Re: A question about services
On Sun, 30 May 2010 14:23:22 +0100, AG wrote:
> This machine is a single user desktop, provides CUPS server to an
> ethernet LAN-connected client Debian machine, and both machines access
> the Internet via a dedicated hardware firewall but separately connected
> to the pre-firewall hub.
>
> I have no need for bluetooth, sane, power management options, and I
> don't have a NFS, nor wireless. This machine runs Tor with Tor's new
> friend, polipo, with privoxy continuing to be updated but seemingly no
> longer required by Tor.
>
> I have KDE4 installed and Xfce4 and I use GNOME daily. KDE4 requires
> MySQL.
KDE4 requires MySQl? What an "excentric" requirement >:-)
> There is an external USB drive connected to my machine which I access
> frequently so is mounted at boot up.
>
> 2. Services currently activated at start up (according to GNOME):
> avahi-daemon - multicast DNS service discovery (do I need this?)
No, you can safely disable that service.
> dirmngr - ? (no idea - sounds reasonable but ...?)
***
Dirmngr is a server for managing and downloading certificate revocation
lists (CRLs) for X.509 certificates and for downloading the certificates
themselves. Dirmngr also handles OCSP requests as an alternative to CRLs.
Dirmngr is either invoked internally by gpgsm (from GnuPG 2) or when
running as a system daemon through the dirmngr-client tool.
***
I would keep that service on.
> hal - ? (needed, I think)
Yes, keep it enabled.
> kerneloops - automated crash reports support (can't be bad)
Not needed, AFAIK you can safely disable.
> lm-sensors - hardware monitor (probably a good thing)
Yes, it monitors temperature sensors (motherboard, hard disks...)
> loadcpufreq - ? (maybe worth having enabled?)
Yes, it allows putting the processor into different load status (economy,
full-load, etc..)
> portmap - rpc mapper (wasn't this the bette noire for crackers scanning
ports?
AFAIK, needed for running RPC services (such NFS).
> Anyway, do I need it for mounting/ accessing the external USB drive?)
I guess no. That is a task for udev/devicekit.
> pyro-nsd - ? (seemingly necessary for Python calls & as I have a number
> of Python utilities and libraries loaded, so will keep that)
This one I dunno.
> 3. Questions:
>
> 3.1. Do I need anacron *and* atd *and* cron? Do they all work together
> or am I wasting resources, etc., by having all going? How do I figure
> out which one is the safest to stop?
apt-cache show cron
apt-cache show anacron
apt-cache show at
To display what are they for and their priority. I would keep them all.
> 3.2. Given the description of my system requirements, do I need to run
> services like:
> * avahi-daemon
> * dirmngr
> * exim4
> * portmap
>
> Thanks for any opinions you can offer.
Avahi-daemon no, for sure. The others maybe. You need a mail agent
(exim4, postfix or any other lightweight MTA, but at least one has to be
installed). For dirmngr and portmap I'm not sure :-?
Greetings,
--
Camaleón
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