Re: nas???

[Patrick Olson <compman@internetcds.com>]

On Mon, 6 Sep 1999, John Gay wrote:

> Thanks for the offer. I can ping between both PC's, it is just ftp and
> telnet that only work one way. I don't know a lot about networking so I
> read the net3 HOW-TO and set up some files for the I.P. Addresses and
> route. I don't know what is configured as far as the I.P. setting. I.E.
> Masquerading and such. I don't have E-Mail set up on the Linux box yet,

The fact that you can ping both ways is good.  What concerns me is the
fact that you can only telnet and ftp one way.  Every Debian installation
I've seen automatically includes and sets up incoming telnet and ftp.  The
packages are netstd (for ftp) and telnetd (for telnet).  Are those
packages installed?   Something makes me think there is a connection
between this and nas refusing the connections, assuming those packages got
installed.

I'm going to guess that you probably don't have any firewalling on either
PC, but let me know if you have used any ipchains of ipfwadm commands.

So far, I think you have been trying to ping, telnet and ftp between the
two PCs, and can only get connections one way.  This may seem weird, but I
think it could help isolate the problem.  Get on the one that won't let
you in (the 486 I think) and try to get it to ping, ftp and/or telnet to
"localhost" which will effectively make it talk to itself.  If that works,
try getting the machine to ping, ftp and/or telnet to its own IP address
(not localhost or 127.0.0.1).  If you get different results then when you
try to hit it from the PII, the 486 probably has a configuration problem.
Let me know the results of this, and I will do my best to figure out what
is causing the trouble.

Have you changed the files /etc/hosts.allow or /etc/hosts.deny at all?  My
network seems to work fine and I have not touched those files, but did
have to put the names of the machines in the /etc/hosts file.

> I am using E-Mail at work right now. It just seems strange that X would
> work but not nas? As I understand it, nas works just like X, the server
> runs on the local PC, providing access to the hardware, in this case the
> sound card. The client then runs on the remote PC to interface with
> whatever programme is using the sound interface. When the 486 powers up,

To be honest with you, I haven't touched X networking or nas, ever.  I'm
hoping it is something with the network and not with these programs.  That
way, I might be able to help you solve it since I do know a little bit
about networking.

> I log in as root, the only login on the PC. During bootup the PC reports
> that the nas services started, but when I use the command auinfo, to get
> the information on th audio server, I get connection to server refused.
> This is just local to the PC. When I do this on the PII, I get loads of
> information about the audio server. Both systems have the same base
> installation of Debian 2.1, then the 486 only has the minimum X server
> installed. I then used dpkg -i to install nas on both PC's. This
> installed and configured nas on both PC's with no complaints. 

My theory is that making ftp or telnet work in both directions might also
nail the auinfo "connection refused" message.

> On a related issue, I am a little worried that I can telnet into the PII
> from the 486 without having set up any type of security. I wouldn't want
> anyone being able to telnet to my PC when I'm on-line. Right now I use
> wvdial to connect to my isp, then run Netscape for general surfing. I
> can also ftp to various sites to download kernels and such. I'm sure
> there is an easier way, but as I said, I'm new to all this. I have
> noticed that several ftp sites won't let me connect because they can't
> resolve my address, or something like that. Is this a problem with my
> setup or my ISP? 

I frankly like that feature.  When I go home to visit my parents, I tell
cron to get on the Internet at a certain time of the day, and have the
thing rigged to e-mail the IP address to my Yahoo account.  Then I can
telnet in to my Linux box from their Windoze box and do all my mail in
Pine.  That way all the e-mail to this stays on one computer and all the
commands stay the same.  Sorry, got a little off topic.

I think you are right to be concerned about security.  However, when you
telnet into the PII, it should not let you log in as root.  Anyway, mine
doesn't.  If it does allow that, then something is broken.  That is at
least some security.  Also, it should insist on a valid user name and
password.  To get more security than that, I suggest asking the mailing
list for ideas, as telnet is not really my area of expertise.

That "could not resolve" message might be a DNS problem, but I would need
a more exact error message to know for sure.  I'm sorry, but that one just
isn't enough data for me to figure out where the problem lies.

> Well, work calls. Thanks again for all the help.

Glad to help.  I just wish someone one the list could jump in and go "this
is what's wrong and here's how to fix it" as that would make it a lot
easier for you.  However, I think having the answers to the questions I've
asked throughout this message should help pinpoint the problem, unless
it's something really different.

Hope this helps,
Patrick