Advise about a Linux server.....

[Howski]

Hi,

Right this might sound dodgy from the get go but I assure you its legit. I've just moved into a house in which one of the people has set up a network to share the internet connection. The problem is to connect to the network you had to add the IP address to the server (which is running Linux - but I'm not sure which distro). This all worked fine until he left for good and did not leave a user name or password for access. Now I'm not too familiar with Linux and the last time I used it was 3 years ago - however I have got command line access (no GUI )direct at the box.

What are the commands to add an IP address. I assume he did not use MAC address filtering as I was never asked mine. Is there anyway to add myself as a Admin so that I can access this remote and add whatever IPs I need at a later date? Also how would can I tell which distro of Linux this is?
Cheers
-How.

 

[GarethDW]

Let's start with the easy one...

how would can I tell which distro of Linux this is?

From a shell, type the command uname -a. It should give you a response similar to the one I get below:

gareth@Kubuntu:~$ uname -a
Linux Kubuntu 2.6.22-11-generic #1 SMP Fri Sep 7 05:07:05 GMT 2007 i686 GNU/Linux

As you can see, I'm running Kubuntu - the other details specify which kernel version I'm running, on what architecture, etc...

What are the commands to add an IP address.

Not sure I follow what you mean here. Where are you trying to add the IP?

 

[tntcoder]

I would take a stab in the dark and say the server is running Squid proxy server to share the internet, and is set up to use IP based access control.

If this is the case, which user are you logged onto the command line with? Do you have the root user?

If so its a simple case of modifying squid config files, but without more info on your user permissions, and what proxy software is in use its hard to say for sure.

 

[NicNac]

without root access it's going to be hard to change anything. can't you get in touch with the guy who set this up?

 

[Una]

without root access it's going to be hard to change anything. can't you get in touch with the guy who set this up?

If he has physical access to the box its pretty trivial to get root access.

Let's start with the easy one...

how would can I tell which distro of Linux this is?

From a shell, type the command uname -a. It should give you a response similar to the one I get below:

gareth@Kubuntu:~$ uname -a
Linux Kubuntu 2.6.22-11-generic #1 SMP Fri Sep 7 05:07:05 GMT 2007 i686 GNU/Linux

That will give the box hostname not the distro it is running though. If its a default setup and the user hasn't changed the hostname then like in your case it will tell you in kubuntu. There is no overall method to see what distro its running on, but some files in /etc/ might give you a clue (look for something -release) maybe also see if there is any packages lying around (deb or rpm for example). That should allow you to narrow it down.

 

[GarethDW]

Oops, yeah you're right... my bad

Well spotted, Una.

 

[Howski]

Hi,

sorry about the wait. Been feeling pretty rough this week with a cold - I will have a play this weekend.

cheers though