4.1. Files in the /etc/sysconfig/ Directory
The following files are normally found in the
/etc/sysconfig/ directory:
 | Note |
|---|
| | If some of the files listed are not present in the
/etc/sysconfig/ directory, then the corresponding
program may not be installed.
|
4.1.1. /etc/sysconfig/amd
The /etc/sysconfig/amd file contains various
parameters used by amd, which allow for
the automatic mounting and unmounting of file systems.
4.1.2. /etc/sysconfig/apmd
The /etc/sysconfig/apmd file is used by
apmd as a configuration for what power settings
to start/stop/change on suspend or resume. It is configured to turn
on or off apmd at boot time, depending on whether
the hardware supports Advanced Power
Management (APM) or whether or
not the user has configured the system to use it. The
apm daemon is a monitoring program that works
with power management code within the Linux kernel. It capable of
alerting users to low battery power on laptops and other
power-related settings.
4.1.3. /etc/sysconfig/arpwatch
The /etc/sysconfig/arpwatch file is used to
pass arguments to the arpwatch daemon at boot
time. The arpwatch daemon maintains a table of
Ethernet MAC addresses and their IP address pairings. For more
information about what parameters are available for this file, see the
arpwatch man page. By default, this file sets the
owner of the arpwatch process to the user
pcap.
4.1.4. /etc/sysconfig/authconfig
The /etc/sysconfig/authconfig file sets the kind
of authorization to be used on the host. It contains one or more
of the following lines:
USEMD5=<value>,
where
<value> is
one of the following:
USEKERBEROS=<value>,
where
<value> is
one of the following:
USELDAPAUTH=<value>,
where
<value> is
one of the following:
4.1.5. /etc/sysconfig/clock
The /etc/sysconfig/clock file controls the
interpretation of values read from the system hardware clock.
The correct values are:
UTC=<value>,
where <value> is one of the
following boolean values:
ARC=<value>,
where <value> is the
following:
SRM=<value>,
where <value> is the
following:
ZONE=<filename>
— The timezone file under
/usr/share/zoneinfo that
/etc/localtime is a copy of. The file
contains information such as:
Earlier releases of Red Hat Linux used the following values (which are
deprecated):
4.1.6. /etc/sysconfig/desktop
The /etc/sysconfig/desktop file specifies
the desktop manager to be run, such as:
4.1.7. /etc/sysconfig/dhcpd
The /etc/sysconfig/dhcpd file is used to pass
arguments to the dhcpd daemon at boot time. The
dhcpd daemon implements the Dynamic Host
Configuration Protocol (DHCP) and the Internet Bootstrap Protocol
(BOOTP). DHCP and BOOTP assign hostnames to machines on the network.
For more information about what parameters are available in this file,
see the dhcpd man page.
4.1.8. /etc/sysconfig/firstboot
Beginning with Red Hat Linux 8.0, the first time the system boots, the
/sbin/init program calls the
etc/rc.d/init.d/firstboot script, which in turn
launches Setup Agent. This application
allows the user to install the latest updates as well as additional
applications and documentation.
The /etc/sysconfig/firstboot file tells the
Setup Agent application not to run on
subsequent reboots. To run it the next time the system boots,
remove /etc/sysconfig/firstboot and execute
chkconfig --level 5 firstboot on.
4.1.9. /etc/sysconfig/gpm
The /etc/sysconfig/gpm file is used to pass
arguments to the gpm daemon at boot time. The
gpm daemon is the mouse server which allows mouse
acceleration and middle-click pasting. For more information about
what parameters are available for this file, see the
gpm man page. By default, it sets the mouse
device to /dev/mouse.
4.1.10. /etc/sysconfig/harddisks
The /etc/sysconfig/harddisks file tunes the
hard drive(s). The administrator can also use
/etc/sysconfig/hardiskhd[a-h] to configure
parameters for specific drives.
 | Warning |
|---|
| | Do not make changes to this file without careful consideration. By
changing the default values, it is possible to corrupt all of the
data on the hard drive(s).
|
The /etc/sysconfig/harddisks file may contain the following:
USE_DMA=1, where setting this value to 1
enables DMA. However, with some chipsets and hard drive
combinations, DMA can cause data corruption. Check
with the hard drive documentation or manufacturer before
enabling this option.
Multiple_IO=16, where a setting of 16 allows
for multiple sectors per I/O interrupt. When enabled, this
feature reduces operating system overhead by
30-50%. Use with caution.
EIDE_32BIT=3 enables (E)IDE 32-bit I/O
support to an interface card.
LOOKAHEAD=1 enables drive read-lookahead.
EXTRA_PARAMS= specifies where extra parameters can be added.
4.1.11. /etc/sysconfig/hwconf
The /etc/sysconfig/hwconf file lists all the
hardware that kudzu detected on the system, as
well as the drivers used, vendor ID, and device ID information. The
kudzu program detects and configures new and/or
changed hardware on a system. The
/etc/sysconfig/hwconf file is not meant to be
manually edited. If edited, devices could suddenly show up as being
added or removed.
4.1.12. /etc/sysconfig/i18n
The /etc/sysconfig/i18n file sets the default
language, any supported languages, and the default system font. For
example:
LANG="en_US.UTF-8"
SUPPORTED="en_US.UTF-8:en_US:en"
SYSFONT="latarcyrheb-sun16" |
4.1.13. /etc/sysconfig/identd
The /etc/sysconfig/identd file is used to pass
arguments to the identd daemon at boot time. The
identd daemon returns the username of processes
with open TCP/IP connections. Some services on the network, such as
FTP and IRC servers, will complain and cause slow responses if
identd is not running. But in general,
identd is not a required service, so if security
is a concern, do not run it. For more information about what
parameters are available for this file, see the
identd man page. By default, the file contains no
parameters.
4.1.14. /etc/sysconfig/init
The /etc/sysconfig/init file controls how the
system will appear and function during the boot process.
The following values may be used:
BOOTUP=<value>,
where
<value> is
one of the following:
BOOTUP=color means the standard color
boot display, where the success or failure of devices
and services starting up is shown in different colors.
BOOTUP=verbose means an old style
display, which provides more information than purely a
message of success or failure.
Anything else means a new display, but without
ANSI-formatting.
RES_COL=<value>, where
<value> is the number of
the column of the screen to start status labels. Defaults to 60.
MOVE_TO_COL=<value>,
where
<value>
moves the cursor to the value in the
RES_COL line via the echo
-en command.
SETCOLOR_SUCCESS=<value>,
where
<value> sets
the color to a color indicating success via the echo
-en command. The default color is set to green.
SETCOLOR_FAILURE=<value>,
where
<value> sets
the color to a color indicating failure via the echo
-en command. The default color is set to red.
SETCOLOR_WARNING=<value>,
where
<value> sets
the warning color via the echo -en
command. The default color is set to yellow.
SETCOLOR_NORMAL=<value>,
where
<value>
resets the color to "normal" via the echo
-en.
LOGLEVEL=<value>,
where
<value> sets
the initial console logging level for the kernel. The default
is 3; 8 means everything (including debugging); 1 means nothing
except kernel panics. The syslogd daemon overrides
this setting once started.
PROMPT=<value>,
where
<value> is
one of the following boolean values:
4.1.15. /etc/sysconfig/ipchains
The /etc/sysconfig/ipchains file contains
information used by the ipchains initialization
script when setting up the ipchains service.
This file is modified by typing the command /sbin/service
ipchains save when valid ipchains rules
are in place. Do not manually edit this file. Instead, use
the /sbin/ipchains command to configure the
necessary packet filtering rules and then save the rules to this
file using /sbin/service ipchains save.
Use of ipchains to set up firewall rules is not
recommended as it is deprecated and may disappear from future
releases of Red Hat Linux. If a firewall is necessary, use
iptables instead.
4.1.16. /etc/sysconfig/iptables
Like /etc/sysconfig/ipchains, the
/etc/sysconfig/iptables file stores information
used by the kernel to set up packet filtering services at boot time
or whenever the service is started.
Do not modify this file by hand unless familiar with how to
construct iptables rules. The easiest way to add
rules is to use Security Level Configuration Tool
(redhat-config-securitylevel), the
/usr/sbin/lokkit command, or the
GNOME Lokkit application to create a
firewall. Using these applications automatically edit this file
at the end of the process.
Rules can be created manually by using
/sbin/iptables: then type /sbin/service
iptables save to add the rules to the
/etc/sysconfig/iptables file.
Once this file exists, any firewall rules saved in it persists
through a system reboot or a service restart.
For more information on iptables see Chapter 16 iptables.
4.1.17. /etc/sysconfig/irda
The /etc/sysconfig/irda file controls how
infrared devices on the system are configured at startup.
The following values may be used:
IRDA=<value>,
where <value> is one of the
following boolean values:
yes —
irattach will be run, which
periodically checks to see if anything is trying to
connect to the infrared port, such as another notebook
computer trying to make a network connection. For infrared
devices to work on the system, this line must be set to
yes.
no —
irattach will not be run,
preventing infrared device communication.
DEVICE=<value>, where
<value> is the device
(usually a serial port) that handles infrared
connections.
DONGLE=<value>, where
<value> specifies the type of
dongle being used for infrared communication. This setting
exists for people who use serial dongles rather than real
infrared ports. A dongle is a device that is attached to a
traditional serial port to communicate via infrared. This
line is commented out by default because notebooks with real
infrared ports are far more common than computers with add-on
dongles.
DISCOVERY=<value>,
where
<value> is
one of the following boolean values:
yes — Starts
irattach in discovery mode,
meaning it actively checks for other infrared devices. This
needs to be turned on for the machine to be actively
looking for an infrared connection (meaning the peer
that does not initiate the connection).
no — Does not start
irattach in discovery mode.
4.1.18. /etc/sysconfig/keyboard
The /etc/sysconfig/keyboard file controls
the behavior of the keyboard. The following values may be used:
KEYBOARDTYPE=sun|pc, which is used on
SPARCs only. sun means a Sun keyboard is
attached on /dev/kbd, and
pc means a PS/2 keyboard connected to a
PS/2 port.
KEYTABLE=<file>,
where <file>
is the name of a keytable file.
For example: KEYTABLE="us". The files
that can be used as keytables start in
/lib/kbd/keymaps/i386 and branch into
different keyboard layouts from there, all labeled
<file>.kmap.gz.
The first file found beneath
/lib/kbd/keymaps/i386 that matches the
KEYTABLE setting is used.
4.1.19. /etc/sysconfig/kudzu
The /etc/sysconfig/kuzdu file triggers a safe
probe of the system hardware by kudzu at boot
time. A safe probe is one that disables serial port probing.
4.1.20. /etc/sysconfig/mouse
The /etc/sysconfig/mouse file is used to
specify information about the available mouse. The following
values may be used:
FULLNAME=<value>,
where
<value>
refers to the full name of the kind of mouse being used.
MOUSETYPE=<value>,
where
<value> is
one of the following:
imps2 — A generic USB wheel mouse.
microsoft — A
Microsoft™ mouse.
mouseman — A
MouseMan™ mouse.
mousesystems — A Mouse
Systems™ mouse.
ps/2 — A PS/2 mouse.
msbm — A
Microsoft™ bus mouse.
logibm — A
Logitech™ bus mouse.
atibm — An
ATI™ bus mouse.
logitech — A
Logitech™ mouse.
mmseries — An older
MouseMan™ mouse.
mmhittab — An mmhittab mouse.
XEMU3=<value>,
where <value> is one of the
following boolean values:
yes — The mouse only has two
buttons, but three mouse buttons should be emulated.
no — The mouse already has three
buttons.
XMOUSETYPE=<value>, where
<value> refers to the
kind of mouse used when X is running. The options here are
the same as the MOUSETYPE setting in this
same file.
DEVICE=<value>,
where <value> is the mouse device.
In addition, /dev/mouse is a symbolic link that
points to the actual mouse device.
4.1.21. /etc/sysconfig/named
The /etc/sysconfig/named file is used to pass
arguments to the named daemon at boot time. The
named daemon is a Domain Name
System (DNS) server which
implements the Berkeley Internet Name Domain
(BIND) version 9 distribution. This server
maintains a table of which hostnames are associated with IP
addresses on the network.
Currently, only the following values may be used:
ROOTDIR="</some/where>",
where
</some/where>
refers to the full directory path of a configured chroot
environment under which named runs. This
chroot environment must first be configured. Type info
chroot for more information.
OPTIONS="<value>",
where
<value> is
any option listed in the man page for named
except -t. In place of -t, use
the ROOTDIR line above.
For more information about what parameters are available for this
file, see the named man page. For detailed information on
how to configure a BIND DNS server, see Chapter 12 Berkeley Internet Name Domain (BIND). By
default, the file contains no parameters.
4.1.22. /etc/sysconfig/netdump
The /etc/sysconfig/netdump file is the
configuration file for the /etc/init.d/netdump
service. The netdump service sends both oops data
and memory dumps over the network. In general,
netdump is not a required service; only run it if
absolutely necessary. For more information about what parameters
are available for this file, see the netdump man page.
4.1.23. /etc/sysconfig/network
The /etc/sysconfig/network file is used to
specify information about the desired network configuration. The
following values may be used:
NETWORKING=<value>,
where
<value> is
one of the following boolean values:
HOSTNAME=<value>,
where
<value>
should be the Fully Qualified Domain
Name (FQDN), such as
hostname.expample.com, but can be whatever
hostname is necessary.
| Note |
|---|
| | For compatibility with older software that people might
install (such as trn), the
/etc/HOSTNAME file should contain the
same value as here.
|
GATEWAY=<value>,
where
<value> is
the IP address of the network's gateway.
GATEWAYDEV=<value>,
where
<value> is
the gateway device, such as eth0.
NISDOMAIN=<value>,
where
<value> is
the NIS domain name.
4.1.24. /etc/sysconfig/ntpd
The /etc/sysconfig/ntpd file is used to pass
arguments to the ntpd daemon at boot time. The
ntpd daemon sets and maintains the system clock
to synchronize with an Internet standard time server. It implements
version 4 of the Network Time Protocol (NTP). For more information
about what parameters are available for this file, point a browser
at the following file:
/usr/share/doc/ntp-<version>/ntpd.htm
(where <version> is the version
number of ntpd). By default, this file sets the
owner of the ntpd process to the user
ntp.
4.1.25. /etc/sysconfig/pcmcia
The /etc/sysconfig/pcmcia file is used to
specify PCMCIA configuration information. The following values
may be used:
PCMCIA=<value>,
where <value> is one of the
following:
PCIC=<value>,
where <value> is one of the
following:
PCIC_OPTS=<value>,
where
<value> is
the socket driver (i82365 or tcic) timing parameters.
CORE_OPTS=<value>,
where <value> is the list of
pcmcia_core options.
CARDMGR_OPTS=<value>,
where
<value> is
the list of options for the PCMCIA cardmgr
(such as -q for quiet mode;
-m to look for loadable kernel modules in
the specified directory, and so on). Read the
cardmgr man page for more information.
4.1.26. /etc/sysconfig/radvd
The /etc/sysconfig/radvd file is used to pass
arguments to the radvd daemon at boot time. The
radvd daemon listens to for router requests and
sends router advertisements for the IP version 6 protocol. This
service allows hosts on a network to dynamically change their
default routers based on these router advertisements. For more
information about what parameters are available for this file, see
the radvd man page. By default, this file sets
the owner of the radvd process to the user
radvd.
4.1.27. /etc/sysconfig/rawdevices
The /etc/sysconfig/rawdevices file is used to
configure raw device bindings, such as:
/dev/raw/raw1 /dev/sda1
/dev/raw/raw2 8 5 |
4.1.28. /etc/sysconfig/redhat-config-securitylevel
The /etc/sysconfig/redhat-config-securitylevel
file contains all options chosen by the user the last time the
Security Level Configuration Tool
(redhat-config-securitylevel) was run. Users should
not modify this file by hand. For more information about
Security Level Configuration Tool, see the chapter titled
Basic Firewall Configuration in the
Red Hat Linux Customization Guide.
4.1.29. /etc/sysconfig/redhat-config-users
The /etc/sysconfig/redhat-config-users file is
the configuration file for the graphical application,
User Manager. Under Red Hat Linux this file is
used to filter out system users such as root,
daemon, or lp. This file is
edited by the => pull-down menu in the
User Manager application and should not
be edited by hand. For more information on using this application,
see the chapter called User and Group
Configuration in the Red Hat Linux Customization Guide.
4.1.30. /etc/sysconfig/redhat-logviewer
The /etc/sysconfig/redhat-logviewer file is the
configuration file for the graphical, interactive log viewing
application, Log Viewer. This file
is edited by the =>
pull-down menu in the
Log Viewer application and should
not be edited by hand. For more information on using this
application, see the chapter called Log Files
in the Red Hat Linux Customization Guide.
4.1.31. /etc/sysconfig/samba
The /etc/sysconfig/samba file is used to pass
arguments to the smbd and the
nmbd daemons at boot time. The
smbd daemon offers file sharing connectivity for
Windows clients on the network. The nmbd daemon
offers NetBIOS over IP naming services. For more information about
what parameters are available for this file, see the
smbd man page. By default, this file sets
smbd and nmbd to run in daemon
mode.
4.1.32. /etc/sysconfig/sendmail
The /etc/sysconfig/sendmail file allows
messages to be sent to one or more recipients, routing the message
over whatever networks are necessary. The file sets the default
values for the Sendmail application to run. Its default values are
to run as a background daemon and to check its queue once an hour in
case something has backed up.
The following values may be used:
DAEMON=<value>,
where <value> is one of the
following boolean values:
yes —
Sendmail should be configured
to listen to port 25 for incoming
mail. yes implies the use of
Sendmail's
-bd options.
no —
Sendmail should not be
configured to listen to port 25 for incoming mail.
QUEUE=1h which is given to
Sendmail as
-q$QUEUE. The -q option is
not given to Sendmail if
/etc/sysconfig/sendmail exists and
QUEUE is empty or undefined.
4.1.33. /etc/sysconfig/soundcard
The /etc/sysconfig/soundcard file is generated
by sndconfig and should not be modified. The sole
use of this file is to determine what card entry in the menu to pop
up by default the next time sndconfig is
run. Sound card configuration information is located in the
/etc/modules.conf file.
It may contain the following:
4.1.34. /etc/sysconfig/spamassassin
The /etc/sysconfig/spamassassin file is used to
pass arguments to the spamd daemon (a daemonized
version of Spamassassin) at boot time. Spamassassin is an email spam
filter application. For a list of available options, see the
spamd man page. By default, it configures
spamd to run in daemon mode, create user
preferences, and auto-create whitelists.
For more information about Spamassassin, see Section 11.4.2.6 Spam Filters.
4.1.35. /etc/sysconfig/squid
The /etc/sysconfig/squid file is used to pass
arguments to the squid daemon at boot time. The
squid daemon is a proxy caching server for Web
client applications. For more information on configuring a
squid proxy server, use a Web browser to open the
/usr/share/doc/squid-<version>/
directory (replace <version> with
the squid version number installed on the
system). By default, this file sets squid to
start in daemon mode and sets the amount of time before it shuts
itself down.
4.1.36. /etc/sysconfig/tux
The /etc/sysconfig/tux file is the configuration
file for the Red Hat Content Accelerator (formerly known as TUX),
the kernel-based Web server. For more information on configuring the
Red Hat Content Accelerator, use a Web browser to open the
/usr/share/doc/tux-<version>/tux/index.html
(replace <version> with the version
number of TUX installed on the system). The parameters available
for this file are listed in
/usr/share/doc/tux-<version>/tux/parameters.html.
4.1.37. /etc/sysconfig/ups
The /etc/sysconfig/ups file is used to specify
information about any Uninterruptible Power
Supplies (UPS) connected to the
system. A UPS can be very valuable for a Red Hat Linux system because it
gives time to correctly shut down the system in the case of
power interruption. The following values may be used:
SERVER=<value>,
where <value> is one of the
following:
MODEL=<value>,
where
<value>
must be one of the following or set to NONE
if no UPS is connected to the system:
apcsmart — An APC
SmartUPS™ or similar device.
fentonups — A Fenton
UPS™.
optiups — An
OPTI-UPS™ device.
bestups — A Best
Power™ UPS.
genericups — A generic
brand UPS.
ups-trust425+625 — A
Trust™ UPS.
DEVICE=<value>,
where
<value>
specifies where the UPS is connected, such as
/dev/ttyS0.
OPTIONS=<value>, where
<value> is a special
command that needs to be passed to the UPS.
4.1.38. /etc/sysconfig/vncservers
The /etc/sysconfig/vncservers file configures
the way the Virtual Network Computing
(VNC) server starts up.
VNC is a remote display system which allows users to view the
desktop environment not only on the machine where it is running but
across different networks on a variety of architectures.
It may contain the following:
VNCSERVERS=<value>, where
<value> is set to
something like "1:fred", to indicate that a
VNC server should be started for user fred on display :1. User
fred must have set a VNC password using
vncpasswd before attempting to connect to
the remote VNC server.
Note that when using a VNC server, communication with it is
unencrypted, and so it should not be used on an untrusted
network. For specific instructions concerning the use of SSH to
secure the VNC communication, please read the information found at
http://www.uk.research.att.com/vnc/sshvnc.html.
To find out more about SSH, see Chapter 18 SSH Protocol or
Red Hat Linux Customization Guide.
4.1.39. /etc/sysconfig/xinetd
The /etc/sysconfig/xinetd file is used to pass
arguments to the xinetd daemon at boot time. The
xinetd daemon starts programs that provide
Internet services when a request to the port for that service is
received. For more information about the parameters available for
this file, see the xinetd man page. For more information
on the xinetd service, see Section 15.3 xinetd.
