HowToLinuxBlog

Linux /etc/sysconfig/ directory and its files

/etc/sysconfig/ directory contains  files such as authconfig,clock, grub, keyboard, network, i18n,init, iptables.

Will see usages of each files in  /etc/sysconfig/ directory and basic configuration.

/etc/sysconfig/authconfig

Used by authconfig to store information about the system’s user information and authentication setup; changes made to this file have no effect until the next time authconfig is run

USEHESIOD=no
Whether or not the hesiod naming service is in use. If not set, authconfig examines the passwd setting in /etc/nsswitch.conf.
USELDAP=no
Whether or not LDAP is used as a naming service. If not set, authconfig examines the passwd setting in /etc/nsswitch.conf.
USENIS=no
Whether or not NIS is in use. If not set, authconfig examines the passwd setting in /etc/nsswitch.conf.

USEKERBEROS=no
Whether or not Kerberos is in use. If not set, authconfig examines the settings in /etc/pam.d/system-auth.
USELDAPAUTH=no
Whether or not LDAP is being used for authentication. If not set, authconfig examines the settings in /etc/pam.d/system-auth. Note that this option is separate from USELDAP, and that neither implies the other.
USEMD5=no
Whether or not MD5-based hashing should be used when setting passwords.
If not set, authconfig examines the settings in /etc/pam.d/system-auth. This option affects authentication using both local files and LDAP.
USESHADOW=no
Whether or not shadow passwords are in use. If not set, authconfig checks for the existence of /etc/shadow.
USESMBAUTH=no
Whether or not SMB authentication is in use. If not set, authconfig examines the settings in /etc/pam.d/system-auth.

/etc/sysconfig/autofsck

does not normally exist; if it does, it can influence a choice whether or not to fsck after a crash

AUTOFSCK_DEF_CHECK=no
If the user does not respond, choose whether or not to fsck
AUTOFSCK_SINGLEUSER=
If this is set, drop to single user mode before fsck.

/etc/sysconfig/clock:

Current releases use the third parameter in the /etc/adjtime
file (either ‘UTC’ or ‘LOCAL’) to determine whether the hwclock
is in UTC or localtime.

ZONE=”filename” indicates the zonefile under /usr/share/zoneinfo
that /etc/localtime is a copy of, for example:
ZONE=”US/Eastern”

deprecated values from earlier releases:

CLOCKMODE=GMT indicates that the clock is set to UTC
CLOCKMODE=ARC on alpha only indicates the ARC console’s
42-year time offset is in effect
UTC=true,yes
Indicates that the hardware clock is set to UTC.
UTC=no,false
Indicates that the hardware clock is set to Local Time.
ARC=true on alpha only indicates the ARC console’s
42-year time offset is in effect; otherwise the normal
Unix epoch is assumed.

SRM=true on alpha only indicates the SRM 1900 epoch is in effect; otherwise the normal Unix epoch is assumed.

/etc/sysconfig/desktop:

DESKTOP=GNOME|KDE
This determines the default desktop for new users.
DISPLAYMANAGER=GNOME|KDE|XDM
This determines display manager started by /etc/X11/prefdm,
independent of the desktop.

/etc/sysconfig/init:

ACTIVE_CONSOLES=<devices>
A list of devices to start gettys on on boot. This supports shell-style globs.
BOOTUP=<some bootup mode>
BOOTUP=graphical means use X Windows graphical boot up
BOOTUP=color means colorized text mode boot display.
BOOTUP=verbose means old style display
Anything else means simplified display, but without color or ANSI-formatting
LOGLEVEL=<a number>
Sets the initial console logging level for the kernel.
The default is 7. 8 means everything (including debugging); 1 means nothing except kernel panics. syslogd will override this once it starts.
RES_COL=<a number>
Column of the screen to start status labels at. Defaults to 60
MOVE_TO_COL=<a command>
A command to move the cursor to $RES_COL. Defaults to nasty ANSI sequences output by echo -e.
SETCOLOR_SUCCESS=<a command>
A command to set the color to a color indicating success. Defaults to nasty ANSI sequences output by echo -e setting the color to green.
SETCOLOR_FAILURE=<a command>
A command to set the color to a color indicating failure.
Defaults to nasty ANSI sequences output by echo -e setting
the color to red.
SETCOLOR_WARNING=<a command>
A command to set the color to a color indicating warning.
Defaults to nasty ANSI sequences output by echo -e setting
the color to yellow.
SETCOLOR_NORMAL=<a command>
A command to set the color to ‘normal’. Defaults to nasty
ANSI sequences output by echo -e.
PROMPT=yes|no
Set to ‘yes’ to enable the key check for interactive mode as well as
asking if a filesystem check should be done. Default is ‘no’ and
the kernel command line option “forcefsck” can be used to check the
filesystems and “confirm” can be used to enable interactive startup
questions.
AUTOSWAP=yes|no
Set to ‘yes’ to enable automatic swapon of all partitions with
the proper swap magic. This allows setting up swap without editing
/etc/fstab.

obsoleted values from earlier releases:

MAGIC_SYSRQ=yes|no
Setting this to ‘no’ used to disable the magic sysrq key and
Stop-A (break on serial console) on SPARC. This setting has been
moved into kernel.sysrq and kernel.stop-a settings respectively in
/etc/sysctl.conf. Setting either of them there to 0 disables it,
setting it to 1 enables it.
STOP_A=yes|no
Setting this to ‘no’ used to disable the Stop-A (break on
serial console) key on SPARC.
This setting has been moved into kernel.stop-a setting in
/etc/sysctl.conf. Setting it there to 0 disables it,
setting it to 1 enables it. The setting should be present
on SPARC only.

/etc/sysconfig/keyboard:

KEYTABLE=<keytable file>
for example: KEYTABLE=”/usr/lib/kbd/keytables/us.map”

If you dump a keymap (using ‘dumpkeys’) to
/etc/sysconfig/console/default.kmap
it will be loaded on bootup before filesystems are mounted/checked.
This could be useful if you need to emergency type the root password.
This has to be a dumped keymap, as opposed to copying the shipped
keymap files, as the shipped files include other maps from the
/usr/lib/kbd/keytables directory.

KEYBOARDTYPE=sun|pc
on SPARC only, sun means a sun keyboard is attached on /dev/kbd,
pc means a PS/2 keyboard is on ps/2 port.

/etc/sysconfig/mouse:

MOUSETYPE=microsoft|mouseman|mousesystems|ps/2|msbm|logibm|atibm|
logitech|mmseries|mmhittab
XEMU3=yes|no (emulate three buttons with two buttons whenever
necessary, most notably in X)
DEVICE=<a device node> (the device of the mouse)

In addition, /dev/mouse points to the mouse device.

/etc/sysconfig/network:

NETWORKING=yes|no
HOSTNAME=<fqdn by default, but whatever hostname you want>
GATEWAY=<gateway IP>
GATEWAYDEV=<gateway device to use, when multiple devices have GATEWAY=> (e.g. eth0)
NISDOMAIN=<nis domain name>
NOZEROCONF=
Set this to not set a route for dynamic link-local addresses.

NETWORKDELAY=<delay in seconds>
Delay in seconds after all network interfaces are initialized. Useful if
network has spanning tree running and must wait for STP convergence.
Default: 0 (no delay)

NETWORKWAIT=yes|no
When using NetworkManager, wait for an active network interface to
be configured before continuing. This can be useful if you have legacy
daemons that do not react properly to changing network configuration.
If this is set but no active devices receive an address, it will timeout
and continue 30 seconds after link acquisition.
Default: no (do not wait)

IPV6FORWARDING=yes|no
Enable or disable global forwarding of incoming IPv6 packets
on all interfaces.
Note: Actual packet forwarding cannot be controlled per-device, use netfilter6 for such issues
Default: no
IPV6INIT=yes|no
Enable or disable IPv6 configuration for all interfaces
Use with caution!
Default: value not set in this file

IPV6_AUTOCONF=yes|no
Sets the default for device-based autoconfiguration.
Default: yes if IPV6FORWARDING=no, no if IPV6FORWARDING=yes
IPV6_ROUTER=yes|no
Sets the default for device-based Host/Router behaviour.
Default: yes if IPV6FORWARDING=yes, no if IPV6FORWARDING=no
IPV6_AUTOTUNNEL=yes|no
Controls automatic IPv6 tunneling.
Default: no

IPV6_DEFAULTGW=<IPv6 address[%interface]> (optional)
Add a default route through specified gateway
An interface can be specified: required for link-local addresses
Examples:
IPV6_DEFAULTGW=”3ffe:ffff:1234:5678::1″
Add default route through 3ffe:ffff:1234:5678::1

IPV6_DEFAULTGW=”3ffe:ffff:1234:5678::1%eth0″
Add default route through 3ffe:ffff:1234:5678::1 and device eth0
IPV6_DEFAULTGW=”fe80::1%eth0″
Add default route through fe80::1 and device eth0

Note: if IPV6_DEFAULTGW is specified with %interface scope and it
doesn’t match IPV6_DEFAULTDEV, IPV6_DEFAULTDEV is ignored.
Note: it’s preferred to use %interface for all addresses, not
just link-local if you have multiple IPv6-enabled interfaces.

IPV6_DEFAULTDEV=<interface> (optional)
Add a default route through specified interface without specifying next hop
Type of interface will be tested whether this is allowed
Examples:
IPV6_DEFAULTDEV=”eth0″ INVALID example!
IPV6_DEFAULTDEV=”ppp0″
IPV6_DEFAULTDEV=”sit1″
Examples for 6to4
IPV6_DEFAULTDEV=”tun6to4″
Add default route through dedicated 6to4 tunnel device “tun6to4”, if configured

Note: “tun6to4” does not support an additional IPV6_DEFAULTGW.
Other interfaces prefer IPV6_DEFAULTGW, if specified.

IPV6_RADVD_PIDFILE=<pid-file> (optional)
Location of PID file for controlling radvd, see IPV6_CONTROL_RADVD
Default: “/var/run/radvd/radvd.pid”
Example:
IPV6_RADVD_PIDFILE=”/some/other/location/radvd.pid”
IPV6TO4_RADVD_PIDFILE=<pid-file> (obsolete)
As above, still supported for a while for backward compatibility.
IPV6_RADVD_TRIGGER_ACTION=startstop|reload|restart|SIGHUP (optional)
How to trigger radvd in case of 6to4 or PPP action
startstop: radvd starts if interface goes up and stops
if interface goes down using initscript call of radvd with related parameter
reload|restart: initscript of radvd is called with this parameter
SIGHUP: signal HUP is sent to radvd, pidfile must be specified, if not the default
Default: SIGHUP

IPv6 options above can be overridden in interface-specific configuration.

obsoleted values from earlier releases:

FORWARD_IPV4=yes|no
This setting has been moved into net.ipv4.ip_forward setting
in /etc/sysctl.conf. Setting it to 1 there enables IP forwarding,
setting it to 0 disables it (which is the default for RFC compliance).

/etc/sysconfig/static-routes-ipv6:
Contains lines of the form:

<device> IPv6-network IPv6-gateway
<tunneldevice> IPv6-network

<device> must be a device name to have the route brought up and
down with the device

For example:

eth0 fec0:0:0:2::/64 fec0:0:0:1:0:0:0:20
adds a route for IPv6 network fec0:0:0:2::/64 through fec0:0:0:1:0:0:0:20

eth0 2000::/3 3ffe:ffff:0:1::1
so-called “default” routes for clients

sit1 2000::/3
adds routes through dedicated tunnel interface sit1

tun6to4 3ffe:ffff:1234::/56
adds routes through hardwired 6to4 tunnel interface tun6to4
tun6to4 3ffe:ffff:5678::/56 ::5.6.7.8
adds routes through hardwired 6to4 tunnel interface tun6to4,
specifying next hop

Notes:
* default routes (such as the “2000::/3” shown above) should be set with
IPV6_DEFAULTGW and IPV6_DEFAULTDEV, see more above.
* tunnel device “sit0” is not supported here, routes will never be applied

/etc/sysconfig/routed:

SILENT=yes|no
EXPORT_GATEWAY=yes|no

/etc/sysconfig/rawdevices:

This is used for setting up raw device to block device mappings.
It has the format:
<rawdev> <major> <minor>
<rawdev> <blockdev>
For example:
/dev/raw/raw1 /dev/sda1
/dev/raw/raw2 8 5

/etc/sysconfig/pcmcia:

PCMCIA=yes|no
PCIC=i82365|tcic
PCIC_OPTS=<socket driver (i82365 or tcic) timing parameters>
CORE_OPTS=<pcmcia_core options>
CARDMGR_OPTS=<cardmgr options>

/etc/sysconfig/amd:

ADIR=/.automount (normally never changed)
MOUNTPTS=’/net /etc/amd.conf’ (standard automount stuff)
AMDOPTS= (extra options for AMD)

/etc/sysconfig/tape:

DEV=/dev/nst0
Tape device. Use the non-rewinding one for these scripts.

For SCSI tapes this is /dev/nst#, where # is the number of the
tape drive you want to use. If you only have one then use
nst0.

For IDE tapes you use /dev/ht#, where # is the number of the tape
drive you want to use (usually ht0).

For floppy tape drives use /dev/ftape.

ADMIN=root
Person to mail to if the backup fails for any reason

SLEEP=5
Time to sleep between tape operations. Some drives need a bit
more than others, but 5 seems to work for 8mm, 4mm, and DLT

BLOCKSIZE=32768
This worked fine for 8mm, then 4mm, and now DLT. An optimal
setting is probably however much data your drive writes at one
time.

SHORTDATE=$(date +%y:%m:%d:%H:%M)
A short date string, used in backup log filenames.

DAY=$(date +log-%y:%m:%d)
This is used for the log file directory.

DATE=$(date)
Regular date string, used in log files.

LOGROOT=/var/log/backup
Root of the logging directory

LIST=$LOGROOT/incremental-list
This is the file name the incremental backup will use to store
the incremental list. It will be $LIST-{some number}.

DOTCOUNT=$LOGROOT/.count
For counting as you go to know which incremental list to use

COUNTER=$LOGROOT/counter-file
For rewinding when done…might not use.

BACKUPTAB=/etc/backuptab
The file in which we keep our list of backup(s) we want to make.

/etc/sysconfig/saslauthd:

used by the saslauthd init script (part of the cyrus-sasl package) to
control which arguments are passed to saslauthd at startup time; changes
made to this file have no effect until saslauthd is restarted

MECH=shadow
controls which data source saslauthd will consult when checking user
passwords; run ‘saslauthd -v’ to get a full list of available
authentication mechanisms
SOCKETDIR=/var/run/saslauthd
controls in which directory saslauthd will be directed to create its
listening socket; any change to this value will require a corresponding
change in client configuration files

/etc/sysconfig/sendmail:

DAEMON=yes|no
yes implies -bd (i.e., listen on port 25 for new mail)
QUEUE=1h
given to sendmail as -q$QUEUE
-q option is not given to sendmail if /etc/sysconfig/sendmail
exists and QUEUE is empty or undefined.

/etc/sysconfig/i18n
If ~/.i18n exists, it is used in addition to /etc/sysconfig/i18n and allows
per-user customization of the locales.

LANG= set locale for all categories, can be any two letter ISO
language code
LC_CTYPE= locale data configuration for classification and conversion
of characters
LC_COLLATE= locale data configuration for collation (sort order) of
strings
LC_MESSAGES= locale data configuration for translation of messages
LC_NUMERIC= locale data configuration for non-monetary numeric data
LC_MONETARY= locale data configuration for monetary data
LC_TIME= locale data configuration for date and time
LC_ALL= locale data configuration overriding all of the above
LANGUAGE= can be a : separated list of ISO language codes
LINGUAS= can be a ‘ ‘ separated list of ISO language codes

The above variables are used in /etc/profile.d/lang.sh.

SYSFONT= Console font. Fonts are found in /lib/kbd/consolefonts.

UNIMAP= Unicode font map. Most fonts have these built-in. Font maps
can be found in /lib/kbd/unimaps. These are applied via setfont’s
-u option.

SYSFONTACM= Console map. These are applied via setfont’s -m option,
and are found in /lib/kbd/consoletrans.

The above are used by the /sbin/setsysfont command (which is run
by rc.sysinit at boot time.) For more information, see setfont(8).