Hello folks,

I took advantage of the Pwebtech server special for the $129 dedicated server.

I am pretty new to Linux admin, but learn fast, I just had a few questions I was looking for help/answers too.

I apologize upfront if they are "stupid" or don't make sense, I am going on 29 hours of uptime with no sleep! :-(

1 - The system is running 2.4.8 ( 2.4.8 #1 SMP Fri Aug 17 17:16:41 EDT 2001 i686 unknown) kernel. I am interested in what your opinion and stability/security is of this rev of the kernel? How/should one go about updating this?

2- It looks like a special kernel build that Pwebtech put together, based on this upon boot-up (Linux version 2.4.8 (root@tk.pwebtech.com) (gcc version egcs-2.91.66 19990314/Linux (egcs-1.1.2 release)) #1 SMP Fri Aug 17 17:16:41
EDT 2001) - is this true? If true, Jay why the special kernel, whats compiled into it?

3 - I am interested in running iptables for firewalling and ip accounting, but I am reading that this has to be compiled into the kernel, is this true? I've never done a kernel compile/build, and I'm not sure about doing one remotely. Any ideas? How can I tell if the kernel was compiled with support for iptables?

3a - Do you recommend something other then iptables for firewalling and ip accounting?

4 - I've spent quite a bit of time updating some of the modules, securing inetd and the rest of the system, etc. I've read the stuff at openna.com and have been following his advice.

5 - For some reason OpenSSH wasn't installed, so I have no ssh2 support, I want to remove the ssh package and install openssh, what is the easiest way to go about this? Should I open up telnet before I start this incase I mess it up?

Any other pointers on security and admin for a new comer such as myself?

Thanks in advance!!

Tom

We did compile in ipchains by default, 2.4.x kernels have different methods of security than 2.2.x

We installed ssh-1.31.2 or something of the sort. If you want openssh we can do that as well, but alot of holes have been found in the newer ssh's recently, from what I can remember.

To see the kernel config and modify it goto
/usr/src/linux and type make menuconfig there you can see what we compiled into it and what additional features you might want or not want in your kernel.

Originally posted by jayglate
We did compile in ipchains by default, 2.4.x kernels have different methods of security than 2.2.x

We installed ssh-1.31.2 or something of the sort. If you want openssh we can do that as well, but alot of holes have been found in the newer ssh's recently, from what I can remember.

To see the kernel config and modify it goto
/usr/src/linux and type make menuconfig there you can see what we compiled into it and what additional features you might want or not want in your kernel.

Thanks Jay, this is a good start for me. I wasn't complaining about your install/build, just trying to brush up on Linux some more.

Is there a big difference between ipchains and iptables? Is iptables newer/better? Supported on the 2.4.x kernel, etc?

Thanks,
Tom

Newer is bettter :) It is a stateful firewall.

www.linuxnewbie.org - more specific, they have a forum for just this type of question: http://www.linuxnewbie.org/cgi-bin/ubbcgi/ultimatebb.cgi?ubb=forum&f=13

Originally posted by jayglate
We did compile in ipchains by default, 2.4.x kernels have different methods of security than 2.2.x

We installed ssh-1.31.2 or something of the sort. If you want openssh we can do that as well, but alot of holes have been found in the newer ssh's recently, from what I can remember.

To see the kernel config and modify it goto
/usr/src/linux and type make menuconfig there you can see what we compiled into it and what additional features you might want or not want in your kernel.

well open ssh 2.9p2 is secure i believe and the latest?