How to stop the net

[Sea Wolf]

I have a cable modem and i'd like to just leave my linux running for a while just to see how it would do over the weekend. I'm new to linux and im just feeling things out. What i wanted to know was, Is there a command or something i could use to totally stop all internet activity and then start again on another command? Something like the stop button on ZoneAlarm.

[Pras]

You can just disable your network card. Which distro are you using? Usually, each distro will come with options to disable your nic. But, a generic command is to use 'ifconfig eth0 down'.

[Sea Wolf]

I'm on redhat 7.1. I just want it to stop for a while til i get back on....will using that same command and then using "up" start my ethernet card again?

[X_console]

Yes.

[Hena]

Another command to stop all internet activity in RH is (i'm not on linux, so can't be 100% sure about the path) "/etc/rc.d/init.d/network stop". For more control, you can also use commands "start" and "restart" instead of stop. This will stop all nic's from working, eth0 down will stop interface eth0.

[berb]

or, if you want to have some fun looking at your logs, which btw is a good learning tool, issue
# /sbin/ipchains -A input -l -j DENY
which will deny all incomming traffic and log the attempts in /var/log/messages. to turn it back on use:
# /sbin/ipchains -F input
which 'flushes' the rules in the input chain

kinda fun to look at the logged attempts for connection to the box, 95% of mine are on windows share ports (137-139). stupid script kiddies ;).

[DMR]

The most secure way to separate your box from the Net is to just disconnect the ethernet cable between your NIC and the modem. Seriously- no muss, no fuss, no software configuration, and no doubts.
;)