3. General Configuration

3.1. Initial Configuration via Setup program

Devil-Linux offers a console based configuration program. Just invoke the the command setup.

3.2. Saving Configuration (save-config)

Whenever you modify the configuration of the system, you have to save it to the configuration media, otherwise the changes wouldn't survive a reboot.

Saving the configuration is done via the command save-config .

save-config does nothing else then creating a bzip2 compressed tar archive and copies it to the configuration media under the name etc.tar.bz2.

save-config does support the parameter -q. This stands for quiet and quick.

3.3. Local setup

Table 1.1. Local setup

ParameterDescriptionValuesSample
UTCDefines if the local clock is UTC (GMT) or to the local timeyes/noyes
TIMEZONE

Defines the local time zone.

Available timezones can be found in the /usr/share/zoneinfo
string valueUS/Eastern
KEYBOARD_LAYOUTDefines which keyboard layout should be loaded.string valuede-latin1
INITRD_MODULESDefines which modules should be loaded during boot time. This parameter is to support SCSI or BLOCK devices.string valueBusLogic

3.4. Network setup

Table 1.2. Network setup

ParameterDescriptionValuesSample
HOSTNAMEhostnamestring valuedevil
DEFAULTGATEWAYIP address of the default gateway.IP address in dotted notation10.90.1.1
DEFAULTGATEWAY_IFInterface on which we reach the default gateway.string valueeth0
START_ROUTINGShould routing be enabled on boot time ?yes/noyes
START_FIREWALLShould the script /etc/init.d/firewall.rules be executed at boot time ?yes/noyes
DISABLE_ECNDisable ECN (early congestion notification) ? This is needed if you have problems connecting to some websites.yes/noyes

3.5. Network interface configuration

The configuration files are located in /etc/sysconfig/nic directory.

You need one file for each interface. The filename has to begin with ifcfg-.

There are a few samples available in the NIC configuration directory, which give you real-world examples on how to use the settings.

If you don't know which modules supports your network card, you can try using the command modprobe -t net \* . After that you can check the console and syslog messages and check which modules are loaded (lsmod).

Table 1.3. Network interface configuration

ParameterDescriptionValuesSample
ONBOOTShould the interface started at boot time ?yes/noyes
DEVICEDevice name of the interface (eth0, eth0:0, eth1 ...)string valueeth0
DHCP

Should the IP address be requested from a DHCP server ?

Or should even a DHCP server run on this interface ?

NOTE: for a DHCP server you need to assign a static IP address.
yes/no/serverno
IP

IP address of the defined interface.

Leave empty to bring interface up without an IP address.
IP address in dotted notation / empty10.90.1.2
NETMASKNetwork mask for this interfaceIP address in dotted notation255.255.255.0
BROADCAST

broadcast address for this interface

leave this setting empty for an automatic assignment
IP address in dotted notation10.90.1.255
MACChanges the MAC address of the interfaceMAC address with colons12:34:56:67:91:11
MODULE

Name of the module to load for this interface.

Leave this setting empty when module is already loaded or this interface is an IP alias.
string valuepcnet32
ROUTEDefine routing entries for this interface. See section Routing for details.string value10.90.1.253:192.168.2.0/255.255.255.0
VLANSet the VLAN ID for this interfacenumeric value (0 < vlanid < 4095)100
BR_IFDefines which interfaces should be bridged. Note: the interface name for this interface needs to be brX, e.g. br0string values with the interface nameseth2 eth3

3.6. Routing

Routing is defined in the network interface configuration files.

The format for an routing entry is: GATEWAY:NET/MASK , i.e. ROUTE="10.90.1.253:192.168.2.0/255.255.255.0"

See this example for some more details:

### ROUTE="GATEWAY:NET/MASK" 
#ROUTE="10.90.1.253:192.168.2.0/255.255.255.0"
### if you don't have a gateway use: 
#ROUTE=":192.168.2.0/255.255.255.0" 
### for more than one route use: 
#ROUTE="$ROUTE 10.90.1.252:192.168.3.0/255.255.255.0" #
## if you have only a host: 
#ROUTE="$ROUTE 10.90.1.251:172.16.3.14" 

3.7. Upgrading from a previous release

The best and safest way when upgrading is to start with the new etc.tar.bz2 file. Next, you can recover previous configurations files with caution : don't forget to check changes log to see which services could be affected with the new release. Files you may want to recover :

  • /etc/passwd

  • /etc/shadow

  • /etc/ipsec.*

  • /etc/sshd/*

  • /etc/sysconfig/nic/ifcfg-*

  • /etc/init.d/rc.firewall