Extra configurations

/!\ This setup MUST be reviewed, this is historic information.

/!\ Do NOT use this. Coyote Linux has not been updated since at least 2015. Modern Linux kernels simply are too big to fit on a floppy disk.

/!\ Graphics in the document must be inserted and updated

Simple firewall

Debian Edu's architecture suits centralized operations with the placement of services centrally, and can be operated locally at each school. A firewall makes it easier to start with Debian Edu's if you want to try out a small installation.

Simple firewall with floppy (Coyote)

Use Case: To get started with Debian Edu's we need to make a simple firewall. The purpose is to separate Debian Edu's network from the second network that is set up.

Main author Klaus Ade Johnstad

Press "n"

This refers to some extra stuff you need if you want to have access from the provider Big Pond, but we are not sure. Is there anyone who knows that for sure?

Press "n"

Warning: Since Skolelinux/Debian-Edu already has a DHCP server running, you must disable the DHCP server on your firewall/router. The same applies to all other machines that may be connected to a Skolelinux/Debian-Edu network. Having two DHCP servers on the same network usually just leads to trouble

If a new version of Coyote Linux exists when you read this, it might replace the version 2.24 in the commands above with the version downloaded.

  1. After that the Coyote Linux was downloaded, the files must be unpacked. One must be the root user to unpack.

tar zvxf coyote-2.24.tar.gz

cd coyote

./makefloppysh

  1. When creating Coyote Linux on a Linux machine, one needs to answer several questions. Here is a summary of the answers that can be supplied:

a.   Coyote floppy builder script v2.9
 
    Please choose the desired capacity for the created floppy:
    1) 1.44MB (Safest and most reliable but may lack space needed for
           some options)
    2) 1.68MB (Good reliability with extra space) - recommended
    3) 1.72MB (Most space but may not work on all systems or with all
           diskettes)
 
    Enter selection:2

The recommended choice is «1.68MB»

b.   Please select the type of Internet connection that your system uses.
 
    1) Standard Ethernet Connection
    2) PPP over Ethernet Connection
    3) PPP Dialup Connection\n\nEnter Selection:

Here it is best to select 1)

c.   Configuring system for Ethernet based Internet connection.
    By default, Coyote uses the following settings for the local network
    interface:
 
    IP Address: 192.168.0.1
    Netmask:    255.255.255.0
    Broadcast:  192.168.0.255
    Network:    192.168.0.0
 
    Would you like to change these settings? [Y/N]: y
    Enter local IP Address [192.168.0.1]: 10.0.2.1
    Enter local Netmask [255.255.255.0]: 255.255.254.0
    Enter local Broadcast [192.168.0.255]: 10.0.3.255
    Enter local network number [192.168.0.0]: 10.0.2.0

These network settings for local network must be changed. See A

   IP Address: 10.0.2.1
    Netmask:    255.255.254.0
    Broadcast:  10.0.3.255
    Network:    10.0.2.0
 
e.   Does your Internet connection get its IP via DHCP? [y/n]:

Answer yes(y) or no(n) in accordance with what the network configuration is.

If one gets an IP via DHCP, the following information should be filled out:

   Please enter the information for your static IP configuration
    Internet IP Address:\nInternet Subnet Mask [255.255.255.0]:
    Internet Broadcast [Enter = Default]:
    Internet Gateway Address:
    Domain Name:
    DNS Server 1:
 
    DNS Server 2 (optional):

Usually, this one can be blank

We think that this refers to some extra stuff that comes from the provider Big Pond, but is not sure. If anyone who knows better then send us an email.

h.   Do you want to enable the Coyote DHCP server? [y/n]: n

Here must the answer be «n»!

i.   If you don't know what a DMZ is, just answer NO\nDo you want to configure a De-Militarized Zone? [Y/N]: n

Just choose "n"

j. You now need to specify the module name and parameters for your
  network cards.
 
  If you are using PCI or EISA cards, leave the IO and IRQ lines
  blank.
 
  Enter the module name for you local network card:

This is the tricky part. Knowing which module to use for network cards is sometimes difficult. See Section 3.12 to get an overview of the available modules. Remember to not use .o at the end of the module name. Use only "first name" of the module.

Many prefer 3Com. Almost all use this module 3c59x.

k.   The default language of the Coyote Web Administrator is English
    Do you like to configure a different language ? [Y/N]: n

Use English. It is much easier to get help. Search for example using Google to find solutions to problems.

l.   Syslog server address:

Here you can use the main server as syslog server. Use 10.0.2.2

  1. You must insert a floppy disk in the machine. Remember to turn the write protection. It takes a few minutes to write to the disk.
  2. Be sure not to get any error messages to unknown NIC modules, like this:

    Checking module deps for (wrong,bad)...
    Copying module: drivers/wrong.o
 
    Unable to copy module (drivers/wrong.o): No such file or directory

Be sure you get something like this instead:

   Checking module deps for (e100,3c59x)...
    Module 3c59x dep =
    Module e100 dep =
    Copying module: drivers/e100.o
    Copying module: drivers/3c59x.o

Solution 2 Create a Coyote Linux Floppy on a Windows machine

To create a floppy on a Windows machine is done almost the same way as on Linux.

Download the source files for Windows. They can be obtained from Disk Creation Wizard v2.24.0

Figur 3-2. Coyote Linux Windows Creator Welcome Image

Here you can just press "Next"

Figure 3-3. Local LAN network setup

Fill in the necessary network information here: See A

Fill in the correct IP address and subnet mask (Netmask) and Coyote Linux will give the correct calculation of the broadcast address (Broadcast) and the network address (Network)

Figure 3-4. Insert a password on the Coyote Linux floppy disk

Without this password you can't log into the Coyote Linux on a later occasion. See Section 3.6

Figur 3-5. Syslog-server

Leave the field blank, or look at 2.l

Figure 3-6. Type of Internet connection (WAN)

Choose what suits you. Do you have access to DHCP server, which is very likely, then you do not need more information.

Figure 3-7. Static IP configuration

Do you have a fixed address, fill in the appropriate values here.

Figure 3-8. Do not enable the Coyote Linux DHCP server!

Do not turn on the Coyote Linux DHCP server. There is already one running on main server

Figure 3-9. Select a driver module for the network card (NIC)

Drag and drop to choose the correct network card at the Coyote Linux machine.

In this particular screen, we use the module for 3Com on the LAN side of the grid (Debian Edu's) and Intel pro 100 card for the WAN (Internet) connection.

Figure 3-10. Select language

If you want to get good support from the Internet, choose English.

Figure 3-11. Make the disc

Place a floppy disk in the disc station and press 'Next'.

Exception handling

Our clear advice is to make at least two copies of the floppy disk. It is nice to have a couple copies ready if anything should happen.

Verification

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Update the configuration database

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Simple firewall with CD

Use Case: To get started with Debian Edu's we need to make a simple firewall. The purpose is to separate Debian Edu's network from the second network that is set up.

Main author Klaus Ade Johnstad

Solution

Coyote Linux is a product in constant development and maintenance. Just like Skolelinux / Debian-edu. Meaning that new versions are released constantly, with new features and security fixes. Especially due to security fixes, you should always use the latest stable version of Coyote Linux

Since Coyote Linux runs solely from a floppy disk, there is no system to upgrade. You must create a new floppy as described in Section 3.3. To make this process as simple as possible, there are some things to remember.

  1. Find out what kind of network you have. If this is unknown, one can use the command lsmod to list all loaded modules (drivers) in use. Maybe this will give an idea of what kind of network cards are used.

coyote# lsmod
Module                  Size  Used by
3c509                   7732   2
ip_nat_quake3           1768   0 (unused)
ip_nat_mms              2608   0 (unused)
ip_nat_h323             2060   0 (unused)
ip_nat_amanda            876   0 (unused)
ip_nat_irc              1904   0 (unused)
ip_nat_ftp              2384   0 (unused)
ip_conntrack_quake3     1848   1
ip_conntrack_mms        2704   1
ip_conntrack_h323       2065   1
ip_conntrack_egg        2280   0 (unused)
ip_conntrack_amanda     1488   1
ip_conntrack_irc        2672   1
ip_conntrack_ftp        3440   1

In this list of modules that are loaded, the module for the network card 3com509 is loaded twice. For a list of available modules, look at

It is best practice to write on the machine itself what kind of network card it contains.

  1. What kind of "port forwarding" is it?

Information about the "port forwarding" rules, if you have made any, is in the file/etc/coyote/portforwards

   coyote# more /etc/coyote/portforwards\nport Y 10.0.2.2 tcp 2333 22 # Example - Secondary SSH

Exception handling

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Verification

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Update the configuration database

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Starting the Coyote firewall

User case: After a simple firewall is installed, it shall be installed on the network and be effective.

Author: Klaus Ade Johnstad.

Solution

There are two network cards in Coyote Linux, one (LAN) is connected to the Skolelinux/Debian-edu server, the other is connected with a crossed cable, or via a switch to another network (WAN). Sometimes it can be a bit difficult to decide which network card is which, especially if they are both connected to the same address. The method we use to determine which card is which, is to use a crossed cable and connect it to the network card in the Skolelinux/Debian-edu main server.

  1. First you start Coyote Linux without any wired network card
  2. Then use the crossed cable to connect Coyote Linux with the Skolelinux / Debian-edu main server (make sure it goes to the NIC labeled eth0 if the main server is a combined server).
  3. Login to the main server. Try to ping the Coyote Linux machine. Use the command ping -c10 10.0.2.1, or alternatively, try to ping the main server from Coyote Linux with the command ping -c10 10.0.2.2.

  4. Then you get a response like this if it works:

ping -c10 10.0.2.1
PING 10.0.2.1 (10.0.2.1): 56 data bytes
64 bytes from 10.0.2.1: icmp_seq=0 ttl=63 time=0.6 ms
64 bytes from 10.0.2.1: icmp_seq=1 ttl=63 time=0.3 ms
64 bytes from 10.0.2.1: icmp_seq=2 ttl=63 time=0.3 ms

When you have found the network card on the Coyote Linux that must be labelled LAN, then we know that the other network card is WAN. This procedure will only work as long as the network card on the LAN is set up properly. As shown during startup on the line

LAN network: UP

That is normal what is shown

WAN network: 
    down

Since you have started without any wires connected to the network card.

When the role of each of the network cards is decided, it is time to reboot the firewall with all the cables in place.

Different names for the network cards

The two network cards got two different names in Coyote Linux. This is a bit confusing and not very consistent. Here is a summary:

The various names used for network cards in Coyote Linux

This is connected to the existing network

Internet

Eth1

WAN

This goes to the Debian Edu network

LAN network

Eth0

LAN

Reboot the Coyote Linux machine and make sure the Coyote Linux floppy disk is present in the floppy station. Ensure that the machine is configured to boot from floppy drive.

Figure 3-12. Coyote Linux Login

You can log in. Use the user name "root" and the password you set when you created the floppy (if this was done from Windows). or press Enter (blank password) for logging on floppy disk created by Linux

Note: It is normal that you don't get any visible response when you type a password in a Linux system. This is to reveal as little information as possible about the password.

Exception handling

menu, status of the network, down

Once you have entered, press 'c' to get the status of the network. In case there is a problem:

Figure 3-14. menu, status of the network, up

If everything went well, both will be "up"

Q: It looks like the network card (LAN) going to to the Skolelinux/Debian-edu network is not working: DOWN

Q: It looks like the network card (WAN) connected to the Internet, is not working: DOWN

Q: We have set up firewalls with many different driver modules for many network cards. We have yet to find anything not working properly.

Q:It looks like the network card (LAN) going to to the Skolelinux/Debian-edu network is not working: DOWN

A:If you set up your network card according to A, but it still does not work. That may mean the wrong driver has been chosen for your network card

Q:It looks like the network card (WAN) connected to the Internet, is not working: DOWN

A:There are usually two reasons why the WAN network card is not up (UP):

  1. You're using a connection with the wrong Internet configuration. Take another look at 2.b

If you have a connection with a DHCP-assigned address, which is not static. Then it must be a physical connection through a network wire between Coyote Linux and the network socket.

  1. You have chosen the wrong driver module for this network card.

You should attempt to login to Coyote Linux and choose q) quit to leave the Coyote Linux menu. Then you should run the command

dmesg|more

then use space to scroll. Look for references to eth0 and eth1. Look at Different names to the network cards for a reminder of what eth0 and eth1 means. Usually it is an indicator of what the problem is.

Q:We have set up firewalls with many different driver modules for many network cards. We have yet to find one that doesn't work properly.

A:Have you looked at this website for more information about network cards and corresponding driver modules for Coyote Linux? http://www.dalantech.com

Verification

The firewall works if you try to reach the Internet through the web browser on the main server or through a connected client.

Update the configuration database

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Firewall administration through the browser (Coyote)

Use Case: We need to change the settings in the firewall. The firewall is locked in the computer room. Can I make the change over the network?

Author: Klaus Ade Johnstad.

Co-author: Knut Yrvin

Coyote Linux has a pretty and practical administration tool through a web portal. Here you can do everything. Type http://10.0.2.1:8180 in the address field of your browser. The address will provide web administration for Coyote Linux. Click on the link and enter your user name root and the password you created for the firewall.

Coyote Linux web administration

All options and settings can be done in Main Menu on the left side.

Coyote Linux Main Menu

Choosing this gives the status of your network cards, active IP addresses, uptime for Coyote Linux, Ist and the like.

Here you have the possibility to reconfigure the LAN network card. It goes to the Skolelinux/Debian-edu network. Leave the values as they are. Referring to A.

Warning: Do not make changes here! Doing so may reduce the performance of Skolelinux/Debian-edu network

Here you have the possibility to change the values in the WAN network card connected to the Internet. If you have got a new ISP, or changed a dynamically assigned IP address by DHCP to a fixed one, this is the place to change the information without the need of creating a new Coyote Linux floppy from scratch. See 2.b

This provides the possibility to configure DHCP server as part of Coyote Linux

Here it is possible to turn on and off services like the name server (DNS), ssh and web administration.

Here you may change and enable port forwarding in Coyote Linux. This is a neat feature in a Skolelinux/Debian-edu network. Since Coyote Linux stops and blocks most connections for example ssh, it's nice to use port forwarding. This is a way to let ssh connections through Coyote Linux to a Skolelinux/Debian-edu- network.

Use this rule for port forwarding

   Yes         TCP         Any         22         10.0.2.2         22         No           SSH straight into Mainserver

all ssh-connections coming to Coyote Linux will be forwarded to the Skolelinux/Debian-edu main server. You need to decide if this is as wished.

Here you can set up and configure the firewall rules in Coyote Linux. There are many rules ready to use and can be used as an example.

Here you can set up restrictions on network capacity

Here you can change the root password for Coyote Linux, also known as the system password. This is the same as using the command line Section 3.6.

These are files that contain all settings.

Here you would find useful tools like ping, testing ports (gateway), testing nameserver (DNS), and the status of the network.

Are there any changes in Coyote Linux then those must be saved on the diskette. By selecting Main Menu in Coyote Linux users can choose to save the setup. The alternative is that all changes are lost when you reboot Coyote Linux

When you need to start again the Coyote Linux, this can be done from the "Main Menu". When choosing restart this must be confirmed.

Restart or turn off Coyote Linux?

Exception handling

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Verification

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Update the configuration database

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Firewall as a DHCP server (Coyote)

Use case: Want to set up a good DHCP server with high stability regardless of the operating system. Notification: normal DHCP server in a non-Skolelinux/Debian-edu network

Author: Klaus Ade Johnstad.

Coyote Linux is a good solution if you just need a DHCP server on the network regardless of what type of machines, be it Linux, Windows or Mac.

The only thing that needs to be configured differently, is to enable the DHCP server. < FIXME: create link to screenshot>

A brief summary about changing a Coyote Linux to a DHCP-server:

Coyote Linux as the default DHCP server

Configuring system for Ethernet based Internet connection
 
 
By default, Coyote uses the following settings for the local network
interface:
 
IP Address: 192.168.0.1
Netmask:    255.255.255.0
Broadcast:  192.168.0.255
Network:    192.168.0.0
 
Would you like to change these settings? [Y/N]: n

then you should use the address 192.168.0.1 instead of 10.0.2.1 when logging into the Coyote Linux web administration. See Section 3.7 and

In this case the new address is:

Verification

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Update the configuration database

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Coyote firewall and Internet operators

User Case: We have a firewall with Coyote Linux. Does it allow itself to connect to our ISP?

Author: Klaus Ade Johnstad.

Note: We've seen no case where Coyote didn't work with an ISP in Norway. Tell us if you experience problems with an ISP.

This is a list of Internet providers that work well with Coyote Linux

Due to different network policies in The Department of Education in Oslo, you must make the following changes in the main server:

Change the following in the file/etc/bind/named.conf [5]

       // forwarders {
        // By special request from the good people inside the Dept of Education in
        // Oslo:
        //      193.156.192.40;
        //      193.156.192.50;
        // Dept. of Education in Oslo  end of block
        //      0.0.0.0;
        // };

change this to

          forwarders {
        // By special request from the good people inside the Dept of Education in
        // Oslo:
                193.156.192.40;
                193.156.192.50;
        // Dept. of Education in Oslo end of block
        //      0.0.0.0;
           };

This means to remove the comment marker (#) in front of "forwarders".

If you don't do this, you will not be able to connect to the Internet due to problems with the name server (DNS) in The Department of Education in Oslo. Operating staff will also engage more people to get this changed to such as this service wants it.

After the changes are inserted in /etc/bind/named.conf one needs to restart bind with service bind9 restart

Here, you must make the same bind-changes as the Department of Education in Oslo.

Exception handling

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Verification

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Update the configuration database

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Support for network cards in the firewall

Use case: Are the two network cards in the machine supported by Coyote?

Author: Klaus Ade Johnstad.

This is a list of modules included in Coyote Linux. All driver modules for network cards are listed.

tjener:~/coyote# ls  data/kernel/drivers/
3c501.o     eth16i.o               ne.o
3c503.o     ewrk3.o                ni5010.o
3c505.o     fealnx.o               ni52.o
3c507.o     forcedeth.o            ni65.o
3c509.o     hp100.o                pcnet32.o
3c515.o     hp.o                   ppp_async.o
3c59x.o     hp-plus.o              ppp_deflate.o
8139cp.o    ip_conntrack_amanda.o  ppp_generic.o
8139too.o   ip_conntrack_egg.o     pppoe.o
82596.o     ip_conntrack_ftp.o     pppox.o
8390.o      ip_conntrack_h323.o    ppp_synctty.o
ac3200.o    ip_conntrack_irc.o     sch_htb.o
amd8111e.o  ip_conntrack_mms.o     sch_ingress.o
at1700.o    ip_conntrack_quake3.o  sch_sfq.o
b44.o       ip_conntrack_rtsp.o    sis900.o
bridge.o    ip_conntrack_tftp.o    slhc.o
bsd_comp.o  ip_nat_amanda.o        smc9194.o
cls_fw.o    ip_nat_cuseeme.o       smc-ultra.o
cls_u32.o   ip_nat_ftp.o           softdog.o
cs89x0.o    ip_nat_h323.o          starfire.o
de4x5.o     ip_nat_irc.o           sundance.o
depca.o     ip_nat_mms.o           tlan.o
dgrs.o      ip_nat_quake3.o        tulip.o
dmfe.o      ip_nat_rtsp.o          typhoon.o
e100.o      ip_nat_tftp.o          via-rhine.o
e2100.o     lance.o                wd.o
eepro100.o  lp486e.o               winbond-840.o
eepro.o     mii.o                  zlib_deflate.o
eexpress.o  natsemi.o              zlib_inflate.o
epic100.o   ne2k-pci.o

Exception handling

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Verification

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Update the configuration database

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Particularly old network cards in the firewall (ISA)

Use case: We want to try to use some network cards in the firewall that are almost 20 years old. They are using the so called ISA bus. Is this possible?

Author: Klaus Ade Johnstad.

Co-author: Knut Yrvin

Network cards with model number 3c509 from 3Com have been a very popular series. Many have Coyote Linux with such a network card built in which could have been produced for example in 1989, over 25 years ago. We've run these cards for three years with Coyote firewall without any problems. Once you have managed to get one running, it will probably run for a long time. But it is sometimes difficult to get the cards to work in the first place. This is because they have an ISA bus. This means that important addresses (I/O) and termination messages (IRQ) must be handled manually. This is done automatically with PCI cards, but using an ISA card requires extra effort. I/O and IRQ on these cards can be handled by an old DOS program. This can be somewhat difficult to obtain, since this software is over 25 years old.

The DOS configuration program is called 3c5x9cfg.exe, and it is used in the following way:

  1. Start the machine with DOS. One can use !FreeDOS or a boot floppy created with Windows 95 or 98.
  2. As soon as the machine is booted using DOS, insert a floppy disk with the program 3c5x9cfg.exe. Run the program 3c5x9cfg.exe from the command line in DOS.

  3. When 3c5x9cfg.exe is started, each of the 3c509 network cards can be configured with the "auto" option

3c5x9cfg.exe can be found at Ruprecht-Karls-Universität Heidelberg: http://www.urz.uni-heidelberg.de/Netzdienste/nm/misc/3comnic/

!FreeDOS can be found on: http://www.freedos.org/

Exception handling

Warning: Many reports show problems with using two 3c509 card on the same machine if one of the cards is a combo type. This is a card type with different types of network cable plugs.

Do not use combo type ISA bus cards!

Verification

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Update the configuration database

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User case: I have not gotten enough help with using the firewall on these pages. Where can I get more help?

Author: Klaus Ade Johnstad.

Co-author: Knut Yrvin

Exception handling

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Verification

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Update the configuration database

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Config:

User case: What's should be configured

Solution

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Exception handling

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Verification

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Update the configuration database

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