source: chapter06/net-tools.xml@ 0868461

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<sect1 id="ch-system-net-tools" xreflabel="Net-tools">
<title>Net-tools-&net-tools-version;</title>
<?dbhtml filename="net-tools.html"?>

<indexterm zone="ch-system-net-tools"><primary sortas="a-Net-tools">Net-tools</primary></indexterm>

<para>The Net-tools package contains programs for basic networking.</para>

<screen>&buildtime; 0.1 SBU
&diskspace; 9.4 MB</screen>

<para>Net-tools installation depends on: Bash, Binutils, Coreutils, GCC,
Glibc, Make.</para>



<sect2>
<title>Installation of Net-tools</title>

<para>If you don't know what to answer to all the questions asked during the
<command>make config</command> phase below, then just accept the defaults.
This will be just fine in the majority of cases. What you're asked here is a
bunch of questions about which network protocols you've enabled in your
kernel. The default answers will enable the tools from this package to work
with the most common protocols: TCP, PPP, and several others. You still need
to actually enable these protocols in the kernel -- what you do here is merely
telling the package to include support for those protocols in its programs,
but it's up to the kernel to make the protocols available.</para>

<para>This package also has issues with being compiled by GCC 3.4, which we
fix by applying the following patch:</para>

<screen><userinput>patch -Np1 -i ../net-tools-&net-tools-version;-gcc34-2.patch</userinput></screen>

<para>Net-tools has issues with the Linux 2.6 kernel series - fix these issues
by applying the following patch:</para>

<screen><userinput>patch -Np1 -i ../net-tools-&net-tools-version;-kernel-headers-1.patch</userinput></screen>

<para>Now prepare Net-tools for compilation (if you intend to accept the
defaults, you can skip all the questions by running <userinput>yes "" |
make config</userinput> instead):</para>

<screen><userinput>make config</userinput></screen>

<para>Compile the package:</para>

<screen><userinput>make</userinput></screen>

<para>Now install it:</para>

<screen><userinput>make update</userinput></screen>

</sect2>


<sect2 id="contents-net"><title>Contents of Net-tools</title>

<para><emphasis>Installed programs</emphasis>: arp, dnsdomainname (link to
hostname), domainname (link to hostname), hostname, ifconfig, nameif, netstat,
nisdomainname (link to hostname), plipconfig, rarp, route, slattach and
ypdomainname (link to hostname)</para>

</sect2>


<sect2><title>Short descriptions</title>

<indexterm zone="ch-system-net-tools arp"><primary sortas="b-arp">arp</primary></indexterm>
<para id="arp"><command>arp</command> is used to manipulate the kernel's ARP cache,
usually to add or delete an entry, or to dump the entire cache.</para>

<indexterm zone="ch-system-net-tools dnsdomainname"><primary sortas="b-dnsdomainname">dnsdomainname</primary></indexterm>
<para id="dnsdomainname"><command>dnsdomainname</command> reports the system's DNS (Domain Name Server) domain
name.</para>

<indexterm zone="ch-system-net-tools domainname"><primary sortas="b-domainname">domainname</primary></indexterm>
<para id="domainname"><command>domainname</command> reports or sets the system's NIS/YP
domain name.</para>

<indexterm zone="ch-system-net-tools hostname"><primary sortas="b-hostname">hostname</primary></indexterm>
<para id="hostname"><command>hostname</command> reports or sets the name of the current
host system.</para>

<indexterm zone="ch-system-net-tools ifconfig"><primary sortas="b-ifconfig">ifconfig</primary></indexterm>
<para id="ifconfig"><command>ifconfig</command> is the main utility for configuring
network interfaces.</para>

<indexterm zone="ch-system-net-tools nameif"><primary sortas="b-nameif">nameif</primary></indexterm>
<para id="nameif"><command>nameif</command> names network interfaces based on MAC
addresses.</para>

<indexterm zone="ch-system-net-tools netstat"><primary sortas="b-netstat">netstat</primary></indexterm>
<para id="netstat"><command>netstat</command> is used to report network connections,
routing tables, and interface statistics..</para>

<indexterm zone="ch-system-net-tools nisdomainname"><primary sortas="b-nisdomainname">nisdomainname</primary></indexterm>
<para id="nisdomainname"><command>nisdomainname</command> does the same as domainname.</para>

<indexterm zone="ch-system-net-tools plipconfig"><primary sortas="b-plipconfig">plipconfig</primary></indexterm>
<para id="plipconfig"><command>plipconfig</command> is used to fine tune the PLIP device
parameters, to improve its performance.</para>

<indexterm zone="ch-system-net-tools rarp"><primary sortas="b-rarp">rarp</primary></indexterm>
<para id="rarp"><command>rarp</command> is used to manipulate the kernel's RARP
table.</para>

<indexterm zone="ch-system-net-tools route"><primary sortas="b-route">route</primary></indexterm>
<para id="route"><command>route</command> is used to manipulate the IP routing
table.</para>

<indexterm zone="ch-system-net-tools slattach"><primary sortas="b-slattach">slattach</primary></indexterm>
<para id="slattach"><command>slattach</command> attaches a network interface to a serial
line. This allows you to use normal terminal lines for point-to-point links to
other computers.</para>

<indexterm zone="ch-system-net-tools ypdomainname"><primary sortas="b-ypdomainname">ypdomainname</primary></indexterm>
<para id="ypdomainname"><command>ypdomainname</command> does the same as domainname.</para>

</sect2>



</sect1>