starting dhcpd: failed

[lynntwin]

Help! I work for a small non-profit and the person who set up our linux firewall computer has left the state with no forwarding information. Before he left, he configured a new firewall cpu in case the old one died - well it's almost dead and the new cpu isn't configured correctly. I don't know linux but am willing to learn. Here's what I have:

We are running a peer-to-peer network with our linux machine serving as the firewall and we have a DSL modem. The new machine is running a newer version of Red Hat - Fedora - than the old machine and I don't know how to access the desktop of the old machine to check settings. We have the eth0 setup as active on boot, IP set by dhcp and auto DNS from provider. The other nic eth1 is setup active on boot, with a static IP address and submask.

So I have two questions:
1) how do I get to the desktop on the old computer - login says: Red Hat Linux release 9 (Shrike)?
2) how do I solve the issue on the new machine so that I don't get the "starting dhcpd: failed" message? (I'm assuming that this is why we are not getting out to the internet).

Thanks!

[gerald]

Let me ask you first. Are you using router? If there is, what is the IP configuration? Is your server using squid?

[lynntwin]

RE: Are you using router? If there is, what is the IP configuration? Is your server using squid?

I'm not familiar with squid so probably no. We are using the linux machine as an internet firewall. If I understand correctly the internet connection comes in through our dsl modem (Actiontec from Qwest), then goes into the linux machine and then to the pcs on the network. We aren't running our own webserver and we don't have an actual computer acting as a server - the pcs in the office relate to the linux machine in a peer-to-peer relationship. I think that our linux machine (or the dsl modem) would then act as a router since the connection coming in from the dsl has a static IP address. Our pcs are configured to assign IP addresses automatically and they have the same address as the static IP address on the linux machine - except for the last 3 numbers.

Does this answer your question?

[friskydrifter]

Im going to jump in here and have a guess at some of the info you want.

First there may not be a Desktop on the old one. You might have to use the CLI. If it does you can type:
]# startx
from CLI and it should load.

My guess is that if the old PC is the firewall then it is using iptables for a firewall and NAT. The rest of the p.c are configured to use it as a gateway?

I would check out what the iptable rules are doing by:

]# iptables-save > iptables-rules.txt
]# less iptables-rules.txt

this will dump the config into a text file and you can use the command less to view it.

It sounds like the New Linux pc is acting as the dhcp server?
Look at dhcpd to try eliminate the errors.

Any questions on this (i bet there are) I'll try and help with a bit more info from you.

With what sounds like a very small network here, I would probably get rid of the Linux pc's (eeek! and this is a Linux Forum) setup the router for the firewall and dhcp. Meh! but thats me.

[Compunuts]

So I have two questions:
1) how do I get to the desktop on the old computer - login says: Red Hat Linux release 9 (Shrike)?

You will need a user name and password to get into the machine. Without that, there is no way of getting in.

2) how do I solve the issue on the new machine so that I don't get the "starting dhcpd: failed" message? (I'm assuming that this is why we are not getting out to the internet).

That can be a number of issues there. One possible reason is that dhcpd is trying to start before the network card is active. Another is that dhcpd is not configured (yet). We will need more info to trouble shoot possible problem and try many things to pin point where that goes wrong.

If it's a very small network and you are not familiar with network setups, then I'd have to agree with friskydrifter's suggestion getting rid of Linux box. Invest in firewall/router hardware for less than 150 bucks and it will be much better investment. If you are in San Francisco bay area, I'd love to come onsite and help you out if you are non-profit organization.

HTH ....

[lynntwin]

Thanks for all the help. I figured out how to access the desktop on the old machine (startx) and was attempting to duplicate the configuration between the two machines but keep running into walls. I think we will go with your suggestion to get rid of the linux firewall for now (I'll revisit it when I have more time to learn) and look at another solution.

Alas, we are in Seattle otherwise I'd take up Compunuts offer.

Thanks again!

[gerald]

One possible solution to access your old desktop is by using a linux live cd or any other bootable tools available, Dynebolic is a good example for it. To do this, just enable your first boot device into CD/DVD ROM in BIOS.