On Tuesday 25 June 2002 12:33 am, Sudhakar Chandra wrote:
> > 1. Can we change the default port binding to a
> > particluar service for more security like changing the
> > default port of telnet which is 23 to say 1024?
>
> Sure.  You'll have to hack telnetd (the telnet daemon) to listen at port
> 1024.  In all probability, you can probably change it by changing telnetd's
> configuration.  Remember that your telnet client would have to telnet to
> port 1024 and not 23.

I think this can be done by just adjusting /etc/services. Most likely xinetd
(or inetd) does a getservbyname() call to determine the port number rather
than hard code the port number. Though the number 23 would be hard coded
in case this call fails.

> In reality this is not security.  It is obfuscation.

However, with tools like nmap, you don't even get decent obfuscation :-(

> > 2. Can a Linux machine or any machine for that matter
> > work without a loopback interface(lo) defined in its
> > kernel or relevant networking files?
>
> Why?  The loopback interface does not take space or resources worth
> mentioning.  In theory it should be possible.  But in practice there would
> be services on your machine which assume loopback is present.

IMO, a variety of software take loopback, /dev/null, /etc/passwd etc. for
granted. It would be courting disaster if you were to remove/rename any of
these from your system.

Still, if the OP wants to try it, start off by doing ifconfig lo down. Then
see what all breaks.

> > 5. What is the need of ip addresses in an
> > internetworking system if MAC addresses can be
> > uniquely used to indentify a particular machine or an
> > interface?
>
> What about a machine whose network cards fails for some reason?  When you
> replace the network card, there is a new MAC address. If there were no IP
> addresses, this would mean that people would be trying to reach the old MAC
> address (while your DNS changes are propogating).
>
> Also, what about machines that connect to the internet through something
> other than an ethernet card?  Let us say I have a machine that uses a token
> ring card.  Or what about when I dial up into my ISP through a modem.  A
> modem does not have a MAC address as far as I know.

Good point. I was also thinking of the IP based virtual hosting some of the 
old providers do.

Binand



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