I'm using Mandrake 8.2, and I'm beginning to regret it's "ease of use" because what changes I make to the system, Mandrake undoes for me. For instance, I change the /etc/hosts.deny file to allow all connections but Mandrake changes it back for me, allowing only localhost to utilize the net servers. Also, if I change the value from 1 to 0 in the file /proc/sys/net/ipv4/icmp_echo_ignore_all, after every reboot Mandrake annoyingly changes it back to 1 for me so I can't ping it to see if things for working. How do I tell Mandrake to stop this nonsense?

Anything that you change under the /proc filesystem will get changed on every reboot. The files under /proc are not "real" files, but just a "view" into the kernel settings. I am not a Red Hat user, but from what I see you can edit a file called /etc/sysctl.conf and make your settings stick. A RH user can verify this.

Some firewall and kernel settings are indeed in /etc/sysctl.conf. (I have Redhat installed on two systems at work.) I shall take a look at the file on my Mandrake box when I get home this weekend. Thanks.