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Chapter 3. Boot Process, Init, and Shutdown

3.7.1.16.

/etc/sysconfig/iptables

Like

/etc/sysconfig/ipchains

, the

/etc/sysconfig/iptables

file stores information used

by the kernel to set up packet filtering services at boot time or whenever the service is started.

You should not modify this file by hand unless you are familiar with how to construct

iptables

rules. The simplest way to add rules is to use the

/usr/sbin/lokkit

command or the gnome 

lokkit graphical application to create your firewall. Using these applications will automatically edit

this file at the end of the process.

If you wish, you can manually create rules using

/sbin/iptables

and then type

/sbin/service

iptables save

to add the rules to the

/etc/sysconfig/iptables

file.

Once this file exists, any firewall rules saved there will persist through a system reboot or a service

restart.

For more information on

iptables

see Chapter 13.

3.7.1.17.

/etc/sysconfig/irda

The

/etc/sysconfig/irda

file controls how infrared devices on your system are configured at

startup.

The following values may be used:

  IRDA= value

, where

value

is one of the following boolean values:

yes

irattach

will be run, which periodically checks to see if anything is trying to connect

to the infrared port, such as another notebook computer trying to make a network connection.

For infrared devices to work on your system, this line must be set to

yes

.

no

irattach

will not be run, preventing infrared device communication.

  DEVICE= value

, where

value

is the device (usually a serial port) that handles infrared

connections.

  DONGLE= value

, where

value

specifies the type of dongle being used for infrared com 

munication. This setting exists for people who use serial dongles rather than real infrared ports. A

dongle is a device that is attached to a traditional serial port to communicate via infrared. This line

is commented out by default because notebooks with real infrared ports are far more common than

computers with add on dongles.

  DISCOVERY= value

, where

value

is one of the following boolean values:d

yes

  Starts

irattach

in discovery mode, meaning it actively checks for other infrared de 

vices. This needs to be turned on for the machine to be actively looking for an infrared connection

(meaning the peer that does not initiate the connection).

no

  Does not start

irattach

in discovery mode.

3.7.1.18.

/etc/sysconfig/keyboard

The

/etc/sysconfig/keyboard

file controls the behavior of the keyboard. The following values

may be used:

  KEYBOARDTYPE=sun|pc

, which is used on SPARCs only.

sun

means a Sun keyboard is attached

on

/dev/kbd

, and

pc

means a PS/2 keyboard connected to a PS/2 port.

  KEYTABLE= file

, where

file

is the name of a keytable file.