My apologies for not responding more promptly to Lynn's original posting of
the draft.
I think it is too long.
If you want everyone to read something *before* posting questions to the
list, that something needs to be VERY concise, well written, and to the
point, so newcomers are willing to take the time to read it. We can't compel
them to read and follow this advice, after all (except by flaming people who
don't follow it -- a practice I DO NOT ADVOCATE -- or by ignoring posts that
depart too far from what we want -- something I do do personally).
What follows is a DRASTIC rewrite, intended mainly to make the document
short enough that people will actually read it (and perhaps even follow its
guidance). It probably still is too long, so I'd encourage others to find
additional stuff to remove, not more to add.
############ start of FAQ ##################################
Q. If I want help troubleshooting a connectivity failure with my LEAF
router, what information you you need from me?
A. The exact information needed will vary by what trouble needs shooting.
Before you post, you should check the LEAF FAQs to see if your question has
a stock answer. Check it at URL
http://sourceforge.net/docman/?group_id=13751
You should also be subscribing to the leaf-users mailing list, since some
people with helpful knowledge will reply *only* to the list. Join it at URL
http://lists.sourceforge.net/mailman/listinfo/leaf-user
You may also want to search the list archives, to see if your question has
already been asked and answered (the FAQs are not always as up-to-date as we
wish they were). Do this at URL
http://www.mail-archive.com/[email protected]/
When posting, please remember that we know only the things about your
system, and about you, that you tell us in your message. If you leave
something out because it is "obvious" or because you already checked it (or
because you mentioned it in a message you sent a month ago), *we* don't know
(or remember) that. And we have seen enough postings by people who were
"sure" some part of their configuration was okay, and were wrong in that
certainty, that we tend to be skeptics where detail is lacking.
When you are ready to post, please keep in mind that you're asking for *free*
technical support. Any help we offer you is an act of generosity, not an
obligation. So try to make it as easy as you can for us to help you. Follow
good, courteous practices in writing and formatting your e-mail. And provide
the details we need to be able to give you good answers. As a general
matter, exact quoting of error messages, log entries, command output, and
such, is better than your trying to paraphrase or summarize them.
When asking for help with routing or firewalling questions, you should
ALWAYS include this information:
the exact name of the LEAF distribution and version you are running.
the exact kernel version you are running ("uname -a").
the complete, exact output of "ip addr show".
the complete, exact output of "netstat -nr".
the exact wording of any "ping" failure responses (there are some
FAQ entries to help you here).
Depending on the specific problem, you may want to include some or all of
the following:
the exact output of "lsmod" [typically for NIC-related problems].
the exact output of "ipchains -nvL" [typically for
firewall-related problems].
any messages from dhclient in your logs [typically for
setup of DHCP-dynamic external connections].
any messages from ppp or pppoe in your logs [typically
for setup of PPPoE-dynamic external connections].
This is not an exhaustive list; we've tried here to cover only the
most common sorts of troubleshooting problems that we see. If you have
a less common problem, or if you use an ISP that does something
unusual, you may need to provide other specifics to get good help.
As a general matter, please don't edit the diagnostic
information in an attempt to conceal your IP address, netmask,
nameserver addresses, domain name, etc. These things aren't secrets, and
sometimes concealing them prevents us from spotting the problem.
The one exception to this guideline is any file that includes a password. In
these cases, please replace all password characters with the letter "x" (so
it is clear that you made this change).
Assuming you are posting your message from a PC other than your LEAF system,
you will need an easy way to get diagnostic information to the workstation
you are using. The simplest way, usually, is via a floppy transfer. Here is
how you do this.
1.Format a spare 1440K MSDOS floppy as you normally would under
DOS, Windows, or Linux. (Your floppies are probably already
formatted this way.)
2.Remove the LEAF floppy and insert the new floppy in its place.
3.Mount the floppy on the LEAF system by running this command:
# mount -t msdos /dev/fd0 /mnt
4.Use the appropriate command(s) from the list above to copy
information to text files on the floppy.
Examples:
# cp /var/log/messages /mnt/messages.txt
# ip addr show > /mnt/address.txt
# ipchains -nvL > /mnt/filter.txt
5.Unmount the floppy by running this command:
# umount /mnt
6. Remove the floppy from your LEAF system.
You should be able to take the files you have just put on your floppy
and cut-and-paste them into a mailing-list e-mail. The details depend on the
operating system and e-mail software you are using on your workstation, but
we assume you are familiar with them.
Acknowledgements
Many people have contributed to the current or earlier versions of this
answer, including:
Ray Olszewski, Mike Noyes, Rick Onanian, Lynn Avants, Charles Steinkuehler,
Jeff Newmiller, Gary Shea, Michelle Konzack, Wayne Fool, Jonathan French,
Michael Leone, Dave Emmons, Bill Pierce, Chris Hill, and Paul Batozech.
Apologies to anybody we missed.
############# end of FAQ ##################################
--
------------------------------------"Never tell me the odds!"---
Ray Olszewski -- Han Solo
Palo Alto, CA [EMAIL PROTECTED]
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