Help With Uneeded Services

[GreenLED]

It is indeed horrifying to find yourself running a linux server with limited knowledge regarding the internal workings of the system. I am running a file-server, which requires me to have the best and the cleanest running server I can possibly run. I know I cannot achieve this right away, but this is one area I have to overcome. I need someone to point out which services below really should not be on and can be disabled. I am running Apache and Plesk as the control Panel. Which services listed below can be disabled, etc. If you need more info about my situation, please ask. This is somewhat urgent, so please don't hesistate to post your coments.

auditd
avahi-daemon
avahi-dnsconfd
courier-imap
crond
dc_client
dc_server
drwebd
firstboot
gpm
haldaemon
httpd
ip6tables
iptables
kdump
kudzu
lvm2-monitor
mailman
mcstrans
messagebus
multipathd
mysqld
named
netconsole
netfs
netplugd
network
ntpd
postgresql
psa
psa-firewall
psa-spamassassin
psa-vpn
qmail
rdisc
restorecond
setroubleshoot
smb
sshd
syslog
tomcat5
winbind
xinetd

[scottro]

Do a quick google for the mjm wired site. He goes through this with each version of Fedora, and takes a lot of trouble to test the services, seeing which can be eliminated.

Many people agree with your feeling that far too many services are started by default. Another weakness of some of the newcomer friendly distributions--and RedHat, which, IMHO should do it differently as it's aimed at the server market is that when you install a program, it is quite often installed to run by default at bootup.

[Dan]

I just happen to be over there right now. Here's the latest three.

http://www.mjmwired.net/resources/mjm-services-f9.html
http://www.mjmwired.net/resources/mjm-services-f8.html
http://www.mjmwired.net/resources/mjm-services-f7.html

[scottro]

Now, THAT'S what I call service. <nudge, nudge, wink, wink---service, get it?>

[keatonvictor]

Glad to See the Open Source Community still has a scense of Humourzzzzz lol

[markkuk]

NSA's Guide to the Secure Configuration of Red Hat Enterprise Linux 5 (http://www.nsa.gov/snac/os/redhat/rhel5-guide-i731.pdf) has a whole chapter on service setup.

[GreenLED]

Thanks guys for giving me some excellent "service" ;). I've been doing some thinking here what I think I'm really looking for is a linux guru who wants to be a part of a website -- like a system admin. I am running a Spybot S&D Mirror and I have been down for 1 day or so. I don't know the system as well as I should and time is ticking. So, wonder if there's some guru here who wouldn't mind spending some time helping me get up and running. I"m very percise about how my work is done and I just can't do that here because of the lack of knowledge of linux. I'm very quick though -- win32 and dos is my element, just don't know linux as well as I should. Any offers? The bottom line is "I run a clean ship" and I don't want to not know wht's going on on my own server.

[scottro]

In a case like this, you are asking more than you realize, I think. You probably need a paid consultant who will explain what they're doing as they do it.

It's not that the community isn't willing to help, but, regardless of good intentions, such efforts to help usually wind up taking more time than they should. One question leads to another (again, regardless of good intentions, you'll want to--quite reasonably--know more about something.)
Another option is to look for a local Linux User Group in your area, as there is often someone who will be willing to help in exchange for a few beers, or Diet Mountain Dew.

Now, it's quite possible that there *is* someone or multiple someones on these forums who does find your website interesting and will take you up on your offer. However, please don't be disappointed if no one does. Those with the ability probably already have their own websites, or (gasp) jobs :) doing such things and simply don't have the time.

[GreenLED]

Understood. I'm caught in seems I'm stuck then. I will have to wait and see. I have this large powerful box and I can't even control the beast, lol. Where might I find a "local linux group"?

In addition, I'm looking to "hire" someone. Not for cash, I could hardly afford it, but in exchange for being in an administrative position for the site. Obviously though this might be asking to much. I will just have to either find someone or spend the time looking into things. Thanks for your answer.

[scottro]

As for finding a LUG, as they're called, try googling your area and LUG. Many of them have mailing lists as well.

If you can't afford a consultant, you might be able to get a student to work cheaply or something like that.
Otherwise, if you're doing one thing at a time, take it as far as you can--which will sometimes be quite far and other times not far at all, and ask (with a new thread for each question.) We're all certainly willing to help with one question at a time.

Also, there is a lot of good online documentation--there's a lot of bad online documentation too, but such is life. :) The RedHat deployment guides are often a good place to start.

Errm, I don't think you've mentioned what you're running. If it's Fedora 9, (or 8) even though the RH guide is for RedHat Enterprise 5, much of it will still be applicable.

http://www.centos.org/docs/5/html/5.2/Deployment_Guide/

(I just use the CentOS links because I know them already. It's identical to what you would find at RH itself.)
It's a heck of a lot of reading, but you seem to have the right attitude. Just remember the long journey starts with a single step, etc., etc.