Best of Technical Support

I want to configure RHL 6.1 both as a server for a small home network (eth0) and as a dial-up client to my > ISP using dhcp (ppp0). What should my network configuration (i.e., DNS, gateways, routes, etc.) look like? —Tom Dolan, tdolan@erols.com

You need several things. We have little space here to explain everything, so instead I will point you to the documents that should clearly explain each step: 1.- Set up your LAN: www.ibiblio.org/pub/Linux/docs/HOWTO/other-formats/html_single/Networking-Overview-HOWTO.html www.ibiblio.org/pub/Linux/docs/HOWTO/other-formats/html_single/Net-HOWTO.html 2.- Hook up to your ISP: www.ibiblio.org/pub/Linux/docs/HOWTO/other-formats/html_single/ISP-Hookup -HOWTO.html 3.- Set SAMBA (if you have Windows PC's on your local net): www.ibiblio.org/pub/Linux/docs/HOWTO/other-formats/html_single/SMB-HOWTO.html www.ibiblio.org/pub/Linux/docs/HOWTO/other-formats/html_single/Windows-LA N-Server-HOWTO.html 4.- Some security won't hurt: www.ibiblio.org/pub/Linux/docs/HOWTO/other-formats/html_single/Security-HOWTO.html—Felipe E. Barousse Boué, fbarousse@piensa.com

I just installed Red Hat 6.2 and it worked fine. When booted, my system prompted LILO and boot Linux in Red Hat. I changed LILO to boot DOS. Now when I boot my system I get a C prompt. How do I get my Red Hat back? —Pablo, sonicmaster@teleweb.pt

You should use your Linux boot floppy to reboot under Linux. Then edit your lilo.conf to set up dual boot and validate by typing lilo as root. For example:

boot=/dev/hda
map=/boot/map
install=/boot/boot.b
prompt
timeout=50
linear
default=linux
image=/boot/vmlinuz-2.2.14-5.0
        label=linux
        initrd=/boot/initrd-2.2.14-5.0.img
        read-only
        root=/dev/hdb1
other=/dev/hda1
        label=dos

--Pierre Ficheux, pficheux@wanadoo.fr

I am having a problem with my end users trying to receive and send their mail. My mail server is working under Linux Op. All users receive the message, The server could not be found (Account "Sendmail" SMTP Server; mail, Error number 0x800ccc0d). —Walter Minja, waminja@yahoo.com

Because of the error message you mention, it looks to me like your users are using a Windows client. You need to properly set up. For outgoing mails, set the SMTP IP address on each PC to the IP number of your Linux box in your local area network. For incoming mails, the POP IP address should be set up with the same IP address of your Linux box. Bear in mind that POP3 service must be installed and enabled (with an uncommented “pop-3” line in /etc/inetd.conf). —Felipe E. Barousse Boué, fbarousse@piensa.com

I cannot get the rawrite program to work on any of my systems. I tried the autoloader from the Corel distribution, but all I am able to do is get to the point where they give the option to either install from the CD or create a boot disk. When the option to create a boot disk is selected, there is an error of some sort with the system not being able to transfer the boot image to the floppy. When the option to install from the CD is chosen (I have ensured that the computer's bios has the CD boot option selected), it reverts to the other boot options (floppy or C: drive). I have tried executing the rawrite program after booting my system with a Win95 boot disk but have no luck with either distribution.

My computer systems are all intel cpu-based, and the distributions I have are the i386 distributions. —Robert Cordner, clevon@hotmail.com

Assuming all files were downloaded (transferred) correctly, to generate a boot disk, the only file you need is the one named boot.img or bootnet.img (the latter for installs through a network). Transfer this file with ftp using BINary mode. After you get this file, which is pretty small (around 1.4 Mbytes), from DOS use the command: rawrite, which will ask you for the file name to write to the disk, prompt you to insert a disk and write the file you just downloaded to the disk generating an install disk. Of course, the rest of the distribution's files would be needed, so, download them all using BINary transfer as well, or if you use the bootnet.img image file, you may be able to install through a LAN if you are on one. —Felipe E. Barousse Boué, fbarousse@piensa.com