Linux Administrators FAQ List

Written by the people of linux-admin@vger.rutgers.edu

1. General Information

• 1.1 How do I (un)subscribe myself from the list?
• 1.2 Information about the linux-admin mailing list and this FAQ
• 1.3 Where do I get more information?
• 1.4 Is this list archived somewhere?
• 1.5 Where did all the list traffic go? I haven't received any/many messages from the list for x numer of days..

2. Linux Hardware Frequently Asked Questions

• 2.1 How do I get my Linux box to recognize more than 64MB of RAM?
• 2.2 How do I get my 2(3,4,..) ethernet cards to work?
• 2.3 What could make GCC produce the ``exiting on signal 11'' message?
• 2.4 How do I use a ``WinModem''/``WinPrinter'' under Linux?
• 2.5 How can I install linux on second disk?

3. Linux Software Most Frequently Asked Questions.

• 3.1 How do I sync my computer time clock to 'x'?
• 3.2 How do I apply a patch?
• 3.3 Where do I find the latest versions of common packages?
• 3.4 Is it possible to undelete files somehow?

4. Electronic mail Frequently Asked Questions

• 4.1 Sendmail reports `mail loops back to me''
• 4.2 How do I set up sendmail for off-line use?
• 4.3 How do I configure sendmail to work on UUCP connected machine?
• 4.4 How to do virtual mail hosting with sendmail?
• 4.5 POP3 users get an error message saying ``already being read''.
• 4.6 Is there way to restrict people using my SMTP service (via passwd or whatever)?
• 4.7 When I try to send email via my Linux machine, I get 'relaying denied' message.What's wrong?
• 4.8 How do I avoid "Warning" messages being sent back to sender every XX period, if mail could not be delivered?
• 4.9 This might be considered unethical, but how do I save a copy of all in/out-bound email traffic?
• 4.10 How do you `compile' sendmail's .mc file?

5. X Window system Most Frequently Asked Questions

• 5.1 I have two Linux machines. How do I run processes on hostA so the output will be displayed on hostB?
• 5.2 I run xterm, but it doesn't process my .profile/.loginrc/.bash_profile etc, while everything works when I log into machine via telnet, why?

6. Linux Administration Most Frequently Asked Questions

• 6.1 How do I correct Time and Timezone Problems?
• 6.2 How do I access Windows resources from my Linux box or vice-versa?
• 6.3 How do I colourize ``ls''?
• 6.4 I forgot my root password. How do I log in?
• 6.5 How do I switch to single-user mode?
• 6.6 How do I set up masquerading on my Linux machine.
• 6.7 How can I use Linux to connect two or more computers to the Internet
• 6.8 How do I share Linux/Windows printers/file systems with Windows/Linux machines?
• 6.9 Can't find module XXXX-XXX messages
• 6.10 When I try to telnet/FTP/... to my Linux box, the connection just hangs/slow
• 6.11 How do a start a process at system boot that is controlled by a user other than ``root''?
• 6.12 How do I stop some users from being able to telnet/ftp to my Linux box?
• 6.13 Mounting Windows95 Filesystems
• 6.14 How can I limit the number of simultaneous logins?
• 6.15 What are ``Shadow passwords'' or the ``Shadow suite''?
• 6.16 How can non-root users shutdown Linux machine from console?
• 6.17 What is the maximum username length, and is there way to extend it?
• 6.18 How do I set limits for processes?
• 6.19 How do I redirect all/some syslog messages to console?
• 6.20 I have to put a quota for XXXX users is there a program to do something like this?
• 6.21 Can I make it possible to change users passwords via web interface?
• 6.22 How do I use /etc/hosts.allow and /etc/hosts.deny files?
• 6.23 How do I set /tmp cleanup on boot (or through cron)?
• 6.24 How can I create many users within a single utility to simplify this routine?
• 6.25 How do I set up a user quota?

7. Linux Internals Most Frequently Asked Questions

• 7.1 What are zombie processes?
• 7.2 Kernel panic - no root device
• 7.3 Memory Usage Questions

8. Linux Security Most Frequently Asked Questions

• 8.1 What are some fundamentals of system security?
• 8.2 How do I make random/secure passwords?
• 8.3 How secure is Linux? Someone told me Linux is buggy/insecure
• 8.4 How to trace back spam?
• 8.5 Doing normal operations as superuser
• 8.6 Are there viruses for Linux platform?
• 8.7 What are the biggest security holes in unix-like systems??
• 8.8 How are Unix passwords in /etc/passwd or shadow encrypted/decrypted?
• 8.9 How do I find all setuid/setgid files on my system?

9. Firewalling

• 9.1 How do I set firewalls with Linux?
• 9.2 How can I disable ping reply?
• 9.3 How do I set ftp working via firewalling/masquerading?

10. Miscellaneous Questions

• 10.1 What is the maximum size of a single file under Linux?
• 10.2 What is buffer overflow?
• 10.3 Where can I find comparisions between Linux and other OS's?
• 10.4 Where to get db.cache file from?
• 10.5 What are hard/soft links? What is the difference?
• 10.6 When I try to install kernel I get ``kernel is too big''
• 10.7 How do I tar files?
• 10.8 How can I leave processes running after I log out?
• 10.9 The command `logout' is executed everytime i press `Ctrl-D' (EOF), how can I disable it?
• 10.10 What are methods of locking files in Linux?
• 10.11 I have some sort of weird files on my filesystem, which I can not remove, why?
• 10.12 How do I make a copy of one drive to another?

11. General Linux Information

• 11.1 General Software
• 11.2 Linux Distributions
• 11.3 Linux Platforms
• 11.4 Small Linuxes
• 11.5 Linux Search
• 11.6 Administration
• 11.7 Security
• 11.8 Networking
• 11.9 Programming
• 11.10 Mail
• 11.11 Documentation
• 11.12 X Window System
• 11.13 RedHat
• 11.14 Applications
• 11.15 Misc. Linux related links.

12. Mini-FAQ (posted to the list weekly)

• 12.1 Foreword
• 12.2 List etiquette
• 12.3 Basic information about the list

13. Frequently asked Scripts

• 13.1 Shell Scripts
• 13.2 Perl Scripts
• 13.3 Expect Scripts
• 13.4 Dip Scripts
• 13.5 Other..

14. Bonus. :-)

• 14.1 Is there uucp for X-windows?
• 14.2 Should I remove and add user again to change his password?
• 14.3 Very nice. Now we have the table of contents, but where is real stuff?
• 14.4 If I change my password, do I have to reboot before it takes effect?
• 14.5 How can I tell if I am logged in?

15. Credits / Acknowledgements

• 15.1 FAQ Contributors
• 15.2 Hosting/Mirroring this FAQ