Re: [newbie] Networking

[Mikkel L. Ellertson]

SOTL wrote:
Hi All 

Help !!!!!!!!!!!!!
Sorry for screaming but I do feel a bit better now.
I added 1 computer to the network so now there are a total of 3 as follows:
MSI with name of Reality_Check @ 192.168.2.7 with Mandrake 10.1
HP with name Meatloaf_Night @ 192.168.2.9 with Mandrake 9.2
IBM with name Big_Nate @ 192.168.2.2 with Mandrake 10.1
I do not have the ability to install 10.1 on the HP with out replacing the CD 
reader with a DVD reader.

From any one box I can ping either [or both at the same time] of the other two 
boxes. For example from the IBM box I can ping MSI by using 192.168.2.7 
and/or HP by using 192.168.2.9.

I can not ping either of the other boxes by using names. For example I can not 
ping MSI or HP by using the names Reality_Check or Meatloaf_Night nor can I 
ping the IBM box from either MSI or HP using Big_Nate.

So, numbers work; names do not work.
You need to put the names in /etc/hosts is each box, or run a name 
server on the lan. YOu may want to look at the tmdns package - I have 
not used it, or even done more then look at the description of the 
package, but it looks like it may be fore networks like yours.

I was able to access the MSI box from both the HP box and the IBM box by using 
the following: 
fish://[EMAIL PROTECTED]/path/to/directory
or fish://[EMAIL PROTECTED]
I was not able to access any box by 
fish://[EMAIL PROTECTED]/path/to/directory 

I was not able to access the IBM box from either the HP box or the MSI box 
using
fish://[EMAIL PROTECTED]/path/to/directory
or
fish://[EMAIL PROTECTED]/path/to/directory 

I was not able to access the HP box from either the IBM box or the MSI box 
using
fish://[EMAIL PROTECTED]/path/to/directory
or
fish://[EMAIL PROTECTED]/path/to/directory 

So, one function apparently correctly two did not function as expected.
I checked packages for the IBM and HP against   the MSI.
The MSI and IBM have the following packages installed:
kdeutils-kdessh
openssh
openssh-askpass
openssh-askpass-gnome
openssh-client
openssh-server
scanssh
sshd-monitor
The HP package are somewhat different and due to inadequate notes I may not 
have the content exactly correct so we will skip that at this time.

First Question:
Are there other packages that are required to ssh into a box that I do not 
have listed above?

On the box you want to ssh into, you need the openssh-server and openssh 
packages, and the libs they are dependant on. You also need to start the 
sshd daemon running. It is not started by default.

chkconfig sshd on
service sshd start
Second Question:
If there are no additional packages required why does one work [of sorts] and 
one not?

That above [of sorts] is important as after completing I left work went home 
did laundry and returned to work to attempt to make the other two boxes work.

Firing up all 3 computers the 2 which I was not able to access by fish came up 
normal and functioned normal.

The MSi box which I was able to access by fish came up with video up to 3/4 
way through KDE boot at which time it lost video and maybe key and mouse too 
as they did not appear to be functioning either.

If the screen just went black, then you may have to tweek the monitor 
settings. Maybe decrease the number of colors, or resulation. This is 
usualy caused by trying to use higher settings then the monitor 
supports. (This is a big improvment from the older monitors - they would 
let out all the magc smoke if you did that!)
>
I shut the box down by turning power off [bad practice] since I appear to have 
no control of box.

You may be able to get the box to reboot using Ctrl-Alt-DEL - it takes a 
bit, because it does a controlled shutdown/reboot. You may also be able 
to get a CLI login prompt by hitting Ctrl-Alt-F1.

I repeated the above several times with identical results.
I attempted to access box by fish and was able to do so.
I placed Mandrake 10.1 disk in DVD drive and did an upgrade.
Booting box after upgrade I still got blank screen and most possible no mouse 
and no keyboard.

Third Question:
How does one go about establishing why, how issue develops and how does one 
repair?

Thanks
Frank
For networking problems, looking in the logs in /var/log is a good lace 
to start. Especialy on the machine you are trying to connect to. A lot 
of the time, you will see a message telling you why the connection was 
not allowed. Firewalls can make things especialy interesting.

For X problems, trying a lower resulation setting, and/or less colors is 
a good place to start. Booting to run level 3, and running tools like 
drakxconfig is a good place to start. You can tweek settings, and try 
them out without having to reboot.

When it comes to things like being able to access a machine by IP 
address, but not name, you have to learn about DNS, and how it works. I 
don't know how to give a short and simple explination on how to 
troubleshoot it. When you tell a machine to connect to another machine, 
it has to translate the name you give it to an IP address. This is a 
multi-step process. FIrst, /etc/host.conf to see where it should check. 
Then it checks the things listed. On my system, it checks /etc/hosts 
first, and if it doesn't find it there, it then looks at 
/etc/resolv.conf to get the name server(s) it is susposed to check next.
It then asks the name server for the IP address for the name. So, for 
machines on your local network, it works out well to have them listed in 
/etc/hosts. For larger networks, it pays to run a local name server for 
this...

Mikkel
--
  Do not meddle in the affairs of dragons,
for you are crunchy and taste good with Ketchup!
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