root/user conflict over ownership of IP

[Bill Case]

How do I fix this internet connection problem?

When I login as a user and/or root the first place I login ends up owning my internet connection. Eg. If I first login as root I can use mozilla or epiphany with no problem, but if I subsequently logout and log backin as a user my IP is not available. This remains true whether I use my IP or not as root.

It is the same for user, if I login to user first and then subsequently to root, root has lost the connection.

I know I have set up something wrong, but what?

I am using: Fedora Core 2

eth0 + dhcp + dynamic DNS + router/gateway + cable modem - a simple straight forward configuration!

Adding aliases doesn't seem to work?

If the problem is permission, what permissions do I change?

Could changing the hostname through the Gnome system-config-network 1.3.17 gui but nowhere else be causing problems?

Tongues-in-cheeks and a sense of fun are apprently not allowed on JL.

[Bill Case]

Since first posting I have tried a couple of things like pinging my IP.

Problem definately has something to do with loging in and loging out.

I have tried pinging from gnome terminal as user or su -ing to root. Ping works.

I have tried vterm4 logged in as user. Ping works to my IP's address.
I have then tried vterm5 logged in as root. Ping works

But If I log out of gnome and back in as either user or root ping gives no response whatsoever.

I really could use some help.

[Choozo]

Why do you need to log in as root in gdm at all? Loging in as root in an X environment is regarded as a sercurity risk anyway.

Logging in as a regular user, then 'su-ing' to root in a terminal (which is the preferred way) seems to work for you, so I don't see why you make a problem of this?

[Sepero]

It's true that you "shouldn't" be running x as root. But if you wish to put your system at risk, that isn't my business... :)

Do you log in/out through a graphical login manager? What happens when you ping from a real terminal with either account?

It sounds like something is getting lost when you logout.

Try this:
login user
logout
login root
open xterm
type: ifconfig -a

What do you see there?

Perhaps FC is shutting down your card on logout? (just a guess. I'm only familiar with dialup.)

[Bill Case]

Thanks for the help Sepero;

When I ping from a terminal with either account I get the proper response.

I took your suggestion and ifconfig -a after loging in and out through my gdm login screen and got the following result:

ifconfig_user_root:

# ifconfig -a
eth0 Link encap:Ethernet HWaddr 00:50:FC:F8:A8:86
inet addr:192.168.1.7 Bcast:192.168.1.255 Mask:255.255.255.0
inet6 addr: fe80::250:fcff:fef8:a886/64 Scope:Link
UP BROADCAST RUNNING MULTICAST MTU:1500 Metric:1
RX packets:1 errors:0 dropped:0 overruns:0 frame:0
TX packets:10 errors:0 dropped:0 overruns:0 carrier:0
collisions:0 txqueuelen:1000
RX bytes:590 (590.0 b) TX bytes:1428 (1.3 Kb)
Interrupt:11 Base address:0xd800

lo Link encap:Local Loopback
inet addr:127.0.0.1 Mask:255.0.0.0
inet6 addr: ::1/128 Scope:Host
UP LOOPBACK RUNNING MTU:16436 Metric:1
RX packets:1772 errors:0 dropped:0 overruns:0 frame:0
TX packets:1772 errors:0 dropped:0 overruns:0 carrier:0
collisions:0 txqueuelen:0
RX bytes:1683912 (1.6 Mb) TX bytes:1683912 (1.6 Mb)

sit0 Link encap:IPv6-in-IPv4
NOARP MTU:1480 Metric:1
RX packets:0 errors:0 dropped:0 overruns:0 frame:0
TX packets:0 errors:0 dropped:0 overruns:0 carrier:0
collisions:0 txqueuelen:0
RX bytes:0 (0.0 b) TX bytes:0 (0.0 b)

Its all Greek to me.

Sigh - A short explanation.

I am in root because I have just re-installed Fedora C2 due to a dead, caput, broken harddrive.

I don't know if this is a new problem with this particular installation and upgrade or just a newly discovered problem because normally I am not in root.

I want to solve this problem because:

1) It shouldn't be; and, could come back to haunt me long after I have forgotten about it; and,
2) I want to set up additional user accounts for my own use but do not want to lose my internet connections as I switch users.

[Sepero]

Originally posted by Bill Case
# ifconfig -a
eth0 Link encap:Ethernet HWaddr 00:50:FC:F8:A8:86
inet addr:192.168.1.7 Bcast:192.168.1.255 Mask:255.255.255.0
inet6 addr: fe80::250:fcff:fef8:a886/64 Scope:Link
UP BROADCAST RUNNING MULTICAST MTU:1500 Metric:1
RX packets:1 errors:0 dropped:0 overruns:0 frame:0
TX packets:10 errors:0 dropped:0 overruns:0 carrier:0
collisions:0 txqueuelen:1000
RX bytes:590 (590.0 b) TX bytes:1428 (1.3 Kb)
Interrupt:11 Base address:0xd800
That is your ethernet connection. Ok, so it is obvious that your internet is still alive. The question now is, what is preventing you from using it?

Umm... the only thing I can think of is that maybe some kind of screwy firewall rules are being used.

I don't know much about dhcp or dynamic DNS. Are either of these running on your local machine? If so, try turning them off. See what happens.

Anyone else got a clue?

[retsaw]

Maybe it could be something to do with PAM, I recently had a problem with audio permissions that PAM was changing (when I logged in on the console as user or root), but I don't see how PAM would affect your internet connection or why it would be set up to. Perhaps someone who knows a bit about PAM could suggest where to look.

[Bill Case]

Just to keep everyone advised on how this turns out.

It magically fixed itself.

After playing around for a week or more; learning far more than I wanted about Linux security, gdm, logging in and out etc. I downloaded an upgrade through up2date from Fedora C3 - something called a 'prelink' fix and it fixed a lot of things including my login and out problems.

I guess it wasn't something I had done but was a bug.

Just a general whimsical question for the future 'How do you distinguish a someone else's bug from your own stupidity?'.

Bill

[Sepero]

Originally posted by Bill Case
Just a general whimsical question for the future 'How do you distinguish a someone else's bug from your own stupidity?'.Well, Apple and Microsoft would like to have you believe that it's 100% user error. In the Linux world, we're honest enough to tell you, "Unfortunately, we do make mistakes".

There's only one general way to know for sure if it is a bug or not, and that is to check your distro's bug list and see if anyone else already knows about it.