RE: [cobalt-security] netstat-ing and finger service

["Drage, Nicholas" <nickd@xxxxxxxxx>]

> -----Original Message-----
> From: Theodore Jones [mailto:theoj@xxxxxxxxxxxxx]
> Sent: 02 November 2000 19:43

> > IMHO you're much better off using "netstat -anp --ip" on 

> thanks for this tip, I've been struggling to understand the 
> netsat output, and the above command seems to make everything
> a little more understandable.  Do you have any links that
> would provide more detailed information on netstat other than
> the "man netstat" command?

Not really, the best thing is to play with netstat a lot and only worry
about understanding the parts you need to.

> > On any fresh Linux install "grep -v ^# /etc/inetd.conf" is 
> > always a good idea BTW.
> 
> What does this accomplish?  I'm not advanced enough to pick 
> this apart.  Does it disable finger?

Sorry, I was rushing and not being very informative:

grep			= search
-v			= show all lines *excluding* the following string
^			= beginning of a line
#			= just the hash symbol, no special meaning
/etc/inetd.conf	= the file /etc/inetd.conf

so in all the command "grep -v ^# /etc/inetd.conf" means

search for all lines that don't have a hash symbol at the beginning of the
line in the file /etc/inetd.conf

In other words, in /etc/inetd.conf that means all the services that haven't
been commented out.

netstat and grep are worth taking some time to learn about, if only so you
know what they're capable of so when you do need them you know to hit the
man pages.

-- 
Nick Drage - Security Architecture Team - Demon Internet - Thus PLC

Vi has detected that it is not your default text editor. If you
would like Vi to be your default text editor, please press "Y".