[wplug] ftp server setup - okay, maybe not...

[Elwin Green]

Okay, I didn't do a good job of asking - I have
several issues to resolve and I wanted to take them
one at a time. Now I've realized that they intersect,
so I'd like to start over:

THE MACHINE:
A 486DX4/100 w/36MB RAM, a 540MB HD, and CDROM.

THE INSTALLED DISTRO:
Debian GNU/Linux 2.2. I did not do the installation,
and I am new to Debian, so I don't know what's where.

THE GOAL:
To configure the machine as a webserver, for hosting a
personal site or two for the whole world to enjoy.

SUBGOAL:
To configure the machine so that I and a chosen few
others can upload to it from any other machine on the
'Net. That's where the ftp part came in; I didn't say
ssh because I know nothing about it.

The 486 already sits behind a firewall box (a 386
running floppyfw) with several others that share a DSL
connection.

KNOWN ISSUES:
1) Neither the floppy drive nor the CDROM will mount.
Here are the relevant lines from the fstab:
/dev/fd0  /floppy  /auto    defaults,user,noauto 0
/dev/cdrom  /cdrom  /iso9660  defaults,ro,user,noauto
0

The 0 in each line appears to be in the last column. I
don't know whether or not each line should have a
second 0. In any case, if I insert a floppy and a CD,
log on as root and do this:
# cd floppy
/floppy# ls

I get this:
/floppy#

And if I do this:
# cd cdrom
/cdrom# ls

I get this:
/cdrom#

If I do mount -a, and repeat the cd/ls commands, I get
the same result. In fact, when I do mount -a, neither
drive indicates any activity (no LED, no sound).

2) It seems unable to connect to the Internet. It
pings itself and other machines Including the
gateway)on my network fine. With an external address,
it reports "network unreachable"; for an external name
(e.g., www.yahoo.com), it reports "name unknown". 

The next behavior is really odd:
3)When I vi fstab, the output on my monitor includes
previous monitor output - stuff that I know isn't part
of fstab. For instance, just now when I checked it to
copy the lines about the floppy and the cdrom, these
lines were interspered with the actual fstab text:

Initializing random number generator...done
Starting internet superserver: inetd.
Debian GNU/Linux 2.2 486a tty1
486a login: root

Fortunately, I'm more familiar with fstab than with a
lot of other linux files; otherwise I'd be greatly
confused about the contents. As it is, I'm just
annoyed.

Any help in resolving any of these issues would be
greatly appreciated!

Elwin






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