You want to run apps like bind and iptables in the background. You should have init scripts which do this for you. Use them! Don't start these daemons manually... (if you must, put an "&" at the end to run them in the background)
As for switching consoles, that should be [ctrl] + [alt] + [2] or whatever. If this is not working, then checkout /etc/inittab. It should have lines like:
Code:
# TERMINALS
c1:12345:respawn:/sbin/agetty 38400 tty1 linux
c2:2345:respawn:/sbin/agetty 38400 tty2 linux
c3:2345:respawn:/sbin/agetty 38400 tty3 linux
c4:2345:respawn:/sbin/agetty 38400 tty4 linux
c5:2345:respawn:/sbin/agetty 38400 tty5 linux
c6:2345:respawn:/sbin/agetty 38400 tty6 linux
This will place a login prompt on consoles 1-6, and respawn them if you logout.