GNU/Linux Fedora 27: Prevent Network Manager from restarting after reboot 1

Recently we were working on a Fedora 27 GNU/Linux box where we needed to completely disable the Network Manager.
Initially, we just stopped the NetworkManager service and then disabled it thinking that it would be enough.
To our surprise after we rebooted the box, we noticed that the Network Manager was active again!

After some research we found out that another service called NetworkManager-wait-online was starting the NetworkManager as some sort of recovery mechanism.
So, in order to permanently block NetworkManager from starting on boot, we disabled NetworkManager-wait-online as well.

In the end our solution to disable the NetworkManager service came down to executing the following commands as root (or using sudo):


systemctl stop NetworkManager;
systemctl stop NetworkManager-wait-online;

systemctl disable NetworkManager;
systemctl disable NetworkManager-wait-online;

Anonabox Pro – Set Root Password On Initial Setup

The following video demonstrates how to setup the root password for a new (or recently flashed) Anonabox Pro.

  1. Connect to the device via the LAN Ethernet port.
    It has a DHCP server by default so you do not need to configure the IP.
    After you get connected, go to the default location of the device interface, which is http://192.168.19.84:1776/.
  2. After the interface loads, click on the Login button without entering a password (if you enter one, it will be ignored).
  3. Then go to the top menu System and select the option Administration
  4. At the new page, under the category Router Password enter the password you wish to use both at the Password and Confirmation fields.
  5. Finally, click on the Save & Apply button and wait for the changes to get applied, a confirmation message will appear at the top of the page under the top menu.

Ubuntu: install / start/stop enable/disable ssh server 2

OpenSSH is a freely available version of the Secure Shell (SSH) protocol family of tools for remotely controlling, or transferring files between, computers.

Install SSH server

To install the openssh-server on an Ubuntu, you need execute the following command as root or using sudo:

apt-get install openssh-server -y;

Disable SSH server

To disable the ssh service, execute the following command as root or using sudo:

systemctl disable ssh;

Enable SSH server

To enable the ssh service, execute the following command as root or using sudo:

systemctl enable ssh;

Stop SSH server

To stop (or deactivate) the ssh service, execute the following command as root or using sudo:

systemctl stop ssh;

Start SSH server

To start (or activate) the ssh service, execute the following command as root or using sudo:

systemctl start ssh;

Status of SSH server

To check the status of the ssh service, execute the following command as root or using sudo:

systemctl status ssh;

CONCEPTS

In a nutshell:

  • enabled is a service that is configured to start when the system boots
  • disabled is a service that is configured to not start when the system boots
  • active is a service that is currently running
  • inactive is a service that is currently stopped and may be disabled, but it can be started and become active

In much more detail:

systemd provides a dependency system between various entities called “units” of 12 different types. Units encapsulate various objects that are relevant for system boot-up and maintenance. The majority of units are configured in unit configuration files, whose syntax and basic set of options is described in systemd.unit(5), however some are created automatically from other configuration, dynamically from system state or programmatically at runtime. Units may be “active” (meaning started, bound, plugged in, …, depending on the unit type, see below), or “inactive” (meaning stopped, unbound, unplugged, …), as well as in the process of being activated or deactivated, i.e. between the two states (these states are called “activating”, “deactivating”). A special “failed” state is available as well, which is very similar to “inactive” and is entered when the service failed in some way (process returned error code on exit, or crashed, or an operation timed out). If this state is entered, the cause will be logged, for later reference. Note that the various unit types may have a number of additional substates, which are mapped to the five generalized unit states described here.
— From man systemd

 

Ubuntu SSHD listen to multiple ports

Recently, we’ve setup an Ubuntu server behind CloudFlare that needed to listen for SSH connections.
Unfortunately, CloudFlare does not allow connections to the default SSH port which is 22.
So, to achieve what it was needed we either had to change the port that the SSH service was listening to or add an additional port.
We decided to go with the option of listening to multiple ports for SSH connections, this way users that were also behind the CloudFlare CDN could still continue to use their SSH clients without being forced to define the connection port manually.

The port listening setting is available in /etc/ssh/sshd_config, using sudo we edited the file with a text editor and searched for the following lines:

# What ports, IPs and protocols we listen for
Port 22

Right after the line that contains Port 22, we added another line for the new port (to see the list of all available open ports on CloudFlare, check this post)

And the file became as follows:

# What ports, IPs and protocols we listen for
Port 22
Port 2053

Afterwards, we restarted the SSHD service to apply the changes by executing the following command by using sudo:


systemctl restart ssh;