hlp rsh(rlogin,rcp,rexec) setup..local working, remote fail

[jonathan huang]

Hi:
I am almost there but I don't know what I am missing.

I have a server using mandrake 9.1, two client one using mandrake 9.1 another redhat 9.0.

By follwoing previous discussions on this subject, I had installed rsh client, and server. using chkconfig or ntsysv to enable them. modify .rhosts, inspect pam.d/rlogin, modify /etc/securetty to enable root access. I think I am almost there! I can rlogin from mandrake client to mandrake server and rlogin back. No problem. I can rlogin to mandrake server from redhat client not problem. I can rlogin to redhat client from redhat client, no problem......
But I can't rlogin to redhat client from outside.
It seems rlogind is runging, otherwise I can't rlogin within the redhat system. I also checked .rhosts and it seems ok. When I try to login, it waits a little bit before return connection refused. Is there any log message I can check or how do I debug?

Jonathan

[jonathan huang]

This is an update. I finally nail down the problem....firewal! I have no idea what defaul redhat linux setup firewall and I couldn't config it using redhat tools. But once I disbale it , it works. I finaaly know it's firewall because I can't telnet the host with port 513. I hope I can document my lession once more for ones follows. By the way, in a closed lab environment, there is not need to use ssh.

[Jerome Henry]

Sure !
BTW, better use IPtables on RH9 than the default firewall.
And sure ssh is not necessary on LAN, and said to be risky anyway in open environment !

[Balaji N]

hi
good that you have figured out. are you inside a secure LAN. if not, would suggest you to consider using ssh instead of rlogin.

just in case u want, u can configure the firewall to allow only rlogin. check out the man pages of iptables and fire lokkit.

hth
-balaji

[Steven E. Protter]

You can turn off the redhat firewall if you want. Thats a really bad idea. Though.

To run a test.

for iptables firewall...

service iptables stop

for ipchains firewall

service ipchains stop

Your best bet is to look at /etc/services and figure out what port the r-tools need and open it.

The files for configuration changes on the firewall are:

ipchains is /etc/sysconfig/ipchains
iptables is /etc/sysconfig/iptables

If you make changes, to apply them its
service restart

These are a little tough to grasp at first and you will want to do some reading.

What would be better is to install and use openssh. Then you configure port 22 open on your firewall and passwords will at least be transmitted in encrypted format.

Attaching a doc on how to exchange public keys, which allows for password free connections, even across the public internet.

SEP

[Jerome Henry]

100% agree with SEP.
BTW, on RH9, default is IPtables, as kernel is 2.4.x.
J