Setting Up CPU Affinity (select cpus for a process)

To set CPU HARD affinity (as opposed to the soft affinity already done by the kernel automatically) install schedtool. Then read the manual to understand how it works.

The short version:

To set a process’ affinity to only eg the first CPU (CPU0) and third CPU (CPU2) :

#> schedtool -a 0,2



Here is also a very good link to explain when and why HARD affinity could provide benefits vs SOFT affinity. I found way too many posts about "it's not needed" in my search instead of actual information, so clearing up the misconceptions might be a good thing in general.


http://www-128.ibm.com/developerwork...-affinity.html

Taken From: http://ubuntuforums.org/showthread.php?t=636521

PSP Video Converter (PSPVC) on Ubuntu 8.04

I'm new to Linux and sure appreciate step by step instructions when I get stuck. Since I haven't been able to find any while trying to install pspvc, I figured I'd roll my own. I managed to successfully install it by piecing together bits from a bunch of posts. Let's see if we can put it all together in one place.

This worked for me in Ubuntu Edgy. Hopefully, it'll work for you.

1. Download pspvc from here: http://pspvc.sourceforge.net/, saving it to your desktop.

2. Double click the pspvc tar.gz file on your desktop.

3. Press "Extract", ensure "Desktop" is listed as the location to extract the files, and then press the "Extract" button (again).

4. You should now have a pspvc-install-0.3 folder on your desktop.

5. Open Terminal or Konsole (whichever you have installed).

6. Install dependencies using this command:
Code:

$ sudo apt-get install libgtk2.0-dev libfaac-dev libxvidcore4-dev nasm build-essential

7. Several development libraries that pspvc requires will install. You'll see a bunch of output and it'll take a few seconds to complete.

8. Next, enter the following command, replacing user with your user name. This will change the prompt to the pspvc installation directory.
Code:

$ cd /home/user/Desktop/pspvc-install-0.3

9. To begin the pspvc install, enter this command:
Code:

sudo ./install.sh

10. When the install completes, you should see a message that says "PSPVC installation completed". You're done!

11. Enter pspvc at the prompt to start the application.


Taken From: http://ubuntuforums.org/showpost.php?p=2258647&postcount=5

Installing AddressBook

Here we have how to install:


- AddressBook v4.0
- AddressBook v3.1.5


AdressBook v4.0 HOWTO

# Install Apache with it's documentation #####
$ sudo apt-get install apache2 apache2-doc


# Start Apache (it should already be started) #####
$ sudo /etc/init.d/apache2 start


# Test Apache #####

Type in on Mozilla Firefox: http://127.0.0.1/
It should read: It works!

Nota: The page "It works!" is at /var/www,
which is apaches root directory,
so this is where we will put the addressbook.





# Install the needed MySQL e PHP dependencies #####

$ sudo apt-get install mysql-server mysql-client
Type MySQL root password in the upcoming textbox.

$ sudo apt-get install libapache2-mod-php5 libapache2-mod-perl2

$ sudo apt-get install php5 php5-cli php5-common php5-curl php5-dev php5-gd php5-imap php5-ldap

$ sudo apt-get install php5-mhash php5-mysql php5-odbc curl libwww-perl imagemagick


# Download the AdressBook (http://sourceforge.net/projects/php-addressbook/)

$ cd ~/Desktop

$ wget http://downloads.sourceforge.net/php-addressbook/addressbookv4.0.zip?modtime=1212528743&big_mirror=0



# Extrair o AddressBook #####

$ cd ~/Desktop

$ unzip addressbookv4.0.zip



# Install o AdressBook no Apache #####

# Copiar o AdressBook para /var/www (apache root dir)
$ sudo cp -vr addressbookv4.0 /var/www


# Give Apache (apache-user: www-data) permitions over the AddressBook files #####

$ sudo chown www-data -vR /var/www/addressbookv4.0/*



# Configure the AdressBook #####


# Create AddressBook's database #####

$ mysql -u root -p

mysql> create database addressbook_db;

mysql> exit



# Configure AddressBook's connection to the database #####

$ sudo gedit /var/www/addressbookv4.0/config/config.php

No ficheiro:

// Database access definition
// $dbname = "your_database";
// $dbserver = "localhost";
// $dbuser = "username";
// $dbpass = "password";


// Database access definition
$dbname = "addressbook_db";
$dbserver = "localhost";
$dbuser = "root";
$dbpass = "12314467";



# Create the necessary table at the AdressBook's database #####

$ mysql addressbook_db -u root -p < /var/www/addressbookv4.0/addressbook.sql



# Restart Apache #####

$ sudo /etc/init.d/apache2 restart



# Delete the test page #####

$ sudo rm -rf /var/www/index.html



# Configure AdressBook #####

On Mozilla Firefox type in:
http://127.0.0.1/addressbookv4.0 ou http://127.0.0.1/addressbookv4.0/index.php
now just configure addressbook acording to the presented instructions.



AdressBook v3.1.5 HOWTO

# Install Apache with it's documentation #####
$ sudo apt-get install apache2 apache2-doc

# Start Apache (it should already be started) #####
$ sudo /etc/init.d/apache2 start


# Test Apache #####

Type in on Mozilla Firefox: http://127.0.0.1/
It should read: It works!

Nota: The page "It works!" is at /var/www,
which is apaches root directory,
so this is where we will put the addressbook.




#Install the needed MySQL e PHP dependencies #####

$ sudo apt-get install mysql-server mysql-client
Type MySQL root password in the upcoming textbox.

$ sudo apt-get install libapache2-mod-php5 libapache2-mod-perl2

$ sudo apt-get install php5 php5-cli php5-common php5-curl php5-dev php5-gd php5-imap php5-ldap

$ sudo apt-get install php5-mhash php5-mysql php5-odbc curl libwww-perl imagemagick




# Download the AddressBook (http://sourceforge.net/projects/php-addressbook/)

$ cd ~/Desktop

$ wget http://downloads.sourceforge.net/php-addressbook/addressbookv3.1.5.zip?modtime=1212528743&big_mirror=0



# Extract the AddressBook #####

$ cd ~/Desktop

$ unzip addressbookv3.1.5.zip



# Install AddressBook on Apache #####

# Copiar o AdressBook para /var/www (apache root dir)

$ sudo cp -vr addressbookv3.1.5 /var/www


# Give Apache (apache-user: www-data) permitions over the AddressBook files #####

$ sudo chown www-data -vR /var/www/addressbookv4.0/*



# Configure the AdressBook #####

# Create AddressBook's database #####

$ mysql -u root -p

mysql> create database addressbook_db;

mysql> exit



# Configure AddressBook's connection to the database #####

$ sudo gedit /var/www/addressbookv3.1.5/include/config.php

Change the following at the file:

// Database access definition
// $dbname = "your_database";
// $dbserver = "localhost";
// $dbuser = "username";
// $dbpass = "password";


// Database access definition
$dbname = "addressbook_db";
$dbserver = "localhost";
$dbuser = "root";
$dbpass = "12314467";



# Create the necessary table at the AdressBook's database #####

$ mysql addressbook_db -u root -p < /var/www/addressbookv3.1.5/addressbook.sql



# Restart Apache #####

$ sudo /etc/init.d/apache2 restart



# Delete the test page #####

$ sudo rm -rf /var/www/index.html



# Configure AdressBook #####

On Mozilla Firefox type in :

http://127.0.0.1/addressbookv3.1.5
or http://127.0.0.1/addressbookv3.1.5/index.php

now just configure addressbook acording to the presented instructions.

List Partitions Information

List Partitions Information


[root@laptop ~]# sudo /sbin/fdisk -lu

Disk /dev/hda: 60.0 GB, 60011642880 bytes
255 heads, 63 sectors/track, 7296 cylinders, total 117210240 sectors
Units = sectors of 1 * 512 = 512 bytes

Device Boot Start End Blocks Id System
/dev/hda1 * 63 20482874 10241406 7 HPFS/NTFS
/dev/hda2 20482875 117065654 48291390 f W95 Ext'd (LBA)
/dev/hda5 20482938 102414374 40965718+ c W95 FAT32 (LBA)
/dev/hda6 115523478 117065654 771088+ 82 Linux swap / Solaris
/dev/hda7 102414438 115523414 6554488+ 83 Linux

Partition table entries are not in disk order

Configure a Linux DNS Server - Cache and Private DNS

Configure a Linux DNS Server - Part I (Caching Name Server)


Not everybody's a Linux hacker straight out of the womb. For those who need a solid example or just want a little advice--no heckling involved--here's another how-to to get you going. We've helped you set up your home web server, so now let's get DNS working so you can have your very own domain.



How to set up a home DNS server
by Shannon Hughes



Domain Name System

The Domain Name System (DNS) is the crucial glue that keeps computer networks in harmony by converting human-friendly hostnames to the numerical IP addresses computers require to communicate with each other. DNS is one of the largest and most important distributed databases the world depends on by serving billions of DNS requests daily for public IP addresses. Most public DNS servers today are run by larger ISPs and commercial companies but private DNS servers can also be useful for private home networks. This article will explore some advantages of setting up various types of DNS servers in the home network.



Why set up a private DNS server?

This question is valid and the answer may vary depending on your home network environment. Maintaining a host file on each client with IP/hostname mappings in a home network that contains a router and a few machines may be sufficient for most users. If your network contains more than a few machines, then adding a private DNS server may be more attractive and worth the setup effort. Some advantages may include:

*

Maintenance: keeping track of the host file for every client in your network can be tedious. In fact, it may not even be feasible for roaming DHCP laptops or your occasional LAN party guests. Maintaining host information in one central area and allowing DNS to manage host names is more efficient.
*

Cache performance: DNS servers can cache DNS information, allowing your clients to acquire DNS information internally without the need to access public nameservers. This performance improvement can add up for tasks such as web browsing.
*

Prototyping: A private internal DNS server is an excellent first step to eventually setting up a public accessible DNS server to access a web server or other services hosted on your internal network. Learning from mistakes on an internal network can help prevent duplicate errors on a public DNS server that could result in loss of service for external users. Note: Some ISPs require customers to have a static IP or business subscription when hosting services in a home network environment.
*

Cool factor: Ok, I may be stretching it, but the "cool" factor did have some influence when I set up my first home network DNS server. Creating an internal domain that reflects an individual's personality without paying a domain registrar and issuing hostnames to your clients is cool. The cool factor doubles when your customized hostname glows from your friend's laptop screen.

Let's start out simply by setting up a caching-only nameserver to handle client DNS requests. A caching-only nameserver won't allow references to internal clients by hostname, but it does allow clients to take advantage of frequently requested domains that are cached.
Caching nameserver

Fortunately, setting up a caching nameserver is easy using RHEL (Red Hat Enterprise Linux) or Fedora RPMs. The following RPMs need to be installed on the machine acting as the nameserver (use rpm -q to determine if these packages are installed):

*

bind (includes DNS server, named)
*

bind-utils (utilities for querying DNS servers about host information)
*

bind-libs (libraries used by the bind server and utils package)
*

bind-chroot (tree of files which can be used as a chroot jail for bind)
*

caching-nameserver (config files for a simple caching nameserver)

A caching nameserver forwards queries to an upstream nameserver and caches the results. Open the file /var/named/chroot/etc/named.conf and add the following lines to the global options section:


forwarders { xxx.xxx.xxx.xxx; xxx.xxx.xxx.xxx; }; #IP of upstream ISP nameserver(s)
forward only; #rely completely on our upstream nameservers


The block above will cause the caching name server to forward DNS requests it can't resolve to your ISP nameserver. Save the named.conf file and then assign 644 permissions:

$ chmod 644 named.conf

Check the syntax using the named-checkconf utility provided by the bind RPM:
named-checkconf named.conf
Correct any syntax errors (watch those semicolons) named-checkconf reports. Monitoring the /var/log/messages file may also be helpful in debugging any errors.


We now need to set the local resolver to point to itself for DNS resolution. Modify the /etc/resolv.conf file to the following:

nameserver 127.0.0.1

If you are running a DHCP server on your router make sure your /etc/resolv.conf file does not get overwritten whenever your DHCP lease is renewed. To prevent this from happening, modify /etc/sysconfig/network-scripts/ifcfg-eth0 (replace eth0 with your network interface if different) and make sure the following settings are set:


BOOTPROTO=dhcp
PEERDNS=no
TYPE=Ethernet


Go ahead and start the nameserver as root and configure to start in runlevels 2-5:

service named start
chkconfig named on
Testing

The bind-utils RPM contains tools we can use to test our caching nameserver. Test your nameserver using host or dig and querying redhat.com:

dig redhat.com
.
.
;; Query time: 42 msec
;; SERVER: 127.0.0.1#53(127.0.0.1)


From the above dig query you can see it took 42 msec to receive the DNS request. Now test out the caching ability of your nameserver by running dig again on the redhat.com domain:

dig redhat.com
.
.
;; Query time: 1 msec
;; SERVER: 127.0.0.1#53(127.0.0.1)


We dropped from 42 msec to 1 msec after the previous DNS query was cached. Caching is working! Let's now put the cache to work by configuring the clients to use the new caching nameserver.
Client Configuration

For Linux and Windows clients you may have a couple of options for your resolver configuration depending on your network environment:

1.

If you have a router and your client's IP address is assigned via DHCP from the router, then you can use the router to assign the primary nameserver during the DHCP lease requested from the client. Log in to your router and make sure your primary nameserver points to your caching nameserver IP address in the router DHCP settings.



2.

For Linux clients, you can set up the resolver in the same procedure as the nameserver by modifying the /etc/resolv.conf file. For Windows clients you will need to set the nameserver IP address in the Control Panel -> Network Connections -> TCP/IP -> Properties -> Use the DNS Server Address option. NOTE: The Windows DNS server option may vary depending on your version.

Test your new client configuration(s) using dig. You can use the nslookup command for Windows clients. Your DNS requests should have similar response times as we saw earlier when testing the nameserver directly.

NOTE: If you are running a firewall on the nameserver system, make sure clients have access to port 53. An example iptables rule for the 192.168.15.0/24 subnet would be:
iptables -A INPUT -s 192.168.15.0/24 -p udp --dport 53 -j ACCEPT
service iptables save



Summary

Your new caching nameserver offers a performance improvement with a minimal amount of set up effort. Clients can now ask the caching nameserver for DNS information, and it only needs to ask the upstream ISP nameserver for cache misses. In the next issue we will setup a master nameserver that is responsible for the authoritative information for our internal client hostnames. An authoritative nameserver also caches by default but additionally allows managing both static and DHCP clients using personalized hostnames set up in zone files. In the meantime, enjoy your new caching nameserver and be thinking about a creative domain and hostname theme for your future authoritative nameserver.


Configure a Linux DNS Server - Part II (Private DNS Server)


Welcome back
In the first part of this series on the Domain Name System (DNS), we set up a caching nameserver that allowed our clients to take advantage of faster network operations by caching frequently requested DNS queries. In this article, we will extend our caching nameserver to a master nameserver that is responsible for managing the authoritative information for our internal client hostnames.



Overview

As with our caching-only nameserver, we will see that BIND RPMS packaged by Red Hat® Enterprise Linux® and Fedora ease the process of configuring our master nameserver. Adding authoritative responsibility to the caching-only nameserver only requires us to add two more files and modify the existing named.conf file. For the purpose of this article we will assume the following:


* The BIND 9.x RPMS discussed in Part 1 are installed on the machine that will serve as a nameserver.
* Our internal network is in the 192.168.15.0/24 subnet. You will need to substitute your subnet if different.
* The master nameserver will only allow DNS queries from internal clients in the 192.168.15.0/24 subnet.
* The master nameserver will continue to forward any DNS requests it can't answer to your upstream ISP nameserver(s).
* We will use the domain hughes.lan as our internal domain name.


You might notice that we selected a mock top-level domain (sometimes referred as a TLD) named lan. Our internal domain name can be as creative as we wish since the domain is only known inside our home network. The naming convention for a public nameserver is not as relaxed, since we would need to follow certain rules that would allow our nameserver to respond to other nameservers requesting host information from around the world.



Zones

Nameservers store information about a domain namespace in files called zone data files. A zone data file contains all the resource records that describe the domain represented in the zone. The resource records further describe all the hosts in the zone. We will need to modify our existing named.conf to reference two zone files for our domain name:

* Forward zone definitions that map hostnames to IP addresses.
* Reverse zone definitions that map IP addresses to hostnames.

Open /var/named/chroot/etc/named.conf and add the following forward and reverse zone file directives:

# Forward Zone for hughes.lan domain
zone "hughes.lan" IN {
type master;
file "hughes.lan.zone";
};

# Reverse Zone for hughes.lan domain
zone "15.168.192.in-addr.arpa" IN {
type master;
file "192.168.15.zone";
};

Both the forward and reverse zones contain the type master indicating that our nameserver is the master or primary nameserver for the hughes.lan domain. The file keyword indicates which zone file contains the resource records for the corresponding zone. Note that the reverse zone contains a special domain named in-addr-arpa. DNS uses this special domain to support IP to hostname mappings. Reverse lookups are backwards since the name is read from the leaf to the root (imagine a domain name as a tree structure) so the resultant domain name has the topmost element at the right-hand side. For a home network the reverse lookup zones can be considered optional but we will include them for completeness.

Included with the BIND RPMs is a root zone nameservers use when a query is unresolvable by any other configured zones. The root zone directive is named ".", has a type of hint and references a file named named.ca that contains a list of 13 root name servers located around the world. We will not directly use the root servers since we are forwarding any unresolvable queries to our ISP nameservers.

We need to modify the named.conf global options to allow our internal clients to query the nameserver. Modify the existing global options block to the following:

acl hughes-lan { 192.168.15.0/24; 127.0/8; };
options {
directory "/var/named";
allow-query { hughes-lan; };
forwarders { xxx.xxx.xxx.xxx; xxx.xxx.xxx.xxx; }; # ISP primary/secondary
forward-only; # Rely completely on ISP for cache misses
};

The acl statement above sets up a range of IP addresses we can reference throughout the named.conf file. The allow-query specifies IP addresses of hosts that can query our nameserver. The forwarders statement tells our nameserver to forward any unresolvable queries to our upstream nameservers. The forward-only statement restricts our nameserver to only rely on our ISP nameservers and not contact other nameservers to find information that our ISP can not provide. It's very rare for a primary and secondary ISP nameserver to be down at the same time but you can comment forward-only if you want your nameserver to try the root nameservers when the upstream ISP nameservers cannot resolve a hostname.



Zone files

We are now ready to start defining our hostname mappings in the zone files we referenced in the named.conf configuration. Zone files need to be placed in the /var/named/chroot/var/named directory, have 644 permissions with an owner and group of named:

$ cd /var/named/chroot/var/named
$ touch hughes.lan.zone
$ chown named:named hughes.lan.zone
$ chmod 644 hughes.lan.zone

Let's take a look at an example zone file for the hughes.lan forward zone and then dive into the various parts:

$TTL 1D

hughes.lan. IN SOA velma.hughes.lan. foo.bar.tld. (
200612060 ; serial
2H ; refresh slaves
5M ; retry
1W ; expire
1M ; Negative TTL
)

@ IN NS velma.hughes.lan.

velma.hughes.lan. IN A 192.168.15.10 ; RHEL server
fred.hughes.lan. IN A 192.168.15.1 ; router
scooby.hughes.lan. IN A 192.168.15.2 ; upstairs WAP
shaggy.hughes.lan. IN A 192.168.15.3 ; downstairs WAP
scooby-dum.hughes.lan. IN A 192.168.15.4 ; Fedora desktop
daphne.hughes.lan. IN A 192.168.15.5 ; network printer
mysterymachine IN A 192.168.15.6 ; mail server
scrappy IN A 192.168.15.7 ; Windows box
; aliases
www IN CNAME velma.hughes.lan. ; WWW server
virtual IN CNAME velma ; virtual WWW tests
mail IN CNAME mysterymachine ; sendmail host

; DHCP Clients
dhcp01.hughes.lan. IN A 192.168.15.100
dhcp02.hughes.lan. IN A 192.168.15.101
dhcp03.hughes.lan. IN A 192.168.15.102
dhcp04.hughes.lan. IN A 192.168.15.103
dhcp05.hughes.lan. IN A 192.168.15.104

@ IN MX 10 mail.hughes.lan.

The very first line in the hughes.lan.zone contains the TTL (Time To Live) value and is set to one day. TTL is used by nameservers to know how long to cache nameserver responses. This value would have more meaning if our nameserver was public and had other external nameservers depending on our domain information. Notice the 'D' in the TTL value stands for Day. Bind also uses 'W' for weeks, 'H' for hours, and 'M' for minutes.

The first resource record is the SOA (Start Of Authority) Record which indicates that this nameserver is the best authoritative resource for the hughes.lan domain. The IN stands for Internet Class and is optional. The first hostname after the SOA is the name of our master or primary nameserver. The second name, "foo.bar.tld.", is the email address for the person in charge of this zone. Notice the '@' is replaced with a '.' and also ends with a '.'. The third value is the serial number that indicates the current revision, typically in the YYYYMMDD format with a single digit at the end indicating the revision number for that day. The fourth, fifth, sixth, and seventh values can be ignored for the purposes of this article.

The NS record lists each authoritative nameserver for the current zone. Notice the first '@' character in this line. The '@' character is a short-hand way to reference the domain, hughes.lan, that was referenced in the named.conf configuration file for this zone.

The next block of A records contains our hostname to address mappings. The CNAME records act as aliases to previously defined A records. Notice how fully qualified domains end with a '.'. If the '.' is omitted then the domain, hughes.lan, is appended to the hostname. In our example the hostname, scrappy, will become scrappy.hughes.lan

If you want to reference an internal mail server, then add a MX record that specifies a mail exchanger. The MX value "10" in our example indicates the preference value (number between 0 and 65535) for this mail exchanger's priority. Clients try the highest priorty exchanger first.

The reverse zone file, 192.168.15.zone, is similar to our forward zone but contains PTR records instead of A records:


$TTL 1D

@ IN SOA velma.hughes.lan. foo.bar.tld. (
200612060 ; serial
2H ; refresh slaves
5M ; retry
1W ; expire
1M ; Negative TTL
)

IN NS velma.hughes.lan.
10 IN PTR velma.hughes.lan.
1 IN PTR fred.hughes.lan.
2 IN PTR scooby.hughes.lan.
3 IN PTR shaggy.hughes.lan.
4 IN PTR scooby-dum.hughes.lan.
5 IN PTR daphne.hughes.lan.
6 IN PTR mysterymachine.hughes.lan.
7 IN PTR scrappy.hughes.lan.

100 IN PTR dhcp01.hughes.lan.
101 IN PTR dhcp02.hughes.lan.
102 IN PTR dhcp03.hughes.lan.
103 IN PTR dhcp04.hughes.lan.
104 IN PTR dhcp05.hughes.lan.



Testing

Save your zone files, make sure you have the correct permissions and check the syntax using named-checkzone:

named-checkzone hughes.lan hughes.lan.zone
named-checkzone 15.168.192.in-addr.arpa 192.168.15.zone

Correct any syntax errors reported by named-checkzone.



Restart the nameserver:

service named restart

Browse through the tail of the /var/log/messages file and confirm the domain loaded successfully.



Make the following DNS queries (substituting your domain):

dig scooby.hughes.lan
dig -x 192.168.15.2


Your output should be similar to the following:

.
.
.

;; QUESTION SECTION:
;scooby.hughes.lan. IN A

;; ANSWER SECTION:
scooby.hughes.lan. 86400 IN A 192.168.15.2

;; AUTHORITY SECTION:
hughes.lan. 86400 IN NS velma.hughes.lan.

;; ADDITIONAL SECTION:
velma.hughes.lan. 86400 IN A 192.168.15.10
.
.
.

Continue to test each host you added to the zone file and then enjoy your new master nameserver.



Conclusion

The goal of this series of DNS articles was to pick the high-level features DNS can offer to improve the efficiency and management of the home network. In addition to the performance improvement we saw with the caching nameserver, the master nameserver helps manage both static and dynamic clients using human-friendly hostnames instead of IP addresses. For readers interested in learning more about DNS or expanding the nameservers discussed in this series, checkout the following resources:

* BIND user documenation located in /usr/share/doc/bind-9.x.x
* DNS and BIND (5th Edition)


About the author

Shannon Hughes is a Red Hat Network (RHN) engineer who enjoys using open source software to solve the most demanding software projects. When he is not cranking out code, tweaking servers, or coming up with new RHN projects, you can find him trying to squeeze in yet another plant in the yard/garden with his wife, watching Scooby Doo reruns with his two kids and dog, or incorporating the latest open source projects for his church.

Copyright © 2006 Red Hat, Inc. All rights reserved.
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Taken From: http://www.redhat.com/magazine/025nov06/features/dns/
http://www.redhat.com/magazine/026dec06/features/dns/



A much more complete howto can be found at: http://www.aboutdebian.com/dns.htm

Configure a Linux DHCP Server

Configure a DHCP Server


Introduction

Normally if you have a cable modem or DSL, you get your home PC's IP address dynamically assigned from your service provider. If you install a home cable/DSL router between your modem and home network, your PC will most likely get its IP address at boot time from the home router instead. You can choose to disable the DHCP server feature on your home router and set up a Linux box as the DHCP server.

This chapter covers only the configuration of a DHCP server that provides IP addresses. The configuration of a Linux DHCP client that gets its IP address from a DHCP server is covered in Chapter 3, "Linux Networking", on Linux Networking.
Download and Install the DHCP Package

Most RedHat and Fedora Linux software products are available in the RPM format. Downloading and installing RPMs aren't hard. If you need a refresher, Chapter 6, "Installing Linux Software", covers how to do this in detail.

When searching for the file, remember that the DHCP server RPM's filename usually starts with the word dhcp followed by a version number like this: dhcp-3.0.1rc14-1.i386.rpm.

Debian Note: With Debian / Ubuntu the package name may include a version number. Use the dpkg --list | grep dhcp command to get a list of all your dhcp packages and use the output to infer what the DHCP server package name would be. In this case we can guess that the package name should be dhcp3-server. If you need a DEB package installation refresher you can take a look at Chapter 6, "Installing Linux Software".

root@u-bigboy:/tmp# dpkg --list | grep dhcp
ii dhcp3-client 3.0.3-6ubuntu7 DHCP Client
ii dhcp3-common 3.0.3-6ubuntu7 Files used by all the dhcp3* packages
root@u-bigboy:/tmp#

The /etc/dhcpd.conf File

When DHCP starts, it reads the file /etc/dhcpd.conf. It uses the commands here to configure your network. The standard DHCP RPM package doesn't automatically install a /etc/dhcpd.conf file, but you can find a sample copy of dhcpd.conf in the following directory which you can always use as a guide.

/usr/share/doc/dhcp-/dhcpd.conf.sample

You have to copy the sample dhcpd.conf file to the /etc directory and then you'll have to edit it. Here is the command to do the copying for the version 3.0p11 RPM file:

[root@bigboy tmp]# cp /usr/share/doc/dhcp-3.0pl1/dhcpd.conf.sample /etc/dhcpd.conf

Debian Note: With Debian / Ubuntu the configuration file name is /etc/dhcp*/dhcpd.conf and has the same syntax as that used by Redhat / Fedora.

Here is a quick explanation of the dhcpd.conf file: Most importantly, there must be a subnet section for each interface on your Linux box.



ddns-update-style interim
ignore client-updates

subnet 192.168.1.0 netmask 255.255.255.0 {

# The range of IP addresses the server
# will issue to DHCP enabled PC clients
# booting up on the network

range 192.168.1.201 192.168.1.220;

# Set the amount of time in seconds that
# a client may keep the IP address

default-lease-time 86400;
max-lease-time 86400;

# Set the default gateway to be used by
# the PC clients

option routers 192.168.1.1;
# Don't forward DHCP requests from this
# NIC interface to any other NIC
# interfaces

option ip-forwarding off;

# Set the broadcast address and subnet mask
# to be used by the DHCP clients

option broadcast-address 192.168.1.255;
option subnet-mask 255.255.255.0;

# Set the DNS server to be used by the
# DHCP clients

option domain-name-servers 192.168.1.100;

# Set the NTP server to be used by the
# DHCP clients

option nntp-server 192.168.1.100;

# If you specify a WINS server for your Windows clients,
# you need to include the following option in the dhcpd.conf file:

option netbios-name-servers 192.168.1.100;

# You can also assign specific IP addresses based on the clients'
# ethernet MAC address as follows (Host's name is "laser-printer":

host laser-printer {
hardware ethernet 08:00:2b:4c:59:23;
fixed-address 192.168.1.222;
}
}
#
# List an unused interface here
#
subnet 192.168.2.0 netmask 255.255.255.0 {
}

There are many more options statements you can use to configure DHCP. These include telling the DHCP clients where to go for services such as finger and IRC. Check the dhcp-options man page after you do your install:

[root@bigboy tmp]# man dhcp-options

Note: The host statement seen in the sample dhcpd.conf file can be very useful. Some devices such as network printers default to getting their IP addresses using DHCP, but users need to access them by a fixed IP address to print their documents. This statement can be used to always provide specific IP address to DHCP queries from a predefined a NIC MAC address. This can help to reduce systems administration overhead.



How to Get DHCP Started

To get DHCP started:

1) Some older Fedora/RedHat versions of the DHCP server will fail unless there is an existing dhcpd.leases file. Use the command touch /var/lib/dhcp/dhcpd.leases to create the file if it does not exist.

[root@bigboy tmp]# touch /var/lib/dhcp/dhcpd.leases

2) Use the chkconfig command to get DHCP configured to start at boot:

[root@bigboy tmp]# chkconfig dhcpd on

With Debian / Ubuntu the equivalent command for the dhcp3-server package would be:

root@u-bigboy:/tmp# sysv-rc-conf dhcp3-server on

3) Use the service command to instruct the /etc/init.d/dhcpd script to start/stop/restart DHCP after booting

[root@bigboy tmp]# service dhcpd start
[root@bigboy tmp]# service dhcpd stop
[root@bigboy tmp]# service dhcpd restart

With Debian / Ubuntu the equivalent commands would be:

root@u-bigboy:/tmp# /etc/init.d/dhcp*-server start
root@u-bigboy:/tmp# /etc/init.d/dhcp*-server stop
root@u-bigboy:/tmp# /etc/init.d/dhcp*-server restart

4) Remember to restart the DHCP process every time you make a change to the conf file for the changes to take effect on the running process. You also can test whether the DHCP process is running with the following command; you should get a response of plain old process ID numbers:

[root@bigboy tmp]# pgrep dhcpd

5) Finally, always remember to set your PC to get its IP address via DHCP.




DHCP Servers with Multiple NICs (Network Interfaces)

When a DHCP configured PC boots, it requests its IP address from the DHCP server. It does this by sending a standardized DHCP broadcast request packet to the DHCP server with a source IP address of 255.255.255.255.

If your DHCP server has more than one interface, you have to add a route for this 255.255.255.255 address so that it knows the interface on which to send the reply; if not, it sends it to the default gateway. (In both of the next two examples, we assume that DHCP requests will be coming in on interface eth0).

Note: More information on adding Linux routes and routing may be found in Chapter 3, "Linux Networking".

Note: You can't run your DHCP sever on multiple interfaces because you can only have one route to network 255.255.255.255. If you try to do it, you'll discover that DHCP serving working on only one interface.



Temporary Solution

You can temporarily add a route to 255.255.255.255 using the route add command as seen below.

[root@bigboy tmp]# route add -host 255.255.255.255 dev eth0

If you want this routing state to be maintained after a reboot, then use the permanent solution that's discussed next.


Permanent Solution

The new Fedora Linux method of adding static routes doesn't seem to support sending traffic out an interface that's not destined for a specific gateway IP address. The DHCP packet destined for address 255.255.255.255 isn't intended to be relayed to a gateway, but it should be sent using the MAC address of the DHCP client in the Ethernet frame.

You have one of two choices. Add the route add command to your /etc/rc.local script, or add an entry like this to your /etc/sysconfig/static-routes file.

#
# File /etc/sysconfig/static-routes
#
eth0 host 255.255.255.255

Note: The /etc/sysconfig/static-routes file is a deprecated feature and Fedora support for it will eventually be removed.

Now that you have configured your server, it's time to take a look at the DHCP clients.



Configuring Linux Clients to Use DHCP

A Linux NIC interface can be configured to obtain its IP address using DHCP with the examples outlined in , "Linux Networking". Please refer to this chapter if you need a quick refresher on how to configure a Linux DHCP client.



Configuring Windows Clients to Use DHCP

Fortunately Windows defaults to using DHCP for all its NIC cards so you don't have to worry about doing any reconfiguration.
Using a Single DHCP Server to Serve Multiple Networks

As stated before, DHCP clients send their requests for IP addresses to a broadcast address which is limited to the local LAN. This would imply that a DHCP server is required on each subnet. Not so. It is possible to configure routers to forward DHCP requests to a DHCP server many hops away. This is done by inserting the IP address of the router's interface on the DHCP client's network into the forwarded packet. To the DHCP server, the non-blank router IP address field takes precedence over the broadcast address and it uses this value to provide a DHCP address that is meaningful to the client. The DHCP server replies with a broadcast packet, and the router, which has kept track of the initial forwarded request, forwards it back towards the client. You can configure this feature on Cisco devices by using the ip helper-address command on all the interfaces on which DHCP clients reside. Here is a configuration sample that points to a DHCP server with the IP address 192.168.36.25:

interface FastEthernet 2/1
ip address 192.168.1.30 255.255.255.0
ip helper-address 192.168.36.25



Simple DHCP Troubleshooting

The most common problems with DHCP usually aren't related to the server; after the server is configured correctly there is no need to change any settings and it therefore runs reliably. The problems usually occur at the DHCP client's end for a variety of reasons. The following sections present simple troubleshooting steps that you can go through to ensure that DHCP is working correctly on your network.



DHCP Clients Obtaining 169.254.0.0 Addresses

Whenever Microsoft DHCP clients are unable to contact their DHCP server they default to selecting their own IP address from the 169.254.0.0 network until the DHCP server becomes available again. This is frequently referred to as Automatic Private IP Addressing (APIPA). Here are some steps you can go through to resolve the problem:

* Ensure that your DHCP server is configured correctly and use the pgrep command discussed earlier to make sure the DHCP process is running. Pay special attention to your 255.255.255.255 route, especially if your DHCP server has multiple interfaces.
* Give your DHCP client a static IP address from the same range that the DHCP server is supposed to provide. See whether you can ping the DHCP server. If you cannot, double-check your cabling and your NIC cards.
* DHCP uses the BOOTP protocol for its communication between the client and server. Make sure there are no firewalls blocking this traffic. DHCP servers expect requests on UDP port 67 and the DHCP clients expect responses on UDP port 68.



Conclusion

In most home-based networks, a DHCP server isn't necessary because the DSL router / firewall usually has DHCP capabilities, but it is an interesting project to try. Just remember to make sure that the range of IP addresses issued by all DHCP servers on a network doesn't overlap because it could possibly cause unexpected errors. You might want to disable the router/firewall's DHCP server capabilities to experiment with your new Linux server.

A DHCP server may be invaluable in an office environment where the time and cost of getting a network engineer to get the work done may make it simpler for Linux systems administrators to do it by themselves.

Creating a Linux DHCP server is straightforward and touches all the major themes in the previous chapters. Now it's time to try something harder, but before we do, we'll do a quick refresher on how to create the Linux users who'll be using many of the applications outlined in the rest of the book.


Taken From: "http://www.linuxhomenetworking.com/wiki/index.php/Quick_HOWTO_:_Ch08_:_Configuring_the_DHCP_Server"

Scp - Secure File Transfer (using ssh) Between UNIX Machines

Scp - Secure File Transfer (using ssh) between UNIX machines

Introduction and setup

Scp is a utility which allows files to be copied between machines. Scp is an updated version of an older utility named Rcp. It works the same, except that information (including the password used to log in) is encrypted. Also, if you have set up your .shosts file to allow you to ssh between machines without using a password as described in help on setting up your .shosts file, you will be able to scp files between machines without entering your password.
Usage of the Scp Command



The general form of the command is:

$ scp source-specification destination-specification

where source-specification indicates which file or directory is to be copied, and destination-specification indicates where the copied material is to be placed.

Either the source or the destination may be on the remote machine; i.e., you may copy files or directories into the account on the remote system OR copy them from the account on the remote system into the account you are logged into.



Example:

$ scp myfile xyz@sdcc7:myfile


To copy a directory, use the -r (recursive) option. Example:

$ scp -r mydir xyz@sdcc7:mydir



File Specification Formats

The format for the remote specification (source or destination) is:

user@machine:filename

where filename is the name (path) of the file or directory relative to the home (login) directory on the remote system.



The format for file specification on the local system is just:

filename


where fname is the name (path) relative to the current working directory on that system.
How scp is similar to cp

Just like the cp command, scp will overwrite an existing destination file. In addition, if the destination is an existing directory, the copied material will be placed beneath the directory.
Examples of remote file copies

1. While logged into xyz on sdcc7, copy file "letter" into file "application" in remote account abc on sdcc3:

$ scp letter abc@sdcc3:application


2. While logged into abc on sdcc3, copy file "foo" from remote account xyz on sdcc7 into filename "bar" in abc:

$ scp xyz@sdcc7:foo bar


3. While logged into account xyz on sdcc7, copy file "garfield" from subdirectory "comix" into filename "fatcat" in subdirectory "stuff" in remote account abc on sdcc3:

$ scp comix/garfield abc@sdcc3:stuff/fatcat


4. While logged into account abc on sdcc3, copy file "garfield" from subdirectory "comix" of account xyz on sdcc7 into subdirectory "stuff" with the same name "garfield":

$ scp xyz@sdcc7:comix/garfield stuff


5. While logged into account abc on sdcc3 , copy subdirectory "Section" into a new subdirectory called "Section" in existing subdirectory "Chapter" in account xyz on sdcc7:

$ scp -r Section xyz@sdcc7:Chapter


6. From account abc on sdcc3, copy entire account to ir123 on iacs5. This needs to be done from the parent directory of the account to be moved.

$ cd
$ cd ..
$ scp -r abc ir123@iacs5:abc



For more information about the scp (secure copy) command, check the on-line manual page for scp:

$ man scp