the entire file
system and not just the recently modified bits of metadata. This takes significantly
longer than checking the log data of a journaling file system. Depending on file
system size, this procedure can take half an hour or more. Therefore, it is not desir-
able to choose Ext2 for any server that needs high availability. However, because
Ext2 does not maintain a journal and uses significantly less memory, it is sometimes
faster than other file systems.
Easy Upgradability
The code for Ext2 is the strong foundation on which Ext3 could become a highly-
acclaimed next-generation file system. Its reliability and solidity were elegantly
combined with the advantages of a journaling file system.
25.2.3 Ext3
Ext3 was designed by Stephen Tweedie. Unlike all other next-generation file systems,
Ext3 does not follow a completely new design principle. It is based on Ext2. These two
file systems are very closely related to each other. An Ext3 file system can be easily
built on top of an Ext2 file system. The most important difference between Ext2 and
Ext3 is that Ext3 supports journaling. In summary, Ext3 has three major advantages to
offer:
Easy and Highly Reliable Upgrades from Ext2

Because Ext3 is based on the Ext2 code and shares its on-disk format as well as its
metadata format, upgrades from Ext2 to Ext3 are incredibly easy. Unlike transitions
to other journaling file systems, such as ReiserFS or XFS, which can be quite tedious
(making backups of the entire file system and recreating it from scratch), a transition
to Ext3 is a matter of minutes. It is also very safe, because recreating an entire file
system from scratch might not work flawlessly. Considering the number of existing
Ext2 systems that await an upgrade to a journaling file system, you can easily figure
out why Ext3 might be of some importance to many system administrators.
Downgrading from Ext3 to Ext2 is as easy as the upgrade. Just perform a clean
unmount of the Ext3 file system and remount it as an Ext2 file system.
Reliability and Performance

Some other journaling file systems follow the “metadata-only” journaling approach.
This means your metadata is always kept in a consistent state, but the same cannot
be automatically guaranteed for the file system data itself. Ext3 is designed to take
care of both metadata and data. The degree of “care” can be customized. Enabling

Ext3 in the data=journal mode offers maximum security (data integrity), but
can slow down the system because both metadata and data are journaled. A rela-
tively new approach is to use the data=ordered mode, which ensures both data
and metadata integrity, but uses journaling only for metadata. The file system
driver collects all data blocks that correspond to one metadata update. These data
blocks are written to disk before the metadata is updated. As a result, consistency
is achieved for metadata and data without sacrificing performance. A third option
to use is data=writeback, which allows data to be written into the main file
system after its metadata has been committed to the journal. This option is often
considered the best in performance. It can, however, allow old data to reappear in
files after crash and recovery while internal file system integrity is maintained.
Unless you specify something else, Ext3 is run with the data=ordered default.
25.2.4 Converting an Ext2 File System into

Ext3
To convert an Ext2 file system to Ext3, proceed as follows:
1 Create an Ext3 journal by running tune2fs -j as root. This creates an Ext3

journal with the default parameters.
To decide yourself how large the journal should be and on which device it should
reside, run tune2fs -J instead together with the desired journal options
size= and device=. More information about the tune2fs program is available
in the tune2fs manual page.
2 To ensure that the Ext3 file system is recognized as such, edit the file /etc/
fstab as root, changing the file system type specified for the corresponding
partition from ext2 to ext3. The change takes effect after the next reboot.
3 To boot a root file system set up as an Ext3 partition, include the modules ext3
and jbd in the initrd. To do this, edit /etc/sysconfig/kernel as
root, adding ext3 and jbd to the INITRD_MODULES variable. After saving
the changes, run the mkinitrd command. This builds a new initrd and prepares
it for use.

25.2.5 XFS
Originally intended as the file system for their IRIX OS, SGI started XFS development
in the early 1990s. The idea behind XFS was to create a high-performance 64-bit jour-
naling file system to meet the extreme computing challenges of today. XFS is very
good at manipulating large files and performs well on high-end hardware. However,
even XFS has a drawback. Like ReiserFS, XFS takes great care of metadata integrity,
but less of data integrity.
A quick review of XFS's key features explains why it may prove a strong competitor
for other journaling file systems in high-end computing.
High Scalability through the Use of Allocation Groups

At the creation time of an XFS file system, the block device underlying the file
system is divided into eight or more linear regions of equal size. Those are referred
to as allocation groups. Each allocation group manages its own inodes and free
disk space. Practically, allocation groups can be seen as file systems in a file system.
Because allocation groups are rather independent of each other, more than one of
them can be addressed by the kernel simultaneously. This feature is the key to
XFS's great scalability. Naturally, the concept of independent allocation groups
suits the needs of multiprocessor systems.
High Performance through Efficient Management of Disk Space

Free space and inodes are handled by B+ trees inside the allocation groups. The
use of B+ trees greatly contributes to XFS's performance and scalability. XFS uses
delayed allocation. It handles allocation by breaking the process into two pieces.
A pending transaction is stored in RAM and the appropriate amount of space is
reserved. XFS still does not decide where exactly (speaking of file system blocks)
the data should be stored. This decision is delayed until the last possible moment.
Some short-lived temporary data may never make its way to disk, because it may
be obsolete by the time XFS decides where actually to save it. Thus XFS increases
write performance and reduces file system fragmentation. Because delayed allocation
results in less frequent write events than in other file systems, it is likely that data
loss after a crash during a write is more severe.
Preallocation to Avoid File System Fragmentation

Before writing the data to the file system, XFS reserves (preallocates) the free space
needed for a file. Thus, file system fragmentation is greatly reduced. Performance
is increased because the contents of a file are not distributed all over the file system.

25.2.6 Oracle Cluster File System 2
OCFS2 is a journaling file system that has been tailor-made for clustering setups. In
contrast to a standard single-node file system like Ext3, OCFS2 is capable of managing
several nodes. OCFS2 allows spreading a file system across shared storage, such as a
SAN or multipath setup.
Every node in an OCFS2 setup has concurrent read and write access to all data. This
requires OCFS2 to be cluster-aware, meaning that OCFS2 must include a means to
determine of which nodes the cluster consists and whether these nodes are actually
alive and available. To compute a cluster's membership, OCFS2 includes a node man-
ager (NM). To monitor the availability of the nodes in a cluster, OCFS2 includes a
simple heartbeat implementation. To avoid chaos arising from various nodes directly
accessing the file system, OCFS2 also contains a lock manager, DLM (distributed lock
manager). Communication between the nodes is handled via a TCP-based messaging
system.
Major features and benefits of OCFS2 include:
• Metadata caching and journaling
• Asynchronous and direct I/O support for database files for improved database per-
formance
• Support for multiple block sizes (where each volume can have a different block
size) up to 4 KB, for a maximum volume size of 16 TB
• Cross-node file data consistency
• Support for up to 255 cluster nodes
For more in-depth information about OCFS2, refer to Chapter 14, Oracle Cluster File
System 2 (page 287).

25.3 Some Other Supported File
Systems
Table 25.1, “File System Types in Linux” (page 476) summarizes some other file systems
supported by Linux. They are supported mainly to ensure compatibility and interchange
of data with different kinds of media or foreign operating systems.
Table 25.1 File System Types in Linux
cramfs Compressed ROM file system: A compressed read-only file sys-

tem for ROMs.
hpfs High Performance File System: The IBM OS/2 standard file
system—only supported in read-only mode.
iso9660 Standard file system on CD-ROMs.
minix This file system originated from academic projects on operating

systems and was the first file system used in Linux. Today, it is
used as a file system for floppy disks.
msdos fat, the file system originally used by DOS, is today used by
various operating systems.
ncpfs File system for mounting Novell volumes over networks.
nfs Network File System: Here, data can be stored on any machine
in a network and access may be granted via a network.
smbfs Server Message Block is used by products such as Windows to

enable file access over a network.
sysv Used on SCO UNIX, Xenix, and Coherent (commercial UNIX

systems for PCs).
ufs Used by BSD, SunOS, and NeXTSTEP. Only supported in read-

only mode.

umsdos UNIX on MSDOS: Applied on top of a normal fat file system,
achieves UNIX functionality (permissions, links, long filenames)
by creating special files.
vfat Virtual FAT: Extension of the fat file system (supports long
filenames).
ntfs Windows NT file system, read-only.
25.4 Large File Support in Linux

Originally, Linux supported a maximum file size of 2 GB. This was enough before the
explosion of multimedia and as long as no one tried to manipulate huge databases on
Linux. Becoming more and more important for server computing, the kernel and C li-
brary were modified to support file sizes larger than 2 GB when using a new set of in-
terfaces that applications must use. Today, almost all major file systems offer LFS
support, allowing you to perform high-end computing. Table 25.2, “Maximum Sizes
of File Systems (On-Disk Format)” (page 477) offers an overview of the current limita-
tions of Linux files and file systems.
Table 25.2 Maximum Sizes of File Systems (On-Disk Format)
File System File Size (Bytes) File System Size

(Bytes)
Ext2 or Ext3 (1 KB block size) 234 (16 GB) 241 (2 TB)
Ext2 or Ext3 (2 KB block size) 238 (256 GB) 243 (8 TB)
Ext2 or Ext3 (4 KB block size) 241 (2 TB) 244-4096 (16 TB-4096

Bytes)
Ext2 or Ext3 (8 KB block size) 246 (64 TB) 245 (32 TB)
(systems with 8 KB pages, like
Alpha)
ReiserFS v3 246 (64 TB) 245 (32 TB)

File System File Size (Bytes) File System Size
(Bytes)
XFS 263 (8 EB) 263 (8 EB)
NFSv2 (client side) 231 (2 GB) 263 (8 EB)
NFSv3 (client side) 263 (8 EB) 263 (8 EB)
IMPORTANT: Linux Kernel Limits
Table 25.2, “Maximum Sizes of File Systems (On-Disk Format)” (page 477) de-
scribes the limitations regarding the on-disk format. The 2.6 kernel imposes its
own limits on the size of files and file systems handled by it. These are as follows:
File Size
41
On 32-bit systems, files may not exceed the size of 2 TB (2 bytes).
File System Size

73
File systems may be up to 2 bytes in size. However, this limit is still out
of reach for the currently available hardware.

Each of the file system projects described above maintains its own home page on which
to find mailing list information, further documentation, and FAQs.
• http://e2fsprogs.sourceforge.net/
• http://www.zipworld.com.au/~akpm/linux/ext3/
• http://chichkin_i.zelnet.ru/namesys/
• http://oss.sgi.com/projects/xfs/
• http://oss.oracle.com/projects/ocfs2/

A comprehensive multipart tutorial about Linux file systems can be found at IBM de-
veloperWorks: http://www-106.ibm.com/developerworks/library/
l-fs.html. A very in-depth comparison of file systems (not only Linux file systems)
is available from the Wikipedia project http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/
Comparison_of_file_systems#Comparison.

The X Window System
The X Window System (X11) is the de facto standard for graphical user interfaces in
26
UNIX. X is network-based, enabling applications started on one host to be displayed
on another host connected over any kind of network (LAN or Internet). This chapter
describes the setup and optimization of the X Window System environment, and provides
background information about the use of fonts in SUSE Linux Enterprise®.
TIP: IBM System z: Configuring the Graphical User Interface
IBM System z do not have any input and output devices supported by X.Org.
Therefore, none of the configuration procedures described in this section apply.
More relevant information for IBM System z can be found in Section 8.6,
“Network Devices” (page 164).
26.1 Manually Configuring the X

Window System
By default, the X Window System is configured with the SaX2 interface, described in
Section 8.14, “SaX2” (page 191). Alternatively it can be configured manually by editing
the its configuration files.
The X Window System 481

WARNING: Faulty X Configurations can Damage Your Hardware
Be very careful when configuring your X Window System. Never start the X
Window System until the configuration is finished. A misconfigured system can
cause irreparable damage to your hardware (this applies especially to fixed-
frequency monitors). The creators of this book and SUSE Linux Enterprise
cannot be held responsible for any resulting damage. This information has been
carefully researched, but this does not guarantee that all methods presented
here are correct and cannot damage your hardware.
The command sax2 creates the /etc/X11/xorg.conf file. This is the primary
configuration file of the X Window System. Find all the settings here concerning your
graphics card, mouse, and monitor.
IMPORTANT: Using X -configure
Use X -configure to configure your X setup if previous tries with SUSE

Linux Enterprise's SaX2 have failed. If your setup involves proprietary binary-
only drivers, X -configure cannot work.
The following sections describe the structure of the configuration file /etc/X11/
xorg.conf. It consists of several sections, each one dealing with a certain aspect of
the configuration. Each section starts with the keyword Section <designation>
and ends with EndSection. The following convention applies to all sections:
Section "designation"
entry 1
entry 2
entry n
EndSection
The section types available are listed in Table 26.1, “Sections in /etc/X11/xorg.conf”
(page 483).

Table 26.1 Sections in /etc/X11/xorg.conf
Type Meaning
Files The paths used for fonts and the RGB color table.
ServerFlags General switches for the server behavior.
Module A list of modules the server should load.
InputDevice Input devices, like keyboards and special input devices (touch-
pads, joysticks, etc.), are configured in this section. Important
parameters in this section are Driver and the options defining
the Protocol and Device. You normally have one
InputDevice section per device attached to the computer.
Monitor The monitor used. Important elements of this section are the
Identifier, which is referred to later in the Screen defini-
tion, the refresh rate VertRefresh, and the synchronization
frequency limits (HorizSync and VertRefresh). Settings
are given in MHz, kHz, and Hz. Normally, the server refuses
any modeline that does not correspond with the specification of
the monitor. This prevents too high frequencies from being sent
to the monitor by accident.
Modes The modeline parameters for the specific screen resolutions.

These parameters can be calculated by SaX2 on the basis of the
values given by the user and normally do not need to be changed.
Intervene manually at this point if, for example, you want to
connect a fixed frequency monitor. Find details of the meaning
of individual number values in the HOWTO files in /usr/
share/doc/howto/en/html/
XFree86-Video-Timings-HOWTO (available in the
howtoenh package).
Device A specific graphics card. It is referenced by its descriptive name.
Screen Combines a Monitor and a Device to form all the necessary

settings for X.Org. In the Display subsection, specify the size

Type Meaning
of the virtual screen (Virtual), the ViewPort, and the

Modes used with this screen.
ServerLayout The layout of a single or multihead configuration. This section

binds the input devices InputDevice and the display devices
Screen.
DRI Provides information for the Direct Rendering Infrastructure

(DRI).
Monitor, Device, and Screen are explained in more detail. Further information
about the other sections can be found in the manual pages of X.Org and xorg.conf.
There can be several different Monitor and Device sections in xorg.conf. Even
multiple Screen sections are possible. The ServerLayout section determines
which of these sections is used.
26.1.1 Screen Section

The screen section combines a monitor with a device section and determines the reso-
lution and color depth to use. A screen section might resemble Example 26.1, “Screen
Section of the File /etc/X11/xorg.conf” (page 485).

Example 26.1 Screen Section of the File /etc/X11/xorg.conf
Section "Screen"❶
DefaultDepth 16❷
SubSection "Display"❸
Depth 16❹
Modes "1152x864" "1024x768" "800x600"❺
Virtual 1152x864❻
EndSubSection
SubSection "Display"
Depth 24
Modes "1280x1024"
EndSubSection
Depth 32
Modes "640x480"
EndSubSection
Depth 8
Modes "1280x1024"
EndSubSection
Device "Device[0]"
Identifier "Screen[0]"❼
Monitor "Monitor[0]"
EndSection
❶ Section determines the section type, in this case Screen.

❷ DefaultDepth determines the color depth to use by default unless another
color depth is explicitly specified.
❸ For each color depth, different Display subsections are specified.
❹ Depth determines the color depth to be used with this set of Display settings.
Possible values are 8, 15, 16, 24, and 32, though not all of these might be sup-
ported by all X server modules or resolutions.
❺ The Modes section comprises a list of possible screen resolutions. The list is
checked by the X server from left to right. For each resolution, the X server
searches for a suitable Modeline in the Modes section. The Modeline depends
on the capability of both the monitor and the graphics card. The Monitor settings
determine the resulting Modeline.
The first resolution found is the Default mode. With Ctrl + Alt + + (on the
number pad), switch to the next resolution in the list to the right. With Ctrl + Alt
+ – (on the number pad), switch to the previous. This enables you to vary the
resolution while X is running.

❻ The last line of the Display subsection with Depth 16 refers to the size of
the virtual screen. The maximum possible size of a virtual screen depends on the
amount of memory installed on the graphics card and the desired color depth, not
on the maximum resolution of the monitor. If you omit this line, the virtual reso-
lution is just the physical resolution. Because modern graphics cards have a large
amount of video memory, you can create very large virtual desktops. However,
you may no longer be able to use 3D functionality if you fill most of the video
memory with a virtual desktop. If, for example, the card has 16 MB of video
RAM, the virtual screen can take up to 4096x4096 pixels in size at 8-bit color
depth. Especially for accelerated cards, however, it is not recommended to use
all your memory for the virtual screen, because the card's memory is also used
for several font and graphics caches.
❼ The Identifier line (here Screen[0]) gives this section a defined name
with which it can be uniquely referenced in the following ServerLayout sec-
tion. The lines Device and Monitor specify the graphics card and the monitor
that belong to this definition. These are just links to the Device and Monitor
sections with their corresponding names or identifiers. These sections are discussed
in detail below.
26.1.2 Device Section

A device section describes a specific graphics card. You can have as many device entries
in xorg.conf as you like, provided their names are differentiated using the keyword
Identifier. If you have more than one graphics card installed, the sections are
simply numbered in order. The first one is called Device[0], the second one
Device[1], and so on. The following file shows an excerpt from the Device section
of a computer with a Matrox Millennium PCI graphics card (as configured by SaX2):
Section "Device"
BoardName "MGA2064W"
BusID "0:19:0"❶
Driver "mga"❷
Identifier "Device[0]"
VendorName "Matrox"
Option "sw_cursor"
EndSection
❶ The BusID refers to the PCI or AGP slot in which the graphics card is installed.
This matches the ID displayed by the command lspci. The X server needs details

in decimal form, but lspci displays these in hexadecimal form. The value of
BusID is automatically detected by SaX2.
❷ The value of Driver is automatically set by SaX2 and specifies which driver to
use for your graphics card. If the card is a Matrox Millennium, the driver module
is called mga. The X server then searches through the ModulePath defined in
the Files section in the drivers subdirectory. In a standard installation, this
is the /usr/X11R6/lib/modules/drivers or /usr/X11R6/lib64/
modules/driversdirectory. _drv.o is added to the name, so, in the case of
the mga driver, the driver file mga_drv.o is loaded.
The behavior of the X server or of the driver can also be influenced through additional
options. An example of this is the option sw_cursor, which is set in the device section.
This deactivates the hardware mouse cursor and depicts the mouse cursor using software.
Depending on the driver module, there are various options available, which can be
found in the description files of the driver modules in the directory /usr/share/
doc/package_name. Generally valid options can also be found in the manual pages
(man xorg.conf, man X.Org, and man 4 chips).
If the graphics card has multiple video connectors, it is possible to configure the different
devices of this single card as one single view. Use SaX2 to set up your graphics interface
this way.
26.1.3 Monitor and Modes Section

Like the Device sections, the Monitor and Modes sections describe one monitor
each. The configuration file /etc/X11/xorg.conf can contain as many Monitor
sections as desired. Each Monitor section references a Modes section with the line
UseModes if available. If no Modes section is available for the Monitor section,
the X server calculates appropriate values from the general synchronization values. The
server layout section specifies which Monitor section is relevant.
Monitor definitions should only be set by experienced users. The modelines are an
important part of the Monitor sections. Modelines set horizontal and vertical timings
for the respective resolution. The monitor properties, especially the allowed frequencies,
are stored in the Monitor section.

WARNING
Unless you have in-depth knowledge of monitor and graphics card functions,
do not change the modelines, because this could severely damage your monitor.
Those who try to develop their own monitor descriptions should be very familiar with
the documentation in /usr/X11R6/lib/X11/doc/ (the package xorg-x11-doc
must be installed).
Manual specification of modelines is rarely required today. If you are using a modern
multisync monitor, the allowed frequencies and optimal resolutions can, as a rule, be
read directly from the monitor by the X server via DDC, as described in the SaX2
configuration section. If this is not possible for some reason, use one of the VESA
modes included in the X server. This will work with almost all graphics card and
monitor combinations.
26.2 Installing and Configuring Fonts

The installation of additional fonts in SUSE Linux Enterprise is very easy. Simply copy
the fonts to any directory located in the X11 font path (see Section 26.2.1, “X11 Core
Fonts” (page 489)). The installation directory should be a subdirectory of the directories
configured in /etc/fonts/fonts.conf (see Section 26.2.2, “Xft” (page 490)) or
included into this file with /etc/fonts/suse-font-dirs.conf.
The following is an excerpt from /etc/fonts/suse-font-dirs.conf. This

file is included into the configuration, because it is linked into the directory /etc/
fonts/conf.d which is included by /etc/fonts/fonts.conf. In this directory,
all files or symbolic links starting with a two digit number are loaded by fontconfig.
For a more detailed explanation of this functionality, have a look at /etc/fonts/
conf.d/README.

<dir>/usr/share/fonts</dir>
<dir>/usr/X11R6/lib/X11/fonts</dir>
<dir>/opt/kde3/share/fonts</dir>
<dir>/usr/local/share/fonts</dir>
<dir>~/.fonts</dir>
<dir>~/.fonts/kde-override</dir>
<include ignore_missing="yes">suse-font-dirs.conf</include>

/etc/fonts/suse-font-dirs.conf is automatically generated to pull in fonts
that ship with (mostly third party) applications like OpenOffice.org, Java or Adobe
Acrobat Reader. Some typical entries of /etc/fonts/suse-font-dirs.conf
would look like the following:
<dir>/usr/lib/ooo-2.0/share/fonts</dir>
<dir>/usr/lib/ooo-2.0/share/fonts/truetype</dir>
<dir>/usr/lib/jvm/java-1.5.0-sun-1.5.0_update10/jre/lib/fonts</dir>
<dir>/usr/X11R6/lib/Acrobat7/Resource/Font</dir>
<dir>/usr/X11R6/lib/Acrobat7/Resource/Font/PFM</dir>
To install additional fonts systemwide, manually copy the font files to a suitable direc-
tory (as root), such as /usr/share/fonts/truetype. Alternatively, the task
can be performed with the KDE font installer in the KDE Control Center. The result is
the same.
Instead of copying the actual fonts, you can also create symbolic links. For example,
you may want to do this if you have licensed fonts on a mounted Windows partition
and want to use them. Subsequently, run SuSEconfig --module fonts .
SuSEconfig --module fonts executes the script /usr/sbin/

fonts-config, which handles the font configuration. For more information on this
script, refer to its manual page (man fonts-config ).
The procedure is the same for bitmap fonts, TrueType and OpenType fonts, and Type1
(PostScript) fonts. All these font types can be installed into any directory.
X.Org contains two completely different font systems: the old X11 core font system
and the newly designed Xft and fontconfig system. The following sections briefly de-
scribe these two systems.
26.2.1 X11 Core Fonts

Today, the X11 core font system supports not only bitmap fonts but also scalable fonts,
like Type1 fonts, TrueType, and OpenType fonts. Scalable fonts are only supported
without antialiasing and subpixel rendering and the loading of large scalable fonts with
glyphs for many languages may take a long time. Unicode fonts are also supported, but
their use may be slow and require more memory.

The X11 core font system has a few inherent weaknesses. It is outdated and can no
longer be extended in a meaningful way. Although it must be retained for reasons of
backward compatibility, the more modern Xft and fontconfig system should be used if
at all possible.
For its operation, the X server needs to know which fonts are available and where in
the system it can find them. This is handled by a FontPath variable, which contains
the path to all valid system font directories. In each of these directories, a file named
fonts.dir lists the available fonts in this directory. The FontPath is generated
by the X server at start-up. It searches for a valid fonts.dir file in each of the
FontPath entries in the configuration file /etc/X11/xorg.conf. These entries
are found in the Files section. Display the actual FontPath with xset q. This
path may also be changed at runtime with xset. To add an additional path, use
xset +fp <path>. To remove an unwanted path, use xset -fp <path>.
If the X server is already active, newly installed fonts in mounted directories can be
made available with the command xset fp rehash. This command is executed by
SuSEconfig --module fonts. Because the command xset needs access to the
running X server, this only works if SuSEconfig --module fonts is started from
a shell that has access to the running X server. The easiest way to achieve this is to as-
sume root permissions by entering su and the root password. su transfers the access
permissions of the user who started the X server to the root shell. To check if the
fonts were installed correctly and are available by way of the X11 core font system,
use the command xlsfonts to list all available fonts.
By default, SUSE Linux Enterprise uses UTF-8 locales. Therefore, Unicode fonts should
be preferred (font names ending with iso10646-1 in xlsfonts output). All available
Unicode fonts can be listed with xlsfonts | grep iso10646-1. Nearly all
Unicode fonts available in SUSE Linux Enterprise contain at least the glyphs needed
for European languages (formerly encoded as iso-8859-*).
26.2.2 Xft
From the outset, the programmers of Xft made sure that scalable fonts including an-
tialiasing are supported well. If Xft is used, the fonts are rendered by the application
using the fonts, not by the X server as in the X11 core font system. In this way, the re-
spective application has access to the actual font files and full control of how the glyphs
are rendered. This constitutes the basis for the correct display of text in a number of

languages. Direct access to the font files is very useful for embedding fonts for printing
to make sure that the printout looks the same as the screen output.
In SUSE Linux Enterprise, the two desktop environments KDE and GNOME, Mozilla,
and many other applications already use Xft by default. Xft is already used by more
applications than the old X11 core font system.
Xft uses the fontconfig library for finding fonts and influencing how they are rendered.
The properties of fontconfig are controlled by the global configuration file /etc/
fonts/fonts.conf and the user-specific configuration file ~/.fonts.conf.
Each of these fontconfig configuration files must begin with
<?xml version="1.0"?>
<!DOCTYPE fontconfig SYSTEM "fonts.dtd">
<fontconfig>
and end with

</fontconfig>
To add directories to search for fonts, append lines such as the following:
<dir>/usr/local/share/fonts/</dir>
However, this is usually not necessary. By default, the user-specific directory ~/.fonts
is already entered in /etc/fonts/fonts.conf. Accordingly, all you need to do
to install additional fonts is to copy them to ~/.fonts.
You can also insert rules that influence the appearance of the fonts. For example, enter
<match target="font">
<edit name="antialias" mode="assign">
<bool>false</bool>
</edit>
</match>
to disable antialiasing for all fonts or

<match target="font">
<test name="family">
<string>Luxi Mono</string>
<string>Luxi Sans</string>
</test>
<edit name="antialias" mode="assign">
<bool>false</bool>
</edit>
</match>

to disable antialiasing for specific fonts.
By default, most applications use the font names sans-serif (or the equivalent
sans), serif, or monospace. These are not real fonts but only aliases that are re-
solved to a suitable font, depending on the language setting.
Users can easily add rules to ~/.fonts.conf to resolve these aliases to their favorite
fonts:
<alias>
<family>sans-serif</family>
<prefer>
<family>FreeSans</family>
</prefer>
</alias>
<alias>
<family>serif</family>
<prefer>
<family>FreeSerif</family>
</prefer>
</alias>
<alias>
<family>monospace</family>
<prefer>
<family>FreeMono</family>
</prefer>
</alias>
Because nearly all applications use these aliases by default, this affects almost the entire
system. Thus, you can easily use your favorite fonts almost everywhere without having
to modify the font settings in the individual applications.
Use the command fc-list to find out which fonts are installed and available for use.
For instance, the command fc-list returns a list of all fonts. To find out which of
the available scalable fonts (:scalable=true) contain all glyphs required for Hebrew
(:lang=he), their font names (family), their style (style), their weight (weight),
and the name of the files containing the fonts, enter the following command:
fc-list ":lang=he:scalable=true" family style weight
The output of this command could look like the following:

FreeSansBold.ttf: FreeSans:style=Bold:weight=200
FreeMonoBoldOblique.ttf: FreeMono:style=BoldOblique:weight=200
FreeSerif.ttf: FreeSerif:style=Medium:weight=80
FreeSerifBoldItalic.ttf: FreeSerif:style=BoldItalic:weight=200
FreeSansOblique.ttf: FreeSans:style=Oblique:weight=80
FreeSerifItalic.ttf: FreeSerif:style=Italic:weight=80

FreeMonoOblique.ttf: FreeMono:style=Oblique:weight=80
FreeMono.ttf: FreeMono:style=Medium:weight=80
FreeSans.ttf: FreeSans:style=Medium:weight=80
FreeSerifBold.ttf: FreeSerif:style=Bold:weight=200
FreeSansBoldOblique.ttf: FreeSans:style=BoldOblique:weight=200
FreeMonoBold.ttf: FreeMono:style=Bold:weight=200
Important parameters that can be queried with fc-list:
Table 26.2 Parameters of fc-list
Parameter Meaning and Possible Values
family Name of the font family, for example, FreeSans.
foundry The manufacturer of the font, for example, urw.
style The font style, such as Medium, Regular, Bold,

Italic, or Heavy.
lang The language that the font supports, for example, de for
German, ja for Japanese, zh-TW for traditional Chinese,
or zh-CN for simplified Chinese.
weight The font weight, such as 80 for regular or 200 for bold.
slant The slant, usually 0 for none and 100 for italic.
file The name of the file containing the font.
outline true for outline fonts or false for other fonts.
scalable true for scalable fonts or false for other fonts.
bitmap true for bitmap fonts or false for other fonts.
pixelsize Font size in pixels. In connection with fc-list, this option

only makes sense for bitmap fonts.

Install the packages xorg-x11-doc and howtoenh to get more in-depth information
on X11. More information on the X11 development can be found on the project's home
page at http://www.x.org.

Authentication with PAM
Linux uses PAM (pluggable authentication modules) in the authentication process as
27
a layer that mediates between user and application. PAM modules are available on a
systemwide basis, so they can be requested by any application. This chapter describes
how the modular authentication mechanism works and how it is configured.
System administrators and programmers often want to restrict access to certain parts
of the system or to limit the use of certain functions of an application. Without PAM,
applications must be adapted every time a new authentication mechanism, such as
LDAP, Samba or, Kerberos, is introduced. This process, however, is rather time-con-
suming and error-prone. One way to avoid these drawbacks is to separate applications
from the authentication mechanism and delegate authentication to centrally managed
modules. Whenever a newly required authentication scheme is needed, it is sufficient
to adapt or write a suitable PAM module for use by the program in question.
Every program that relies on the PAM mechanism has its own configuration file in the
directory /etc/pam.d/programname. These files define the PAM modules used
for authentication. In addition, there are global configuration files for PAM modules
under /etc/security, which define the exact behavior of these modules (examples
include pam_env.conf, pam_pwcheck.conf, pam_unix2.conf, and time
.conf). Every application that uses a PAM module actually calls a set of PAM func-
tions, which then process the information in the various configuration files and return
the result to the calling application.
Authentication with PAM 495

27.1 Structure of a PAM
Configuration File
Each line in a PAM configuration file contains a maximum of four columns:
<Type of module> <Control flag> <Module path> <Options>
PAM modules are processed as stacks. Different types of modules have different pur-
poses, for example, one module checks the password, another one verifies the location
from which the system is accessed, and yet another one reads user-specific settings.
PAM knows about four different types of modules:
auth
The purpose of this type of module is to check the user's authenticity. This is tradi-
tionally done by querying a password, but it can also be achieved with the help of
a chip card or through biometrics (fingerprints or iris scan).
account
Modules of this type check whether the user has general permission to use the re-
quested service. As an example, such a check should be performed to ensure that
no one can log in under the username of an expired account.
password
The purpose of this type of module is to enable the change of an authentication
token. In most cases, this is a password.
session
Modules of this type are responsible for managing and configuring user sessions.
They are started before and after authentication to register login attempts in system
logs and configure the user's specific environment (mail accounts, home directory,
system limits, etc.).
The second column contains control flags to influence the behavior of the modules
started:
required
A module with this flag must be successfully processed before the authentication
may proceed. After the failure of a module with the required flag, all other

modules with the same flag are processed before the user receives a message about
the failure of the authentication attempt.
requisite
Modules having this flag must also be processed successfully, in much the same
way as a module with the required flag. However, in case of failure a module
with this flag gives immediate feedback to the user and no further modules are
processed. In case of success, other modules are subsequently processed, just like
any modules with the required flag. The requisite flag can be used as a
basic filter checking for the existence of certain conditions that are essential for a
correct authentication.
sufficient
After a module with this flag has been successfully processed, the calling application
receives an immediate message about the success and no further modules are pro-
cessed, provided there was no preceding failure of a module with the required
flag. The failure of a module with the sufficient flag has no direct conse-
quences, in the sense that any subsequent modules are processed in their respective
order.
optional
The failure or success of a module with this flag does not have any direct conse-
quences. This can be useful for modules that are only intended to display a message
(for example, to tell the user that mail has arrived) without taking any further action.
include
If this flag is given, the file specified as argument is inserted at this place.
The module path does not need to be specified explicitly, as long as the module is lo-
cated in the default directory /lib/security (for all 64-bit platforms supported by
SUSE Linux Enterprise®, the directory is /lib64/security). The fourth column
may contain an option for the given module, such as debug (enables debugging) or
nullok (allows the use of empty passwords).
27.2 The PAM Configuration of sshd

To show how the theory behind PAM works, consider the PAM configuration of sshd
as a practical example:

Example 27.1 PAM Configuration for sshd
#%PAM-1.0
auth include common-auth
auth required pam_nologin.so
account include common-account
password include common-password
session include common-session
# Enable the following line to get resmgr support for
# ssh sessions (see /usr/share/doc/packages/resmgr/README.SuSE)
#session optional pam_resmgr.so fake_ttyname
The typical PAM configuration of an application (sshd, in this case) contains four include
statements referring to the configuration files of four module types: common-auth,
common-account, common-password, and common-session. These four
files hold the default configuration for each module type. By including them instead of
calling each module separately for each PAM application, automatically get an updated
PAM configuration if the administrator changes the defaults. In former times, you had
to adjust all configuration files manually for all applications when changes to PAM
occurred or a new application was installed. Now the PAM configuration is made with
central configuration files and all changes are automatically inherited by the PAM
configuration of each service.
The first include file (common-auth) calls two modules of the auth type: pam_env
and pam_unix2. See Example 27.2, “Default Configuration for the auth Section”
(page 498).
Example 27.2 Default Configuration for the auth Section

auth required pam_env.so
auth required pam_unix2.so
The first one, pam_env, loads the file /etc/security/pam_env.conf to set

the environment variables as specified in this file. This can be used to set the DISPLAY
variable to the correct value, because the pam_env module knows about the location
from which the login is taking place. The second one, pam_unix2, checks the user's
login and password against /etc/passwd and /etc/shadow.
After the modules specified in common-auth have been successfully called, a third
module called pam_nologin checks whether the file /etc/nologin exists. If it
does, no user other than root may log in. The whole stack of auth modules is pro-
cessed before sshd gets any feedback about whether the login has succeeded. Given
that all modules of the stack have the required control flag, they must all be processed
successfully before sshd receives a message about the positive result. If one of the

modules is not successful, the entire module stack is still processed and only then is
sshd notified about the negative result.
As soon as all modules of the auth type have been successfully processed, another
include statement is processed, in this case, that in Example 27.3, “Default Configuration
for the account Section” (page 499). common-account contains just one module,
pam_unix2. If pam_unix2 returns the result that the user exists, sshd receives a
message announcing this success and the next stack of modules (password) is pro-
cessed, shown in Example 27.4, “Default Configuration for the password Section”
(page 499).
Example 27.3 Default Configuration for the account Section

account required pam_unix2.so
Example 27.4 Default Configuration for the password Section

password required pam_pwcheck.so nullok
password required pam_unix2.so nullok use_first_pass use_authtok
#password required pam_make.so /var/yp
Again, the PAM configuration of sshd involves just an include statement referring to
the default configuration for password modules located in common-password.
These modules must successfully be completed (control flag required) whenever
the application requests the change of an authentication token. Changing a password
or another authentication token requires a security check. This is achieved with the pam
_pwcheck module. The pam_unix2 module used afterwards carries over any old
and new passwords from pam_pwcheck, so the user does not need to authenticate
again. This also makes it impossible to circumvent the checks carried out by pam
_pwcheck. The modules of the password type should be used wherever the preceding
modules of the account or the auth type are configured to complain about an expired
password.
Example 27.5 Default Configuration for the session Section

session required pam_limits.so
session required pam_unix2.so
session optional pam_umask.so
As the final step, the modules of the session type, bundled in the common-session
file are called to configure the session according to the settings for the user in question.
Although pam_unix2 is processed again, it has no practical consequences due to its
none option specified in the respective configuration file of this module, pam_unix2

.conf. The pam_limits module loads the file /etc/security/limits.conf,
which may define limits on the use of certain system resources. The session modules
are called a second time when the user logs out.
27.3 Configuration of PAM Modules

Some of the PAM modules are configurable. The corresponding configuration files are
located in /etc/security. This section briefly describes the configuration files
relevant to the sshd example—pam_unix2.conf, pam_env.conf, pam_pwcheck
.conf, and limits.conf.
27.3.1 pam_unix2.conf
The traditional password-based authentication method is controlled by the PAM module
pam_unix2. It can read the necessary data from /etc/passwd, /etc/shadow,
NIS maps, NIS+ tables, or an LDAP database. The behavior of this module can be in-
fluenced by configuring the PAM options of the individual application itself or globally
by editing /etc/security/pam_unix2.conf. A very basic configuration file
for the module is shown in Example 27.6, “pam_unix2.conf” (page 500).
Example 27.6 pam_unix2.conf

auth: nullok
account:
password: nullok
session: none
The nullok option for module types auth and password specifies that empty
passwords are permitted for the corresponding type of account. Users are also allowed
to change passwords for their accounts. The none option for the module type session
specifies that no messages are logged on its behalf (this is the default). Learn about
additional configuration options from the comments in the file itself and from the
manual page pam_unix2(8).

27.3.2 pam_env.conf
This file can be used to define a standardized environment for users that is set whenever
the pam_env module is called. With it, preset environment variables using the following
syntax:
VARIABLE [DEFAULT=[value]] [OVERRIDE=[value]]
VARIABLE
Name of the environment variable to set.
[DEFAULT=[value]]
Default value the administrator wants set.
[OVERRIDE=[value]]
Values that may be queried and set by pam_env, overriding the default value.
A typical example of how pam_env can be used is the adaptation of the DISPLAY
variable, which is changed whenever a remote login takes place. This is shown in Ex-
ample 27.7, “pam_env.conf” (page 501).
Example 27.7 pam_env.conf
REMOTEHOST DEFAULT=localhost OVERRIDE=@{PAM_RHOST}

DISPLAY DEFAULT=${REMOTEHOST}:0.0 OVERRIDE=${DISPLAY}
The first line sets the value of the REMOTEHOST variable to localhost, which is
used whenever pam_env cannot determine any other value. The DISPLAY variable
in turn contains the value of REMOTEHOST. Find more information in the comments
in the file /etc/security/pam_env.conf.
27.3.3 pam_pwcheck.conf
This configuration file is for the pam_pwcheck module, which reads options from it
for all password type modules. Settings stored in this file take precedence over the
PAM settings of an individual application. If application-specific settings have not been
defined, the application uses the global settings. Example 27.8, “pam_pwcheck.conf”
(page 502) tells pam_pwcheck to allow empty passwords and modification of pass-
words. More options for the module are mentioned in the file /etc/security/pam
_pwcheck.conf.

Example 27.8 pam_pwcheck.conf
password: nullok
27.3.4 limits.conf
System limits can be set on a user or group basis in the file limits.conf, which is
read by the pam_limits module. The file allows you to set hard limits, which may
not be exceeded at all, and soft limits, which may be exceeded temporarily. To learn
about the syntax and the available options, read the comments included in the file.

In the directory /usr/share/doc/packages/pam of your installed system, find
the following additional documentation:
READMEs
In the top level of this directory, there are some general README files. The sub-
directory modules holds README files about the available PAM modules.
The Linux-PAM System Administrators' Guide

This document includes everything that a system administrator should know about
PAM. It discusses a range of topics, from the syntax of configuration files to the
security aspects of PAM. The document is available as a PDF file, in HTML format,
and as plain text.
The Linux-PAM Module Writers' Manual

This document summarizes the topic from the developer's point of view, with in-
formation about how to write standard-compliant PAM modules. It is available as
a PDF file, in HTML format, and as plain text.
The Linux-PAM Application Developers' Guide

This document includes everything needed by an application developer who wants
to use the PAM libraries. It is available as a PDF file, in HTML format, and as
plain text.
Thorsten Kukuk has developed a number of PAM modules and made some information
available about them at http://www.suse.de/~kukuk/pam/.

Power Management
Power management is especially important on laptop computers, but is also useful on
28
other systems. Two technologies are available: APM (advanced power management)
and ACPI (advanced configuration and power interface). In addition to these, it is also
possible to control CPU frequency scaling to save power or decrease noise. These options
can be configured manually or using a special YaST module.
►zseries: The features and hardware described in this chapter do not exist on IBM
System z, making this chapter irrelevant for these platforms. ◄
Power management is especially important on laptop computers, but is also useful on

other systems. ACPI (advanced configuration and power interface) is available on all
modern computers (laptops, desktops, and servers). Power management technologies
require suitable hardware and BIOS routines. Most laptops and many modern desktops
and servers meet these requirements. It is also possible to control CPU frequency scaling
to save power or decrease noise.
APM had been used in many older computers. Because APM largely consists of a
function set implemented in the BIOS, the level of APM support may vary depending
on the hardware. This is even more true of ACPI, which is even more complex. For
this reason, it is virtually impossible to recommend one over the other. Simply test the
various procedures on your hardware then select the technology that is best supported.
Power Management 503

28.1 Power Saving Functions
Power saving functions are not only significant for the mobile use of laptops, but also
for desktop systems. The main functions and their use in the power management systems
APM and ACPI are:
Standby
This operating mode turns off the display. On some computers, the processor per-
formance is throttled. This function corresponds to the ACPI state S1 or S2.
Suspend (to memory)

This mode writes the entire system state to the RAM. Subsequently, the entire
system except the RAM is put to sleep. In this state, the computer consumes very
little power. The advantage of this state is the possibility of resuming work at the
same point within a few seconds without having to boot and restart applications.
This function corresponds to the ACPI state S3. The support of this state is still
under development and therefore largely depends on the hardware.
Hibernation (suspend to disk)

In this operating mode, the entire system state is written to the hard disk and the
system is powered off. There must be a swap partition at least as big as the RAM
to write all the active data. Reactivation from this state takes about 30 to 90 seconds.
The state prior to the suspend is restored. Some manufacturers offer useful hybrid
variants of this mode, such as RediSafe in IBM Thinkpads. The corresponding
ACPI state is S4. In Linux, suspend to disk is performed by kernel routines that
are independent from APM and ACPI.
Battery Monitor
ACPI and APM check the battery charge status and provide information about it.
Additionally, both systems coordinate actions to perform when a critical charge
status is reached.
Automatic Power-Off
Following a shutdown, the computer is powered off. This is especially important
when an automatic shutdown is performed shortly before the battery is empty.
Shutdown of System Components

Switching off the hard disk is the greatest single aspect of the power saving potential
of the overall system. Depending on the reliability of the overall system, the hard
disk can be put to sleep for some time. However, the risk of losing data increases

with the duration of the sleep periods. Other components, like PCI devices that can
be put into a special power saving mode, can be deactivated with ACPI (at least
theoretically) or permanently disabled in the BIOS setup.
Processor Speed Control

In connection with the CPU, energy can be saved in three different ways: frequency
and voltage scaling (also known as PowerNow! or Speedstep), throttling, and
putting the processor to sleep (C states). Depending on the operating mode of the
computer, these methods can also be combined.
28.2 APM
Some of the power saving functions are performed by the APM BIOS itself. On many
laptops, standby and suspend states can be activated with key combinations or by
closing the lid without any special operating system function. However, to activate
these modes with a command, certain actions must be triggered before the system is
suspended. To view the battery charge level, you need special program packages and
a suitable kernel.
SUSE Linux Enterprise® kernels have built-in APM support. However, APM is only
activated if ACPI is not implemented in the BIOS and an APM BIOS is detected. To
activate APM support, ACPI must be disabled with acpi=off at the boot prompt.
Enter cat /proc/apm to check if APM is active. An output consisting of various
numbers indicates that everything is OK. You should now be able to shut down the
computer with the command shutdown -h.
BIOS implementations that are not fully standard-compliant can cause problems with
APM. Some problems can be circumvented with special boot parameters. All parameters
are entered at the boot prompt in the form of apm=parameter with parameter
being one of:

on or off
Enable or disable APM support.
(no-)allow-ints
Allow interrupts during the execution of BIOS functions.
(no-)broken-psr
The “GetPowerStatus” function of the BIOS does not work properly.
(no-)realmode-power-off
Reset processor to real mode prior to shutdown.
(no-)debug
Log APM events in system log.
(no-)power-off
Power system off after shutdown.
bounce-interval=n
Time in hundredths of a second after a suspend event during which additional
suspend events are ignored.
idle-threshold=n
System inactivity percentage from which the BIOS function idle is executed
(0=always, 100=never).
idle-period=n
Time in hundredths of a second after which the system activity is measured.
The APM daemon (apmd) is no longer used. Its functionality is now handled by the
new powersaved, which also supports ACPI and provides many other features.

28.3 ACPI
ACPI (advanced configuration and power interface) was designed to enable the operating
system to set up and control the individual hardware components. ACPI supersedes
both PnP and APM. It delivers information about the battery, AC adapter, temperature,
fan, and system events, like “close lid” or “battery low.”
The BIOS provides tables containing information about the individual components and
hardware access methods. The operating system uses this information for tasks like
assigning interrupts or activating and deactivating components. Because the operating
system executes commands stored in the BIOS, the functionality depends on the BIOS
implementation. The tables ACPI can detect and load are reported in /var/log/boot
.msg. See Section 28.3.4, “Troubleshooting” (page 512) for more information about
troubleshooting ACPI problems.
28.3.1 ACPI in Action

If the kernel detects an ACPI BIOS when the system is booted, ACPI is activated auto-
matically. The boot parameter acpi=force may be necessary for some older machines.
The computer must support ACPI 2.0 or later. Check the kernel boot messages in /var/
log/boot.msg to see if ACPI was activated.
Subsequently, a number of modules must be loaded. This is done by the start script of
acpid. If any of these modules cause problems, the respective module can be excluded
from loading or unloading in /etc/sysconfig/powersave/common. The system
log (/var/log/messages) contains the messages of the modules, enabling you to
see which components were detected.
/proc/acpi now contains a number of files that provide information about the system
state or can be used to change some of the states. Some features do not work yet because
they are still under development and the support of some functions largely depends on
the implementation of the manufacturer.
All files (except dsdt and fadt) can be read with cat. In some files, settings can be
modified with echo, for example, echo X > file to specify suitable values for
X. One possibility for easy access to those values is the powersave command, which
acts as a front-end for the Powersave daemon. The following describes the most impor-
tant files:

/proc/acpi/info
General information about ACPI.
/proc/acpi/alarm
Here, specify when the system should wake from a sleep state. Currently, this feature
is not fully supported.
/proc/acpi/sleep
Provides information about possible sleep states.
/proc/acpi/event
All events are reported here and processed by the Powersave daemon
(powersaved). If no daemon accesses this file, events, such as a brief click on
the power button or closing the lid, can be read with cat /proc/acpi/event
(terminate with Ctrl + C).
/proc/acpi/dsdt and /proc/acpi/fadt

These files contain the ACPI tables DSDT (differentiated system description table)
and FADT (fixed ACPI description table). They can be read with acpidmp,
acpidisasm, and dmdecode. These programs and their documentation are lo-
cated in the package pmtools. For example, acpidmp DSDT | acpidisasm.
/proc/acpi/ac_adapter/AC/state
Shows whether the AC adapter is connected.
/proc/acpi/battery/BAT*/{alarm,info,state}
Detailed information about the battery state. The charge level is read by comparing
the last full capacity from info with the remaining capacity
from state. A more comfortable way to do this is to use one of the special pro-
grams introduced in Section 28.3.3, “ACPI Tools” (page 512). The charge level at
which a battery event (such as warning, low and critical) is triggered can be specified
in alarm.
/proc/acpi/button
This directory contains information about various switches, like the laptop lid and
buttons.
/proc/acpi/fan/FAN/state
Shows if the fan is currently active. Activate or deactivate the fan manually by
writing 0 (on) or 3 (off) into this file. However, both the ACPI code in the kernel

and the hardware (or the BIOS) overwrite this setting when the system gets too
warm.
/proc/acpi/processor/*
A separate subdirectory is kept for each CPU included in your system.
/proc/acpi/processor/*/info
Information about the energy saving options of the processor.
/proc/acpi/processor/*/power
Information about the current processor state. An asterisk next to C2 indicates that
the processor is idle. This is the most frequent state, as can be seen from the usage
value.
/proc/acpi/processor/*/throttling
Can be used to set the throttling of the processor clock. Usually, throttling is possible
in eight levels. This is independent of the frequency control of the CPU.
/proc/acpi/processor/*/limit
If the performance (outdated) and the throttling are automatically controlled by a
daemon, the maximum limits can be specified here. Some of the limits are deter-
mined by the system. Some can be adjusted by the user.
/proc/acpi/thermal_zone/
A separate subdirectory exists for every thermal zone. A thermal zone is an area
with similar thermal properties whose number and names are designated by the
hardware manufacturer. However, many of the possibilities offered by ACPI are
rarely implemented. Instead, the temperature control is handled conventionally by
the BIOS. The operating system is not given much opportunity to intervene, because
the life span of the hardware is at stake. Therefore, some of the files only have a
theoretical value.
/proc/acpi/thermal_zone/*/temperature
Current temperature of the thermal zone.
/proc/acpi/thermal_zone/*/state
The state indicates if everything is ok or if ACPI applies active or passive
cooling. In the case of ACPI-independent fan control, this state is always ok.

/proc/acpi/thermal_zone/*/cooling_mode
Select the cooling method controlled by ACPI. Choose from passive (less perfor-
mance, economical) or active cooling mode (full performance, fan noise).
/proc/acpi/thermal_zone/*/trip_points
Enables the determination of temperature limits for triggering specific actions, like
passive or active cooling, suspension (hot), or a shutdown (critical). The
possible actions are defined in the DSDT (device-dependent). The trip points deter-
mined in the ACPI specification are critical, hot, passive, active1, and
active2. Even if not all of them are implemented, they must always be entered
in this file in this order. For example, the entry echo 90:0:70:0:0 >
trip_points sets the temperature for critical to 90 and the temperature
for passive to 70 (all temperatures measured in degrees Celsius).
/proc/acpi/thermal_zone/*/polling_frequency
If the value in temperature is not updated automatically when the temperature
changes, toggle the polling mode here. The command echo X >
/proc/acpi/thermal_zone/*/polling_frequency causes the temper-
ature to be queried every X seconds. Set X=0 to disable polling.
None of these settings, information, and events need to be edited manually. This can
be done with the Powersave daemon (powersaved) and its various front-ends, like
powersave, kpowersave, and wmpowersave. See Section 28.3.3, “ACPI Tools”
(page 512).
28.3.2 Controlling the CPU Performance

The CPU can save energy in three ways. Depending on the operating mode of the
computer, these methods can be combined. Saving energy also means that the system
heats up less and the fans are activated less frequently.
Frequency and Voltage Scaling

PowerNow! and Speedstep are the designations AMD and Intel use for this tech-
nology. However, this technology is also applied in processors of other manufac-
turers. The clock frequency of the CPU and its core voltage are reduced at the same
time, resulting in more than linear energy savings. This means that when the fre-
quency is halved (half performance), far less than half of the energy is consumed.
This technology is independent from APM or ACPI. There are two main approaches
to performing CPU frequency scaling—by the kernel itself or by a userspace appli-

cation. Therefore, there are different kernel governors that can be set below /sys/
devices/system/cpu/cpu*/cpufreq/.
userspace governor
If the userspace governor is set, the kernel gives the control of CPU frequency
scaling to a userspace application, usually a daemon. In SUSE Linux Enterprise
distributions, this daemon is the powersaved package. When this implemen-
tation is used, the CPU frequency is adjusted in regard to the current system
load. By default, one of the kernel implementations is used. However, on some
hardware or in regard to specific processors or drivers, the userspace implemen-
tation is still the only working solution.
ondemand governor
This is the kernel implementation of a dynamic CPU frequency policy and
should work on most systems. As soon as there is a high system load, the CPU
frequency is immediately increased. It is lowered on a low system load.
conservative governor
This governor is similar to the on demand implementation, except that a more
conservative policy is used. The load of the system must be high for a specific
amount of time before the CPU frequency is increased.
powersave governor
The cpu frequency is statically set to the lowest possible.
performance governor
The cpu frequency is statically set to the highest possible.
Throttling the Clock Frequency

This technology omits a certain percentage of the clock signal impulses for the
CPU. At 25% throttling, every fourth impulse is omitted. At 87.5%, only every
eighth impulse reaches the processor. However, the energy savings are a little less
than linear. Normally, throttling is only used if frequency scaling is not available
or to maximize power savings. This technology, too, must be controlled by a special
process. The system interface is /proc/acpi/processor/*/throttling.
Putting the Processor to Sleep

The operating system puts the processor to sleep whenever there is nothing to do.
In this case, the operating system sends the CPU a halt command. There are three
states: C1, C2, and C3. In the most economic state, C3, even the synchronization
of the processor cache with the main memory is halted. Therefore, this state can

only be applied if no other device modifies the contents of the main memory via
bus master activity. Some drivers prevent the use of C3. The current state is dis-
played in /proc/acpi/processor/*/power.
Frequency scaling and throttling are only relevant if the processor is busy, because the
most economic C state is applied anyway when the processor is idle. If the CPU is busy,
frequency scaling is the recommended power saving method. Often the processor only
works with a partial load. In this case, it can be run with a lower frequency. Usually,
dynamic frequency scaling controlled by the kernel on demand governor or a daemon,
such as powersaved, is the best approach. A static setting to a low frequency is useful
for battery operation or if you want the computer to be cool or quiet.
Throttling should be used as the last resort, for example, to extend the battery operation
time despite a high system load. However, some systems do not run smoothly when
they are throttled too much. Moreover, CPU throttling does not make sense if the CPU
has little to do.
In SUSE Linux Enterprise these technologies are controlled by the powersave daemon.
The configuration is explained in Section 28.5, “The powersave Package” (page 515).
28.3.3 ACPI Tools

The range of more or less comprehensive ACPI utilities includes tools that merely display
information, like the battery charge level and the temperature (acpi, klaptopdaemon,
wmacpimon, etc.), tools that facilitate the access to the structures in /proc/acpi or
that assist in monitoring changes (akpi, acpiw, gtkacpiw), and tools for editing the ACPI
tables in the BIOS (package pmtools).
There are two different types of problems. On one hand, the ACPI code of the kernel
may contain bugs that were not detected in time. In this case, a solution will be made
available for download. More often, however, the problems are caused by the BIOS.
Sometimes, deviations from the ACPI specification are purposely integrated in the
BIOS to circumvent errors in the ACPI implementation in other widespread operating
systems. Hardware components that have serious errors in the ACPI implementation
are recorded in a blacklist that prevents the Linux kernel from using ACPI for these
components.

The first thing to do when problems are encountered is to update the BIOS. If the
computer does not boot at all, one of the following boot parameters may be helpful:
pci=noacpi
Do not use ACPI for configuring the PCI devices.
acpi=ht
Only perform a simple resource configuration. Do not use ACPI for other purposes.
acpi=off
Disable ACPI.
WARNING: Problems Booting without ACPI
Some newer machines (especially SMP systems and AMD64 systems) need ACPI
for configuring the hardware correctly. On these machines, disabling ACPI can
cause problems.
Monitor the boot messages of the system with the command dmesg | grep -2i
acpi (or all messages, because the problem may not be caused by ACPI) after booting.
If an error occurs while parsing an ACPI table, the most important table—the DS-
DT—can be replaced with an improved version. In this case, the faulty DSDT of the
BIOS is ignored. The procedure is described in Section 28.5.4, “Troubleshooting”
(page 522).
In the kernel configuration, there is a switch for activating ACPI debug messages. If a
kernel with ACPI debugging is compiled and installed, experts searching for an error
can be supported with detailed information.
If you experience BIOS or hardware problems, it is always advisable to contact the

manufacturers. Especially if they do not always provide assistance for Linux, they
should be confronted with the problems. Manufacturers will only take the issue seriously
if they realize that an adequate number of their customers use Linux.

For More Information
Additional documentation and help on ACPI:
• http://www.cpqlinux.com/acpi-howto.html (detailed ACPI HOWTO,

contains DSDT patches)
• http://www.intel.com/technology/iapc/acpi/faq.htm (ACPI
FAQ @Intel)
• http://acpi.sourceforge.net/ (the ACPI4Linux project at Sourceforge)
• http://www.poupinou.org/acpi/ (DSDT patches by Bruno Ducrot)
28.4 Rest for the Hard Disk

In Linux, the hard disk can be put to sleep entirely if it is not needed or it can be run in
a more economic or quieter mode. On modern laptops, you do not need to switch off
the hard disks manually, because they automatically enter an economic operating mode
whenever they are not needed. However, if you want to maximize power savings, test
some of the following methods. Most of the functions can be controlled with powersaved
and the YaST power management module, which is discussed in further detail in Sec-
tion 28.6, “The YaST Power Management Module” (page 524).
The hdparm application can be used to modify various hard disk settings. The option
-y instantly switches the hard disk to the standby mode. -Y puts it to sleep. hdparm
-S x causes the hard disk to be spun down after a certain period of inactivity. Replace
x as follows: 0 disables this mechanism, causing the hard disk to run continuously.
Values from 1 to 240 are multiplied by 5 seconds. Values from 241 to 251 correspond
to 1 to 11 times 30 minutes.
Internal power saving options of the hard disk can be controlled with the option -B.
Select a value from 0 to 255 for maximum saving to maximum throughput. The result
depends on the hard disk used and is difficult to assess. To make a hard disk quieter,
use the option -M. Select a value from 128 to 254 for quiet to fast.
Often, it is not so easy to put the hard disk to sleep. In Linux, numerous processes write
to the hard disk, waking it up repeatedly. Therefore, it is important to understand how
Linux handles data that needs to be written to the hard disk. First, all data is buffered

in the RAM. This buffer is monitored by the kernel update daemon (kupdated). When
the data reaches a certain age limit or when the buffer is filled to a certain degree, the
buffer content is flushed to the hard disk. The buffer size is dynamic and depends on
the size of the memory and the system load. By default, kupdated is set to short intervals
to achieve maximum data integrity. It checks the buffer every 5 seconds and notifies
the bdflush daemon when data is older than 30 seconds or the buffer reaches a fill level
of 30%. The bdflush daemon then writes the data to the hard disk. It also writes inde-
pendently from kupdated if, for instance, the buffer is full.
WARNING: Impairment of the Data Integrity
Changes to the kernel update daemon settings endanger the data integrity.
Apart from these processes, journaling file systems, like ReiserFS and Ext3, write their
metadata independently from bdflush, which also prevents the hard disk from spinning
down. To avoid this, a special kernel extension has been developed for mobile devices.
See /usr/src/linux/Documentation/laptop-mode.txt for details.
Another important factor is the way active programs behave. For example, good editors
regularly write hidden backups of the currently modified file to the hard disk, causing
the disk to wake up. Features like this can be disabled at the expense of data integrity.
In this connection, the mail daemon postfix makes use of the variable
POSTFIX_LAPTOP. If this variable is set to yes, postfix accesses the hard disk far
less frequently. However, this is irrelevant if the interval for kupdated was increased.
28.5 The powersave Package

The powersave package cares about all the previously-mentioned power saving
functions. Due to the increasing demand for lower energy consumption in general, some
of its features are also important on workstations and servers, such as suspend, standby,
or CPU frequency scaling.
This package contains all power management features of your computer. It supports
hardware using ACPI, APM, IDE hard disks, and PowerNow! or SpeedStep technologies.
The functions from the packages apmd, acpid, ospmd, and cpufreqd (now
cpuspeed) have been consolidated in the powersave package. Daemons from these

packages, except acpid that acts as a multiplexer for ACPI events, should not be run
concurrently with the powersave daemon.
Even if your system does not contain all the hardware elements listed above, use the
powersave daemon for controlling the power saving function. Because ACPI and APM
are mutually exclusive, you can only use one of these systems on your computer. The
daemon automatically detects any changes in the hardware configuration.
28.5.1 Configuring the powersave Package

The configuration of powersave is distributed to several files. Every configuration option
listed there contains additional documentation about its functionality.
/etc/sysconfig/powersave/common
This file contains general settings for the powersave daemon. For example, the
amount of debug messages in /var/log/messages can be increased by increas-
ing the value of the variable DEBUG.
/etc/sysconfig/powersave/events
The powersave daemon needs this file for processing system events. An event can
be assigned external actions or actions performed by the daemon itself. For external
actions, the daemon tries to run an executable file (usually a Bash script) in /usr/
lib/powersave/scripts/. Predefined internal actions are:
• ignore
• throttle
• dethrottle
• suspend_to_disk
• suspend_to_ram
• standby
• do_suspend_to_disk
• do_suspend_to_ram

• do_standby
• notify
• screen_saver
• reread_cpu_capabilities
throttle slows down the processor by the value defined in MAX_THROTTLING.

This value depends on the current scheme. dethrottle sets the processor to full
performance. suspend_to_disk, suspend_to_ram, and standby trigger
the system event for a sleep mode. These three actions are generally responsible
for triggering the sleep mode, but they should always be associated with specific
system events.
The directory /usr/lib/powersave/scripts contains scripts for processing

events:
switch_vt
Useful if the screen is displaced after a suspend or standby.
wm_logout
Saves the settings and logs out from GNOME, KDE, or other window managers.
wm_shutdown
Saves the GNOME or KDE settings and shuts down the system.
set_disk_settings
Executes the disk settings made in /etc/sysconfig/powersave/disk.
If, for example, the variable

EVENT_GLOBAL_SUSPEND2DISK="prepare_suspend_to_disk
do_suspend_to_disk" is set, the two scripts or actions are processed in the
specified order as soon as the user gives powersaved the command for the sleep
mode suspend to disk. The daemon runs the external script /usr/lib/
powersave/scripts/prepare_suspend_to_disk. After this script has
been processed successfully, the daemon runs the internal action
do_suspend_to_disk and sets the computer to the sleep mode after the script
has unloaded critical modules and stopped services.

The actions for the event of a sleep button could be modified as in
EVENT_BUTTON_SLEEP="notify suspend_to_disk". In this case, the
user is informed about the suspend by a pop-up window in X or a message on the
console. Subsequently, the event EVENT_GLOBAL_SUSPEND2DISK is generated,
resulting in the execution of the mentioned actions and a secure system suspend
mode. The internal action notify can be customized using the variable
NOTIFY_METHOD in /etc/sysconfig/powersave/common.
/etc/sysconfig/powersave/cpufreq
Contains variables for optimizing the dynamic CPU frequency settings and whether
the user space or the kernel implementation should be used.
/etc/sysconfig/powersave/battery
Contains battery limits and other battery-specific settings.
/etc/sysconfig/powersave/sleep
In this file, activate the sleep modes and determine which critical modules should
be unloaded and which services should be stopped prior to a suspend or standby
event. When the system is resumed, these modules are reloaded and the services
are restarted. You can even delay a triggered sleep mode, for example, to save files.
The default settings mainly concern USB and PCMCIA modules. A failure of
suspend or standby is usually caused by certain modules. See Section 28.5.4,
“Troubleshooting” (page 522) for more information about identifying the error.
/etc/sysconfig/powersave/thermal
Activates cooling and thermal control. Details about this subject are available in
the file /usr/share/doc/packages/powersave/README.thermal.
/etc/sysconfig/powersave/disk
This configuration file controls the actions and settings made regarding the hard
disk.
/etc/sysconfig/powersave/scheme_*
These are the various schemes that adapt the power consumption to certain deploy-
ment scenarios. A number of schemes are preconfigured and can be used as they
are. Custom schemes can be saved here.

28.5.2 Configuring APM and ACPI
Suspend and Standby
There are three basic ACPI sleep modes and two APM sleep modes:
Suspend to Disk (ACPI S4, APM suspend)

Saves the entire memory content to the hard disk. The computer is switched off
completely and does not consume any power. This sleep mode is enabled by default
and should work on all systems.
Suspend to RAM (ACPI S3, APM suspend)

Saves the states of all devices to the main memory. Only the main memory continues
consuming power. SUSE Linux Enterprise does not generally support this sleep
mode although you can use it for quite a number of machines.
This sleep mode is enabled by default, but it is only executed if the current machine
is listed in a database as capable of supporting this mode. This database is contained
in the /usr/sbin/s2ram binary provided by the suspend package.
To modify the default parameters (for example, to generally disable the suspend
to ram sleep mode or to force it even for machines not listed in the database),
find more information about available options in the /etc/sysconfig/
powersave/sleep configuration file.
To learn more about the s2ram binary, refer to the README files in /usr/
share/doc/packages/suspend.
Standby (ACPI S1, APM standby)

Switches some devices off (manufacturer-dependent).
Make sure that the following default options are set in the file /etc/sysconfig/
powersave/events for the correct processing of suspend, standby, and resume
(default settings following the installation of SUSE Linux Enterprise):
EVENT_GLOBAL_SUSPEND2DISK=
"prepare_suspend_to_disk screen_saver do_suspend_to_disk"
EVENT_GLOBAL_SUSPEND2RAM=
"prepare_suspend_to_ram screen_saver do_suspend_to_ram"
EVENT_GLOBAL_STANDBY=
"prepare_standby screen_saver do_standby"

EVENT_GLOBAL_RESUME_SUSPEND2DISK=
"restore_after_suspend_to_disk"
EVENT_GLOBAL_RESUME_SUSPEND2RAM=
"restore_after_suspend_to_ram"
EVENT_GLOBAL_RESUME_STANDBY=
"restore_after_standby"
Custom Battery States

In the file /etc/sysconfig/powersave/battery, define three battery charge
levels (in percent) that trigger system alerts or specific actions when they are reached.
BATTERY_WARNING=12
BATTERY_LOW=7
BATTERY_CRITICAL=2
The actions or scripts to execute when the charge levels drop under the specified limits
are defined in the configuration file /etc/sysconfig/powersave/events.
The standard actions for buttons can be modified as described in Section 28.5.1,
“Configuring the powersave Package” (page 516).
EVENT_BATTERY_NORMAL="ignore"
EVENT_BATTERY_WARNING="notify"
EVENT_BATTERY_LOW="notify"
EVENT_BATTERY_CRITICAL="wm_shutdown"
Adapting Power Consumption to Various Conditions

The system behavior can be adapted to the type of power supply. The power consumption
of the system should be reduced when the system is disconnected from the AC power
supply and operated with the battery. Similarly, the performance should automatically
increase as soon as the system is connected to the AC power supply. The CPU frequency,
the power saving function of IDE, and a number of other parameters can be modified.
The actions to execute when the computer is disconnected from or connected to the AC
power supply are defined in /etc/sysconfig/powersave/events. Select the
schemes to use in /etc/sysconfig/powersave/common:
AC_SCHEME="performance"
BATTERY_SCHEME="powersave"

The schemes are stored in files in /etc/sysconfig/powersave. The filenames
are in the format scheme_name-of-the-scheme. The example refers to two
schemes: scheme_performance and scheme_powersave. performance,
powersave, presentation, and acoustic are preconfigured. Existing schemes
can be edited, created, deleted, or associated with different power supply states with
the help of the YaST power management module described in Section 28.6, “The YaST
Power Management Module” (page 524).
28.5.3 Additional ACPI Features

If you use ACPI, you can control the response of your system to ACPI buttons (power,
sleep, lid open, and lid closed). Configure execution of the actions in /etc/
sysconfig/powersave/events. Refer to this configuration file for an explanation
of the individual options.
EVENT_BUTTON_POWER="wm_shutdown"
When the power button is pressed, the system responds by shutting down the re-
spective window manager (KDE, GNOME, fvwm, etc.).
EVENT_BUTTON_SLEEP="suspend_to_disk"
When the sleep button is pressed, the system is set to the suspend-to-disk mode.
EVENT_BUTTON_LID_OPEN="ignore"
Nothing happens when the lid is opened.
EVENT_BUTTON_LID_CLOSED="screen_saver"
When the lid is closed, the screen saver is activated.
EVENT_OTHER="ignore"
This event happens if an unknown event is encountered by the daemon. Unknown
events include ACPI hot keys on some machines.
Further throttling of the CPU performance is possible if the CPU load does not exceed
a specified limit for a specified time. Specify the load limit in
PROCESSOR_IDLE_LIMIT and the time-out in CPU_IDLE_TIMEOUT. If the CPU
load stays below the limit longer than the time-out, the event configured in
EVENT_PROCESSOR_IDLE is activated. If the CPU is busy again,
EVENT_PROCESSOR_BUSY is executed.

All error messages and alerts are logged in the file /var/log/messages. If you
cannot find the needed information, increase the verbosity of the messages of powersave
using DEBUG in the file /etc/sysconfig/powersave/common. Increase the
value of the variable to 7 or even 15 and restart the daemon. The more detailed error
messages in /var/log/messages should help you to find the error. The following
sections cover the most common problems with powersave.
ACPI Activated with Hardware Support but Functions

Do Not Work
If you experience problems with ACPI, use the command dmesg|grep -i acpi
to search the output of dmesg for ACPI-specific messages. A BIOS update may be
required to resolve the problem. Go to the home page of your laptop manufacturer, look
for an updated BIOS version, and install it. Ask the manufacturer to comply with the
latest ACPI specification. If the errors persist after the BIOS update, proceed as follows
to replace the faulty DSDT table in your BIOS with an updated DSDT:
1 Download the DSDT for your system from http://acpi.sourceforge

.net/dsdt/index.php. Check if the file is decompressed and compiled as
shown by the file extension .aml (ACPI machine language). If this is the case,
continue with step 3.
2 If the file extension of the downloaded table is .asl (ACPI source language),
compile it with iasl (package pmtools). Enter the command iasl -sa
file.asl. The latest version of iasl (Intel ACPI compiler) is available at
http://developer.intel.com/technology/iapc/acpi/
downloads.htm.
3 Copy the file DSDT.aml to any location (/etc/DSDT.aml is recommended).

Edit /etc/sysconfig/kernel and adapt the path to the DSDT file accord-
ingly. Start mkinitrd (package mkinitrd). Whenever you install the kernel
and use mkinitrd to create an initrd, the modified DSDT is integrated and
loaded when the system is booted.

CPU Frequency Does Not Work
Refer to the kernel sources (kernel-source) to see if your processor is supported.
You may need a special kernel module or module option to activate CPU frequency
control. This information is available in /usr/src/linux/Documentation/
cpu-freq/*. If a special module or module option is needed, configure it in the file
/etc/sysconfig/powersave/cpufreq by means of the variables
CPUFREQD_MODULE and CPUFREQD_MODULE_OPTS.
Suspend and Standby Do Not Work

ACPI systems may have problems with suspend and standby due to a faulty DSDT
implementation (BIOS). If this is the case, update the BIOS.
On ACPI and APM systems: When the system tries to unload faulty modules, the system
is arrested or the suspend event is not triggered. The same can also happen if you do
not unload modules or stop services that prevent a successful suspend. In both cases,
try to identify the faulty module that prevented the sleep mode. The log files generated
by the powersave daemon in /var/log/suspend2ram.log and /var/log/
suspend2disk.log are very helpful in this regard. If the computer does not enter
the sleep mode, the cause lies in the last module unloaded. Manipulate the following
settings in /etc/sysconfig/powersave/sleep to unload problematic modules
prior to a suspend or standby.
UNLOAD_MODULES_BEFORE_SUSPEND2DISK=""
UNLOAD_MODULES_BEFORE_SUSPEND2RAM=""
UNLOAD_MODULES_BEFORE_STANDBY=""
SUSPEND2DISK_RESTART_SERVICES=""
SUSPEND2RAM_RESTART_SERVICES=""
STANDBY_RESTART_SERVICES=""
If you use suspend or standby in changing network environments or in connection with

remotely mounted file systems, such as Samba and NIS, use automounter to mount
them or add the respective services, for example, smbfs or nfs, in the above-mentioned
variable. If an application accesses the remotely mounted file system prior to a suspend
or standby, the service cannot be stopped correctly and the file system cannot be un-
mounted properly. After resuming the system, the file system may be corrupt and must
be remounted.

• /usr/share/doc/packages/powersave—Local Powersave daemon
documentation
• http://powersave.sourceforge.net—Most recent Powersave daemon

documentation
• http://www.opensuse.org/Projects_Powersave—Project page in
the openSUSE wiki
28.6 The YaST Power Management

Module
The YaST power management module can configure all power management settings
already described. When started from the YaST Control Center with System > Power
Management, the first dialog of the module opens (see Figure 28.1, “Scheme Selection”
(page 524)).
Figure 28.1 Scheme Selection

In this dialog, select the schemes to use for battery operation and AC operation. To add
or modify the schemes, click Edit Schemes, which opens an overview of the existing
schemes like that shown in Figure 28.2, “Overview of Existing Schemes” (page 525).
Figure 28.2 Overview of Existing Schemes
In the scheme overview, select the scheme to modify then click Edit. To create a new
scheme, click Add. The dialog that opens is the same in both cases and is shown in
Figure 28.3, “Configuring a Scheme” (page 526).

Figure 28.3 Configuring a Scheme
First, enter a suitable name and description for the new or edited scheme. Determine if
and how the CPU performance should be controlled for this scheme. Decide if and to
what extent frequency scaling and throttling should be used and whether processes with
low priority (niced processes) should be ignored when adjusting the CPU frequency.
In the following dialog for the hard disk, define a Standby Policy for maximum perfor-
mance or for energy saving. The Acoustic Policy controls the noise level of the hard
disk (supported by few hard disks). The Cooling Policy determines the cooling method
to use. Unfortunately, this type of thermal control is rarely supported by the BIOS.
Read /usr/share/doc/packages/powersave/powersave_manual.html
#Thermal to learn how you can use the fan and passive cooling methods.
Global power management settings can also be made from the initial dialog using Battery
Warning, ACPI Settings, or Suspend Permissions. Access these controls by clicking
Other Settings and selecting the appropriate item from the menu. Click Battery Warning
to access the dialog for the battery charge level, shown in Figure 28.4, “Battery Charge
Level” (page 527).

Figure 28.4 Battery Charge Level
The BIOS of your system notifies the operating system whenever the charge level drops
under certain configurable limits. In this dialog, define three limits: Warning Capacity,
Low Capacity, and Critical Capacity. Specific actions are triggered when the charge
level drops under these limits. Usually, the first two states merely trigger a notification
to the user. The third critical level triggers a shutdown, because the remaining energy
is not sufficient for continued system operation. Select suitable charge levels and the
desired actions then click OK to return to the start dialog.

Figure 28.5 ACPI Settings
Access the dialog for configuring the ACPI buttons using ACPI Settings. It is shown
in Figure 28.5, “ACPI Settings” (page 528). The settings for the ACPI buttons determine
how the system should respond to certain switches. Configure the system response to
pressing the power button, pressing the sleep button, and closing the laptop lid. Click
OK to complete the configuration and return to the start dialog.
Click Enable Suspend to enter a dialog in which to determine if and how users of this
system may use the suspend or standby functionality. Click OK to return to the main
dialog. Click OK again to exit the module and confirm your power management settings.

Wireless Communication
Wireless LAN can be used to establish communication between your SUSE Linux
29
Enterprise® machines. This chapter introduces the principles of wireless networking
and the basic configuration for wireless networking.
29.1 Wireless LAN

Wireless LANs have become an indispensable aspect of mobile computing. Today,
most laptops have built-in WLAN cards. The 802.11 standard for the wireless commu-
nication of WLAN cards was prepared by the IEEE organization. Originally, this stan-
dard provided for a maximum transmission rate of 2 Mbit/s. Meanwhile, several sup-
plements have been added to increase the data rate. These supplements define details
such as the modulation, transmission output, and transmission rates:
Wireless Communication 529

Table 29.1 Overview of Various WLAN Standards
Name Band (GHz) Maximum Trans- Note

mission Rate
(Mbit/s)
802.11 2.4 2 Outdated; virtually no end

devices available
802.11b 2.4 11 Widespread
802.11a 5 54 Less common
802.11g 2.4 54 Backward-compatible with

11b
Additionally, there are proprietary standards, like the 802.11b variation of Texas Instru-
ments with a maximum transmission rate of 22 Mbit/s (sometimes referred to as
802.11b+). However, the popularity of cards using this standard is limited.
29.1.1 Hardware
802.11 cards are not supported by SUSE Linux Enterprise®. Most cards using 802.11a,
802.11b, and 802.11g are supported. New cards usually comply with the 802.11g
standard, but cards using 802.11b are still available. Normally, cards with the following
chips are supported:
• Aironet 4500, 4800
• Atheros 5210, 5211, 5212
• Atmel at76c502, at76c503, at76c504, at76c506
• Intel PRO/Wireless 2100, 2200BG, 2915ABG, 3945ABG
• Intersil Prism2/2.5/3
• Intersil PrismGT
• Lucent/Agere Hermes

• Texas Instruments ACX100, ACX111
• ZyDAS zd1201
A number of older cards that are rarely used and no longer available are also supported.
An extensive list of WLAN cards and the chips they use is available at the Web site of
AbsoluteValue Systems at http://www.linux-wlan.org/docs/wlan
_adapters.html.gz. Find an overview of the various WLAN chips at http://
wiki.uni-konstanz.de/wiki/bin/view/Wireless/ListeChipsatz.
Some cards need a firmware image that must be loaded into the card when the driver
is initialized. This is the case with Intersil PrismGT, Atmel, and TI ACX100 and
ACX111. The firmware can easily be installed with the YaST Online Update. The
firmware for Intel PRO/Wireless cards ships with SUSE Linux Enterprise and is auto-
matically installed by YaST as soon as a card of this type is detected. More information
about this subject is available in the installed system in /usr/share/doc/
packages/wireless-tools/README.firmware.
29.1.2 Function
In wireless networking, various techniques and configurations are used to ensure fast,
high-quality, and secure connections. Different operating types suit different setups. It
can be difficult to choose the right authentication method. The available encryption
methods have different advantages and pitfalls.
Operating Mode
Basically, wireless networks can be classified as managed networks and ad-hoc networks.
Managed networks have a managing element: the access point. In this mode (also re-
ferred to as infrastructure mode), all connections of the WLAN stations in the network
run over the access point, which may also serve as a connection to an ethernet. Ad-hoc
networks do not have an access point. The stations communicate directly with each
other. The transmission range and number of participating stations are greatly limited
in ad-hoc networks. Therefore, an access point is usually more efficient. It is even
possible to use a WLAN card as an access point. Most cards support this functionality.
Because a wireless network is much easier to intercept and compromise than a wired
network, the various standards include authentication and encryption methods. In the
original version of the IEEE 802.11 standard, these are described under the term WEP.

However, because WEP has proven to be insecure (see Section “Security” (page 538)),
the WLAN industry (joined under the name Wi-Fi Alliance) has defined a new extension
called WPA, which is supposed to eliminate the weaknesses of WEP. The later IEEE
802.11i standard (also referred to as WPA2, because WPA is based on a draft version
802.11i) includes WPA and some other authentication and encryption methods.
Authentication
To make sure that only authorized stations can connect, various authentication mecha-
nisms are used in managed networks:
Open
An open system is a system that does not require authentication. Any station can
join the network. Nevertheless, WEP encryption (see Section “Encryption”
(page 533)) can be used.
Shared Key (according to IEEE 802.11)

In this procedure, the WEP key is used for the authentication. However, this proce-
dure is not recommended, because it makes the WEP key more susceptible to at-
tacks. All an attacker needs to do is to listen long enough to the communication
between the station and the access point. During the authentication process, both
sides exchange the same information, once in encrypted form and once in unen-
crypted form. This makes it possible for the key to be reconstructed with suitable
tools. Because this method makes use of the WEP key for the authentication and
for the encryption, it does not enhance the security of the network. A station that
has the correct WEP key can authenticate, encrypt, and decrypt. A station that does
not have the key cannot decrypt received packets. Accordingly, it cannot commu-
nicate, regardless of whether it had to authenticate itself.
WPA-PSK (according to IEEE 802.1x)

WPA-PSK (PSK stands for preshared key) works similarly to the Shared Key
procedure. All participating stations as well as the access point need the same key.
The key is 256 bits in length and is usually entered as a passphrase. This system
does not need a complex key management like WPA-EAP and is more suitable for
private use. Therefore, WPA-PSK is sometimes referred to as WPA “Home”.
WPA-EAP (according to IEEE 802.1x)

Actually, WPA-EAP is not an authentication system but a protocol for transporting
authentication information. WPA-EAP is used to protect wireless networks in en-

terprises. In private networks, it is scarcely used. For this reason, WPA-EAP is
sometimes referred to as WPA “Enterprise”.
WPA-EAP needs a Radius server to authenticate users. EAP offers three different
methods for connecting and authenticating to the server: TLS (Transport Layer
Security), TTLS (Tunneled Transport Layer Security), and PEAP (Protected Exten-
sible Authentication Protocol). In a nutshell, these options work as follows:
EAP-TLS
TLS authentication relies on the mutual exchange of certificates both for
server and client. First, the server presents its certificate to the client where it
is evaluated. If the certificate is considered valid, the client in turn presents its
certificate to the server. While TLS is secure, it requires a working certification
management infrastructure in your network. This infrastructure is rarely found
in private networks.
EAP-TTLS and PEAP

Both TTLS and PEAP are two-stage protocols. In the first stage, a secure is
established and in the second one the client authentication data is exchanged.
They require far less certification management overhead than TLS, if any.
Encryption
There are various encryption methods to ensure that no unauthorized person can read
the data packets that are exchanged in a wireless network or gain access to the network:
WEP (defined in IEEE 802.11)

This standard makes use of the RC4 encryption algorithm, originally with a key
length of 40 bits, later also with 104 bits. Often, the length is declared as 64 bits
or 128 bits, depending on whether the 24 bits of the initialization vector are included.
However, this standard has some weaknesses. Attacks against the keys generated
by this system may be successful. Nevertheless, it is better to use WEP than not
encrypt the network at all.
TKIP (defined in WPA/IEEE 802.11i)

This key management protocol defined in the WPA standard uses the same encryp-
tion algorithm as WEP, but eliminates its weakness. Because a new key is generated
for every data packet, attacks against these keys are in vain. TKIP is used together
with WPA-PSK.

CCMP (defined in IEEE 802.11i)
CCMP describes the key management. Usually, it is used in connection with WPA-
EAP, but it can also be used with WPA-PSK. The encryption takes place according
to AES and is stronger than the RC4 encryption of the WEP standard.
29.1.3 Configuration with YaST

To configure your wireless network card, start the YaST Network Card module. Here
you can also choose whether to use YaST or NetworkManager for managing your net-
work card. If you select YaST, select the device type Wireless in Network Address
Setup and click Next. In Wireless Network Card Configuration, shown in Figure 29.1,
“YaST: Configuring the Wireless Network Card” (page 534), make the basic settings
for the WLAN operation:
Figure 29.1 YaST: Configuring the Wireless Network Card
Operating Mode
A station can be integrated in a WLAN in three different modes. The suitable mode
depends on the network in which to communicate: Ad-hoc (peer-to-peer network
without access point), Managed (network is managed by an access point), or
Master (your network card should be used as the access point). To use any of the
WPA-PSK or WPA-EAP modes, the operating mode must be set to managed.

Network Name (ESSID)
All stations in a wireless network need the same ESSID for communicating with
each other. If nothing is specified, the card automatically selects an access point,
which may not be the one you intended to use.
Authentication Mode
Select a suitable authentication method for your network: Open, Shared Key, WPA-
PSK, or WPA-EAP. If you select WPA authentication, a network name must be
set.
Expert Settings
This button opens a dialog for the detailed configuration of your WLAN connection.
A detailed description of this dialog is provided later.
After completing the basic settings, your station is ready for deployment in the WLAN.
IMPORTANT: Security in Wireless Networks
Be sure to use one of the supported authentication and encryption methods

to protect your network traffic. Unencrypted WLAN connections allow third
parties to intercept all network data. Even a weak encryption (WEP) is better
than none at all. Refer to Section “Encryption” (page 533) and Section “Security”
(page 538) for information.
Depending on the selected authentication method, YaST prompts you to fine-tune the
settings in another dialog. For Open, there is nothing to configure, because this setting
implements unencrypted operation without authentication.
Shared Key
Set a key input type. Choose from Passphrase, ASCII, or Hexadecimal. You may
keep up to four different keys to encrypt the transmitted data. Click WEP Keys to
enter the key configuration dialog. Set the length of the key: 128 bit or 64 bit. The
default setting is 128 bit. In the list area at the bottom of the dialog, up to four dif-
ferent keys can be specified for your station to use for the encryption. Press Set as
Default to define one of them as the default key. Unless you change this, YaST
uses the first entered key as the default key. If the standard key is deleted, one of
the other keys must be marked manually as the default key. Click Edit to modify
existing list entries or create new keys. In this case, a pop-up window prompts you
to select an input type (Passphrase, ASCII, or Hexadecimal). If you select
Passphrase, enter a word or a character string from which a key is generated ac-

cording to the length previously specified. ASCII requests an input of 5 characters
for a 64-bit key and 13 characters for a 128-bit key. For Hexadecimal, enter 10
characters for a 64-bit key or 26 characters for a 128-bit key in hexadecimal notation.
WPA-PSK
To enter a key for WPA-PSK, select the input method Passphrase or Hexadecimal.
In the Passphrase mode, the input must be 8 to 63 characters. In the Hexadecimal
mode, enter 64 characters.
WPA-EAP
Enter the credentials you have been given by your network administrator. For TLS,
provide Identity, Client Certificate, Client Key, and Server Certificate. TTLS and
PEAP require Identity and Password. Server Certificate and Anonymous Identity
are optional. YaST searches for any certificate under /etc/cert, so save the
certificates given to you to this location and restrict access to these files to 0600
(owner read and write).
Click Details to enter the advanced authentication dialog for your WPA-EAP setup.
Select the authentication method for the second stage of EAP-TTLS or EAP-PEAP
communication. If you selected TTLS in the previous dialog, choose any, MD5,
GTC, CHAP, PAP, MSCHAPv1, or MSCHAPv2. If you selected PEAP, choose any,
MD5, GTC, or MSCHAPv2. PEAP version can be used to force the use of a certain
PEAP implementation if the automatically-determined setting does not work for
you.
Click Expert Settings to leave the dialog for the basic configuration of the WLAN
connection and enter the expert configuration. The following options are available in
this dialog:
Channel
The specification of a channel on which the WLAN station should work is only
needed in Ad-hoc and Master modes. In Managed mode, the card automatically
searches the available channels for access points. In Ad-hoc mode, select one of
the 12 offered channels for the communication of your station with the other stations.
In Master mode, determine on which channel your card should offer access point
functionality. The default setting for this option is Auto.
Bit Rate
Depending on the performance of your network, you may want to set a certain bit
rate for the transmission from one point to another. In the default setting Auto, the

system tries to use the highest possible data transmission rate. Some WLAN cards
do not support the setting of bit rates.
Access Point
In an environment with several access points, one of them can be preselected by
specifying the MAC address.
29.1.4 Utilities
hostap (package hostap) is used to run a WLAN card as an access point. More infor-
mation about this package is available at the project home page (http://hostap
.epitest.fi/).
kismet (package kismet) is a network diagnosis tool with which to listen to the WLAN
packet traffic. In this way, you can also detect any intrusion attempts in your network.
More information is available at http://www.kismetwireless.net/ and in
the manual page.
29.1.5 Tips and Tricks for Setting Up a

WLAN
These tips can help tweak speed and stability as well as security aspects of your WLAN.
Stability and Speed

The performance and reliability of a wireless network mainly depend on whether the
participating stations receive a clean signal from the other stations. Obstructions like
walls greatly weaken the signal. The more the signal strength sinks, the more the
transmission slows down. During operation, check the signal strength with the iwconfig
utility on the command line (Link Quality field) or with NetworkManager or
KNetworkManager. If you have problems with the signal quality, try to set up the devices
somewhere else or adjust the position of the antennas of your access points. Auxiliary
antennas that substantially improve the reception are available for a number of PCMCIA
WLAN cards. The rate specified by the manufacturer, such as 54 Mbit/s, is a nominal
value that represents the theoretical maximum. In practice, the maximum data
throughput is no more than half this value.

Security
If you want to set up a wireless network, remember that anybody within the transmission
range can easily access it if no security measures are implemented. Therefore, be sure
to activate an encryption method. All WLAN cards and access points support WEP
encryption. Although this is not entirely safe, it does present an obstacle for a potential
attacker. WEP is usually adequate for private use. WPA-PSK would be even better, but
it is not implemented in older access points or routers with WLAN functionality. On
some devices, WPA can be implemented by means of a firmware update. Furthermore,
Linux does not support WPA on all hardware components. When this documentation
was prepared, WPA only worked with cards using Atheros, Intel PRO/Wireless, or
Prism2/2.5/3 chips. On Prism2/2.5/3, WPA only works if the hostap driver is used (see
Section “Problems with Prism2 Cards” (page 538)). If WPA is not available, WEP is
better than no encryption. In enterprises with advanced security requirements, wireless
networks should only be operated with WPA.
If your WLAN card fails to respond, check if you have downloaded the needed firmware.
Refer to Section 29.1.1, “Hardware” (page 530). The following paragraphs cover some
known problems.
Multiple Network Devices

Modern laptops usually have a network card and a WLAN card. If you configured both
devices with DHCP (automatic address assignment), you may encounter problems with
the name resolution and the default gateway. This is evident from the fact that you can
ping the router but cannot surf the Internet. The Support Database features an article
on this subject at http://en.opensuse.org/SDB:Name_Resolution_Does
_Not_Work_with_Several_Concurrent_DHCP_Clients.
Problems with Prism2 Cards

Several drivers are available for devices with Prism2 chips. The various cards work
more or less smoothly with the various drivers. With these cards, WPA is only possible
with the hostap driver. If such a card does not work properly or not at all or you want

to use WPA, read /usr/share/doc/packages/wireless-tools/README
.prism2.
WPA
WPA support is quite new in SUSE Linux Enterprise and still under development. Thus,
YaST does not support the configuration of all WPA authentication methods. Not all
wireless LAN cards and drivers support WPA. Some cards need a firmware update to
enable WPA. If you want to use WPA, read /usr/share/doc/packages/
wireless-tools/README.wpa.

The Internet pages of Jean Tourrilhes, who developed the Wireless Tools for Linux,
present a wealth of useful information about wireless networks. See http://www
.hpl.hp.com/personal/Jean_Tourrilhes/Linux/Wireless.html.

Part IV. Services
Basic Networking 30
Linux offers the necessary networking tools and features for integration into all types
of network structures. The customary Linux protocol, TCP/IP, has various services and
special features, which are discussed here. Network access using a network card, modem,
or other device can be configured with YaST. Manual configuration is also possible.
Only the fundamental mechanisms and the relevant network configuration files are
discussed in this chapter.
Linux and other Unix operating systems use the TCP/IP protocol. It is not a single
network protocol, but a family of network protocols that offer various services. The
protocols listed in Table 30.1, “Several Protocols in the TCP/IP Protocol Family”
(page 544) are provided for the purpose of exchanging data between two machines via
TCP/IP. Networks combined by TCP/IP, comprising a worldwide network are also re-
ferred to, in their entirety, as “the Internet.”
RFC stands for Request for Comments. RFCs are documents that describe various In-
ternet protocols and implementation procedures for the operating system and its appli-
cations. The RFC documents describe the setup of Internet protocols. To expand your
knowledge about any of the protocols, refer to the appropriate RFC documents. They
are available online at http://www.ietf.org/rfc.html.
Basic Networking 543

Table 30.1 Several Protocols in the TCP/IP Protocol Family
Protocol Description
TCP Transmission Control Protocol: A connection-oriented secure protocol.

The data to transmit is first sent by the application as a stream of data
then converted by the operating system to the appropriate format. The
data arrives at the respective application on the destination host in the
original data stream format in which it was initially sent. TCP deter-
mines whether any data has been lost during the transmission and that
there is no mix-up. TCP is implemented wherever the data sequence
matters.
UDP User Datagram Protocol: A connectionless, insecure protocol. The data

to transmit is sent in the form of packets generated by the application.
The order in which the data arrives at the recipient is not guaranteed
and data loss is a possibility. UDP is suitable for record-oriented appli-
cations. It features a smaller latency period than TCP.
ICMP Internet Control Message Protocol: Essentially, this is not a protocol

for the end user, but a special control protocol that issues error reports
and can control the behavior of machines participating in TCP/IP data
transfer. In addition, it provides a special echo mode that can be viewed
using the program ping.
IGMP Internet Group Management Protocol: This protocol controls machine

behavior when implementing IP multicast.
As shown in Figure 30.1, “Simplified Layer Model for TCP/IP” (page 545), data ex-
change takes place in different layers. The actual network layer is the insecure data
transfer via IP (Internet protocol). On top of IP, TCP (transmission control protocol)
guarantees, to a certain extent, security of the data transfer. The IP layer is supported
by the underlying hardware-dependent protocol, such as ethernet.

Figure 30.1 Simplified Layer Model for TCP/IP
Host sun Host earth
Application Layer Applications Application Layer
Transport Layer TCP, UDP Transport Layer
Network Layer IP Network Layer
Data Link Layer Ethernet, FDDI, ISDN Data Link Layer
Physical Layer Cable, Fiberglass Physical Layer
Data Transfer
The diagram provides one or two examples for each layer. The layers are ordered ac-
cording to abstraction levels. The lowest layer is very close to the hardware. The upper-
most layer, however, is almost a complete abstraction from the hardware. Every layer
has its own special function. The special functions of each layer are mostly implicit in
their description. The data link and physical layers represent the physical network used,
such as ethernet.
Almost all hardware protocols work on a packet-oriented basis. The data to transmit is
packaged in packets, because it cannot be sent all at once. The maximum size of a
TCP/IP packet is approximately 64 KB. Packets are normally quite a bit smaller, because
the network hardware can be a limiting factor. The maximum size of a data packet on
an ethernet is about fifteen hundred bytes. The size of a TCP/IP packet is limited to this
amount when the data is sent over an ethernet. If more data is transferred, more data
packets need to be sent by the operating system.
For the layers to serve their designated functions, additional information regarding each
layer must be saved in the data packet. This takes place in the header of the packet.
Every layer attaches a small block of data, called the protocol header, to the front of
each emerging packet. A sample TCP/IP data packet traveling over an ethernet cable
is illustrated in Figure 30.2, “TCP/IP Ethernet Packet” (page 546). The proof sum is

located at the end of the packet, not at the beginning. This simplifies things for the
network hardware.
Figure 30.2 TCP/IP Ethernet Packet
Usage Data (maximum 1460 bytes)
TCP (Layer 4) Protocol Header (approx. 20 bytes)
IP (Layer 3) Protocol Header (approx. 20 bytes)
Ethernet (Layer 2) Protocol Header (approx. 14 bytes) + Checksum (2 bytes)
When an application sends data over the network, the data passes through each layer,
all implemented in the Linux kernel except the physical layer. Each layer is responsible
for preparing the data so it can be passed to the next layer. The lowest layer is ultimately
responsible for sending the data. The entire procedure is reversed when data is received.
Like the layers of an onion, in each layer the protocol headers are removed from the
transported data. Finally, the transport layer is responsible for making the data available
for use by the applications at the destination. In this manner, one layer only communi-
cates with the layer directly above or below it. For applications, it is irrelevant whether
data is transmitted via a 100 Mbit/s FDDI network or via a 56-Kbit/s modem line.
Likewise, it is irrelevant for the data line which kind of data is transmitted, as long as
packets are in the correct format.
30.1 IP Addresses and Routing

The discussion in this section is limited to IPv4 networks. For information about IPv6
protocol, the successor to IPv4, refer to Section 30.2, “IPv6—The Next Generation
Internet” (page 549).

30.1.1 IP Addresses
Every computer on the Internet has a unique 32-bit address. These 32 bits (or 4 bytes)
are normally written as illustrated in the second row in Example 30.1, “Writing IP
Addresses” (page 547).
Example 30.1 Writing IP Addresses

IP Address (binary): 11000000 10101000 00000000 00010100
IP Address (decimal): 192. 168. 0. 20
In decimal form, the four bytes are written in the decimal number system, separated by
periods. The IP address is assigned to a host or a network interface. It cannot be used
anywhere else in the world. There are exceptions to this rule, but these are not relevant
in the following passages.
The points in IP addresses indicate the hierarchical system. Until the 1990s, IP addresses
were strictly categorized in classes. However, this system has proven too inflexible and
was discontinued. Now, classless routing (CIDR, classless interdomain routing) is used.
30.1.2 Netmasks and Routing

Netmasks are used to define the address range of a subnetwork. If two hosts are in the
same subnetwork, they can reach each other directly, if they are not in the same subnet-
work, they need the address of a gateway that handles all the traffic between the subnet-
work and the rest of the world. To check if two IP addresses are in the same subnet,
simply “AND” both addresses with the netmask. If the result is identical, both IP ad-
dresses are in the same local network. If there are differences, the remote IP address,
and thus the remote interface, can only be reached over a gateway.
To understand how the netmask works, look at Example 30.2, “Linking IP Addresses
to the Netmask” (page 548). The netmask consists of 32 bits that identify how much of
an IP address belongs to the network. All those bits that are 1 mark the corresponding
bit in the IP address as belonging to the network. All bits that are 0 mark bits inside
the subnetwork. This means that the more bits are 1, the smaller the subnetwork is.
Because the netmask always consists of several successive 1 bits, it is also possible to
just count the number of bits in the netmask. In Example 30.2, “Linking IP Addresses
to the Netmask” (page 548) the first net with 24 bits could also be written as
192.168.0.0/24.

Example 30.2 Linking IP Addresses to the Netmask
IP address (192.168.0.20): 11000000 10101000 00000000 00010100

Netmask (255.255.255.0): 11111111 11111111 11111111 00000000
---------------------------------------------------------------
Result of the link: 11000000 10101000 00000000 00000000
In the decimal system: 192. 168. 0. 0
IP address (213.95.15.200): 11010101 10111111 00001111 11001000

Netmask (255.255.255.0): 11111111 11111111 11111111 00000000
---------------------------------------------------------------
Result of the link: 11010101 10111111 00001111 00000000
In the decimal system: 213. 95. 15. 0
To give another example: all machines connected with the same ethernet cable are
usually located in the same subnetwork and are directly accessible. Even when the
subnet is physically divided by switches or bridges, these hosts can still be reached di-
rectly.
IP addresses outside the local subnet can only be reached if a gateway is configured
for the target network. In the most common case, there is only one gateway that handles
all traffic that is external. However, it is also possible to configure several gateways
for different subnets.
If a gateway has been configured, all external IP packets are sent to the appropriate
gateway. This gateway then attempts to forward the packets in the same manner—from
host to host—until it reaches the destination host or the packet's TTL (time to live) ex-
pires.
Table 30.2 Specific Addresses
Address Type Description
Base Network Ad- This is the netmask AND any address in the network, as shown
dress in Example 30.2, “Linking IP Addresses to the Netmask”
(page 548) under Result. This address cannot be assigned to
any hosts.
Broadcast Address This basically says, “Access all hosts in this subnetwork.” To
generate this, the netmask is inverted in binary form and linked
to the base network address with a logical OR. The above ex-

Address Type Description
ample therefore results in 192.168.0.255. This address cannot

be assigned to any hosts.
Local Host The address 127.0.0.1 is assigned to the “loopback device”

on each host. A connection can be set up to your own machine
with this address.
Because IP addresses must be unique all over the world, you cannot just select random
addresses. There are three address domains to use if you want to set up a private IP-
based network. These cannot get any connection from the rest of the Internet, because
they cannot be transmitted over the Internet. These address domains are specified in
RFC 1597 and listed in Table 30.3, “Private IP Address Domains” (page 549).
Table 30.3 Private IP Address Domains
Network/Netmask Domain
10.0.0.0/255.0.0.0 10.x.x.x
172.16.0.0/255.240.0.0 172.16.x.x – 172.31.x.x
192.168.0.0/255.255.0.0 192.168.x.x
30.2 IPv6—The Next Generation

Internet
IMPORTANT: IBM System z: IPv6 Support
IPv6 is not supported by the CTC and IUCV network connections of the IBM
System z hardware.
Due to the emergence of the WWW (World Wide Web), the Internet has experienced
explosive growth with an increasing number of computers communicating via TCP/IP
in the past fifteen years. Since Tim Berners-Lee at CERN (http://public.web

.cern.ch) invented the WWW in 1990, the number of Internet hosts has grown from
a few thousand to about a hundred million.
As mentioned, an IPv4 address consists of only 32 bits. Also, quite a few IP addresses
are lost—they cannot be used due to the way in which networks are organized. The
number of addresses available in your subnet is two to the power of the number of bits,
minus two. A subnetwork has, for example, 2, 6, or 14 addresses available. To connect
128 hosts to the Internet, for example, you need a subnetwork with 256 IP addresses,
from which only 254 are usable, because two IP addresses are needed for the structure
of the subnetwork itself: the broadcast and the base network address.
Under the current IPv4 protocol, DHCP or NAT (network address translation) are the
typical mechanisms used to circumvent the potential address shortage. Combined with
the convention to keep private and public address spaces separate, these methods can
certainly mitigate the shortage. The problem with them lies in their configuration, which
is a chore to set up and a burden to maintain. To set up a host in an IPv4 network, you
need a number of address items, such as the host's own IP address, the subnetmask, the
gateway address, and maybe a name server address. All these items need to be known
and cannot be derived from somewhere else.
With IPv6, both the address shortage and the complicated configuration should be a
thing of the past. The following sections tell more about the improvements and benefits
brought by IPv6 and about the transition from the old protocol to the new one.
30.2.1 Advantages
The most important and most visible improvement brought by the new protocol is the
enormous expansion of the available address space. An IPv6 address is made up of 128
bit values instead of the traditional 32 bits. This provides for as many as several
quadrillion IP addresses.
However, IPv6 addresses are not only different from their predecessors with regard to
their length. They also have a different internal structure that may contain more specific
information about the systems and the networks to which they belong. More details
about this are found in Section 30.2.2, “Address Types and Structure” (page 552).
The following is a list of some other advantages of the new protocol:

Autoconfiguration
IPv6 makes the network “plug and play” capable, which means that a newly set up
system integrates into the (local) network without any manual configuration. The
new host uses its automatic configuration mechanism to derive its own address
from the information made available by the neighboring routers, relying on a pro-
tocol called the neighbor discovery (ND) protocol. This method does not require
any intervention on the administrator's part and there is no need to maintain a central
server for address allocation—an additional advantage over IPv4, where automatic
address allocation requires a DHCP server.
Mobility
IPv6 makes it possible to assign several addresses to one network interface at the
same time. This allows users to access several networks easily, something that
could be compared with the international roaming services offered by mobile phone
companies: when you take your mobile phone abroad, the phone automatically
logs in to a foreign service as soon as it enters the corresponding area, so you can
be reached under the same number everywhere and are able to place an outgoing
call just like in your home area.
Secure Communication
With IPv4, network security is an add-on function. IPv6 includes IPsec as one of
its core features, allowing systems to communicate over a secure tunnel to avoid
eavesdropping by outsiders on the Internet.
Backward Compatibility
Realistically, it would be impossible to switch the entire Internet from IPv4 to IPv6
at one time. Therefore, it is crucial that both protocols are able to coexist not only
on the Internet, but also on one system. This is ensured by compatible addresses
(IPv4 addresses can easily be translated into IPv6 addresses) and through the use
of a number of tunnels. See Section 30.2.3, “Coexistence of IPv4 and IPv6”
(page 556). Also, systems can rely on a dual stack IP technique to support both
protocols at the same time, meaning that they have two network stacks that are
completely separate, such that there is no interference between the two protocol
versions.
Custom Tailored Services through Multicasting

With IPv4, some services, such as SMB, need to broadcast their packets to all hosts
in the local network. IPv6 allows a much more fine-grained approach by enabling
servers to address hosts through multicasting—by addressing a number of hosts as
parts of a group (which is different from addressing all hosts through broadcasting

or each host individually through unicasting). Which hosts are addressed as a group
may depend on the concrete application. There are some predefined groups to ad-
dress all name servers (the all name servers multicast group), for example, or all
routers (the all routers multicast group).
30.2.2 Address Types and Structure

As mentioned, the current IP protocol is lacking in two important aspects: there is an
increasing shortage of IP addresses and configuring the network and maintaining the
routing tables is becoming a more complex and burdensome task. IPv6 solves the first
problem by expanding the address space to 128 bits. The second one is countered by
introducing a hierarchical address structure, combined with sophisticated techniques
to allocate network addresses, as well as multihoming (the ability to assign several ad-
dresses to one device, giving access to several networks).
When dealing with IPv6, it is useful to know about three different types of addresses:
Unicast
Addresses of this type are associated with exactly one network interface. Packets
with such an address are delivered to only one destination. Accordingly, unicast
addresses are used to transfer packets to individual hosts on the local network or
the Internet.
Multicast
Addresses of this type relate to a group of network interfaces. Packets with such
an address are delivered to all destinations that belong to the group. Multicast ad-
dresses are mainly used by certain network services to communicate with certain
groups of hosts in a well-directed manner.
Anycast
Addresses of this type are related to a group of interfaces. Packets with such an
address are delivered to the member of the group that is closest to the sender, ac-
cording to the principles of the underlying routing protocol. Anycast addresses are
used to make it easier for hosts to find out about servers offering certain services
in the given network area. All servers of the same type have the same anycast ad-
dress. Whenever a host requests a service, it receives a reply from the server with
the closest location, as determined by the routing protocol. If this server should fail
for some reason, the protocol automatically selects the second closest server, then
the third one, and so forth.

An IPv6 address is made up of eight four-digit fields, each representing 16 bits, written
in hexadecimal notation. They are also separated by colons (:). Any leading zero bytes
within a given field may be dropped, but zeros within the field or at its end may not.
Another convention is that more than four consecutive zero bytes may be collapsed
into a double colon. However, only one such :: is allowed per address. This kind of
shorthand notation is shown in Example 30.3, “Sample IPv6 Address” (page 553), where
all three lines represent the same address.
Example 30.3 Sample IPv6 Address

fe80 : 0000 : 0000 : 0000 : 0000 : 10 : 1000 : 1a4
fe80 : 0 : 0 : 0 : 0 : 10 : 1000 : 1a4
fe80 : : 10 : 1000 : 1a4
Each part of an IPv6 address has a defined function. The first bytes form the prefix and
specify the type of address. The center part is the network portion of the address, but
it may be unused. The end of the address forms the host part. With IPv6, the netmask
is defined by indicating the length of the prefix after a slash at the end of the address.
An address, as shown in Example 30.4, “IPv6 Address Specifying the Prefix Length”
(page 553), contains the information that the first 64 bits form the network part of the
address and the last 64 form its host part. In other words, the 64 means that the netmask
is filled with 64 1-bit values from the left. Just like with IPv4, the IP address is combined
with AND with the values from the netmask to determine whether the host is located
in the same subnetwork or in another one.
Example 30.4 IPv6 Address Specifying the Prefix Length

fe80::10:1000:1a4/64
IPv6 knows about several predefined types of prefixes. Some of these are shown in
Table 30.4, “Various IPv6 Prefixes” (page 553).
Table 30.4 Various IPv6 Prefixes
Prefix (hex) Definition
00 IPv4 addresses and IPv4 over IPv6 compatibility addresses. These

are used to maintain compatibility with IPv4. Their use still re-
quires a router able to translate IPv6 packets into IPv4 packets.
Several special addresses, such as the one for the loopback device,
have this prefix as well.

Prefix (hex) Definition
2 or 3 as the first Aggregatable global unicast addresses. As is the case with IPv4,
digit an interface can be assigned to form part of a certain subnetwork.
Currently, there are the following address spaces: 2001::/16
(production quality address space) and 2002::/16 (6to4 address
space).
fe80::/10 Link-local addresses. Addresses with this prefix should not be

routed and should therefore only be reachable from within the
same subnetwork.
fec0::/10 Site-local addresses. These may be routed, but only within the
network of the organization to which they belong. In effect, they
are the IPv6 equivalent of the current private network address
space, such as 10.x.x.x.
ff These are multicast addresses.
A unicast address consists of three basic components:
Public Topology
The first part (which also contains one of the prefixes mentioned above) is used to
route packets through the public Internet. It includes information about the company
or institution that provides the Internet access.
Site Topology
The second part contains routing information about the subnetwork to which to
deliver the packet.
Interface ID
The third part identifies the interface to which to deliver the packet. This also allows
for the MAC to form part of the address. Given that the MAC is a globally unique,
fixed identifier coded into the device by the hardware maker, the configuration
procedure is substantially simplified. In fact, the first 64 address bits are consoli-
dated to form the EUI-64 token, with the last 48 bits taken from the MAC, and
the remaining 24 bits containing special information about the token type. This also
makes it possible to assign an EUI-64 token to interfaces that do not have a MAC,
such as those based on PPP or ISDN.

On top of this basic structure, IPv6 distinguishes between five different types of unicast
addresses:
:: (unspecified)
This address is used by the host as its source address when the interface is initialized
for the first time—when the address cannot yet be determined by other means.
::1 (loopback)
The address of the loopback device.
IPv4 Compatible Addresses

The IPv6 address is formed by the IPv4 address and a prefix consisting of 96 zero
bits. This type of compatibility address is used for tunneling (see Section 30.2.3,
“Coexistence of IPv4 and IPv6” (page 556)) to allow IPv4 and IPv6 hosts to com-
municate with others operating in a pure IPv4 environment.
IPv4 Addresses Mapped to IPv6

This type of address specifies a pure IPv4 address in IPv6 notation.
Local Addresses
There are two address types for local use:
link-local
This type of address can only be used in the local subnetwork. Packets with a
source or target address of this type should not be routed to the Internet or
other subnetworks. These addresses contain a special prefix (fe80::/10)
and the interface ID of the network card, with the middle part consisting of
zero bytes. Addresses of this type are used during automatic configuration to
communicate with other hosts belonging to the same subnetwork.
site-local
Packets with this type of address may be routed to other subnetworks, but not
to the wider Internet—they must remain inside the organization's own network.
Such addresses are used for intranets and are an equivalent of the private address
space defined by IPv4. They contain a special prefix (fec0::/10), the inter-
face ID, and a 16 bit field specifying the subnetwork ID. Again, the rest is
filled with zero bytes.
As a completely new feature introduced with IPv6, each network interface normally
gets several IP addresses, with the advantage that several networks can be accessed
through the same interface. One of these networks can be configured completely auto-

matically using the MAC and a known prefix with the result that all hosts on the local
network can be reached as soon as IPv6 is enabled (using the link-local address). With
the MAC forming part of it, any IP address used in the world is unique. The only variable
parts of the address are those specifying the site topology and the public topology, de-
pending on the actual network in which the host is currently operating.
For a host to go back and forth between different networks, it needs at least two address-
es. One of them, the home address, not only contains the interface ID but also an iden-
tifier of the home network to which it normally belongs (and the corresponding prefix).
The home address is a static address and, as such, it does not normally change. Still,
all packets destined to the mobile host can be delivered to it, regardless of whether it
operates in the home network or somewhere outside. This is made possible by the
completely new features introduced with IPv6, such as stateless autoconfiguration and
neighbor discovery. In addition to its home address, a mobile host gets one or more
additional addresses that belong to the foreign networks where it is roaming. These are
called care-of addresses. The home network has a facility that forwards any packets
destined to the host when it is roaming outside. In an IPv6 environment, this task is
performed by the home agent, which takes all packets destined to the home address and
relays them through a tunnel. On the other hand, those packets destined to the care-of
address are directly transferred to the mobile host without any special detours.
30.2.3 Coexistence of IPv4 and IPv6

The migration of all hosts connected to the Internet from IPv4 to IPv6 is a gradual
process. Both protocols will coexist for some time to come. The coexistence on one
system is guaranteed where there is a dual stack implementation of both protocols. That
still leaves the question of how an IPv6 enabled host should communicate with an IPv4
host and how IPv6 packets should be transported by the current networks, which are
predominantly IPv4 based. The best solutions offer tunneling and compatibility addresses
(see Section 30.2.2, “Address Types and Structure” (page 552)).
IPv6 hosts that are more or less isolated in the (worldwide) IPv4 network can commu-
nicate through tunnels: IPv6 packets are encapsulated as IPv4 packets to move them
across an IPv4 network. Such a connection between two IPv4 hosts is called a tunnel.
To achieve this, packets must include the IPv6 destination address (or the corresponding
prefix) as well as the IPv4 address of the remote host at the receiving end of the tunnel.
A basic tunnel can be configured manually according to an agreement between the
hosts' administrators. This is also called static tunneling.

However, the configuration and maintenance of static tunnels is often too labor-intensive
to use them for daily communication needs. Therefore, IPv6 provides for three different
methods of dynamic tunneling:
6over4
IPv6 packets are automatically encapsulated as IPv4 packets and sent over an IPv4
network capable of multicasting. IPv6 is tricked into seeing the whole network
(Internet) as a huge local area network (LAN). This makes it possible to determine
the receiving end of the IPv4 tunnel automatically. However, this method does not
scale very well and is also hampered by the fact that IP multicasting is far from
widespread on the Internet. Therefore, it only provides a solution for smaller cor-
porate or institutional networks where multicasting can be enabled. The specifica-
tions for this method are laid down in RFC 2529.
6to4
With this method, IPv4 addresses are automatically generated from IPv6 addresses,
enabling isolated IPv6 hosts to communicate over an IPv4 network. However, a
number of problems have been reported regarding the communication between
those isolated IPv6 hosts and the Internet. The method is described in RFC 3056.
IPv6 Tunnel Broker

This method relies on special servers that provide dedicated tunnels for IPv6 hosts.
It is described in RFC 3053.
30.2.4 Configuring IPv6

To configure IPv6, you do not normally need to make any changes on the individual
workstations. IPv6 is enabled by default. You can disable it during installation in the
network configuration step described in Section 3.14.3, “Network Configuration”
(page 37). To disable or enable IPv6 on an installed system, use YaST Network Card.
Do not change the method and click Next. Then select a card and click Advanced >
IPv6 in the Address tab. To enable IPv6 manually, enter modprobe ipv6 as root.
Because of the autoconfiguration concept of IPv6, the network card is assigned an ad-
dress in the link-local network. Normally, no routing table management takes place on
a workstation. The network routers can be queried by the workstation, using the router
advertisement protocol, for what prefix and gateways should be implemented. The
radvd program can be used to set up an IPv6 router. This program informs the worksta-

tions which prefix to use for the IPv6 addresses and which routers. Alternatively, use
zebra for automatic configuration of both addresses and routing.
Consult the ifup(8) man page to get information about how to set up various types of
tunnels using the /etc/sysconfig/network files.

The above overview does not cover the topic of IPv6 comprehensively. For a more in-
depth look at the new protocol, refer to the following online documentation and books:
http://www.ipv6.org/
The starting point for everything about IPv6.
http://www.ipv6day.org
All information needed to start your own IPv6 network.
http://www.ipv6-to-standard.org/
The list of IPv6-enabled products.
http://www.bieringer.de/linux/IPv6/
Here, find the Linux IPv6-HOWTO and many links related to the topic.
RFC 2640
The fundamental RFC about IPv6.
IPv6 Essentials
A book describing all the important aspects of the topic is IPv6 Essentials by Silvia
Hagen (ISBN 0-596-00125-8).
30.3 Name Resolution

DNS assists in assigning an IP address to one or more names and assigning a name to
an IP address. In Linux, this conversion is usually carried out by a special type of soft-
ware known as bind. The machine that takes care of this conversion is called a name
server. The names make up a hierarchical system in which each name component is
separated by dots. The name hierarchy is, however, independent of the IP address hier-
archy described above.

Consider a complete name, such as earth.example.com, written in the format
hostname.domain. A full name, referred to as a fully qualified domain name
(FQDN), consists of a hostname and a domain name (example.com). The latter also
includes the top level domain or TLD (com).
TLD assignment has become quite confusing for historical reasons. Traditionally, three-
letter domain names are used in the USA. In the rest of the world, the two-letter ISO
national codes are the standard. In addition to that, longer TLDs were introduced in
2000 that represent certain spheres of activity (for example, .info, .name, .museum).
In the early days of the Internet (before 1990), the file /etc/hosts was used to store
the names of all the machines represented over the Internet. This quickly proved to be
impractical in the face of the rapidly growing number of computers connected to the
Internet. For this reason, a decentralized database was developed to store the hostnames
in a widely distributed manner. This database, similar to the name server, does not have
the data pertaining to all hosts in the Internet readily available, but can dispatch requests
to other name servers.
The top of the hierarchy is occupied by root name servers. These root name servers
manage the top level domains and are run by the Network Information Center (NIC).
Each root name server knows about the name servers responsible for a given top level
domain. Information about top level domain NICs is available at http://www
.internic.net.
DNS can do more than just resolve hostnames. The name server also knows which host
is receiving e-mails for an entire domain—the mail exchanger (MX).
For your machine to resolve an IP address, it must know about at least one name server
and its IP address. Easily specify such a name server with the help of YaST. If you have
a modem dial-up connection, you may not need to configure a name server manually
at all. The dial-up protocol provides the name server address as the connection is made.
The configuration of name server access with SUSE Linux Enterprise® is described in
Chapter 33, The Domain Name System (page 611).
The protocol whois is closely related to DNS. With this program, quickly find out
who is responsible for any given domain.

NOTE: MDNS and .local Domain Names
The .local top level domain is treated as link-local domain by the resolver.
DNS requests are send as multicast DNS requests instead of normal DNS re-
quests. If you already use the .local domain in your nameserver configuration,
you must switch this option off in /etc/host.conf. Also read the host
.conf manual page.
If you want to switch off MDNS during installation, use nomdns=1 as a boot
parameter.
For more information on multicast DNS, see http://www.multicastdns

.org.
30.4 Configuring a Network

Connection with YaST
There are many supported networking types on Linux. Most of them use different device
names and the configuration files are spread over several locations in the file system.
For a detailed overview of the aspects of manual network configuration, see Section 30.6,
“Configuring a Network Connection Manually” (page 581).
During installation, YaST can be used to configure automatically all interfaces that
have been detected. Additional hardware can be configured any time after installation
in the installed system. The following sections describe the network configuration for
all types of network connections supported by SUSE Linux Enterprise.
TIP: IBM System z: Hotpluggable Network Cards
On IBM System z platforms, hotpluggable network cards are supported, but

not their automatic network integration via DHCP (as is the case on the PC).
After detection, manually configure the interface.

30.4.1 Configuring the Network Card with
YaST
To configure your network wired or wireless card in YaST, select Network Devices >
Network Card. After starting the module, YaST displays a general network configuration
dialog. Choose whether to use YaST or NetworkManager to manage all your network
devices. If you want to configure your network in the traditional way with the YaST,
check Traditional Method with ifup and click Next. To use NetworkManager, check
User Controlled with NetworkManager and click Next. Find detailed information about
NetworkManager in Section 30.5, “Managing Network Connections with NetworkMan-
ager” (page 579).
NOTE: Network Method and Xen
NetworkManager does not work with Xen. Only Traditional Method with ifup
is available in Xen.
The upper part of the next dialog shows a list with all the network cards available for
configuration. Any card properly detected is listed with its name. To change the confi-
guration of the selected device, click Edit. Devices that could not be detected can be
configured using Add as described in Section “Configuring an Undetected Network
Card” (page 567).

Figure 30.3 Configuring a Network Card
Changing the Configuration of a Network Card

To change the configuration of a network card, select a card from the list of the detected
cards in the YaST network card configuration module and click Edit. The Network
Address Setup dialog appears in which to adjust the card configuration using the Address
and General tabs. For information about wireless card configuration, see Section 29.1.3,
“Configuration with YaST” (page 534).
Configuring IP Addresses
When possible, wired network cards available during installation are automatically
configured to use automatic address setup, DHCP.
NOTE: IBM System z and DHCP
On IBM System z platforms, DHCP-based address configuration is only supported

with network cards that have a MAC address. This is only the case with OSA
and OSA Express cards.

DHCP should also be used for a DSL line with no static IP assigned by the ISP. If you
decide to use DHCP, configure the details in DHCP Client Options. Find this dialog
from the Address tab by selecting Advanced > DHCP Options. Specify whether the
DHCP server should always honor broadcast requests and any identifier to use. If you
have a virtual host setup where different hosts communicate through the same interface,
an identifier is necessary to distinguish them.
DHCP is a good choice for client configuration but it is not ideal for server configuration.
To set a static IP address, proceed as follows:
1 Select a card from the list of detected cards in the YaST network card configura-
tion module and click Edit.
2 In the Address tab, choose Static Address Setup.
3 Enter IP Address and Subnet Mask.
4 Click Next.
5 To activate the configuration, click Finish.
If you use the static address, name servers and a default gateway are not configured
automatically. To configure a gateway, click Routing and add the default gateway. To
configure name servers, click Hostname and Name Server and add addresses of name
servers and domains.
Configuring Aliases
One network device can have multiple IP addresses, called aliases. To set an alias for
your network card, proceed as follows:
2 In the Address tab, choose Advanced > Additional Addresses.
3 Click Add.
4 Enter Alias Name, IP Address, and Netmask.

5 Click OK.
6 Click OK again.
7 Click Next.
Configuring Hostname and DNS

If you did not change the network configuration during installation and the wired card
was available, a hostname was automatically generated for your computer and DHCP
was activated. The same applies to the name service information your host needs to
integrate into a network environment. If DHCP is used for network address setup, the
list of domain name servers is automatically filled with the appropriate data. If a static
setup is preferred, set these values manually.
To change the name of your computer and adjust the name server search list, proceed
as follows:
2 In the Address tab, click Hostname and Name Server.
3 To disable DHCP-driven host name configuration, deselect Change Hostname

via DHCP.
4 Enter Hostname and, if it is needed, Domain Name.
5 To disable DHCP driven updates of the name server list, deselect Update Name
Servers and Search List via DHCP.
6 Enter the name servers and domain search list.
7 Click OK.
8 Click Next.

Configuring Routing
To make your machine communicate with other machines and other networks, routing
information must be given to make network traffic take the correct path. If DHCP is
used, this information is automatically provided. If a static setup is used, this data must
be added manually.
2 In the Address tab, click Routing.
3 Enter the IP of the Default Gateway.
4 Click OK.
5 Click Next.
Adding Special Hardware Options

Sometimes a module of a network card needs special parameters to work correctly. To
set them with YaST, proceed as follows:
2 In the Address tab, click Advanced > Hardware Details.
3 In Options, enter the parameters for your network card. If two cards are configured
that use the same module, these parameters are used for both.
4 Click OK.
5 Click Next.
6 To activate configuration, click Finish.

Starting the Device
If you use the traditional method with ifup, you can configure your device to start during
boot, on cable connection, on card detection, manually, or never. To change device
start-up, proceed as follows:
2 In the General tab, select the desired entry from Device Activation.
3 Click Next.
Configuring the Firewall

Without having to enter the detailed firewall setup as described in Section 43.4.1,
“Configuring the Firewall with YaST” (page 825), you can determine the basic firewall
setup for your device as part of the device setup. Proceed as follows:
2 Enter the General tab of the network configuration dialog.
3 Determine the firewall zone to which your interface should be assigned. The
following options are available:
No Zone, All Traffic Blocked

All traffic will be blocked for this interface.
Internal Zone (Unprotected)

The firewall is run, but does not enforce any rules to protect this interface.
Only use this option, if your machine is part of a greater network that is
protected by an outer firewall.
Demilitarized Zone
A demilitarized zone is an additional line of defense in front of an internal
network and the (hostile) Internet. Hosts assigned to this zone can be reached

from the internal network and from the Internet, but cannot access the internal
network.
External Zone
The firewall is run on this interface and fully protects it against other (pre-
sumably hostile) network traffic. This is the default option.
4 Click Next.
5 Activate the configuration by clicking Finish.
Configuring an Undetected Network Card

It may happen that your card is not detected correctly. In this case, the card is not in-
cluded in the list of the detected cards. If you are sure that your system includes a
driver for your card, you can configure it manually. To configure an undetected network
card, proceed as follows:
1 Click Add.
2 Set the Device Type of the interface from the available options, Configuration
Name, and Module Name. If the network card is a PCMCIA or USB device, ac-
tivate the respective check box and exit this dialog with Next. Otherwise, select
your network card model from Select from List. YaST then automatically selects
the appropriate kernel module for the card.
Hardware Configuration Name specifies the name of the /etc/sysconfig/

hardware/hwcfg-* file containing the hardware settings of your network
card. This contains the name of the kernel module as well as the options needed
to initialize the hardware.
3 Click Next.
4 In the Address tab, set the device type of the interface, the configuration name,
and IP address. To use a static address, choose Static Address Setup then complete
IP Address and Subnet Mask. Here, you can also select to configure the hostname,
name server, and routing details (see Section “Configuring Hostname and DNS”
(page 564) and Section “Configuring Routing” (page 565)).

If you selected Wireless as the device type of the interface, configure the wireless
connection in the next dialog. Detailed information about wireless device confi-
guration is available in Section 29.1, “Wireless LAN” (page 529).
5 In the General tab, set the Firewall Zone and Device Activation. With User
Controlled, grant connection control to ordinary users.
6 Click Next.
7 To activate the new network configuration, click Finish.
Information about the conventions for configuration names is available in the

getcfg(8) man page.
30.4.2 Modem
TIP: IBM System z: Modem
The configuration of this type of hardware is not supported on IBM System z

platforms.
In the YaST Control Center, access the modem configuration with Network Devices >
Modem. If your modem was not automatically detected, open the dialog for manual
configuration by clicking Add. In the dialog that opens, enter the interface to which the
modem is connected for Modem Device.
TIP: CDMA and GPRS Modems
Configure supported CDMA and GPRS modems with the YaST modem module
just as you would configure regular modems.

Figure 30.4 Modem Configuration
If behind a private branch exchange (PBX), you may need to enter a dial prefix. This
is often a zero. Consult the instructions that came with the PBX to find out. Also select
whether to use tone or pulse dialing, whether the speaker should be on, and whether
the modem should wait until it detects a dial tone. The last option should not be enabled
if the modem is connected to an exchange.
Under Details, set the baud rate and the modem initialization strings. Only change these
settings if your modem was not detected automatically or if it requires special settings
for data transmission to work. This is mainly the case with ISDN terminal adapters.
Leave this dialog by clicking OK. To delegate control over the modem to the normal
user without root permissions, activate User Controlled. In this way, a user without
administrator permissions can activate or deactivate an interface. Under Dial Prefix
Regular Expression, specify a regular expression. The Dial Prefix in KInternet, which
can be modified by the normal user, must match this regular expression. If this field is
left empty, the user cannot set a different Dial Prefix without administrator permissions.
In the next dialog, select the ISP (Internet service provider). To choose from a predefined
list of ISPs operating in your country, select Country. Alternatively, click New to open
a dialog in which to provide the data for your ISP. This includes a name for the dial-up
connection and ISP as well as the login and password provided by your ISP. Enable
Always Ask for Password to be prompted for the password each time you connect.

In the last dialog, specify additional connection options:
Dial on Demand
If you enable dial on demand, set at least one name server.
Modify DNS when Connected

This option is enabled by default, with the effect that the name server address is
updated each time you connect to the Internet.
Automatically Retrieve DNS

If the provider does not transmit its domain name server after connecting, disable
this option and enter the DNS data manually.
Stupid Mode
This option is enabled by default. With it, input prompts sent by the ISP's server
are ignored to prevent them from interfering with the connection process.
External Firewall Interface

Selecting this option activates the SUSEfirewall2 and sets the interface as external.
This way, the system protected from outside attacks for the duration of your Internet
connection.
Idle Time-Out (seconds)

With this option, specify a period of network inactivity after which the modem
disconnects automatically.
IP Details
This opens the address configuration dialog. If your ISP does not assign a dynamic
IP address to your host, disable Dynamic IP Address then enter your host's local
IP address and the remote IP address. Ask your ISP for this information. Leave
Default Route enabled and close the dialog by selecting OK.
Selecting Next returns to the original dialog, which displays a summary of the modem
configuration. Close this dialog with Finish.

30.4.3 ISDN
TIP: IBM System z: ISDN

platforms.
Use this module to configure one or several ISDN cards for your system. If YaST did
not detect your ISDN card, click Add and manually select it. Multiple interfaces are
possible, but several ISPs can be configured for one interface. In the subsequent dialogs,
set the ISDN options necessary for the proper functioning of the card.
Figure 30.5 ISDN Configuration
In the next dialog, shown in Figure 30.5, “ISDN Configuration” (page 571), select the
protocol to use. The default is Euro-ISDN (EDSS1), but for older or larger exchanges,
select 1TR6. If you are in the US, select NI1. Select your country in the relevant field.
The corresponding country code then appears in the field next to it. Finally, provide
your Area Code and the Dial Prefix if necessary.
Device Activation defines how the ISDN interface should be started: At Boot Time
causes the ISDN driver to be initialized each time the system boots. Manually requires

you to load the ISDN driver as root with the command rcisdn start. On Hotplug,
used for PCMCIA or USB devices, loads the driver after the device is plugged in. When
finished with these settings, select OK.
In the next dialog, specify the interface type for your ISDN card and add ISPs to an
existing interface. Interfaces may be either the SyncPPP or the RawIP type, but most
ISPs operate in the SyncPPP mode, which is described below.
Figure 30.6 ISDN Interface Configuration
The number to enter for My Phone Number depends on your particular setup:
ISDN Card Directly Connected to Phone Outlet

A standard ISDN line provides three phone numbers (called multiple subscriber
numbers, or MSNs). If the subscriber asked for more, there may be up to 10. One
of these MSNs must be entered here, but without your area code. If you enter the
wrong number, your phone operator automatically falls back to the first MSN as-
signed to your ISDN line.
ISDN Card Connected to a Private Branch Exchange

Again, the configuration may vary depending on the equipment installed:

1. Smaller private branch exchanges (PBX) built for home purposes mostly use
the Euro-ISDN (EDSS1) protocol for internal calls. These exchanges have an
internal S0 bus and use internal numbers for the equipment connected to them.
Use one of the internal numbers as your MSN. You should be able to use at least
one of the exchange's MSNs that have been enabled for direct outward dialing.
If this does not work, try a single zero. For further information, consult the
documentation that came with your phone exchange.
2. Larger phone exchanges designed for businesses normally use the 1TR6 protocol
for internal calls. Their MSN is called EAZ and usually corresponds to the direct-
dial number. For the configuration under Linux, it should be sufficient to enter
the last digit of the EAZ. As a last resort, try each of the digits from 1 to 9.
For the connection to be terminated just before the next charge unit is due, enable
ChargeHUP. However, remember that may not work with every ISP. You can also
enable channel bundling (multilink PPP) by selecting the corresponding option. Finally,
you can enable SuSEfirewall2 for your link by selecting External Firewall Interface
and Restart Firewall. To enable the normal user without administrator permissions to
activate or deactivate the interface, select the User Controlled.
Details opens a dialog in which to configure callback mode, remote connections to this
interface and additional ippd options. Leave the Details dialog by selecting OK.
In the next dialog, make IP address settings. If you have not been given a static IP by
your provider, select Dynamic IP Address. Otherwise, use the fields provided to enter
your host's local IP address and the remote IP address according to the specifications
of your ISP. If the interface should be the default route to the Internet, select Default
Route. Each host can only have one interface configured as the default route. Leave
this dialog by selecting Next.
The following dialog allows you to set your country and select an ISP. The ISPs included
in the list are call-by-call providers only. If your ISP is not in the list, select New. This
opens the Provider Parameters dialog in which to enter all the details for your ISP.
When entering the phone number, do not include any blanks or commas among the
digits. Finally, enter your login and the password as provided by the ISP. When finished,
select Next.
To use Dial on Demand on a stand-alone workstation, also specify the name server
(DNS server). Most ISPs support dynamic DNS, which means the IP address of a name
server is sent by the ISP each time you connect. For a single workstation, however, you

still need to provide a placeholder address like 192.168.22.99. If your ISP does
not support dynamic DNS, specify the name server IP addresses of the ISP. If desired,
specify a time-out for the connection—the period of network inactivity (in seconds)
after which the connection should be automatically terminated. Confirm your settings
with Next. YaST displays a summary of the configured interfaces. To make all these
settings active, select Finish.
30.4.4 Cable Modem

TIP: IBM System z: Cable Modem

platforms.
In some countries, such as Austria and the US, it is quite common to access the Internet
through the TV cable network. The TV cable subscriber usually gets a modem that is
connected to the TV cable outlet on one side and to a computer network card on the
other (using a 10Base-TG twisted pair cable). The cable modem then provides a dedi-
cated Internet connection with a fixed IP address.
Depending on the instructions provided by your ISP, when configuring the network
card either select Automatic Address Setup (via DHCP) or Static Address Setup. Most
providers today use DHCP. A static IP address often comes as part of a special business
account.
For further information about the configuration of cable modems, read the Support
Database article on the topic, which is available online at http://en.opensuse
.org/SDB:Setting_Up_an_Internet_Connection_via_Cable_Modem
_with_SuSE_Linux_8.0_or_Higher.
30.4.5 DSL
TIP: IBM System z: DSL

platforms.

To configure your DSL device, select the DSL module from the YaST Network Devices
section. This YaST module consists of several dialogs in which to set the parameters
of DSL links based on one of the following protocols:
• PPP over Ethernet (PPPoE)
• PPP over ATM (PPPoATM)
• CAPI for ADSL (Fritz Cards)
• Point-to-Point Tunneling Protocol (PPTP)—Austria
The configuration of a DSL connection based on PPPoE or PPTP requires that the
corresponding network card has already been set up in the correct way. If you have not
done so yet, first configure the card by selecting Configure Network Cards (see Sec-
tion 30.4.1, “Configuring the Network Card with YaST” (page 561)). In the case of a
DSL link, addresses may be assigned automatically but not via DHCP, which is why
you should not enable the option Automatic address setup (via DHCP). Instead, enter
a static dummy address for the interface, such as 192.168.22.1. In Subnet Mask,
enter 255.255.255.0. If you are configuring a stand-alone workstation, leave Default
Gateway empty.
TIP
Values in IP Address and Subnet Mask are only placeholders. They are only
needed to initialize the network card and do not represent the DSL link as such.

Figure 30.7 DSL Configuration
To begin the DSL configuration (see Figure 30.7, “DSL Configuration” (page 576)),
first select the PPP mode and the ethernet card to which the DSL modem is connected
(in most cases, this is eth0). Then use Device Activation to specify whether the DSL
link should be established during the boot process. Click User Controlled to authorize
the normal user without root permissions to activate or deactivate the interface with
KInternet. The dialog also lets you select your country and choose from a number of
ISPs operating in it. The details of any subsequent dialogs of the DSL configuration
depend on the options set so far, which is why they are only briefly mentioned in the
following paragraphs. For details on the available options, read the detailed help
available from the dialogs.
To use Dial on Demand on a stand-alone workstation, also specify the name server
(DNS server). Most ISPs support dynamic DNS—the IP address of a name server is
sent by the ISP each time you connect. For a single workstation, however, provide a
placeholder address like 192.168.22.99. If your ISP does not support dynamic
DNS, enter the name server IP address provided by your ISP.
Idle Time-Out (seconds) defines a period of network inactivity after which to terminate
the connection automatically. A reasonable time-out value is between 60 and 300 sec-
onds. If Dial on Demand is disabled, it may be useful to set the time-out to zero to
prevent automatic hang-up.

The configuration of T-DSL is very similar to the DSL setup. Just select T-Online as
your provider and YaST opens the T-DSL configuration dialog. In this dialog, provide
some additional information required for T-DSL—the line ID, the T-Online number,
the user code, and your password. All of these should be included in the information
you received after subscribing to T-DSL.
30.4.6 IBM System z: Configuring Network

Devices
SUSE Linux Enterprise for IBM System z supports several different types of network
interfaces. YaST can be used to configure all of them.
The qeth-hsi Device

To add a qeth-hsi (IBM Hipersocket) interface to the installed system, start the
YaST network card module (Network Devices > Network Card). Select one of the devices
marked IBM Hipersocket to use as the READ device address and click Configure. In
the Network address setup dialog, specify the IP address and netmask for the new inter-
face and leave the network configuration by pressing Next and Finish.
The qeth-ethernet Device

To add a qeth-ethernet (IBM OSA Express Ethernet Card) interface to the installed
system, start the YaST network card module (Network Devices > Network Card). Select
one of the devices marked IBM OSA Express Ethernet Card to use as the READ device
address and click Configure. Enter the needed port name, some additional options (see
the Linux for IBM System z: Device Drivers, Features, and Commands manual for ref-
erence at http://www.ibm.com/developerworks/linux/linux390/
index.html), your IP address, and an appropriate netmask. Leave the network con-
figuration with Next and Finish.
The ctc Device

To add a ctc (IBM parallel CTC Adapter) interface to the installed system, start the
YaST network card module (Network Devices > Network Card). Select one of the devices
marked IBM parallel CTC Adapter to use as your read channel and click Configure.

Choose the Device Settings that fit your devices (usually this would be Compatibility
mode). Specify both your IP address and the IP address of the remote partner. If needed,
adjust the MTU size with Advanced > Detailed Settings. Leave the network configuration
with Next and Finish.
WARNING
The use of this interface is deprecated. This interface will not be supported in
future versions of SUSE Linux Enterprise.
The lcs Device

To add an lcs (IBM OSA-2 Adapter) interface to the installed system, start the YaST
network card module (Network Devices > Network Card). Select one of the devices
marked IBM OSA-2 Adapter and click Configure. Enter the needed port number, some
additional options (see the Linux for IBM System z: Device Drivers, Features, and
Commands manual for reference at http://www.ibm.com/developerworks/
linux/linux390/index.html), your IP address, and an appropriate netmask.
Leave the network configuration with Next and Finish.
The IUCV Device

To add an iucv (IUCV) interface to the installed system, start the YaST network card
module (Network Devices > Network Card). Select a device marked IUCV and click
Configure. YaST prompts you for the name of your IUCV partner. Enter the name (this
entry is case-sensitive) and select Next. Specify both your IP address and the IP address
of your partner. If needed, adjust the MTU size with Advanced > Detailed Settings.
Leave the network configuration with Next and Finish.
WARNING
The use of this interface is deprecated. This interface will not be supported in
future versions of SUSE Linux Enterprise.

30.5 Managing Network Connections
with NetworkManager
NetworkManager is the ideal solution for a mobile workstation. With NetworkManager,
you do not need to worry about reconfiguring network interfaces and switching between
networks when your location changes. NetworkManager can automatically connect to
known WLAN networks. If you have two or more connection possibilities, it can connect
to the faster one.
NetworkManager is not a suitable solution in the following cases:
• You want to use more than one provider for dial-up for one interface.
• Your computer is a router for your network.
• Your computer provides network services for other computers in your network, for
example, it is a DHCP or DNS server.
• Your computer is a Xen server or your system is a virtual system inside Xen.
• You want to use SCPM for network configuration management. To use SCPM and
NetworkManager at the same time, SCPM cannot control network resources. .
• You want to use more than one active network connection simultaneously.
To enable or disable NetworkManager during the installation, click Enable Network-

Manager or Disable NetworkManager in Network Mode of Network Configuration. To
enable or disable NetworkManager on an installed system, follow these steps:
1 Open YaST.
2 Choose Network Devices > Network Card.
3 On the first screen, set the Network Setup Method option to User Controlled with
NetworkManager to use NetworkManager. To disable NetworkManager, set the
Network Setup Method option to Traditional Method with ifup.
After choosing the method, set up your network card using automatic configuration via
DHCP or a static IP address or configure your modem. Find a detailed description of

the network configuration with YaST in Section 30.4, “Configuring a Network Connec-
tion with YaST” (page 560) and Section 29.1, “Wireless LAN” (page 529). Configure
supported wireless cards directly in NetworkManager.
To configure NetworkManager, use NetworkManager applets. KDE and GNOME each

have their own applets for NetworkManager. An appropriate applet should start auto-
matically with the desktop environment. The applet is then shown as an icon in the
system tray. The functions of the applets are similar, but their interfaces are a little
different. They can also be used in other graphical environments with standard system
tray support.
30.5.1 Differences between ifup and

NetworkManager
If you use NetworkManager for network setup, you can easily switch, stop, or start
your network connection at any time from within your desktop environment using an
applet. NetworkManager also makes it possible to change and configure wireless card
connections without requiring root privileges. For this reason, NetworkManager is
the ideal solution for a mobile workstation.
Traditional configuration with ifup also provides some ways to switch, stop, or start
the connection with or without user intervention, like user-managed devices, but it always
requires root privileges to change or configure a network device. This is often a
problem for mobile computing, where is not possible to preconfigure all connection
possibilities.
Both traditional configuration and NetworkManager can handle network connections

with a wireless network (with WEP, WPA-PSK, and WPA-Enterprise access), dial-up,
and wired networks both using DHCP and static configuration. They also support con-
nection through VPN.
NetworkManager tries to keep your computer connected at all times using the best
connection available. If available, it uses the fastest wired connection. If the network
cable is accidentally disconnected, it tries to reconnect. It can find a network with the
best signal strength from the list of your wireless connections and automatically use it
to connect. To get the same functionality with ifup, a great deal of configuration effort
is required.

Find more information about NetworkManager on the following Web sites and directo-
ries:
• http://www.gnome.org/projects/NetworkManager/—NetworkMan-
ager project page
• http://en.opensuse.org/Projects/KNetworkManager—Network-
Manager KNetworkManager project page
30.6 Configuring a Network

Connection Manually
Manual configuration of the network software should always be the last alternative.
Using YaST is recommended. However, this background information about the network
configuration can also assist your work with YaST.
All built-in network cards and hotplug network cards (PCMCIA, USB, some PCI cards)
are detected and configured via hotplug. The system sees a network card in two different
ways: first as a physical device and second as an interface. The insertion or detection
of a device triggers a hotplug event. This hotplug event triggers the initialization of the
device with the script hwup. When the network card is initialized as a new network
interface, the kernel generates another hotplug event that triggers the setup of the inter-
face with ifup.
The kernel numbers interface names according to the temporal order of their registration.
The initialization sequence is decisive for the assignment of names. If one of several
network card fails, the numbering of all subsequently initialized cards is shifted. For
real hotpluggable cards, the order in which the devices are connected is what matters.
To achieve a flexible configuration, the configuration of the device (hardware) and the
interface has been separated and the mapping of configurations to devices and interfaces
is no longer managed on the basis of the interface names. The device configurations
are located in /etc/sysconfig/hardware/hwcfg-*. The interface configura-
tions are located in /etc/sysconfig/network/ifcfg-*. The names of the
configurations are assigned in such a way that they describe the devices and interfaces

with which they are associated. Because the former mapping of drivers to interface
name required static interface names, this mapping can no longer take place in /etc/
modprobe.conf. In the new concept, alias entries in this file would cause undesirable
side effects.
The configuration names—everything after hwcfg- or ifcfg-—can describe the

devices by means of the slot, a device-specific ID, or the interface name. For example,
the configuration name for a PCI card could be bus-pci-0000:02:01.0 (PCI
slot) or vpid-0x8086-0x1014-0x0549 (vendor and product ID). The name of
the associated interface could be bus-pci-0000:02:01.0 or
wlan-id-00:05:4e:42:31:7a (MAC address).
To assign a certain network configuration to any card of a certain type (of which only
one is inserted at a time) instead of a certain card, select less specific configuration
names. For example, bus-pcmcia would be used for all PCMCIA cards. On the
other hand, the names can be limited by a preceding interface type. For example,
wlan-bus-usb would be assigned to WLAN cards connected to a USB port.
The system always uses the configuration that best describes an interface or the device
providing the interface. The search for the most suitable configuration is handled by
getcfg. The output of getcfg delivers all information that can be used for describing
a device. Details regarding the specification of configuration names are available in the
manual page of getcfg.
With the described method, a network interface is configured with the correct configu-
ration even if the network devices are not always initialized in the same order. However,
the name of the interface still depends on the initialization sequence. There are two
ways to ensure reliable access to the interface of a certain network card:
• getcfg-interface configuration name returns the name of the asso-

ciated network interface. Therefore, the configuration name, such as firewall, dhcpd,
routing, or various virtual network interfaces (tunnels), can be entered in some
configuration files instead of the interface name, which is not persistent.
• Persistent interface names are assigned to each interface automatically. You may
adjust them to suit your needs. When creating interface names, proceed as outlined
in /etc/udev/rules.d/30-net_persistent_names.rules. However,
the persistent name pname should not be the same as the name that would automat-
ically be assigned by the kernel. Therefore, eth*, tr*, wlan*, qeth*, iucv*,
and so on are not permitted. Instead, use net* or descriptive names like

external, internal, or dmz. Make sure that the same interface name is not
used twice. Allowed characters in interface names are restricted to [a-zA-Z0-9].
A persistent name can only be assigned to an interface immediately after its regis-
tration, which means that the driver of the network card must be reloaded or
hwup device description must be executed. The command rcnetwork
restart is not sufficient for this purpose.
IMPORTANT: Using Persistent Interface Names
The use of persistent interface names has not been tested in all areas.
Therefore, some applications may not be able to handle freely selected
interface names.
ifup requires an existing interface, because it does not initialize the hardware. The
initialization of the hardware is handled by the command hwup (executed by hotplug
or coldplug). When a device is initialized, ifup is automatically executed for the
new interface via hotplug and the interface is set up if the start mode is onboot,
hotplug, or auto and the network service was started. Formerly, the command
ifup interfacename triggered the hardware initialization. Now the procedure has
been reversed. First, a hardware component is initialized then all other actions follow.
In this way, a varying number of devices can always be configured in the best way
possible with an existing set of configurations.
Table 30.5, “Manual Network Configuration Scripts” (page 583) summarizes the most
important scripts involved in the network configuration. Where possible, the scripts are
distinguished by hardware and interface.
Table 30.5 Manual Network Configuration Scripts
Configura- Command Function

tion Stage
Hardware hw{up,down,status} The hw* scripts are executed by the hot-

plug subsystem to initialize a device, un-
do the initialization, or query the status
of a device. More information is available
in the manual page of hwup.

Configura- Command Function
tion Stage
Interface getcfg getcfg can be used to query the inter-

face name associated with a configuration
name or a hardware description. More
information is available in the manual
page of getcfg.
Interface if{up,down,status} The if* scripts start existing network

interfaces or return the status of the
specified interface. More information is
available in the manual page of ifup.
More information about hotplug and persistent device names is available in Chapter 24,
Dynamic Kernel Device Management with udev (page 461).
30.6.1 Configuration Files

This section provides an overview of the network configuration files and explains their
purpose and the format used.
/etc/syconfig/hardware/hwcfg-*
These files contain the hardware configurations of network cards and other devices.
They contain the needed parameters, such as the kernel module, start mode, and script
associations. Refer to the manual page of hwup for details. Regardless of the existing
hardware, the hwcfg-static-* configurations are applied when coldplug is started.
/etc/sysconfig/network/ifcfg-*
These files contain the configurations for network interface. They include information
such as the start mode and the IP address. Possible parameters are described in the
manual page of ifup. Additionally, all variables from the files dhcp, wireless,
and config can be used in the ifcfg-* files if a general setting should be used for
only one interface.

►zseries: IBM System z do not support USB. The names of the interface files and
network aliases contain System z-specific elements like qeth. ◄
/etc/sysconfig/network/{config,dhcp
,wireless}
The file config contains general settings for the behavior of ifup, ifdown, and
ifstatus. dhcp contains settings for DHCP and wireless for wireless LAN
cards. The variables in all three configuration files are commented and can also be used
in ifcfg-* files, where they are treated with higher priority.
/etc/sysconfig/network/{routes,ifroute-*}
The static routing of TCP/IP packets is determined here. All the static routes required
by the various system tasks can be entered in the /etc/sysconfig/network/
routes file: routes to a host, routes to a host via a gateway, and routes to a network.
For each interface that needs individual routing, define an additional configuration file:
/etc/sysconfig/network/ifroute-*. Replace * with the name of the inter-
face. The entries in the routing configuration files look like this:
# Destination Dummy/Gateway Netmask Device
#
127.0.0.0 0.0.0.0 255.255.255.0 lo
204.127.235.0 0.0.0.0 255.255.255.0 eth0
default 204.127.235.41 0.0.0.0 eth0
207.68.156.51 207.68.145.45 255.255.255.255 eth1
192.168.0.0 207.68.156.51 255.255.0.0 eth1
The route's destination is in the first column. This column may contain the IP address
of a network or host or, in the case of reachable name servers, the fully qualified network
or hostname.
The second column contains the default gateway or a gateway through which a host or
network can be accessed. The third column contains the netmask for networks or hosts
behind a gateway. For example, the mask is 255.255.255.255 for a host behind a
gateway.
The fourth column is only relevant for networks connected to the local host such as
loopback, Ethernet, ISDN, PPP, and dummy device. The device name must be entered
here.

An (optional) fifth column can be used to specify the type of a route. Columns that are
not needed should contain a minus sign - to ensure that the parser correctly interprets
the command. For details, refer to the routes(5) man page.
/etc/resolv.conf
The domain to which the host belongs is specified in this file (keyword search). Also
listed is the status of the name server address to access (keyword nameserver).
Multiple domain names can be specified. When resolving a name that is not fully
qualified, an attempt is made to generate one by attaching the individual search entries.
Use multiple name servers by entering several lines, each beginning with nameserver.
Precede comments with # signs. YaST enters the specified name server in this file.
Example 30.5, “/etc/resolv.conf” (page 586) shows what /etc/resolv.conf
could look like.
Example 30.5 /etc/resolv.conf
# Our domain
search example.com
#
# We use sun (192.168.0.20) as nameserver
nameserver 192.168.0.20
Some services, like pppd (wvdial), ipppd (isdn), dhcp (dhcpcd and
dhclient), pcmcia, and hotplug, modify the file /etc/resolv.conf by
means of the script modify_resolvconf. If the file /etc/resolv.conf has
been temporarily modified by this script, it contains a predefined comment giving in-
formation about the service that modified it, the location where the original file has
been backed up, and how to turn off the automatic modification mechanism. If /etc/
resolv.conf is modified several times, the file includes modifications in a nested
form. These can be reverted in a clean way even if this reversal takes place in an order
different from the order in which modifications were introduced. Services that may
need this flexibility include isdn, pcmcia, and hotplug.
If a service was not terminated in a normal, clean way, modify_resolvconf can

be used to restore the original file. Also, on system boot, a check is performed to see
whether there is an uncleaned, modified resolv.conf, for example, after a system
crash, in which case the original (unmodified) resolv.conf is restored.

YaST uses the command modify_resolvconf check to find out whether resolv
.conf has been modified and subsequently warns the user that changes will be lost
after restoring the file. Apart from this, YaST does not rely on modify_resolvconf,
which means that the impact of changing resolv.conf through YaST is the same
as that of any manual change. In both cases, changes have a permanent effect. Modifi-
cations requested by the mentioned services are only temporary.
/etc/hosts
In this file, shown in Example 30.6, “/etc/hosts” (page 587), IP addresses are as-
signed to hostnames. If no name server is implemented, all hosts to which an IP connec-
tion will be set up must be listed here. For each host, enter a line consisting of the IP
address, the fully qualified hostname, and the hostname into the file. The IP address
must be at the beginning of the line and the entries separated by blanks and tabs.
Comments are always preceded by the # sign.
Example 30.6 /etc/hosts
127.0.0.1 localhost
192.168.0.20 sun.example.com sun
192.168.0.1 earth.example.com earth
/etc/networks
Here, network names are converted to network addresses. The format is similar to that
of the hosts file, except the network names precede the addresses. See Example 30.7,
“/etc/networks” (page 587).
Example 30.7 /etc/networks
loopback 127.0.0.0
localnet 192.168.0.0
/etc/host.conf
Name resolution—the translation of host and network names via the resolver library—is
controlled by this file. This file is only used for programs linked to libc4 or libc5. For

current glibc programs, refer to the settings in /etc/nsswitch.conf. A parameter
must always stand alone in its own line. Comments are preceded by a # sign. Table 30.6,
“Parameters for /etc/host.conf” (page 588) shows the parameters available. A sample
/etc/host.conf is shown in Example 30.8, “ /etc/host.conf ” (page 588).
Table 30.6 Parameters for /etc/host.conf
order hosts, bind Specifies in which order the services are accessed for the name
resolution. Available arguments are (separated by blank spaces
or commas):
hosts: Searches the /etc/hosts file
bind: Accesses a name server
nis: Uses NIS
multi on/off Defines if a host entered in /etc/hosts can have multiple

IP addresses.
nospoof on These parameters influence the name server spoofing, but,

spoofalert on/off apart from that, do not exert any influence on the network
configuration.
trim domainname The specified domain name is separated from the hostname
after hostname resolution (as long as the hostname includes
the domain name). This option is useful if only names from
the local domain are in the /etc/hosts file, but should still
be recognized with the attached domain names.
Example 30.8 /etc/host.conf
# We have named running

order hosts bind
# Allow multiple addrs
multi on

/etc/nsswitch.conf
The introduction of the GNU C Library 2.0 was accompanied by the introduction of
the Name Service Switch (NSS). Refer to the nsswitch.conf(5) man page and
The GNU C Library Reference Manual for details.
The order for queries is defined in the file /etc/nsswitch.conf. A sample

nsswitch.conf is shown in Example 30.9, “/etc/nsswitch.conf” (page 589).
Comments are introduced by # signs. In this example, the entry under the hosts
database means that a request is sent to /etc/hosts (files) via DNS (see Chap-
ter 33, The Domain Name System (page 611)).
Example 30.9 /etc/nsswitch.conf
passwd: compat
group: compat
hosts: files dns

networks: files dns
services: db files
protocols: db files
netgroup: files
automount: files nis
The “databases” available over NSS are listed in Table 30.7, “Databases Available via
/etc/nsswitch.conf” (page 589). In addition, automount, bootparams, netmasks,
and publickey are expected in the near future. The configuration options for NSS
databases are listed in Table 30.8, “Configuration Options for NSS “Databases””
(page 590).
Table 30.7 Databases Available via /etc/nsswitch.conf
aliases Mail aliases implemented by sendmail; see man 5

aliases.
ethers Ethernet addresses.
group For user groups, used by getgrent. See also the man page
for group.

hosts For hostnames and IP addresses, used by gethostbyname
and similar functions.
netgroup Valid host and user lists in the network for the purpose of
controlling access permissions; see the netgroup(5) man
page.
networks Network names and addresses, used by getnetent.
passwd User passwords, used by getpwent; see the passwd(5)

man page.
protocols Network protocols, used by getprotoent; see the

protocols(5) man page.
rpc Remote procedure call names and addresses, used by

getrpcbyname and similar functions.
services Network services, used by getservent.
shadow Shadow passwords of users, used by getspnam; see the

shadow(5) man page.
Table 30.8 Configuration Options for NSS “Databases”
files directly access files, for example, /etc/aliases
db access via a database
nis, nisplus NIS, see also Chapter 35, Using NIS (page 655)
dns can only be used as an extension for hosts and

networks
compat can only be used as an extension for passwd, shadow,

and group

/etc/nscd.conf
This file is used to configure nscd (name service cache daemon). See the nscd(8)
and nscd.conf(5) man pages. By default, the system entries of passwd and
groups are cached by nscd. This is important for the performance of directory services,
like NIS and LDAP, because otherwise the network connection needs to be used for
every access to names or groups. hosts is not cached by default, because the mecha-
nism in nscd to cache hosts makes the local system unable to trust forward and reverse
lookup checks. Instead of asking nscd to cache names, set up a caching DNS server.
If the caching for passwd is activated, it usually takes about fifteen seconds until a
newly added local user is recognized. Reduce this waiting time by restarting nscd with
the command rcnscd restart.
/etc/HOSTNAME
This contains the hostname without the domain name attached. This file is read by
several scripts while the machine is booting. It may only contain one line in which the
hostname is set.
30.6.2 Testing the Configuration

Before you write your configuration to the configuration files, you can test it. To set
up a test configuration, use the ip command. To test the connection, use the ping
command. Older configuration tools, ifconfig and route, are also available.
The commands ip, ifconfig, and route change the network configuration directly
without saving it in the configuration file. Unless you enter your configuration in the
correct configuration files, the changed network configuration is lost on reboot.
Configuring a Network Interface with ip

ip is a tool to show and configure routing, network devices, policy routing, and tunnels.
It was designed as a replacement for the older tools ifconfig and route.
ip is a very complex tool. Its common syntax is ip options object command.

You can work with the following objects:

link
This object represents a network device.
address
This object represents the IP address of device.
neighbour
This object represents a ARP or NDISC cache entry.
route
This object represents the routing table entry.
rule
This object represents a rule in the routing policy database.
maddress
This object represents a multicast address.
mroute
This object represents a multicast routing cache entry.
tunnel
This object represents a tunnel over IP.
If no command is given, the default command is used, usually list.
Change the state of a device with the command ip link

set device_name command. For example, to deactivate device eth0, enter ip
link seteth0 down. To activate it again, use ip link seteth0 up.
After activating a device, you can configure it. To set the IP address, use ip addr
add ip_address + dev device_name. For example, to set the address of the
interface eth0 to 192.168.12.154/30 with standard broadcast (option brd), enter ip
addr add 192.168.12.154/30 brd + dev eth0.
To have a working connection, you must also configure the default gateway. To set a
gateway for your system, enter ip route get gateway_ip_address. To
translate one IP address to another, use nat: ip route add
nat ip_address via other_ip_address.

To display all devices, use ip link ls. To display the running interfaces only, use
ip link ls up. To print interface statistics for a device, enter ip -s link
ls device_name. To view addresses of your devices, enter ip addr. In the output
of the ip addr, also find information about MAC addresses of your devices. To show
all routes, use ip route show.
For more information about using ip, enter ip help or see the ip(8) man page. The
help option is also available for all ip objects. If, for example, you want to read help
for ip addr, enter ip addr help. Find the ip manual in /usr/share/doc/
packages/iproute2/ip-cref.pdf.
Testing a Connection with ping

The ping command is the standard tool for testing whether a TCP/IP connection works.
It uses the ICMP protocol to send a small data packet, ECHO_REQUEST datagram,
to the destination host, requesting an immediate reply. If this works, ping displays a
message to that effect, which indicates that the network link is basically functioning.
ping does more than test only the function of the connection between two computers:
it also provides some basic information about the quality of the connection. In Exam-
ple 30.10, “Output of the Command ping” (page 593), you can see an example of the
ping output. The second-to-last line contains information about number of transmitted
packets, packet loss, and total time of ping running.
As the destination, you can use a hostname or IP address, for example,

ping example.com or ping 130.57.5.75. The program sends packets until
you press Ctrl + C.
If you only need to check the functionality of the connection, you can limit the number
of the packets with the -c option. For example to limit ping to three packets, enter
ping -c 3 192.168.0.
Example 30.10 Output of the Command ping

ping -c 3 example.com
PING example.com (130.57.5.75) 56(84) bytes of data.
64 bytes from example.com (130.57.5.75): icmp_seq=1 ttl=49 time=188 ms
--- example.com ping statistics ---
3 packets transmitted, 3 received, 0% packet loss, time 2007ms
rtt min/avg/max/mdev = 183.417/185.447/188.259/2.052 ms

The default interval between two packets is one second. To change the interval, ping
provides option -i. For example to increase ping interval to ten seconds, enter ping -i
10 192.168.0.
In a system with multiple network devices, it is sometimes useful to send the ping
through a specific interface address. To do so, use the -I option with the name of the
selected device, for example, ping -I wlan1 192.168.0.
For more options and information about using ping, enter ping -h or see the ping
(8) man page.
Configuring the Network with ifconfig

ifconfig is a traditional network configuration tool. In contrast to ip, you can use it
only for interface configuration. If you want to configure routing, use route.
NOTE: ifconfig and ip
The program ifconfig is obsolete. Use ip instead.
Without arguments, ifconfig displays the status of the currently active interfaces. As
you can see in Example 30.11, “Output of the ifconfig Command” (page 595), ifconfig
has very well-arranged and detailed output. The output also contains information about
the MAC address of your device, the value of HWaddr, in the first line.

Example 30.11 Output of the ifconfig Command
eth0 Link encap:Ethernet HWaddr 00:08:74:98:ED:51
inet6 addr: fe80::208:74ff:fe98:ed51/64 Scope:Link
UP BROADCAST MULTICAST MTU:1500 Metric:1
RX packets:634735 errors:0 dropped:0 overruns:4 frame:0
TX packets:154779 errors:0 dropped:0 overruns:0 carrier:1
collisions:0 txqueuelen:1000
RX bytes:162531992 (155.0 Mb) TX bytes:49575995 (47.2 Mb)
Interrupt:11 Base address:0xec80
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 bytes:533234 (520.7 Kb) TX bytes:533234 (520.7 Kb)
wlan1 Link encap:Ethernet HWaddr 00:0E:2E:52:3B:1D

inet addr:192.168.2.4 Bcast:192.168.2.255 Mask:255.255.255.0
inet6 addr: fe80::20e:2eff:fe52:3b1d/64 Scope:Link
UP BROADCAST NOTRAILERS RUNNING MULTICAST MTU:1500 Metric:1
RX bytes:45978185 (43.8 Mb) TX bytes:7526693 (7.1 Mb)
For more options and information about using ifconfig, enter ifconfig -h or see
the ifconfig (8) man page.
Configuring Routing with route

route is a program for manipulating the IP routing table. You can use it to view your
routing configuration and add or remove of routes.
NOTE: route and ip
The program route is obsolete. Use ip instead.
route is especially useful if you need quick and comprehensible information about your
routing configuration to determine problems with routing. To view your current routing
configuration, enter route -n as root.

Example 30.12 Output of the route -n Command
route -n
Kernel IP routing table
Destination Gateway Genmask Flags MSS Window irtt Iface
10.20.0.0 * 255.255.248.0 U 0 0 0 eth0
link-local * 255.255.0.0 U 0 0 0 eth0
loopback * 255.0.0.0 U 0 0 0 lo
default styx.exam.com 0.0.0.0 UG 0 0 0 eth0
For more options and information about using route, enter route -h or see the route
(8) man page.
30.6.3 Start-Up Scripts

Apart from the configuration files described above, there are also various scripts that
load the network programs while the machine is booting. These are started as soon as
the system is switched to one of the multiuser runlevels. Some of these scripts are de-
scribed in Table 30.9, “Some Start-Up Scripts for Network Programs” (page 596).
Table 30.9 Some Start-Up Scripts for Network Programs
/etc/init.d/network This script handles the configuration of the network

interfaces. The hardware must already have been ini-
tialized by /etc/init.d/coldplug (via
hotplug). If the network service was not started,
no network interfaces are implemented when they are
inserted via hotplug.
/etc/init.d/inetd Starts xinetd. xinetd can be used to make server ser-

vices available on the system. For example, it can
start vsftpd whenever an FTP connection is initiated.
/etc/init.d/portmap Starts the portmapper needed for the RPC server, such
as an NFS server.
/etc/init.d/ Starts the NFS server.

nfsserver
/etc/init.d/postfix Controls the postfix process.

/etc/init.d/ypserv Starts the NIS server.
/etc/init.d/ypbind Starts the NIS client.
30.7 smpppd as Dial-up Assistant

Some home users do not have a dedicated line connecting them to the Internet. Instead,
they use dial-up connections. Depending on the dial-up method (ISDN or DSL), the
connection is controlled by ipppd or pppd. Basically, all that needs to be done to go
online is to start these programs correctly.
If you have a flat-rate connection that does not generate any additional costs for the
dial-up connection, simply start the respective daemon. Control the dial-up connection
with a KDE applet or a command-line interface. If the Internet gateway is not the host
you are using, you might want to control the dial-up connection by way of a network
host.
This is where smpppd is involved. It provides a uniform interface for auxiliary programs
and acts in two directions. First, it programs the required pppd or ipppd and controls
its dial-up properties. Second, it makes various providers available to the user programs
and transmits information about the current status of the connection. As smpppd can
also be controlled by way of the network, it is suitable for controlling dial-up connections
to the Internet from a workstation in a private subnetwork.
30.7.1 Configuring smpppd

The connections provided by smpppd are automatically configured by YaST. The actual
dial-up programs KInternet and cinternet are also preconfigured. Manual settings are
only required to configure additional features of smpppd, such as remote control.
The configuration file of smpppd is /etc/smpppd.conf. By default, it does not

enable remote control. The most important options of this configuration file are:
open-inet-socket = yes|no
To control smpppd via the network, this option must be set to yes. The port on
which smpppd listens is 3185. If this parameter is set to yes, the parameters
bind-address, host-range, and password should also be set accordingly.

bind-address = ip address
If a host has several IP addresses, use this parameter to determine at which IP ad-
dress smpppd should accept connections. The default is to listen at all addresses.
host-range = min ip max ip

The parameter host-range defines a network range. Hosts whose IP addresses
are within this range are granted access to smpppd. All hosts not within this range
are denied access.
password = password
By assigning a password, limit the clients to authorized hosts. As this is a plain-
text password, you should not overrate the security it provides. If no password is
assigned, all clients are permitted to access smpppd.
slp-register = yes|no
With this parameter, the smpppd service can be announced in the network via SLP.
More information about smpppd is available in the smpppd(8) and

smpppd.conf(5) man pages.
30.7.2 Configuring KInternet, cinternet, and

qinternet for Remote Use
KInternet, cinternet, and qinternet can be used to control a local or remote smpppd.
cinternet is the command-line counterpart of the graphical KInternet. qinternet is basi-
cally the same as KInternet, but does not use the KDE libraries, so it can be used without
KDE and must be installed separately. To prepare these utilities for use with a remote
smpppd, edit the configuration file /etc/smpppd-c.conf manually or using KIn-
ternet. This file only uses three options:
sites = list of sites

Here, tell the front-ends where to search for smpppd. The front-ends test the options
in the order specified here. The local option orders the establishment of a con-
nection to the local smpppd. gateway points to an smpppd on the gateway. The
connection should be established as specified under server in config-file.
slp orders the front-ends to connect to an smpppd found via SLP.

server = server
Here, specify the host on which smpppd runs.
password = password
Insert the password selected for smpppd.
If smpppd is active, you can now try to access it, for example, with cinternet
--verbose --interface-list. If you experience difficulties at this point, refer
to the smpppd-c.conf(5) and cinternet(8) man pages.

SLP Services in the Network
The service location protocol (SLP) was developed to simplify the configuration of
31
networked clients within a local network. To configure a network client, including all
required services, the administrator traditionally needs detailed knowledge of the servers
available in the network. SLP makes the availability of selected services known to all
clients in the local network. Applications that support SLP can use the information
distributed and be configured automatically.
SUSE Linux Enterprise® supports installation using installation sources provided with
SLP and contains many system services with integrated support for SLP. YaST and
Konqueror both have appropriate front-ends for SLP. You can use SLP to provide net-
worked clients with central functions, such as an installation server, file server, or print
server on your system.
IMPORTANT: SLP Support in SUSE Linux Enterprise
Services that offer SLP support include cupsd, rsyncd, ypserv, openldap2,
openwbem (CIM), ksysguardd, saned, kdm vnc login, smpppd, rpasswd, postfix,
and sshd (via fish).
31.1 Activating SLP

slpd must run on your system to offer services with SLP. It is not necessary to start this
daemon simply to make service inquiries. Like most system services in SUSE Linux
Enterprise, the slpd daemon is controlled by means of a separate initialization script.
The daemon is inactive by default. To activate it for the duration of a session, run
SLP Services in the Network 601

rcslpd start as root to start it and rcslpd stop to stop it. Perform a restart
or status check with restart or status. If slpd should be active by default, enable
slpd in YaST System > System Services (Runlevel) or run the insserv slpd command
once as root. This automatically includes slpd in the set of services to start when the
system boots.
31.2 SLP Front-Ends in SUSE Linux

Enterprise
To find services provided by SLP in your network, use an SLP front-end. SUSE Linux
Enterprise contains several front-ends:
slptool
slptool is a simple command line program that can be used to announce SLP in-
quiries in the network or announce proprietary services. slptool --help lists
all available options and functions. slptool can also be called from scripts that
process SLP information.
YaST SLP Browser

YaST contains a separate SLP browser that lists all services in the local network
announced by SLP in a tree diagram. Find it as Network Services > SLP Browser.
Konqueror
When used as a network browser, Konqueror can display all SLP services available
in the local network at slp:/. Click the icons in the main window to obtain more
detailed information about the relevant service. If you use Konqueror with
service:/, click the relevant icon once in the browser window to set up a con-
nection with the selected service.
31.3 Installation over SLP

If you offer an installation server with SUSE Linux Enterprise installation media
within your network, this can be registered with SLP. For details, see Section 4.2.1,
“Setting Up an Installation Server Using YaST” (page 56). If SLP installation is selected,
linuxrc starts an SLP inquiry after the system has booted from the selected boot medium
and displays the sources found.

31.4 Providing Services with SLP
Many applications in SUSE Linux Enterprise already have integrated SLP support
through the use of the libslp library. If a service has not been compiled with SLP
support, use one of the following methods to make it available with SLP:
Static Registration with /etc/slp.reg.d

Create a separate registration file for each new service. The following is an example
of a file for registering a scanner service:
## Register a saned service on this system
## en means english language
## 65535 disables the timeout, so the service registration does
## not need refreshes
service:scanner.sane://$HOSTNAME:6566,en,65535
watch-port-tcp=6566
description=SANE scanner daemon
The most important line in this file is the service URL, which begins with
service:. This contains the service type (scanner.sane) and the address
under which the service is available on the server. $HOSTNAME is automatically
replaced with the full hostname. The name of the TCP port on which the relevant
service can be found follows, separated by a colon. Then enter the language in
which the service should appear and the duration of registration in seconds. These
should be separated from the service URL by commas. Set the value for the duration
of registration between 0 and 65535. 0 prevents registration. 65535 removes all
restrictions.
The registration file also contains the two variables watch-tcp-port and
description. watch-tcp-port links the SLP service announcement to
whether the relevant service is active by having slpd check the status of the service.
The second variable contains a more precise description of the service that is dis-
played in suitable browsers.
TIP: YaST and SLP
Some services brokered by YaST, such as an installation server or YOU

server, perform this registration automatically when you activate SLP in the
module dialogs. YaST then creates registration files for these services.
SLP Services in the Network 603

Static Registration with /etc/slp.reg
The only difference from the procedure with /etc/slp.reg.d is the grouping
of all services within a central file.
Dynamic Registration with slptool

If a service should be registered for SLP from proprietary scripts, use the slptool
command line front-end.

The following sources provide further information about SLP:
RFC 2608, 2609, 2610

RFC 2608 generally deals with the definition of SLP. RFC 2609 deals with the
syntax of the service URLs used in greater detail and RFC 2610 deals with DHCP
via SLP.
http://www.openslp.org/
The home page of the OpenSLP project.
/usr/share/doc/packages/openslp
This directory contains all available documentation for SLP, including a README
.SuSE containing the SUSE Linux Enterprise details, the RFCs, and two introduc-
tory HTML documents. Programmers who want to use the SLP functions should
install the openslp-devel package to consult its supplied Programmers Guide.

Time Synchronization with
NTP
The NTP (network time protocol) mechanism is a protocol for synchronizing the system
32
time over the network. First, a machine can obtain the time from a server that is a reliable
time source. Second, a machine can itself act as a time source for other computers in
the network. The goal is twofold—maintaining the absolute time and synchronizing
the system time of all machines within a network.
Maintaining an exact system time is important in many situations. The built-in hardware
(BIOS) clock does often not meet the requirements of applications like databases.
Manual correction of the system time would lead to severe problems because, for ex-
ample, a backward leap can cause malfunction of critical applications. Within a network,
it is usually necessary to synchronize the system time of all machines, but manual time
adjustment is a bad approach. xntp provides a mechanism to solve these problems. It
continuously adjusts the system time with the help of reliable time servers in the network.
It further enables the management of local reference clocks, such as radio-controlled
clocks.
32.1 Configuring an NTP Client with

YaST
xntp is preset to use the local computer clock as a time reference. Using the (BIOS)
clock, however, only serves as a fallback for the case that no time source of greater
precision is available. YaST facilitates the configuration of an NTP client. For a system
that is not running a firewall, use either the quick or advanced configuration. For a
Time Synchronization with NTP 605

firewall-protected system, the advanced configuration can open the required ports in
SuSEfirewall2.
32.1.1 Quick NTP Client Configuration

The quick NTP client configuration (Network Services > NTP Configuration) consists
of two dialogs. Set the start mode of xntpd and the server to query in the first dialog.
To start xntpd automatically when the system is booted, click During Boot. Then
specify the NTP Server Configuration. Either click Use Random Servers from
pool.ntp.org if you cannot use a local time server or click Select to access a second di-
alog in which to select a suitable time server for your network.
Figure 32.1 YaST: Configuring an NTP Client
In the detailed server selection dialog, determine whether to implement time synchro-
nization using a time server from your local network (Local NTP Server) or an Internet-
based time server that takes care of your time zone (Public NTP Server). For a local
time server, click Lookup to start an SLP query for available time servers in your net-
work. Select the most suitable time server from the list of search results and exit the
dialog with OK. For a public time server, select your country (time zone) and a suitable
server from the list under Public NTP Server then exit the dialog with OK. In the main

dialog, test the availability of the selected server with Test and quit the dialog with
Finish.
32.1.2 Advanced NTP Client Configuration

The advanced configuration of an NTP client can be accessed under Advanced Confi-
guration from the main dialog of the NTP Configuration module, shown in Figure 32.1,
“YaST: Configuring an NTP Client” (page 606), after selecting the start-up mode as
described in the quick configuration.
Figure 32.2 YaST: Complex NTP Configuration
In Advanced NTP Configuration, determine whether xntpd should be started in a chroot

jail. By default, Run NTP Daemon in Chroot Jail is activated. This increases the secu-
rity in the event of an attack over xntpd, because it prevents the attacker from compro-
mising the entire system. Configure NTP Daemon via DHCP sets up the NTP client to
get a list of the NTP servers available in your network via DHCP.
Enable Open Port in Firewall if SuSEfirewall is active, which it is by default. If you

leave the port closed, it is not possible to establish a connection to the time server.

The servers and other time sources for the client to query are listed in the lower part.
Modify this list as needed with Add, Edit, and Delete. Display Log provides the possi-
bility to view the log files of your client.
Click Add to add a new source of time information. In the following dialog, select the
type of source with which the time synchronization should be made. The following
options are available:
Server
Another dialog enables you to select an NTP server (as described in Section 32.1.1,
“Quick NTP Client Configuration” (page 606)). Activate Use for Initial Synchro-
nization to trigger the synchronization of the time information between the server
and the client when the system is booted. Options allows you to specify additional
options for xntpd. Refer to /usr/share/doc/packages/xntp-doc (part
of the xntp-doc package) for detailed information.
Peer
A peer is a machine to which a symmetric relationship is established: it acts both
as a time server and as a client. To use a peer in the same network instead of a
server, enter the address of the system. The rest of the dialog is identical to the
Server dialog.
Radio Clock
To use a radio clock in your system for the time synchronization, enter the clock
type, unit number, device name, and other options in this dialog. Click Driver
Calibration to fine-tune the driver. Detailed information about the operation of a
local radio clock is available in /usr/share/doc/packages/xntp-doc/
refclock.html.
Outgoing Broadcast
Time information and queries can also be transmitted by broadcast in the network.
In this dialog, enter the address to which such broadcasts should be sent. Do not
activate broadcasting unless you have a reliable time source like a radio controlled
clock.
Incoming Broadcast
If you want your client to receive its information via broadcast, enter the address
from which the respective packets should be accepted in this fields.

32.2 Configuring xntp in the Network
The easiest way to use a time server in the network is to set server parameters. For ex-
ample, if a time server called ntp.example.com is reachable from the network, add
its name to the file /etc/ntp.conf by adding the following line:
server ntp.example.com
To add more time servers, insert additional lines with the keyword server. After
initializing xntpd with the command rcntpd start, it takes about one hour until
the time is stabilized and the drift file for correcting the local computer clock is created.
With the drift file, the systematic error of the hardware clock can be computed as soon
as the computer is powered on. The correction is used immediately, resulting in a
higher stability of the system time.
There are two possible ways to use the NTP mechanism as a client: First, the client can
query the time from a known server in regular intervals. With many clients, this approach
can cause a high load on the server. Second, the client can wait for NTP broadcasts sent
out by broadcast time servers in the network. This approach has the disadvantage that
the quality of the server is unknown and a server sending out wrong information can
cause severe problems.
If the time is obtained via broadcast, you do not need the server name. In this case, enter
the line broadcastclient in the configuration file /etc/ntp.conf. To use one
or more known time servers exclusively, enter their names in the line starting with
servers.
32.3 Setting Up a Local Reference

Clock
The software package xntp contains drivers for connecting local reference clocks. A
list of supported clocks is available in the xntp-doc package in the file /usr/
share/doc/packages/xntp-doc/refclock.html. Every driver is associated
with a number. In xntp, the actual configuration takes place by means of pseudo IP
addresses. The clocks are entered in the file /etc/ntp.conf as though they existed
in the network. For this purpose, they are assigned special IP addresses in the form

127.127.t.u. Here, t stands for the type of the clock and determines which driver
is used and u for the unit, which determines the interface used.
Normally, the individual drivers have special parameters that describe configuration
details. The file /usr/share/doc/packages/xntp-doc/drivers/driverNN
.html (where NN is the number of the driver) provides information about the particular
type of clock. For example, the “type 8” clock (radio clock over serial interface) requires
an additional mode that specifies the clock more precisely. The Conrad DCF77 receiver
module, for example, has mode 5. To use this clock as a preferred reference, specify
the keyword prefer. The complete server line for a Conrad DCF77 receiver
module would be:
server 127.127.8.0 mode 5 prefer
Other clocks follow the same pattern. Following the installation of the xntp-doc
package, the documentation for xntp is available in the directory /usr/share/doc/
packages/xntp-doc. The file /usr/share/doc/packages/xntp-doc/
refclock.html provides links to the driver pages describing the driver parameters.

The Domain Name System
DNS (domain name system) is needed to resolve the domain names and hostnames into
33
IP addresses. In this way, the IP address 192.168.0.1 is assigned to the hostname earth,
for example. Before setting up your own name server, read the general information
about DNS in Section 30.3, “Name Resolution” (page 558). The following configuration
examples refer to BIND.
33.1 DNS Terminology

Zone
The domain name space is divided into regions called zones. For instance, if you
have example.org, you have the example section, or zone, of the org domain.
DNS server
The DNS server is a server that maintains the name and IP information for a domain.
You can have a primary DNS server for master zone, a secondary server for slave
zone, or a slave server without any zones for caching.
Master zone DNS server

The master zone includes all hosts from your network and a DNS server master
zone stores up-to-date records for all the hosts in your domain.
Slave zone DNS server

A slave zone is a copy of the master zone. The slave zone DNS server obtains
its zone data with zone transfer operations from its master server. The slave
zone DNS server responds authoritatively for the zone as long as it has valid
The Domain Name System 611

(not expired) zone data. If the slave cannot obtain a new copy of the zone data,
it stops responding for the zone.
Forwarder
Forwarders are DNS servers to which your DNS server should send queries it
cannot answer.
Record
The record is information about name and IP address. Supported records and their
syntax are described in BIND documentation. Some special records are:
NS record
An NS record tells name servers which machines are in charge of a given do-
main zone.
MX record
The MX (mail exchange) records describe the machines to contact for directing
mail across the Internet.
SOA record
SOA (Start of Authority) record is the first record in a zone file. The SOA
record is used when using DNS to synchronize data between multiple comput-
ers.
33.2 Configuration with YaST

You can use the DNS module of YaST to configure a DNS server for your local network.
To configure a Samba server, start YaST and select Network Services > DNS Server.
When starting the module for the first time, a wizard starts, prompting you to make just
a few basic decisions concerning administration of the server. Completing this initial
setup produces a very basic server configuration that should be functioning in its essential
aspects. The expert mode can be used to deal with more advanced configuration tasks,
such as setting up ACLs, logging, TSIG keys, and other options.
33.2.1 Wizard Configuration

The wizard consists of three steps or dialogs. At the appropriate places in the dialogs,
you are given the opportunity to enter the expert configuration mode.

1 When starting the module for the first time, the Forwarder Settings dialog, shown
in Figure 33.1, “DNS Server Installation: Forwarder Settings” (page 613), opens.
In it, decide whether the PPP daemon should provide a list of forwarders on dial-
up via DSL or ISDN (PPP Daemon Sets Forwarders) or whether you want to
supply your own list (Set Forwarders Manually).
Figure 33.1 DNS Server Installation: Forwarder Settings
2 The DNS Zones dialog consists of several parts and is responsible for the man-
agement of zone files, described in Section 33.5, “Zone Files” (page 628). For a
new zone, provide a name for it in Zone Name. To add a reverse zone, the name
must end in .in-addr.arpa. Finally, select the Zone Type (master or slave).
See Figure 33.2, “DNS Server Installation: DNS Zones” (page 614). Click Edit
Zone to configure other settings of an existing zone. To remove a zone, click
Delete Zone.

Figure 33.2 DNS Server Installation: DNS Zones
3 In the final dialog, you can open the DNS port in the firewall by clicking Open
Port in Firewall. Then decide whether or not the DNS server should be started
(On or Off). You can also activate LDAP support. See Figure 33.3, “DNS Server
Installation: Finish Wizard” (page 615).

Figure 33.3 DNS Server Installation: Finish Wizard
33.2.2 Expert Configuration

After starting the module, YaST opens a window displaying several configuration op-
tions. Completing it results in a DNS server configuration with the basic functions in
place:
Starting the DNS Server

Under Service Start, define whether the DNS server should be started when the system
boots (during booting the system) or manually. To start the DNS server immediately,
select Start DNS Server Now. To stop the DNS server, select Stop DNS Server Now.
To save the current settings, select Save Settings and Restart DNS Server Now. You
can open the DNS port in the firewall with Open Port in Firewall and modify the firewall
settings with Firewall Details.
By selecting LDAP Support Active, the zone files are managed by an LDAP database.
Any changes to zone data written to the LDAP database are picked up by the DNS
server as soon as it is restarted or prompted to reload its configuration.

DNS Server: Basic Options
In this section, set basic server options. From the Option menu, select the desired item
then specify the value in the corresponding entry field. Include the new entry by selecting
Add.
Logging
To set what the DNS server should log and how, select Logging. Under Log Type,
specify where the DNS server should write the log data. Use the systemwide log file
/var/log/messages by selecting System Log or specify a different file by selecting
File. In the latter case, additionally specify a name, the maximum file size in megabytes,
and the number of versions of log files to store.
Further options are available under Additional Logging. Enabling Log All DNS Queries
causes every query to be logged, in which case the log file could grow extremely large.
For this reason, it is not a good idea to enable this option for other than debugging
purposes. To log the data traffic during zone updates between DHCP and DNS server,
enable Log Zone Updates. To log the data traffic during a zone transfer from master to
slave, enable Log Zone Transfer. See Figure 33.4, “DNS Server: Logging” (page 616).
Figure 33.4 DNS Server: Logging

Using ACLs
Use this window to define ACLs (access control lists) to enforce access restrictions.
After providing a distinct name under Name, specify an IP address (with or without
netmask) under Value in the following fashion:
{ 10.10/16; }
The syntax of the configuration file requires that the address ends with a semicolon and
is put into curly braces.
TSIG Keys
The main purpose of TSIGs (transaction signatures) is to secure communications between
DHCP and DNS servers. They are described in Section 33.7, “Secure Transactions”
(page 633).
To generate a TSIG key, enter a distinctive name in the field labeled Key ID and specify
the file where the key should be stored (Filename). Confirm your choices with Add.
To use a previously created key, leave the Key ID field blank and select the file where
it is stored under File Name. After that, confirm with Add.
Adding a Slave Zone

To add a slave zone, select DNS Zones, choose the zone type Slave, and click Add.
In the Zone Editor under Master DNS Server IP, specify the master from which the
slave should fetch its data. To limit access to the server, select one of the ACLs from
the list. See Figure 33.5, “DNS Server: Slave Zone Editor” (page 618).

Figure 33.5 DNS Server: Slave Zone Editor
Adding a Master Zone

To add a master zone, select DNS Zones, choose the zone type Master, write the name
of the new zone, and click Add.
Editing a Master Zone

To edit a master zone, select DNS Zones, choose the zone type Master, select the master
zone from the table, and click Edit. The dialog consists of several pages: Basic (the one
opened first), NS Records, MX Records, SOA, and Records.
The basic dialog, shown in Figure 33.6, “DNS Server: Zone Editor (Basic)” (page 619),
lets you define settings for dynamic DNS and access options for zone transfers to clients
and slave name servers. To permit the dynamic update of zones, select Allow Dynamic
Updates as well as the corresponding TSIG key. The key must have been defined before
the update action starts. To enable zone transfers, select the corresponding ACLs. ACLs
must have been defined already.

Figure 33.6 DNS Server: Zone Editor (Basic)
Zone Editor (NS Records)

This dialog allows you to define alternative name servers for the zones specified.
Make sure that your own name server is included in the list. To add a record, enter
its name under Name Server to Add then confirm with Add. See Figure 33.7, “DNS
Server: Zone Editor (NS Records)” (page 620).

Figure 33.7 DNS Server: Zone Editor (NS Records)
Zone Editor (MX Records)

To add a mail server for the current zone to the existing list, enter the corresponding
address and priority value. After doing so, confirm by selecting Add. See Fig-
ure 33.8, “DNS Server: Zone Editor (MX Records)” (page 621).

Figure 33.8 DNS Server: Zone Editor (MX Records)
Zone Editor (SOA)

This page allows you to create SOA (start of authority) records. For an explanation
of the individual options, refer to Example 33.6, “File /var/lib/named/world.zone”
(page 629). Changing SOA records is not supported for dynamic zones managed
via LDAP.

Figure 33.9 DNS Server: Zone Editor (SOA)
Zone Editor (Records)

This dialog manages name resolution. In Record Key, enter the hostname then select
its type. A-Record represents the main entry. The value for this should be an IP
address. CNAME is an alias. Use the types NS and MX for detailed or partial records
that expand on the information provided in the NS Records and MX Records tabs.
These three types resolve to an existing A record. PTR is for reverse zones. It is
the opposite of an A record.
33.3 Starting the Name Server BIND

On a SUSE Linux Enterprise® system, the name server BIND (Berkeley Internet name
domain) comes preconfigured so it can be started right after installation without any
problem. If you already have a functioning Internet connection and have entered
127.0.0.1 as the name server address for localhost in /etc/resolv.conf,
you normally already have a working name resolution without needing to know the
DNS of the provider. BIND carries out name resolution via the root name server, a
notably slower process. Normally, the DNS of the provider should be entered with its
IP address in the configuration file /etc/named.conf under forwarders to ensure
effective and secure name resolution. If this works so far, the name server runs as a
pure caching-only name server. Only when you configure its own zones will it become

a proper DNS. A simple example of this is included in the documentation in /usr/
share/doc/packages/bind/config.
TIP: Automatic Adaptation of the Name Server Information
Depending on the type of Internet connection or the network connection, the

name server information can automatically be adapted to the current conditions.
To do this, set the variable MODIFY_NAMED_CONF_DYNAMICALLY in the file
/etc/sysconfig/network/config to yes.
However, do not set up any official domains until assigned one by the responsible insti-
tution. Even if you have your own domain and it is managed by the provider, you are
better off not using it, because BIND would otherwise not forward requests for this
domain. The Web server at the provider, for example, would not be accessible for this
domain.
To start the name server, enter the command rcnamed start as root. If “done”
appears to the right in green, named, as the name server process is called, has been
started successfully. Test the name server immediately on the local system with the
host or dig programs, which should return localhost as the default server with
the address 127.0.0.1. If this is not the case, /etc/resolv.conf probably
contains an incorrect name server entry or the file does not exist at all. For the first test,
enter host 127.0.0.1, which should always work. If you get an error message, use
rcnamed status to see whether the server is actually running. If the name server
does not start or behaves unexpectedly, you can usually find the cause in the log file
/var/log/messages.
To use the name server of the provider or one already running on your network as the
forwarder, enter the corresponding IP address or addresses in the options section
under forwarders. The addresses included in Example 33.1, “Forwarding Options
in named.conf” (page 623) are just examples. Adjust these entries to your own setup.
Example 33.1 Forwarding Options in named.conf
options {
directory "/var/lib/named";
forwarders { 10.11.12.13; 10.11.12.14; };
listen-on { 127.0.0.1; 192.168.0.99; };
allow-query { 127/8; 192.168.0/24; };
notify no;
};

The options entry is followed by entries for the zone, localhost, and
0.0.127.in-addr.arpa. The type hint entry under “.” should always be
present. The corresponding files do not need to be modified and should work as they
are. Also make sure that each entry is closed with a “;” and that the curly braces are in
the correct places. After changing the configuration file /etc/named.conf or the
zone files, tell BIND to reread them with rcnamed reload. Achieve the same by
stopping and restarting the name server with rcnamed restart. Stop the server at
any time by entering rcnamed stop.
33.4 The Configuration File

/etc/named.conf
All the settings for the BIND name server itself are stored in the file /etc/named
.conf. However, the zone data for the domains to handle, consisting of the hostnames,
IP addresses, and so on, are stored in separate files in the /var/lib/named directory.
The details of this are described later.
/etc/named.conf is roughly divided into two areas. One is the options section
for general settings and the other consists of zone entries for the individual domains.
A logging section and acl (access control list) entries are optional. Comment lines
begin with a # sign or //. A minimal /etc/named.conf is shown in Example 33.2,
“A Basic /etc/named.conf” (page 625).

Example 33.2 A Basic /etc/named.conf
options {
directory "/var/lib/named";
forwarders { 10.0.0.1; };
notify no;
};
zone "localhost" in {
type master;
file "localhost.zone";
};
zone "0.0.127.in-addr.arpa" in {
type master;
file "127.0.0.zone";
};
zone "." in {
type hint;
file "root.hint";
};
33.4.1 Important Configuration Options

directory "filename";
Specifies the directory in which BIND can find the files containing the zone data.
Usually, this is /var/lib/named.
forwarders { ip-address; };
Specifies the name servers (mostly of the provider) to which DNS requests should
be forwarded if they cannot be resolved directly. Replace ip-address with an
IP address like 10.0.0.1.
forward first;
Causes DNS requests to be forwarded before an attempt is made to resolve them
via the root name servers. Instead of forward first, forward only can
be written to have all requests forwarded and none sent to the root name servers.
This makes sense for firewall configurations.
listen-on port 53 { 127.0.0.1; ip-address; };

Tells BIND on which network interfaces and port to accept client queries. port
53 does not need to be specified explicitly, because 53 is the default port. Enter

127.0.0.1 to permit requests from the local host. If you omit this entry entirely,
all interfaces are used by default.
listen-on-v6 port 53 {any; };

Tells BIND on which port it should listen for IPv6 client requests. The only alter-
native to any is none. As far as IPv6 is concerned, the server only accepts a wild
card address.
query-source address * port 53;

This entry is necessary if a firewall is blocking outgoing DNS requests. This tells
BIND to post requests externally from port 53 and not from any of the high ports
above 1024.
query-source-v6 address * port 53;

Tells BIND which port to use for IPv6 queries.
allow-query { 127.0.0.1; net; };

Defines the networks from which clients can post DNS requests. Replace net with
address information like 192.168.1/24. The /24 at the end is an abbreviated
expression for the netmask, in this case, 255.255.255.0.
allow-transfer ! *;;
Controls which hosts can request zone transfers. In the example, such requests are
completely denied with ! *. Without this entry, zone transfers can be requested
from anywhere without restrictions.
statistics-interval 0;
In the absence of this entry, BIND generates several lines of statistical information
per hour in /var/log/messages. Set it to 0 to suppress these statistics com-
pletely or set an interval in minutes.
cleaning-interval 720;
This option defines at which time intervals BIND clears its cache. This triggers an
entry in /var/log/messages each time it occurs. The time specification is in
minutes. The default is 60 minutes.
interface-interval 0;
BIND regularly searches the network interfaces for new or nonexistent interfaces.
If this value is set to 0, this is not done and BIND only listens at the interfaces de-
tected at start-up. Otherwise, the interval can be defined in minutes. The default is
sixty minutes.

notify no;
no prevents other name servers from being informed when changes are made to
the zone data or when the name server is restarted.
33.4.2 Logging
What, how, and where logging takes place can be extensively configured in BIND.
Normally, the default settings should be sufficient. Example 33.3, “Entry to Disable
Logging” (page 627) shows the simplest form of such an entry and completely suppresses
any logging.
Example 33.3 Entry to Disable Logging

logging {
category default { null; };
};
33.4.3 Zone Entries

Example 33.4 Zone Entry for my-domain.de
zone "my-domain.de" in {
type master;
file "my-domain.zone";
notify no;
};
After zone, specify the name of the domain to administer (my-domain.de) followed
by in and a block of relevant options enclosed in curly braces, as shown in Exam-
ple 33.4, “Zone Entry for my-domain.de” (page 627). To define a slave zone, switch the
type to slave and specify a name server that administers this zone as master
(which, in turn, may be a slave of another master), as shown in Example 33.5, “Zone
Entry for other-domain.de” (page 627).
Example 33.5 Zone Entry for other-domain.de
zone "other-domain.de" in {
type slave;
file "slave/other-domain.zone";
masters { 10.0.0.1; };
};

The zone options:
type master;
By specifying master, tell BIND that the zone is handled by the local name
server. This assumes that a zone file has been created in the correct format.
type slave;
This zone is transferred from another name server. It must be used together with
masters.
type hint;
The zone . of the hint type is used to set the root name servers. This zone defini-
tion can be left as is.
file my-domain.zone or file “slave/other-domain.zone”;

This entry specifies the file where zone data for the domain is located. This file is
not required for a slave, because this data is fetched from another name server. To
differentiate master and slave files, use the directory slave for the slave files.
masters { server-ip-address; };
This entry is only needed for slave zones. It specifies from which name server the
zone file should be transferred.
allow-update {! *; };
This option controls external write access, which would allow clients to make a
DNS entry—something not normally desirable for security reasons. Without this
entry, zone updates are not allowed at all. The above entry achieves the same be-
cause ! * effectively bans any such activity.
33.5 Zone Files

Two types of zone files are needed. One assigns IP addresses to hostnames and the
other does the reverse: it supplies a hostname for an IP address.

TIP: Using the Dot in Zone Files
The . has an important meaning in the zone files. If hostnames are given
without a final ., the zone is appended. Complete hostnames specified with a
full domain name must end with a . to avoid having the domain added to it
again. A missing or wrongly placed dot is probably the most frequent cause of
name server configuration errors.
The first case to consider is the zone file world.zone, responsible for the domain
world.cosmos, shown in Example 33.6, “File /var/lib/named/world.zone” (page 629).
Example 33.6 File /var/lib/named/world.zone
$TTL 2D
world.cosmos. IN SOA gateway root.world.cosmos. (
2003072441 ; serial
1D ; refresh
2H ; retry
1W ; expiry
2D ) ; minimum
IN NS gateway
IN MX 10 sun
gateway IN A 192.168.0.1
IN A 192.168.1.1
sun IN A 192.168.0.2
moon IN A 192.168.0.3
earth IN A 192.168.1.2
mars IN A 192.168.1.3
www IN CNAME moon
Line 1:
$TTL defines the default time to live that should apply to all the entries in this file.
In this example, entries are valid for a period of two days (2 D).
Line 2:
This is where the SOA (start of authority) control record begins:
• The name of the domain to administer is world.cosmos in the first position.

This ends with a ., because otherwise the zone would be appended a second time.
Alternatively, @ can be entered here, in which case the zone would be extracted
from the corresponding entry in /etc/named.conf.

• After IN SOA is the name of the name server in charge as master for this zone.
The name is expanded from gateway to gateway.world.cosmos, because
it does not end with a ..
• An e-mail address of the person in charge of this name server follows. Because
the @ sign already has a special meaning, . is entered here instead. For
[email protected] the entry must read root.world.cosmos.. The .
must be included at the end to prevent the zone from being added.
• The ( includes all lines up to ) into the SOA record.
Line 3:
The serial number is an arbitrary number that is increased each time this file
is changed. It is needed to inform the secondary name servers (slave servers) of
changes. For this, a 10 digit number of the date and run number, written as
YYYYMMDDNN, has become the customary format.
Line 4:
The refresh rate specifies the time interval at which the secondary name
servers verify the zone serial number. In this case, one day.
Line 5:
The retry rate specifies the time interval at which a secondary name server,
in case of error, attempts to contact the primary server again. Here, two hours.
Line 6:
The expiration time specifies the time frame after which a secondary name
server discards the cached data if it has not regained contact to the primary server.
Here, it is a week.
Line 7:
The last entry in the SOA record specifies the negative caching TTL—the
time for which results of unresolved DNS queries from other servers may be cached.
Line 9:
The IN NS specifies the name server responsible for this domain. gateway is
extended to gateway.world.cosmos because it does not end with a .. There
can be several lines like this—one for the primary and one for each secondary name
server. If notify is not set to no in /etc/named.conf, all the name servers
listed here are informed of the changes made to the zone data.

Line 10:
The MX record specifies the mail server that accepts, processes, and forwards e-
mails for the domain world.cosmos. In this example, this is the host
sun.world.cosmos. The number in front of the hostname is the preference
value. If there are multiple MX entries, the mail server with the smallest value is
taken first and, if mail delivery to this server fails, an attempt is made with the next
higher value.
Lines 12–17:
These are the actual address records where one or more IP addresses are assigned
to hostnames. The names are listed here without a . because they do not include
their domain, so world.cosmos is added to all of them. Two IP addresses are
assigned to the host gateway, because it has two network cards. Wherever the
host address is a traditional one (IPv4), the record is marked with AAAA. If the ad-
dress is an IPv6 address, the entry is marked with AAAA 0. The previous token
for IPv6 addresses was only AAAA, which is now obsolete.
NOTE: IPv6 Syntax
A IPv6 record has a slightly different syntax than IPv4. Because of the
fragmentation possibility, it is necessary to provide information about
missed bits before the address. You must provide this information even if
you want to use a completely unfragmented address. For the IPv4 record
with the syntax
pluto IN AAAA 2345:00C1:CA11:0001:1234:5678:9ABC:DEF0

pluto IN AAAA 2345:00D2:DA11:0001:1234:5678:9ABC:DEF0
You need to add information about missing bits in IPv6 format. Because
the example above is complete (does not miss any bits), the IPv6 format
of this record is:
pluto IN AAAA 0 2345:00C1:CA11:0001:1234:5678:9ABC:DEF0

pluto IN AAAA 0 2345:00D2:DA11:0001:1234:5678:9ABC:DEF0
Do not use IPv4 addresses with IPv6 mapping.
Line 18:
The alias www can be used to address mond (CNAME means canonical name).

The pseudodomain in-addr.arpa is used for the reverse lookup of IP addresses
into hostnames. It is appended to the network part of the address in reverse notation.
So 192.168.1 is resolved into 1.168.192.in-addr.arpa. See Example 33.7,
“Reverse Lookup” (page 632).
Example 33.7 Reverse Lookup
$TTL 2D
1.168.192.in-addr.arpa. IN SOA gateway.world.cosmos. root.world.cosmos. (
2003072441 ; serial
1D ; refresh
2H ; retry
1W ; expiry
2D ) ; minimum
IN NS gateway.world.cosmos.
1 IN PTR gateway.world.cosmos.
2 IN PTR earth.world.cosmos.
3 IN PTR mars.world.cosmos.
Line 1:
$TTL defines the standard TTL that applies to all entries here.
Line 2:
The configuration file should activate reverse lookup for the network
192.168.1.0. Given that the zone is called 1.168.192.in-addr.arpa,
should not be added to the hostnames. Therefore, all hostnames are entered in their
complete form—with their domain and with a . at the end. The remaining entries
correspond to those described for the previous world.cosmos example.
Lines 3–7:
See the previous example for world.cosmos.
Line 9:
Again this line specifies the name server responsible for this zone. This time,
however, the name is entered in its complete form with the domain and a . at the
end.
Lines 11–13:
These are the pointer records hinting at the IP addresses on the respective hosts.
Only the last part of the IP address is entered at the beginning of the line, without

the . at the end. Appending the zone to this (without the .in-addr.arpa) results
in the complete IP address in reverse order.
Normally, zone transfers between different versions of BIND should be possible without
any problem.
33.6 Dynamic Update of Zone Data

The term dynamic update refers to operations by which entries in the zone files of a
master server are added, changed, or deleted. This mechanism is described in RFC 2136.
Dynamic update is configured individually for each zone entry by adding an optional
allow-update or update-policy rule. Zones to update dynamically should not
be edited by hand.
Transmit the entries to update to the server with the command nsupdate. For the
exact syntax of this command, check the manual page for nsupdate (man 8 nsupdate).
For security reasons, any such update should be performed using TSIG keys as described
in Section 33.7, “Secure Transactions” (page 633).
33.7 Secure Transactions

Secure transactions can be made with the help of transaction signatures (TSIGs) based
on shared secret keys (also called TSIG keys). This section describes how to generate
and use such keys.
Secure transactions are needed for communication between different servers and for
the dynamic update of zone data. Making the access control dependent on keys is much
more secure than merely relying on IP addresses.
Generate a TSIG key with the following command (for details, see
man dnssec-keygen):
dnssec-keygen -a hmac-md5 -b 128 -n HOST host1-host2
This creates two files with names similar to these:

Khost1-host2.+157+34265.private Khost1-host2.+157+34265.key

The key itself (a string like ejIkuCyyGJwwuN3xAteKgg==) is found in both files.
To use it for transactions, the second file (Khost1-host2.+157+34265.key)
must be transferred to the remote host, preferably in a secure way (using scp, for exam-
ple). On the remote server, the key must be included in the file /etc/named.conf
to enable a secure communication between host1 and host2:
key host1-host2. {
algorithm hmac-md5;
secret ";ejIkuCyyGJwwuN3xAteKgg==;
};
WARNING: File Permissions of /etc/named.conf
Make sure that the permissions of /etc/named.conf are properly restricted.

The default for this file is 0640, with the owner being root and the group
named. As an alternative, move the keys to an extra file with specially limited
permissions, which is then included from /etc/named.conf. To include an
external file, use:
include "filename"
Replace filename with an absolute path to your file with keys.
To enable the server host1 to use the key for host2 (which has the address
192.168.2.3 in this example), the server's /etc/named.conf must include the
following rule:
server 192.168.2.3 {
keys { host1-host2. ;};
};
Analogous entries must be included in the configuration files of host2.
Add TSIG keys for any ACLs (access control lists, not to be confused with file system
ACLs) that are defined for IP addresses and address ranges to enable transaction secu-
rity. The corresponding entry could look like this:
allow-update { key host1-host2. ;};
This topic is discussed in more detail in the BIND Administrator Reference Manual
under update-policy.

33.8 DNS Security
DNSSEC, or DNS security, is described in RFC 2535. The tools available for DNSSEC
are discussed in the BIND Manual.
A zone considered secure must have one or several zone keys associated with it. These
are generated with dnssec-keygen, just like the host keys. The DSA encryption
algorithm is currently used to generate these keys. The public keys generated should
be included in the corresponding zone file with an $INCLUDE rule.
With the command dnssec-makekeyset, all keys generated are packaged into one
set, which must then be transferred to the parent zone in a secure manner. On the parent,
the set is signed with dnssec-signkey. The files generated by this command are
then used to sign the zones with dnssec-signzone, which in turn generates the
files to include for each zone in /etc/named.conf.

For additional information, refer to the BIND Administrator Reference Manual from
package bind-doc, which is installed under /usr/share/doc/packages/
bind/. Consider additionally consulting the RFCs referenced by the manual and the
manual pages included with BIND. /usr/share/doc/packages/bind/README
.SuSE contains up-to-date information about BIND in SUSE Linux Enterprise.

DHCP
The purpose of the dynamic host configuration protocol (DHCP) is to assign network
34
settings centrally from a server rather than configuring them locally on each and every
workstation. A host configured to use DHCP does not have control over its own static
address. It is enabled to configure itself completely and automatically according to di-
rections from the server. If you use the NetworkManager on the client side, you do not
need to configure the client at all. This is useful if you have changing environments
and only one interface active at a time. Never use NetworkManager on a machine that
runs a DHCP server.
TIP: IBM System z: DHCP Support
On IBM System z platforms, DHCP only works on interfaces using the OSA and
OSA Express network cards. These cards are the only ones with a MAC, which
is required for the DHCP autoconfiguration features.
One way to configure a DHCP server is to identify each client using the hardware address
of its network card (which should be fixed in most cases), then supply that client with
identical settings each time it connects to the server. DHCP can also be configured to
assign addresses to each interested client dynamically from an address pool set up for
that purpose. In the latter case, the DHCP server tries to assign the same address to the
client each time it receives a request, even over longer periods. This works only if the
network does not have more clients than addresses.
DHCP makes life easier for system administrators. Any changes, even bigger ones, re-
lated to addresses and the network configuration in general can be implemented centrally
by editing the server's configuration file. This is much more convenient than reconfig-
DHCP 637
uring numerous workstations. Also it is much easier to integrate machines, particularly
new machines, into the network, because they can be given an IP address from the pool.
Retrieving the appropriate network settings from a DHCP server is especially useful
in the case of laptops regularly used in different networks.
A DHCP server supplies not only the IP address and the netmask, but also the hostname,
domain name, gateway, and name server addresses for the client to use. In addition to
that, DHCP allows a number of other parameters to be configured in a centralized way,
for example, a time server from which clients may poll the current time or even a print
server.
34.1 Configuring a DHCP Server with

YaST
IMPORTANT: LDAP Support
In this version of SUSE Linux Enterprise, the YaST DHCP module can be set up
to store the server configuration locally (on the host that runs the DHCP server)
or to have its configuration data managed by an LDAP server. If you want to
use LDAP, set up your LDAP environment before configuring the DHCP server.
The YaST DHCP module allows you to set up your own DHCP server for the local
network. The module can run in simple mode or expert mode.
34.1.1 Initial Configuration (Wizard)

When the module is started for the first time, a wizard starts, prompting you to make
a few basic decision concerning server administration. Completing this initial setup
produces a very basic server configuration that should function in essential aspects.
The expert mode can be used to deal with more advanced configuration tasks.
Card Selection
In the first step, YaST looks for the network interfaces available on your system
then displays them in a list. From the list, select the interface on which the DHCP
server should listen and click Add. After this, select Open Firewall for Selected

Interfaces to open the firewall for this interface. See Figure 34.1, “DHCP Server:
Card Selection” (page 639).
Figure 34.1 DHCP Server: Card Selection
Global Settings
Use the check box to determine whether your DHCP settings should be automati-
cally stored by an LDAP server. In the entry fields, provide the network specifics
for all clients the DHCP server should manage. These specifics are the domain
name, address of a time server, addresses of the primary and secondary name
server, addresses of a print and a WINS server (for a mixed network with both
Windows and Linux clients), gateway address, and lease time. See Figure 34.2,
“DHCP Server: Global Settings” (page 640).
DHCP 639
Figure 34.2 DHCP Server: Global Settings
Dynamic DHCP
In this step, configure how dynamic IP addresses should be assigned to clients. To
do so, specify an IP range from which the server can assign addresses to DHCP
clients. All these addresses must be covered by the same netmask. Also specify the
lease time during which a client may keep its IP address without needing to request
an extension of the lease. Optionally, specify the maximum lease time—the period
during which the server reserves an IP address for a particular client. See Fig-
ure 34.3, “DHCP Server: Dynamic DHCP” (page 641).

Figure 34.3 DHCP Server: Dynamic DHCP
Finishing the Configuration and Setting the Start Mode

After the third part of the configuration wizard, a last dialog is shown in which you
can define how the DHCP server should be started. Here, specify whether to start
the DHCP server automatically when the system is booted or manually when
needed (for example, for test purposes). Click Finish to complete the configuration
of the server. See Figure 34.4, “DHCP Server: Start-Up” (page 642). Alternatively,
you can select Host Management from the tree structure to the left to configure
special host management features in addition to the basic configuration (see Fig-
ure 34.5, “DHCP Server: Host Management” (page 643)).
DHCP 641
Figure 34.4 DHCP Server: Start-Up
Host Management
Instead of using dynamic DHCP in the way described in the preceding sections,
you can also configure the server to assign addresses in quasi-static fashion. To do
so, use the entry fields provided in the lower part to specify a list of the clients to
manage in this way. Specifically, provide the Name and the IP Address to give to
such a client, the Hardware Address, and the Network Type (token ring or ethernet).
Modify the list of clients, which is shown in the upper part, with Add, Edit, and
Delete from List. See Figure 34.5, “DHCP Server: Host Management” (page 643).

Figure 34.5 DHCP Server: Host Management
34.1.2 Expert Configuration

In addition to the configuration method discussed earlier, there is also an expert confi-
guration mode that allows you to tweak the DHCP server setup in every detail. Start
the expert configuration by selecting Expert Settings in the tree view in the left part of
the dialog.
Chroot Environment and Declarations

In this first dialog, make the existing configuration editable by selecting Start
DHCP Server. An important feature of the behavior of the DHCP server is its
ability to run in a chroot environment, or chroot jail, to secure the server host. If
the DHCP server should ever be compromised by an outside attack, the attacker
will still be behind bars in the chroot jail, which prevents him from touching the
rest of the system. The lower part of the dialog displays a tree view with the decla-
rations that have already been defined. Modify these with Add, Delete, and Edit.
Selecting Advanced takes you to additional expert dialogs. See Figure 34.6, “DHCP
Server: Chroot Jail and Declarations” (page 644). After selecting Add, define the
type of declaration to add. With Advanced, view the log file of the server, configure
TSIG key management, and adjust the configuration of the firewall according to
the setup of the DHCP server.
DHCP 643
Figure 34.6 DHCP Server: Chroot Jail and Declarations
Selecting the Declaration Type

The Global Options of the DHCP server are made up of a number of declarations.
This dialog lets you set the declaration types Subnet, Host, Shared Network, Group,
Pool of Addresses, and Class. This example shows the selection of a new subnetwork
(see Figure 34.7, “DHCP Server: Selecting a Declaration Type” (page 645)).

Figure 34.7 DHCP Server: Selecting a Declaration Type
Subnet Configuration
This dialog allows you specify a new subnet with its IP address and netmask. In
the middle part of the dialog, modify the DHCP server start options for the selected
subnet using Add, Edit, and Delete. To set up dynamic DNS for the subnet, select
Dynamic DNS.
DHCP 645
Figure 34.8 DHCP Server: Configuring Subnets
TSIG Key Management

If you chose to configure dynamic DNS in the previous dialog, you can now con-
figure the key management for a secure zone transfer. Selecting OK takes you to
another dialog in which to configure the interface for dynamic DNS (see Fig-
ure 34.10, “DHCP Server: Interface Configuration for Dynamic DNS” (page 648)).

Figure 34.9 DHCP Server: TSIG Configuration
Dynamic DNS: Interface Configuration

You can now activate dynamic DNS for the subnet by selecting Enable Dynamic
DNS for This Subnet. After doing so, use the drop-down list to choose the TSIG
keys for forward and reverse zones, making sure that keys are the same for the
DNS and the DHCP server. With Update Global Dynamic DNS Settings, enable
the automatic update and adjustment of the global DHCP server settings according
to the dynamic DNS environment. Finally, define which forward and reverse zones
should be updated per dynamic DNS, specifying the name of the primary name
server for each of the two zones. If the name server runs on the same host as the
DHCP server, you can leave these fields blank. Selecting Ok returns to the subnet
configuration dialog (see Figure 34.8, “DHCP Server: Configuring Subnets”
(page 646)). Selecting Ok again returns to the original expert configuration dialog.
DHCP 647
Figure 34.10 DHCP Server: Interface Configuration for Dynamic DNS
Network Interface Configuration

To define the interfaces where the DHCP server should listen and to adjust the
firewall configuration, select Advanced > Interface Configuration from the expert
configuration dialog. From the list of interfaces displayed, select one or more that
should be attended by the the DHCP server. If clients in all of the subnets should
be able to communicate with the server and the server host also runs a firewall,
adjust the firewall accordingly. To do so, select Adapt Firewall Settings. YaST
then adjusts the rules of SuSEfirewall2 to the new conditions (see Figure 34.11,
“DHCP Server: Network Interface and Firewall” (page 649)), after which you can
return to the original dialog by selecting Ok.

Figure 34.11 DHCP Server: Network Interface and Firewall
After completing all configuration steps, close the dialog with Ok. The server is now
started with its new configuration.
34.2 DHCP Software Packages

Both a DHCP server and DHCP clients are available for SUSE Linux Enterprise. The
DHCP server available is dhcpd (published by the Internet Software Consortium). On
the client side, choose between two different DHCP client programs: dhcp-client
(also from ISC) and the DHCP client daemon in the dhcpcd package.
SUSE Linux Enterprise installs dhcpcd by default. The program is very easy to handle
and is launched automatically on each system boot to watch for a DHCP server. It does
not need a configuration file to do its job and works out of the box in most standard
setups. For more complex situations, use the ISC dhcp-client, which is controlled by
means of the configuration file /etc/dhclient.conf.
DHCP 649
34.3 The DHCP Server dhcpd
The core of any DHCP system is the dynamic host configuration protocol daemon. This
server leases addresses and watches how they are used, according to the settings defined
in the configuration file /etc/dhcpd.conf. By changing the parameters and values
in this file, a system administrator can influence the program's behavior in numerous
ways. Look at the basic sample /etc/dhcpd.conf file in Example 34.1, “The
Configuration File /etc/dhcpd.conf” (page 650).
Example 34.1 The Configuration File /etc/dhcpd.conf
default-lease-time 600; # 10 minutes

max-lease-time 7200; # 2 hours
option domain-name "cosmos.all";

option domain-name-servers 192.168.1.1, 192.168.1.2;
option broadcast-address 192.168.1.255;
option routers 192.168.1.254;
option subnet-mask 255.255.255.0;
subnet 192.168.1.0 netmask 255.255.255.0

{
range 192.168.1.10 192.168.1.20;
range 192.168.1.100 192.168.1.200;
}
This simple configuration file should be sufficient to get the DHCP server to assign IP
addresses in the network. Make sure that a semicolon is inserted at the end of each line,
because otherwise dhcpd is not started.
The sample file can be divided into three sections. The first one defines how many
seconds an IP address is leased to a requesting client by default
(default-lease-time) before it should apply for renewal. The section also includes
a statement of the maximum period for which a machine may keep an IP address assigned
by the DHCP server without applying for renewal (max-lease-time).
In the second part, some basic network parameters are defined on a global level:
• The line option domain-name defines the default domain of your network.
• With the entry option domain-name-servers, specify up to three values

for the DNS servers used to resolve IP addresses into hostnames and vice versa.
Ideally, configure a name server on your machine or somewhere else in your network

before setting up DHCP. That name server should also define a hostname for each
dynamic address and vice versa. To learn how to configure your own name server,
read Chapter 33, The Domain Name System (page 611).
• The line option broadcast-address defines the broadcast address the re-
questing client should use.
• With option routers, set where the server should send data packets that
cannot be delivered to a host on the local network (according to the source and
target host address and the subnet mask provided). In most cases, especially in
smaller networks, this router is identical to the Internet gateway.
• With option subnet-mask, specify the netmask assigned to clients.
The last section of the file defines a network, including a subnet mask. To finish,
specify the address range that the DHCP daemon should use to assign IP addresses to
interested clients. In Example 34.1, “The Configuration File /etc/dhcpd.conf” (page 650),
clients may be given any address between 192.168.1.10 and 192.168.1.20 as
well as 192.168.1.100 and 192.168.1.200.
After editing these few lines, you should be able to activate the DHCP daemon with
the command rcdhcpd start. It will be ready for use immediately. Use the command
rcdhcpd check-syntax to perform a brief syntax check. If you encounter any
unexpected problems with your configuration—the server aborts with an error or does
not return done on start—you should be able to find out what has gone wrong by
looking for information either in the main system log /var/log/messages or on
console 10 (Ctrl + Alt + F10).
On a default SUSE Linux Enterprise system, the DHCP daemon is started in a chroot
environment for security reasons. The configuration files must be copied to the chroot
environment so the daemon can find them. Normally, there is no need to worry about
this because the command rcdhcpd start automatically copies the files.
34.3.1 Clients with Fixed IP Addresses

DHCP can also be used to assign a predefined, static address to a specific client. Ad-
dresses assigned explicitly always take priority over dynamic addresses from the pool.
A static address never expires in the way a dynamic address would, for example, if
DHCP 651
there were not enough addresses available and the server needed to redistribute them
among clients.
To identify a client configured with a static address, dhcpd uses the hardware address,
which is a globally unique, fixed numerical code consisting of six octet pairs for the
identification of all network devices (for example, 00:00:45:12:EE:F4). If the
respective lines, like the ones in Example 34.2, “Additions to the Configuration File”
(page 652), are added to the configuration file of Example 34.1, “The Configuration
File /etc/dhcpd.conf” (page 650), the DHCP daemon always assigns the same set of
data to the corresponding client.
Example 34.2 Additions to the Configuration File

host earth {
hardware ethernet 00:00:45:12:EE:F4;
fixed-address 192.168.1.21;
}
The name of the respective client (host hostname, here earth) is entered in the
first line and the MAC address in the second line. On Linux hosts, find the MAC address
with the command ip link show followed by the network device (for example,
eth0). The output should contain something like
link/ether 00:00:45:12:EE:F4
In the preceding example, a client with a network card having the MAC address
00:00:45:12:EE:F4 is assigned the IP address 192.168.1.21 and the hostname
earth automatically. The type of hardware to enter is ethernet in nearly all cases,
although token-ring, which is often found on IBM systems, is also supported.
34.3.2 The SUSE Linux Enterprise Version

To improve security, the SUSE Linux Enterprise version of the ISC's DHCP server
comes with the non-root/chroot patch by Ari Edelkind applied. This enables dhcpd to
run with the user ID nobody and run in a chroot environment (/var/lib/dhcp).
To make this possible, the configuration file dhcpd.conf must be located in /var/
lib/dhcp/etc. The init script automatically copies the file to this directory when
starting.

Control the server's behavior regarding this feature by means of entries in the file /etc/
sysconfig/dhcpd. To run dhcpd without the chroot environment, set the variable
DHCPD_RUN_CHROOTED in /etc/sysconfig/dhcpd to “no”.
To enable dhcpd to resolve hostnames even from within the chroot environment, some
other configuration files must be copied as well:
• /etc/localtime
• /etc/host.conf
• /etc/hosts
• /etc/resolv.conf
These files are copied to /var/lib/dhcp/etc/ when starting the init script. Take
these copies into account for any changes that they require if they are dynamically
modified by scripts like /etc/ppp/ip-up. However, there should be no need to
worry about this if the configuration file only specifies IP addresses (instead of host-
names).
If your configuration includes additional files that should be copied into the chroot en-
vironment, set these under the variable DHCPD_CONF_INCLUDE_FILES in the file
/etc/sysconfig/dhcpd. To ensure that the DHCP logging facility keeps working
even after a restart of the syslog-ng daemon, there is an additional entry
SYSLOGD_ADDITIONAL_SOCKET_DHCP in the file /etc/sysconfig/syslog.

More information about DHCP is available at the Web site of the Internet Software
Consortium (http://www.isc.org/products/DHCP/). Information is also
available in the dhcpd, dhcpd.conf, dhcpd.leases, and dhcp-options man
pages.
DHCP 653
Using NIS
As soon as multiple UNIX systems in a network want to access common resources, it
35
becomes important that all user and group identities are the same for all machines in
that network. The network should be transparent to users: whatever machines they use,
they always find themselves in exactly the same environment. This can be done by
means of NIS and NFS services. NFS distributes file systems over a network.
NIS (Network Information Service) can be described as a database-like service that

provides access to the contents of /etc/passwd, /etc/shadow, and /etc/group
across networks. NIS can also be used for other purposes (making the contents of files
like /etc/hosts or /etc/services available, for example), but this is beyond
the scope of this introduction. People often refer to NIS as YP, because it works like
the network's “yellow pages.”
35.1 Configuring NIS Servers

To distribute NIS information across networks, you can either have one single server
(a master) that serves all clients, or you can have NIS slave servers requesting this in-
formation from the master and relaying it to their respective clients.
• To configure just one NIS server for your network, proceed with Section 35.1.1,
“Configuring a NIS Master Server” (page 656).
• If your NIS master server should export its data to slave servers, set up the master
server as described in Section 35.1.1, “Configuring a NIS Master Server” (page 656)
Using NIS 655

and set up slave servers in the subnets as described in Section 35.1.2, “Configuring
a NIS Slave Server” (page 660).
35.1.1 Configuring a NIS Master Server

To configure a NIS master server for your network, proceed as follows:
1 Start YaST > Network Services > NIS Server.
2 If you need just one NIS server in your network or if this server is to act as the
master for further NIS slave servers, select Install and set up NIS Master Server.
YaST installs the required packages.
TIP
If NIS server software is already installed on your machine, initiate the

creation of a NIS master server by clicking Create NIS Master Server.
Figure 35.1 NIS Server Setup
3 Determine basic NIS setup options:

3a Enter the NIS domain name.
3b Define whether the host should also be a NIS client, enabling users to log in
and access data from the NIS server, by selecting This host is also a NIS
client.
Select Changing of passwords to allow users in your network (both local

users and those managed through the NIS server) to change their passwords
on the NIS server (with the command yppasswd).
This makes the options Allow Changes to GECOS Field and Allow Changes
to Login Shell available. “GECOS” means that the users can also change
their names and address settings with the command ypchfn. “SHELL” al-
lows users to change their default shell with the command ypchsh, for ex-
ample, to switch from bash to sh. The new shell must be one of the predefined
entries in /etc/shells.
3c If your NIS server should act as a master server to NIS slave servers in other
subnets, select Active Slave NIS Server exists.
3d Select Open Ports in Firewall to have YaST adapt the firewall settings for
the NIS server.
Figure 35.2 Master Server Setup
Using NIS 657

3e Leave this dialog with Next or click Other global settings to make additional
settings. Other global settings include changing the source directory of the
NIS server (/etc by default). In addition, passwords can be merged here.
The setting should be Yes so the files (/etc/passwd, /etc/shadow,
and /etc/group) are used to build the user database. Also determine the
smallest user and group ID that should be offered by NIS. Click OK to con-
firm your settings and return to the previous screen.
Figure 35.3 Changing the Directory and Synchronizing Files for a NIS Server
4 If you previously enabled Active Slave NIS Server Exists, enter the hostnames
used as slaves and click Next.
5 If you do not use slave servers, the slave configuration is skipped and you con-
tinue directly to the dialog for the database configuration. Here, specify the maps,
the partial databases to transfer from the NIS server to the client. The default
settings are usually adequate. Leave this dialog with Next.
6 Check which maps should be available and click Next to continue.

Figure 35.4 NIS Server Maps Setup
7 Enter the hosts that are allowed to query the NIS server. You can add, edit, or
delete hosts by clicking the appropriate button. Specify from which networks
requests can be sent to the NIS server. Normally, this is your internal network.
In this case, there should be the following two entries:
255.0.0.0 127.0.0.0
0.0.0.0 0.0.0.0
The first entry enables connections from your own host, which is the NIS server.
The second one allows all hosts to send requests to the server.
Using NIS 659

Figure 35.5 Setting Request Permissions for a NIS Server
8 Click Finish to save changes and exit the setup.
35.1.2 Configuring a NIS Slave Server

To configure additional NIS slave servers in your network, proceed as follows:
1 Start YaST > Network Services > NIS Server.
2 Select Install and set up NIS Slave Server and click Next.
TIP
If NIS server software is already installed on your machine, initiate the

creation of a NIS slave server by clicking Create NIS Slave Server.
3 Complete the basic setup of your NIS slave server:
3a Enter the NIS domain.
3b Enter hostname or IP address of the master server.

3c Set This host is also a NIS client if you want to enable user logins on this
server.
3d Adapt the firewall settings with Open Ports in Firewall.
3e Click Next.
4 Enter the hosts that are allowed to query the NIS server. You can add, edit, or
delete hosts by clicking the appropriate button. Specify from which networks
requests can be sent to the NIS server. Normally, this is all hosts. In this case,
there should be the following two entries:
255.0.0.0 127.0.0.0
0.0.0.0 0.0.0.0
The first entry enables connections from your own host, which is the NIS server.
The second one allows all hosts with access to the same network to send requests
to the server.
5 Click Finish to save changes and exit the setup.
35.2 Configuring NIS Clients

Use the YaST module NIS Client to configure a workstation to use NIS. Select whether
the host has a static IP address or receives one issued by DHCP. DHCP can also provide
the NIS domain and the NIS server. For information about DHCP, see Chapter 34,
DHCP (page 637). If a static IP address is used, specify the NIS domain and the NIS
server manually. See Figure 35.6, “Setting Domain and Address of a NIS Server”
(page 662). Find makes YaST search for an active NIS server in your whole network.
Depending on the size of your local network, this may be a time-consuming process.
Broadcast asks for a NIS server in the local network after the specified servers fail to
respond.
You can also specify multiple servers by entering their addresses in Addresses of NIS
servers and separating them by spaces.
Depending on your local installation, you may also want to activate the automounter.
This option also installs additional software if required.
Using NIS 661

In the expert settings, disable Answer Remote Hosts if you do not want other hosts to
be able to query which server your client is using. By checking Broken Server, the client
is enabled to receive replies from a server communicating through an unprivileged port.
For further information, see man ypbind.
After you have made your settings, click Finish to save them and return to the YaST
control center.
Figure 35.6 Setting Domain and Address of a NIS Server

LDAP—A Directory Service
The Lightweight Directory Access Protocol (LDAP) is a set of protocols designed to
36
access and maintain information directories. LDAP can be used for numerous purposes,
such as user and group management, system configuration management, or address
management. This chapter provides a basic understanding of how OpenLDAP works
and how to manage LDAP data with YaST. While there are several implementations
of the LDAP protocol, this chapter focuses entirely on the OpenLDAP implementation.
It is crucial within a networked environment to keep important information structured

and quickly available. This can be done with a directory service that, like the common
yellow pages, keeps information available in a well-structured, quickly searchable form.
In the ideal case, a central server keeps the data in a directory and distributes it to all
clients using a certain protocol. The data is structured in a way that allows a wide range
of applications to access it. That way, it is not necessary for every single calendar tool
and e-mail client to keep its own database—a central repository can be accessed instead.
This notably reduces the administration effort for the information. The use of an open
and standardized protocol like LDAP ensures that as many different client applications
as possible can access such information.
A directory in this context is a type of database optimized for quick and effective
reading and searching:
• To make numerous concurrent reading accesses possible, write access is limited

to a small number of updates by the administrator. Conventional databases are op-
timized for accepting the largest possible data volume in a short time.
LDAP—A Directory Service 663

• Because write accesses can only be executed in a restricted fashion, a directory
service is used to administer mostly unchanging, static information. Data in a con-
ventional database typically changes very often (dynamic data). Phone numbers in
a company directory do not change nearly as often as, for example, the figures ad-
ministered in accounting.
• When static data is administered, updates of the existing data sets are very rare.
When working with dynamic data, especially when data sets like bank accounts or
accounting are concerned, the consistency of the data is of primary importance. If
an amount should be subtracted from one place to be added to another, both opera-
tions must happen concurrently, within a transaction, to ensure balance over the
data stock. Databases support such transactions. Directories do not. Short-term in-
consistencies of the data are quite acceptable in directories.
The design of a directory service like LDAP is not laid out to support complex update
or query mechanisms. All applications accessing this service should gain access
quickly and easily.
36.1 LDAP versus NIS

The Unix system administrator traditionally uses the NIS service for name resolution
and data distribution in a network. The configuration data contained in the files in /etc
and the directories group, hosts, mail, netgroup, networks, passwd,
printcap, protocols, rpc, and services are distributed by clients all over the
network. These files can be maintained without major effort because they are simple
text files. The handling of larger amounts of data, however, becomes increasingly dif-
ficult due to nonexistent structuring. NIS is only designed for Unix platforms. This
means it is not suitable as a centralized data administration tool in heterogeneous net-
works.
Unlike NIS, the LDAP service is not restricted to pure Unix networks. Windows servers
(from 2000) support LDAP as a directory service. Application tasks mentioned above
are additionally supported in non-Unix systems.
The LDAP principle can be applied to any data structure that should be centrally admin-
istered. A few application examples are:
• Employment as a replacement for the NIS service

• Mail routing (postfix, sendmail)
• Address books for mail clients, like Mozilla, Evolution, and Outlook
• Administration of zone descriptions for a BIND9 name server
• User authentication with Samba in heterogeneous networks
This list can be extended because LDAP is extensible, unlike NIS. The clearly-defined
hierarchical structure of the data eases the administration of large amounts of data, be-
cause it can be searched more easily.
36.2 Structure of an LDAP Directory

Tree
To get a deep background knowledge on how an LDAP server works and how the data
are stored, it is vital to understand the way the data are organized on the server and how
this structure enables LDAP to provide fast access to the data you need. To successfully
operate an LDAP setup, you also need to be familiar with some basic LDAP terminol-
ogy. This section introduces the basic layout of an LDAP directory tree and provides
the basic terminology used in an LDAP context. Skip this introductory section, if you
already have some LDAP background knowledge and just want to learn how to set up
an LDAP environment in SUSE Linux Enterprise.Read on at Section 36.5, “Configuring
an LDAP Server with YaST” (page 679) or Section 36.3, “Server Configuration with
slapd.conf” (page 669), respectively.
An LDAP directory has a tree structure. All entries (called objects) of the directory
have a defined position within this hierarchy. This hierarchy is called the directory in-
formation tree (DIT). The complete path to the desired entry, which unambiguously
identifies it, is called distinguished name or DN. A single node along the path to this
entry is called relative distinguished name or RDN. Objects can generally be assigned
to one of two possible types:
container
These objects can themselves contain other objects. Such object classes are root
(the root element of the directory tree, which does not really exist), c (country),
ou (organizational unit), and dc (domain component). This model is comparable
to the directories (folders) in a file system.

leaf
These objects sit at the end of a branch and have no subordinate objects. Examples
are person, InetOrgPerson, or groupofNames.
The top of the directory hierarchy has a root element root. This can contain c (country),
dc (domain component), or o (organization) as subordinate elements. The relations
within an LDAP directory tree become more evident in the following example, shown
in Figure 36.1, “Structure of an LDAP Directory” (page 666).
Figure 36.1 Structure of an LDAP Directory
dc=example,dc=com
ou=devel ou=doc ou=it
cn=Tux Linux cn=Geeko Linux
The complete diagram is a fictional directory information tree. The entries on three
levels are depicted. Each entry corresponds to one box in the picture. The complete,
valid distinguished name for the fictional employee Geeko Linux, in this case, is
cn=Geeko Linux,ou=doc,dc=example,dc=com. It is composed by adding
the RDN cn=Geeko Linux to the DN of the preceding entry
ou=doc,dc=example,dc=com.
The types of objects that should be stored in the DIT are globally determined following
a scheme. The type of an object is determined by the object class. The object class de-
termines what attributes the concerned object must or can be assigned. A scheme,
therefore, must contain definitions of all object classes and attributes used in the desired
application scenario. There are a few common schemes (see RFC 2252 and 2256). It

is, however, possible to create custom schemes or to use multiple schemes complement-
ing each other if this is required by the environment in which the LDAP server should
operate.
Table 36.1, “Commonly Used Object Classes and Attributes” (page 667) offers a small
overview of the object classes from core.schema and inetorgperson.schema
used in the example, including required attributes and valid attribute values.
Table 36.1 Commonly Used Object Classes and Attributes
Object Class Meaning Example En- Required At-

try tributes
dcObject domainComponent (name example dc

components of the domain)
organizationalU- organizationalUnit (organiza- doc ou

nit tional unit)
inetOrgPerson inetOrgPerson (person-related Geeko Linux sn and cn

data for the intranet or Internet)
Example 36.1, “Excerpt from schema.core ” (page 668) shows an excerpt from a scheme
directive with explanations (line numbering for explanatory reasons).

Example 36.1 Excerpt from schema.core
#1 attributetype (2.5.4.11 NAME ( 'ou' 'organizationalUnitName')

#2 DESC 'RFC2256: organizational unit this object belongs to'
#3 SUP name )
...
#4 objectclass ( 2.5.6.5 NAME 'organizationalUnit'
#5 DESC 'RFC2256: an organizational unit'
#6 SUP top STRUCTURAL
#7 MUST ou
#8 MAY (userPassword $ searchGuide $ seeAlso $ businessCategory
$ x121Address $ registeredAddress $ destinationIndicator
$ preferredDeliveryMethod $ telexNumber
$ teletexTerminalIdentifier $ telephoneNumber
$ internationaliSDNNumber $ facsimileTelephoneNumber
$ street $ postOfficeBox $ postalCode $ postalAddress
$ physicalDeliveryOfficeName
$ st $ l $ description) )
...
The attribute type organizationalUnitName and the corresponding object class

organizationalUnit serve as an example here. Line 1 features the name of the
attribute, its unique OID (object identifier) (numerical), and the abbreviation of the at-
tribute.
Line 2 gives a brief description of the attribute with DESC. The corresponding RFC on
which the definition is based is also mentioned here. SUP in line 3 indicates a superor-
dinate attribute type to which this attribute belongs.
The definition of the object class organizationalUnit begins in line 4, like in

the definition of the attribute, with an OID and the name of the object class. Line 5
features a brief description of the object class. Line 6, with its entry SUP top, indicates
that this object class is not subordinate to another object class. Line 7, starting with
MUST, lists all attribute types that must be used in conjunction with an object of the
type organizationalUnit. Line 8, starting with MAY, lists all attribute types that
are permitted in conjunction with this object class.
A very good introduction to the use of schemes can be found in the documentation of
OpenLDAP. When installed, find it in /usr/share/doc/packages/openldap2/
admin-guide/index.html.

36.3 Server Configuration with
slapd.conf
Your installed system contains a complete configuration file for your LDAP server at
/etc/openldap/slapd.conf. The single entries are briefly described here and
necessary adjustments are explained. Entries prefixed with a hash (#) are inactive. This
comment character must be removed to activate them.
36.3.1 Global Directives in slapd.conf

Example 36.2 slapd.conf: Include Directive for Schemes
include /etc/openldap/schema/core.schema
include /etc/openldap/schema/cosine.schema
include /etc/openldap/schema/inetorgperson.schema
include /etc/openldap/schema/rfc2307bis.schema
include /etc/openldap/schema/yast.schema
This first directive in slapd.conf, shown in Example 36.2, “slapd.conf: Include

Directive for Schemes” (page 669), specifies the scheme by which the LDAP directory
is organized. The entry core.schema is required. Additionally required schemes are
appended to this directive. Find information in the included OpenLDAP documentation.
Example 36.3 slapd.conf: pidfile and argsfile
pidfile /var/run/slapd/slapd.pid
argsfile /var/run/slapd/slapd.args
These two files contain the PID (process ID) and some of the arguments with which
the slapd process is started. There is no need for modifications here.

Example 36.4 slapd.conf: Access Control
# Sample Access Control

# Allow read access of root DSE
# Allow self write access
# Allow authenticated users read access
# Allow anonymous users to authenticate
# access to dn="" by * read
access to * by self write
by users read
by anonymous auth
#
# if no access controls are present, the default is:
# Allow read by all
#
# rootdn can always write!
Example 36.4, “slapd.conf: Access Control” (page 670) is the excerpt from slapd
.conf that regulates the access permissions for the LDAP directory on the server. The
settings made here in the global section of slapd.conf are valid as long as no custom
access rules are declared in the database-specific section. These would overwrite the
global declarations. As presented here, all users have read access to the directory, but
only the administrator (rootdn) can write to this directory. Access control regulation
in LDAP is a highly complex process. The following tips can help:
• Every access rule has the following structure:

access to <what> by <who> <access>

• what is a placeholder for the object or attribute to which access is granted. Individ-
ual directory branches can be protected explicitly with separate rules. It is also
possible to process regions of the directory tree with one rule by using regular ex-
pressions. slapd evaluates all rules in the order in which they are listed in the
configuration file. More general rules should be listed after more specific ones—the
first rule slapd regards as valid is evaluated and all following entries are ignored.
• who determines who should be granted access to the areas determined with what.
Regular expressions may be used. slapd again aborts the evaluation of who after
the first match, so more specific rules should be listed before the more general ones.
The entries shown in Table 36.2, “User Groups and Their Access Grants” (page 671)
are possible.
Table 36.2 User Groups and Their Access Grants
Tag Scope
* All users without exception
anonymous Not authenticated (“anonymous”) users
users Authenticated users
self Users connected with the target object
dn.regex=<regex> All users matching the regular expression
• access specifies the type of access. Use the options listed in Table 36.3, “Types
of Access” (page 671).
Table 36.3 Types of Access
Tag Scope of Access
none No access
auth For contacting the server

Tag Scope of Access
compare To objects for comparison access
search For the employment of search filters
read Read access
write Write access
slapd compares the access right requested by the client with those granted in
slapd.conf. The client is granted access if the rules allow a higher or equal
right than the requested one. If the client requests higher rights than those declared
in the rules, it is denied access.
Example 36.5, “slapd.conf: Example for Access Control” (page 672) shows an example
of a simple access control that can be arbitrarily developed using regular expressions.
Example 36.5 slapd.conf: Example for Access Control
access to dn.regex="ou=([^,]+),dc=example,dc=com"
by dn.regex="cn=Administrator,ou=$1,dc=example,dc=com" write
by user read
by * none
This rule declares that only its respective administrator has write access to an individual
ou entry. All other authenticated users have read access and the rest of the world has
no access.
TIP: Establishing Access Rules
If there is no access to rule or no matching by directive, access is denied.

Only explicitly declared access rights are granted. If no rules are declared at
all, the default principle is write access for the administrator and read access
for the rest of the world.
Find detailed information and an example configuration for LDAP access rights in the
online documentation of the installed openldap2 package.

Apart from the possibility to administer access permissions with the central server
configuration file (slapd.conf), there is access control information (ACI). ACI allows
storage of the access information for individual objects within the LDAP tree. This type
of access control is not yet common and is still considered experimental by the devel-
opers. Refer to http://www.openldap.org/faq/data/cache/758.html
for information.
36.3.2 Database-Specific Directives in

slapd.conf
Example 36.6 slapd.conf: Database-Specific Directives
database bdb❶
suffix "dc=example,dc=com"❷
checkpoint 1024 5❸
cachesize 10000❹
rootdn "cn=Administrator,dc=example,dc=com"❺
# Cleartext passwords, especially for the rootdn, should
# be avoided. See slappasswd(8) and slapd.conf(5) for details.
# Use of strong authentication encouraged.
rootpw secret❻
# The database directory MUST exist prior to running slapd AND
# should only be accessible by the slapd/tools. Mode 700 recommended.
directory /var/lib/ldap❼
# Indices to maintain
index objectClass eq❽
overlay ppolicy❾
ppolicy_default "cn=Default Password Policy,dc=example,dc=com"
ppolicy_hash_cleartext
ppolicy_use_lockout
❶ The type of database, a Berkeley database in this case, is set in the first line of
this section (see Example 36.6, “slapd.conf: Database-Specific Directives”
(page 673)).
❷ suffix determines for which portion of the LDAP tree this server should be
responsible.
❸ checkpoint determines the amount of data (in KB) that is kept in the transaction
log before it is written to the actual database and the time (in minutes) between
two write actions.
❹ cachesize sets the number of objects kept in the database's cache.

❺ rootdn determines who owns administrator rights to this server. The user declared
here does not need to have an LDAP entry or exist as regular user.
❻ rootpw sets the administrator password. Instead of using secret here, it is
possible to enter the hash of the administrator password created by slappasswd.
❼ The directory directive indicates the directory in the file system where the
database directories are stored on the server.
❽ The last directive, index objectClass eq, results in the maintenance of
an index of all object classes. Attributes for which users search most often can be
added here according to experience.
❾ overlay ppolicy adds a layer of password control mechanisms.
ppolicy_default specifies the DN of the pwdPolicy object to use when no
specific policy is set on a given user's entry. If there is no specific policy for an
entry and no default is given, no policies are enforced.
ppolicy_hash_cleartext specifies that clear text passwords present in
add and modify requests are hashed before being stored in the database. When
this option is used, it is recommended to deny compare, search, and read access
to the userPassword attribute for all directory users, because
ppolicy_hash_cleartext violates the X.500/LDAP information model.
ppolicy_use_lockout sends a specific error code when a client tries to
connect to a locked account. When your site is sensitive to security issues, disable
this option as the error code provides useful information to attackers.
Custom Access rules defined here for the database are used instead of the global
Access rules.
36.3.3 Starting and Stopping the Servers

Once the LDAP server is fully configured and all desired entries have been made ac-
cording to the pattern described in Section 36.4, “Data Handling in the LDAP Directory”
(page 675), start the LDAP server as root by entering rcldap start. To stop the
server manually, enter the command rcldap stop. Request the status of the running
LDAP server with rcldap status.

The YaST runlevel editor, described in Section 20.2.3, “Configuring System Services
(Runlevel) with YaST” (page 398), can be used to have the server started and stopped
automatically on boot and halt of the system. It is also possible to create the correspond-
ing links to the start and stop scripts with the insserv command from a command
prompt as described in Section 20.2.2, “Init Scripts” (page 394).
36.4 Data Handling in the LDAP

Directory
OpenLDAP offers a series of tools for the administration of data in the LDAP directory.
The four most important tools for adding to, deleting from, searching through, and
modifying the data stock are briefly explained below.
36.4.1 Inserting Data into an LDAP Directory

Once the configuration of your LDAP server in /etc/openldap/slapd.conf is
correct and ready to go (it features appropriate entries for suffix, directory,
rootdn, rootpw, and index), proceed to entering records. OpenLDAP offers the
ldapadd command for this task. If possible, add the objects to the database in bundles
for practical reasons. LDAP is able to process the LDIF format (LDAP data interchange
format) for this. An LDIF file is a simple text file that can contain an arbitrary number
of attribute and value pairs. Refer to the schema files declared in slapd.conf for
the available object classes and attributes. The LDIF file for creating a rough framework
for the example in Figure 36.1, “Structure of an LDAP Directory” (page 666) would
look like that in Example 36.7, “Example for an LDIF File” (page 676).

Example 36.7 Example for an LDIF File
# The Organization
dn: dc=example,dc=com
objectClass: dcObject
objectClass: organization
o: Example dc: example
# The organizational unit development (devel)

dn: ou=devel,dc=example,dc=com
objectClass: organizationalUnit
ou: devel
# The organizational unit documentation (doc)

dn: ou=doc,dc=example,dc=com
ou: doc
# The organizational unit internal IT (it)

dn: ou=it,dc=example,dc=com
ou: it
IMPORTANT: Encoding of LDIF Files
LDAP works with UTF-8 (Unicode). Umlauts must be encoded correctly. Use
an editor that supports UTF-8, such as Kate or recent versions of Emacs. Other-
wise, avoid umlauts and other special characters or use recode to recode the
input to UTF-8.
Save the file with the .ldif suffix then pass it to the server with the following com-
mand:
ldapadd -x -D <dn of the administrator> -W -f <file>.ldif
-x switches off the authentication with SASL in this case. -D declares the user that
calls the operation. The valid DN of the administrator is entered here just like it has
been configured in slapd.conf. In the current example, this is
cn=Administrator,dc=example,dc=com. -W circumvents entering the pass-
word on the command line (in clear text) and activates a separate password prompt.
This password was previously determined in slapd.conf with rootpw. -f passes
the filename. See the details of running ldapadd in Example 36.8, “ldapadd with ex-
ample.ldif” (page 677).

Example 36.8 ldapadd with example.ldif
ldapadd -x -D cn=Administrator,dc=example,dc=com -W -f example.ldif
Enter LDAP password:

adding new entry "dc=example,dc=com"
adding new entry "ou=devel,dc=example,dc=com"
adding new entry "ou=doc,dc=example,dc=com"
adding new entry "ou=it,dc=example,dc=com"
The user data of individuals can be prepared in separate LDIF files. Example 36.9,
“LDIF Data for Tux” (page 677) adds Tux to the new LDAP directory.
Example 36.9 LDIF Data for Tux
# coworker Tux
dn: cn=Tux Linux,ou=devel,dc=example,dc=com
objectClass: inetOrgPerson
cn: Tux Linux
givenName: Tux
sn: Linux
mail: [email protected]
uid: tux
telephoneNumber: +49 1234 567-8
An LDIF file can contain an arbitrary number of objects. It is possible to pass entire
directory branches to the server at once or only parts of it as shown in the example of
individual objects. If it is necessary to modify some data relatively often, a fine subdi-
vision of single objects is recommended.
36.4.2 Modifying Data in the LDAP Directory

The tool ldapmodify is provided for modifying the data stock. The easiest way to
do this is to modify the corresponding LDIF file then pass this modified file to the
LDAP server. To change the telephone number of colleague Tux from +49 1234
567-8 to +49 1234 567-10, edit the LDIF file like in Example 36.10, “Modified
LDIF File tux.ldif” (page 678).

Example 36.10 Modified LDIF File tux.ldif
# coworker Tux
changetype: modify
replace: telephoneNumber
Import the modified file into the LDAP directory with the following command:
ldapmodify -x -D cn=Administrator,dc=example,dc=com -W -f tux.ldif
Alternatively, pass the attributes to change directly to ldapmodify. The procedure

for this is described below:
1 Start ldapmodify and enter your password:
ldapmodify -x -D cn=Administrator,dc=example,dc=com -W
Enter LDAP password:
2 Enter the changes while carefully complying with the syntax in the order presented
below:

changetype: modify
replace: telephoneNumber
Find detailed information about ldapmodify and its syntax in the ldapmodify
man page.
36.4.3 Searching or Reading Data from an

LDAP Directory
OpenLDAP provides, with ldapsearch, a command line tool for searching data
within an LDAP directory and reading data from it. A simple query would have the
following syntax:
ldapsearch -x -b dc=example,dc=com "(objectClass=*)"

The -b option determines the search base—the section of the tree within which the
search should be performed. In the current case, this is dc=example,dc=com. To
perform a more finely-grained search in specific subsections of the LDAP directory
(for example, only within the devel department), pass this section to ldapsearch
with -b. -x requests activation of simple authentication. (objectClass=*) declares
that all objects contained in the directory should be read. This command option can be
used after the creation of a new directory tree to verify that all entries have been
recorded correctly and the server responds as desired. Find more information about the
use of ldapsearch in the corresponding man page (ldapsearch(1)).
36.4.4 Deleting Data from an LDAP

Directory
Delete unwanted entries with ldapdelete. The syntax is similar to that of the other
commands. To delete, for example, the complete entry for Tux Linux, issue the fol-
lowing command:
ldapdelete -x -D cn=Administrator,dc=example,dc=com -W cn=Tux \

Linux,ou=devel,dc=example,dc=com
36.5 Configuring an LDAP Server with

YaST
Use YaST to set up an LDAP server. Typical use cases for LDAP servers include the
management of user account data and the configuration of mail, DNS, and DHCP
servers.

Figure 36.2 YaST LDAP Server Configuration
To set up an LDAP server for user account data, proceed as follows:
1 Log in as root.
2 Start YaST and select Network Services > LDAP Server.
3 Set LDAP to be started at system boot.
4 If the LDAP server should announce its services via SLP, check Register at an
SLP Daemon.
5 Select Configure to configure General Settings and Databases.
To configure the Global Settings of your LDAP server, proceed as follows:
1 Accept or modify the schema files included in the server's configuration by se-
lecting Schema Files in the left part of the dialog. The default selection of schema
files applies to the server providing a source of YaST user account data.

2 With Log Level Settings, configure the degree of logging activity (verbosity) of
the LDAP server. From the predefined list, select or deselect the logging options
according to your needs. The more options are enabled, the larger your log files
grow.
3 Determine the connection types the LDAP server should allow. Choose from:
bind_v2
This option enables connection requests (bind requests) from clients using
the previous version of the protocol (LDAPv2).
bind_anon_cred
Normally the LDAP server denies any authentication attempts with empty
credentials (DN or password). Enabling this option, however, makes it pos-
sible to connect with a password and no DN to establish an anonymous
connection.
bind_anon_dn
Enabling this option makes it possible to connect without authentication
(anonymously) using a DN but no password.
update_anon
Enabling this option allows nonauthenticated (anonymous) update operations.
Access is restricted according to ACLs and other rules (see Section 36.3.1,
“Global Directives in slapd.conf” (page 669)).
4 To configure secure communication between client and server, proceed with TLS
Settings:
4a Set TLS Active to Yes to enable TLS and SSL encryption of the client/server
communication.
4b Click Select Certificate and determine how to obtain a valid certificate.

Choose Import Certificate (import certificate from external source) or Use
Common Server Certificate (use the certificate created during installation).
• If you opted for importing a certificate, YaST prompts you to specify

the exact path to its location.
• If you opted for using the common server certificate and it has not been
created during installation, it is subsequently created.

To configure the databases managed by your LDAP server, proceed as follows:
1 Select the Databases item in the left part of the dialog.
2 Click Add Database to add the new database.
3 Enter the requested data:
Base DN
Enter the base DN of your LDAP server.
Root DN
Enter the DN of the administrator in charge of the server. If you check Append
Base DN, only provide the cn of the administrator and the system fills in
the rest automatically.
LDAP Password
Enter the password for the database administrator.
Encryption
Determine the encryption algorithm to use to secure the password of Root
DN. Choose crypt, smd5, ssha, or sha. The dialog also includes a plain option
to enable the use of plain text passwords, but enabling this is not recommend-
ed for security reasons. To confirm your settings and return to the previous
dialog, select OK.
4 Enable enforcement of password policies to provide extra security to your LDAP

server:
4a Select Password Policy Settings to be able specify a password policy.
4b Activate Hash Clear Text Passwords to have clear text passwords be hashed
before they are written to the database whenever they are added or modified.
4c Disclose Account Locked Status provides a meaningful error message to bind

requests to locked accounts.

WARNING: Locked Accounts in Security Sensitive Environments
Do not use the Disclose Account Locked Status option if your environ-
ment is sensitive to security issues, because the “Locked Account”
error message provides security sensitive information that can be
exploited by a potential attacker.
4d Enter the DN of the default policy object. To use a DN other than the one
suggested by YaST, enter your choice. Otherwise accept the default setting.
5 Complete the database configuration by clicking Finish.
If you have not opted for password policies, your server is ready to run at this point. If
you chose to enable password policies, proceed with the configuration of the password
policy in detail. If you chose a password policy object that does not yet exist, YaST
creates one:
1 Enter the LDAP server password.
2 Configure the password change policies:
2a Determine the number of passwords stored in the password history. Saved

passwords may not be reused by the user.
2b Determine whether users can change their password and whether they need
to change their password after a reset by the administrator. Optionally require
the old password for password changes.
2c Determine whether and to what extent passwords should be subject to qual-

ity checking. Set a minimum password length that must be met before a
password is valid. If you select Accept Uncheckable Passwords, users are
allowed to use encrypted passwords although the quality checks cannot be
performed. If you opt for Only Accept Checked Passwords only those pass-
words that pass the quality tests are accepted as valid.
3 Configure the password aging policies:
3a Determine the minimum password age (the time that needs to pass between
two valid password changes) and the maximum password age.

3b Determine the time between a password expiration warning and the actual
password expiration.
3c Set the number of grace uses of an expired password before the password
expires entirely.
4 Configure the lockout policies:
4a Enable password locking.
4b Determine the number of bind failures that trigger a password lock.
4c Determine the duration of the password lock.
4d Determine for how long password failures are kept in the cache before they
are purged.
5 Apply your password policy settings with Accept.
To edit a previously created database, select its base DN in the tree to the left. In the
right part of the window, YaST displays a dialog similar to the one used for the creation
of a new database—with the main difference that the base DN entry is grayed out and
cannot be changed.
After leaving the LDAP server configuration by selecting Finish, you are ready to go
with a basic working configuration for your LDAP server. To fine-tune this setup, edit
the file /etc/openldap/slapd.conf accordingly then restart the server.
36.6 Configuring an LDAP Client with

YaST
YaST includes a module to set up LDAP-based user management. If you did not enable
this feature during the installation, start the module by selecting Network Services >
LDAP Client. YaST automatically enables any PAM and NSS related changes as required
by LDAP and installs the necessary files.

36.6.1 Standard Procedure
Background knowledge of the processes acting in the background of a client machine
helps you understand how the YaST LDAP client module works. If LDAP is activated
for network authentication or the YaST module is called, the packages pam_ldap and
nss_ldap are installed and the two corresponding configuration files are adapted.
pam_ldap is the PAM module responsible for negotiation between login processes
and the LDAP directory as the source of authentication data. The dedicated module
pam_ldap.so is installed and the PAM configuration is adapted (see Example 36.11,
“pam_unix2.conf Adapted to LDAP” (page 685)).
Example 36.11 pam_unix2.conf Adapted to LDAP

auth: use_ldap
account: use_ldap
password: use_ldap
session: none
When manually configuring additional services to use LDAP, include the PAM LDAP
module in the PAM configuration file corresponding to the service in /etc/pam.d.
Configuration files already adapted to individual services can be found in /usr/
share/doc/packages/pam_ldap/pam.d/. Copy appropriate files to /etc/
pam.d.
glibc name resolution through the nsswitch mechanism is adapted to the employ-
ment of LDAP with nss_ldap. A new, adapted file nsswitch.conf is created in
/etc with the installation of this package. Find more about the workings of nsswitch
.conf in Section 30.6.1, “Configuration Files” (page 584). The following lines must
be present in nsswitch.conf for user administration and authentication with LDAP.
See Example 36.12, “Adaptations in nsswitch.conf” (page 685).
Example 36.12 Adaptations in nsswitch.conf

passwd: compat
group: compat
passwd_compat: ldap
group_compat: ldap
These lines order the resolver library of glibc first to evaluate the corresponding files
in /etc and additionally access the LDAP server as sources for authentication and
user data. Test this mechanism, for example, by reading the content of the user database

with the command getent passwd. The returned set should contain a survey of the
local users of your system as well as all users stored on the LDAP server.
To prevent regular users managed through LDAP from logging in to the server with
ssh or login, the files /etc/passwd and /etc/group each need to include an
additional line. This is the line +::::::/sbin/nologin in /etc/passwd and
+::: in /etc/group.
36.6.2 Configuring the LDAP Client

After the initial adjustments of nss_ldap, pam_ldap, /etc/passwd, and /etc/
group have been taken care of by YaST, you can simply connect your client to the
server and let YaST manage users over LDAP. This basic setup is described in Section
“Basic Configuration” (page 686).
Use the YaST LDAP client to further configure the YaST group and user configuration
modules. This includes manipulating the default settings for new users and groups and
the number and nature of the attributes assigned to a user or a group. LDAP user man-
agement allows you to assign far more and different attributes to users and groups than
traditional user or group management solutions. This is described in Section “Config-
uring the YaST Group and User Administration Modules” (page 690).
Basic Configuration
The basic LDAP client configuration dialog (Figure 36.3, “YaST: Configuration of the
LDAP Client” (page 687)) opens during installation if you choose LDAP user manage-
ment or when you select Network Services > LDAP Client in the YaST Control Center
in the installed system.

Figure 36.3 YaST: Configuration of the LDAP Client
To authenticate users of your machine against an OpenLDAP server and enable user
management via OpenLDAP, proceed as follows:
1 Click Use LDAP to enable the use of LDAP. Select Use LDAP but Disable Logins
instead if you want to use LDAP for authentication, but do not want other users
to log in to this client.
2 Enter the IP address of the LDAP server to use.
3 Enter the LDAP base DN to select the search base on the LDAP server. To retrieve
the base DN automatically, click Fetch DN. YaST then checks for any LDAP
database on the server address specified above. Choose the appropriate base DN
from the search results given by YaST.
4 If TLS or SSL protected communication with the server is required, select LDAP
TLS/SSL.
5 If the LDAP server still uses LDAPv2, explicitly enable the use of this protocol
version by selecting LDAP Version 2.

6 Select Start Automounter to mount remote directories on your client, such as a
remotely managed /home.
7 Select Create Home Directory on Login to have a user's home automatically

created on the first user login.
8 Click Finish to apply your settings.
Figure 36.4 YaST: Advanced Configuration
To modify data on the server as administrator, click Advanced Configuration. The

following dialog is split in two tabs. See Figure 36.4, “YaST: Advanced Configuration”
(page 688).
1 In the Client Settings tab, adjust the following settings to your needs:
1a If the search base for users, passwords, and groups differs from the global
search base specified the LDAP base DN, enter these different naming con-
texts in User Map, Password Map, and Group Map.
1b Specify the password change protocol. The standard method to use whenever
a password is changed is crypt, meaning that password hashes generated

by crypt are used. For details on this and other options, refer to the
pam_ldap man page.
1c Specify the LDAP group to use with Group Member Attribute. The default
value for this is member.
2 In Administration Settings, adjust the following settings:
2a Set the base for storing your user management data via Configuration Base
DN.
2b Enter the appropriate value for Administrator DN. This DN must be identical
with the rootdn value specified in /etc/openldap/slapd.conf to
enable this particular user to manipulate data stored on the LDAP server.
Enter the full DN (such as cn=Administrator,dc=example,dc=com)
or activate Append Base DN to have the base DN added automatically when
you enter cn=Administrator.
2c Check Create Default Configuration Objects to create the basic configuration

objects on the server to enable user management via LDAP.
2d If your client machine should act as a file server for home directories across
your network, check Home Directories on This Machine.
2e Use the Password Policy section to select, add, delete, or modify the password
policy settings to use. The configuration of password policies with YaST is
part of the LDAP server setup.
2f Click Accept to leave the Advanced Configuration then Finish to apply your
settings.
Use Configure User Management Settings to edit entries on the LDAP server. Access
to the configuration modules on the server is then granted according to the ACLs and
ACIs stored on the server. Follow the procedures outlined in Section “Configuring the
YaST Group and User Administration Modules” (page 690).

Configuring the YaST Group and User Administration
Modules
Use the YaST LDAP client to adapt the YaST modules for user and group administration
and to extend them as needed. Define templates with default values for the individual
attributes to simplify the data registration. The presets created here are stored as LDAP
objects in the LDAP directory. The registration of user data is still done with the regular
YaST modules for user and group management. The registered data is stored as LDAP
objects on the server.
Figure 36.5 YaST: Module Configuration
The dialog for module configuration (Figure 36.5, “YaST: Module Configuration”
(page 690)) allows the creation of new modules, selection and modification of existing
configuration modules, and design and modification of templates for such modules.
To create a new configuration module, proceed as follows:
1 Click New and select the type of module to create. For a user configuration
module, select suseuserconfiguration and for a group configuration
choose susegroupconfiguration.

2 Choose a name for the new template. The content view then features a table
listing all attributes allowed in this module with their assigned values. Apart from
all set attributes, the list also contains all other attributes allowed by the current
schema but currently not used.
3 Accept the preset values or adjust the defaults to use in group and user configu-
ration by selecting the respective attribute, pressing Edit, and entering the new
value. Rename a module by simply changing the cn attribute of the module.
Clicking Delete deletes the currently selected module.
4 After you click Accept, the new module is added to the selection menu.
The YaST modules for group and user administration embed templates with sensible
standard values. To edit a template associated with a configuration module, proceed
as follows:
1 In the Module Configuration dialog, click Configure Template.
2 Determine the values of the general attributes assigned to this template according
to your needs or leave some of them empty. Empty attributes are deleted on the
LDAP server.
3 Modify, delete, or add new default values for new objects (user or group confi-
guration objects in the LDAP tree).

Figure 36.6 YaST: Configuration of an Object Template
Connect the template to its module by setting the susedefaulttemplate attribute

value of the module to the DN of the adapted template.
TIP
The default values for an attribute can be created from other attributes by
using a variable instead of an absolute value. For example, when creating a
new user, cn=%sn %givenName is created automatically from the attribute
values for sn and givenName.
Once all modules and templates are configured correctly and ready to run, new groups
and users can be registered in the usual way with YaST.

36.7 Configuring LDAP Users and
Groups in YaST
The actual registration of user and group data differs only slightly from the procedure
when not using LDAP. The following brief instructions relate to the administration of
users. The procedure for administering groups is analogous.
1 Access the YaST user administration with Security & Users > User Administra-
tion.
2 Use Set Filter to limit the view of users to the LDAP users and enter the password
for Root DN.
3 Click Add and enter the configuration of a new user. A dialog with four tabs
opens:
3a Specify username, login, and password in the User Data tab.
3b Check the Details tab for the group membership, login shell, and home di-
rectory of the new user. If necessary, change the default to values that better
suit your needs. The default values as well as those of the password settings
can be defined with the procedure described in Section “Configuring the
YaST Group and User Administration Modules” (page 690).
3c Modify or accept the default Password Settings.
3d Enter the Plug-Ins tab, select the LDAP plug-in, and click Launch to config-
ure additional LDAP attributes assigned to the new user (see Figure 36.7,
“YaST: Additional LDAP Settings” (page 694)).
4 Click Accept to apply your settings and leave the user configuration.

Figure 36.7 YaST: Additional LDAP Settings
The initial input form of user administration offers LDAP Options. This gives the pos-
sibility to apply LDAP search filters to the set of available users or go to the module
for the configuration of LDAP users and groups by selecting LDAP User and Group
Configuration.

36.8 Browsing the LDAP Directory
Tree
To browse the LDAP directory tree and all its entries conveniently, use the YaST LDAP
Browser:
1 Log in as root.
2 Start YaST > Network Services > LDAP Browser.
3 Enter the address of the LDAP server, the AdministratorDN, and the password
for the RootDN of this server if you need both to read and write the data stored
on the server.
Alternatively, choose Anonymous Access and do not provide the password to

gain read access to the directory.
The LDAP Tree tab displays the content of the LDAP directory to which your
machine connected. Click items to unfold their subitems.
Figure 36.8 Browsing the LDAP Directory Tree

4 To view any of the entries in detail, select it in the LDAP Tree view and open
the Entry Data tab.
All attributes and values associated with this entry are displayed.
Figure 36.9 Browsing the Entry Data
5 To change the value of any of these attributes, select the attribute, click Edit,
enter the new value, click Save, and provide the RootDN password when
prompted.
6 Leave the LDAP browser with Close.

More complex subjects, like SASL configuration or establishment of a replicating
LDAP server that distributes the workload among multiple slaves, were intentionally
not included in this chapter. Detailed information about both subjects can be found in
the OpenLDAP 2.2 Administrator's Guide.
The Web site of the OpenLDAP project offers exhaustive documentation for beginning
and advanced LDAP users:

OpenLDAP Faq-O-Matic
A very rich question and answer collection concerning installation, configuration,
and use of OpenLDAP. Find it at http://www.openldap.org/faq/data/
cache/1.html.
Quick Start Guide

Brief step-by-step instructions for installing your first LDAP server. Find it at
http://www.openldap.org/doc/admin22/quickstart.html or on
an installed system in /usr/share/doc/packages/openldap2/
admin-guide/quickstart.html.
OpenLDAP 2.2 Administrator's Guide

A detailed introduction to all important aspects of LDAP configuration, including
access controls and encryption. See http://www.openldap.org/doc/
admin22/ or, on an installed system, /usr/share/doc/packages/
openldap2/admin-guide/index.html.
Understanding LDAP
A detailed general introduction to the basic principles of LDAP: http://www
.redbooks.ibm.com/redbooks/pdfs/sg244986.pdf.
Printed literature about LDAP:
• LDAP System Administration by Gerald Carter (ISBN 1-56592-491-6)
• Understanding and Deploying LDAP Directory Services by Howes, Smith, and

Good (ISBN 0-672-32316-8)
The ultimate reference material for the subject of LDAP is the corresponding RFCs
(request for comments), 2251 to 2256.

Samba
Using Samba, a Unix machine can be configured as a file and print server for DOS,
37
Windows, and OS/2 machines. Samba has developed into a fully-fledged and rather
complex product. Configure Samba with YaST, SWAT (a Web interface), or the confi-
guration file.
37.1 Terminology
The following are some terms used in Samba documentation and in the YaST module.
SMB protocol
Samba uses the SMB (server message block) protocol that is based on the NetBIOS
services. Due to pressure from IBM, Microsoft released the protocol so other soft-
ware manufacturers could establish connections to a Microsoft domain network.
With Samba, the SMB protocol works on top of the TCP/IP protocol, so the TCP/IP
protocol must be installed on all clients.
TIP: IBM System z: NetBIOS Support
IBM System z merely support SMB over TCP/IP. NetBIOS support is not
available on these systems.
CIFS protocol
CIFS (common Internet file system) protocol is another protocol supported by
Samba. CIFS defines a standard remote file system access protocol for use over
Samba 699
the network, enabling groups of users to work together and share documents across
the network.
NetBIOS
NetBIOS is a software interface (API) designed for communication between ma-
chines. Here, a name service is provided. It enables machines connected to the
network to reserve names for themselves. After reservation, these machines can be
addressed by name. There is no central process that checks names. Any machine
on the network can reserve as many names as it wants as long as the names are not
already in use. The NetBIOS interface can now be implemented for different net-
work architectures. An implementation that works relatively closely with network
hardware is called NetBEUI, but this is often referred to as NetBIOS. Network
protocols implemented with NetBIOS are IPX from Novell (NetBIOS via TCP/IP)
and TCP/IP.
The NetBIOS names sent via TCP/IP have nothing in common with the names
used in /etc/hosts or those defined by DNS. NetBIOS uses its own, completely
independent naming convention. However, it is recommended to use names that
correspond to DNS hostnames to make administration easier. This is the default
used by Samba.
Samba server
Samba server is a server that provides SMB/CIFS services and NetBIOS over IP
naming services to clients. For Linux, there are two daemons for Samba server:
smnd for SMB/CIFS services and nmbd for naming services.
Samba client
Samba client is a system that uses Samba services from a Samba server over the
SMB protocol. All common operating systems, such as Mac OS X, Windows, and
OS/2, support the SMB protocol. The TCP/IP protocol must be installed on all
computers. Samba provides a client for the different UNIX flavors. For Linux,
there is a kernel module for SMB that allows the integration of SMB resources on
the Linux system level. You do not need run any daemon for Samba client.
Shares
SMB servers provide hardware space to their clients by means of shares. Shares
are printers and directories with their subdirectories on the server. It is exported
by means of a name and can be accessed by its name. The share name can be set
to any name—it does not have to be the name of the export directory. A printer is
also assigned a name. Clients can access the printer by its name.

37.2 Starting and Stopping Samba
You can start or stop the Samba server automatically during boot or manually. Starting
and stopping policy is a part of the YaST Samba server configuration described in
Section 37.3.1, “Configuring a Samba Server with YaST” (page 701).
To stop or start running Samba services with YaST, use System > System Services
(Runlevel). From a command line, stop services required for Samba with rcsmb stop
&& rcnmb stop and start them with rcnmb start && rcsmb start.
37.3 Configuring a Samba Server

A samba server in SUSE Linux Enterprise® can be configured in two different ways:
with YaST or manually. Manual configuration offers a higher level of detail, but lacks
the convenience of the YaST GUI.
37.3.1 Configuring a Samba Server with

YaST
To configure a Samba server, start YaST and select Network Services > Samba Server.
When starting the module for the first time, the Samba Server Installation dialog starts,
prompting you to make just a few basic decisions concerning administration of the
server then at the end of the configuration prompts for the password of Samba root. For
later starts, the Samba Server Configuration dialog appears.
The Samba Server Installation dialog consists of two steps:
Workgroup or Domain Name

Select an existing name from Workgroup or Domain Name or enter a new one and
click Next.
Samba Server Type

In the next step, specify whether your server should act as PDC and click Next.
You can change all settings from Samba Server Installation later in the Samba Server
Configuration dialog with the Identity tab.
Samba 701
Advanced Samba Configuration with YaST
During first start of Samba server module the Samba Server Configuration dialog appears
directly after Samba Server Installation dialog. Use it to adjust your Samba server
configuration.
After editing your configuration, click Finish to close the configuration.
Starting the Server

In the Start Up tab, configure the start of the Samba server. To start the service every
time your system boots, select During Boot. To activate manual start, choose Manually.
More information about starting a Samba server is provided in Section 37.2, “Starting
and Stopping Samba” (page 701).
In this tab, you can also open ports in your firewall. To do so, select Open Port in
Firewall. If you have multiple network interfaces, select the network interface for
Samba services by clicking Firewall Details, selecting the interfaces, and clicking OK.
Shares
In the Shares tab, determine the Samba shares to activate. There are some predefined
shares, like homes and printers. Use Toggle Status to switch between Active and Inactive.
Click Add to add new shares and Delete to delete the selected share.
Identity
In the Identity tab, you can determine the domain with which the host is associated
(Base Settings) and whether to use an alternative hostname in the network (NetBIOS
Host Name). To set expert global settings or set user authentication, for example LDAP,
click Advanced Settings.
Users from Other Domains

To enable users from other domains to access your domain, make the appropriate settings
in the Trusted Domains tab. To add a new domain, click Add. To remove the selected
domain, click Delete.

Using LDAP
In the tab LDAP Settings, you can determine the LDAP server to use for authentication.
To test the connection to your LDAP server, click Test Connection. To set expert LDAP
settings or use default values, click Advanced Settings.
Find more information about LDAP configuration in Chapter 36, LDAP—A Directory
Service (page 663).
37.3.2 Web Administration with SWAT

An alternative tool for Samba server administration is SWAT (Samba Web Administra-
tion Tool). It provides a simple Web interface with which to configure the Samba
server. To use SWAT, open http://localhost:901 in a Web browser and log
in as user root. If you do not have a special Samba root account, use the system root
account.
NOTE: Activating SWAT
After Samba server installation, SWAT is not activated. To activate it, open
Network Services > Network Services (xinetd) in YaST, enable the network services
configuration, select swat from the table, and click Toggle Status (On or Off).
37.3.3 Configuring the Server Manually

If you intend to use Samba as a server, install samba. The main configuration file of
Samba is /etc/samba/smb.conf. This file can be divided into two logical parts.
The [global] section contains the central and global settings. The [share] sections
contain the individual file and printer shares. By means of this approach, details regarding
the shares can be set differently or globally in the [global] section, which enhances
the structural transparency of the configuration file.
The global Section

The following parameters of the [global] section need some adjustment to match
the requirements of your network setup so other machines can access your Samba
server via SMB in a Windows environment.
Samba 703
workgroup = TUX-NET
This line assigns the Samba server to a workgroup. Replace TUX-NET with an
appropriate workgroup of your networking environment. Your Samba server appears
under its DNS name unless this name has been assigned to any other machine in
the network. If the DNS name is not available, set the server name using
netbiosname=MYNAME. See mansmb.conf for more details about this param-
eter.
os level = 2
This parameter triggers whether your Samba server tries to become LMB (local
master browser) for its workgroup. Choose a very low value to spare the existing
Windows network from any disturbances caused by a misconfigured Samba server.
More information about this important topic can be found in the files
BROWSING.txt and BROWSING-Config.txt under the textdocs subdi-
rectory of the package documentation.
If no other SMB server is present in your network (such as a Windows NT or 2000

server) and you want the Samba server to keep a list of all systems present in the
local environment, set the os level to a higher value (for example, 65). Your
Samba server is then chosen as LMB for your local network.
When changing this setting, consider carefully how this could affect an existing
Windows network environment. First test the changes in an isolated network or at
a noncritical time of day.
wins support and wins server

To integrate your Samba server into an existing Windows network with an active
WINS server, enable the wins server option and set its value to the IP address
of that WINS server.
If your Windows machines are connected to separate subnets and should still be
aware of each other, you need to set up a WINS server. To turn a Samba server
into such a WINS server, set the option wins support = Yes. Make sure that
only one Samba server of the network has this setting enabled. The options wins
server and wins support must never be enabled at the same time in your
smb.conf file.

Shares
The following examples illustrate how a CD-ROM drive and the user directories
(homes) are made available to the SMB clients.
[cdrom]
To avoid having the CD-ROM drive accidentally made available, these lines are
deactivated with comment marks (semicolons in this case). Remove the semicolons
in the first column to share the CD-ROM drive with Samba.
Example 37.1 A CD-ROM Share
;[cdrom]
; comment = Linux CD-ROM
; path = /media/cdrom
; locking = No
[cdrom] and comment

The entry [cdrom] is the name of the share that can be seen by all SMB
clients on the network. An additional comment can be added to further describe
the share.
path = /media/cdrom
path exports the directory /media/cdrom.
By means of a very restrictive default configuration, this kind of share is only made
available to the users present on this system. If this share should be made available
to everybody, add a line guest ok = yes to the configuration. This setting
gives read permissions to anyone on the network. It is recommended to handle this
parameter with great care. This applies even more to the use of this parameter in
the [global] section.
[homes]
The [home] share is of special importance here. If the user has a valid account
and password for the Linux file server and his own home directory, he can be
connected to it.
Samba 705
Example 37.2 homes Share
[homes]
comment = Home Directories
valid users = %S
browseable = No
read only = No
create mask = 0640
directory mask = 0750
[homes]
As long as there is no other share using the share name of the user connecting
to the SMB server, a share is dynamically generated using the [homes] share
directives. The resulting name of the share is the username.
valid users = %S
%S is replaced with the concrete name of the share as soon as a connection has
been successfully established. For a [homes] share, this is always the user-
name. As a consequence, access rights to a user's share are restricted exclusively
to the user.
browseable = No
This setting makes the share invisible in the network environment.
read only = No
By default, Samba prohibits write access to any exported share by means of
the read only = Yes parameter. To make a share writable, set the value
read only = No, which is synonymous with writable = Yes.
create mask = 0640

Systems that are not based on MS Windows NT do not understand the concept
of UNIX permissions, so they cannot assign permissions when creating a file.
The parameter create mask defines the access permissions assigned to
newly created files. This only applies to writable shares. In effect, this setting
means the owner has read and write permissions and the members of the
owner's primary group have read permissions. valid users = %S prevents
read access even if the group has read permissions. For the group to have read
or write access, deactivate the line valid users = %S.

Security Levels
To improve security, each share access can be protected with a password. SMB has
three possible ways of checking the permissions:
Share Level Security (security = share)

A password is firmly assigned to a share. Everyone who knows this password has
access to that share.
User Level Security (security = user)

This variation introduces the concept of the user to SMB. Each user must register
with the server with his own password. After registration, the server can grant access
to individual exported shares dependent on usernames.
Server Level Security (security = server):

To its clients, Samba pretends to be working in user level mode. However, it
passes all password queries to another user level mode server, which takes care of
authentication. This setting expects an additional parameter (password server).
The selection of share, user, or server level security applies to the entire server. It is
not possible to offer individual shares of a server configuration with share level security
and others with user level security. However, you can run a separate Samba server for
each configured IP address on a system.
More information about this subject can be found in the Samba HOWTO Collection.
For multiple servers on one system, pay attention to the options interfaces and
bind interfaces only.
37.4 Configuring Clients

Clients can only access the Samba server via TCP/IP. NetBEUI and NetBIOS via IPX
cannot be used with Samba.
37.4.1 Configuring a Samba Client with YaST

Configure a Samba client to access resources (files or printers) on the Samba server.
Enter the domain or workgroup in the dialog Network Services > Windows Domain
Membership. Click Browse to display all available groups and domains, which can be
Samba 707
selected with the mouse. If you activate Also Use SMB Information for Linux Authenti-
cation, the user authentication runs over the Samba server. After completing all settings,
click Finish to finish the configuration.
37.4.2 Windows 9x and ME

Windows 9x and ME already have built-in support for TCP/IP. However, this is not
installed as the default. To add TCP/IP, go to Control Panel > System and choose Add
> Protocols > TCP/IP from Microsoft. After rebooting your Windows machine, find
the Samba server by double-clicking the desktop icon for the network environment.
TIP
To use a printer on the Samba server, install the standard or Apple-PostScript

printer driver from the corresponding Windows version. It is best to link this
to the Linux printer queue, which accepts Postscript as an input format.
37.5 Samba as Login Server

In networks where predominantly Windows clients are found, it is often preferable that
users may only register with a valid account and password. In a Windows-based network,
this task is handled by a primary domain controller (PDC). You can use a Windows
NT server configured as PDC, but this task can also be done with the help of a Samba
server. The entries that must be made in the [global] section of smb.conf are
shown in Example 37.3, “Global Section in smb.conf” (page 708).
Example 37.3 Global Section in smb.conf
[global]
workgroup = TUX-NET
domain logons = Yes
domain master = Yes
If encrypted passwords are used for verification purposes—this is the default setting
with well-maintained MS Windows 9x installations, MS Windows NT 4.0 from service
pack 3, and all later products—the Samba server must be able to handle these. The entry
encrypt passwords = yes in the [global] section enables this (with Samba

version 3, this is now the default). In addition, it is necessary to prepare user accounts
and passwords in an encryption format that conforms with Windows. Do this with the
command smbpasswd -a name. Create the domain account for the computers, re-
quired by the Windows NT domain concept, with the following commands:
Example 37.4 Setting Up a Machine Account

useradd hostname\$
smbpasswd -a -m hostname
With the useradd command, a dollar sign is added. The command smbpasswd inserts
this automatically when the parameter -m is used. The commented configuration example
(/usr/share/doc/packages/Samba/examples/smb.conf.SuSE) contains
settings that automate this task.
Example 37.5 Automated Setup of a Machine Account

add machine script = /usr/sbin/useradd -g nogroup -c "NT Machine Account" \
-s /bin/false %m\$
To make sure that Samba can execute this script correctly, choose a Samba user with
the required administrator permissions. To do so, select one user and add it to the
ntadmin group. After that, all users belonging to this Linux group can be assigned
Domain Admin status with the command:
net groupmap add ntgroup="Domain Admins" unixgroup=ntadmin
More information about this topic is provided in Chapter 12 of the Samba HOWTO
Collection, found in /usr/share/doc/packages/samba/
Samba-HOWTO-Collection.pdf.
37.6 Samba Server in the Network

with Active Directory
If you run Linux servers and Windows servers together, you can build two independent
authentication systems and networks or connect servers to one network with one central
authentication system. Because Samba can cooperate with an active directory domain,
you can join your SUSE Linux Enterprise Server to Active Directory (AD).
Samba 709
Join an existing AD domain during installation or by later activating SMB user authen-
tication with YaST in the installed system. Domain join during installation is covered
in Section 3.14.7, “Users” (page 42).
To join an AD domain in a running system, proceed as follows:
1 Log in as root and start YaST.
2 Start Network Services > Windows Domain Membership.
3 Enter the domain to join at Domain or Workgroup in the Windows Domain

Membership screen. Alternately, use Browse to get a list of all available domains
and select one.
Figure 37.1 Determining Windows Domain Membership
4 Check Also Use SMB Information for Linux Authentication to use the SMB source
for Linux authentication on your SUSE Linux Enterprise Server.
5 Click Finish and confirm the domain join when prompted for it.
6 Provide the password for the Windows Administrator on the AD server and click
OK.

Figure 37.2 Providing Administrator Credentials
Your server is now set up to pull in all authentication data from the Active Direc-
tory domain controller.
37.7 Migrating a Windows NT Server

to Samba
Apart from the Samba and LDAP configuration, the migration of a Windows NT
server to a SUSE Linux Enterprise Server Samba server consists of two basic steps.
First, migrate profiles then migrate accounts.
37.7.1 Preparing the LDAP Server

The first step of your migration should be the configuration of the LDAP server. You
need to add base DN information and entries for accounts of your software clients with
passwords. Detailed information about LDAP configuration is provided in Chapter 36,
LDAP—A Directory Service (page 663).
It is not necessary to configure it all manually. You can use scripts from smbldap-tools.
These scripts are part of the package samba-doc and, after installation of the package,
are available in /usr/share/doc/packages/samba/examples/LDAP.
NOTE: LDAP and Security
The LDAP administration DN should be an account other than Root DN. To

make the network more secure, you can also use a secure connection with TSL.
Samba 711
37.7.2 Preparing the Samba Server
Before you start migration, configure your Samba server. Find configuration of
profile, netlogon, and home shares in the Shares tab of the YaST Samba Server
module. To do the default value, select the share and click Edit.
To add LDAP configuration for your Samba server and the credentials of the LDAP
administrator, use the LDAP Settings tab of the YaST Samba Server module. The LDAP
administration DN (label Administration DN) and password are essential to add or
modify accounts stored in the LDAP directory.
37.7.3 Migrating the Windows Profiles

For every profile to migrate, complete these steps:
Procedure 37.1 Migrating a Profile
1 On your NT4 domain controller, right-click My Computer then select Properties.

Select the User Profiles tab.
2 Select a user profile you to migrate and click it.
3 Click Copy To.
4 In Copy Profile, add your new path, for example, c:\temp\profiles.
5 Click Change in Permitted.
6 Click Everyone. To close the box, click OK.
7 To finish saving the profile, click OK.
8 Copy saved profiles to the appropriate profile directories on your Samba server.

37.7.4 Migrating the Windows Accounts
Procedure 37.2 The Account Migration Process
1 Create a BDC account in the old NT4 domain for the Samba server using NT
Server Manager. Samba must not be running.
net rpc join -S NT4PDC -w DOMNAME -U Administrator%passwd net rpc

vampire
-S NT4PDC -U administrator%passwd pdbedit -L
2 Assign each of the UNIX groups to NT groups:
Example 37.6 Example Script initGroups.sh

#!/bin/bash #### Keep this as a shell script for future re-use #
Known domain global groups net groupmap modify ntgroup="Domain
Admins"
unixgroup=root net groupmap modify ntgroup="Domain Users"
unixgroup=users net groupmap modify ntgroup="Domain Guests"
unixgroup=nobody # Our domain global groups net groupmap add
ntgroup="Operation" unixgroup=operation type=d net groupmap add
ntgroup="Shipping" unixgroup=shipping type=d
3 Check that all groups are recognized:

net groupmap list

Detailed Samba information is available in the digital documentation. Enter apropos
samba at the command line to display some manual pages or just browse the /usr/
share/doc/packages/samba directory if Samba documentation is installed for
more online documentation and examples. Find a commented example configuration
(smb.conf.SuSE) in the examples subdirectory.
Samba 713
The Samba HOWTO Collection provided by the Samba team includes a section about
troubleshooting. In addition to that, Part V of the document provides a step-by-step
guide to checking your configuration. You can find Samba HOWTO Collection in
/usr/share/doc/packages/samba/Samba-HOWTO-Collection.pdf
after installing the package samba-doc.
Find detailed information about LDAP and migration from Windows NT or 2000 in
/usr/share/doc/packages/samba/examples/LDAP/
smbldap-tools-*/doc, where * is your smbldap-tools version.

Sharing File Systems with NFS
Distributing and sharing file systems over a network is a common task in corporate
38
environments. NFS is a proven system that also works together with the yellow pages
protocol NIS. For a more secure protocol that works together with LDAP and may also
be kerberized, check NFSv4.
NFS works with NIS to make a network transparent to the user. With NFS, it is possible
to distribute arbitrary file systems over the network. With an appropriate setup, users
always find themselves in the same environment independent of the terminal they cur-
rently use.
Like NIS, NFS is a client/server system. However, a machine can be both—it can supply
file systems over the network (export) and mount file systems from other hosts (import).
IMPORTANT: Need for DNS
In principle, all exports can be made using IP addresses only. To avoid time-
outs, you should have a working DNS system. This is necessary at least for log-
ging purposes, because the mountd daemon does reverse lookups.
38.1 Installing the Required Software

To configure your host as an NFS client, you do not need to install additional software.
All packages needed to configure an NFS client are installed by default.
Sharing File Systems with NFS 715

NFS server software is not part of the default installation. To install the NFS server
software, start YaST and select Software > Software Management. Now choose Filter
> Patterns and select Misc. Server or use the Search option and search for NFS
Server. Confirm the installation of the packages to finish the installation process.
38.2 Importing File Systems with YaST

Users authorized to do so can mount NFS directories from an NFS server into their
own file trees. This can be achieved using the YaST module NFS Client. Just enter the
hostname of the NFS server, the directory to import, and the mount point at which to
mount this directory locally. The changes will take effect after Add is clicked in the
first dialog. Click Open Port in Firewall to open the firewall to allow access to the
service from remote computers. The firewall status is displayed next to the check box.
Clicking Finish to saves your changes. See Figure 38.1, “NFS Client Configuration
The configuration is written to /etc/fstab and the specified file systems are
mounted. When you start the YaST configuration client at a later point in time, it also
reads the existing configuration from this file.
An NFSv4 file system can currently only be imported manually. This is explained in
Section 38.3, “Importing File Systems Manually” (page 717).

Figure 38.1 NFS Client Configuration with YaST
38.3 Importing File Systems Manually

File systems can also be imported manually from an NFS server. The prerequisite for
this is a running RPC port mapper, which can be started by entering rcportmap
start as root. Once this prerequisite is met, remote exported file systems can be
mounted in the file system just like local hard disks using the mount command in the
following manner:
mount host:remote-path local-path
If user directories from the machine sun, for example, should be imported, use the fol-
lowing command:
mount sun:/home /home

38.3.1 Importing NFSv4 File Systems
The idmapd service must be up and running on the client to do an NFSv4 import. Start
the idmapd service from the command prompt with rcidmapd start. Use
rcidmapd status to check the status of idmapd.
The idmapd services stores its parameters in the /etc/idmapd.conf file. Leave
the value of the Domain parameter as localdomain. Ensure that the value specified
is the same for both the NFS client and NFS server.
Make NFSv4 imports by giving a command from the shell prompt. To import NFSv4
remote file systems, use the following command:
mount -t nfs4 host:/ local-path
Replace host with the NFS server that hosts one or more NFSv4 exports and
local-path with the directory location in the client machine where this should be
mounted. For example, to import /home exported with NFSv4 on sun to /local/
home, use the following command:
mount -t nfs4 sun:/ /local/home
The remote file system path that follows the server name and a colon is a slash “/”. This
is unlike the way it is specified for v3 imports, where the exact path of the remote file
system is given. This is a concept called pseudo file system, which is explained in Sec-
tion 38.4.1, “Exporting for NFSv4 Clients” (page 721).
38.3.2 Using the Automount Service

As well as the regular local device mounts, the autofs daemon can be used to mount
remote file systems automatically too. To do this, add the following entry in the your
/etc/auto.master file:
/nfsmounts /etc/auto.nfs
Now the /nfsmounts directory acts as a root for all the NFS mounts on the client if
the auto.nfs file is completed appropriately. The name auto.nfs is chosen for
sake of convenience—you can choose any name. In the selected file (create it if it does
not exist), add entries for all the NFS mounts as in the following example:
localdata -fstype=nfs server1:/data
nfs4mount -fstype=nfs4 server2:/

Activate the settings with rcautofs start. For this example, /nfsmounts/
localdata, the /data directory of server1, is then mounted with NFS and
/nfsmounts/nfs4mount from server2 is mounted with NFSv4.
If the /etc/auto.master file is edited while the service autofs is running, the au-
tomounter must be restarted for the changes to take effect. Do this with rcautofs
restart.
38.3.3 Manually Editing /etc/fstab

A typical NFS mount entry in /etc/fstab looks like this:
host:/data /local/path nfs rw,noauto 0 0
NFSv4 mounts may also be added to the /etc/fstab file manually. For these mounts,
use nfs4 instead of nfs in the third column and make sure that the remote file system
is given as // after the host: in the first column. The advantage of saving this infor-
mation in /etc/fstab is that commands for mounting can be shortened to just
mentioning the local mount point alone, for example:
mount /local/path
38.4 Exporting File Systems with YaST

With YaST, turn a host in your network into an NFS server—a server that exports di-
rectories and files to all hosts granted access to it. This could be done to provide appli-
cations to all members of a group without installing them locally on each and every
host. To install such a server, start YaST and select Network Services > NFS Server. A
dialog like that in Figure 38.2, “NFS Server Configuration Tool” (page 720) opens.

Figure 38.2 NFS Server Configuration Tool
Next, activate Start NFS Server and enter the NFSv4 domain name.
Click Enable GSS Security if you need secure access to the server. A prerequisite for
this is to have Kerberos installed in your domain and both the server and the clients are
kerberized. Click Next.
In the upper text field, enter the directories to export. Below, enter the hosts that should
have access to them. This dialog is shown in Figure 38.3, “Configuring an NFS Server
with YaST” (page 721). The figure shows the scenario where NFSv4 is enabled in the
previous dialog. Bindmount Targets is shown in the right pane. For more details,
refer to the help shown on the left pane. In the lower half of the dialog, there are four
options that can be set for each host: single host, netgroups, wildcards,
and IP networks. For a more thorough explanation of these options, refer to
exports man page. Click Finish to complete the configuration.

Figure 38.3 Configuring an NFS Server with YaST
IMPORTANT: Automatic Firewall Configuration
If a firewall is active on your system (SuSEfirewall2), YaST adapts its configuration

for the NFS server by enabling the nfs service when Open Ports in Firewall is
selected.
38.4.1 Exporting for NFSv4 Clients

Activate Enable NFSv4 to support NFSv4 clients. Clients with NFSv3 can still access
the server's exported directories if they are exported appropriately. This is explained in
detail in Section 38.4.3, “Coexisting v3 and v4 Exports” (page 724).
After activating NFSv4, enter an appropriate domain name. Make sure that the name
entered is the same as the one present in the /etc/idmapd.conf file of any NFSv4
client that accesses this particular server. This parameter is for the idmapd service that
is required for NFSv4 support (on both server and client). Leave it as localdomain
(the default) if you do not have special requirements. For more information, see Sec-
tion 38.7, “For More Information” (page 728).

Click Next. The dialog that follows has two sections. The upper half consists of two
columns named Directories and Bind mount targets. Directories is a directly editable
column that lists the directories to export.
For a fixed set of clients, there are two types of directories that can be exported—direc-
tories that act as pseudo root file systems and those that are bound to some subdirectory
of the pseudo file system. This pseudo file system acts as a base point under which all
file systems exported for the same client set take their place. For a client or set of clients,
only one directory on the server can be configured as pseudo root for export. For this
same client, export multiple directories by binding them to some existing subdirectory
in the pseudo root.
Figure 38.4 Exporting Directories with NFSv4
In the lower half of the dialog, enter the client (wild card) and export options for a
particular directory. After adding a directory in the upper half, another dialog for entering
the client and option information pops up automatically. After that, to add a new client
(client set), click Add Host.
In the small dialog that opens, enter the host wild card. There are four possible types
of host wild cards that can be set for each host: a single host (name or IP address), net-
groups, wild cards (such as * indicating all machines can access the server), and IP
networks. Then, in Options, include fsid=0 in the comma-separated list of options

to configure the directory as pseudo root. If this directory should be bound to another
directory under an already configured pseudo root, make sure that a target bind path is
given in the option list with bind=/target/path.
For example, suppose that the directory /exports is chosen as the pseudo root direc-
tory for all the clients that can access the server. Then add this in the upper half and
make sure that the options entered for this directory include fsid=0. If there is another
directory, /data, that also needs to be NFSv4 exported, add this directory to the upper
half. While entering options for this, make sure that bind=/exports/data is in
the list and that /exports/data is an already existing subdirectory of /exports.
Any change in the option bind=/target/path, whether addition, deletion, or
change in value, is reflected in Bindmount targets. This column is not directly editable
column, instead summarizing directories and their nature. After the information is
complete, click Finish to complete the configuration or Start to restart the service.
38.4.2 NFSv3 and NFSv2 Exports

Make sure that Enable NFSv4 is not checked in the initial dialog before clicking Next.
The next dialog has two parts. In the upper text field, enter the directories to export.
Below, enter the hosts that should have access to them. There are four types of host
wild cards that can be set for each host: a single host (name or IP address), netgroups,
wild cards (such as * indicating all machines can access the server), and IP networks.
This dialog is shown in Figure 38.4, “Exporting Directories with NFSv4” (page 722).
Find a more thorough explanation of these options in man exports. Click Finish to
complete the configuration.

Figure 38.5 Exporting Directories with NFSv2 and v3
38.4.3 Coexisting v3 and v4 Exports

Both NFSv3 and NFSv4 exports can coexist on a server. After enabling the support for
NFSv4 in the initial configuration dialog, those exports for which fsid=0 and
bind=/target/path are not included in the option list are considered v3 exports.
Consider the example in Figure 38.4, “Exporting Directories with NFSv4” (page 722).
If you add another directory, such as /data2, using Add Directory then in the corre-
sponding options list do not mention either fsid=0 or bind=/target/path, this
export acts as a v3 export.
IMPORTANT
Automatic Firewall Configuration
If SuSEfirewall2 is active on your system, YaST adapts its configuration for the
NFS server by enabling service when Open Ports in Firewall is selected.

38.5 Exporting File Systems Manually
The configuration files for the NFS export service are /etc/exports and /etc/
sysconfig/nfs. In addition to these files, /etc/idmapd.conf is needed for
the NFSv4 server configuration. To start or restart the services, run the commands
rcnfsserver restart and rcidmapd restart. The NFS server depends on
a running RPC portmapper. Therefore, also start or restart the portmapper service with
rcportmap restart.
38.5.1 Exporting File Systems with NFSv4

NFSv4 is the latest version of NFS protocol available on SUSE Linux Enterprise 10.
Configuring the directories for export with NFSv4 differs slightly from the previous
versions.
The /etc/exports File

This file contains a list of entries. Each entry indicates a directory that is shared and
how it is shared. A typical entry in /etc/exports consists of:
/shared/directory host(option_list)
For example:
/export 192.168.1.2(rw,fsid=0,sync)
/data 192.168.1.2(rw,bind=/export/data,sync)
Those directories for which fsid=0 is specified in the option list are called pseudo
root file systems. Here, the IP address 192.168.1.2 is used. You can use the name of
the host, a wild card indicating a set of hosts (*.abc.com, *, etc.), or netgroups.
For a fixed set of clients, there are only two types of directories that can be NFSv4 ex-
ported:
• A single directory that is chosen as the pseudo root file system. In this example,
/exports is the pseudo root directory because fsid=0 is specified in the option
list for this entry.
• Directories that are chosen to be bound to some an existing subdirectory of the

pseudo file system. In the example entries above, /data is such a directory that

binds to an existing subdirectory (/export/data) of the pseudo file system
/export.
The pseudo file system is the top level directory under which all file systems that need
to be NFSv4 exported take their places. For a client or set of clients, there can only be
one directory on the server configured as the pseudo root for export. For this same client
or client set, multiple other directories can be exported by binding them to some existing
subdirectory in the pseudo root.
/etc/sysconfig/nfs
This file contains a few parameters that determine NFSv4 server daemon behavior.
Importantly, the parameter NFSv4_SUPPORT must be set to yes. This parameter deter-
mines whether the NFS server supports NFSv4 exports and clients.
/etc/idmapd.conf
Every user on a Linux machine has a name and ID. idmapd does the name-to-ID mapping
for NFSv4 requests to the server and replies to the client. This must be running on both
server and client for NFSv4, because NFSv4 uses only names in its communication.
Make sure that there is a uniform way in which usernames and IDs (uid) are assigned
to users across machines that might probably be sharing file systems using NFS. This
can be achieved by using NIS, LDAP, or any uniform domain authentication mechanism
in your domain.
For proper function, the parameter Domain must be set the same for both client and
server in this file. If you are not sure, leave the domain as localdomain in both
server and client files. A sample configuration file looks like the following:
[General]
Verbosity = 0
Pipefs-Directory = /var/lib/nfs/rpc_pipefs
Domain = localdomain
[Mapping]
Nobody-User = nobody
Nobody-Group = nobody

Do not change these parameters unless you are sure of what you are doing. For further
reference, read the man page of idmapd and idmapd.conf; man idmapd, man
idmapd.conf .
Starting and Stopping Services

After changing /etc/exports or /etc/sysconfig/nfs, start or restart the
NFS server service with rcnfsserver restart. After changing /etc/idmapd
.conf, start or restart the idmapd service with rcidmapd restart. Make sure
that both the services are running.
38.5.2 Exporting File Systems with NFSv2

and NFSv3
This is specific to NFSv3 and NFSv2 exports. Refer to Section 38.5.1, “Exporting File
Systems with NFSv4” (page 725) for exporting with NFSv4.
Exporting file systems with NFS involves two configuration files: /etc/exports
and /etc/sysconfig/nfs. A typical /etc/exports file entry is in the format:
/shared/directory host(list_of_options)
For example:
/export 192.168.1.2(rw,sync)
Here, the directory /export is shared with the host 192.168.1.2 with the option list
rw,sync. This IP address can replaced with a client name or set of clients using a
wild card (such as *.abc.com) or even netgroups.
For a detailed explanation of all options and their meanings, refer to the man page of
exports (man exports).
After changing /etc/exports or /etc/sysconfig/nfs, start or restart the

NFS server using the command rcnfsserver restart.

38.6 NFS with Kerberos
To use Kerberos authentication for NFS, GSS security must be enabled. To do so, select
Enable GSS Security in the initial YaST dialog. Additionally complete the following
steps:
• Make sure that both the server and the client are in the same Kerberos domain. This
means that they access the same KDC (Key Distribution Center) server and share
their krb5.keytab file (the default location on any machine is /etc/krb5
.keytab).
• Start the gssd service on the client with rcgssd start.
• Start the svcgssd service on the server with rcsvcgssd start.
For further information about configuring kerberized NFS, refer to the links in Sec-
tion 38.7, “For More Information” (page 728).

As well as the man pages of exports, nfs, and mount, information about configuring
an NFS server and client is available in /usr/share/doc/packages/nfs-tils/
README and these Web documents:
Find the detailed technical documentation online at SourceForge [http://nfs

.sourceforge.net/]
For instructions for setting up kerberized NFS, refer to NFS Version 4 Open Source
Reference Implementation [http://www.citi.umich.edu/projects/nfsv4/
linux/krb5-setup.html]
If you have any questions on NFSv4, refer to the Linux NFSv4 Frequently Asked
Questions [http://www.citi.umich.edu/projects/nfsv4/linux/faq/]
FAQ.

File Synchronization
Today, many people use several computers—one computer at home, one or several
39
computers at the workplace, and possibly a laptop or PDA on the road. Many files are
needed on all these computers. You may want to be able to work with all computers
and modify the files and subsequently have the latest version of the data available on
all computers.
39.1 Available Data Synchronization

Software
Data synchronization is no problem for computers that are permanently linked by means
of a fast network. In this case, use a network file system, like NFS, and store the files
on a server, enabling all hosts to access the same data via the network. This approach
is impossible if the network connection is poor or not permanent. When you are on the
road with a laptop, copies of all needed files must be on the local hard disk. However,
it is then necessary to synchronize modified files. When you modify a file on one
computer, make sure a copy of the file is updated on all other computers. For occasional
copies, this can be done manually with scp or rsync. However, if many files are involved,
the procedure can be complicated and requires great care to avoid errors, such as over-
writing a new file with an old file.
File Synchronization 729

WARNING: Risk of Data Loss
Before you start managing your data with a synchronization system, you should
be well acquainted with the program used and test its functionality. A backup
is indispensable for important files.
The time-consuming and error-prone task of manually synchronizing data can be

avoided by using one of the programs that use various methods to automate this job.
The following summaries are merely intended to convey a general understanding of
how these programs work and how they can be used. If you plan to use them, read the
program documentation.
39.1.1 CVS
CVS, which is mostly used for managing program source versions, offers the possibil-
ity to keep copies of the files on multiple computers. Accordingly, it is also suitable
for data synchronization. CVS maintains a central repository on the server in which the
files and changes to files are saved. Changes that are performed locally are committed
to the repository and can be retrieved from other computers by means of an update.
Both procedures must be initiated by the user.
CVS is very resilient to errors when changes occur on several computers. The changes
are merged and, if changes took place in the same lines, a conflict is reported. When a
conflict occurs, the database remains in a consistent state. The conflict is only visible
for resolution on the client host.
39.1.2 rsync
When no version control is needed but large directory structures need to be synchronized
over slow network connections, the tool rsync offers well-developed mechanisms for
transmitting only changes within files. This not only concerns text files, but also binary
files. To detect the differences between files, rsync subdivides the files into blocks and
computes checksums over them.
The effort put into the detection of the changes comes at a price. The systems to syn-
chronize should be scaled generously for the usage of rsync. RAM is especially impor-
tant.

39.2 Determining Factors for
Selecting a Program
There are some important factors to consider when deciding which program to use.
39.2.1 Client-Server versus Peer-to-Peer

Two different models are commonly used for distributing data. In the first model, all
clients synchronize their files with a central server. The server must be accessible by
all clients at least occasionally. This model is used by CVS.
The other possibility is to let all networked hosts synchronize their data between each
other as peers. rsync actually works in client mode, but any client can also act as a
server.
39.2.2 Portability
CVS and rsync are also available for many other operating systems, including various
Unix and Windows systems.
39.2.3 Interactive versus Automatic

In CVS, the data synchronization is started manually by the user. This allows fine
control over the data to synchronize and easy conflict handling. However, if the syn-
chronization intervals are too long, conflicts are more likely to occur.
39.2.4 Conflicts: Incidence and Solution

Conflicts only rarely occur in CVS, even when several people work on one large program
project. This is because the documents are merged on the basis of individual lines.
When a conflict occurs, only one client is affected. Usually conflicts in CVS can easily
be resolved.

There is no conflict handling in rsync. The user is responsible for not accidentally
overwriting files and manually resolving all possible conflicts. To be on safe side, a
versioning system like RCS can be additionally employed.
39.2.5 Selecting and Adding Files

In CVS, new directories and files must be added explicitly using the command cvs add.
This results in greater user control over the files to synchronize. On the other hand, new
files are often overlooked, especially when the question marks in the output of
cvs update are ignored due to the large number of files.
39.2.6 History
An additional feature of CVS is that old file versions can be reconstructed. A brief
editing remark can be inserted for each change and the development of the files can
easily be traced later based on the content and the remarks. This is a valuable aid for
theses and program texts.
39.2.7 Data Volume and Hard Disk

Requirements
A sufficient amount of free space for all distributed data is required on the hard disks
of all involved hosts. CVS require additional space for the repository database on the
server. The file history is also stored on the server, requiring even more space. When
files in text format are changed, only the modified lines need to be saved. Binary files
require additional space amounting to the size of the file every time the file is changed.
39.2.8 GUI
Experienced users normally run CVS from the command line. However, graphical user
interfaces are available for Linux, such as cervisia, and for other operating systems,
like wincvs. Many development tools, such as kdevelop, and text editors, such as Emacs,
provide support for CVS. The resolution of conflicts is often much easier to perform
with these front-ends.

39.2.9 User Friendliness
rsync is rather easy to use and is also suitable for newcomers. CVS is somewhat more
difficult to operate. Users should understand the interaction between the repository and
local data. Changes to the data should first be merged locally with the repository. This
is done with the command cvs update. Then the data must be sent back to the
repository with the command cvs commit. Once this procedure has been understood,
newcomers are also able to use CVS with ease.
39.2.10 Security against Attacks

During transmission, the data should ideally be protected against interception and ma-
nipulation. CVS and rsync can easily be used via ssh (secure shell), providing security
against attacks of this kind. Running CVS via rsh (remote shell) should be avoided.
Accessing CVS with the pserver mechanism in insecure networks is likewise not advis-
able.
39.2.11 Protection against Data Loss

CVS has been used by developers for a long time to manage program projects and is
extremely stable. Because the development history is saved, CVS even provides protec-
tion against certain user errors, such as unintentional deletion of a file.
Table 39.1 Features of the File Synchronization Tools: -- = very poor, - = poor or
not available, o = medium, + = good, ++ = excellent, x = available
CVS rsync
Client/Server C-S C-S
Portability Lin,Un*x,Win Lin,Un*x,Win
Interactivity x x
Speed o +
Conflicts ++ o

CVS rsync
File Sel. Sel./file, dir. Dir.
History x -
Hard Disk Space -- o
GUI o -
Difficulty o +
Attacks + (ssh) +(ssh)
Data Loss ++ +
39.3 Introduction to CVS

CVS is suitable for synchronization purposes if individual files are edited frequently
and are stored in a file format, such as ASCII text or program source text. The use of
CVS for synchronizing data in other formats, such as JPEG files, is possible, but leads
to large amounts of data, because all variants of a file are stored permanently on the
CVS server. In such cases, most of the capabilities of CVS cannot be used. The use of
CVS for synchronizing files is only possible if all workstations can access the same
server.
39.3.1 Configuring a CVS Server

The server is the host on which all valid files are located, including the latest versions
of all files. Any stationary workstation can be used as a server. If possible, the data of
the CVS repository should be included in regular backups.
When configuring a CVS server, it might be a good idea to grant users access to the
server via SSH. If the user is known to the server as tux and the CVS software is in-
stalled on the server as well as on the client, the following environment variables must
be set on the client side:

CVS_RSH=ssh CVSROOT=tux@server:/serverdir
The command cvs init can be used to initialize the CVS server from the client side.
This needs to be done only once.
Finally, the synchronization must be assigned a name. Select or create a directory on

the client exclusively to contain files to manage with CVS (the directory can also be
empty). The name of the directory is also the name of the synchronization. In this ex-
ample, the directory is called synchome. Change to this directory and enter the follow-
ing command to set the synchronization name to synchome:
cvs import synchome tux wilber
Many CVS commands require a comment. For this purpose, CVS starts an editor (the
editor defined in the environment variable $EDITOR or vi if no editor was defined).
The editor call can be circumvented by entering the comment in advance on the com-
mand line, such as in the following example:
cvs import -m 'this is a test' synchome tux wilber
39.3.2 Using CVS

The synchronization repository can now be checked out from all hosts with cvs co
synchome. This creates a new subdirectory synchome on the client. To commit your
changes to the server, change to the directory synchome (or one of its subdirectories)
and enter cvs commit.
By default, all files (including subdirectories) are committed to the server. To commit
only individual files or directories, specify them as in cvs commit file1
directory1. New files and directories must be added to the repository with a com-
mand like cvs add file1 directory1 before they are committed to the server.
Subsequently, commit the newly added files and directories with cvs commit file1
directory1.
If you change to another workstation, check out the synchronization repository if this
has not been done during an earlier session at the same workstation.

Start the synchronization with the server with cvs update. Update individual files
or directories as in cvs update file1 directory1. To see the difference between
the current files and the versions stored on the server, use the command cvs diff or
cvs diff file1 directory1. Use cvs -nq update to see which files would
be affected by an update.
Here are some of the status symbols displayed during an update:
U
The local version was updated. This affects all files that are provided by the server
and missing on the local system.
M
The local version was modified. If there were changes on the server, it was possible
to merge the differences in the local copy.
P
The local version was patched with the version on the server.
C
The local file conflicts with current version in the repository.
?
This file does not exist in CVS.
The status M indicates a locally modified file. Either commit the local copy to the
server or remove the local file and run the update again. In this case, the missing file
is retrieved from the server. If you commit a locally modified file and the file was
changed in the same line and committed, you might get a conflict, indicated with C.
In this case, look at the conflict marks (»> and «<) in the file and decide between the
two versions. As this can be a rather unpleasant job, you might decide to abandon your
changes, delete the local file, and enter cvs up to retrieve the current version from the
server.

This section merely offers a brief introduction to the many possibilities of CVS. Exten-
sive documentation is available at the following URLs:

• CVS: http://www.cvshome.org
• Rsync: http://www.gnu.org/manual
39.4 Introduction to rsync

rsync is useful when large amounts of data need to be transmitted regularly while not
changing too much. This is, for example, often the case when creating backups. Another
application concerns staging servers. These are servers that store complete directory
trees of Web servers that are regularly mirrored onto a Web server in a DMZ.
39.4.1 Configuration and Operation

rsync can be operated in two different modes. It can be used to archive or copy data.
To accomplish this, only a remote shell, like ssh, is required on the target system.
However, rsync can also be used as a daemon to provide directories to the network.
The basic mode of operation of rsync does not require any special configuration. rsync
directly allows mirroring complete directories onto another system. As an example, the
following command creates a backup of the home directory of tux on a backup server
named sun:
rsync -baz -e ssh /home/tux/ tux@sun:backup
The following command is used to play the directory back:
rsync -az -e ssh tux@sun:backup /home/tux/
Up to this point, the handling does not differ much from that of a regular copying tool,
like scp.
rsync should be operated in “rsync” mode to make all its features fully available. This
is done by starting the rsyncd daemon on one of the systems. Configure it in the file
/etc/rsyncd.conf. For example, to make the directory /srv/ftp available with
rsync, use the following configuration:

gid = nobody
uid = nobody
read only = true
use chroot = no
transfer logging = true
log format = %h %o %f %l %b
log file = /var/log/rsyncd.log
[FTP]
path = /srv/ftp
comment = An Example
Then start rsyncd with rcrsyncd start. rsyncd can also be started automatically
during the boot process. Set this up by activating this service in the runlevel editor
provided by YaST or by manually entering the command insserv rsyncd. rsyncd
can alternatively be started by xinetd. This is, however, only recommended for servers
that rarely use rsyncd.
The example also creates a log file listing all connections. This file is stored in /var/
log/rsyncd.log.
It is then possible to test the transfer from a client system. Do this with the following
command:
rsync -avz sun::FTP
This command lists all files present in the directory /srv/ftp of the server. This re-
quest is also logged in the log file /var/log/rsyncd.log. To start an actual
transfer, provide a target directory. Use . for the current directory. For example:
rsync -avz sun::FTP .
By default, no files are deleted while synchronizing with rsync. If this should be forced,
the additional option --delete must be stated. To ensure that no newer files are
deleted, the option --update can be used instead. Any conflicts that arise must be
resolved manually.

Important information about rsync is provided in the man pages man rsync and
man rsyncd.conf. A technical reference about the operating principles of rsync is
featured in /usr/share/doc/packages/rsync/tech_report.ps. Find the
latest news about rsync on the project Web site at http://rsync.samba.org/.
If you want Subversion or other tools, download the the SDK. Find it at http://
developer.novell.com/wiki/index.php/SUSE_LINUX_SDK.

The Apache HTTP Server
With a share of more than 70%, the Apache HTTP Server (Apache) is the world's most
40
widely-used Web server according to the Survey from http://www.netcraft
.com/. Apache, developed by the Apache Software Foundation (http://www
.apache.org/), is available for most operating systems. SUSE® Linux Enterprise
Server includes Apache version 2.2. In this chapter, learn how to install, configure and
set up a Web server; how to use SSL, CGI, and additional modules; and how to trou-
bleshoot Apache.
40.1 Quick Start

With the help of this section, quickly set up and start Apache. time. You must be root
to install and configure Apache.
40.1.1 Requirements
Make sure that the following requirements are met before trying to set up the Apache
Web server:
1. The machine's network is configured properly. For more information about this
topic, refer to Chapter 30, Basic Networking (page 543).
The Apache HTTP Server 741

2. The machine's exact system time is maintained by synchronizing with a time
server. This is necessary because parts of the HTTP protocol depend on the correct
time. See Chapter 32, Time Synchronization with NTP (page 605) to learn more
about this topic.
3. The latest security updates are installed. If in doubt, run a YaST Online Update.
4. The default Web server port (port 80) is opened in the firewall. For this, configure
the SUSEFirewall2 to allow the service HTTP Server in the external zone. This
can be done using YaST. Section 43.4.1, “Configuring the Firewall with YaST”
(page 825) gives details.
40.1.2 Installation
Apache on SUSE Linux Enterprise Server is not installed by default. To install it, start
YaST and select Software > Software Management. Now choose Filter > Patterns and
select Web and LAMP Server under Primary Functions. Confirm the installation of the
dependent packages to finish the installation process.
Apache is installed with a standard, predefined configuration that runs “out of the box”.
The installation includes the multiprocessing module apache2-prefork as well
the PHP5 module. Refer to Section 40.4, “Installing, Activating, and Configuring
Modules” (page 759) for more information about modules.
40.1.3 Start
To start Apache and make sure that it is automatically started during boot, start YaST
and select System > System Services (Runlevel). Search for apache2 and Enable the
service. The Web server starts immediately. By saving your changes with Finish, the
system is configured to automatically start Apache in runlevels 3 and 5 during boot.
For more information about the runlevels in SUSE Linux Enterprise Server and a de-
scription of the YaST runlevel editor, refer to Section 20.2.3, “Configuring System
Services (Runlevel) with YaST” (page 398).
To start Apache using the shell, run rcapache2 start. To make sure that Apache
is automatically started during boot in runlevels 3 and 5, use chkconfig -a
apache2.

If you have not received error messages when starting Apache, the Web server should
be running now. Start a browser and open http://localhost/. You should see
an Apache test page starting with “If you can see this, it means that the installation of
the Apache Web server software on this system was successful.” If you do not see this
page, refer to Section 40.8, “Troubleshooting” (page 776).
Now that the Web server is running, you can add your own documents, adjust the con-
figuration according to your needs, or add functionality by installing modules.
40.2 Configuring Apache

Apache in SUSE Linux Enterprise Server can be configured in two different ways: with
YaST or manually. Manual configuration offers a higher level of detail, but lacks the
convenience of the YaST GUI.
IMPORTANT: Configuration Changes
Changes to most configuration values for Apache only take effect after Apache
is restarted or reloaded. This happens automatically when using YaST and fin-
ishing the configuration with Enabled checked for the HTTP Service. Manual
restart is described in Section 40.3, “Starting and Stopping Apache” (page 757).
Most configuration changes only require a reload with rcapache2 reload.
40.2.1 Configuring Apache Manually

Configuring Apache manually involves editing the plain text configuration files as the
user root.
Configuration Files
Apache configuration files can be found in two different locations:
• /etc/sysconfig/apache2
• /etc/apache2/

/etc/sysconfig/apache2
/etc/sysconfig/apache2 controls some global settings of Apache, like modules
to load, additional configuration files to include, flags with which the server should be
started, and flags that should be added to the command line. Every configuration option
in this file is extensively documented and therefore not mentioned here. For a general-
purpose Web server, the settings in /etc/sysconfig/apache2 should be sufficient
for any configuration needs.
/etc/apache2/
/etc/apache2/ hosts all configuration files for Apache. In the following, the purpose
of each file is explained. Each file includes several configuration options (also referred
to as directives). Every configuration option in these files is extensively documented
and therefore not mentioned here.
The Apache configuration files are organized as follows:

/etc/apache2/
|
|- charset.conv
|- conf.d/
| |
| |- *.conf
|
|- default-server.conf
|- errors.conf
|- httpd.conf
|- listen.conf
|- magic
|- mime.types
|- mod_*.conf
|- server-tuning.conf
|- ssl.*
|- ssl-global.conf
|- sysconfig.d
| |
| |- global.conf
| |- include.conf
| |- loadmodule.conf . .
|
|- uid.conf
|- vhosts.d
| |- *.conf

Apache Configuration Files in /etc/apache2/
charset.conv
Specifies which character sets to use for different languages. Do not edit.
conf.d/*.conf
Configuration files added by other modules. These configuration files can be in-
cluded into your virtual host configuration where needed. See vhosts.d/vhost
.template for examples. By doing so, you can provide different module sets
for different virtual hosts.
default-server.conf
Global configuration for all virtual hosts with reasonable defaults. Instead of
changing the values, overwrite them with a virtual host configuration.
errors.conf
Defines how Apache responds to errors. To customize these messages for all virtual
hosts, edit this file. Otherwise overwrite these directives in your virtual host con-
figurations.
httpd.conf
The main Apache server configuration file. Avoid changing this file. It mainly
contains include statements and global settings. Overwrite global settings in the
respective configuration files listed here. Change host-specific settings (such as
document root) in your virtual host configuration.
listen.conf
Binds Apache to specific IP addresses and ports. Name-based virtual hosting (see
Section “Name-Based Virtual Hosts” (page 747) is also configured here.
magic
Data for the mime_magic module that helps Apache automatically determine the
MIME type of an unknown file. Do not change.
mime.types
MIME types known by the system (this actually is a link to /etc/mime.types).
Do not edit. If you need to add MIME types not listed here, add them to mod
_mime-defaults.conf.

mod_*.conf
Configuration files for the modules that are installed by default. Refer to Sec-
tion 40.4, “Installing, Activating, and Configuring Modules” (page 759) for details.
Note that configuration files for optional modules reside in the directory conf.d.
server-tuning.conf
Contains configuration directives for the different MPMs (see Section 40.4.4,
“Multiprocessing Modules” (page 763)) as well as general configuration options
that control Apache's performance. Properly test your Web server when making
changes here.
ssl-global.conf and ssl.*

Global SSL configuration and SSL certificate data. Refer to Section 40.6, “Setting
Up a Secure Web Server with SSL” (page 769) for details.
sysconfig.d/*.conf
Configuration files automatically generated from /etc/sysconfig/apache2.
Do not change any of these files—edit /etc/sysconfig/apache2 instead.
Put no other configuration files in this directory.
uid.conf
Specifies under which user and group ID Apache runs. Do not change.
vhosts.d/*.conf
Your virtual host configuration should go here.The directory contains template
files for virtual hosts with and without SSL. Every file in this directory ending in
.conf is automatically included in the Apache configuration. Refer to Section
“Virtual Host Configuration” (page 746) for details.
Virtual Host Configuration

The term virtual host refers to Apache's ability to serve multiple URIs (universal resource
identifiers) from the same physical machine. This means that several domains, such as
www.example.com and www.example.net, are run by a single Web server on one
physical machine.
It is common practice to use virtual hosts to save administrative effort (only a single
Web server needs to be maintained) and hardware expenses (each domain does not re-
quire a dedicated server). Virtual hosts can be name based, IP based, or port based.

Virtual hosts can be configured via YaST (see Section “Virtual Hosts” (page 754)) or
by manually editing a configuration file. By default, Apache in SUSE Linux Enterprise
Server is prepared for one configuration file per virtual host in /etc/apache2/
vhosts.d/. All files in this directory with the extension .conf are automatically
included to the configuration. A basic template for a virtual host is provided in this di-
rectory (vhost.template or vhost-ssl.template for a virtual host with SSL
support).
TIP: Always Create a Virtual Host Configuration
It is recommended to always create a virtual host configuration file, even if

your Web server only hosts one domain. In doing so, you not only have the
domain-specific configuration in one file, but you can always fall back to a
working basic configuration by simply moving, deleting, or renaming the confi-
guration file for the virtual host. For the same reason, you should also create
separate configuration files for each virtual host.
The <VirtualHost></VirtualHost> block holds the information that applies

to a particular domain. When Apache receives a client request for a defined virtual host,
it uses the directives enclosed in this section. Almost all directives can be used in a
virtual host context. See http://httpd.apache.org/docs/2.2/mod/
quickreference.html for further information about Apache's configuration di-
rectives.
Name-Based Virtual Hosts

With name-based virtual hosts, more than one Web site is served per IP address. Apache
uses the host field in the HTTP header sent by the client to connect the request to a
matching ServerName entry of one of the virtual host declarations. If no matching
ServerName is found, the first specified virtual host is used as a default.
The directive NameVirtualHost tells Apache on which IP address and, optionally,

which port to listen for requests by clients containing the domain name in the HTTP
header. This option is configured in the configuration file /etc/apache2/listen
.conf.
The first argument can be a fully qualified domain name, but it is recommended to use
the IP address. The second argument is the port and is optional. By default, port 80 is
used and is configured via the Listen directive.

The wild card * can be used for both the IP address and the port number to receive re-
quests on all interfaces. IPv6 addresses must be enclosed in square brackets.
Example 40.1 Variations of Name-Based VirtualHost Entries

# NameVirtualHost IP-address[:Port]
NameVirtualHost 192.168.3.100:80
NameVirtualHost 192.168.3.100
NameVirtualHost *:80
NameVirtualHost *
NameVirtualHost [2002:c0a8:364::]:80
The opening VirtualHost tag takes the IP address (or fully qualified domain name)
previously declared with the NameVirtualHost as an argument in a name-based
virtual host configuration. A port number previously declared with the
NameVirtualHost directive is optional.
The wild card * is also allowed as a substitute for the IP address. This syntax is only
valid in combination with the wild card usage in NameVirtualHost * . When using
IPv6 addresses, the address must be included in square brackets.
Example 40.2 Name-Based VirtualHost Directives

<VirtualHost 192.168.3.100:80>
...
</VirtualHost>
<VirtualHost 192.168.3.100>
...
</VirtualHost>
<VirtualHost *:80>
...
</VirtualHost>
<VirtualHost *>
...
</VirtualHost>
<VirtualHost [2002:c0a8:364::]>
...
</VirtualHost>

IP-Based Virtual Hosts
This alternative virtual host configuration requires the setup of multiple IPs for a ma-
chine. One instance of Apache hosts several domains, each of which is assigned a dif-
ferent IP.
The physical server must have one IP address for each IP-based virtual host. If the
machine does not have multiple network cards, virtual network interfaces (IP aliasing)
can also be used.
The following example shows Apache running on a machine with the IP

192.168.3.100, hosting two domains on the additional IPs 192.168.3.101 and
192.168.3.102. A separate VirtualHost block is needed for every virtual
server.
Example 40.3 IP-Based VirtualHost Directives

...
</VirtualHost>
...
</VirtualHost>
Here, VirtualHost directives are only specified for interfaces other than
192.168.3.100. When a Listen directive is also configured for
192.168.3.100, a separate IP-based virtual host must be created to answer HTTP
requests to that interface—otherwise the directives found in the default server configu-
ration (/etc/apache2/default-server.conf) are applied.
Basic Virtual Host Configuration

At least the following directives should be present in each virtual host configuration in
order to set up a virtual host. See /etc/apache2/vhosts.d/vhost.template
for more options.
ServerName
The fully qualified domain name under which the host should be addressed.

DocumentRoot
Path to the directory from which Apache should serve files for this host. For secu-
rity reasons, access to the entire file system is forbidden by default, so you must
explicitly unlock this directory within a Directory container.
ServerAdmin
E-mail address of the server administrator. This address is, for example, shown on
error pages Apache creates.
ErrorLog
The error log file for this virtual host. Although it is not necessary to create separate
error log files for each virtual host, it is common practice to do so, because it makes
debugging of errors much easier. /var/log/apache2/ is the default directory
where Apache's log files should be kept.
CustomLog
The access log file for this virtual host. Although it is not necessary to create separate
access log files for each virtual host, it is common practice to do so, because it allows
separate analysis of access statistics for each host. /var/log/apache2/ is the
default directory where Apache's log files should be kept.
As mentioned above, access to the whole file system is forbidden by default for security
reasons. Therefore, explicitly unlock the directories in which you have placed the files
Apache should serve—for example the DocumentRoot:
<Directory "/srv/www/www.example.com/htdocs">
Order allow,deny
Allow from all
</Directory>
The complete configuration file looks like this:
Example 40.4 Basic VirtualHost Configuration

ServerName www.example.com;
DocumentRoot /srv/www/www.example.com/htdocs
ServerAdmin [email protected]
ErrorLog /var/log/apache2/www.example.com_log
CustomLog /var/log/apache2/www.example.com-access_log common
<Directory "/srv/www/www.example.com/htdocs">
Order allow,deny
Allow from all
</Directory>
</VirtualHost>

40.2.2 Configuring Apache with YaST
To configure your Web server with YaST, start YaST and select Network Services >
HTTP Server. When starting the module for the first time, the HTTP Server Wizard
starts, prompting you to make just a few basic decisions concerning administration of
the server. After having finished the wizard, the dialog in Section “HTTP Server Con-
figuration” (page 755) starts every time you call the HTTP Server module.
HTTP Server Wizard

The HTTP Server Wizard consists of five steps. In the last step of the dialog, you are
given the opportunity to enter the expert configuration mode to make even more specific
settings.
Network Device Selection

Here, specify the network interfaces and ports Apache uses to listen for incoming re-
quests. You can select any combination of existing network interfaces and their respec-
tive IP addresses. Ports from all three ranges (well-known ports, registered ports, and
dynamic or private ports) that are not reserved by other services can be used. The default
setting is to listen on all network interfaces (IP addresses) on port 80.
Check Open Firewall for Selected Ports to open the ports in the firewall that the Web
server listens on. This is necessary to make the Web server available on the network,
which can be a LAN, WAN, or the public Internet. Keeping the port closed is only
useful in test situations where no external access to the Web server is necessary.
Click Next to continue with configuration.
Modules
The Modules configuration option allows for the activation or deactivation of the script
languages, the web server should support. For the activation or deactivation of other
modules, refer to Section “Server Modules” (page 756). Click Next to advance to the
next dialog.

Default Host
This option pertains to the default Web server. As explained in Section “Virtual Host
Configuration” (page 746), Apache can serve multiple virtual hosts from a single phys-
ical machine. The first declared virtual host in the configuration file is commonly referred
to as the default host. Each virtual host inherits the default host's configuration.
To edit the host settings (also called directives), choose the appropriate entry in the table
then click Edit. To add new directives, click Add. To delete a directive, select it and
click Delete.
Figure 40.1 HTTP Server Wizard: Default Host
Here is list of the default settings of the server:
Document Root
Path to the directory from which Apache serves files for this host. /srv/www/
htdocs is the default location.
Alias
With the help of Alias directives, URLs can be mapped to physical file system
locations. This means that a certain path even outside the Document Root in
the file system can be accessed via a URL aliasing that path.

The default SUSE Linux Enterprise Alias /icons points to /usr/share/
apache2/icons for the Apache icons displayed in the directory index view.
ScriptAlias
Similar to the Alias directive, the ScriptAlias directive maps a URL to a
file system location. The difference is that ScriptAlias designates the target
directory as a CGI location, meaning that CGI scripts should be executed in that
location.
Directory
With the Directory setting, you can enclose a group of configuration options
that will only apply to the specified directory.
Access and display options for the directories /usr/share/apache2/icons

and /srv/www/cgi-bin are configured here. It should not be necessary to
change the defaults.
Include
With include, additional configuration files can be specified. Two Include direc-
tives are already preconfigured: /etc/apache2/conf.d/ is the directory
containing the configuration files that come with external modules. With this direc-
tive, all files in this directory ending in .conf are included. With the second di-
rective, /etc/apache2/conf.d/apache2-manual?conf, the
apache2-manual configuration file is included.
Server Name
This specifies the default URL used by clients to contact the Web server. Use a
fully qualified domain name (FQDN) to reach the Web server at http://FQDN/
or its IP address. You cannot choose an arbitrary name here—the server must be
“known” under this name.
Server Administrator E-Mail

E-mail address of the server administrator. This address is, for example, shown on
error pages Apache creates.
After finishing with the Default Host step, click Next to continue with the configuration.

Virtual Hosts
In this step, the wizard displays a list of already configured virtual hosts (see Section
“Virtual Host Configuration” (page 746)). If you have not made manual changes prior
to starting the YaST HTTP wizard, no virtual host is present.
To add a host, click Add to open a dialog in which to enter basic information about the
host. Server Identification includes the server name, server contents root
(DocumentRoot), and administrator e-mail. Server Resolution is used to determine
how a host is identified (name based or IP based). Specify the name or IP address with
Change Virtual Host ID
Clicking Next advances to the second part of the virtual host configuration dialog.
In part two of the virtual host configuration you can specify whether to enable CGI
scripts and which directory to use for these scripts. It is also possible to enable SSL. If
you do so, you must specify the path to the certificate as well. See Section 40.6.2,
“Configuring Apache with SSL” (page 773) for details on SSL and certificates. With
the Directory Index option, you can specify which file to display when the client requests
a directory (by default, index.html). Add one or more filenames (space-separated) if
you want to change this. With Enable Public HTML, the content of the users public
directories (~user/public_html/) is made available on the server under
http://www.example.com/~user.
IMPORTANT: Creating Virtual Hosts
It is not possible to add virtual hosts at will. If using name-based virtual hosts,
each hostname must be resolved on the network. If using IP-based virtual hosts,
you can assign only one host to each IP address available.
Summary
This is the final step of the wizard. Here, determine how and when the Apache server
is started: when booting or manually. Also see a short summary of the configuration
made so far. If you are satisfied with your settings, click Finish to complete configura-
tion. If you want to change something, click Back until you have reached the desired
dialog. Clicking HTTP Server Expert Configuration opens the dialog described in
Section “HTTP Server Configuration” (page 755).

Figure 40.2 HTTP Server Wizard: Summary
HTTP Server Configuration

The HTTP Server Configuration dialog also lets you make even more adjustments to
the configuration than the wizard (which only runs if you configure your Web server
for the first time). It consists of four tabs described in the following. No configuration
option you change here is effective immediately—you always must confirm your
changes with Finish to make them effective. Clicking Cancel leaves the configuration
module and discards your changes.
Listen Ports and Addresses

In HTTP Service, select whether Apache should be running (Enabled) or stopped
(Disabled). In Listen on Ports, Add, Edit, or Delete addresses and ports on which the
server should be available. The default is to listen on all interfaces on port 80. You
should always check Open Firewall on Selected Ports, because otherwise the Web
server is not reachable from the outside. Keeping the port closed is only useful in test
situations where no external access to the Web server is necessary.
With Log Files, watch either the access log or the error log. This is useful if you want
to test your configuration. The log file opens in a separate window from which you can

also restart or reload the Web server (see Section 40.3, “Starting and Stopping Apache”
(page 757) for details). These commands are effective immediately.
Figure 40.3 HTTP Server Configuration: Listen Ports and Addresses
Server Modules
You can change the status (enabled or disabled) of Apache2 modules by clicking Toggle
Status. Click Add Module to add a new module that is already installed but not yet
listed. Learn more about modules in Section 40.4, “Installing, Activating, and Config-
uring Modules” (page 759).

Figure 40.4 HTTP Server Configuration: Server Modules
Main Host or Hosts

These dialogs are identical to the ones already described. Refer to Section “Default
Host” (page 752) and Section “Virtual Hosts” (page 754).
40.3 Starting and Stopping Apache

If configured with YaST (see Section 40.2.2, “Configuring Apache with YaST”
(page 751)), Apache is started at boot time in runlevels 3 and 5 and stopped in runlevels
0, 1, 2, and 6. You can change this behavior using YaST's runlevel editor or the command
line tool chkconfig.
To start, stop, or manipulate Apache on a running system, use the init script
/usr/sbin/rcapache2 (refer to Section 20.2.2, “Init Scripts” (page 394) for a
general information about init scripts.). The rcapache2 command takes the following
parameters:
start
Starts Apache if it is not already running.

startssl
Starts Apache with SSL support if it is not already running. For more information
about SSL support, refer to Section 40.6, “Setting Up a Secure Web Server with
SSL” (page 769).
stop
Stops Apache by terminating the parent process.
restart
Stops then restarts Apache. Starts the Web server if it was not running before.
try-restart
Stops then restarts Apache only if it has been running before.
reload or graceful
Stops the Web server by advising all forked Apache processes to first finish their
requests before shutting down. As each process dies, it is replaced by a newly
started one, resulting in complete “restart” of Apache.
TIP
rcapache2 reload is the preferred method of restarting Apache in

production environments, for example, to activate a change in the configu-
ration, because it allows all clients to be served without causing connection
break-offs.
configtest
Checks the syntax of the configuration files without affecting a running Web
server. Because this check is forced every time the server is started, reloaded, or
restarted, it is usually not necessary to run the test explicitly (if a configuration error
is found, the Web server is not started, reloaded, or restarted).
probe
Probes for the necessity of a reload (checks whether the configuration has changed)
and suggests the required arguments for the rcapache2 command.
server-status and full-server-status

Dumps a short or full status screen, respectively. Requires either lynx or w3m in-
stalled as well as the module mod_status enabled. In addition to that, status must
be added to APACHE_SERVER_FLAGS in the file /etc/sysconfig/apache2.

TIP: Additional Flags
If you specify additional flags to the rcapache2, these are passed through to
the Web server.
40.4 Installing, Activating, and

Configuring Modules
The Apache software is built in a modular fashion: all functionality except some core
tasks is handled by modules. This has progressed so far that even HTTP is processed
by a module (http_core).
Apache modules can be compiled into the Apache binary at build time or dynamically
loaded at runtime. Refer to Section 40.4.2, “Activation and Deactivation” (page 760)
for details of how to load modules dynamically.
Apache modules can be divided into four different categories:
Base Modules
Base modules are compiled into Apache by default. Apache in SUSE Linux has
only mod_so (needed to load other modules) and http_core compiled in. All others
are available as shared objects: rather than being included in the server binary itself,
they can be included at runtime.
Extension Modules
In general, modules labeled as extensions are included in the Apache software
package, but are usually not compiled into the server statically. In SUSE Linux
Enterprise Server, they are available as shared objects that can be loaded into
Apache at runtime.
External Modules
Modules labeled external are not included in the official Apache distribution. SUSE
Linux Enterprise Server provides several of them readily available for use.
Multiprocessing Modules
MPMs are responsible for accepting and handling requests to the Web server, rep-
resenting the core of the Web server software.

40.4.1 Module Installation
If you have followed the default way of installing Apache (described in Section 40.1.2,
“Installation” (page 742)), it is installed with all base and extension modules, the multi-
processing module Prefork MPM, and the external modules mod_php5 and mod_python.
You can install additional external modules by starting YaST and choosing Software
> Software Management. Now choose Filter > Search and search for apache. Among
other packages, the result list contains all available external Apache modules.
40.4.2 Activation and Deactivation

Using YaST, you can activate or deactivate the script language modules (PHP5, Perl,
Python) with the module configuration described in Section “HTTP Server Wizard”
(page 751). All other modules can be enabled or disabled as described in Section
“Server Modules” (page 756).
If you prefer to activate or deactivate the modules manually, use the commands
a2enmod mod_foo or a2dismod mod_foo, respectively. a2enmod -l outputs
a list of all currently active modules.
IMPORTANT: Including Configuration Files for External Modules
If you have activated external modules manually, make sure to load their con-
figuration files in all virtual host configurations. Configuration files for external
modules are located under /etc/apache2/conf.d/ and are not loaded by
default. If you need the same modules on each virtual host, you can include *
.conf from this directory. Otherwise include individual files. See /etc/
apache2/vhost.d/vhost.template for examples.
40.4.3 Base and Extension Modules

All base and extension modules are described in detail in the Apache documentation.
Only a brief description of the most important modules is available here. Refer to
http://httpd.apache.org/docs/2.2/mod/ to learn details about each
module.

mod_actions
Provides methods to execute a script whenever a certain MIME type (such as
application/pdf), a file with a specific extension (like .rpm), or a certain
request method (such as GET) is requested. This module is enabled by default.
mod_alias
Provides Alias and Redirect directives with which you can map a URl to a
specific directory (Alias) or redirect a requested URL to another location. This
module is enabled by default.
mod_auth*
The authentication modules provide different authentication methods: basic authen-
tication with mod_auth_basic or digest authentication with mod_auth_digest. Digest
authentication in Apache 2.2 is considered experimental.
mod_auth_basic and mod_auth_digest must be combined with an authentication

provider module, mod_authn_* (for example, mod_authn_file for text file–based
authentication) and with an authorization module mod_authz_* (for example,
mod_authz_user for user authorization).
More information about this topic is available in the “Authentication HOWTO” at

http://httpd.apache.org/docs/2.2/howto/auth.html
mod_autoindex
Autoindex generates directory listings when no index file (for example, index
.html) is present. The look and feel of these indexes is configurable. This module
is enabled by default. However, directory listings are disabled by default via the
Options directive—overwrite this setting in your virtual host configuration. The
default configuration file for this module is located at /etc/apache2/mod
_autoindex-defaults.conf.
mod_cgi
mod_cgi is needed to execute CGI scripts. This module is enabled by default.
mod_deflate
Using this module, Apache can be configured to compress given file types on the
fly before delivering them.
mod_dir
mod_dir provides the DirectoryIndex directive with which you can configure
which files are automatically delivered when a directory is requested (index

.html by default). It also provides an automatic redirect to the correct URl when
a directory request does not contain a trailing slash. This module is enabled by de-
fault.
mod_env
Controls the environment that is passed to CGI scripts or SSI pages. Environment
variables can be set or unset or passed from the shell that invoked the httpd process.
This module is enabled by default.
mod_expires
With mod_expires, you can control how often proxy and browser caches refresh
your documents by sending an Expires header. This module is enabled by default.
mod_include
mod_include lets you use Server Side Includes (SSI), which provide a basic func-
tionality to generate HTML pages dynamically. This module is enabled by default.
mod_info
Provides a comprehensive overview of the server configuration under http://local-
host/server-info/. For security reasons, you should always limit access to this URL.
By default only localhost is allowed to access this URL. mod_info is configured
at /etc/apache2/mod_info.conf
mod_log_config
With this module, you can configure the looks of the Apache log files. This module
is enabled by default.
mod_mime
The mime module takes care that a file is delivered with the correct MIME header
based on the filename's extension (for example text/html for HTML documents).
This module is enabled by default.
mod_negotiation
Necessary for content negotiation. See http://httpd.apache.org/docs/
2.2/content-negotiation.html for more information. This module is
enabled by default.
mod_rewrite
Provides the functionality of mod_alias, but offers more features and flexibility.
With mod_rewrite, you can redirect URLs based on multiple rules, request headers,
and more.

mod_setenvif
Sets environment variables based on details of the client's request, such as the
browser string the client sends, or the client's IP address. This module is enabled
by default.
mod_speling
mod_speling attempts to automatically correct typographical errors in URLs, such
as capitalization errors.
mod_ssl
Enables encrypted connections between Web server and clients. See Section 40.6,
“Setting Up a Secure Web Server with SSL” (page 769) for details. This module is
enabled by default.
mod_status
Provides information on server activity and performance under http://localhost/serv-
er-status/. For security reasons, you should always limit access to this URL. By
default, only localhost is allowed to access this URl. mod_status is configured
at /etc/apache2/mod_status.conf
mod_suexec
mod_suexec lets you run CGI scripts under a different user and group. This module
is enabled by default.
mod_userdir
Enables user-specific directories available under ~user/. The UserDir directive
must be specified in the configuration. This module is enabled by default.
40.4.4 Multiprocessing Modules

SUSE Linux Enterprise Server provides two different multiprocessing modules (MPMs)
for use with Apache.
Prefork MPM
The prefork MPM implements a nonthreaded, preforking Web server. It makes the Web
server behave similarly to Apache version 1.x in that it isolates each request and handles
it by forking a separate child process. Thus problematic requests cannot affect others,
avoiding a lockup of the Web server.

While providing stability with this process-based approach, the prefork MPM consumes
more system resources than its counterpart, the worker MPM. The prefork MPM is
considered the default MPM for Unix-based operating systems.
IMPORTANT: MPMs in This Document
This document assumes Apache is used with the prefork MPM.
Worker MPM
The worker MPM provides a multithreaded Web server. A thread is a “lighter” form
of a process. The advantage of a thread over a process is its lower resource consumption.
Instead of only forking child processes, the worker MPM serves requests by using
threads with server processes. The preforked child processes are multithreaded. This
approach makes Apache perform better by consuming fewer system resources than the
prefork MPM.
One major disadvantage is the stability of the worker MPM: if a thread becomes corrupt,
all threads of a process can be affected. In the worst case, this may result in a server
crash. Especially when using the Common Gateway Interface (CGI) with Apache under
heavy load, internal server errors might occur due to threads unable to communicate
with system resources. Another argument against using the worker MPM with Apache
is that not all available Apache modules are thread-safe and thus cannot be used in
conjunction with the worker MPM.
WARNING: Using PHP Modules with MPMs
Not all available PHP modules are thread-safe. Using the worker MPM with
mod_php is strongly discouraged.
40.4.5 External Modules

Find a list of all external modules shipped with SUSE Linux Enterprise Server here.
Find the module's documentation in the listed directory.
mod-apparmor
Adds support to Apache to provide Novell AppArmor confinement to individual
CGI scripts handled by modules like mod_php5 and mod_perl.

Package Name: apache2-mod_apparmor
More Information: Novell AppArmor Administration Guide (↑Novell AppArmor
Administration Guide)
mod_perl
mod_perl enables you to run Perl scripts in an embedded interpreter. The persistent
interpreter embedded in the server avoids the overhead of starting an external inter-
preter and the penalty of Perl start-up time.
Package Name: apache2-mod_perl

Configuration File: /etc/apache2/conf.d/mod_perl.conf
More Information: /usr/share/doc/packages/apache2-mod_perl
mod_php5
PHP is a server-side, cross-platform HTML embedded scripting language.
Package Name: apache2-mod_php5

Configuration File: /etc/apache2/conf.d/php5.conf
More Information: /usr/share/doc/packages/apache2-mod_php5
mod_python
mod_python allows embedding Python within the Apache HTTP server for a con-
siderable boost in performance and added flexibility in designing Web-based appli-
cations.
Package Name: apache2-mod_python

More Information: /usr/share/doc/packages/apache2-mod_python
40.4.6 Compilation
Apache can be extended by advanced users by writing custom modules. To develop
modules for Apache or compile third-party modules, the package apache2-devel
is required along with the corresponding development tools. apache2-devel also
contains the apxs2 tools, which are necessary for compiling additional modules for
Apache.
apxs2 enables the compilation and installation of modules from source code (including
the required changes to the configuration files), which creates dynamic shared objects
(DSOs) that can be loaded into Apache at runtime.

The apxs2 binaries are located under /usr/sbin:
• /usr/sbin/apxs2—suitable for building an extension module that works with

any MPM. The installation location is /usr/lib/apache2.
• /usr/sbin/apxs2-prefork—suitable for prefork MPM modules. The instal-

lation location is /usr/lib/apache2-prefork.
• /usr/sbin/apxs2-worker—suitable for worker MPM modules.
apxs2 installs modules so they can be used for all MPMs. The other two programs
install modules so they can only be used for the respective MPMs. apxs2 installs
modules in /usr/lib/apache2, apxs2-prefork and apxs2-worker installs
modules in /usr/lib/apache2-prefork or /usr/lib/apache2-worker.
Install and activate a module from source code with the commands cd
/path/to/module/source; apxs2 -cia mod_foo.c (-c compiles the
module, -i installs it, and -a activates it). Other options of apxs2 are described in
the apxs2(1) man page.
40.5 Getting CGI Scripts to Work

Apache's Common Gateway Interface (CGI) lets you create dynamic content with
programs or scripts usually referred to as CGI scripts. CGI scripts can be written in any
programming language. Usually, script languages such as Perl or PHP are used.
To enable Apache to deliver content created by CGI scripts, mod_cgi needs to be acti-
vated. mod_alias is also needed. Both modules are enabled by default. Refer to Sec-
tion 40.4.2, “Activation and Deactivation” (page 760) for details on activating modules.
WARNING: CGI Security
Allowing the server to execute CGI scripts is a potential security hole. Refer to
Section 40.7, “Avoiding Security Problems” (page 774) for additional information.

40.5.1 Apache Configuration
In SUSE Linux Enterprise Server, the execution of CGI scripts is only allowed in the
directory /srv/www/cgi-bin/. This location is already configured to execute CGI
scripts. If you have created a virtual host configuration (see Section “Virtual Host
Configuration” (page 746)) and want to place your scripts in a host-specific directory,
you must unlock and configure this directory.
Example 40.5 VirtualHost CGI Configuration

ScriptAlias /cgi-bin/ "/srv/www/www.example.com/cgi-bin/"❶
<Directory "/srv/www/www.example.com/cgi-bin/">
Options +ExecCGI❷
AddHandler cgi-script .cgi .pl❸
Order allow,deny❹
Allow from all
</Directory>
❶ Tells Apache to handle all files within this directory as CGI scripts.
❷ Enables CGI script execution
❸ Tells the server to treat files with the extensions .pl and .cgi as CGI scripts. Adjust
according to your needs.
❹ The Order and Allow directives control the default access state and the order
in which Allow and Deny directives are evaluated. In this case “deny” statements
are evaluated before “allow” statements and access from everywhere is enabled.
40.5.2 Running an Example Script

CGI programming differs from "regular" programming in that the CGI programs and
scripts must be preceded by a MIME-Type header such as Content-type:
text/html. This header is sent to the client, so it understands what kind of content
it receives. Secondly, the script's output must be something the client, usually a Web
browser, understands—HTML in most cases or plain text or images, for example.
A simple test script available under /usr/share/doc/packages/apache2/

test-cgi is part of the Apache package. It outputs the content of some environment
variables as plain text. Copy this script to either /srv/www/cgi-bin/ or the script

directory of your virtual host (/srv/www/www.example.com/cgi-bin/) and
name it test.cgi.
Files accessible by the Web server should be owned by to the user root (see Sec-
tion 40.7, “Avoiding Security Problems” (page 774) for additional information). Because
the Web server runs with a different user, the CGI scripts must be world-executable
and world-readable. Change into the CGI directory and use the command chmod 755
test.cgi to apply the proper permissions.
Now call http://localhost/cgi-bin/test.cgi or

http://www.example.com/cgi-bin/test.cgi. You should see the “CGI/1.0
test script report”.
If you do not see the output of the test program but an error message instead, check the
following:
CGI Troubleshooting
• Have you reloaded the server after having changed the configuration? Check with
rcapache2 probe.
• If you have configured your custom CGI directory, is it configured properly? If in

doubt, try the script within the default CGI directory /srv/www/cgi-bin/ and
call it with http://localhost/cgi-bin/test.cgi.
• Are the file permissions correct? Change into the CGI directory and execute the
ls -l test.cgi. Its output should start with
-rwxr-xr-x 1 root root
• Make sure that the script does not contain programming errors. If you have not
changed test.cgi, this should not be the case, but if you are using your own programs,
always make sure that they do not contain programming errors.

40.6 Setting Up a Secure Web Server
with SSL
Whenever sensitive data, such as credit card information, is transferred between Web
server and client, it would be desirable to have a secure, encrypted connection with
authentication. mod_ssl provides strong encryption using the secure sockets layer (SSL)
and transport layer security (TLS) protocols for HTTP communication between a client
and the Web server. Using SSL/TSL, a private connection between Web server and
client is established. Data integrity is ensured and client and server are able to authenti-
cate each other.
For this purpose, the server sends an SSL certificate that holds information proving the
server's valid identity before any request to a URL is answered. In turn, this guarantees
that the server is the uniquely correct end point for the communication. Additionally,
the certificate generates an encrypted connection between client and server that can
transport information without the risk of exposing sensitive, plain-text content.
mod_ssl does not implement the SSL/TSL protocols itself, but acts as an interface be-
tween Apache and an SSL library. In SUSE Linux Enterprise Server, the OpenSSL li-
brary is used. OpenSSL is automatically installed with Apache.
The most visible effect of using mod_ssl with Apache is that URLs are prefixed with
https:// instead of http://.
40.6.1 Creating an SSL Certificate

In order to use SSL/TSL with the Web server, you need to create an SSL certificate.
This certificate is needed for the authorization between Web server and client, so that
each party can clearly identify the other party. To ensure the integrity of the certificate,
it must be signed by a party every user trusts.
There are three types of certificates you can create: a “dummy” certificate for testing
purposes only, a self-signed certificate for a defined circle of users that trust you, and
a certificate signed by an independent, publicly-known certificate authority (CA).
Creating a certificate is basically a two step process. First, a private key for the certificate
authority is generated then the server certificate is signed with this key.

To learn more about concepts and definitions of SSL/TSL, refer to http://

httpd.apache.org/docs/2.2/ssl/ssl_intro.html.
Creating a “Dummy” Certificate

Generating a dummy certificate is simple. Just call the script
/usr/bin/gensslcert. It creates or overwrites the following files:
• /etc/apache2/ssl.crt/ca.crt
• /etc/apache2/ssl.crt/server.crt
• /etc/apache2/ssl.key/server.key
• /etc/apache2/ssl.csr/server.csr
A copy of ca.crt is also placed at /srv/www/htdocs/CA.crt for download.
IMPORTANT
A dummy certificate should never be used on a production system. Only use

it for testing purposes.
Creating a Self-Signed Certificate

If you are setting up a secure Web server for an Intranet or for a defined circle of users,
it might be sufficient if you sign a certificate with your own certificate authority (CA).
Creating a self-signed certificate is an interactive nine-step process. Change into the

directory /usr/share/doc/packages/apache2 and run the following command:
./mkcert.sh make --no-print-directory /usr/bin/openssl
/usr/sbin/ custom. Do not attempt to run this command from outside this direc-
tory. The program provides a series of prompts, some of which require user input.
Procedure 40.1 Creating a Self-Signed Certificate with mkcert.sh
1 Decide the signature algorithm used for certificates

Choose RSA (R, the default), because some older browsers have problems with
DSA.
2 Generating RSA private key for CA (1024 bit)
No interaction needed.
3 Generating X.509 certificate signing request for CA
Create the CA's distinguished name here. This requires you to answer a few
questions, such as country name or organization name. Enter valid data, because
everything you enter here later shows up in the certificate. You do not need to
answer every question. If one does not apply to you or you want to leave it blank,
use “.”. Common name is the name of the CA itself—choose a significant name,
such as My company CA.
4 Generating X.509 certificate for CA signed by itself
Choose certificate version 3 (the default).
5 Generating RSA private key for SERVER (1024 bit)
No interaction needed.
6 Generating X.509 certificate signing request for SERVER
Create the distinguished name for the server key here. Questions are almost
identical to the ones already answered for the CA's distinguished name. The data
entered here applies to the Web server and does not necessarily need to be iden-
tical to the CA's data (for example, if the server is located elsewhere).
IMPORTANT: Selecting a Common Name
The common name you enter here must be the fully qualified hostname
of your secure server (for example, www.example.com). Otherwise the
browser issues a warning that the certificate does not match the server
when accessing the Web server.
7 Generating X.509 certificate signed by own CA
Choose certificate version 3 (the default).

8 Encrypting RSA private key of CA with a pass phrase
for security
It is strongly recommended to encrypt the private key of the CA with a password,

so choose Y and enter a password.
9 Encrypting RSA private key of SERVER with a pass phrase

for security
Encrypting the server key with a password requires you to enter this password
every time you start the Web server. This makes it difficult to automatically start
the server on boot or to restart the Web server. Therefore, it is common sense to
say N to this question. Keep in mind that your key is unprotected when not en-
crypted with a password and make sure that only authorized persons have access
to the key.
IMPORTANT: Encrypting the Server Key
If you choose to encrypt the server key with a password, increase the
value for APACHE_TIMEOUT in /etc/sysconfig/apache2. Otherwise
you do not have enough time to enter the passphrase before the attempt
to start the server is stopped unsuccessfully.
The script's result page presents a list of certificates and keys it has generated. Contrary
to what the script outputs, the files have not been generated in the local directory conf,
but to the correct locations under /etc/apache2/.
The last step is to copy the CA certificate file from /etc/apache2/ssl.crt/ca

.crt to a location where your users can access it in order to incorporate it into the list
of known and trusted CAs in their Web browsers. Otherwise a browser complains that
the certificate was issued by an unknown authority. The certificate is valid for one year.
IMPORTANT: Self-Signed Certificates
Only use a self-signed certificate on a Web server that is accessed by people

who know and trust you as a certificate authority. It is not recommended to
use such a certificate on a public shop, for example.

Getting an Officially Signed Certificate
There are a number of official certificate authorities that sign your certificates. The
certificate is signed by a trustworthy third party, so can be fully trusted. Publicly oper-
ating secure Web servers usually have got an officially signed certificate.
The best-known official CAs are Thawte (http://www.thawte.com/) or Verisign

(http://www.verisign.com). These and other CAs are already compiled into
all browsers, so certificates signed by these certificate authorities are automatically ac-
cepted by the browser.
When requesting an officially signed certificate, you do not send a certificate to the
CA. Instead, issue a Certificate Signing Request (CSR). To create a CSR, call the script
/usr/share/ssl/misc/CA.sh -newreq.
First the script asks for a password with which the CSR should be encrypted. Then you
are asked to enter a distinguished name. This requires you to answer a few questions,
such as country name or organization name. Enter valid data—everything you enter
here later shows up in the certificate and is checked. You do not need to answer every
question. If one does not apply to you or you want to leave it blank, use “.”. Common
name is the name of the CA itself—choose a significant name, such as My company
CA. Last, a challenge password and an alternative company name must be entered.
Find the CSR in the directory from which you called the script. The file is named
newreq.pem.
40.6.2 Configuring Apache with SSL

The default port for SSL and TLS requests on the Web server side is 443. There is no
conflict between a “regular” Apache listening on port 80 and an SSL/TLS-enabled
Apache listening on port 443. In fact, HTTP and HTTPS can be run with the same
Apache instance. Usually separate virtual hosts are used to dispatch requests to port 80
and port 443 to separate virtual servers.
IMPORTANT: Firewall Configuration
Do not forget to open the firewall for SSL-enabled Apache on port 443. This
can be done with YaST as described in Section 43.4.1, “Configuring the Firewall

To use SSL, it must be activated in the global server configuration. Open /etc/
sysconfig/apache2 in an editor and search for APACHE_MODULES. Add “ssl”
to the list of modules if it is not already present (mod_ssl is activated by default). Next,
search for APACHE_SERVER_FLAGS and add “SSL”. If you have chosen to encrypt
your server certificate with a password, you should also increase the value for
APACHE_TIMEOUT, so you have enough time to enter the passphrase when Apache
starts. Restart the server to make these changes active. A reload is not sufficient.
The virtual host configuration directory contains a template /etc/apache2/vhosts

.d/vhost-ssl.template with SSL-specific directives that are extensively docu-
mented. Refer to Section “Virtual Host Configuration” (page 746) for the general virtual
host configuration.
To get started, copy the template to /etc/apache2/vhosts.d/mySSL-host

.conf and edit it. Adjusting the values for the following directives should be sufficient:
• DocumentRoot
• ServerName
• ServerAdmin
• ErrorLog
• TransferLog
IMPORTANT: Name-Based Virtual Hosts and SSL
It is not possible to run multiple SSL-enabled virtual hosts on a server with

only one IP address. Users connecting to such a setup receive a warning message
stating that the certificate does not match the server name every time they
visit the URL. A separate IP address or port is necessary for every SSL-enabled
domain to achieve communication based on a valid SSL certificate.
40.7 Avoiding Security Problems

A Web server exposed to the public Internet requires an ongoing administrative effort.
It is inevitable that security issues appear, both related to the software and to accidental
misconfiguration. Here are some tips for how to deal with them.

40.7.1 Up-to-Date Software
If there are vulnerabilities found in the Apache software, a security advisory will be
issued by SUSE. It contains instructions for fixing the vulnerabilities, which in turn
should be applied soon as possible. The SUSE security announcements are available
from the following locations:
• Web Page http://www.novell.com/linux/security/

securitysupport.html
• Mailing List http://en.opensuse.org/Communicate

#Mailinglists
• RSS Feed http://www.novell.com/linux/security/suse

_security.xml
40.7.2 DocumentRoot Permissions

By default in SUSE Linux Enterprise Server, the DocumentRoot directory /srv/
www/htdocs and the CGI directory /srv/www/cgi-bin belong to the user and
group root. You should not change these permissions. If the directories were writable
for all, any user could place files into them. These files might then be executed by
Apache with the permissions of wwwrun, which may give the user unintended access
to file system resources. Use subdirectories of /srv/www to place the DocumentRoot
and CGI directories for your virtual hosts and make sure that directories and files belong
to user and group root.
40.7.3 File System Access

By default, access to the whole file system is denied in /etc/apache2/httpd
.conf. You should never overwrite these directives, but specifically enable access to
all directories Apache should be able to read (see Section “Basic Virtual Host Configu-
ration” (page 749) for details). In doing so, ensure that no critical files, such as password
or system configuration files, can be read from the outside.

40.7.4 CGI Scripts
Interactive scripts in Perl, PHP, SSI, or any other programming language can essentially
run arbitrary commands and therefore present a general security issue. Scripts that will
be executed from the server should only be installed from sources the server adminis-
trator trusts—allowing users to run their own scripts is generally not a good idea. It is
also recommended to do security audits for all scripts.
To make the administration of scripts as easy as possible, it is common practice to

limit the execution of CGI scripts to specific directories instead of globally allowing
them. The directives ScriptAlias and Option ExecCGI are used for configura-
tion. The SUSE Linux Enterprise Server default configuration does not allow execution
of CGI scripts from everywhere.
All CGI scripts run as the same user, so different scripts can potentially conflict with
each other. The module suEXEC lets you run CGI scripts under a different user and
group.
40.7.5 User Directories

When enabling user directories (with mod_userdir or mod_rewrite) you should
strongly consider not allowing .htaccess files, which would allow users to overwrite
security settings. At least you should limit the user's engagement by using the directive
AllowOverRide. In SUSE Linux Enterprise Server, .htaccess files are enabled
by default, but the user is not allowed to overwrite any Option directives when using
mod_userdir (see the /etc/apache2/mod_userdir.conf configuration file).
If Apache does not start, the Web page is not accessible, or users cannot connect to the
Web server, it is important to find the cause of the problem. Here are some typical
places to look for error explanations and important things to check.
First, rcapache2 (described in Section 40.3, “Starting and Stopping Apache”

(page 757)) is verbose about errors, so can be quite helpful if it is actually used for op-
erating Apache. Sometimes it is tempting to use the binary /usr/sbin/httpd2 for

starting or stopping the Web server. Avoid doing this and use the rcapache2 script
instead. rcapache2 even provides tips and hints for solving configuration errors.
Second, the importance of log files cannot be overemphasized. In case of both fatal and
nonfatal errors, the Apache log files, mainly the error log file, are the places to look for
causes. Additionally, you can control the verbosity of the logged messages with the
LogLevel directive if more detail is needed in the log files. By default, the error log
file is located at /var/log/apache2/error_log.
TIP: A Simple Test
Watch the Apache log messages with the command tail -F

/var/log/apache2/my_error_log. Then run rcapache2 restart.
Now, try to connect with a browser and check the output.
A common mistake is not to open the ports for Apache in the firewall configuration of
the server. If you configure Apache with YaST, there is a separate option available to
take care of this specific issue (see Section 40.2.2, “Configuring Apache with YaST”
(page 751)). If you are configuring Apache manually, open firewall ports for HTTP and
HTTPS via YaST's firewall module.
If the error cannot be tracked down with the help of any these, check the online Apache
bug database at http://httpd.apache.org/bug_report.html. Additionally,
the Apache user community can be reached via a mailing list available at http://
httpd.apache.org/userslist.html. A recommended newsgroup is comp
.infosystems.www.servers.unix.

The package apache2-doc contains the complete Apache manual in various local-
izations for local installation and reference. It is not installed by default—the quickest
way to install it is to use the command yast -i apache2-doc. Once installed,
the Apache manual is available at http://localhost/manual/. You may also
access it on the Web at http://httpd.apache.org/docs-2.2/. SUSE-spe-
cific configuration hints are available in the directory /usr/share/doc/packages/
apache2/README.*.

40.9.1 Apache 2.2
For a list of new features in Apache 2.2, refer to http://httpd.apache.org/
docs/2.2/new_features_2_2.html. Information about upgrading from version
2.0 to 2.2 is available at http://httpd.apache.org/docs-2.2/upgrading
.html.
40.9.2 Apache Modules

More information about external Apache modules from Section 40.4.5, “External
Modules” (page 764) is available at the following locations:
mod-apparmor
http://en.opensuse.org/AppArmor
mod_perl
http://perl.apache.org/
mod_php5
http://www.php.net/manual/en/install.unix.apache2.php
mod_python
http://www.modpython.org/
40.9.3 Development
More information about developing Apache modules or about getting involved in the
Apache Web server project are available at the following locations:
Apache Developer Information

http://httpd.apache.org/dev/
Apache Developer Documentation

http://httpd.apache.org/docs/2.2/developer/
Writing Apache Modules with Perl and C

http://www.modperl.com/

40.9.4 Miscellaneous Sources
If you experience difficulties specific to Apache in SUSE Linux Enterprise Server, take
a look at the Technical Information Search at http://www.novell.com/support.
The history of Apache is provided at http://httpd.apache.org/ABOUT
_APACHE.html. This page also explains why the server is called Apache.

The Proxy Server Squid
Squid is a widely-used proxy cache for Linux and UNIX platforms. This means that it
41
stores requested Internet objects, such as data on a Web or FTP server, on a machine
that is closer to the requesting workstation than the server. It may be set up in multiple
hierarchies to assure optimal response times and low bandwidth usage, even in modes
that are transparent for the end user. Additional software like squidGuard may be used
to filter Web contents.
Squid acts as a proxy cache. It redirects object requests from clients (in this case, from
Web browsers) to the server. When the requested objects arrive from the server, it de-
livers the objects to the client and keeps a copy of them in the hard disk cache. One of
the advantages of caching is that several clients requesting the same object can be served
from the hard disk cache. This enables clients to receive the data much faster than from
the Internet. This procedure also reduces the network traffic.
Along with the actual caching, Squid offers a wide range of features such as distributing
the load over intercommunicating hierarchies of proxy servers, defining strict access
control lists for all clients accessing the proxy, allowing or denying access to specific
Web pages with the help of other applications, and generating statistics about frequently-
visited Web pages for the assessment of the users' surfing habits. Squid is not a generic
proxy. It normally proxies only HTTP connections. It does also support the protocols
FTP, Gopher, SSL, and WAIS, but it does not support other Internet protocols, such as
Real Audio, news, or video conferencing. Because Squid only supports the UDP protocol
to provide communication between different caches, many other multimedia programs
are not supported.
The Proxy Server Squid 781

41.1 Some Facts about Proxy Caches
As a proxy cache, Squid can be used in several ways. When combined with a firewall,
it can help with security. Multiple proxies can be used together. It can also determine
what types of objects should be cached and for how long.
41.1.1 Squid and Security

It is possible to use Squid together with a firewall to secure internal networks from the
outside using a proxy cache. The firewall denies all clients access to external services
except Squid. All Web connections must be established by the proxy. With this confi-
guration, Squid completely controls Web access.
If the firewall configuration includes a DMZ, the proxy should operate within this zone.
Section 41.5, “Configuring a Transparent Proxy” (page 793) describes how to implement
a transparent proxy. This simplifies the configuration of the clients, because in this
case they do not need any information about the proxy.
41.1.2 Multiple Caches

Several instances of Squid can be configured to exchange objects between them. This
reduces the total system load and increases the chances of finding an object already
existing in the local network. It is also possible to configure cache hierarchies, so a
cache is able to forward object requests to sibling caches or to a parent cache—causing
it to get objects from another cache in the local network or directly from the source.
Choosing the appropriate topology for the cache hierarchy is very important, because
it is not desirable to increase the overall traffic on the network. For a very large network,
it would make sense to configure a proxy server for every subnetwork and connect
them to a parent proxy, which in turn is connected to the proxy cache of the ISP.
All this communication is handled by ICP (Internet cache protocol) running on top of
the UDP protocol. Data transfers between caches are handled using HTTP (hypertext
transmission protocol) based on TCP.
To find the most appropriate server from which to get the objects, one cache sends an
ICP request to all sibling proxies. These answer the requests via ICP responses with a

HIT code if the object was detected or a MISS if it was not. If multiple HIT responses
were found, the proxy server decides from which server to download, depending on
factors such as which cache sent the fastest answer or which one is closer. If no satis-
factory responses are received, the request is sent to the parent cache.
TIP
To avoid duplication of objects in different caches in the network, other ICP

protocols are used, such as CARP (cache array routing protocol) or HTCP (hy-
pertext cache protocol). The more objects maintained in the network, the
greater the possibility of finding the desired one.
41.1.3 Caching Internet Objects

Not all objects available in the network are static. There are a lot of dynamically gener-
ated CGI pages, visitor counters, and encrypted SSL content documents. Objects like
this are not cached because they change each time they are accessed.
The question remains as to how long all the other objects stored in the cache should
stay there. To determine this, all objects in the cache are assigned one of various possible
states. Web and proxy servers find out the status of an object by adding headers to these
objects, such as “Last modified” or “Expires” and the corresponding date. Other headers
specifying that objects must not be cached are used as well.
Objects in the cache are normally replaced, due to a lack of free hard disk space, using
algorithms such as LRU (last recently used). Basically this means that the proxy ex-
punges the objects that have not been requested for the longest time.
41.2 System Requirements

The most important thing is to determine the maximum network load the system must
bear. It is, therefore, important to pay more attention to the load peaks, because these
might be more than four times the day's average. When in doubt, it would be better to
overestimate the system's requirements, because having Squid working close to the
limit of its capabilities could lead to a severe loss in the quality of the service. The fol-
lowing sections point to the system factors in order of significance.

41.2.1 Hard Disks
Speed plays an important role in the caching process, so this factor deserves special
attention. For hard disks, this parameter is described as random seek time, measured in
milliseconds. Because the data blocks that Squid reads from or writes to the hard disk
tend to be rather small, the seek time of the hard disk is more important than its data
throughput. For the purposes of a proxy, hard disks with high rotation speeds are
probably the better choice, because they allow the read-write head to be positioned in
the required spot more quickly. One possibility to speed up the system is to use a
number of disks concurrently or to employ striping RAID arrays.
41.2.2 Size of the Disk Cache

In a small cache, the probability of a HIT (finding the requested object already located
there) is small, because the cache is easily filled and the less requested objects are re-
placed by newer ones. If, for example, one GB is available for the cache and the users
only surf ten MB per day, it would take more than one hundred days to fill the cache.
The easiest way to determine the needed cache size is to consider the maximum transfer
rate of the connection. With a 1 Mbit/s connection, the maximum transfer rate is 125
KB/s. If all this traffic ends up in the cache, in one hour it would add up to 450 MB
and, assuming that all this traffic is generated in only eight working hours, it would
reach 3.6 GB in one day. Because the connection is normally not used to its upper
volume limit, it can be assumed that the total data volume handled by the cache is ap-
proximately 2 GB. This is why 2 GB of disk space is required in the example for Squid
to keep one day's worth of browsed data cached.
41.2.3 RAM
The amount of memory (RAM) required by Squid directly correlates to the number of
objects in the cache. Squid also stores cache object references and frequently requested
objects in the main memory to speed up retrieval of this data. Random access memory
is much faster than a hard disk.
In addition to that, there is other data that Squid needs to keep in memory, such as a
table with all the IP addresses handled, an exact domain name cache, the most frequently
requested objects, access control lists, buffers, and more.

It is very important to have sufficient memory for the Squid process, because system
performance is dramatically reduced if it must be swapped to disk. The cachemgr.cgi
tool can be used for the cache memory management. This tool is introduced in Sec-
tion 41.6, “cachemgr.cgi” (page 796). Sites with huge network traffic should consider
using an AMD64 or Intel 64 system with more than 4 GB of memory.
41.2.4 CPU
Squid is not a program that requires intensive CPU usage. The load of the processor is
only increased while the contents of the cache are loaded or checked. Using a multipro-
cessor machine does not increase the performance of the system. To increase efficiency,
it is better to buy faster disks or add more memory.
41.3 Starting Squid

Squid is already preconfigured in SUSE® Linux Enterprise Server, you can start it right
after the installation. To ensure a smooth start-up, the network should be configured in
a way that at least one name server and the Internet can be reached. Problems can arise
if a dial-up connection is used with a dynamic DNS configuration. In this case, at least
the name server should be entered, because Squid does not start if it does not detect a
DNS server in /etc/resolv.conf.
41.3.1 Commands for Starting and Stopping

Squid
To start Squid, enter rcsquid start at the command line as root. In the initial
start-up, the directory structure of the cache must first be defined in /var/cache/
squid. This is done automatically by the start script /etc/init.d/squid and
can take a few seconds or even minutes. If done appears to the right in green, Squid
has been successfully loaded. To test the functionality of Squid on the local system,
enter localhost as the proxy and 3128 as the port in the browser.
To allow users from the local system and other systems to access Squid and the Internet,
change the entry in the configuration files /etc/squid/squid.conf from
http_access deny all to http_access allow all. However, in doing

so, consider that Squid is made completely accessible to anyone by this action. Therefore,
define ACLs that control access to the proxy. More information about this is available
in Section 41.4.2, “Options for Access Controls” (page 790).
After modifying the configuration file /etc/squid/squid.conf, Squid must

reload the configuration file. Do this with rcsquid reload. Alternatively, completely
restart Squid with rcsquid restart.
The command rcsquid status can be used to check if the proxy is running. The
command rcsquid stop causes Squid to shut down. This can take a while, because
Squid waits up to half a minute (shutdown_lifetime option in /etc/squid/
squid.conf) before dropping the connections to the clients and writing its data to
the disk.
WARNING: Terminating Squid
Terminating Squid with kill or killall can damage the cache. To be able
to restart Squid, the damaged cache must be deleted.
If Squid dies after a short period of time even though it was started successfully, check
whether there is a faulty name server entry or whether the /etc/resolv.conf file
is missing. Squid logs the cause of a start-up failure in the file /var/log/squid/
cache.log. If Squid should be loaded automatically when the system boots, use the
YaST runlevel editor to activate Squid for the desired runlevels. See Section 8.5.12,
“System Services (Runlevel)” (page 162).
An uninstall of Squid does not remove the cache hierarchy or the log files. To remove
these, delete the /var/cache/squid directory manually.
41.3.2 Local DNS Server

Setting up a local DNS server makes sense even if it does not manage its own domain.
It then simply acts as a caching-only name server and is also able to resolve DNS re-
quests via the root name servers without requiring any special configuration (see Sec-
tion 33.3, “Starting the Name Server BIND” (page 622)). How this can be done depends
on whether you chose dynamic DNS during the configuration of the Internet connection.

Dynamic DNS
Normally, with dynamic DNS, the DNS server is set by the provider during the
establishment of the Internet connection and the local file /etc/resolv.conf
is adjusted automatically. This behavior is controlled in the file /etc/
sysconfig/network/config with the sysconfig variable
MODIFY_RESOLV_CONF_DYNAMICALLY, which is set to "yes". Set this
variable to "no" with the YaST sysconfig editor (see Section 20.3.1, “Changing
the System Configuration Using the YaST sysconfig Editor” (page 400)). Then enter
the local DNS server in the file /etc/resolv.conf with the IP address
127.0.0.1 for localhost. This way Squid can always find the local name
server when it starts.
To make the provider's name server accessible, enter it in the configuration file
/etc/named.conf under forwarders along with its IP address. With dynamic
DNS, this can be achieved automatically during connection establishment by setting
the sysconfig variable MODIFY_NAMED_CONF_DYNAMICALLY to YES.
Static DNS
With static DNS, no automatic DNS adjustments take place while establishing a
connection, so there is no need to change any sysconfig variables. You must,
however, enter the local DNS server in the file /etc/resolv.conf as described
above. Additionally, the providers static name server must be entered manually in
the file /etc/named.conf under forwarders along with its IP address.
TIP: DNS and Firewall
If you have a firewall running, make sure DNS requests can pass it.
41.4 The Configuration File

/etc/squid/squid.conf
All Squid proxy server settings are made in the /etc/squid/squid.conf file.
To start Squid for the first time, no changes are necessary in this file, but external clients
are initially denied access. The proxy is available for localhost. The default port is
3128. The preinstalled configuration file /etc/squid/squid.conf provides
detailed information about the options and many examples. Nearly all entries begin
with # (the lines are commented) and the relevant specifications can be found at the

end of the line. The given values almost always correlate with the default values, so
removing the comment signs without changing any of the parameters actually has little
effect in most cases. If possible, leave the sample as it is and insert the options along
with the modified parameters in the line below. This way, the default values may easily
be recovered and compared with the changes.
TIP: Adapting the Configuration File after an Update
If you have updated from an earlier Squid version, it is recommended to edit

the new /etc/squid/squid.conf and only apply the changes made in the
previous file. If you try to use the old squid.conf, risk that the configuration
no longer works, because options are sometimes modified and new changes
added.
41.4.1 General Configuration Options

(Selection)
http_port 3128
This is the port on which Squid listens for client requests. The default port is 3128,
but 8080 is also common. If desired, specify several port numbers separated by
blank spaces.
cache_peer hostname type proxy-port icp-port

Here, enter a parent proxy, for example, if you want to use the proxy of your ISP.
As hostname, enter the name and IP address of the proxy to use and, as type,
enter parent. For proxy-port, enter the port number that is also given by the
operator of the parent for use in the browser, usually 8080. Set the icp-port to
7 or 0 if the ICP port of the parent is not known and its use is irrelevant to the
provider. In addition, default and no-query may be specified after the port
numbers to prohibit the use of the ICP protocol. Squid then behaves like a normal
browser as far as the provider's proxy is concerned.
cache_mem 8 MB
This entry defines the amount of memory Squid can use for very popular replies.
The default is 8 MB. This does not specify the memory usage of Squid and may
be exceeded.

cache_dir ufs /var/cache/squid/ 100 16 256
The entry cache_dir defines the directory where all the objects are stored on disk.
The numbers at the end indicate the maximum disk space in MB to use and the
number of directories in the first and second level. The ufs parameter should be
left alone. The default is 100 MB occupied disk space in the /var/cache/squid
directory and creation of 16 subdirectories inside it, each containing 256 more
subdirectories. When specifying the disk space to use, leave sufficient reserve disk
space. Values from a minimum of 50% to a maximum of 80% of the available disk
space make the most sense here. The last two numbers for the directories should
only be increased with caution, because too many directories can also lead to per-
formance problems. If you have several disks that share the cache, enter several
cache_dir lines.
cache_access_log /var/log/squid/access.log , cache_log /var/log/squid/cache.log ,

cache_store_log /var/log/squid/store.log
These three entries specify the paths where Squid logs all its actions. Normally,
nothing is changed here. If Squid is experiencing a heavy usage burden, it might
make sense to distribute the cache and the log files over several disks.
emulate_httpd_log off
If the entry is set to on, obtain readable log files. Some evaluation programs cannot
interpret this, however.
client_netmask 255.255.255.255
With this entry, mask IP addresses of clients in the log files. The last digit of the
IP address is set to zero if you enter 255.255.255.0 here. You may protect the
privacy of your clients that way.
ftp_user Squid@
With this, set the password Squid should use for the anonymous FTP login. It can
make sense to specify a valid e-mail address here, because some FTP servers check
these for validity.
cache_mgr webmaster
An e-mail address to which Squid sends a message if it unexpectedly crashes. The
default is webmaster.
logfile_rotate 0
If you run squid -k rotate, Squid can rotate secured log files. The files are
numbered in this process and, after reaching the specified value, the oldest file is

overwritten. The default value is 0 because archiving and deleting log files in SUSE
Linux Enterprise Server is carried out by a cron job set in the configuration file
/etc/logrotate/squid.
append_domain <domain>
With append_domain, specify which domain to append automatically when none
is given. Usually, your own domain is entered here, so entering www in the
browser accesses your own Web server.
forwarded_for on
If you set the entry to off, Squid removes the IP address and the system name of
the client from HTTP requests. Otherwise it adds a line to the header like
X-Forwarded-For: 192.168.0.1
negative_ttl 5 minutes; negative_dns_ttl 5 minutes

Normally, you do not need to change these values. If you have a dial-up connection,
however, the Internet may, at times, not be accessible. Squid makes a note of the
failed requests then refuses to issue new ones, although the Internet connection has
been reestablished. In a case such as this, change the minutes to seconds then, after
clicking Reload in the browser, the dial-up process should be reengaged after a few
seconds.
never_direct allow acl_name

To prevent Squid from taking requests directly from the Internet, use the above
command to force connection to another proxy. This must have previously been
entered in cache_peer. If all is specified as the acl_name, force all requests to
be forwarded directly to the parent. This might be necessary, for example, if you
are using a provider that strictly stipulates the use of its proxies or denies its firewall
direct Internet access.
41.4.2 Options for Access Controls

Squid provides a detailed system for controlling the access to the proxy. By implement-
ing ACLs, it can be configured easily and comprehensively. This involves lists with
rules that are processed sequentially. ACLs must be defined before they can be used.
Some default ACLs, such as all and localhost, already exist. However, the mere defini-
tion of an ACL does not mean that it is actually applied. This only happens in conjunction
with http_access rules.

acl <acl_name> <type> <data>
An ACL requires at least three specifications to define it. The name <acl_name>
can be chosen arbitrarily. For <type>, select from a variety of different options,
which can be found in the ACCESS CONTROLS section in the /etc/squid/
squid.conf file. The specification for <data> depends on the individual ACL
type and can also be read from a file, for example, via hostnames, IP addresses, or
URLs. The following are some simple examples:
acl mysurfers srcdomain .my-domain.com

acl teachers src 192.168.1.0/255.255.255.0
acl students src 192.168.7.0-192.168.9.0/255.255.255.0
acl lunch time MTWHF 12:00-15:00
http_access allow <acl_name>

http_access defines who is allowed to use the proxy and who can access what on
the Internet. For this, ACLs must be given. localhost and all have already been
defined above, which can deny or allow access via deny or allow. A list containing
any number of http_access entries can be created, processed from top to bottom,
and, depending on which occurs first, access is allowed or denied to the respective
URL. The last entry should always be http_access deny all. In the following exam-
ple, the localhost has free access to everything while all other hosts are denied access
completely.
http_access allow localhost

http_access deny all
In another example using these rules, the group teachers always has access to
the Internet. The group students only gets access Monday to Friday during
lunch time.
http_access deny localhost

http_access allow teachers
http_access allow students lunch time
The list with the http_access entries should only be entered, for the sake of read-
ability, at the designated position in the /etc/squid/squid.conf file. That
is, between the text
# INSERT YOUR OWN RULE(S) HERE TO ALLOW ACCESS FROM YOUR

# CLIENTS

and the last
redirect_program /usr/bin/squidGuard
With this option, specify a redirector such as squidGuard, which allows blocking
unwanted URLs. Internet access can be individually controlled for various user
groups with the help of proxy authentication and the appropriate ACLs. squidGuard
is a separate package that can be installed and configured.
auth_param basic program /usr/sbin/pam_auth

If users must be authenticated on the proxy, set a corresponding program, such as
pam_auth. When accessing pam_auth for the first time, the user sees a login window
in which to enter the username and password. In addition, an ACL is still required,
so only clients with a valid login can use the Internet:
acl password proxy_auth REQUIRED
http_access allow password

The REQUIRED after proxy_auth can be replaced with a list of permitted usernames
or with the path to such a list.
ident_lookup_access allow <acl_name>

With this, have an ident request run for all ACL-defined clients to find each user's
identity. If you apply all to the <acl_name>, this is valid for all clients. Also, an
ident daemon must be running on all clients. For Linux, install the pidentd package
for this purpose. For Microsoft Windows, free software is available for download
from the Internet. To ensure that only clients with a successful ident lookup are
permitted, define a corresponding ACL here:
acl identhosts ident REQUIRED
http_access allow identhosts

Here, too, replace REQUIRED with a list of permitted usernames. Using ident can
slow down the access time quite a bit, because ident lookups are repeated for each
request.

41.5 Configuring a Transparent Proxy
The usual way of working with proxy servers is the following: the Web browser sends
requests to a certain port in the proxy server and the proxy provides these required ob-
jects, whether they are in its cache or not. When working in a network, several situations
may arise:
• For security reasons, it is recommended that all clients use a proxy to surf the Inter-
net.
• All clients must use a proxy, regardless of whether they are aware of it.
• The proxy in a network is moved, but the existing clients should retain their old
configuration.
In all these cases, a transparent proxy may be used. The principle is very easy: the proxy
intercepts and answers the requests of the Web browser, so the Web browser receives
the requested pages without knowing from where they are coming. As the name indicates,
the entire process is done transparently.
41.5.1 Configuration Options in

The options to activate in the /etc/squid/squid.conf file to get the transparent
proxy up and running are:
• httpd_accel_host virtual
• httpd_accel_port 80
The port number where the actual HTTP server is located
• httpd_accel_with_proxy on
• httpd_accel_uses_host_header on

41.5.2 Firewall Configuration with
SuSEfirewall2
Now redirect all incoming requests via the firewall with help of a port forwarding rule
to the Squid port. To do this, use the enclosed tool SuSEfirewall2, described in Sec-
tion 43.4.1, “Configuring the Firewall with YaST” (page 825). Its configuration file can
be found in /etc/sysconfig/SuSEfirewall2. The configuration file consists
of well-documented entries. To set a transparent proxy, you must configure several
firewall options:
• Device pointing to the Internet: FW_DEV_EXT="eth1"
• Device pointing to the network: FW_DEV_INT="eth0"
Define ports and services (see /etc/services) on the firewall that are accessed
from untrusted (external) networks such as the Internet. In this example, only Web
services are offered to the outside:
FW_SERVICES_EXT_TCP="www"
Define ports or services (see /etc/services) on the firewall that are accessed from
the secure (internal) network, both via TCP and UDP:
FW_SERVICES_INT_TCP="domain www 3128"

FW_SERVICES_INT_UDP="domain"
This allows accessing Web services and Squid (whose default port is 3128). The service
“domain” stands for DNS (domain name service). This service is commonly used.
Otherwise, simply take it out of the above entries and set the following option to no:
FW_SERVICE_DNS="yes"
The most important option is option number 15:

Example 41.1 Firewall Configuration: Option 15
# 15.)
# Which accesses to services should be redirected to a local port
# on the firewall machine?
#
# This can be used to force all internal users to surf via your
# Squid proxy, or transparently redirect incoming Web traffic to
# a secure Web server.
#
# Choice: leave empty or use the following explained syntax of
# redirecting rules, separated with spaces.
# A redirecting rule consists of 1) source IP/net,
# 2) destination IP/net, 3) original destination port and
# 4) local port to redirect the traffic to, separated by a colon,
# e.g. "10.0.0.0/8,0/0,80,3128 0/0,172.20.1.1,80,8080"
The comments above show the syntax to follow. First, enter the IP address and the
netmask of the internal networks accessing the proxy firewall. Second, enter the IP
address and the netmask to which these clients send their requests. In the case of Web
browsers, specify the networks 0/0, a wild card that means “to everywhere.” After
that, enter the original port to which these requests are sent and, finally, the port to
which all these requests are redirected. Because Squid supports protocols other than
HTTP, redirect requests from other ports to the proxy, such as FTP (port 21), HTTPS,
or SSL (port 443). In this example, Web services (port 80) are redirected to the proxy
port (port 3128). If there are more networks or services to add, they must be separated
by a blank space in the respective entry.
FW_REDIRECT_TCP="192.168.0.0/16,0/0,80,3128 192.168.0.0/16,0/0,21,3128"
FW_REDIRECT_UDP="192.168.0.0/16,0/0,80,3128 192.168.0.0/16,0/0,21,3128"
To start the firewall and the new configuration with it, change an entry in the /etc/
sysconfig/SuSEfirewall2 file. The entry START_FW must be set to "yes".
Start Squid as shown in Section 41.3, “Starting Squid” (page 785). To check if everything
is working properly, check the Squid logs in /var/log/squid/access.log.
To verify that all ports are correctly configured, perform a port scan on the machine
from any computer outside your network. Only the Web services (port 80) should be
open. To scan the ports with nmap, the command syntax is nmap -O IP_address.

41.6 cachemgr.cgi
The cache manager (cachemgr.cgi) is a CGI utility for displaying statistics about the
memory usage of a running Squid process. It is also a more convenient way to manage
the cache and view statistics without logging the server.
41.6.1 Setup
First, a running Web server on your system is required. Configure Apache as described
in Chapter 40, The Apache HTTP Server (page 741). To check if Apache is already
running, as root enter the command rcapache status. If a message like this ap-
pears:
Checking for service httpd: OK

Server uptime: 1 day 18 hours 29 minutes 39 seconds
Apache is running on the machine. Otherwise, enter rcapache start to start Apache
with the SUSE Linux Enterprise Server default settings. The last step to set it up is to
copy the file cachemgr.cgi to the Apache directory cgi-bin:
cp /usr/share/doc/packages/squid/scripts/cachemgr.cgi /srv/www/cgi-bin/
41.6.2 Cache Manager ACLs in

There are some default settings in the original file required for the cache manager. First,
two ACLs are defined then http_access options use these ACLs to grant access from
the CGI script to Squid. The first ACL is the most important, because the cache manager
tries to communicate with Squid over the cache_object protocol.
acl manager proto cache_object

acl localhost src 127.0.0.1/255.255.255.255
The following rules give Apache the access rights to Squid:
http_access allow manager localhost

http_access deny manager

These rules assume that the Web server and Squid are running on the same machine.
If the communication between the cache manager and Squid originates at the Web
server on another computer, include an extra ACL as in Example 41.2, “Access Rules”
(page 797).
Example 41.2 Access Rules
acl manager proto cache_object

acl localhost src 127.0.0.1/255.255.255.255
acl webserver src 192.168.1.7/255.255.255.255 # webserver IP
Then add the rules in Example 41.3, “Access Rules” (page 797) to permit access from
the Web server.
Example 41.3 Access Rules
http_access allow manager localhost

http_access allow manager webserver
http_access deny manager
Configure a password for the manager for access to more options, like closing the cache
remotely or viewing more information about the cache. For this, configure the entry
cachemgr_passwd with a password for the manager and the list of options to view.
This list appears as a part of the entry comments in /etc/squid/squid.conf.
Restart Squid every time the configuration file is changed. Do this easily with
rcsquid reload.
41.6.3 Viewing the Statistics

Go to the corresponding Web site—http://webserver.example.org/
cgi-bin/cachemgr.cgi. Press continue and browse through the different statistics.
More details for each entry shown by the cache manager is in the Squid FAQ at
http://www.squid-cache.org/Doc/FAQ/FAQ-9.html.

41.7 squidGuard
This section is not intended to explain an extensive configuration of squidGuard, only
to introduce it and give some advice for using it. For more in-depth configuration issues,
refer to the squidGuard Web site at http://www.squidguard.org.
squidGuard is a free (GPL), flexible, and fast filter, redirector, and access controller
plug-in for Squid. It lets you define multiple access rules with different restrictions for
different user groups on a Squid cache. squidGuard uses Squid's standard redirector
interface. squidGuard can do the following:
• Limit the Web access for some users to a list of accepted or well-known Web
servers or URLs.
• Block access to some listed or blacklisted Web servers or URLs for some users.
• Block access to URLs matching a list of regular expressions or words for some
users.
• Redirect blocked URLs to an “intelligent” CGI-based information page.
• Redirect unregistered users to a registration form.
• Redirect banners to an empty GIF.
• Use different access rules based on time of day, day of the week, date, etc.
• Use different rules for different user groups.
squidGuard and Squid cannot be used to:
• Edit, filter, or censor text inside documents.
• Edit, filter, or censor HTML-embedded script languages, such as JavaScript or

VBscript.
Before it can be used, install squidGuard. Provide a minimal configuration file as

/etc/squidguard.conf. Find configuration examples in http://www
.squidguard.org/config/. Experiment later with more complicated configura-
tion settings.

Next, create a dummy “access denied” page or a more or less complex CGI page to
redirect Squid if the client requests a blacklisted Web site. Using Apache is strongly
recommended.
Now, configure Squid to use squidGuard. Use the following entry in the /etc/squid/
squid.conf file:
redirect_program /usr/bin/squidGuard
Another option called redirect_children configures the number of “redirect”

(in this case squidGuard) processes running on the machine. squidGuard is fast enough
to handle many requests: on a 500 MHz Pentium with 5,900 domains and 7,880 URLs
(totaling 13,780), 100,000 requests can be processed within 10 seconds. Therefore, it
is not recommended to set more than four processes, because the allocation of these
processes would consume an excessive amount of memory
redirect_children 4
Last, have Squid load the new configuration by running rcsquid reload. Now, test
your settings with a browser.
41.8 Cache Report Generation with

Calamaris
Calamaris is a Perl script used to generate reports of cache activity in ASCII or HTML
format. It works with native Squid access log files. The Calamaris home page is located
at http://Calamaris.Cord.de/. The program is quite easy to use.
Log in as root then enter cat access.log.files | calamaris options

> reportfile. It is important when piping more than one log file that the log files
are chronologically ordered with older files first. These are some options of the program:
-a
output all available reports
-w
output as HTML report

-l
include a message or logo in report header
More information about the various options can be found in the program's manual page
with man calamaris.
A typical example is:
cat access.log.2 access.log.1 access.log | calamaris -a -w \

> /usr/local/httpd/htdocs/Squid/squidreport.html
This puts the report in the directory of the Web server. Apache is required to view the
reports.
Another powerful cache report generator tool is SARG (Squid Analysis Report Gener-
ator). More information about this is available at: http://sarg.sourceforge
.net/.

Visit the home page of Squid at http://www.squid-cache.org/. Here, find
the “Squid User Guide” and a very extensive collection of FAQs on Squid.
Following the installation, a small HOWTO about transparent proxies is available in

howtoenh as /usr/share/doc/howto/en/txt/TransparentProxy.gz.
In addition, mailing lists are available for Squid at squid-users@squid-cache
.org. The archive for this is located at http://www.squid-cache.org/
mail-archive/squid-users/.

Part V. Security
Managing X.509 Certification
An increasing number of authentication mechanisms are based on cryptographic proce-
42
dures. Digital certificates that assign cryptographic keys to their owners play an important
role in this context. These certificates are used for communication and can also be
found, for example, on company ID cards. The generation and administration of certifi-
cates is mostly handled by official institutions that offer this as a commercial service.
In some cases, however, it may make sense to carry out these tasks yourself, for example,
if a company does not wish to pass personal data to third parties.
YaST provides two modules for certification, which offer basic management functions
for digital X.509 certificates. The following sections explain the basics of digital certi-
fication and how to use YaST to create and administer certificates of this type. For more
detailed information, refer to http://www.ietf.org/html.charters/
pkix-charter.html.
42.1 The Principles of Digital

Certification
Digital certification uses cryptographic processes to encrypt data, protecting the data
from access by unauthorized people. The user data is encrypted using a second data
record, or key. The key is applied to the user data in a mathematical process, producing
an altered data record in which the original content can no longer be identified. Asym-
metrical encryption is now in general use (public key method). Keys always occur in
pairs:
Managing X.509 Certification 803

Private Key
The private key must be kept safely by the key owner. Accidental publication of
the private key compromises the key pair and renders it useless.
Public Key
The key owner circulates the public key for use by third parties.
42.1.1 Key Authenticity

Because the public key process is in widespread use, there are many public keys in
circulation. Successful use of this system requires that every user be sure that a public
key actually belongs to the assumed owner. The assignment of users to public keys is
confirmed by trustworthy organizations with public key certificates. Such certificates
contain the name of the key owner, the corresponding public key, and the electronic
signature of the person issuing the certificate.
Trustworthy organizations that issue and sign public key certificates are usually part
of a certification infrastructure that is also responsible for the other aspects of certificate
management, such as publication, withdrawal, and renewal of certificates. An infras-
tructure of this kind is generally referred to as a public key infrastructure or PKI. One
familiar PKI is the OpenPGP standard in which users publish their certificates them-
selves without central authorization points. These certificates become trustworthy when
signed by other parties in the “web of trust.”
The X.509 Public Key Infrastructure (PKIX) is an alternative model defined by the
IETF (Internet Engineering Task Force) that serves as a model for almost all publicly-
used PKIs today. In this model, authentication is made by certificate authorities (CA)
in a hierarchical tree structure. The root of the tree is the root CA, which certifies all
sub-CAs. The lowest level of sub-CAs issue user certificates. The user certificates are
trustworthy by certification that can be traced to the root CA.
The security of such a PKI depends on the trustworthiness of the CA certificates. To

make certification practices clear to PKI customers, the PKI operator defines a certifi-
cation practice statement (CPS) that defines the procedures for certificate management.
This should ensure that the PKI only issues trustworthy certificates.

42.1.2 X.509 Certificates
An X.509 certificate is a data structure with several fixed fields and, optionally, addi-
tional extensions. The fixed fields mainly contain the name of the key owner, the public
key, and the data relating to the issuing CA (name and signature). For security reasons,
a certificate should only have a limited period of validity, so a field is also provided
for this date. The CA guarantees the validity of the certificate in the specified period.
The CPS usually requires the PKI (the issuing CA) to create and distribute a new cer-
tificate before expiration.
The extensions can contain any additional information. An application is only required
to be able to evaluate an extension if it is identified as critical. If an application does
not recognize a critical extension, it must reject the certificate. Some extensions are
only useful for a specific application, such as signature or encryption.
Table 42.1 shows the fields of a basic X.509 certificate in version 3.
Table 42.1 X.509v3 Certificate
Field Content
Version The version of the certificate, for example, v3
Serial Number Unique certificate ID (an integer)
Signature The ID of the algorithm used to sign the certificate
Issuer Unique name (DN) of the issuing authority (CA)
Validity Period of validity
Subject Unique name (DN) of the owner
Subject Public Key Info Public key of the owner and the ID of the algorithm
Issuer Unique ID Unique ID of the issuing CA (optional)
Subject Unique ID Unique ID of the owner (optional)

Field Content
Extensions Optional additional information, such as “KeyUsage”

or “BasicConstraints”
42.1.3 Blocking X.509 Certificates

If a certificate becomes untrustworthy before it has expired, it must be blocked imme-
diately. This can be needed if, for example, the private key has accidentally been made
public. Blocking certificates is especially important if the private key belongs to a CA
rather than a user certificate. In this case, all user certificates issued by the relevant CA
must be blocked immediately. If a certificate is blocked, the PKI (the responsible CA)
must make this information available to all those involved using a certificate revocation
list (CRL).
These lists are supplied by the CA to public CRL distribution points (CDPs) at regular
intervals. The CDP can optionally be named as an extension in the certificate, so a
checker can fetch a current CRL for validation purposes. One way to do this is the online
certificate status protocol (OCSP). The authenticity of the CRLs is ensured with the
signature of the issuing CA. Table 42.2, “X.509 Certificate Revocation List (CRL)”
(page 806) shows the basic parts of a X.509 CRL.
Table 42.2 X.509 Certificate Revocation List (CRL)
Field Content
Version The version of the CRL, such as v2
Signature The ID of the algorithm used to sign the CRL
Issuer Unique name (DN) of the publisher of the CRL (usually

the issuing CA)
This Update Time of publication (date, time) of this CRL
Next Update Time of publication (date, time) of the next CRL

Field Content
List of revoked certificates Every entry contains the serial number of the certificate,
the time of revocation, and optional extensions (CRL
entry extensions)
Extensions Optional CRL extensions
42.1.4 Repository for Certificates and CRLs

The certificates and CRLs for a CA must be made publicly accessible using a repository.
Because the signature protects the certificates and CRLs from being forged, the repos-
itory itself does not need to be secured in a special way. Instead, it tries to grant the
simplest and fastest access possible. For this reason, certificates are often provided on
an LDAP or HTTP server. Find explanations about LDAP in Chapter 36, LDAP—A
Directory Service (page 663). Chapter 40, The Apache HTTP Server (page 741) contains
information about the HTTP server.
42.1.5 Proprietary PKI

YaST contains modules for the basic management of X.509 certificates. This mainly
involves the creation of CAs, sub-CAs, and their certificates. The services of a PKI go
far beyond simply creating and distributing certificates and CRLs. The operation of a
PKI requires a well-conceived administrative infrastructure allowing continuous update
of certificates and CRLs. This infrastructure is provided by commercial PKI products
and can also be partly automated. YaST provides tools for creating and distributing
CAs and certificates, but cannot currently offer this background infrastructure. To set
up a small PKI, you can use the available YaST modules. However, you should use
commercial products to set up an “official” or commercial PKI.

42.2 YaST Modules for CA
Management
YaST provides two modules for basic CA management. The primary management tasks
with these modules are explained here.
42.2.1 Creating a Root CA

The first step when setting up a PKI is to create a root CA. Do the following:
1 Start YaST and go to Security and Users > CA Management.
2 Click Create Root CA.
3 Enter the basic data for the CA in the first dialog, shown in Figure 42.1, “YaST
CA Module—Basic Data for a Root CA” (page 808). The text fields have the
following meanings:
Figure 42.1 YaST CA Module—Basic Data for a Root CA

CA Name
Enter the technical name of the CA. Directory names, among other things,
are derived from this name, which is why only the characters listed in the
help can be used. The technical name is also displayed in the overview when
the module is started.
Common Name
Enter the name to use to refer to the CA.
E-Mail Addresses
Several e-mail addresses can be entered that can be seen by the CA user.
This can be helpful for inquiries.
Country
Select the country where the CA is operated.
Organisation, Organisational Unit, Locality, State

Optional values
4 Click Next.
5 Enter a password in the second dialog. This password is always required when
using the CA—when creating a sub-CA or generating certificates. The text fields
have the following meaning:
Key Length
Key Length contains a meaningful default and does not generally need to be
changed unless an application cannot deal with this key length.
Valid Period (days)

The Valid Period in the case of a CA defaults to 3650 days (roughly ten
years). This long period makes sense because the replacement of a deleted
CA involves an enormous administrative effort.
Clicking Advanced Options opens a dialog for setting different attributes from
the X.509 extensions (Figure 42.4, “YaST CA Module—Extended Settings”
(page 814)). These values have rational default settings and should only be changed
if you are really sure of what you are doing.
6 YaST displays the current settings for confirmation. Click Create. The root CA
is created then appears in the overview.

TIP
In general, it is best not to allow user certificates to be issued by the root CA.
It is better to create at least one sub-CA and create the user certificates from
there. This has the advantage that the root CA can be kept isolated and secure,
for example, on an isolated computer on secure premises. This makes it very
difficult to attack the root CA.
42.2.2 Creating or Revoking a Sub-CA

A sub-CA is created in exactly the same way as a root CA. Do the following:
1 Start YaST and open the CA module.
2 Select the required CA and click Enter CA.
NOTE
The validity period for a sub-CA must be fully within the validity period
of the “parent” CA. Because a sub-CA is always created after the “parent”
CA, the default value leads to an error message. To avoid this, enter a
permissible value for the period of validity.
3 Enter the password if you entered a CA the first time. YaST displays the CA key
information in the tab Description (see Figure 42.2 ).

Figure 42.2 YaST CA Module—Using a CA
4 Click Advanced and select Create SubCA. This opens the same dialog as for
creating a root CA.
5 Proceed as described in Section 42.2.1, “Creating a Root CA” (page 808).
6 Select the tab Certificates. Reset compromised or otherwise unwanted sub-CAs

here using Revoke. Revocation is not enough to deactivate a sub-CA on its own.
Also publish revoked sub-CAs in a CRL. The creation of CRLs is described in
Section 42.2.5, “Creating CRLs ” (page 815).
7 Finish with Ok
42.2.3 Creating or Revoking User

Certificates
Creating client and server certificates is very similar to the one for creating CAs in
Section 42.2.1, “Creating a Root CA” (page 808). The same principles apply here. In
certificates intended for e-mail signature, the e-mail address of the sender (the private
key owner) should be contained in the certificate to enable the e-mail program to assign
the correct certificate. For certificate assignment during encryption, it is necessary for

the e-mail address of the recipient (the public key owner) to be included in the certificate.
In the case of server and client certificates, the hostname of the server must be entered
in the Common Name field. The default validity period for certificates is 365 days.
To create client and server certificates, do the following:
3 Enter the password if entering a CA for the first time. YaST displays the CA key
information in the Description tab.
4 Click Certificates (see Figure 42.3, “Certificates of a CA” (page 812)).
Figure 42.3 Certificates of a CA
5 Click Add > Add Server Certificate and create a server certificate.
6 Click Add > Add Client Certificate and create a client certificate. Do not forget
to enter an e-mail address.
7 Finish with Ok

To revoke compromised or otherwise unwanted certificates, do the following:
3 Enter the password if entering a CA the first time. YaST displays the CA key
information in the Description tab.
4 Click Certificates (see Section 42.2.2, “Creating or Revoking a Sub-CA”

(page 810).)
5 Select the certificate to revoke and click Revoke.
6 Choose a reason to revoke this certificate
7 Finish with Ok.
NOTE
Revocation alone is not enough to deactivate a certificate. Also publish revoked

certificates in a CRL. Section 42.2.5, “Creating CRLs ” (page 815) explains how
to create CRLs. Revoked certificates can be completely removed after publica-
tion in a CRL with Delete.
42.2.4 Changing Default Values

The previous sections explained how to create sub-CAs, client certificates, and server
certificates. Special settings are used in the extensions of the X.509 certificate. These
settings have been given rational defaults for every certificate type and do not normally
need to be changed. However, it may be that you have special requirements for these
extensions. In this case, it may make sense to adjust the defaults. Otherwise, start from
scratch every time you create a certificate.
2 Enter the required CA, as described in Section 42.2.2, “Creating or Revoking a

Sub-CA” (page 810).

3 Click Advanced > Edit Defaults.
4 Choose the type the settings to change. The dialog for changing the defaults,
shown in Figure 42.4, “YaST CA Module—Extended Settings” (page 814), then
opens.
Figure 42.4 YaST CA Module—Extended Settings
5 Change the associated value on the right side and set or delete the critical setting
with critical.
6 Click Next to see a short summary.
7 Finish your changes with Save.
TIP
All changes to the defaults only affect objects created after this point. Already
existing CAs and certificates remain unchanged.

42.2.5 Creating CRLs
If compromised or otherwise unwanted certificates should be excluded from further
use, they must first be revoked. The procedure for this is explained in Section 42.2.2,
“Creating or Revoking a Sub-CA” (page 810) (for sub-CAs) and Section 42.2.3, “Creating
or Revoking User Certificates” (page 811) (for user certificates). After this, a CRL must
be created and published with this information.
The system maintains only one CRL for each CA. To create or update this CRL, do the
following:
2 Enter the required CA, as described in Section 42.2.2, “Creating or Revoking a

Sub-CA” (page 810).
3 Click CRL. The dialog that opens displays a summary of the last CRL of this
CA.
4 Create a new CRL with Generate CRL if you have revoked new sub-CAs or
certificates since its creation.
5 Specify the period of validity for the new CRL (default: 30 days).
6 Click OK to create and display the CRL. Afterwards, you must publish this CRL.
TIP
Applications that evaluate CRLs reject every certificate if CRL is not available
or expired. As a PKI provider, it is your duty always to create and publish a new
CRL before the current CRL expires (period of validity). YaST does not provide
a function for automating this procedure.
42.2.6 Exporting CA Objects to LDAP

The executing computer should be configured with the YaST LDAP client for LDAP
export. This provides LDAP server information at runtime that can be used when
completing dialog fields. Otherwise, although export may be possible, all LDAP data

must be entered manually. You must always enter several passwords (see Table 42.3,
“Passwords during LDAP Export” (page 816)).
Table 42.3 Passwords during LDAP Export
Password Meaning
LDAP Password Authorizes the user to make entries in the LDAP tree.
Certificate Password Authorizes the user to export the certificate.
New Certificate Password The PKCS12 format is used during LDAP export.
This format forces the assignment of a new password
for the exported certificate.
Certificates, CAs, and CRLs can be exported to LDAP.
Exporting a CA to LDAP
To export a CA, enter the CA as described in Section 42.2.2, “Creating or Revoking
a Sub-CA” (page 810). Select Extended > Export to LDAP in the subsequent dialog,
which opens the dialog for entering LDAP data. If your system has been configured
with the YaST LDAP client, the fields are already partly completed. Otherwise,
enter all the data manually. Entries are made in LDAP in a separate tree with the
attribute “caCertificate”.
Exporting a Certificate to LDAP

Enter the CA containing the certificate to export then select Certificates. Select the
required certificate from the certificate list in the upper part of the dialog and select
Export > Export to LDAP. The LDAP data is entered here in the same way as for
CAs. The certificate is saved with the corresponding user object in the LDAP tree
with the attributes “userCertificate” (PEM format) and “userPKCS12” (PKCS12
format).
Exporting a CRL to LDAP

Enter the CA containing the CRL to export and select CRL. If desired, create a new
CRL and click Export. The dialog that opens displays the export parameters. You
can export the CRL for this CA either once or in periodical time intervals. Activate
the export by selecting Export to LDAP and enter the respective LDAP data. To
do this at regular intervals, select the Repeated recreation and export radio button
and change the interval, if appropriate.

42.2.7 Exporting CA Objects as a File
If you have set up a repository on the computer for administering CAs, you can use this
option to create the CA objects directly as a file at the correct location. Different output
formats are available, such as PEM, DER, and PKCS12. In the case of PEM, it is also
possible to choose whether a certificate should be exported with or without key and
whether the key should be encrypted. In the case of PKCS12, it is also possible to export
the certification path.
Export a file in the same way for certificates, CAs as with LDAP, described in Sec-
tion 42.2.6, “Exporting CA Objects to LDAP ” (page 815), except you should select
Export as File instead of Export to LDAP. This then takes you to a dialog for selecting
the required output format and entering the password and filename. The certificate is
stored at the required location after clicking OK.
For CRLs click Export, select Export to file, choose the export format (PEM or DER)
and enter the path. Proceed with Ok to save it to the respective location.
TIP
You can select any storage location in the file system. This option can also be
used to save CA objects on a transport medium, such as a USB stick. The
/media directory generally holds any type of drive except the hard drive of
your system.
42.2.8 Importing Common Server

Certificates
If you have exported a server certificate with YaST to your media on an isolated CA
management computer, you can import this certificate on a server as a common server
certificate. Do this during installation or at a later point with YaST.
NOTE
You need one of the PKCS12 formats to import your certificate successfully.

The general server certificate is stored in /etc/ssl/servercerts and can be used
there by any CA-supported service. When this certificate expires, it can easily be replaced
using the same mechanisms. To get things functioning with the replaced certificate,
restart the participating services.
TIP
If you select Import here, you can select the source in the file system. This op-
tion can also be used to import certificates from a transport medium, such as
a USB stick.
To import a common server certificate, do the following:
1 Start YaST and open Common Server Certificate under Security and Users
2 View the data for the current certificate in the description field after YaST has
been started.
3 Select Import and the certificate file.
4 Enter the password and click Next. The certificate is imported then displayed in
the description field.
5 Close YaST with Finish.

Masquerading and Firewalls
Whenever Linux is used in a networked environment, you can use the kernel functions
43
that allow the manipulation of network packets to maintain a separation between internal
and external network areas. The Linux netfilter framework provides the means to estab-
lish an effective firewall that keeps different networks apart. With the help of iptables—a
generic table structure for the definition of rule sets—precisely control the packets al-
lowed to pass a network interface. Such a packet filter can be set up quite easily with
the help of SuSEfirewall2 and the corresponding YaST module.
43.1 Packet Filtering with iptables

The components netfilter and iptables are responsible for the filtering and manipulation
of network packets as well as for network address translation (NAT). The filtering cri-
teria and any actions associated with them are stored in chains, which must be matched
one after another by individual network packets as they arrive. The chains to match are
stored in tables. The iptables command allows you to alter these tables and rule
sets.
The Linux kernel maintains three tables, each for a particular category of functions of
the packet filter:
filter
This table holds the bulk of the filter rules, because it implements the packet filtering
mechanism in the stricter sense, which determines whether packets are let through
(ACCEPT) or discarded (DROP), for example.
Masquerading and Firewalls 819

nat
This table defines any changes to the source and target addresses of packets. Using
these functions also allows you to implement masquerading, which is a special
case of NAT used to link a private network with the Internet.
mangle
The rules held in this table make it possible to manipulate values stored in IP
headers (such as the type of service).

Figure 43.1 iptables: A Packet's Possible Paths
PREROUTING
incoming packet
mangle
nat
INPUT
mangle
Routing
filter
FORWARD
Processes
in the local mangle
system
filter
OUTPUT
Routing
mangle
nat
filter
POSTROUTING
mangle
nat
outgoing packet
These tables contain several predefined chains to match packets:

PREROUTING
This chain is applied to incoming packets.
INPUT
This chain is applied to packets destined for the system's internal processes.
FORWARD
This chain is applied to packets that are only routed through the system.
OUTPUT
This chain is applied to packets originating from the system itself.
POSTROUTING
This chain is applied to all outgoing packets.
Figure 43.1, “iptables: A Packet's Possible Paths” (page 821) illustrates the paths along
which a network packet may travel on a given system. For the sake of simplicity, the
figure lists tables as parts of chains, but in reality these chains are held within the tables
themselves.
In the simplest of all possible cases, an incoming packet destined for the system itself
arrives at the eth0 interface. The packet is first referred to the PREROUTING chain
of the mangle table then to the PREROUTING chain of the nat table. The following
step, concerning the routing of the packet, determines that the actual target of the
packet is a process of the system itself. After passing the INPUT chains of the mangle
and the filter table, the packet finally reaches its target, provided that the rules of
the filter table are actually matched.
43.2 Masquerading Basics

Masquerading is the Linux-specific form of NAT (network address translation). It can
be used to connect a small LAN (where hosts use IP addresses from the private
range—see Section 30.1.2, “Netmasks and Routing” (page 547)) with the Internet (where
official IP addresses are used). For the LAN hosts to be able to connect to the Internet,
their private addresses are translated to an official one. This is done on the router, which
acts as the gateway between the LAN and the Internet. The underlying principle is a
simple one: The router has more than one network interface, typically a network card
and a separate interface connecting with the Internet. While the latter links the router
with the outside world, one or several others link it with the LAN hosts. With these

hosts in the local network connected to the network card (such as eth0) of the router,
they can send any packets not destined for the local network to their default gateway
or router.
IMPORTANT: Using the Correct Network Mask
When configuring your network, make sure both the broadcast address and
the netmask are the same for all local hosts. Failing to do so prevents packets
from being routed properly.
As mentioned, whenever one of the LAN hosts sends a packet destined for an Internet
address, it goes to the default router. However, the router must be configured before it
can forward such packets. For security reasons, this is not enabled in a default installa-
tion. To enable it, set the variable IP_FORWARD in the file /etc/sysconfig/
sysctl to IP_FORWARD=yes.
The target host of the connection can see your router, but knows nothing about the host
in your internal network where the packets originated. This is why the technique is
called masquerading. Because of the address translation, the router is the first destination
of any reply packets. The router must identify these incoming packets and translate
their target addresses, so packets can be forwarded to the correct host in the local net-
work.
With the routing of inbound traffic depending on the masquerading table, there is no
way to open a connection to an internal host from the outside. For such a connection,
there would be no entry in the table. In addition, any connection already established
has a status entry assigned to it in the table, so the entry cannot be used by another
connection.
As a consequence of all this, you might experience some problems with a number of
application protocols, such as ICQ, cucme, IRC (DCC, CTCP), and FTP (in PORT
mode). Web browsers, the standard FTP program, and many other programs use the
PASV mode. This passive mode is much less problematic as far as packet filtering and
masquerading are concerned.

43.3 Firewalling Basics
Firewall is probably the term most widely used to describe a mechanism that provides
and manages a link between networks while also controlling the data flow between
them. Strictly speaking, the mechanism described in this section is called a packet filter.
A packet filter regulates the data flow according to certain criteria, such as protocols,
ports, and IP addresses. This allows you to block packets that, according to their ad-
dresses, are not supposed to reach your network. To allow public access to your Web
server, for example, explicitly open the corresponding port. However, a packet filter
does not scan the contents of packets with legitimate addresses, such as those directed
to your Web server. For example, if incoming packets were intended to compromise a
CGI program on your Web server, the packet filter would still let them through.
A more effective but more complex mechanism is the combination of several types of
systems, such as a packet filter interacting with an application gateway or proxy. In
this case, the packet filter rejects any packets destined for disabled ports. Only packets
directed to the application gateway are accepted. This gateway or proxy pretends to be
the actual client of the server. In a sense, such a proxy could be considered a masquerad-
ing host on the protocol level used by the application. One example for such a proxy
is Squid, an HTTP proxy server. To use Squid, the browser must be configured to
communicate via the proxy. Any HTTP pages requested are served from the proxy
cache and pages not found in the cache are fetched from the Internet by the proxy. As
another example, the SUSE proxy suite (proxy-suite) provides a proxy for the FTP
protocol.
The following section focuses on the packet filter that comes with SUSE Linux Enter-
prise. For further information about packet filtering and firewalling, read the Firewall
HOWTO included in the howto package. If this package is installed, read the HOWTO
with
less /usr/share/doc/howto/en/txt/Firewall-HOWTO.gz
43.4 SuSEfirewall2
SuSEfirewall2 is a script that reads the variables set in /etc/sysconfig/
SuSEfirewall2 to generate a set of iptables rules. It defines three security zones,
although only the first and the second one are considered in the following sample con-
figuration:

External Zone
Given that there is no way to control what is happening on the external network,
the host needs to be protected from it. In most cases, the external network is the
Internet, but it could be another insecure network, such as a WLAN.
Internal Zone
This refers to the private network, in most cases the LAN. If the hosts on this net-
work use IP addresses from the private range (see Section 30.1.2, “Netmasks and
Routing” (page 547)), enable network address translation (NAT), so hosts on the
internal network can access the external one.
Demilitarized Zone (DMZ)

While hosts located in this zone can be reached both from the external and the in-
ternal network, they cannot access the internal network themselves. This setup can
be used to put an additional line of defense in front of the internal network, because
the DMZ systems are isolated from the internal network.
Any kind of network traffic not explicitly allowed by the filtering rule set is suppressed
by iptables. Therefore, each of the interfaces with incoming traffic must be placed into
one of the three zones. For each of the zones, define the services or protocols allowed.
The rule set is only applied to packets originating from remote hosts. Locally generated
packets are not captured by the firewall.
The configuration can be performed with YaST (see Section 43.4.1, “Configuring the
Firewall with YaST” (page 825)). It can also be made manually in the file /etc/
sysconfig/SuSEfirewall2, which is well commented. Additionally, a number
of example scenarios are available in /usr/share/doc/packages/
SuSEfirewall2/EXAMPLES.
43.4.1 Configuring the Firewall with YaST

IMPORTANT: Automatic Firewall Configuration
After the installation, YaST automatically starts a firewall on all configured in-
terfaces. If a server is configured and activated on the system, YaST can modify
the automatically-generated firewall configuration with the options Open Ports
on Selected Interface in Firewall or Open Ports on Firewall in the server configu-
ration modules. Some server module dialogs include a Firewall Details button

for activating additional services and ports. The YaST firewall configuration
module can be used to activate, deactivate, or reconfigure the firewall.
The YaST dialogs for the graphical configuration can be accessed from the YaST
Control Center. Select Security and Users > Firewall. The configuration is divided into
seven sections that can be accessed directly from the tree structure on the left side.
Start-Up
Set the start-up behavior in this dialog. In a default installation, SuSEfirewall2 is
started automatically. You can also start and stop the firewall here. To implement
your new settings in a running firewall, use Save Settings and Restart Firewall
Now.
Interfaces
All known network interfaces are listed here. To remove an interface from a zone,
select the interface, press Change, and choose No Zone Assigned. To add an interface
to a zone, select the interface, press Change and choose any of the available zones.
You may also create a special interface with your own settings by using Custom.
Allowed Services
You need this option to offer services from your system to a zone from which it is
protected. By default, the system is only protected from external zones. Explicitly
allow the services that should be available to external hosts. After selecting the
desired zone in Allowed Services for Selected Zone, activate the services from the
list.
Masquerading
Masquerading hides your internal network from external networks, such as the In-
ternet, while enabling hosts in the internal network to access the external network
transparently. Requests from the external network to the internal one are blocked
and requests from the internal network seem to be issued by the masquerading
server when seen externally. If special services of an internal machine need to be
available to the external network, add special redirect rules for the service.
Broadcast
In this dialog, configure the UDP ports that allow broadcasts. Add the required
port numbers or services to the appropriate zone, separated by spaces. See also the
file /etc/services.

The logging of broadcasts that are not accepted can be enabled here. This may be
problematic, because Windows hosts use broadcasts to know about each other and
so generate many packets that are not accepted.
IPsec Support
Configure whether the IPsec service should be available to the external network in
this dialog. Configure which packets are trusted under Details.
Logging Level
There are two rules for the logging: accepted and not accepted packets. Packets
that are not accepted are DROPPED or REJECTED. Select from Log All, Log
Only Critical, or Do Not Log Any for both of them.
When completed with the firewall configuration, exit this dialog with Next. A zone-
oriented summary of your firewall configuration then opens. In it, check all settings.
All services, ports, and protocols that have been allowed are listed in this summary. To
modify the configuration, use Back. Press Accept to save your configuration.
43.4.2 Configuring Manually

The following paragraphs provide step-by-step instructions for a successful configura-
tion. Each configuration item is marked as to whether it is relevant to firewalling or
masquerading. Use port range (e.g., 500:510) whenever appropriate. Aspects related
to the DMZ (demilitarized zone) as mentioned in the configuration file are not covered
here. They are applicable only to a more complex network infrastructure found in
larger organizations (corporate networks), which require extensive configuration and
in-depth knowledge about the subject.
First, use the YaST module System Services (Runlevel) to enable SuSEfirewall2 in
your runlevel (3 or 5 most likely). It sets the symlinks for the SuSEfirewall2_* scripts
in the /etc/init.d/rc?.d/ directories.
FW_DEV_EXT (firewall, masquerading)

The device linked to the Internet. For a modem connection, enter ppp0. For an
ISDN link, use ippp0. DSL connections use dsl0. Specify auto to use the in-
terface that corresponds to the default route.

FW_DEV_INT (firewall, masquerading)
The device linked to the internal, private network (such as eth0). Leave this blank
if there is no internal network and the firewall protects only the host on which it
runs.
FW_ROUTE (firewall, masquerading)

If you need the masquerading function, set this to yes. Your internal hosts will
not be visible to the outside, because their private network addresses (e.g.,
192.168.x.x) are ignored by Internet routers.
For a firewall without masquerading, only set this to yes if you want to allow access
to the internal network. Your internal hosts need to use officially registered IP ad-
dresses in this case. Normally, however, you should not allow access to your internal
network from the outside.
FW_MASQUERADE (masquerading)
Set this to yes if you need the masquerading function. This provides a virtually
direct connection to the Internet for the internal hosts. It is more secure to have a
proxy server between the hosts of the internal network and the Internet. Masquerad-
ing is not needed for services a proxy server provides.
FW_MASQ_NETS (masquerading)
Specify the hosts or networks to masquerade, leaving a space between the individ-
ual entries. For example:
FW_MASQ_NETS="192.168.0.0/24 192.168.10.1"
FW_PROTECT_FROM_INT (firewall)
Set this to yes to protect your firewall host from attacks originating in your internal
network. Services are only available to the internal network if explicitly enabled.
Also see FW_SERVICES_INT_TCP and FW_SERVICES_INT_UDP.
FW_SERVICES_EXT_TCP (firewall)
Enter the TCP ports that should be made available. Leave this blank for a normal
workstation at home that should not offer any services.
FW_SERVICES_EXT_UDP (firewall)
Leave this blank unless you run a UDP service and want to make it available to
the outside. The services that use UDP include DNS servers, IPsec, TFTP, DHCP
and others. In that case, enter the UDP ports to use.

FW_SERVICES_INT_TCP (firewall)
With this variable, define the services available for the internal network. The nota-
tion is the same as for FW_SERVICES_EXT_TCP, but the settings are applied to
the internal network. The variable only needs to be set if
FW_PROTECT_FROM_INT is set to yes.
FW_SERVICES_INT_UDP (firewall)
See FW_SERVICES_INT_TCP.
After configuring the firewall, test your setup. The firewall rule sets are created by en-
tering SuSEfirewall2 start as root. Then use telnet, for example, from an
external host to see whether the connection is actually denied. After that, review /var/
log/messages, where you should see something like this:
Mar 15 13:21:38 linux kernel: SFW2-INext-DROP-DEFLT IN=eth0
OUT= MAC=00:80:c8:94:c3:e7:00:a0:c9:4d:27:56:08:00 SRC=192.168.10.0
DST=192.168.10.1 LEN=60 TOS=0x10 PREC=0x00 TTL=64 ID=15330 DF PROTO=TCP
SPT=48091 DPT=23 WINDOW=5840 RES=0x00 SYN URGP=0
OPT (020405B40402080A061AFEBC0000000001030300)
Other packages to test your firewall setup are nmap or nessus. The documentation of
nmap is found at /usr/share/doc/packages/nmap and the documentation of
nessus resides in the directory /usr/share/doc/packages/nessus-core
after installing the respective package.

The most up-to-date information and other documentation about the SuSEfirewall2
package is found in /usr/share/doc/packages/SuSEfirewall2. The home
page of the netfilter and iptables project, http://www.netfilter.org, provides
a large collection of documents in many languages.

SSH: Secure Network
Operations
With more and more computers installed in networked environments, it often becomes
44
necessary to access hosts from a remote location. This normally means that a user sends
login and password strings for authentication purposes. As long as these strings are
transmitted as plain text, they could be intercepted and misused to gain access to that
user account without the authorized user even knowing about it. Apart from the fact
that this would open all the user's files to an attacker, the illegal account could be used
to obtain administrator or root access or to penetrate other systems. In the past, remote
connections were established with telnet, which offers no guards against eavesdropping
in the form of encryption or other security mechanisms. There are other unprotected
communication channels, like the traditional FTP protocol and some remote copying
programs.
The SSH suite provides the necessary protection by encrypting the authentication strings
(usually a login name and a password) and all the other data exchanged between the
hosts. With SSH, the data flow could still be recorded by a third party, but the contents
are encrypted and cannot be reverted to plain text unless the encryption key is known.
So SSH enables secure communication over insecure networks, such as the Internet.
The SSH flavor that comes with SUSE Linux Enterprise is OpenSSH.
44.1 The OpenSSH Package

SUSE Linux Enterprise installs the package OpenSSH by default. The programs ssh,
scp, and sftp are then available as alternatives to telnet, rlogin, rsh, rcp, and ftp. In the
default configuration, system access of a SUSE Linux Enterprise system is only possible
with the OpenSSH utilities and only if the firewall permits access.
SSH: Secure Network Operations 831

44.2 The ssh Program
Using the ssh program, it is possible to log in to remote systems and work interactively.
It replaces both telnet and rlogin. The slogin program is just a symbolic link pointing
to ssh. For example, log in to the host sun with the command ssh sun. The host then
prompts for the password on sun.
After successful authentication, you can work on the remote command line or use inter-
active applications, such as YaST. If the local username is different from the remote
username, you can log in using a different login name with ssh -l augustine
sun or ssh augustine@sun.
Furthermore, ssh offers the possibility to run commands on remote systems, as known
from rsh. In the following example, run the command uptime on the host sun and
create a directory with the name tmp. The program output is displayed on the local
terminal of the host earth.
ssh otherplanet "uptime; mkdir tmp"

Password:
1:21pm up 2:17, 9 users, load average: 0.15, 0.04, 0.02
Quotation marks are necessary here to send both instructions with one command. It is
only by doing this that the second command is executed on sun.
44.3 scp—Secure Copy

scp copies files to a remote machine. It is a secure and encrypted substitute for rcp. For
example, scp MyLetter.tex sun: copies the file MyLetter.tex from the host
earth to the host sun. If the username on earth is different than the username on sun,
specify the latter using the username@host format. There is no -l option for this
command.
After the correct password is entered, scp starts the data transfer and shows a growing
row of asterisks to simulate a progress bar. In addition, the program displays the esti-
mated time of arrival to the right of the progress bar. Suppress all output by giving the
option -q.

scp also provides a recursive copying feature for entire directories. The command
scp -r src/ sun:backup/ copies the entire contents of the directory src includ-
ing all subdirectories to the backup directory on the host sun. If this subdirectory does
not exist yet, it is created automatically.
The option -p tells scp to leave the time stamp of files unchanged. -C compresses the
data transfer. This minimizes the data volume to transfer, but creates a heavier burden
on the processor.
44.4 sftp—Secure File Transfer

The sftp program can be used instead of scp for secure file transfer. During an sftp
session, you can use many of the commands known from ftp. The sftp program may
be a better choice than scp, especially when transferring data for which the filenames
are unknown.
44.5 The SSH Daemon

(sshd)—Server-Side
To work with the SSH client programs ssh and scp, a server, the SSH daemon, must
be running in the background, listening for connections on TCP/IP port 22. The
daemon generates three key pairs when starting for the first time. Each key pair consist
of a private and a public key. Therefore, this procedure is referred to as public key–based.
To guarantee the security of the communication via SSH, access to the private key files
must be restricted to the system administrator. The file permissions are set accordingly
by the default installation. The private keys are only required locally by the SSH daemon
and must not be given to anyone else. The public key components (recognizable by the
name extension .pub) are sent to the client requesting the connection. They are readable
for all users.
A connection is initiated by the SSH client. The waiting SSH daemon and the requesting
SSH client exchange identification data to compare the protocol and software versions
and to prevent connections through the wrong port. Because a child process of the
original SSH daemon replies to the request, several SSH connections can be made si-
multaneously.

For the communication between SSH server and SSH client, OpenSSH supports ver-
sions 1 and 2 of the SSH protocol. Version 2 of the SSH protocol is used by default.
Override this to use version 1 of the protocol with the -1 switch. To continue using
version 1 after a system update, follow the instructions in /usr/share/doc/
packages/openssh/README.SuSE. This document also describes how an SSH 1
environment can be transformed into a working SSH 2 environment with just a few
steps.
When using version 1 of SSH, the server sends its public host key and a server key,
which is regenerated by the SSH daemon every hour. Both allow the SSH client to en-
crypt a freely chosen session key, which is sent to the SSH server. The SSH client also
tells the server which encryption method (cipher) to use.
Version 2 of the SSH protocol does not require a server key. Both sides use an algorithm
according to Diffie-Helman to exchange their keys.
The private host and server keys are absolutely required to decrypt the session key and
cannot be derived from the public parts. Only the SSH daemon contacted can decrypt
the session key using its private keys (see man
/usr/share/doc/packages/openssh/RFC.nroff). This initial connection
phase can be watched closely by turning on the verbose debugging option -v of the
SSH client.
The client stores all public host keys in ~/.ssh/known_hosts after its first contact
with a remote host. This prevents any man-in-the-middle attacks—attempts by foreign
SSH servers to use spoofed names and IP addresses. Such attacks are detected either
by a host key that is not included in ~/.ssh/known_hosts or by the server's inabil-
ity to decrypt the session key in the absence of an appropriate private counterpart.
It is recommended to back up the private and public keys stored in /etc/ssh/ in a

secure, external location. In this way, key modifications can be detected and the old
ones can be used again after a reinstallation. This spares users any unsettling warnings.
If it is verified that, despite the warning, it is indeed the correct SSH server, the existing
entry for the system must be removed from ~/.ssh/known_hosts.
44.6 SSH Authentication Mechanisms

Now the actual authentication takes place, which, in its simplest form, consists of enter-
ing a password as mentioned above. The goal of SSH was to introduce a secure software

that is also easy to use. Because it is meant to replace rsh and rlogin, SSH must also be
able to provide an authentication method appropriate for daily use. SSH accomplishes
this by way of another key pair, which is generated by the user. The SSH package
provides a helper program for this: ssh-keygen. After entering ssh-keygen -t rsa
or ssh-keygen -t dsa, the key pair is generated and you are prompted for the base
filename in which to store the keys.
Confirm the default setting and answer the request for a passphrase. Even if the software
suggests an empty passphrase, a text from 10 to 30 characters is recommended for the
procedure described here. Do not use short and simple words or phrases. Confirm by
repeating the passphrase. Subsequently, you will see where the private and public keys
are stored, in this example, the files id_rsa and id_rsa.pub.
Use ssh-keygen -p -t rsa or ssh-keygen -p -t dsa to change your old

passphrase. Copy the public key component (id_rsa.pub in the example) to the re-
mote machine and save it to ~/.ssh/authorized_keys. You will be asked to
authenticate yourself with your passphrase the next time you establish a connection. If
this does not occur, verify the location and contents of these files.
In the long run, this procedure is more troublesome than giving your password each
time. Therefore, the SSH package provides another tool, ssh-agent, which retains the
private keys for the duration of an X session. The entire X session is started as a child
process of ssh-agent. The easiest way to do this is to set the variable usessh at the
beginning of the .xsession file to yes and log in via a display manager, such as
KDM or XDM. Alternatively, enter ssh-agent startx.
Now you can use ssh or scp as usual. If you have distributed your public key as described
above, you are no longer prompted for your password. Take care of terminating your
X session or locking it with a password protection application, such as xlock.
All the relevant changes that resulted from the introduction of version 2 of the SSH
protocol are also documented in the file /usr/share/doc/packages/openssh/
README.SuSE.

44.7 X, Authentication, and
Forwarding Mechanisms
Beyond the previously described security-related improvements, SSH also simplifies
the use of remote X applications. If you run ssh with the option -X, the DISPLAY
variable is automatically set on the remote machine and all X output is exported to the
remote machine over the existing SSH connection. At the same time, X applications
started remotely and locally viewed with this method cannot be intercepted by unautho-
rized individuals.
By adding the option -A, the ssh-agent authentication mechanism is carried over to the
next machine. This way, you can work from different machines without having to enter
a password, but only if you have distributed your public key to the destination hosts
and properly saved it there.
Both mechanisms are deactivated in the default settings, but can be permanently acti-
vated at any time in the systemwide configuration file /etc/ssh/sshd_config
or the user's ~/.ssh/config.
ssh can also be used to redirect TCP/IP connections. In the examples below, SSH is
told to redirect the SMTP and the POP3 port, respectively:
ssh -L 25:sun:25 earth
With this command, any connection directed to earth port 25 (SMTP) is redirected to
the SMTP port on sun via an encrypted channel. This is especially useful for those using
SMTP servers without SMTP-AUTH or POP-before-SMTP features. From any arbitrary
location connected to a network, e-mail can be transferred to the “home” mail server
for delivery. Similarly, all POP3 requests (port 110) on earth can be forwarded to the
POP3 port of sun with this command:
ssh -L 110:sun:110 earth
Both commands must be executed as root, because the connection is made to privileged
local ports. E-mail is sent and retrieved by normal users in an existing SSH connection.
The SMTP and POP3 host must be set to localhost for this to work. Additional in-
formation can be found in the manual pages for each of the programs described above
and also in the files under /usr/share/doc/packages/openssh.

Network
Authentication—Kerberos
An open network provides no means to ensure that a workstation can identify its users
45
properly except the usual password mechanisms. In common installations, the user
must enter the password each time a service inside the network is accessed. Kerberos
provides an authentication method with which a user registers once then is trusted in
the complete network for the rest of the session. To have a secure network, the following
requirements must be met:
• Have all users prove their identity for each desired service and make sure that no
one can take the identity of someone else.
• Make sure that each network server also proves its identity. Otherwise an attacker
might be able to impersonate the server and obtain sensitive information transmitted
to the server. This concept is called mutual authentication, because the client au-
thenticates to the server and vice versa.
Kerberos helps you meet these requirements by providing strongly encrypted authenti-
cation. The following shows how this is achieved. Only the basic principles of Kerberos
are discussed here. For detailed technical instruction, refer to the documentation provided
with your implementation of Kerberos.
45.1 Kerberos Terminology

The following glossary defines some Kerberos terminology.
Network Authentication—Kerberos 837

credential
Users or clients need to present some kind of credentials that authorize them to re-
quest services. Kerberos knows two kinds of credentials—tickets and authenticators.
ticket
A ticket is a per-server credential used by a client to authenticate at a server from
which it is requesting a service. It contains the name of the server, the client's name,
the client's Internet address, a time stamp, a lifetime, and a random session key.
All this data is encrypted using the server's key.
authenticator
Combined with the ticket, an authenticator is used to prove that the client presenting
a ticket is really the one it claims to be. An authenticator is built of the client's
name, the workstation's IP address, and the current workstation's time all encrypted
with the session key only known to the client and the server from which it is re-
questing a service. An authenticator can only be used once, unlike a ticket. A client
can build an authenticator itself.
principal
A Kerberos principal is a unique entity (a user or service) to which it can assign a
ticket. A principal consists of the following components:
• Primary—the first part of the principal, which can be the same as your username
in the case of a user.
• Instance—some optional information characterizing the primary. This string is

separated from the primary by a /.
• Realm—this specifies your Kerberos realm. Normally, your realm is your domain
name in uppercase letters.
mutual authentication
Kerberos ensures that both client and server can be sure of each others identity.
They share a session key, which they can use to communicate securely.
session key
Session keys are temporary private keys generated by Kerberos. They are known
to the client and used to encrypt the communication between the client and the
server for which it requested and received a ticket.

replay
Almost all messages sent in a network can be eavesdropped, stolen, and resent. In
the Kerberos context, this would be most dangerous if an attacker manages to obtain
your request for a service containing your ticket and authenticator. He could then
try to resend it (replay) to impersonate you. However, Kerberos implements several
mechanisms to deal with that problem.
server or service
Service is used to refer to a specific action to perform. The process behind this action
is referred to as a server.
45.2 How Kerberos Works

Kerberos is often called a third party trusted authentication service, which means all
its clients trust Kerberos's judgment of another client's identity. Kerberos keeps a
database of all its users and their private keys.
To ensure Kerberos is worth all the trust put in it, run both the authentication and ticket-
granting server on a dedicated machine. Make sure that only the administrator can access
this machine physically and over the network. Reduce the (networking) services run
on it to the absolute minimum—do not even run sshd.
45.2.1 First Contact

Your first contact with Kerberos is quite similar to any login procedure at a normal
networking system. Enter your username. This piece of information and the name of
the ticket-granting service are sent to the authentication server (Kerberos). If the authen-
tication server knows about your existence, it generates a random session key for further
use between your client and the ticket-granting server. Now the authentication server
prepares a ticket for the ticket-granting server. The ticket contains the following infor-
mation—all encrypted with a session key only the authentication server and the ticket-
granting server know:
• The names both of the client and the ticket-granting server
• The current time
• A lifetime assigned to this ticket

• The client's IP address
• The newly-generated session key
This ticket is then sent back to the client together with the session key, again in encrypted
form, but this time the private key of the client is used. This private key is only known
to Kerberos and the client, because it is derived from your user password. Now that the
client has received this response, you are prompted for your password. This password
is converted into the key that can decrypt the package sent by the authentication server.
The package is “unwrapped” and password and key are erased from the workstation's
memory. As long as the lifetime given to the ticket used to obtain other tickets does
not expire, your workstation can prove your identity.
45.2.2 Requesting a Service

To request a service from any server in the network, the client application needs to
prove its identity to the server. Therefore, the application generates an authenticator.
An authenticator consists of the following components:
• The client's principal
• A checksum (chosen by the client)
All this information is encrypted using the session key that the client has already received
for this special server. The authenticator and the ticket for the server are sent to the
server. The server uses its copy of the session key to decrypt the authenticator, which
gives it all information needed about the client requesting its service to compare it to
that contained in the ticket. The server checks if the ticket and the authenticator originate
from the same client.
Without any security measures implemented on the server side, this stage of the process
would be an ideal target for replay attacks. Someone could try to resend a request stolen
off the net some time before. To prevent this, the server does not accept any request
with a time stamp and ticket received previously. In addition to that, a request with a
time stamp differing too much from the time the request is received is ignored.

45.2.3 Mutual Authentication
Kerberos authentication can be used in both directions. It is not only a question of the
client being the one it claims to be. The server should also be able to authenticate itself
to the client requesting its service. Therefore, it sends some kind of authenticator itself.
It adds one to the checksum it received in the client's authenticator and encrypts it with
the session key, which is shared between it and the client. The client takes this response
as a proof of the server's authenticity and they both start cooperating.
45.2.4 Ticket Granting—Contacting All

Servers
Tickets are designed to be used for one server at a time. This implies that you have to
get a new ticket each time you request another service. Kerberos implements a mecha-
nism to obtain tickets for individual servers. This service is called the “ticket-granting
service”. The ticket-granting service is a service just like any other service mentioned
before, so uses the same access protocols that have already been outlined. Any time an
application needs a ticket that has not already been requested, it contacts the ticket-
granting server. This request consists of the following components:
• The requested principal
• The ticket-granting ticket
• An authenticator
Like any other server, the ticket-granting server now checks the ticket-granting ticket
and the authenticator. If they are considered valid, the ticket-granting server builds a
new session key to be used between the original client and the new server. Then the
ticket for the new server is built, containing the following information:
• The client's principal
• The server's principal

• The newly-generated session key
The new ticket is assigned a lifetime, which is the lesser of the remaining lifetime of
the ticket-granting ticket and the default for the service. The client receives this ticket
and the session key, which are sent by the ticket-granting service, but this time the answer
is encrypted with the session key that came with the original ticket-granting ticket. The
client can decrypt the response without requiring the user's password when a new service
is contacted. Kerberos can thus acquire ticket after ticket for the client without bothering
the user more than once at login time.
45.2.5 Compatibility to Windows 2000

Windows 2000 contains a Microsoft implementation of Kerberos 5. Because SUSE
Linux Enterprise® uses the MIT implementation of Kerberos 5, find useful information
and guidance in the MIT documentation. See Section 45.4, “For More Information”
(page 843).
45.3 Users' View of Kerberos

Ideally, a user's one and only contact with Kerberos happens during login at the work-
station. The login process includes obtaining a ticket-granting ticket. At logout, a user's
Kerberos tickets are automatically destroyed, which makes it difficult for anyone else
to impersonate this user. The automatic expiration of tickets can lead to a somewhat
awkward situation when a user's login session lasts longer than the maximum lifespan
given to the ticket-granting ticket (a reasonable setting is 10 hours). However, the user
can get a new ticket-granting ticket by running kinit. Enter the password again and
Kerberos obtains access to desired services without additional authentication. To get a
list of all the tickets silently acquired for you by Kerberos, run klist.
Here is a short list of some applications that use Kerberos authentication. These appli-
cations can be found under /usr/lib/mit/bin or /usr/lib/mit/sbin. They
all have the full functionality of their common UNIX and Linux brothers plus the addi-
tional bonus of transparent authentication managed by Kerberos:
• telnet, telnetd
• rlogin

• rsh, rcp, rshd
• ftp, ftpd
• ksu
You no longer have to enter your password for using these applications because Kerberos
has already proven your identity. ssh, if compiled with Kerberos support, can even
forward all the tickets acquired for one workstation to another one. If you use ssh to
log in to another workstation, ssh makes sure that the encrypted contents of the tickets
are adjusted to the new situation. Simply copying tickets between workstations is not
sufficient because the ticket contains workstation-specific information (the IP address).
XDM, GDM, and KDM offer Kerberos support, too. Read more about the Kerberos
network applications in Kerberos V5 UNIX User's Guide at http://web.mit.edu/
kerberos

The official site of the MIT Kerberos is http://web.mit.edu/kerberos. There,
find links to any other relevant resource concerning Kerberos, including Kerberos in-
stallation, user, and administration guides.
The paper at ftp://athena-dist.mit.edu/pub/kerberos/doc/usenix

.PS gives quite an extensive insight to the basic principles of Kerberos without being
too difficult to read. It also provides a lot of opportunities for further investigation and
reading about Kerberos.
The official Kerberos FAQ is available at http://www.nrl.navy.mil/CCS/

people/kenh/kerberos-faq.html. The book Kerberos—A Network Authenti-
cation System by Brian Tung (ISBN 0-201-37924-4) offers extensive information.

Installing and Administering
Kerberos
This section covers the installation of the MIT Kerberos implementation as well as
46
some aspects of administration. This section assumes you are familiar with the basic
concepts of Kerberos (see also Chapter 45, Network Authentication—Kerberos
(page 837)).
46.1 Choosing the Kerberos Realms

The domain of a Kerberos installation is called a realm and is identified by a name,
such as FOOBAR.COM or simply ACCOUNTING. Kerberos is case-sensitive, so
foobar.com is actually a different realm than FOOBAR.COM. Use the case you prefer.
It is common practice, however, to use uppercase realm names.
It is also a good idea to use your DNS domain name (or a subdomain, such as
ACCOUNTING.FOOBAR.COM). As shown below, your life as an administrator can be
much easier if you configure your Kerberos clients to locate the KDC and other Kerberos
services via DNS. To do so, it is helpful if your realm name is a subdomain of your
DNS domain name.
Unlike the DNS name space, Kerberos is not hierarchical. You cannot set up a realm
named FOOBAR.COM, have two “subrealms” named DEVELOPMENT and ACCOUNTING
underneath it, and expect the two subordinate realms to somehow inherit principals
from FOOBAR.COM. Instead, you would have three separate realms for which you
would have to configure crossrealm authentication for users from one realm to interact
with servers or other users from another realm.
Installing and Administering Kerberos 845

For the sake of simplicity, assume you are setting up just one realm for your entire or-
ganization. For the remainder of this section, the realm name EXAMPLE.COM is used
in all examples.
46.2 Setting Up the KDC Hardware

The first thing required to use Kerberos is a machine that acts as the key distribution
center, or KDC for short. This machine holds the entire Kerberos user database with
passwords and all information.
The KDC is the most important part of your security infrastructure—if someone breaks
into it, all user accounts and all of your infrastructure protected by Kerberos is compro-
mised. An attacker with access to the Kerberos database can impersonate any principal
in the database. Tighten security for this machine as much as possible:
1 Put the server machine into a physically secured location, such as a locked server
room to which only a very few people have access.
2 Do not run any network applications on it except the KDC. This includes servers
and clients—for example, the KDC should not import any file systems via NFS
or use DHCP to retrieve its network configuration.
3 Install a minimal system first then check the list of installed packages and remove
any unneeded packages. This includes servers, such as inetd, portmap, and cups,
as well as anything X-based. Even installing an SSH server should be considered
a potential security risk.
4 No graphical login is provided on this machine as an X server is a potential secu-

rity risk. Kerberos provides its own administration interface.
5 Configure /etc/nsswitch.conf to use only local files for user and group
lookup. Change the lines for passwd and group to look like this:
passwd: files
group: files
Edit the passwd, group, shadow, and gshadow files in /etc and remove
the lines that start with a + character (these are for NIS lookups).

6 Disable all user accounts except root's account by editing /etc/shadow and
replacing the hashed passwords with * or ! characters.
46.3 Clock Synchronization

To use Kerberos successfully, make sure that all system clocks within your organization
are synchronized within a certain range. This is important because Kerberos protects
against replayed credentials. An attacker might be able to observe Kerberos credentials
on the network and reuse them to attack the server. Kerberos employs several defenses
to prevent this. One of them is that it puts time stamps into its tickets. A server receiving
a ticket with a time stamp that differs from the current time rejects the ticket.
Kerberos allows a certain leeway when comparing time stamps. However, computer
clocks can be very inaccurate in keeping time—it is not unheard of for PC clocks to
lose or gain half an hour over the course of a week. For this reason, configure all hosts
on the network to synchronize their clocks with a central time source.
A simple way to do so is by installing an NTP time server on one machine and having
all clients synchronize their clocks with this server. Do this either by running an NTP
daemon in client mode on all these machines or by running ntpdate once a day from
all clients (this solution probably works for a small number of clients only). The KDC
itself needs to be synchronized to the common time source as well. Because running
an NTP daemon on this machine would be a security risk, it is probably a good idea to
do this by running ntpdate via a cron entry. To configure your machine as an NTP
client, proceed as outlined in Section 32.1, “Configuring an NTP Client with YaST”
(page 605).
It is also possible to adjust the maximum deviation Kerberos allows when checking
time stamps. This value (called clock skew) can be set in the krb5.conf file as de-
scribed in Section 46.5.3, “Adjusting the Clock Skew” (page 853).
46.4 Configuring the KDC

This section covers the initial configuration and installation of the KDC, including the
creation of an administrative principal. This procedure is consists of several steps:

1 Install the RPMs On a machine designated as the KDC, install special soft-
ware packages. See Section 46.4.1, “Installing the RPMs” (page 848) for details.
2 Adjust the Configuration Files The configuration files /etc/krb5.conf

and /var/lib/kerberos/krb5kdc/kdc.conf must be adjusted for your
scenario. These files contain all information on the KDC.
3 Create the Kerberos Database Kerberos keeps a database of all principal

identifiers and the secret keys of all principals that need to be authenticated.
4 Adjust the ACL Files: Add Administrators The Kerberos database on the
KDC can be managed remotely. To prevent unauthorized principals from tamper-
ing with the database, Kerberos uses access control lists. You must explicitly
enable remote access for the administrator principal to enable him to manage the
database.
5 Adjust the Kerberos Database: Add Administrators You need at least one
administrative principal to run and administer Kerberos. This principal must be
added before starting the KDC.
6 Start the Kerberos Daemon Once the KDC software is installed and properly
configured, start the Kerberos daemon to provide Kerberos service for your realm.
7 Create a Principal for Yourself
46.4.1 Installing the RPMs

Before you can start, install the Kerberos software. On the KDC, install the packages
krb5, krb5-server, and krb5-client.
46.4.2 Setting Up the Database

Your next step is to initialize the database where Kerberos keeps all information about
principals. Set up the database master key, which is used to protect the database from
accidental disclosure, in particular when it is backed up to a tape. The master key is
derived from a pass phrase and is stored in a file called the stash file. This is so you do
not need to enter the password every time the KDC is restarted. Make sure that you
choose a good pass phrase, such as a sentence from a book opened to a random page.

When you make tape backups of the Kerberos database (/var/lib/kerberos/
krb5kdc/principal), do not back up the stash file (which is in /var/lib/
kerberos/krb5kdc/.k5.EXAMPLE.COM). Otherwise, everyone able to read the
tape could also decrypt the database. Therefore, it is also a good idea to keep a copy of
the pass phrase in a safe or some other secure location, because you need it to restore
your database from backup tape after a crash.
To create the stash file and the database, run:
$> kdb5_util create -r EXAMPLE.COM -s

Initializing database '/var/lib/kerberos/krb5kdc/principal' for realm
'EXAMPLE.COM',
master key name 'K/[email protected]'
You will be prompted for the database Master Password.
It is important that you NOT FORGET this password.
Enter KDC database master key: <= Type the master password.
Re-enter KDC database master key to verify: <= Type it again.
$>
To verify that it did anything, use the list command:
$>kadmin.local
kadmin> listprincs
K/[email protected]
kadmin/[email protected]
kadmin/[email protected]
krbtgt/[email protected]
This shows that there are now a number of principals in the database. All of these are
for internal use by Kerberos.
46.4.3 Creating a Principal

Next, create two Kerberos principals for yourself: one normal principal for your everyday
work and one for administrative tasks relating to Kerberos. Assuming your login name
is newbie, proceed as follows:
kadmin.local
kadmin> ank newbie

[email protected]'s Password: <type password here>
Verifying password: <re-type password here>

Next, create another principal named newbie/admin by typing ank newbie/admin
at the kadmin prompt. The admin suffixed to your username is a role. Later, use this
role when administering the Kerberos database. A user can have several roles for dif-
ferent purposes. Roles are basically completely different accounts with similar names.
46.4.4 Starting the KDC

Start the KDC daemon and the kadmin daemon. To start the daemons manually, enter
rckrb5kdc start and rckadmind start. Also make sure that KDC and kad-
mind are started by default when the server machine is rebooted with the command
insserv krb5kdc and insserv kadmind.
46.5 Manually Configuring Kerberos

Clients
When configuring Kerberos, there are basically two approaches you can take—static
configuration in the /etc/krb5.conf file or dynamic configuration with DNS.
With DNS configuration, Kerberos applications try to locate the KDC services using
DNS records. With static configuration, add the hostnames of your KDC server to krb5
.conf (and update the file whenever you move the KDC or reconfigure your realm
in other ways).
DNS-based configuration is generally a lot more flexible and the amount of configuration
work per machine is a lot less. However, it requires that your realm name is either the
same as your DNS domain or a subdomain of it. Configuring Kerberos via DNS also
creates a minor security issue—an attacker can seriously disrupt your infrastructure
through your DNS (by shooting down the name server, spoofing DNS records, etc.).
However, this amounts to a denial of service at most. A similar scenario applies to the
static configuration case unless you enter IP addresses in krb5.conf instead of
hostnames.

46.5.1 Static Configuration
One way to configure Kerberos is to edit the configuration file /etc/krb5.conf.
The file installed by default contains various sample entries. Erase all of these entries
before starting. krb5.conf is made up of several sections, each introduced by the
section name included in brackets like [this].
To configure your Kerberos clients, add the following stanza to krb5.conf (where
kdc.example.com is the hostname of the KDC):
[libdefaults]
default_realm = EXAMPLE.COM
[realms]
EXAMPLE.COM = {
kdc = kdc.example.com
admin_server = kdc.example.com
}
The default_realm line sets the default realm for Kerberos applications. If you
have several realms, just add additional statements to the [realms] section.
Also add a statement to this file that tells applications how to map hostnames to a realm.
For example, when connecting to a remote host, the Kerberos library needs to know in
which realm this host is located. This must be configured in the [domain_realms]
section:
[domain_realm]
.example.com = EXAMPLE.COM
www.foobar.com = EXAMPLE.COM
This tells the library that all hosts in the example.com DNS domains are in the
EXAMPLE.COM Kerberos realm. In addition, one external host named www.foobar
.com should also be considered a member of the EXAMPLE.COM realm.
46.5.2 DNS-Based Configuration

DNS-based Kerberos configuration makes heavy use of SRV records. See (RFC2052)
A DNS RR for specifying the location of services at http://www.ietf.org. These
records are not supported in earlier implementations of the BIND name server. At least
BIND version 8 is required for this.

The name of an SRV record, as far as Kerberos is concerned, is always in the format
_service._proto.realm, where realm is the Kerberos realm. Domain names in
DNS are case insensitive, so case-sensitive Kerberos realms would break when using
this configuration method. _service is a service name (different names are used
when trying to contact the KDC or the password service, for example). _proto can
be either _udp or _tcp, but not all services support both protocols.
The data portion of SRV resource records consists of a priority value, a weight, a port
number, and a hostname. The priority defines the order in which hosts should be tried
(lower values indicate a higher priority). The weight is there to support some sort of
load balancing among servers of equal priority. You probably do not need any of this,
so it is okay to set these to zero.
MIT Kerberos currently looks up the following names when looking for services:
_kerberos
This defines the location of the KDC daemon (the authentication and ticket granting
server). Typical records look like this:
_kerberos._udp.EXAMPLE.COM. IN SRV 0 0 88 kdc.example.com.

_kerberos._tcp.EXAMPLE.COM. IN SRV 0 0 88 kdc.example.com.
_kerberos-adm
This describes the location of the remote administration service. Typical records
look like this:
_kerberos-adm._tcp.EXAMPLE.COM. IN SRV 0 0 749 kdc.example.com.
Because kadmind does not support UDP, there should be no _udp record.
As with the static configuration file, there is a mechanism to inform clients that a spe-
cific host is in the EXAMPLE.COM realm, even if it is not part of the example.com
DNS domain. This can be done by attaching a TXT record to _keberos.hostname,
as shown here:
_keberos.www.foobar.com. IN TXT "EXAMPLE.COM"

46.5.3 Adjusting the Clock Skew
The clock skew is the tolerance for accepting tickets with time stamps that do not exactly
match the host's system clock. Usually, the clock skew is set to 300 seconds (five min-
utes). This means a ticket can have a time stamp somewhere between five minutes ago
and five minutes in the future from the server's point of view.
When using NTP to synchronize all hosts, you can reduce this value to about one minute.
The clock skew value can be set in /etc/krb5.conf like this:
[libdefaults]
clockskew = 120
46.6 Configuring a Kerberos Client

with YaST
As an alternative to the manual configuration described above, use YaST to configure
a Kerberos client. Proceed as follows:
1 Log in as root and select Network Services > Kerberos Client.
2 Select Use Kerberos.
3 To configure a DNS-based Kerberos client, proceed as follows:
3a Confirm the Basic Kerberos Settings that are displayed.
3b Click Advanced Settings to configure details on ticket-related issues,

OpenSSH support, and time synchronization.
4 To configure a static Kerberos client, proceed as follows:
4a Set Default Domain, Default Realm, and KDC Server Address to the values
that match your setup.
4b Click Advanced Settings to configure details on ticket-related issues,

OpenSSH support, and time synchronization.

Figure 46.1 YaST: Basic Configuration of a Kerberos Client
To configure ticket-related options in the Advanced Settings dialog, choose from the
following options:
• Specify the Default Ticket Lifetime and the Default Renewable Lifetime in days,
hours, or minutes (using the units of measurement d, h, and m, with no blank space
between the value and the unit).
• To forward your complete identity to use your tickets on other hosts, select For-
wardable.
• Enable the transfer of certain tickets by selecting Proxiable.
• Keep tickets available with a PAM module even after a session has ended by en-
abling Retained.
• Enable Kerberos authentication support for your OpenSSH client by selecting the
corresponding check box. The client then uses Kerberos tickets to authenticate with
the SSH server.
• Exclude a range of user accounts from using Kerberos authentication by providing

a value for the Minimum UID that a user of this feature must have. For instance,
you may want to exclude the system administrator (root).

• Use Clock Skew to set a value for the allowable difference between the time stamps
and your host's system time.
• To keep the system time in sync with an NTP server, you can also set up the host
as an NTP client by selecting NTP Configuration, which opens the YaST NTP
client dialog that is described in Section 32.1, “Configuring an NTP Client with
YaST” (page 605). After finishing the configuration, YaST performs all the necessary
changes and the Kerberos client is ready for use.
Figure 46.2 YaST: Advanced Configuration of a Kerberos Client
46.7 Remote Kerberos Administration

To be able to add and remove principals from the Kerberos database without accessing
the KDC's console directly, tell the Kerberos administration server which principals
are allowed to do what. Do this by editing the file /var/lib/kerberos/krb5kdc/
kadm5.acl. The ACL (access control list) file allows you to specify privileges with
a fine degree of control. For details, refer to the manual page with man 8 kadmind.
Right now, just grant yourself the privilege to do anything you want with the database
by putting the following line into the file:

newbie/admin *
Replace the username newbie with your own. Restart kadmind for the change to take
effect.
46.7.1 Using kadmin for Remote

Administration
You should now be able to perform Kerberos administration tasks remotely using the
kadmin tool. First, obtain a ticket for your admin role and use that ticket when connecting
to the kadmin server:
kadmin -p newbie/admin
Authenticating as principal newbie/[email protected] with password.
Password for newbie/[email protected]:
kadmin: getprivs
current privileges: GET ADD MODIFY DELETE
kadmin:
Using the getprivs command, verify which privileges you have. The list shown
above is the full set of privileges.
As an example, modify the principal newbie:
kadmin: getprinc newbie

Principal: [email protected]
Expiration date: [never]
Last password change: Wed Jan 12 17:28:46 CET 2005
Password expiration date: [none]
Maximum ticket life: 0 days 10:00:00
Maximum renewable life: 7 days 00:00:00
Last modified: Wed Jan 12 17:47:17 CET 2005 (admin/[email protected])
Last successful authentication: [never]
Last failed authentication: [never]
Failed password attempts: 0
Number of keys: 2
Key: vno 1, Triple DES cbc mode with HMAC/sha1, no salt
Key: vno 1, DES cbc mode with CRC-32, no salt
Attributes:
Policy: [none]

kadmin: modify_principal -maxlife "8 hours" newbie
Principal "[email protected]" modified.
kadmin: getprinc joe
Principal: [email protected]
Expiration date: [never]
Last password change: Wed Jan 12 17:28:46 CET 2005
Password expiration date: [none]
Maximum ticket life: 0 days 08:00:00
Maximum renewable life: 7 days 00:00:00
Last modified: Wed Jan 12 17:59:49 CET 2005 (newbie/[email protected])
Last successful authentication: [never]
Last failed authentication: [never]
Failed password attempts: 0
Number of keys: 2
Key: vno 1, Triple DES cbc mode with HMAC/sha1, no salt
Key: vno 1, DES cbc mode with CRC-32, no salt
Attributes:
Policy: [none]
kadmin:
This changes the maximum ticket life time to eight hours. For more information about
the kadmin command and the options available, refer to http://web.mit.edu/
kerberos/www/krb5-1.4/krb5-1.4/doc/krb5-admin.html#Kadmin
%20Options or look at man 8 kadmin.
46.8 Creating Kerberos Host

Principals
In addition to making sure every machine on your network knows which Kerberos
realm it is in and what KDC to contact, create a host principal for it. So far, only user
credentials have been discussed. However, Kerberos-compatible services usually need
to authenticate themselves to the client user, too. Therefore, special host principals must
be present in the Kerberos database for each host in the realm.
The naming convention for host principals is host/<hostname>@<REALM>, where

hostname is the host's fully qualified hostname. Host principals are similar to user
principals, but have significant differences. The main difference between a user principal
and a host principal is that the key of the former is protected by a password—when a
user obtains a ticket-granting ticket from the KDC, he needs to type his password so

Kerberos can decrypt the ticket. It would be quite inconvenient for the system adminis-
trator if he had to obtain new tickets for the SSH daemon every eight hours or so.
Instead, the key required to decrypt the initial ticket for the host principal is extracted
by the administrator from the KDC once and stored in a local file called the keytab.
Services such the SSH daemon read this key and use it to obtain new tickets automati-
cally when needed. The default keytab file resides in /etc/krb5.keytab.
To create a host principal for test.example.com, enter the following commands

during your kadmin session:
kadmin: addprinc -randkey host/test.example.com
WARNING: no policy specified for host/[email protected];
defaulting
to no policy
Principal "host/[email protected]" created.
Instead of setting a password for the new principal, the -randkey flag tells kadmin
to generate a random key. This is used here because no user interaction is wanted for
this principal. It is a server account for the machine.
Finally, extract the key and store it in the local keytab file /etc/krb5.keytab.
This file is owned by the superuser, so you must be root to execute the next command
in the kadmin shell:
kadmin: ktadd host/test.example.com

Entry for principal host/test.example.com with kvno 3, encryption type Triple
DES cbc mode with HMAC/sha1 added to keytab WRFILE:/etc/krb5.keytab.
Entry for principal host/test.example.com with kvno 3, encryption type DES
cbc mode with CRC-32 added to keytab WRFILE:/etc/krb5.keytab.
kadmin:
When completed, make sure that you destroy the admin ticket obtained with kinit above
with kdestroy.

46.9 Enabling PAM Support for
Kerberos
SUSE Linux Enterprise® comes with a PAM module named pam_krb5, which supports
Kerberos login and password update. This module can be used by applications, such
as console login, su, and graphical login applications like KDM, where the user presents
a password and would like the authenticating application to obtain an initial Kerberos
ticket on his behalf.
The pam_unix2 module also supports Kerberos authentication and password update.
To enable Kerberos support in pam_unix2, edit the file /etc/security/pam
_unix2.conf so it contains the following lines:
auth: use_krb5 nullok

account: use_krb5
password: use_krb5 nullok
session: none
After that, all programs evaluating the entries in this file use Kerberos for user authen-
tication. For a user that does not have a Kerberos principal, pam_unix2 falls back on
the normal password authentication mechanism. For those users who have a principal,
it should now be possible to change their Kerberos passwords transparently using the
passwd command.
To make fine adjustments to the way in which pam_krb5 is used, edit the file /etc/
krb5.conf and add default applications to pam. For details, refer to the manual page
with man 5 pam_krb5.
The pam_krb5 module was specifically not designed for network services that accept
Kerberos tickets as part of user authentication. This is an entirely different matter, which
is discussed below.

46.10 Configuring SSH for Kerberos
Authentication
OpenSSH supports Kerberos authentication in both protocol version 1 and 2. In ver-
sion 1, there are special protocol messages to transmit Kerberos tickets. Version 2 does
not use Kerberos directly anymore, but relies on GSSAPI, the General Security Services
API. This is a programming interface that is not specific to Kerberos—it was designed
to hide the peculiarities of the underlying authentication system, be it Kerberos, a public-
key authentication system like SPKM, or others. The GSSAPI library included supports
only Kerberos, however.
To use sshd with Kerberos authentication, edit /etc/ssh/sshd_config and set

the following options:
# These are for protocol version 1

#
# KerberosAuthentication yes
# KerberosTicketCleanup yes
# These are for version 2 - better to use this

GSSAPIAuthentication yes
GSSAPICleanupCredentials yes
Then restart your SSH daemon using rcsshd restart.
To use Kerberos authentication with protocol version 2, enable it on the client side as
well. Do this either in the systemwide configuration file /etc/ssh/ssh_config
or on a per-user level by editing ~/.ssh/config. In both cases, add the option
GSSAPIAuthentication yes.
You should now be able to connect using Kerberos authentication. Use klist to ver-
ify that you have a valid ticket then connect to the SSH server. To force SSH protocol
version 1, specify the -1 option on the command line.
TIP: Additional Information
The file /usr/share/doc/packages/openssh/README.kerberos dis-

cusses the interaction of OpenSSH and Kerberos in more detail.

46.11 Using LDAP and Kerberos
When using Kerberos, one way to distribute the user information (such as user ID,
groups,and home directory) in your local network is to use LDAP. This requires a strong
authentication mechanism that prevents packet spoofing and other attacks. One solution
is to use Kerberos for LDAP communication, too.
OpenLDAP implements most authentication flavors through SASL, the simple authen-
tication session layer. SASL is basically a network protocol designed for authentication.
The SASL implementation is cyrus-sasl, which supports a number of different authen-
tication flavors. Kerberos authentication is performed through GSSAPI (General Secu-
rity Services API). By default, the SASL plug-in for GSSAPI is not installed. Install it
manually with rpm -ivh cyrus-sasl-gssapi-*.rpm.
To enable Kerberos to bind to the OpenLDAP server, create a principal

ldap/earth.example.com and add that to the keytab.
By default, the LDAP server slapd runs as user and group ldap, while the keytab file
is readable by root only. Therefore, either change the LDAP configuration so the
server runs as root or make the keytab file readable by the group ldap. The latter is
done automatically by the OpenLDAP start script (/etc/init.d/ldap) if the keytab
file has been specified in the OPENLDAP_KRB5_KEYTAB variable in /etc/
sysconfig/openldap and the OPENLDAP_CHOWN_DIRS variable is set to yes,
which is the default setting. If OPENLDAP_KRB5_KEYTAB is left empty, the default
keytab under /etc/krb5.keytab is used and you must adjust the privileges yourself
as described below.
To run slapd as root, edit /etc/sysconfig/openldap. Disable the

OPENLDAP_USER and OPENLDAP_GROUP variables by putting a comment character
in front of them.
To make the keytab file readable by group LDAP, execute
chgrp ldap /etc/krb5.keytab
chmod 640 /etc/krb5.keytab

A third, and maybe the best solution, is to tell OpenLDAP to use a special keytab file.
To do this, start kadmin, and enter the following command after you have added the
principal ldap/earth.example.com:
ktadd -k /etc/openldap/ldap.keytab ldap/[email protected]
Then, on the shell, run:
chown ldap.ldap /etc/openldap/ldap.keytab

chmod 600 /etc/openldap/ldap.keytab
To tell OpenLDAP to use a different keytab file, change the following variable in
/etc/sysconfig/openldap:
OPENLDAP_KRB5_KEYTAB="/etc/openldap/ldap.keytab"
Finally, restart the LDAP server using rcldap restart.
46.11.1 Using Kerberos Authentication with

LDAP
You should now be able to use tools, such as ldapsearch, with Kerberos authentication
automatically.
ldapsearch -b ou=people,dc=example,dc=com '(uid=newbie)'
SASL/GSSAPI authentication started

SASL SSF: 56
SASL installing layers
[...]
# newbie, people, example.com

dn: uid=newbie,ou=people,dc=example,dc=com
uid: newbie
cn: Olaf Kirch
[...]

As you can see, ldapsearch prints a message that it started GSSAPI authentication. The
next message is very cryptic, but it shows that the security strength factor (SSF for
short) is 56 (The value 56 is somewhat arbitrary. Most likely it was chosen because
this is the number of bits in a DES encryption key). What this tells you is that GSSAPI
authentication was successful and that encryption is being used to provide integrity
protection and confidentiality for the LDAP connection.
In Kerberos, authentication is always mutual. This means that not only have you authen-
ticated yourself to the LDAP server, but also the LDAP server authenticated itself to
you. In particular, this means communication is with the desired LDAP server, rather
than some bogus service set up by an attacker.
46.11.2 Kerberos Authentication and LDAP

Access Control
Now, allow each user to modify the login shell attribute of their LDAP user record.
Assuming you have a schema where the LDAP entry of user joe is located at uid=
joe,ou=people,dc=example,dc=com, set up the following access controls in
/etc/openldap/slapd.conf:
# This is required for things to work _at all_

access to dn.base="" by * read
# Let each user change their login shell
access to dn="*,ou=people,dc=example,dc=com" attrs=loginShell
by self write
# Every user can read everything
access to *
by users read
The second statement gives authenticated users write access to the loginShell at-
tribute of their own LDAP entry. The third statement gives all authenticated users read
access to the entire LDAP directory.
There is one minor piece of the puzzle missing—how the LDAP server can find out
that the Kerberos user [email protected] corresponds to the LDAP distinguished
name uid=joe,ou=people,dc=example,dc=com. This sort of mapping must
be configured manually using the saslExpr directive. In this example, add the fol-
lowing to slapd.conf:

authz-regexp
uid=(.*),cn=GSSAPI,cn=auth
uid=$1,ou=people,dc=example,dc=com
To understand how this works, you need to know that when SASL authenticates a user,
OpenLDAP forms a distinguished name from the name given to it by SASL (such as
joe) and the name of the SASL flavor (GSSAPI). The result would be
uid=joe,cn=GSSAPI,cn=auth.
If a authz-regexp has been configured, it checks the DN formed from the SASL
information using the first argument as a regular expression. If this regular expression
matches, the name is replaced with the second argument of the authz-regexp
statement. The placeholder $1 is replaced with the substring matched by the (.*)
expression.
More complicated match expressions are possible. If you have a more complicated di-
rectory structure or a schema in which the username is not part of the DN, you can even
use search expressions to map the SASL DN to the user DN.

Encrypting Partitions and Files
Every user has some confidential data that third parties should not be able to access.
47
The more you rely on mobile computing and on working in different environments and
networks, the more carefully you should handle your data. The encryption of files or
entire partitions is recommended if others have network or physical access to your
system. Laptops or removable media, such as external hard disks or USB sticks, are
prone to being lost or stolen. Thus, it is recommended to encrypt the parts of your file
that hold confidential data.
There are several ways to protect your data by means of encryption:
Encrypting a Hard Disk Partition

You can create an encrypted partition with YaST during installation or in an already
installed system. Refer to Section 47.1.1, “Creating an Encrypted Partition during
Installation” (page 867) and Section 47.1.2, “Creating an Encrypted Partition on a
Running System” (page 868) for details. This option can also be used for removable
media, such as external hard disks, as described in Section 47.1.4, “Encrypting the
Content of Removable Media” (page 869).
Creating an Encrypted File as Container

You can create an encrypted file on your hard disk or on a removable medium with
YaST at any time. The encrypted file can then be used to store other files or folders.
For more information, refer to Section 47.1.3, “Creating an Encrypted File as a
Container” (page 868).
Encrypting Home Directories

With SUSE Linux Enterprise, you can also create encrypted home directories for
users. When the user logs in to the system, the encrypted home directory is
Encrypting Partitions and Files 865

mounted and the contents are made available to the user. Refer to Section 47.2,
“Using Encrypted Home Directories” (page 869) for more information.
Encrypting Single ASCII Text Files

If you only have a small number of ASCII text files that hold sensitive or confiden-
tial data, you can encrypt them individually and protect them with a password using
the vi editor. Refer to Section 47.3, “Using vi to Encrypt Single ASCII Text Files”
WARNING: Encrypted Media Offers Limited Protection
The methods described in this chapter offer only limited protection. You cannot
protect your running system from being compromised. After the encrypted
medium is successfully mounted, everybody with appropriate permissions has
access to it. However, encrypted media are useful in case of loss or theft of
your computer or to prevent unauthorized individuals from reading your con-
fidential data.
47.1 Setting Up an Encrypted File

System with YaST
Use YaST to encrypt partitions or parts of your file system during installation or in an
already installed system. However, encrypting a partition in an already installed system
is more difficult, because you have to resize and change existing partitions. In such
cases, it may be more convenient to create an encrypted file of a defined size in which
to store other files or parts of your file system. To encrypt an entire partition, dedicate
a partition for encryption in the partition layout. The standard partitioning proposal as
suggested by YaST, does not include an encrypted partition, by default. Add it manually
in the partitioning dialog.

47.1.1 Creating an Encrypted Partition
during Installation
WARNING: Password Input
Make sure to memorize the password for your encrypted partitions well.
Without that password you cannot access or restore the encrypted data.
The YaST expert dialog for partitioning offers the options needed for creating an en-
crypted partition. To create a new encrypted partition proceed as follows:
1 Run the YaST Partitioner from the YaST Control Center with System > Partitioner
2 Click Create and select a primary or a logical partition.
3 Select the desired file system, size and mount point of this partition.
4 If the encrypted file system should only be mounted when necessary, enable Do
Not Mount at System Start-up in the Fstab Options.
5 Activate the Encrypt file system check box.
6 Click OK. You will be prompted for a password that is used to encrypt this par-
tition. This password is not displayed. To prevent typing errors, enter the password
twice.
7 Complete the process by clicking OK. The new encrypted partition is now created.
Unless Do Not Mount at System Start-up was selected, the operating system requests
the password while booting before mounting the partition. The partition is available to
all users once it has been mounted.
To skip mounting the encrypted partition during start-up, click Enter when prompted
for the password. Then decline the offer to enter the password again. In this case, the
encrypted file system is not mounted and the operating system continues booting,
blocking access to your data.
To access an encrypted partition that is not mounted during boot, mount the partition
manually by entering mount name_of_partition mount_point. Enter the

password when prompted for it. After you are done with working on this partition, un-
mount it with umount name_of_partition to protect it from access by other
users.
When you are installing your system on a machine where several partitions already
exist, you can also decide to encrypt an existing partition during installation. In this
case follow the description in Section 47.1.2, “Creating an Encrypted Partition on a
Running System” (page 868) and be aware that this action destroys all data on the existing
partition to encrypt.
47.1.2 Creating an Encrypted Partition on a

Running System
WARNING: Activating Encryption in a Running System
It is also possible to create encrypted partitions on a running system. However,

encrypting an existing partition destroys all data on it and requires resizing and
restructuring of existing partitions.
On a running system, select System > Partitioning in the YaST Control Center. Click
Yes to proceed. In the Expert Partitioner, select the partition to encrypt and click Edit.
The rest of the procedure is the same as described in Section 47.1.1, “Creating an En-
crypted Partition during Installation” (page 867).
47.1.3 Creating an Encrypted File as a

Container
Instead of using a partition, it is possible to create an encrypted file of a certain size
that can then hold other files or folders containing confidential data. Such container
files are created from the YaST Expert Partitioner dialog. Select Crypt File and enter
the full path to the file and its size. Accept or change the proposed formatting settings
and the file system type. Specify the mount point and decide whether the encrypted file
system should be mounted at system boot.

The advantage of encrypted container files over encrypted partitions is that they can be
added without repartitioning the hard disk. They are mounted with the help of a loop
device and behave just like normal partitions.
47.1.4 Encrypting the Content of Removable

Media
YaST treats removable media like external hard disks or USB flash drives the same as
any other hard disk. Container files or partitions on such media can be encrypted as
described above. However, enable Do Not Mount During Booting in the Fstab Options
dialog, because removable media are usually only connected while the system is running.
If you have encrypted your removable device with YaST, the KDE and GNOME
desktops automatically recognize the encrypted partition and prompt for the password
when the device is detected. If you plug in a FAT formatted removable device while
running KDE or GNOME, the desktop user entering the password automatically becomes
the owner of the device and can read and write files. For devices with a file system
other than FAT, change the ownership explicitly for users other than root to enable
these users to read or write files on the device.
47.2 Using Encrypted Home

Directories
To protect data in home directories against theft and hard disk removal, use the YaST
user management module to enable encryption of home directories. You can create
encrypted home directories for new or existing users. To encrypt or decrypt home di-
rectories of already existing users, you need to know their login password. See for in-
structions.
Encrypted home partitions are created within a file container as described in Sec-
tion 47.1.3, “Creating an Encrypted File as a Container” (page 868). Two files are cre-
ated under /home for each encrypted home directory:
LOGIN.img
The image holding the directory

LOGIN.key
The image key, protected with the user's login password.
On login the home directory automatically gets decrypted. Internally, it is provided by

means of the pam module pam_mount. If you need to add an additional login method
that provides encrypted home directories, you have to add this module to the respective
configuration file in /etc/pam.d/. For more information see also Chapter 27, Au-
thentication with PAM (page 495) and the man page of pam_mount.
WARNING: Security Restrictions
Encrypting a user's home directory does not provide strong security from other
users. If strong security is required, the system should not be shared physically.
To enhance security, also encrypt the swap partition and the /tmp and /var/
tmp directories, because these may contain temporary images of critical data.
You can encrypt swap, /tmp, and /var/tmp with the YaST partitioner as de-
scribed in Section 47.1.1, “Creating an Encrypted Partition during Installation”
(page 867) or Section 47.1.3, “Creating an Encrypted File as a Container”
(page 868).
47.3 Using vi to Encrypt Single ASCII

Text Files
The disadvantage of using encrypted partitions is that while the partition is mounted,
at least root can access the data. To prevent this, vi can be used in encrypted mode.
Use vi -x filename to edit a new file. vi prompts you to set a password, after
which it encrypts the content of the file. Whenever you access this file, vi requests the
correct password.
For even more security, you can place the encrypted text file in an encrypted partition.
This is recommended because the encryption used in vi is not very strong.

Confining Privileges with
AppArmor
Many security vulnerabilities result from bugs in trusted programs. A trusted program
48
runs with privilege that some attacker would like to have. The program fails to keep
that trust if there is a bug in the program that allows the attacker to acquire that privilege.
Novell® AppArmor is an application security solution designed specifically to provide

least privilege confinement to suspect programs. AppArmor allows the administrator
to specify the domain of activities the program can perform by developing a security
profile for that application—a listing of files that the program may access and the oper-
ations the program may perform.
Effective hardening of a computer system requires minimizing the number of programs

that mediate privilege then securing the programs as much as possible. With Novell
AppArmor, you only need to profile the programs that are exposed to attack in your
environment, which drastically reduces the amount of work required to harden your
computer. AppArmor profiles enforce policies to make sure that programs do what they
are supposed to do, but nothing else.
Administrators only need to care about the applications that are vulnerable to attacks
and generate profiles for these. Hardening a system thus comes down to building and
maintaining the AppArmor profile set and monitoring any policy violations or exceptions
logged by AppArmor's reporting facility.
Building AppArmor profiles to confine an application is very straightforward and intu-

itive. AppArmor ships with several tools that assist in profile creation. It does not require
you to do any programming or script handling. The only task that is required from the
administrator is to determine a policy of strictest access and execute permissions for
each application that needs to be hardened.
Confining Privileges with AppArmor 871

Updates or modifications to the application profiles are only required if the software
configuration or the desired range of activities changes. AppArmor offers intuitive tools
to handle profile updates or modifications.
Users should not notice AppArmor at all. It runs “behind the scenes” and does not require
any user interaction. Performance is not affected noticeably by AppArmor. If some
activity of the application is not covered by an AppArmor profile or if some activity
of the application is prevented by AppArmor, the administrator needs to adjust the
profile of this application to cover this kind of behavior.
This guide outlines the basic tasks that need to be performed with AppArmor to effec-
tively harden a system. For more in-depth information, refer to Novell AppArmor Ad-
ministration Guide.
48.1 Installing Novell AppArmor

Novell AppArmor is installed and running by default on any installation of SUSE Linux
Enterprise® regardless of what patterns are installed. The packages listed below are
needed for a fully functional instance of AppArmor
• apparmor-parser
• libapparmor
• apparmor-docs
• yast2-apparmor
• apparmor-profiles
• apparmor-utils
• audit
48.2 Enabling and Disabling Novell

AppArmor
Novell AppArmor is configured to run by default on any fresh installation of SUSE
Linux Enterprise. There are two ways of toggling the status of AppArmor:

Using YaST System Services (Runlevel)
Disable or enable AppArmor by removing or adding its boot script to the sequence
of scripts executed on system boot. Status changes are applied at the next system
boot.
Using Novell AppArmor Control Panel

Toggle the status of Novell AppArmor in a running system by switching it off or
on using the YaST Novell AppArmor Control Panel. Changes made here are applied
instantaneously. The Control Panel triggers a stop or start event for AppArmor and
removes or adds its boot script in the system's boot sequence.
To disable AppArmor permanently by removing it from the sequence of scripts executed

on system boot, proceed as follows:
2 Select System > System Services (Runlevel).
3 Select Expert Mode.
4 Select boot.apparmor and click Set/Reset > Disable the service.
5 Exit the YaST Runlevel tool with Finish.
AppArmor will not be initialized on the next system boot and stays inactive until you
explicitly reenable it. Reenabling a service using the YaST Runlevel tool is similar to
disabling it.
Toggle the status of AppArmor in a running system by using the AppArmor Control
Panel. These changes take effect as soon as you apply them and survive a reboot of the
system. To toggle AppArmor's status, proceed as follows:
2 Select Novell AppArmor > AppArmor Control Panel.
3 Select Enable AppArmor. To disable AppArmor, uncheck this option.
4 Exit the AppArmor Control Panel with Done.

48.3 Getting Started with Profiling
Applications
Prepare a successful deployment of Novell AppArmor on your system by carefully
considering the following items:
1 Determine the applications to profile. Read more on this in Section 48.3.1,

“Choosing the Applications to Profile” (page 874).
2 Build the needed profiles as roughly outlined in Section 48.3.2, “Building and
Modifying Profiles” (page 875). Check the results and adjust the profiles when
necessary.
3 Keep track of what is happening on your system by running AppArmor reports

and dealing with security events. Refer to Section 48.3.3, “Configuring Novell
AppArmor Event Notification and Reports” (page 878).
4 Update your profiles whenever your environment changes or you need to react
to security events logged by AppArmor's reporting tool. Refer to Section 48.3.4,
“Updating Your Profiles” (page 879).
48.3.1 Choosing the Applications to Profile

You only need to protect the programs that are exposed to attacks in your particular
setup, so only use profiles for those applications you really run. Use the following list
to determine the most likely candidates:
Network Agents
Programs (servers and clients) that have open network ports. User clients, such as
mail clients and Web browsers, mediate privilege. These programs run with the
privilege to write to the user's home directory and they process input from poten-
tially hostile remote sources, such as hostile Web sites and e-mailed malicious
code.
Web Applications
Programs that can be invoked through a Web browser, including CGI Perl scripts,
PHP pages, and more complex Web applications.

Cron Jobs
Programs that the cron daemon periodically run read input from a variety of sources.
To find out which processes are currently running with open network ports and might
need a profile to confine them, run aa-unconfined as root.
Example 48.1 Output of aa-unconfined

19848 /usr/sbin/cupsd not confined
19887 /usr/sbin/sshd not confined
19947 /usr/lib/postfix/master not confined
29205 /usr/sbin/sshd confined by '/usr/sbin/sshd (enforce)'
Each of the processes in the above example labeled not confined might need a
custom profile to confine it. Those labeled confined by are already protected by
AppArmor.
For more information about choosing the the right applications to profile, refer
to Section “Determining Programs to Immunize” (Chapter 1, Immunizing Pro-
grams, ↑Novell AppArmor Administration Guide).
48.3.2 Building and Modifying Profiles

Novell AppArmor on SUSE Linux Enterprise ships with a preconfigured set of profiles
for the most important applications. In addition to that, you can use AppArmor to create
your own profiles for any application you want.
There are two ways of managing profiles. One is to use the graphical front-end provided
by the YaST Novell AppArmor modules and the other is to use the command line tools
provided by the AppArmor suite itself. Both methods basically work the same way.
Running aa-unconfined as described in Section 48.3.1, “Choosing the Applications to

Profile” (page 874) identifies a list of applications that may need a profile to run in a
safe mode.
For each application, perform the following steps to create a profile:
1 As root, let AppArmor create a rough outline of the application's profile by

running aa-genprof programname

or
Outline the basic profile by running YaST > Novell AppArmor > Add Profile
Wizard and specifying the complete path of the application to profile.
A basic profile is outlined and AppArmor is put into learning mode, which means
that it logs any activity of the program you are executing but does not yet restrict
it.
2 Run the full range of the application's actions to let AppArmor get a very specific
picture of its activities.
3 Let AppArmor analyze the log files generated in Step 2 (page 876) by running
typing S in aa-genprof.
or
Analyze the logs by clicking Scan system log for AppArmor events in the Add
Profile Wizard and following the instructions given in the wizard until the profile
is completed.
AppArmor scans the logs it recorded during the application's run and asks you
to set the access rights for each event that was logged. Either set them for each
file or use globbing.
4 Depending on the complexity of your application, it might be necessary to repeat

Step 2 (page 876) and Step 3 (page 876). Confine the application, exercise it under
the confined conditions, and process any new log events. To properly confine
the full range of an application's capabilities, you might be required to repeat this
procedure often.
5 Once all access permissions are set, your profile is set to enforce mode. The
profile is applied and AppArmor restricts the application according to the profile
just created.
If you started aa-genprof on an application that had an existing profile that was
in complain mode, this profile remains in learning mode upon exit of this learning
cycle. For more information about changing the mode of a profile, refer to Section
“aa-complain—Entering Complain or Learning Mode” (Chapter 4, Building
Profiles from the Command Line, ↑Novell AppArmor Administration Guide)

and Section “aa-enforce—Entering Enforce Mode” (Chapter 4, Building Profiles
from the Command Line, ↑Novell AppArmor Administration Guide).
Test your profile settings by performing every task you need with the application you
just confined. Normally, the confined program runs smoothly and you do not notice
AppArmor activities at all. However, if you notice certain misbehavior with your appli-
cation, check the system logs and see if AppArmor is too tightly confining your appli-
cation. Depending on the log mechanism used on your system, there are several places
to look for AppArmor log entries:
/var/log/audit/audit.log
If the audit package is installed and auditd is running, AppArmor events are
logged as follows:
type=APPARMOR msg=audit(1140325305.502:1407): REJECTING w access to
/usr/lib/firefox/update.test (firefox-bin(9469) profile
/usr/lib/firefox/firefox-bin active /usr/lib/firefox/firefox-bin)
/var/log/messages
If auditd is not used, AppArmor events are logged in the standard system log under
/var/log/messages. An example entry would look like the following:
Feb 22 18:29:14 dhcp-81 klogd: audit(1140661749.146:3): REJECTING w access
to /dev/console (mdnsd(3239) profile /usr/sbin/mdnsd active
/usr/sbin/mdnsd)
dmesg
If auditd is not running, AppArmor events can also be checked using the dmesg
command:
audit(1140661749.146:3): REJECTING w access to /dev/console (mdnsd(3239)
profile /usr/sbin/mdnsd active /usr/sbin/mdnsd)
To adjust the profile, analyze the log messages relating to this application again as de-
scribed in Step 3 (page 876). Determine the access rights or restrictions when prompted.
For more information about profile building and modification, refer to Chap-
ter 2, Profile Components and Syntax (↑Novell AppArmor Administration Guide),
Chapter 3, Building and Managing Profiles with YaST (↑Novell AppArmor Ad-
ministration Guide), and Chapter 4, Building Profiles from the Command Line
(↑Novell AppArmor Administration Guide).

48.3.3 Configuring Novell AppArmor Event
Notification and Reports
Set up event notification in Novell AppArmor so you can review security events. Event
Notification is an Novell AppArmor feature that informs a specified e-mail recipient
when systemic Novell AppArmor activity occurs under the chosen severity level. This
feature is currently available in the YaST interface.
To set up event notification in YaST, proceed as follows:
1 Make sure that a mail server is running on your system to deliver the event noti-
fications.
2 Log in as root and start YaST. Then select Novell AppArmor > AppArmor
Control Panel).
3 In Enable Security Event Notification, select Configure.
4 For each record type (Terse, Summary, and Verbose), set a report frequency,
enter the e-mail address that should receive the reports, and determine the
severity of events to log. To include unknown events in the event reports, check
Include Unknown Severity Events.
NOTE: Selecting Events to Log
Unless you are familiar with AppArmor's event categorization, choose to

be notified about events for all security levels.
5 Leave this dialog with OK > Done to apply your settings.
Using Novell AppArmor reports, you can read important Novell AppArmor security
events reported in the log files without manually sifting through the cumbersome mes-
sages only useful to the aa-logprof tool. You can decrease the size of the report by fil-
tering by date range or program name.
To configure the AppArmor reports, proceed as follows:
1 Log in as root and start YaST. Select Novell AppArmor > AppArmor Reports.

2 Select the type of report to examine or configure from Executive Security Sum-
mary, Applications Audit, and Security Incident Report.
3 Edit the report generation frequency, e-mail address, export format, and location
of the reports by selecting Edit and providing the requested data.
4 To run a report of the selected type, click Run Now.
5 Browse through the archived reports of a given type by selecting View Archive
and specifying the report type.
or
Delete unneeded reports or add new ones.
For more information about configuring event notification in Novell AppArmor,

refer to Section “Configuring Security Event Notification” (Chapter 6, Managing
Profiled Applications, ↑Novell AppArmor Administration Guide). Find more in-
formation about report configuration in Section “Configuring Reports” (Chap-
ter 6, Managing Profiled Applications, ↑Novell AppArmor Administration Guide).
48.3.4 Updating Your Profiles

Software and system configurations change over time. As a result of that, your profile
setup for AppArmor might need some fine-tuning from time to time. AppArmor checks
your system log for policy violations or other AppArmor events and lets you adjust
your profile set accordingly. Any application behavior that is outside of any profile
definition can also be addressed using the Update Profile Wizard.
To update your profile set, proceed as follows:
2 Start Novell AppArmor > Update Profile Wizard.
3 Adjust access or execute rights to any resource or for any executable that has
been logged when prompted.

4 Leave YaST after you answer all questions. Your changes are applied to the re-
spective profiles.
For more information about updating your profiles from the system logs, refer
to Section “Updating Profiles from Log Entries” (Chapter 3, Building and Man-
aging Profiles with YaST, ↑Novell AppArmor Administration Guide).

Security and Confidentiality
One of the main characteristics of a Linux or UNIX system is its ability to handle sev-
49
eral users at the same time (multiuser) and to allow these users to perform several tasks
(multitasking) on the same computer simultaneously. Moreover, the operating system
is network transparent. The users often do not know whether the data and applications
they are using are provided locally from their machine or made available over the net-
work.
With the multiuser capability, the data of different users must be stored separately. Se-
curity and privacy need to be guaranteed. Data security was already an important issue,
even before computers could be linked through networks. Just like today, the most im-
portant concern was the ability to keep data available in spite of a lost or otherwise
damaged data medium, a hard disk in most cases.
This section is primarily focused on confidentiality issues and on ways to protect the
privacy of users, but it cannot be stressed enough that a comprehensive security concept
should always include procedures to have a regularly updated, workable, and tested
backup in place. Without this, you could have a very hard time getting your data
back—not only in the case of some hardware defect, but also if the suspicion arises that
someone has gained unauthorized access and tampered with files.
Security and Confidentiality 881

49.1 Local Security and Network
Security
There are several ways of accessing data:
• personal communication with people who have the desired information or access
to the data on a computer
• directly from the console of a computer (physical access)
• over a serial line
• using a network link
In all these cases, a user should be authenticated before accessing the resources or data
in question. A Web server might be less restrictive in this respect, but you still would
not want it to disclose all your personal data to any surfer.
In the list above, the first case is the one where the highest amount of human interaction
is involved, such as when you are contacting a bank employee and are required to prove
that you are the person owning that bank account. Then you are asked to provide a
signature, a PIN, or a password to prove that you are the person you claim to be. In
some cases, it might be possible to elicit some intelligence from an informed person
just by mentioning known bits and pieces to win the confidence of that person by using
clever rhetoric. The victim could be led to reveal gradually more information, maybe
without even becoming aware of it. Among hackers, this is called social engineering.
You can only guard against this by educating people and by dealing with language and
information in a conscious way. Before breaking into computer systems, attackers often
try to target receptionists, service people working with the company, or even family
members. In many cases, such an attack based on social engineering is only discovered
at a much later time.
A person wanting to obtain unauthorized access to your data could also use the tradi-
tional way and try to get at your hardware directly. Therefore, the machine should be
protected against any tampering so that no one can remove, replace, or cripple its
components. This also applies to backups and even any network cable or the power
cord. Also secure the boot procedure, because there are some well-known key combi-
nations that might provoke unusual behavior. Protect yourself against this by setting
passwords for the BIOS and the boot loader.

Serial terminals connected to serial ports are still used in many places. Unlike network
interfaces, they do not rely on a network protocol to communicate with the host. A
simple cable or an infrared port is used to send plain characters back and forth between
the devices. The cable itself is the weakest point of such a system: with an older printer
connected to it, it is easy to record anything that runs over the wires. What can be
achieved with a printer can also be accomplished in other ways, depending on the effort
that goes into the attack.
Reading a file locally on a host requires other access rules than opening a network
connection with a server on a different host. There is a distinction between local secu-
rity and network security. The line is drawn where data must be put into packets to be
sent somewhere else.
49.1.1 Local Security

Local security starts with the physical environment in the location where the computer
is running. Set up your machine in a place where security is in line with your expectations
and needs. The main goal of local security is to keep users separate from each other,
so no user can assume the permissions or the identity of another. This is a general rule
to be observed, but it is especially true for the user root, who holds the supreme
power on the system. root can take on the identity of any other local user without
being prompted for the password and read any locally stored file.
49.1.2 Passwords
On a Linux system, passwords are not stored as plain text and the text string entered is
not simply matched with the saved pattern. If this were the case, all accounts on your
system would be compromised as soon as someone got access to the corresponding
file. Instead, the stored password is encrypted and, each time it is entered, is encrypted
again and the two encrypted strings are compared. This only provides more security if
the encrypted password cannot be reverse-computed into the original text string.
This is actually achieved by a special kind of algorithm, also called trapdoor algorithm,
because it only works in one direction. An attacker who has obtained the encrypted
string is not able to get your password by simply applying the same algorithm again.
Instead, it would be necessary to test all the possible character combinations until a
combination is found that looks like your password when encrypted. With passwords
eight characters long, there are quite a number of possible combinations to calculate.

In the seventies, it was argued that this method would be more secure than others due
to the relative slowness of the algorithm used, which took a few seconds to encrypt just
one password. In the meantime, however, PCs have become powerful enough to do
several hundred thousand or even millions of encryptions per second. Because of this,
encrypted passwords should not be visible to regular users (/etc/shadow cannot be
read by normal users). It is even more important that passwords are not easy to guess,
in case the password file becomes visible due to some error. Consequently, it is not re-
ally useful to “translate” a password like “tantalize” into “t@nt@1lz3”.
Replacing some letters of a word with similar looking numbers is not safe enough.
Password cracking programs that use dictionaries to guess words also play with substi-
tutions like that. A better way is to make up a word with no common meaning, something
that only makes sense to you personally, like the first letters of the words of a sentence
or the title of a book, such as “The Name of the Rose” by Umberto Eco. This would
give the following safe password: “TNotRbUE9”. In contrast, passwords like “beerbud-
dy” or “jasmine76” are easily guessed even by someone who has only some casual
knowledge about you.
49.1.3 The Boot Procedure

Configure your system so it cannot be booted from a floppy or from CD, either by re-
moving the drives entirely or by setting a BIOS password and configuring the BIOS to
allow booting from a hard disk only. Normally, a Linux system is started by a boot
loader, allowing you to pass additional options to the booted kernel. Prevent others
from using such parameters during boot by setting an additional password in /boot/
grub/menu.lst (see Chapter 21, The Boot Loader (page 403)). This is crucial to
your system's security. Not only does the kernel itself run with root permissions, but
it is also the first authority to grant root permissions at system start-up.
49.1.4 File Permissions

As a general rule, always work with the most restrictive privileges possible for a given
task. For example, it is definitely not necessary to be root to read or write e-mail. If
the mail program has a bug, this bug could be exploited for an attack that acts with ex-
actly the permissions of the program when it was started. By following the above rule,
minimize the possible damage.

The permissions of all files included in the SUSE Linux Enterprise distribution are
carefully chosen. A system administrator who installs additional software or other files
should take great care when doing so, especially when setting the permission bits. Ex-
perienced and security-conscious system administrators always use the -l option with
the command ls to get an extensive file list, which allows them to detect any incorrect
file permissions immediately. An incorrect file attribute does not only mean that files
could be changed or deleted. These modified files could be executed by root or, in
the case of configuration files, programs could use such files with the permissions of
root. This significantly increases the possibilities of an attacker. Attacks like this are
called cuckoo eggs, because the program (the egg) is executed (hatched) by a different
user (bird), just like a cuckoo tricks other birds into hatching its eggs.
A SUSE Linux Enterprise system includes the files permissions, permissions

.easy, permissions.secure, and permissions.paranoid, all in the direc-
tory /etc. The purpose of these files is to define special permissions, such as world-
writable directories or, for files, the setuser ID bit (programs with the setuser ID bit set
do not run with the permissions of the user that has launched it, but with the permissions
of the file owner, in most cases root). An administrator can use the file /etc/
permissions.local to add his own settings.
To define which of the above files is used by SUSE Linux Enterprise's configuration
programs to set permissions accordingly, select Local Security in the Security and Users
section of YaST. To learn more about the topic, read the comments in /etc/
permissions or consult the manual page of chmod (man chmod).
49.1.5 Buffer Overflows and Format String

Bugs
Special care must be taken whenever a program is supposed to process data that can or
could be changed by a user, but this is more of an issue for the programmer of an appli-
cation than for regular users. The programmer must make sure that his application in-
terprets data in the correct way, without writing it into memory areas that are too small
to hold it. Also, the program should hand over data in a consistent manner, using the
interfaces defined for that purpose.
A buffer overflow can happen if the actual size of a memory buffer is not taken into
account when writing to that buffer. There are cases where this data (as generated by
the user) uses up some more space than what is available in the buffer. As a result, data

is written beyond the end of that buffer area, which, under certain circumstances, makes
it possible for a program to execute program sequences influenced by the user (and not
by the programmer), rather than just processing user data. A bug of this kind may have
serious consequences, especially if the program is being executed with special privileges
(see Section 49.1.4, “File Permissions” (page 884)).
Format string bugs work in a slightly different way, but again it is the user input that
could lead the program astray. In most cases, these programming errors are exploited
with programs executed with special permissions—setuid and setgid programs—which
also means that you can protect your data and your system from such bugs by removing
the corresponding execution privileges from programs. Again, the best way is to apply
a policy of using the lowest possible privileges (see Section 49.1.4, “File Permissions”
(page 884)).
Given that buffer overflows and format string bugs are bugs related to the handling of
user data, they are not only exploitable if access has been given to a local account.
Many of the bugs that have been reported can also be exploited over a network link.
Accordingly, buffer overflows and format string bugs should be classified as being
relevant for both local and network security.
49.1.6 Viruses
Contrary to what some people say, there are viruses that run on Linux. However, the
viruses that are known were released by their authors as a proof of concept to prove
that the technique works as intended. None of these viruses have been spotted in the
wild so far.
Viruses cannot survive and spread without a host on which to live. In this case, the host
would be a program or an important storage area of the system, such as the master boot
record, which needs to be writable for the program code of the virus. Owing to its
multiuser capability, Linux can restrict write access to certain files, especially important
with system files. Therefore, if you did your normal work with root permissions, you
would increase the chance of the system being infected by a virus. In contrast, if you
follow the principle of using the lowest possible privileges as mentioned above, chances
of getting a virus are slim.
Apart from that, you should never rush into executing a program from some Internet
site that you do not really know. SUSE Linux Enterprise's RPM packages carry a
cryptographic signature as a digital label that the necessary care was taken to build

them. Viruses are a typical sign that the administrator or the user lacks the required se-
curity awareness, putting at risk even a system that should be highly secure by its very
design.
Viruses should not be confused with worms, which belong to the world of networks
entirely. Worms do not need a host to spread.
49.1.7 Network Security

Network security is important for protecting from an attack that is started outside. The
typical login procedure requiring a username and a password for user authentication is
still a local security issue. In the particular case of logging in over a network, differen-
tiate between the two security aspects. What happens until the actual authentication is
network security and anything that happens afterwards is local security.
49.1.8 X Window System and X

Authentication
As mentioned at the beginning, network transparency is one of the central characteristics
of a UNIX system. X, the windowing system of UNIX operating systems, can make
use of this feature in an impressive way. With X, it is basically no problem to log in at
a remote host and start a graphical program that is then sent over the network to be
displayed on your computer.
When an X client should be displayed remotely using an X server, the latter should
protect the resource managed by it (the display) from unauthorized access. In more
concrete terms, certain permissions must be given to the client program. With the X
Window System, there are two ways to do this, called host-based access control and
cookie-based access control. The former relies on the IP address of the host where the
client should run. The program to control this is xhost. xhost enters the IP address of a
legitimate client into a tiny database belonging to the X server. However, relying on
IP addresses for authentication is not very secure. For example, if there were a second
user working on the host sending the client program, that user would have access to
the X server as well—just like someone stealing the IP address. Because of these
shortcomings, this authentication method is not described in more detail here, but you
can learn about it with man xhost.

In the case of cookie-based access control, a character string is generated that is only
known to the X server and to the legitimate user, just like an ID card of some kind. This
cookie (the word goes back not to ordinary cookies, but to Chinese fortune cookies,
which contain an epigram) is stored on login in the file .Xauthority in the user's
home directory and is available to any X client wanting to use the X server to display
a window. The file .Xauthority can be examined by the user with the tool xauth.
If you were to rename .Xauthority or if you deleted the file from your home direc-
tory by accident, you would not be able to open any new windows or X clients. Read
more about X Window System security mechanisms in the man page of Xsecurity
(man Xsecurity).
SSH (secure shell) can be used to encrypt a network connection completely and forward
it to an X server transparently without the encryption mechanism being perceived by
the user. This is also called X forwarding. X forwarding is achieved by simulating an
X server on the server side and setting a DISPLAY variable for the shell on the remote
host. Further details about SSH can be found in Chapter 44, SSH: Secure Network Op-
erations (page 831).
WARNING
If you do not consider the host where you log in to be a secure host, do not
use X forwarding. With X forwarding enabled, an attacker could authenticate
via your SSH connection to intrude on your X server and sniff your keyboard
input, for instance.
49.1.9 Buffer Overflows and Format String

Bugs
As discussed in Section 49.1.5, “Buffer Overflows and Format String Bugs” (page 885),
buffer overflows and format string bugs should be classified as issues concerning both
local and network security. As with the local variants of such bugs, buffer overflows
in network programs, when successfully exploited, are mostly used to obtain root
permissions. Even if that is not the case, an attacker could use the bug to gain access
to an unprivileged local account to exploit any other vulnerabilities that might exist on
the system.
Buffer overflows and format string bugs exploitable over a network link are certainly
the most frequent form of remote attacks in general. Exploits for these—programs to

exploit these newly-found security holes—are often posted on the security mailing lists.
They can be used to target the vulnerability without knowing the details of the code.
Over the years, experience has shown that the availability of exploit codes has contribut-
ed to more secure operating systems, obviously due to the fact that operating system
makers were forced to fix the problems in their software. With free software, anyone
has access to the source code (SUSE Linux Enterprise comes with all available source
codes) and anyone who finds a vulnerability and its exploit code can submit a patch to
fix the corresponding bug.
49.1.10 Denial of Service

The purpose of a denial of service (DoS) attack is to block a server program or even
an entire system, something that could be achieved by various means: overloading the
server, keeping it busy with garbage packets, or exploiting a remote buffer overflow.
Often a DoS attack is made with the sole purpose of making the service disappear.
However, once a given service has become unavailable, communications could become
vulnerable to man-in-the-middle attacks (sniffing, TCP connection hijacking, spoofing)
and DNS poisoning.
49.1.11 Man in the Middle: Sniffing,

Hijacking, Spoofing
In general, any remote attack performed by an attacker who puts himself between the
communicating hosts is called a man-in-the-middle attack. What almost all types of
man-in-the-middle attacks have in common is that the victim is usually not aware that
there is something happening. There are many possible variants, for example, the attacker
could pick up a connection request and forward that to the target machine. Now the
victim has unwittingly established a connection with the wrong host, because the other
end is posing as the legitimate destination machine.
The simplest form of a man-in-the-middle attack is called sniffer—the attacker is “just”

listening to the network traffic passing by. As a more complex attack, the “man in the
middle” could try to take over an already established connection (hijacking). To do so,
the attacker would need to analyze the packets for some time to be able to predict the
TCP sequence numbers belonging to the connection. When the attacker finally seizes
the role of the target host, the victims notice this, because they get an error message
saying the connection was terminated due to a failure. The fact that there are protocols

not secured against hijacking through encryption, which only perform a simple authen-
tication procedure upon establishing the connection, makes it easier for attackers.
Spoofing is an attack where packets are modified to contain counterfeit source data,
usually the IP address. Most active forms of attack rely on sending out such fake
packets—something that, on a Linux machine, can only be done by the superuser
(root).
Many of the attacks mentioned are carried out in combination with a DoS. If an attacker
sees an opportunity to bring down a certain host abruptly, even if only for a short time,
it makes it easier for him to push the active attack, because the host will not be able to
interfere with the attack for some time.
49.1.12 DNS Poisoning

DNS poisoning means that the attacker corrupts the cache of a DNS server by replying
to it with spoofed DNS reply packets, trying to get the server to send certain data to a
victim who is requesting information from that server. Many servers maintain a trust
relationship with other hosts, based on IP addresses or hostnames. The attacker needs
a good understanding of the actual structure of the trust relationships among hosts to
disguise itself as one of the trusted hosts. Usually, the attacker analyzes some packets
received from the server to get the necessary information. The attacker often needs to
target a well-timed DoS attack at the name server as well. Protect yourself by using
encrypted connections that are able to verify the identity of the hosts to which to connect.
49.1.13 Worms
Worms are often confused with viruses, but there is a clear difference between the two.
Unlike viruses, worms do not need to infect a host program to live. Instead, they are
specialized to spread as quickly as possible on network structures. The worms that ap-
peared in the past, such as Ramen, Lion, or Adore, make use of well-known security
holes in server programs like bind8 or lprNG. Protection against worms is relatively
easy. Given that some time elapses between the discovery of a security hole and the
moment the worm hits your server, there is a good chance that an updated version of
the affected program is available on time. That is only useful if the administrator actu-
ally installs the security updates on the systems in question.

49.2 Some General Security Tips and
Tricks
To handle security competently, it is important to keep up with new developments and
stay informed about the latest security issues. One very good way to protect your systems
against problems of all kinds is to get and install the updated packages recommended
by security announcements as quickly as possible. SUSE security announcements are
published on a mailing list to which you can subscribe by following the link http://
en.opensuse.org/Communicate/Mailinglists. The list
[email protected] is a first-hand source of in-
formation regarding updated packages and includes members of SUSE's security team
among its active contributors.
The mailing list [email protected] is a good place to discuss

any security issues of interest. Subscribe to it on the same Web page.
[email protected] is one of the best-known security mailing lists

worldwide. Reading this list, which receives between 15 and 20 postings per day, is
recommended. More information can be found at http://www.securityfocus
.com.
The following is a list of rules you may find useful in dealing with basic security con-
cerns:
• According to the rule of using the most restrictive set of permissions possible for
every job, avoid doing your regular jobs as root. This reduces the risk of getting
a cuckoo egg or a virus and protects you from your own mistakes.
• If possible, always try to use encrypted connections to work on a remote machine.

Using ssh (secure shell) to replace telnet, ftp, rsh, and rlogin should be
standard practice.
• Avoid using authentication methods based on IP addresses alone.
• Try to keep the most important network-related packages up-to-date and subscribe
to the corresponding mailing lists to receive announcements on new versions of
such programs (bind, postfix, ssh, etc.). The same should apply to software relevant
to local security.

• Change the /etc/permissions file to optimize the permissions of files crucial
to your system's security. If you remove the setuid bit from a program, it might
well be that it cannot do its job anymore in the intended way. On the other hand,
consider that, in most cases, the program will also have ceased to be a potential
security risk. You might take a similar approach with world-writable directories
and files.
• Disable any network services you do not absolutely require for your server to work
properly. This makes your system safer. Open ports, with the socket state LISTEN,
can be found with the program netstat. As for the options, it is recommended
to use netstat -ap or netstat -anp. The -p option allows you to see which
process is occupying a port under which name.
Compare the netstat results with those of a thorough port scan done from outside
your host. An excellent program for this job is nmap, which not only checks out
the ports of your machine, but also draws some conclusions as to which services
are waiting behind them. However, port scanning may be interpreted as an aggressive
act, so do not do this on a host without the explicit approval of the administrator.
Finally, remember that it is important not only to scan TCP ports, but also UDP
ports (options -sS and -sU).
• To monitor the integrity of the files of your system in a reliable way, use the program
AIDE (Advanced Intrusion Detection Environment), available on SUSE Linux
Enterprise. Encrypt the database created by AIDE to prevent someone from tamper-
ing with it. Furthermore, keep a backup of this database available outside your
machine, stored on an external data medium not connected to it by a network link.
• Take proper care when installing any third-party software. There have been cases
where a hacker had built a trojan horse into the tar archive of a security software
package, which was fortunately discovered very quickly. If you install a binary
package, have no doubts about the site from which you downloaded it.
SUSE's RPM packages are gpg-signed. The key used by SUSE for signing is:
ID:9C800ACA 2000-10-19 SUSE Package Signing Key <[email protected]>
Key fingerprint = 79C1 79B2 E1C8 20C1 890F 9994 A84E DAE8 9C80 0ACA
The command rpm --checksig package.rpm shows whether the checksum

and the signature of an uninstalled package are correct. Find the key on the first
CD of the distribution and on most key servers worldwide.

• Check your backups of user and system files regularly. Consider that if you do not
test whether the backup works, it might actually be worthless.
• Check your log files. Whenever possible, write a small script to search for suspicious
entries. Admittedly, this is not exactly a trivial task. In the end, only you can know
which entries are unusual and which are not.
• Use tcp_wrapper to restrict access to the individual services running on your

machine, so you have explicit control over which IP addresses can connect to a
service. For further information regarding tcp_wrapper, consult the manual
pages of tcpd and hosts_access (man 8 tcpd, man hosts_access).
• Use SuSEfirewall to enhance the security provided by tcpd (tcp_wrapper).
• Design your security measures to be redundant: a message seen twice is much

better than no message at all.
49.3 Using the Central Security

Reporting Address
If you discover a security-related problem (please check the available update packages
first), write an e-mail to [email protected]. Please include a detailed description
of the problem and the version number of the package concerned. SUSE will try to send
a reply as soon as possible. You are encouraged to pgp encrypt your e-mail messages.
SUSE's pgp key is:
ID:3D25D3D9 1999-03-06 SUSE Security Team <[email protected]>

Key fingerprint = 73 5F 2E 99 DF DB 94 C4 8F 5A A3 AE AF 22 F2 D5
This key is also available for download from http://www.novell.com/linux/

security/securitysupport.html.

Part VI. Troubleshooting
Help and Documentation
SUSE Linux Enterprise® comes with various sources of information and documentation.
50
The SUSE Help Center provides central access to the most important documentation
resources on your system in searchable form. These resources include online help for
installed applications, manual pages, info pages, databases on hardware and software
topics, and all manuals delivered with your product.
50.1 Using the SUSE Help Center

When you start the SUSE Help Center for the first time from the main menu (SuSE
Help Center) or with the command susehelp in the shell, a window as shown in
Figure 50.1, “The Main Window of the SUSE Help Center” (page 898) is displayed.
The dialog window consists of three main areas:
Menu Bar and Toolbar

The menu bar provides the main editing, navigation, and configuration options.
File contains the option for printing the currently displayed content. Under Edit,
access the search function. Go contains all navigation possibilities: Table of Contents
(home page of the Help Center), Back, Forward, and Last Search Result. With
Settings > Build Search Index, generate a search index for all selected information
sources. The toolbar contains three navigation icons (forward, back, home) and a
printer icon for printing the current contents.
Navigation Area with Tabs

The navigation area in the left part of the window provides an input field for a
quick search in selected information sources. Details regarding the search and the
Help and Documentation 897

configuration of the search function in the Search tab are presented in Section 50.1.2,
“The Search Function” (page 899). The Contents tab presents a tree view of all
available and currently installed information sources. Click the book icons to open
and browse the individual categories.
View Window
The view window always displays the currently selected contents, such as online
manuals, search results, or Web pages.
Figure 50.1 The Main Window of the SUSE Help Center
NOTE: Language Selects View
The documentation available in the SUSE Help Center depends on the current
language. Changing your language changes the tree view.

50.1.1 Contents
The SUSE Help Center provides access to useful information from various sources. It
contains special documentation for SUSE Linux Enterprise (Start-Up, KDE User Guide,
GNOME User Guide, and Reference), all available information sources for your
workstation environment, online help for the installed programs, and help texts for
other applications. Furthermore, the SUSE Help Center provides access to SUSE's online
databases that cover special hardware and software issues for SUSE Linux Enterprise.
All these sources can be searched comfortably once a search index has been generated.
50.1.2 The Search Function

To search all installed information sources of SUSE Linux Enterprise, generate a search
index and set a number of search parameters. To do this, use the Search tab, shown in
Figure 50.2, “Configuring the Search Function” (page 899).
Figure 50.2 Configuring the Search Function
If no search index has been generated, the system automatically prompts you to do so
when you click the Search tab or enter a search string then click Search. In the window
for generating the search index, shown in Figure 50.3, “Generating a Search Index”
(page 900), use the check boxes to determine the information sources to index. The index
is generated when you exit the dialog with Build Index.

Figure 50.3 Generating a Search Index
To limit the search base and the hit list as precisely as possible, use the three drop-down
menus to determine the number of displayed hits and the selection area of sources to
search. The following options are available for determining the selection area:
Default
A predefined selection of sources is searched.
All
All sources are searched.
None
No sources selected for the search.
Custom
Determine the sources to search by activating the respective check boxes in the
overview.
When you have completed the search configuration, click Search. The relevant items
are then displayed in the view window and can easily be navigated with mouse clicks.

50.2 Man Pages
Man pages are an essential part of any Linux system. They explain the usage of a
command and all available options and parameters. Man pages are sorted in categories
as shown in Table 50.1, “Man Pages—Categories and Descriptions” (page 901) (taken
from the man page for man itself).
Table 50.1 Man Pages—Categories and Descriptions
Number Description
1 Executable programs or shell commands
2 System calls (functions provided by the kernel)
3 Library calls (functions within program libraries)
4 Special files (usually found in /dev)
5 File formats and conventions (/etc/fstab)
6 Games
7 Miscellaneous (including macro packages and conventions), for

example, man(7), groff(7)
8 System administration commands (usually only for root)
9 Kernel routines (nonstandard)
Generally, man pages are delivered with the associated command. They can be browsed
in the help center or directly in a shell. To display a man page in a shell, use the man
command. For example, to display the man page for ls enter man ls. Each man page
consists of several parts labeled NAME, SYNOPSIS, DESCRIPTION, SEE ALSO, LI-
CENSING, and AUTHOR. There may be additional sections available depending on
the type of command. With Q, exit the man page viewer.

Another possibility to display a man page is to use Konqueror. Start Konqueror and
type, for example, man:/ls. If there are different categories for a command, Konqueror
displays them as links.
50.3 Info Pages

Info pages are another important source of information on your system. Usually they
are more verbose than man pages. You can browse an info page with an info viewer
and display the different sections, called “nodes.” Use the command info for this task.
For example, to view the info page of info itself, type info info in the shell.
For more convenience, use the Help Center or Konqueror. Start Konqueror and type
info:/ to view the top level. To display the info page for grep, type info:/grep.
50.4 The Linux Documentation Project

The Linux Documentation Project (TLDP) is run by a team of volunteers who write
Linux and Linux-related documentation (see http://www.tldp.org). The set of
documents contains tutorials for beginners, but is mainly focused on experienced users
and professional system administrators. TLDP publishes HOWTOs, FAQs, and guides
(handbooks) under a free license.
50.4.1 HOWTOs
HOWTOs are usually a short, informal, step-by-step guide to accomplishing a specific
task. It is written by experts for nonexperts in a procedural manner. For example, how
to configure a DHCP server. HOWTOs can be found in the package howto and are
installed under /usr/share/doc/howto
50.4.2 Frequently Asked Questions

FAQs (frequently asked questions) are a series of questions and answers. They originate
from Usenet newsgroups where the purpose was to reduce continuous reposting of the
same basic questions.

50.5 Wikipedia: The Free Online
Encyclopedia
Wikipedia is “a multilingual encyclopedia designed to be read and edited by anyone”
(see http://en.wikipedia.org). The content of Wikipedia is created by its
users and is published under a free license (GFDL). Any visitors can edit articles, which
gives the danger of vandalism, but this does not repel visitors. With over four hundred
thousand articles, find an answer for nearly every topic.
50.6 Guides and Books

A broad range of guides and books are available for Linux topics.
50.6.1 SUSE Books

SUSE provides detailed and informative books. We provide HTML and PDF versions
of our books in different languages. The PDF file is available on the DVD in the direc-
tory docu. For HTML, install the package opensuse-manual_LANG (replace
LANG with your preferred language.) After the installation, find them in the SUSE Help
Center.
50.6.2 Other Manuals

The SUSE help center offers additional manuals and guides for various topics or pro-
grams. More can be found at http://www.tldp.org/guides.html. They range
from Bash Guide for Beginners to Linux Filesystem Hierarchy to Linux Administrator's
Security Guide. Generally, guides are more detailed and exhaustive than a HOWTO or
FAQ. They are usually written by experts for experts. Some of these books are old but
still valid. Install books and guides with YaST.

50.7 Package Documentation
If you install a package in your system, a directory /usr/share/doc/
packages/packagename is created. You can find files from the package maintainer
as well as additional information from SUSE. Sometimes there are also examples,
configuration files, additional scripts, or other things available. Usually you can find
the following files, but they are not standard and sometimes not all files are available.
AUTHORS
The list of the main developers of this package and usually their tasks.
BUGS
Known bugs or malfunctions of this package. Usually also a link to a Bugzilla Web
page where you can search all bugs.
CHANGES , ChangeLog
Summary of changes from version to version. Usually interesting for developers,
because it is very detailed.
COPYING , LICENSE
Licensing information.
FAQ
Question and answers collected from mailing lists or newsgroups.
INSTALL
Procedures for installing this package in your system. Normally you do not need
it, because you have the package installed already.
README , README.*
General information such as how to use it and what you can do with this package.
TODO
Things that are not implemented yet, but probably will be in the future.
MANIFEST
List of files with a brief summary.
NEWS
Description of what is new in this version.

50.8 Usenet
Created in 1979 before the rise of the Internet, Usenet is one of the oldest computer
networks and still in active use. The format and transmission of Usenet articles is very
similar to e-mail, but is developed for a many-to-many communication.
Usenet is organized into seven topical categories: comp.* for computer-related discus-
sions, misc.* for miscellaneous topics, news.* for newsgroup-related matters,
rec.* for recreation and entertainment, sci.* for science-related discussions, soc.*
for social discussions, and talk.* for various controversial topics. The top levels are
split in subgroups. For instance, comp.os.linux.hardware is a newsgroup for
Linux-specific hardware issues.
Before you can post an article, have your client connect to a news server and subscribe
to a specific newsgroup. News clients include Knode or Evolution. Each news server
communicates to other news servers and exchanges articles with them. Not all news-
groups may be available on your news server.
Interesting newsgroups for Linux users are comp.os.linux.apps,

comp.os.linux.questions, and comp.os.linux.hardware. If you cannot
find a specific newsgroup, go to http://www.linux.org/docs/usenetlinux
.html. Follow the general Usenet rules available online at http://www.faqs
.org/faqs/usenet/posting-rules/part1/.
50.9 Standards and Specifications

There are various sources that provide information about standards or specifications.
http://www.linuxbase.org
The Free Standards Group is an independent nonprofit organization that promotes
the distribution of free software and open source software. The organization endeav-
ors to achieve this by defining distribution-independent standards. The maintenance
of several standards, such as the important LSB (Linux Standard Base), is supervised
by this organization.
http://www.w3.org
The World Wide Web Consortium (W3C) is certainly one of the best-known
standards organizations. It was founded in October 1994 by Tim Berners-Lee and

concentrates on standardizing Web technologies. W3C promotes the dissemination
of open, license-free, and manufacturer-independent specifications, such as HTML,
XHTML, and XML. These Web standards are developed in a four-stage process
in working groups and are presented to the public as W3C recommendations (REC).
http://www.oasis-open.org
OASIS (Organization for the Advancement of Structured Information Standards)
is an international consortium specializing in the development of standards for Web
security, e-business, business transactions, logistics, and interoperability between
various markets.
http://www.ietf.org
The Internet Engineering Task Force (IETF) is an internationally active cooperative
of researchers, network designers, suppliers, and users. It concentrates on the de-
velopment of Internet architecture and the smooth operation of the Internet by
means of protocols.
Every IETF standard is published as an RFC (Request for Comments) and is

available free-of-charge. There are six types of RFC: proposed standards, draft
standards, Internet standards, experimental protocols, information documents, and
historic standards. Only the first three (proposed, draft, and full) are IETF standards
in the narrower sense (see http://www.ietf.org/rfc/rfc1796.txt).
http://www.ieee.org
The Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers (IEEE) is an organization that
draws up standards in the areas of information technology, telecommunication,
medicine and health care, transport, and others. IEEE standards are subject to a
fee.
http://www.iso.org
The ISO Committee (International Organization for Standards) is the world's largest
developer of standards and maintains a network of national standardization institutes
in over 140 countries. ISO standards are subject to a fee.
http://www.din.de , http://www.din.com
The Deutsches Institut für Normung (DIN) is a registered technical and scientific
association. It was founded in 1917. According to DIN, the organization is “the
institution responsible for standards in Germany and represents German interests
in worldwide and European standards organizations.”

The association brings together manufacturers, consumers, trade professionals,
service companies, scientists and others who have an interest in the establishment
of standards. The standards are subject to a fee and can be ordered using the DIN
home page.

Common Problems and Their
Solutions
This chapter offers a range of common problems that can arise with an intention of
51
covering as many of the various types of potential problems as possible. That way, even
if your precise situation is not listed here, there might be one similar enough to offer
hints as to the solution.
51.1 Finding and Gathering

Information
Linux logs things in a fair amount of detail. There are several places to look when you
have problems with your system, most of which are standard to Linux systems in gen-
eral and some of which are peculiar to SUSE Linux Enterprise systems. Most log files
can also be viewed with YaST (Miscellaneous > Start-Up Log).
YaST offers the possibility to collect all system information needed by the support
team. Use Miscellaneous > Support Query. Select the problem category. When all in-
formation is gathered, attach it to your support request.
The following is a list of the most commonly checked log files and what they typically
contain.
Common Problems and Their Solutions 909

Table 51.1 Log Files
Log File Description
/var/log/boot.msg Messages from the kernel during the boot process.
/var/log/mail.* Messages from the mail system.
/var/log/messages Ongoing messages from the kernel and system log

daemon when running.
/var/log/ Log file from NetworkManager to collect problems

NetworkManager with network connectivity
/var/log/SaX.log Hardware messages from the SaX display and KVM

system.
/home/user/ Messages from the desktop applications currently

.xsession-errors running. Replace user with the actual username.
/var/log/warn All messages from the kernel and system log daemon
assigned WARNING level or higher.
/var/log/wtmp Binary file containing user login records for the

current machine session. View it with last.
/var/log/Xorg.*.log Various start-up and runtime logs from the X Win-

dow system. It is useful for debugging failed X start-
ups.
/var/log/YaST2/ Directory containing YaST's actions and their results.
/var/log/samba/ Directory containing Samba server and client log

messages.
Apart from log files, your machine also supplies you with information about the running
system. See Table 51.2: System Information.

Table 51.2 System Information
File Description
/proc/cpuinfo This displays processor information, including its

type, make, model, and performance.
/proc/dma This shows which DMA channels are currently being

used.
/proc/interrupts This shows which interrupts are in use and how

many of each have been in use.
/proc/iomem This displays the status of I/O (input/output) memo-

ry.
/proc/ioports This shows which I/O ports are in use at the moment.
/proc/meminfo This displays memory status.
/proc/modules This displays the individual modules.
/proc/mounts This displays devices currently mounted.
/proc/partitions This shows the partitioning of all hard disks.
/proc/version This displays the current version of Linux.
Linux comes with a number of tools for system analysis and monitoring. See Chapter 17,
System Monitoring Utilities (page 325) for a selection of the most important ones used
in system diagnostics.
Each scenario included in the following begins with a header describing the problem
followed by a paragraph or two offering suggested solutions, available references for
more detailed solutions, and cross-references to other scenarios that might be related.

51.2 Installation Problems
Installation problems are situations when a machine fails to install. It may fail entirely
or it may not be able to start the graphical installer. This section highlights some of the
typical problems you might run into and offers possible solutions or workarounds for
this kind of situations.
51.2.1 Checking Media

If you encounter any problems using the SUSE Linux Enterprise installation media,
you can check the integrity of your installation media with Software > Media Check.
Media problems are more likely to occur with media you burn yourself. To check a
SUSE Linux Enterprise CD or DVD, insert the medium into the drive and click Start
for YaST to check the MD5 checksum of the medium. This may take several minutes.
If errors are detected, do not use this medium for installation.
51.2.2 Hardware Information

Display detected hardware and technical data using Hardware > Hardware Information.
Click any node of the tree for more information about a device. This module is especially
useful, for example, when submitting a support request for which you need information
about your hardware.
Save the hardware information displayed to a file by clicking Save to File. Select the
desired directory and filename then click Save to create the file.
51.2.3 No Bootable CD-ROM Drive Available

If your computer does not contain a bootable CD or DVD-ROM drive or if the one you
have is not supported by Linux, there are several options for installing your machine
without a need for a built-in CD or DVD drive:

Booting from a Floppy Disk
Create a boot floppy and boot from floppy disk instead of CD or DVD.
Using an External Boot Device

If it is supported by the machine's BIOS and the installation kernel, boot for instal-
lation from external CD or DVD drives.
Network Boot via PXE

If a machines lacks a CD or DVD drive, but provides a working ethernet connection,
perform a completely network-based installation. See Section 4.1.3, “Remote In-
stallation via VNC—PXE Boot and Wake on LAN” (page 51) and Section 4.1.6,
“Remote Installation via SSH—PXE Boot and Wake on LAN” (page 55) for details.
Booting from a Floppy Disk (SYSLINUX)

On some older computers, there is no bootable CD-ROM drive available, but a floppy
disk drive. To install on such a system, create boot disks and boot your system with
them.
The boot disks include the loader SYSLINUX and the program linuxrc. SYSLINUX
enables the selection of a kernel during the boot procedure and the specification of any
parameters needed for the hardware used. The program linuxrc supports the loading of
kernel modules for your hardware and subsequently starts the installation.
When booting from a boot disk, the boot procedure is initiated by the boot loader
SYSLINUX (package syslinux). When the system is booted, SYSLINUX runs a
minimum hardware detection that mainly consists of the following steps:
1. The program checks if the BIOS provides VESA 2.0–compliant framebuffer support
and boots the kernel accordingly.
2. The monitor data (DDC info) is read.
3. The first block of the first hard disk (MBR) is read to map BIOS IDs to Linux de-
vice names during the boot loader configuration. The program attempts to read
the block by means of the the lba32 functions of the BIOS to determine if the BIOS
supports these functions.
If you keep Shift pressed when SYSLINUX starts, all these steps are skipped. For
troubleshooting purposes, insert the line

verbose 1
in syslinux.cfg for the boot loader to display which action is currently being per-
formed.
If the machine does not boot from the floppy disk, you may need to change the boot
sequence in the BIOS to A,C,CDROM.
External Boot Devices

Most CD-ROM drives are supported. If problems arise when booting from the CD-
ROM drive, try booting CD 2 of the CD set.
If the system does not have a CD-ROM or floppy disk, it is still possible that an external
CD-ROM, connected with USB, FireWire, or SCSI, can be used to boot the system.
This depends largely on the interaction of the BIOS and the hardware used. Sometimes
a BIOS update may help if you encounter problems.
51.2.4 Booting from Installation Media Fails

There are two possible reasons for a machine not to boot for installation:
CD or DVD-ROM Drive Unable to Read the Boot Image

Your CD-ROM drive might not be able to read the boot image on CD 1. In this
case, use CD 2 to boot the system. CD 2 contains a conventional 2.88 MB boot
image that can be read even by unsupported drives and allows you to perform the
installation over the network as described in Chapter 4, Remote Installation
(page 47).
Incorrect Boot Sequence in BIOS

The BIOS boot sequence must have CD-ROM set as the first entry for booting.
Otherwise the machine would try to boot from another medium, typically the hard
disk. Guidance for changing the BIOS boot sequence can be found the documenta-
tion provided with your motherboard or in the following paragraphs.
The BIOS is the software that enables the very basic functions of a computer. Mother-
board vendors provide a BIOS specifically made for their hardware. Normally, the
BIOS setup can only be accessed at a specific time—when the machine is booting.
During this initialization phase, the machine performs a number of diagnostic hardware
tests. One of them is a memory check, indicated by a memory counter. When the counter

appears, look for a line, usually below the counter or somewhere at the bottom, men-
tioning the key to press to access the BIOS setup. Usually the key to press is Del, F1,
or Esc. Press this key until the BIOS setup screen appears.
Procedure 51.1 Changing the BIOS Boot Sequence
1 Enter the BIOS using the proper key as announced by the boot routines and wait
for the BIOS screen to appear.
2 To change the boot sequence in an AWARD BIOS, look for the BIOS FEATURES
SETUP entry. Other manufacturers may have a different name for this, such as
ADVANCED CMOS SETUP. When you have found the entry, select it and confirm
with Enter.
3 In the screen that opens, look for a subentry called BOOT SEQUENCE. The boot
sequence is often set to something like C,A or A,C. In the former case, the ma-
chine first searches the hard disk (C) then the floppy drive (A) to find a bootable
medium. Change the settings by pressing PgUp or PgDown until the sequence is
A,CDROM,C.
4 Leave the BIOS setup screen by pressing Esc. To save the changes, select SAVE
& EXIT SETUP or press F10. To confirm that your settings should be saved,
press Y.
Procedure 51.2 Changing the Boot Sequence in a SCSI BIOS (Adaptec Host
Adapter)
1 Open the setup by pressing Ctrl + A.
2 Select Disk Utilities, which displays the connected hardware components.
Make note of the SCSI ID of your CD-ROM drive.
3 Exit the menu with Esc.
4 Open Configure Adapter Settings. Under Additional Options, select Boot Device
Options and press Enter.
5 Enter the ID of the CD-ROM drive and press Enter again.
6 Press Esc twice to return to the start screen of the SCSI BIOS.

7 Exit this screen and confirm with Yes to boot the computer.
Regardless of what language and keyboard layout your final installation will be using,
most BIOS configurations use the US keyboard layout as depicted in the following
figure:
Figure 51.1 US Keyboard Layout
51.2.5 Fails to Boot

Some hardware types, mainly fairly old or very recent ones, fail to install. In many
cases, this might happen because support for this type of hardware is missing from the
installation kernel or due to certain functionality included in this kernel, such as ACPI,
that still cause problems on some hardware.
If your system fails to install using the standard Installation mode from the first instal-
lation boot screen, try the following:
1 With the first CD or DVD still in the CD-ROM drive, reboot the machine with
Ctrl + Alt + Del or using the hardware reset button.
2 When the boot screen appears, use the arrow keys of your keyboard to navigate
to Installation--ACPI Disabled and press Enter to launch the boot and installation
process. This option disables the support for ACPI power management techniques.
3 Proceed with the installation as described in Chapter 3, Installation with YaST

(page 17).

If this fails, proceed as above, but choose Installation--Safe Settings instead. This option
disables ACPI and DMA support. Most hardware should boot with this option.
If both of these options fail, use the boot options prompt to pass any additional param-
eters needed to support this type of hardware to the installation kernel. For more infor-
mation about the parameters available as boot options, refer to the kernel documentation
located in /usr/src/linux/Documentation/kernel-parameters.txt.
TIP: Obtaining Kernel Documentation
Install the kernel-source package to view the kernel documentation.
There are various other ACPI-related kernel parameters that can be entered at the boot
prompt prior to booting for installation:
acpi=off
This parameter disables the complete ACPI subsystem on your computer. This may
be useful if your computer cannot handle ACPI at all or if you think ACPI in your
computer causes trouble.
acpi=force
Always enable ACPI even if your computer has an old BIOS dated before the year
2000. This parameter also enables ACPI if it is set in addition to acpi=off.
acpi=noirq
Do not use ACPI for IRQ routing.
acpi=ht
Run only enough ACPI to enable hyper-threading.
acpi=strict
Be less tolerant of platforms that are not strictly ACPI specification compliant.
pci=noacpi
Disable PCI IRQ routing of the new ACPI system.
pnpacpi=off
This option is for seriell or parallel problems when your BIOS setup contains wrong
interrupts or ports.

notsc
Disable the time stamp counter. This option can be used to work around timing
problems on your systems. It is a new feature, if you see regressions on your ma-
chine, especially time related or even total hangs, this option is worth a try.
nohz=off
Disable the nohz feature. If your machine hangs, this option might help. Generally,
you do not need it.
Once you have determined the right parameter combination, YaST automatically writes
them to the boot loader configuration to make sure that the system boots properly next
time.
If unexplainable errors occur when the kernel is loaded or during the installation, select
Memory Test in the boot menu to check the memory. If Memory Test returns an error,
it is usually a hardware error.
51.2.6 Fails to Launch Graphical Installer

After you insert the first CD or DVD into your drive and reboot your machine, the in-
stallation screen comes up, but after you select Installation, the graphical installer does
not start.
There are several ways to deal with this situation:
• Try to select another screen resolution for the installation dialogs.
• Select Text Mode for installation.
• Do a remote installation via VNC using the graphical installer.
To change to another screen resolution for installation, proceed as follows:
1 Boot for installation.
2 Press F3 to open a menu from which to select a lower resolution for installation
purposes.
3 Select Installation and proceed with the installation as described in Chapter 3,


To perform an installation in text mode, proceed as follows:
2 Press F3 and select Text Mode.
3 Select Installation and proceed with the installation as described in Chapter 3,

To perform a VNC installation, proceed as follows:
2 Enter the following text at the boot options prompt:

vnc=1 vncpassword=some_password
Replace some_password with the password to use for installation.
3 Select Installation then press Enter to start the installation.
Instead of starting right into the graphical installation routine, the system continues
to run in text mode then halts, displaying a message containing the IP address
and port number at which the installer can be reached via a browser interface or
a VNC viewer application.
4 If using a browser to access the installer, launch the browser and enter the address
information provided by the installation routines on the future SUSE Linux En-
terprise machine and hit Enter:
http://ip_address_of_machine:5801
A dialog opens in the browser window prompting you for the VNC password.
Enter it and proceed with the installation as described in Chapter 3, Installation
with YaST (page 17).
IMPORTANT
Installation via VNC works with any browser under any operating system,
provided Java support is enabled.

If you use any kind of VNC viewer on your preferred operating system, enter
the IP address and password when prompted to do so. A window opens, displaying
the installation dialogs. Proceed with the installation as usual.
51.2.7 Only Minimalistic Boot Screen

Started
You inserted the first CD or DVD into the drive, the BIOS routines are finished, but
the system does not start with the graphical boot screen. Instead it launches a very
minimalistic text-based interface. This might happen on any machine not providing
sufficient graphics memory for rendering a graphical boot screen.
Although the text boot screen looks minimalistic, it provides nearly the same function-
ality as the graphical one:
Boot Options
Unlike the graphical interface, the different boot options cannot be selected using
the cursor keys of your keyboard. The boot menu of the text mode boot screen offers
some keywords to enter at the boot prompt. These keywords map to the options
offered in the graphical version. Enter your choice and hit Enter to launch the boot
process.
Custom Boot Options

After selecting a boot option, enter the appropriate keyword at the boot prompt or
enter some custom boot options as described in Section 51.2.5, “Fails to Boot”
(page 916). To launch the installation process, press Enter.
Screen Resolutions
Use the F keys to determine the screen resolution for installation. If you need to
boot in text mode, choose F3.
51.3 Boot Problems

Boot problems are situations when your system does not boot properly (does not boot
to the expected runlevel and login screen).

51.3.1 Fails to Load the GRUB Boot Loader
If the hardware is functioning properly, it is possible that the boot loader has become
corrupted and Linux cannot start on the machine. In this case, it is necessary to reinstall
the boot loader. To reinstall the boot loader, proceed as follows:
1 Insert the installation media into the drive.
2 Reboot the machine.
3 Select Installation from the boot menu.
4 Select a language.
5 Accept the license agreement.
6 In the Installation Mode screen, select Other and set the installation mode to
Repair Installed System.
7 Once in the YaST System Repair module, select Expert Tools then select Install
New Boot Loader.
8 Restore the original settings and reinstall the boot loader.
9 Leave YaST System Repair and reboot the system.
If, for some reason, the graphical interface does not come up or you prefer to repair the
system manually, refer to Section “Using the Rescue System” (page 942) for instructions.
Other reasons for the machine not booting may be BIOS-related:
BIOS Settings
Check your BIOS for references to your hard drive. GRUB might simply not be
started if the hard drive itself cannot be found with the current BIOS settings.
BIOS Boot Order

Check whether your system's boot order includes the hard disk. If the hard disk
option was not enabled, your system might install properly, but fail to boot when
access to the hard disk is required.

51.3.2 No Graphical Login
If the machine comes up, but does not boot into the graphical login manager, anticipate
problems either with the choice of the default runlevel or the configuration of the X
Window System. To check the runlevel configuration, log in as the root user and
check whether the machine is configured to boot into runlevel 5 (graphical desktop).
A quick way to check this is to examine the contents of /etc/inittab, as follows:
nld-machine:~ # grep "id:" /etc/inittab
id:5:initdefault:
nld-machine:~ #
The returned line indicates that the machine's default runlevel (initdefault) is set
to 5 and that it should boot to the graphical desktop. If the runlevel is set to any other
number, use the YaST Runlevel Editor module to set it to 5.
IMPORTANT
Do not edit the runlevel configuration manually. Otherwise SuSEconfig (run by

YaST) will overwrite these changes on its next run. If you need to make manual
changes here, disable future SuSEconfig changes by setting CHECK_INITTAB
in /etc/sysconfig/suseconfig to no.
If the runlevel is set to 5, you might have corruption problems with your desktop or X
Windows software. Examine the log files at /var/log/Xorg.*.log for detailed
messages from the X server as it attempted to start. If the desktop fails during start, it
might log error messages to /var/log/messages. If these error messages hint at
a configuration problem in the X server, try to fix these issues. If the graphical system
still does not come up, consider reinstalling the graphical desktop.
One quick test: the startx command should force the X Window System to start with
the configured defaults if the user is currently logged in on the console. If that does not
work, it should log errors to the console. For more information about the X Window
system configuration, refer to Chapter 26, The X Window System (page 481).

51.4 Login Problems
Login problems are those where your machine does, in fact, boot to the expected wel-
come screen or login prompt, but refuses to accept the username and password or accepts
them but then does not behave properly (fails to start the graphic desktop, produces
errors, drops to a command line, etc.).
51.4.1 Valid Username and Password

Combinations Fail
This usually occurs when the system is configured to use network authentication or
directory services and, for some reason, is unable to retrieve results from its configured
servers. The root user, as the only local user, is the only user that can still log in to
these machines. The following are some common reasons why a machine might appear
functional but be unable to process logins correctly:
• The network is not working. For further directions on this, turn to Section 51.5,
“Network Problems” (page 929).
• DNS is not working at the moment (which prevents GNOME or KDE from working
and the system from making validated requests to secure servers). One indication
that this is the case is that the machine takes an extremely long time to respond to
any action. Find more information about this topic in Section 51.5, “Network
Problems” (page 929).
• If the system is configured to use Kerberos, the system's local time might have
drifted past the accepted variance with the Kerberos server time (this is typically
300 seconds). If NTP (network time protocol) is not working properly or local NTP
servers are not working, Kerberos authentication ceases to function because it de-
pends on common clock synchronization across the network.
• The system's authentication configuration is misconfigured. Check the PAM confi-

guration files involved for any typographical errors or misordering of directives.
For additional background information about PAM and the syntax of the configu-
ration files involved, refer to Chapter 27, Authentication with PAM (page 495).

In all cases that do not involve external network problems, the solution is to reboot the
system into single-user mode and repair the configuration before booting again into
operating mode and attempting to log in again. To boot into single-user mode:
1 Reboot the system. The boot screen appears, offering a prompt.
2 Enter 1 at the boot prompt to make the system boot into single-user mode.
3 Enter the username and password for root.
4 Make all the necessary changes.
5 Boot into the full multiuser and network mode by entering telinit 5 at the
command line.
51.4.2 Valid Username and Password Not

Accepted
This is by far the most common problem users encounter, because there are many reasons
this can occur. Depending on whether you use local user management and authentication
or network authentication, login failures occur for different reasons.
Local user management can fail for the following reasons:
• The user might have entered the wrong password.
• The user's home directory containing the desktop configuration files is corrupted
or write protected.
• There might be problems with the X Window System authenticating this particular
user, especially if the user's home directory has been used with another Linux dis-
tribution prior to installing the current one.
To locate the reason for a local login failure, proceed as follows:
1 Check whether the user remembered his password correctly before you start de-
bugging the whole authentication mechanism. If the user might not remember
his password correctly, use the YaST User Management module to change the
user's password.

2 Log in as root and check /var/log/messages for error messages of the
login process and of PAM.
3 Try to log in from a console (using Ctrl + Alt + F1). If this is successful, the blame
cannot be put on PAM, because it is possible to authenticate this user on this
machine. Try to locate any problems with the X Window System or the desktop
(GNOME or KDE). For more information, refer to Section 51.4.3, “Login Suc-
cessful but GNOME Desktop Fails ” (page 927) and Section 51.4.4, “Login Suc-
cessful but KDE Desktop Fails” (page 928).
4 If the user's home directory has been used with another Linux distribution, remove
the Xauthority file in the user's home. Use a console login via Ctrl + Alt +
F1 and run rm .Xauthority as this user. This should eliminate X authentica-
tion problems for this user. Try a graphical login again.
5 If graphical login still fails, do a console login with Ctrl + Alt + F1. Try to start
an X session on another display—the first one (:0) is already in use:
startx -- :1
This should bring up a graphical screen and your desktop. If it does not, check
the log files of the X Window System (/var/log/Xorg.displaynumber
.log) or the log file for your desktop applications (.xsession-errors in
the user's home directory) for any irregularities.
6 If the desktop could not start because of corrupt configuration files, proceed with
Section 51.4.3, “Login Successful but GNOME Desktop Fails ” (page 927) or
Section 51.4.4, “Login Successful but KDE Desktop Fails” (page 928).
The following are some common reasons why network authentication for a particular
user might fail on a specific machine:
• The user might have entered the wrong password.
• The username exists in the machine's local authentication files and is also provided
by a network authentication system, causing conflicts.
• The home directory exists but is corrupt or unavailable. Perhaps it is write protected
or is on a server that is inaccessible at the moment.
• The user does not have permission to log in to that particular host in the authentica-
tion system.

• The machine has changed hostnames, for whatever reason, and the user does not
have permission to log in to that host.
• The machine cannot reach the authentication server or directory server that contains
that user's information.
• There might be problems with the X Window System authenticating this particular
user, especially if the user's home has been used with another Linux distribution
prior to installing the current one.
To locate the cause of the login failures with network authentication, proceed as follows:
1 Check whether the user remembered his password correctly before you start de-
bugging the whole authentication mechanism.
2 Determine the directory server the machine relies on for authentication and make
sure that it is up and running and properly communicating with the other machines.
3 Determine that the user's username and password work on other machines to
make sure that his authentication data exists and is properly distributed.
4 See if another user can log in to the misbehaving machine. If another user can
log in without difficulty or if root can log in, log in and examine the /var/
log/messages file. Locate the time stamps that correspond to the login at-
tempts and determine if PAM has produced any error messages.
5 Try to log in from a console (using Ctrl + Alt + F1). If this is successful, the blame
cannot be put on PAM or the directory server on which the user's home is hosted,
because it is possible to authenticate this user on this machine. Try to locate any
problems with the X Window System or the desktop (GNOME or KDE). For
more information, refer to Section 51.4.3, “Login Successful but GNOME
Desktop Fails ” (page 927) and Section 51.4.4, “Login Successful but KDE
Desktop Fails” (page 928).
6 If the user's home directory has been used with another Linux distribution, remove
the Xauthority file in the user's home. Use a console login via Ctrl + Alt +
F1 and run rm .Xauthority as this user. This should eliminate X authentica-
tion problems for this user. Try a graphical login again.
7 If graphical login still fails, do a console login with Ctrl + Alt + F1. Try to start
an X session on another display—the first one (:0) is already in use:

startx -- :1
This should bring up a graphical screen and your desktop. If it does not, check
the log files of the X Window System (/var/log/Xorg.displaynumber
.log) or the log file for your desktop applications (.xsession-errors in
the user's home directory) for any irregularities.
8 If the desktop could not start because of corrupt configuration files, proceed with
Section 51.4.3, “Login Successful but GNOME Desktop Fails ” (page 927) or
Section 51.4.4, “Login Successful but KDE Desktop Fails” (page 928).
51.4.3 Login Successful but GNOME Desktop

Fails
If this is true for a particular user, it is likely that the user's GNOME configuration files
have become corrupted. Some symptoms might include the keyboard failing to work,
the screen geometry becoming distorted, or even the screen coming up as a bare gray
field. The important distinction is that if another user logs in, the machine works nor-
mally. If this is the case, it is likely that the problem can be fixed relatively quickly by
simply moving the user's GNOME configuration directory to a new location, which
causes GNOME to initialize a new one. Although the user is forced to reconfigure
GNOME, no data is lost.
1 Switch to a text console by pressing Ctrl + Alt + F1.
2 Log in with your user name.
3 Move the user's GNOME configuration directories to a temporary location:
mv .gconf .gconf-ORIG-RECOVER
mv .gnome2 .gnome2-ORIG-RECOVER
4 Log out.
5 Log in again, but do not run any applications.

6 Recover your individual application configuration data (including the Evolution
e-mail client data) by copying the ~/.gconf-ORIG-RECOVER/apps/ direc-
tory back into the new ~/.gconf directory as follows:
cp -a .gconf-ORIG-RECOVER/apps .gconf/
If this causes the login problems, attempt to recover only the critical application
data and reconfigure the remainder of the applications.
51.4.4 Login Successful but KDE Desktop

Fails
There are several reasons why a KDE desktop would not allow users to login. Corrupted
cache data can cause login problems as well as corrupt KDE desktop configuration
files.
Cache data is used at desktop start-up to increase performance. If this data is corrupted,
start-up is slowed down or fails entirely. Removing them forces the desktop start-up
routines to start from scratch. This takes more time than a normal start-up, but data is
intact after this and the user can login.
To remove the cache files of the KDE desktop, issue the following command as root:
rm -rf /tmp/kde-user /tmp/socket-user
Replace user with the actual username. Removing these two directories just removes
the corrupted cache files. No real data is harmed using this procedure.
Corrupted desktop configuration files can always be replaced with the initial configura-
tion files. If you want to recover the user's adjustments, carefully copy them back from
their temporary location after the configuration has been restored using the default
configuration values.
To replace a corrupted desktop configuration with the initial configuration values,

proceed as follows:
1 Switch to a text console by pressing Ctrl + Alt + F1.
2 Log in with your user name.

3 Move the KDE configuration directory and the .skel files to a temporary loca-
tion:
mv .kde .kde-ORIG-RECOVER
mv .skel .skel-ORIG-RECOVER
4 Log out.
5 Log in again.
6 After the desktop has started successfully, copy the user's own configurations
back into place:
cp -a .kde-ORIG-RECOVER/share .kde/share
IMPORTANT
If the user's own adjustments caused the login to fail and continue to do
so, repeat the procedure as described above, but do not copy the .kde/
share directory.
51.5 Network Problems

Many problems of your system may be network-related, even though they do not seem
to be at first. For example, the reason for a system not allowing users to log in might
be a network problem of some kind. This section introduces a simple check list you
can apply to identify the cause of any network problem encountered.
When checking the network connection of your machine, proceed as follows:
1 If using an ethernet connection, check the hardware first. Make sure that your
network cable is properly plugged into your computer. The control lights next
to your ethernet connector, if available, should both be active.
If the connection fails, check whether your network cable works with another
machine. If it does, your network card causes the failure. If hubs or switches are
included in your network setup, suspect them to be the culprits as well.

2 If using a wireless connection, check whether the wireless link can be established
by other machines. If this is not the case, contact the wireless network's adminis-
trator.
3 Once you have checked your basic network connectivity, try to find out which
service is not responding. Gather the address information of all network servers
needed in your setup. Either look them up in the appropriate YaST module or
ask your system administrator. The following list gives some of the typical net-
work servers involved in a setup together with the symptoms of an outage.
DNS (Name Service)

A broken or malfunctioning name service affects the network's functioning
in many ways. If the local machine relies on any network servers for authen-
tication and these servers cannot be found due to name resolution issues,
users would not even be able to log in. Machines in the network managed
by a broken name server would not be able to “see” each other and commu-
nicate.
NTP (Time Service)

A malfunctioning or completely broken NTP service could affect Kerberos
authentication and X server functionality.
NFS (File Service)

If any application needed data stored in an NFS mounted directory, it would
not be able to start or function properly if this service was down or miscon-
figured. In a worst case scenario, a user's personal desktop configuration
would not come up if his home directory containing the .gconf or .kde
subdirectories could not be found due to an outage of the NFS server.
Samba (File Service)

If any application needed data stored in a directory on a Samba server, it
would not be able to start or function properly if this service was down.
NIS (User Management)

If your SUSE Linux Enterprise system relied on a NIS server to provide the
user data, users would not be able to log in to this machine if the NIS service
was down.

LDAP (User Management)
If your SUSE Linux Enterprise system relied on an LDAP server to provide
the user data, users would not be able to log in to this machine if the LDAP
service was down.
Kerberos (Authentication)
Authentication would not work and login to any machine would fail.
CUPS (Network Printing)

Users would not be able to print.
4 Check whether the network servers are running and whether your network setup
allows you to establish a connection:
IMPORTANT
The debugging procedure described below only applies to a simple net-

work server/client setup that does not involve any internal routing. It
assumes both server and client are members of the same subnet without
the need for additional routing.
4a Use ping hostname (replace hostname with the hostname of the

server) to check whether each one of them is up and responding to the net-
work. If this command is successful, it tells you that the host you were
looking for is up and running and that the name service for your network is
configured correctly.
If ping fails with destination host unreachable, either your

system or the desired server is not properly configured or down. Check
whether your system is reachable by running ping your_hostname
from another machine. If you can reach your machine from another machine,
it is the server that is not running at all or not configured correctly.
If ping fails with unknown host, the name service is not configured cor-
rectly or the hostname used was incorrect. Use ping -n ipaddress to
try to connect to this host without name service. If this is successful, check
the spelling of the hostname and for a misconfigured name service in your
network. For further checks on this matter, refer to Step 4b (page 932). If
ping still fails, either your network card is not configured correctly or your

network hardware is faulty. Refer to Step 4c (page 933) for information about
this.
4b Use host hostname to check whether the hostname of the server you
are trying to connect to is properly translated into an IP address and vice
versa. If this command returns the IP address of this host, the name service
is up and running. If the host command fails, check all network configura-
tion files relating to name and address resolution on your host:
/etc/resolv.conf
This file is used to keep track of the name server and domain you are
currently using. It can be modified manually or automatically adjusted
by YaST or DHCP. Automatic adjustment is preferable. However, make
sure that this file has the following structure and all network addresses
and domain names are correct:
search fully_qualified_domain_name
nameserver ipaddress_of_nameserver
This file can contain more than one name server address, but at least
one of them must be correct to provide name resolution to your host. If
needed, adjust this file using the YaST DNS and Hostname module.
If your network connection is handled via DHCP, enable DHCP to

change hostname and name service information by selecting Change
Hostname via DHCP and Update Name Servers and Search List via
DHCP in the YaST DNS and Hostname module.
/etc/nsswitch.conf
This file tells Linux where to look for name service information. It should
look like this:
...
hosts: files dns
networks: files dns
...
The dns entry is vital. It tells Linux to use an external name server.
Normally, these entries are automatically made by YaST, but it never
hurts to check.
If all the relevant entries on the host are correct, let your system admin-
istrator check the DNS server configuration for the correct zone infor-

mation. For detailed information about DNS, refer to Chapter 33, The
Domain Name System (page 611). If you have made sure that the DNS
configuration of your host and the DNS server are correct, proceed with
checking the configuration of your network and network device.
4c If your system cannot establish a connection to a network server and you

have excluded name service problems from the list of possible culprits, check
the configuration of your network card.
Use the command ifconfig network_device (executed as root)

to check whether this device was properly configured. Make sure that both
inet address and Mask are configured correctly. An error in the IP
address or a missing bit in your network mask would render your network
configuration unusable. If necessary, perform this check on the server as
well.
4d If the name service and network hardware are properly configured and run-
ning, but some external network connections still get long time-outs or fail
entirely, use traceroute fully_qualified_domain_name (exe-
cuted as root) to track the network route these requests are taking. This
command lists any gateway (hop) a request from your machine passes on its
way to its destination. It lists the response time of each hop and whether this
hop is reachable at all. Use a combination of traceroute and ping to track
down the culprit and let the administrators know.
Once you have identified the cause of your network trouble, you can resolve it yourself
(if the problem is located on your machine) or let the system administrators of your
network know about your findings so they can reconfigure the services or repair the
necessary systems.
51.5.1 NetworkManager Problems

If you have a problem with network connectivity, narrow it down as described in
(page 929). If NetworkManager seems to be the culprit, proceed as follows to get logs
providing hints on why NetworkManager fails:
1 Open a shell and log in as root.

2 Restart the NetworkManager:
rcnetwork restart -o nm
3 Open a web page, for example, http://www.opensuse.org as normal

user to see, if you can connect.
4 Collect any information about the state of NetworkManager in /var/log/

NetworkManager.
For more information about NetworkManager, refer to Section 30.5, “Managing Network
Connections with NetworkManager” (page 579).
51.6 Data Problems

Data problems are when the machine might or might not boot properly but, in either
case, it is clear that there is data corruption on the system and that the system needs to
be recovered. These situations call for a backup of your critical data, enabling you to
recover a system state from before your system failed. SUSE Linux Enterprise offers
dedicated YaST modules for system backup and restoration as well as a rescue system
that can be used to recover a corrupted system from the outside.
51.6.1 Backing Up Critical Data

System backups can be easily managed using the YaST System Backup module:
1 As root, start YaST and select System > System Backup.
2 Create a backup profile holding all details needed for the backup, filename of
the archive file, scope, and type of the backup:
2a Select Profile Management > Add.
2b Enter a name for the archive.
2c Enter the path to the location of the backup if you want to keep a local
backup. For your backup to be archived on a network server (via NFS), enter

the IP address or name of the server and the directory that should hold your
archive.
2d Determine the archive type and click Next.
2e Determine the backup options to use, such as whether files not belonging to
any package should be backed up and whether a list of files should be dis-
played prior to creating the archive. Also determine whether changed files
should be identified using the time-consuming MD5 mechanism.
Use Expert to enter a dialog for the backup of entire hard disk areas. Current-
ly, this option only applies to the Ext2 file system.
2f Finally, set the search constraints to exclude certain system areas from the
backup area that do not need to be backed up, such as lock files or cache
files. Add, edit, or delete items until your needs are met and leave with OK.
3 Once you have finished the profile settings, you can start the backup right away
with Create Backup or configure automatic backup. It is also possible to create
other profiles tailored for various other purposes.
To configure automatic backup for a given profile, proceed as follows:
1 Select Automatic Backup from the Profile Management menu.
2 Select Start Backup Automatically.
3 Determine the backup frequency. Choose daily, weekly, or monthly.
4 Determine the backup start time. These settings depend on the backup frequency
selected.
5 Decide whether to keep old backups and how many should be kept. To receive
an automatically generated status message of the backup process, check Send
Summary Mail to User root.
6 Click OK to apply your settings and have the first backup start at the time speci-
fied.

51.6.2 Restoring a System Backup
Use the YaST System Restoration module to restore the system configuration from a
backup. Restore the entire backup or select specific components that were corrupted
and need to be reset to their old state.
1 Start YaST > System > System Restoration.
2 Enter the location of the backup file. This could be a local file, a network
mounted file, or a file on a removable device, such as a floppy or a CD. Then
click Next.
The following dialog displays a summary of the archive properties, such as the
filename, date of creation, type of backup, and optional comments.
3 Review the archived content by clicking Archive Content. Clicking OK returns

you to the Archive Properties dialog.
4 Expert Options opens a dialog in which to fine-tune the restore process. Return
to the Archive Properties dialog by clicking OK.
5 Click Next to open the view of packages to restore. Press Accept to restore all
files in the archive or use the various Select All, Deselect All, and Select Files
buttons to fine-tune your selection. Only use the Restore RPM Database option
if the RPM database is corrupted or deleted and this file is included in the backup.
6 After you click Accept, the backup is restored. Click Finish to leave the module
after the restore process is completed.
51.6.3 Recovering a Corrupted System

There are several reasons why a system could fail to come up and run properly. A cor-
rupted file system after a system crash, corrupted configuration files, or a corrupted
boot loader configuration are the most common ones.
SUSE Linux Enterprise offers two different methods to cope with this kind of situation.
You can either use the YaST System Repair functionality or boot the rescue system.
The following sections cover both flavors of system repair.

Using YaST System Repair
Before launching the YaST System Repair module, determine in which mode to run it
to best fit your needs. Depending on the severeness and cause of your system failure
and your expertise, there are three different modes to choose from:
Automatic Repair
If your system failed due to an unknown cause and you basically do not know
which part of the system is to blame for the failure, use Automatic Repair. An ex-
tensive automated check will be performed on all components of your installed
system. For a detailed description of this procedure, refer to Section “Automatic
Repair” (page 937).
Customized Repair
If your system failed and you already know which component is to blame, you can
cut the lengthy system check with Automatic Repair short by limiting the scope of
the system analysis to those components. For example, if the system messages
prior to the failure seem to indicate an error with the package database, you can
limit the analysis and repair procedure to checking and restoring this aspect of your
system. For a detailed description of this procedure, refer to Section “Customized
Repair” (page 939).
Expert Tools
If you already have a clear idea of what component failed and how this should be
fixed, you can skip the analysis runs and directly apply the tools necessary for the
repair of the respective component. For details, refer to Section “Expert Tools”
(page 940).
Choose one of the repair modes as described above and proceed with the system repair
as outlined in the following sections.
Automatic Repair
To start the automatic repair mode of YaST System Repair, proceed as follows:
1 Insert the first installation medium of SUSE Linux Enterprise into your CD or
DVD drive.
2 Reboot the system.

3 At the boot screen, select Installation.
4 Select the language and click Next.
5 Confirm the license agreement and click Next.
6 In System Analysis, select Other > Repair Installed System.
7 Select Automatic Repair.
YaST now launches an extensive analysis of the installed system. The progress
of the procedure is displayed at the bottom of the screen with two progress bars.
The upper bar shows the progress of the currently running test. The lower bar
shows the overall progress of the analysis. The log window in the top section
tracks the currently running test and its result. See Figure 51.2, “Automatic Repair
Mode” (page 938). The following main test runs are performed with every run.
They contain, in turn, a number of individual subtests.
Figure 51.2 Automatic Repair Mode
Partition Tables of All Hard Disks

Checks the validity and coherence of the partition tables of all detected hard
disks.

Swap Partitions
The swap partitions of the installed system are detected, tested, and offered
for activation where applicable. The offer should be accepted for the sake
of a higher system repair speed.
File Systems
All detected file systems are subjected to a file system–specific check.
Entries in the File /etc/fstab

The entries in the file are checked for completeness and consistency. All
valid partitions are mounted.
Boot Loader Configuration

The boot loader configuration of the installed system (GRUB or LILO) is
checked for completeness and coherence. Boot and root devices are examined
and the availability of the initrd modules is checked.
Package Database
This checks whether all packages necessary for the operation of a minimal
installation are present. While it is optionally possible also to analyze the
base packages, this takes a long time because of their vast number.
8 Whenever an error is encountered, the procedure stops and a dialog opens outlin-
ing the details and possible solutions.
Read the screen messages carefully before accepting the proposed fix. If you
decide to decline a proposed solution, your system remains unchanged.
9 After the repair process has been terminated successfully, click OK and Finish
and remove the installation media. The system automatically reboots.
Customized Repair
To launch the Customized Repair mode and selectively check certain components of
your installed system, proceed as follows:
1 Insert the first installation medium of SUSE Linux Enterprise into your CD or
DVD drive.

3 At the boot screen, select Installation.
4 Select the language and click Next.
5 Confirm the license agreement and click Next.
7 Select Customized Repair.
Choosing Customized Repair shows a list of test runs that are all marked for ex-
ecution at first. The total range of tests matches that of automatic repair. If you
already know where no damage is present, unmark the corresponding tests.
Clicking Next starts a narrower test procedure that probably has a significantly
shorter running time.
Not all test groups can be applied individually. The analysis of the fstab entries
is always bound to an examination of the file systems, including existing swap
partitions. YaST automatically resolves such dependencies by selecting the
smallest number of necessary test runs.
8 Whenever an error is encountered, the procedure stops and a dialog opens outlin-
ing the details and possible solutions.
Read the screen messages carefully before accepting the proposed fix. If you
decide to decline a proposed solution, your system remains unchanged.
Expert Tools
If you are knowledgeable with SUSE Linux Enterprise and already have a very clear
idea of what needs to be repaired in your system, directly apply the tools skipping the
system analysis.
To make use of the Expert Tools feature of the YaST System Repair module, proceed
as follows:
1 Boot the system with the original installation medium used for the initial instal-
lation (as outlined in Chapter 3, Installation with YaST (page 17)).

3 Select Expert Tools and choose one or more repair options.
Expert tools provides the following options to repair your faulty system:
Install New Boot Loader

This starts the YaST boot loader configuration module. Find details in Section 21.3,
“Configuring the Boot Loader with YaST” (page 414).
Start Partitioning Tool

This starts the expert partitioning tool in YaST.
Repair File System

This checks the file systems of your installed system. You are first offered a selec-
tion of all detected partitions and can then choose the ones to check.
Recover Lost Partitions

It is possible to attempt to reconstruct damaged partition tables. A list of detected
hard disks is presented first for selection. Clicking OK starts the examination. This
can take a while depending on the processing power and size of the hard disk.
IMPORTANT: Reconstructing a Partition Table
The reconstruction of a partition table is tricky. YaST attempts to recognize

lost partitions by analyzing the data sectors of the hard disk. The lost par-
titions are added to the rebuilt partition table when recognized. This is,
however, not successful in all imaginable cases.
Save System Settings to Floppy

This option saves important system files to a floppy disk. If one of these files become
damaged, it can be restored from disk.
Verify Installed Software

This checks the consistency of the package database and the availability of the most
important packages. Any damaged installed packages can be reinstalled with this
tool.

Using the Rescue System
SUSE Linux Enterprise contains a rescue system. The rescue system is a small Linux
system that can be loaded into a RAM disk and mounted as root file system, allowing
you to access your Linux partitions from the outside. Using the rescue system, you can
recover or modify any important aspect of your system:
• Manipulate any type of configuration file.
• Check the file system for defects and start automatic repair processes.
• Access the installed system in a “change root” environment
• Check, modify, and reinstall the boot loader configuration
• Resize partitions using the parted command. Find more information about this tool
at the Web site of GNU Parted (http://www.gnu.org/software/parted/
parted.html).
The rescue system can be loaded from various sources and locations. The simplest option
is to boot the rescue system from the original installation CD or DVD:
1 Insert the installation medium into your CD or DVD drive.
3 At the boot screen, choose the Rescue System option.
4 Enter root at the Rescue: prompt. A password is not required.
If your hardware setup does not include a CD or DVD drive, you can boot the rescue
system from a network source. The following example applies to a remote boot sce-
nario—if using another boot medium, such as a floppy disk, modify the info file
accordingly and boot as you would for a normal installation.
1 Enter the configuration of your PXE boot setup and replace

install=protocol://instsource with
rescue=protocol://instsource. As with a normal installation,
protocol stands for any of the supported network protocols (NFS, HTTP,
FTP, etc.) and instsource for the path to your network installation source.

2 Boot the system using “Wake on LAN”, as described in Section 4.3.7, “Wake
on LAN” (page 75).
3 Enter root at the Rescue: prompt. A password is not required.
Once you have entered the rescue system, you can make use of the virtual consoles that
can be reached with Alt + F1 to Alt + F6.
A shell and many other useful utilities, such as the mount program, are available in the
/bin directory. The sbin directory contains important file and network utilities for
reviewing and repairing the file system. This directory also contains the most important
binaries for system maintenance, such as fdisk, mkfs, mkswap, mount, mount, init, and
shutdown, and ifconfig, ip, route, and netstat for maintaining the network. The directory
/usr/bin contains the vi editor, find, less, and ssh.
To see the system messages, either use the command dmesg or view the file /var/
log/messages.
Checking and Manipulating Configuration Files

As an example for a configuration that might be fixed using the rescue system, imagine
you have a broken configuration file that prevents the system from booting properly.
You can fix this using the rescue system.
To manipulate a configuration file, proceed as follows:
1 Start the rescue system using one of the methods described above.
2 To mount a root file system located under /dev/sda6 to the rescue system,
use the following command:
mount /dev/sda6 /mnt
All directories of the system are now located under /mnt
3 Change the directory to the mounted root file system:

cd /mnt
4 Open the problematic configuration file in the vi editor. Adjust and save the
configuration.

5 Unmount the root file system from the rescue system:
umount /mnt
6 Reboot the machine.
Repairing and Checking File Systems

Generally, file systems cannot be repaired on a running system. If you encounter serious
problems, you may not even be able to mount your root file system and the system boot
may end with a kernel panic. In this case, the only way is to repair the system
from the outside. It is strongly recommended to use the YaST System Repair for this
task (see Section “Using YaST System Repair” (page 937) for details). However, if you
need to do a manual file system check or repair, boot the rescue system. It contains the
utilities to check and repair the ext2, ext3, reiserfs, xfs, dosfs, and vfat
file systems.
Accessing the Installed System

If you need to access the installed system from the rescue system to, for example,
modify the boot loader configuration, or to execute a hardware configuration utility,
you need to do this in a “change root” environment.
To set up a “change root” environment based on the installed system, proceed as fol-
lows:
1 First mount the root partition from the installed system and the device file system:
mount /dev/sda6 /mnt

mount --bind /dev /mnt/dev
2 Now you can “change root” into the new environment:

chroot /mnt
3 Then mount /proc and /sys:
mount /proc
mount /sys

4 Finally, mount the remaining partitions from the installed system:
mount -a
5 Now you have access to the installed system. Before rebooting the system, un-
mount the partitions with umount -a and leave the “change root” environment
with exit.
WARNING: Limitations
Although you have full access to the files and applications of the installed sys-
tem, there are some limitations. The kernel that is running is the one that was
booted with the rescue system. It only supports essential hardware and it is
not possible to add kernel modules from the installed system unless the kernel
versions are exactly the same (which is unlikely). So you cannot access a sound
card, for example. It is also not possible to start a graphical user interface.
Also note that you leave the “change root” environment when you switch the
console with Alt + F1 to Alt + F6.
Modifying and Reinstalling the Boot Loader

Sometimes a system cannot boot because the boot loader configuration is corrupted.
The start-up routines cannot, for example, translate physical drives to the actual locations
in the Linux file system without a working boot loader.
To check the boot loader configuration and reinstall the boot loader, proceed as follows:
1 Perform the necessary steps to access the installed system as described in Section
“Accessing the Installed System” (page 944).
2 Check whether the following files are correctly configured according to the
GRUB configuration principles outlined in Chapter 21, The Boot Loader
(page 403).
• /etc/grub.conf
• /boot/grub/device.map
• /boot/grub/menu.lst

Apply fixes to the device mapping (device.map) or the location of the root
partition and configuration files, if necessary.
3 Reinstall the boot loader using the following command sequence:

4 Unmount the partitions, log out from the “change root” environment, and reboot
the system:
umount -a
exit
reboot
51.7 IBM System z: Using initrd as a

Rescue System
If the kernel of the SUSE® Linux Enterprise Server for IBM System z is upgraded or
modified, it is possible to reboot the system accidentally in an inconsistent state, so
standard procedures of IPLing the installed system fail. This most commonly occurs if
a new or updated SUSE Linux Enterprise Server kernel has been installed and the zipl
program has not been run to update the IPL record. In this case, use the standard instal-
lation package as a rescue system from which the zipl program can be executed to update
the IPL record.
51.7.1 IPLing the Rescue System

IMPORTANT: Making the Installation Data Available
For this method to work, the SUSE Linux Enterprise Server for IBM System z
installation data must be available. For details, refer to Section “Making the
Installation Data Available” (Chapter 2, Preparing for Installation, ↑Architecture-
Specific Information) from Architecture-Specific Information. Additionally, you
need the channel number of the device and the partition number within the
device that contains the root file system of the SUSE Linux Enterprise Server
installation.

First, IPL the SUSE Linux Enterprise Server for IBM System z installation system as
described in the Architecture-Specific Information manual. A list of choices for the
network adapter to use is then presented.
Select Start Installation or System then Start Rescue System to start the rescue system.
Depending on the installation environment, you now must specify the parameters for
the network adapter and the installation source. The rescue system is loaded and the
following login prompt is shown at the end:
Skipped services in runlevel 3: nfs nfsboot
Rescue login:
You can now login as root without a password.
51.7.2 Configuring Disks

In this state, no disks are configured. You need to configure them before you can pro-
ceed.
Procedure 51.3 Configuring DASDs
1 Configure DASDs with the following command:
dasd_configure 0.0.0150 1 0
0.0.0150 is the channel to which the DASD is connected. The 1 means activate
the disk (a 0 at this place would deactivate the disk). The 0 stands for “no DIAG
mode” for the disk (a 1 here would enable DAIG access to the disk).
2 Now the DASD is online (check with cat /proc/partitions) and can
used for subsequent commands.
Procedure 51.4 Configuring a zFCP Disk
1 To configure a zFCP disk, it is necessary to first configure the zFCP adapter. Do

this with the following command:
zfcp_host_configure 0.0.4000 1

0.0.4000 is the channel to which the adapter is attached and 1 stands for acti-
vate (a 0 here would deactivate the adapter).
2 After the adapter is activated, a disk can be configured. Do this with the following
command:
zfcp_disk_configure 0.0.4000 1234567887654321 8765432100000000 1
0.0.4000 is the previously-used channel ID, 1234567887654321 is the

WWPN (World wide Port Number), and 8765432100000000 is the LUN
(logical unit number). The 1 stands for activating the disk (a 0 here would deac-
tivate the disk).
3 Now the zFCP disk is online (check with cat /proc/partitions) and can
used for subsequent commands.
51.7.3 Mounting the Root Device

If all needed disks are online, you should now be able to mount the root device. Assum-
ing that the root device is on the second partition of the DASD device (/dev/dasda2),
the corresponding command is mount /dev/dasda2 /mnt.
IMPORTANT: File System Consistency
If the installed system has not been shut down properly, it may be advisable
to check the file system consistency prior to mounting. This prevents any acci-
dental loss of data. Using this example, issue the command fsck /dev/dasda2
to ensure that the file system is in a consistent state.
By just issuing the command mount, it is possible to check whether the file system
could be mounted correctly.

Example 51.1 Output of the Mount Command
SuSE Instsys suse:/ # mount

shmfs on /newroot type shm (rw,nr_inodes=10240)
devpts on /dev/pts type devpts (rw)
virtual-proc-filesystem on /proc type proc (rw)
/dev/dasda2 on /mnt type reiserfs (rw)
51.7.4 Changing to the Mounted File System

For the zipl command to read the configuration file from the root device of the installed
system and not from the rescue system, change the root device to the installed system
with the chroot command:
Example 51.2 chroot to the Mounted File System
SuSE Instsys suse:/ # cd /mnt

SuSE Instsys suse:/mnt # chroot /mnt
51.7.5 Executing zipl

Now execute zipl to rewrite the IPL record with the correct values:
Example 51.3 Installing the IPL Record with zipl
sh-2.05b# zipl
building bootmap : /boot/zipl/bootmap
adding Kernel Image : /boot/kernel/image located at 0x00010000
adding Ramdisk : /boot/initrd located at 0x00800000
adding Parmline : /boot/zipl/parmfile located at 0x00001000
Bootloader for ECKD type devices with z/OS compatible layout installed.
Syncing disks....
...done

51.7.6 Exiting the Rescue System
To exit the rescue system, first leave the shell opened by the chroot command with
exit. To prevent any loss of data, flush all unwritten buffers to disk with the sync
command. Now change to the root directory of the rescue system and unmount the root
device of SUSE Linux Enterprise Server for IBM System z installation.
Example 51.4 Unmounting the File System
SuSE Instsys suse:/mnt # cd /

SuSE Instsys suse:/ # umount /mnt
Finally, halt the rescue system with the halt command. The SUSE Linux Enterprise
Server system can now be IPLed as described in Section 3.13.1, “IBM System z: IPLing
the Installed System” (page 34).

quick start, 741
Index security, 774
Squid, 796
SSL, 769-774
Symbols configure Apache with SSL, 773
64-bit Linux, 381
creating an SSL certificate, 769
kernel specifications, 386
starting, 757
runtime support, 382
stopping, 757
software development, 383
troubleshooting, 776
authentication
A Kerberos, 227
access permissions (see permissions) PAM, 495-502
ACLs, 301-312 AutoYaST, 182
access, 303, 306 cloning system, 44
check algorithm, 311
default, 304, 309 B
definitions, 303
backups, 145
effects, 309
creating with YaST, 153
handling, 304
restoring, 153
masks, 308
Bash, 348-359
permission bits, 305
.bashrc, 424
structure, 304
.profile, 424
support, 312
commands, 348
ACPI
features, 355
disabling, 21
pipes, 357
add-on products, 139
profile, 423
Apache, 168, 741-779
wild cards, 355
CGI scripts, 766
BIND, 622-633
configuring, 743
BIOS
files, 743
boot sequence, 914
manually, 743-750
booting, 387
virtual host, 746
boot sectors, 403-404
YaST, 751-757
CD, from, 914
installing, 742
configuring
modules, 759-766
YaST, 414
available, 760
floppy disks, from, 913
building, 765
graphic, 419
external, 764
GRUB, 403-422
installing, 760
initramfs, 389
multiprocessing, 763
initrd, 389 gzip, 359, 366
log, 183 halt, 373
bzip2, 359 help, 350
ifconfig, 594
C ip, 591
cards kadmin, 849
graphics, 487 kill, 371
network, 560-561 killall, 372
sound, 151 kinit, 856
cat, 368 ktadd, 858
cd, 365 ldapadd, 676
CDs ldapdelete, 679
booting from, 914 ldapmodify, 678
checking, 146, 912 ldapsearch, 678, 862
chgrp, 362, 365 less, 368
chmod, 361, 365 ln, 364
chown, 362, 365 locate, 367
CJK, 431 lp, 448
clear, 373 ls, 363
commands, 363-373 man, 363
bzip2, 359 mkdir, 365
cat, 368 mount, 369
cd, 365 mv, 364
chgrp, 362, 365 nslookup, 372
chmod, 361, 365 passwd, 373
chown, 362, 365 ping, 372, 593
clear, 373 ps, 371
cp, 364 reboot, 373
date, 371 rm, 364
df, 370 rmdir, 365
diff, 369 route, 595
du, 370 rpm, 313
file, 368 rpmbuild, 313
find, 368 scp, 832
fonts-config, 489 setfacl, 307
free, 371, 428 sftp, 833
getfacl, 307 slptool, 602
grep, 368 smbpasswd, 709
grub, 404 ssh, 832
ssh-agent, 835
ssh-keygen, 834 openldap, 861
su, 373 pam_unix2.conf, 685, 859
tar, 358, 366 passwd, 212
telnet, 372 permissions, 892
top, 371 powersave, 507
umount, 370 powersave.conf, 234
updatedb, 367 profile, 423, 427, 433
configuration files, 584 resolv.conf, 428, 586, 623, 785
.bashrc, 424, 427 routes, 585
.emacs, 429 samba, 703
.profile, 424 services, 703, 794
.xsession, 835 slapd.conf, 669, 863
acpi, 507 smb.conf, 703, 713
asound.conf, 153 smppd.conf, 597
crontab, 424 smpppd-c.conf, 598
csh.cshrc, 433 squid.conf, 785, 787, 791, 793, 796,
dhclient.conf, 649 798
dhcp, 585 squidguard.conf, 798
dhcpd.conf, 650 sshd_config, 836, 860
fstab, 159, 369 ssh_config, 860
group, 212 suseconfig, 402
grub.conf, 412 sysconfig, 163, 400-402
host.conf, 587 termcap, 431
HOSTNAME, 591 wireless, 585
hosts, 168, 559, 587 XF86Config, 230
ifcfg-*, 584 xorg.conf, 230, 481
inittab, 391, 393-394, 430 Device, 486
inputrc, 431 Monitor, 487
kernel, 389 Screen, 484
krb5.conf, 850-851, 853, 859 configuring, 400
krb5.keytab, 858 cable modem, 574
language, 431, 433 DASD, 148
logrotate.conf, 425 DNS, 167, 611
menu.lst, 406 DSL, 164, 574
modprobe.d/sound, 153 e-mail, 165
named.conf, 623-633, 786 firewalls, 181
network, 585 graphics cards, 191
networks, 587 groups, 178
nscd.conf, 591 GRUB, 404, 412
nsswitch.conf, 589, 685 hard disk controllers, 147
hard disks core files, 427
DMA, 148 cp, 364
hardware, 146-153 cpuspeed, 515
IPv6, 557 cron, 424
ISDN, 164, 571 CVS, 730, 734-737
languages, 163
mail servers, 166 D
modems, 164, 568 date, 371
monitor, 191 deltarpm, 317
network cards, 164 df, 370
networks, 164-172, 561 DHCP, 167, 637-653
manually, 581-597 configuring with YaST, 638
NFS, 168 dhcpd, 650-651
NTP, 169 packages, 649
PAM, 233 server, 650-651
power management, 162 static address assignment, 651
powertweak, 162 diff, 369
printing, 441-445 directories
local printers, 441 changing, 365
network printers, 445 creating, 365
routing, 170, 585 deleting, 365
Samba, 701-707 paths, 353
clients, 171, 707 structure, 351
servers, 171 disks
security, 172-181 boot, 418
software, 132-145 DNS, 558
sound cards, 151 BIND, 622-633
Squid, 787 configuring, 167, 611
SSH, 831 domains, 586
system, 129-184 forwarding, 623
system services, 169 logging, 627
T-DSL, 577 mail exchanger, 559
time zone, 163 name servers, 586
users, 172 NIC, 559
wireless cards, 164 options, 625
ZFCP, 149 reverse lookup, 632
consoles security and, 890
assigning, 430 Squid and, 786
graphical, 419 starting, 623
switching, 430
terminology, 611 file systems, 469-479
top level domain, 559 ACLs, 301-312
troubleshooting, 623 changing, 158
zones cryptofs, 865
files, 628 encrypting, 865
documentation (see help) Ext2, 471-472
domain name system (see DNS) Ext3, 472-473
DOS LFS, 477
sharing files, 699 limitations, 477
drives OCFS2, 287-299, 475
mounting, 369 ReiserFS, 470-471
unmounting, 370 repairing, 944
du, 370 selecting, 470
supported, 476-477
E terms, 469
e-mail XFS, 474
configuring, 165 files
editors archiving, 358, 366
Emacs, 429-430 comparing, 369
vi, 374 compressing, 358, 366
Emacs, 429-430 copying, 364
.emacs, 429 deleting, 364
default.el, 429 encrypting, 868
encoding finding, 426
ISO-8859-1, 433 moving, 364
encrypting, 865-870 paths, 353
creating partitions, 867 searching contents, 368
files, 868-870 searching for, 367-368
files with vi, 870 synchronizing, 729-739
partitions, 866-868 CVS, 730, 734-737
removable media, 869 rsync, 730
YaST, with, 866 uncompressing, 359
error messages viewing, 356, 368
bad interpreter, 160 find, 368
permission denied, 160 Firefox
URL open command, 237
F firewalls, 181, 819
file, 368 packet filters, 819, 824
file servers, 168 Squid and, 794
SuSEfirewall2, 819, 824
fonts, 489 hardware
TrueType, 488 DASD, 148
X11 core, 489 graphics cards, 191
Xft, 490 hard disk controllers, 147
free, 371 information, 148, 912
ISDN, 571
G monitor, 191
GNOME ZFCP, 149
shell, 348 help, 897-900
graphics books, 903
cards FAQs, 902
drivers, 487 guides, 903
grep, 368 HOWTOs, 902
groups info pages, 429, 902
managing, 178 Linux documentation (TLDP), 902
GRUB, 403-422 man pages, 363, 429, 901
boot menu, 406 manuals, 903
boot password, 412 package documentation, 904
boot sectors, 404 specifications, 905
booting, 404 standards, 905
commands, 404-413 SUSE books, 903
device names, 407 SUSE Help Center, 897
device.map, 405, 411 Usenet, 905
GRUB Geom Error, 420 Wikipedia, 903
grub.conf, 405, 412 X, 488
limitations, 404 hostnames, 167
Master Boot Record (MBR), 403
menu editor, 410 I
menu.lst, 405-406 I18N, 431
partition names, 407 inetd, 169
troubleshooting, 420 info pages, 429
uninstalling, 418 init, 391
gunzip, 359 adding scripts, 396
gzip, 359, 366 inittab, 391
scripts, 394-398
H installing
halt, 373 directory, into, 146
hard disks GRUB, 404
DMA, 148 manually, 232
packages, 314 KDC, 846-850
YaST, with, 17-45 administering, 855
internationalization, 431 nsswitch.conf, 846
Internet starting, 850
cinternet, 598 keytab, 858
dial-up, 597-599 LDAP and, 861-864
DSL, 574 master key, 848
ISDN, 571 PAM support, 859
KInternet, 598 principals, 838
qinternet, 598 creating, 849
smpppd, 597-599 host, 857
TDSL, 577 realms, 845
IP addresses, 546 creating, 849
classes, 547 session key, 838
dynamic assignment, 637 SSH configuration, 860
IPv6, 549 stash file, 848
configuring, 557 ticket-granting service, 841
masquerading, 822 tickets, 838, 841
private, 549 kernels
iSCSI, 271 caches, 428
limits, 478
J keyboard
joystick Asian characters, 431
configuring, 150 configuring, 150
layout, 430
K mapping, 430
KDE compose, 431
shell, 348 multikey, 431
Kerberos, 837-843 X Keyboard Extension, 431
administering, 845-864 XKB, 431
authenticators, 838 kill, 371
clients killall, 372
configuring, 850-852
clock skew, 853 L
clock synchronization, 847 L10N, 431
configuring languages, 145, 163
clients, 850-852 laptops
credentials, 838 power management, 503-515
installing, 845-864 LDAP, 663-697
access control, 672 boot.msg, 183, 507
ACLs, 670 messages, 183, 623, 829
adding data, 675 Squid, 786, 789, 795
administering groups, 693 logging
administering users, 693 login attempts, 179
configuring Logical Volume Manager (see LVM)
YaST, 679 logrotate, 425
deleting data, 679 LPAR installation
directory tree, 665 IPL, 34
Kerberos and, 861-864 ls, 349, 363
ldapadd, 675 LSB
ldapdelete, 679 installing packages, 313
ldapmodify, 677 LVM
ldapsearch, 678 YaST, 115
modifying data, 677
searching data, 678 M
server configuration mail servers
manual, 669 configuring, 166
YaST, 679 man pages, 363, 429
YaST masquerading, 822
client, 684 configuring with SuSEfirewall2, 824
modules, 686 Master Boot Record (see MBR)
templates, 686 MBR, 403-404
less, 356, 368 memory
LFS, 477 RAM, 428
license agreement, 27 mkdir, 365
Lightweight Directory Access Protocol modems
(see LDAP) cable, 574
Linux YaST, 568
networks and, 543 more, 356
sharing files with another OS, 699 mount, 369
uninstalling, 418 mouse
linuxrc configuring, 150
manual installation, 232 mv, 364
ln, 364
local APIC N
disabling, 21 name servers (see DNS)
localization, 431 NAT (see masquerading)
locate, 367, 426 NetBIOS, 700
log files, 179, 425
Network File System (see NFS) O
Network Information Service (see NIS) OpenLDAP (see LDAP)
NetworkManager, 579 OpenSSH (see SSH)
networks, 543 OpenWBEM, 241-269
authentication OS/2
Kerberos, 837-843 sharing files, 699
base network address, 548
broadcast address, 548
configuration files, 584-591
P
package management
configuring, 164-172, 560-577, 581-597
zmd, 199
IPv6, 557
packages
DHCP, 167, 637
compiling, 321
DNS, 558
compiling with build, 323
localhost, 549
installing, 314
netmasks, 547
LSB, 313
routing, 170, 546-547
package manager, 313
SLP, 601
RPMs, 313
TCP/IP, 543
uninstalling, 314
YaST, 561
verifying, 314
alias, 563
packet filters (see firewalls)
gateway, 565
PAM, 495-502
hostname, 564
configuring, 233
IP address, 562
partitions
starting, 566
creating, 31, 155, 157
NFS, 715
encrypting, 867
clients, 168, 716
EVMS, 158
exporting, 725
fstab, 159
importing, 717
LVM, 158
mounting, 717
parameters, 158
servers, 168, 719
partition table, 403
NIS, 655-662
RAID, 158
clients, 169, 661
reformatting, 158
masters, 655-661
types, 156
servers, 169
passwd, 373
slaves, 655-661
passwords
nslookup, 372
changing, 373
NSS, 589
paths, 353
databases, 589
absolute, 353
NTP
relative, 353
client, 169
PCI device network, 455
drivers, 161 Samba, 700
permissions, 359 troubleshooting
ACLs, 301-312 network, 455
changing, 361, 365 xpp, 448
directories, 361 private branch exchange, 572
file permissions, 426 processes, 371
file systems, 360 killing, 371
files, 360 overview, 371
viewing, 361 protocols
ping, 372, 593 CIFS, 699
Pluggable Authentication Modules (see IPv6, 549
PAM) LDAP, 663
ports SLP, 601
53, 625 SMB, 699
scanning, 795 proxies, 170, 781 (see Squid)
PostgreSQL advantages, 781
updating, 212 caches, 781
power management, 503-524 transparent, 793
ACPI, 503, 507-514, 519 ps, 371
APM, 505-506, 519
battery monitor, 504 R
charge level, 520 RAID
cpufrequency, 515 YaST, 123
cpuspeed, 515 reboot, 373
hibernation, 504 registering
powersave, 515 YaST, 140
standby, 504 release notes, 43, 183
suspend, 504 repairing systems, 937
YaST, 524 rescue system, 942, 946
powersave, 515 starting from CD, 942
configuring, 516 starting from network source, 942
printing, 437 RFCs, 543
command line, 448 rm, 364
configuration with YaST, 441-445 rmdir, 365
local printers, 441 routing, 170, 546, 585-586
network printers, 445 masquerading, 822
CUPS, 448 netmasks, 547
GDI printers, 453 routes, 585
kprinter, 448
static, 585 shares, 700, 705
RPM, 313-324 SMB, 699
database starting, 701
rebuilding, 315, 321 stopping, 701
deltarpm, 317 swat, 703
dependencies, 314 TCP/IP and, 699
patches, 315 SaX2
queries, 318 display device, 192
rpmnew, 314 display settings, 191
rpmorig, 314 dual head, 193
rpmsave, 314 graphics card, 192
security, 892 graphics tablet, 196
SRPMS, 321 keyboard settings, 195
tools, 324 mouse settings, 194
uninstalling, 315 multihead, 194
updating, 314 resolution and color depth, 193
verify, 320 touchscreen, 196
verifying, 314 SCPM, 162
rpmbuild, 313 screen
rsync, 730, 737 resolution, 485
rug, 200-204 scripts
runlevels, 162, 391-394 init.d, 391, 394-398, 596
changing, 393-394 boot, 395
editing in YaST, 398 boot.local, 396
boot.setup, 396
S halt, 396
Samba, 699-714 network, 596
CIFS, 699 nfsserver, 596
clients, 171, 700, 707-708 portmap, 596
configuring, 701-707 postfix, 596
installing, 701 rc, 394, 396
login, 708 squid, 785
names, 700 xinetd, 596
permissions, 707 ypbind, 597
printers, 700 ypserv, 597
printing, 708 mkinitrd, 389
security, 707 modify_resolvconf, 428, 586
server, 700 SuSEconfig, 400-402
servers, 171, 701-707 disabling, 402
security, 881-893
attacks, 889-890 compiling, 321
booting, 882, 884 installing, 132-139
bugs and, 885, 888 removing, 132-139
configuring, 172-181 sound
DNS, 890 configuring in YaST, 151
engineering, 882 mixers, 232
firewalls, 181, 819 source
intrusion detection, 232 compiling, 321
local, 883-887 spm, 321
network, 887-890 Squid, 781
passwords, 883-884 access controls, 796
permissions, 884-885 ACLs, 790
reporting problems, 893 Apache, 796
RPM signatures, 892 cachemgr.cgi, 796-797
Samba, 707 caches, 781-782
serial terminals, 882-883 damaged, 786
Squid, 782 size, 784
SSH, 831-836 Calamaris, 799-800
tcpd, 893 configuring, 787
telnet, 831 CPU and, 785
tips and tricks, 891 directories, 785
viruses, 886 DNS, 786
worms, 890 features, 781
X and, 887 firewalls and, 794
Service Location Protocol (see SLP) log files, 786, 789, 795
shells, 347-377 object status, 783
Bash, 348 permissions, 785, 790
commands, 363-373 RAM and, 784
pipes, 357 reports, 799-800
wild cards, 355 security, 782
SLP, 601 squidGuard, 798
browser, 602 starting, 785
Konqueror, 602 statistics, 796-797
providing services, 603 stopping, 786
registering services, 603 system requirements, 783
slptool, 602 transparent proxies, 793, 795
SMB (see Samba) troubleshooting, 786
smbd, 699 uninstalling, 786
soft RAID (see RAID) SSH, 831-836
software authentication mechanisms, 834
daemon, 833 U
key pairs, 833, 835 ulimit, 427
scp, 832 options, 427
sftp, 833 umount, 370
ssh, 832 uninstalling
ssh-agent, 835-836 GRUB, 418
ssh-keygen, 835 Linux, 418
sshd, 833 updatedb, 367
X and, 836 updating
su, 373 online, 140-143
support query, 909 command line, 200
SUSE books, 903 passwd and group, 212
system patch CD, 144
configuring, 129-184 problems, 212
languages, 163 sound mixers, 232
limiting resource use, 427 YaST, 213
localizing, 431 US Keyboard Layout, 916
rebooting, 373 users
rescuing, 942 /etc/passwd, 498, 686
security, 179 managing, 172
services, 169
shutdown, 373
updating, 144
V
variables
environment, 432
T VNC
tar, 358, 366 administration, 170
TCP/IP, 543
ICMP, 544
IGMP, 544
W
whois, 559
layer model, 544
wild cards, 367
packets, 545-546
Windows
TCP, 544
sharing files, 699
UDP, 544
telnet, 372
time zones, 163 X
TLDP, 902 X
top, 371 character sets, 488
Tripwire configuring, 481-488
replaced by AIDE, 232 display device, 192
display settings, 191
drivers, 487 InputDevice, 483
dual head, 193 Modeline, 485
font systems, 489 modelines, 483
fonts, 488 Modes, 483, 485
graphics card, 192 modules, 483
graphics tablet, 196 Monitor, 483, 485
help, 488 ServerFlags, 483
keyboard settings, 195
mouse settings, 194 Y
multihead, 194 YaST
resolution and color depth, 193 add-on products, 28, 139
SaX2, 482 auto login, 175
security, 887 autoinstallation, 182
SSH and, 836 profiles, 182
touchscreen, 196 AutoYaST, 182
TrueType fonts, 488 backups, 145, 153
virtual screen, 486 boot configuration, 414
X11 core fonts, 489 default system, 417
xft, 488 security, 417
Xft, 490 time-out, 417
xorg.conf, 482 boot loader
X Keyboard Extension (see keyboard, location, 416
XKB) password, 417
X Window System (see X) type, 415
X.509 certification CA management, 180, 808
certificates, 805 cable modem, 574
principles, 803 CD creator, 182
repository, 807 clustering, 154
revocation list, 806 command line, 188
YaST, 803 configuring, 129-184
X.Org, 481 Control Center, 130
Xft, 490 DASD, 148
xinetd, 169 DHCP, 638
XKB (see keyboard, XKB) DMA, 148
xorg.conf DNS, 167
color depth, 485 driver CDs, 184
Depth, 485 DSL, 574
Device, 486 e-mail, 165
Display, 485 EVMS, 154
Files, 483
firewall, 181 NTP client, 169
graphics cards, 191 online update, 140-143
group management, 178 partitioning, 31, 155
GRUB, 415 PCI device drivers, 161
hard disk controllers, 147 power management, 162, 524
hardware, 146-153 powertweak, 162
information, 148, 912 printer configuration, 441-445
Heartbeat, 154 local printers, 441
high availability, 154 network printers, 445
hostname, 37, 167 profile manager, 162
installation into directory, 146 RAID, 123
installation mode, 28 registering, 140
installation server, 182 release notes, 183
installation settings, 29 repairing systems, 937
installation sources, 139 rescue system, 21
installation summary, 29 root password, 36
installing with, 17-45 routing, 170
ISDN, 571 runlevels, 398
joystick, 150 safe settings, 21
Kerberos client, 168 Samba
keyboard, 150 clients, 171, 707
languages, 24, 130, 145, 163 servers, 171
LDAP, 168 SCPM, 162
clients, 684 security, 172-181
servers, 679 sendmail, 165
LILO, 415 server certificate, 180
LVM, 115, 154 SLP, 171
mail server, 166 SLP browser, 602
media check, 27, 146, 912 software, 132-145
memory test, 21 software updates, 40
modems, 568 sound cards, 151
monitor, 191 starting, 18, 129
ncurses, 185 support query, 182, 909
network card, 561 sysconfig editor, 163, 400
network configuration, 37, 164-172 system security, 179
NFS clients, 168 system start-up, 18
NFS server, 168 T-DSL, 577
NIS clients, 661 text mode, 185-187
Novell AppArmor, 172 time zone, 29, 163
Novell Customer Center, 140 updating, 144, 213
user management, 172
virtualization, 181
hypervisor, 181
installing, 181
X.509 certification, 803
certificates, 811
changing default values, 813
creating CRLs, 815
exporting CA objects as a file, 817
exporting CA objects to LDAP, 815
importing general server certificates,
817
root CA, 808
sub-CA, 810
ZFCP, 149
YP (see NIS)
Z
z/VM Installation
IPL, 34
ZENworks
zmd, 199
zmd, 199

Suse Linux

Uploaded by

Copyright:

Available Formats

Suse Linux

Uploaded by

Document Information

Copyright

Available Formats

Share this document

Share or Embed Document

Sharing Options

Did you find this document useful?

Is this content inappropriate?

Copyright:

Available Formats

Suse Linux

Uploaded by

Copyright:

Available Formats

SUSE Linux Enterprise

About This Guide xv

1 Planning for SUSE Linux Enterprise 3

3 Installation with YaST 17

6 Deploying Customized Preinstallations 103

7 Advanced Disk Setup 115

8 System Configuration with YaST 129

9 Managing Software with ZENworks 199

1 0 Updating SUSE Linux Enterprise 211

Part II Administration 239

1 2 Mass Storage over IP Networks—iSCSI 271

1 3 iSNS for Linux Overview 281

1 4 Oracle Cluster File System 2 287

1 5 Access Control Lists in Linux 301

1 6 RPM—the Package Manager 313

1 7 System Monitoring Utilities 325

1 8 Working with the Shell 347

1 9 32-Bit and 64-Bit Applications in a 64-Bit System Environment 381

2 0 Booting and Configuring a Linux System 387

2 1 The Boot Loader 403

2 2 Special System Features 423

2 3 Printer Operation 437

2 5 File Systems in Linux 469

2 6 The X Window System 481

2 7 Authentication with PAM 495

2 8 Power Management 503

2 9 Wireless Communication 529

3 0 Basic Networking 543

3 1 SLP Services in the Network 601

3 2 Time Synchronization with NTP 605

3 3 The Domain Name System 611

3 6 LDAP—A Directory Service 663

3 8 Sharing File Systems with NFS 715

3 9 File Synchronization 729

4 1 The Proxy Server Squid 781

Part V Security 801

4 2 Managing X.509 Certification 803

4 3 Masquerading and Firewalls 819

4 4 SSH: Secure Network Operations 831

4 5 Network Authentication—Kerberos 837

4 6 Installing and Administering Kerberos 845

4 7 Encrypting Partitions and Files 865

4 8 Confining Privileges with AppArmor 871

4 9 Security and Confidentiality 881

5 0 Help and Documentation 897

5 1 Common Problems and Their Solutions 909

This guide contains the following:

xvi Installation and Administration

Storage Administration Guide

Novell Virtualization Technology User Guide

GNOME User Guide

KDE User Guide

Novell AppArmor Administration Guide

About This Guide xvii

• /etc/passwd: filenames and directory names

• placeholder: replace placeholder with the actual value

• PATH: the environment variable PATH

• ls, --help: commands, options, and parameters

• user: users or groups

• File, File > Save As: menu items, buttons