I got some openssl engine, client from the www.openssl.org and
tried to install. It didn't go through completely. There were some
errors.
Then instead of tar.gz, I decided to try my luck with rpm's. But
rpms too failed because the tar.gz versions are new, and there is
some conflict between these two.

i then installed openssh from rpm. Install went fine, but not sure
wht's the name of executable. Is it opensshd or just sshd, and
where is it installed?

I would like to do a fresh install of ssh.
How to I *uninstall* everything ssh related?

Once my machine is free of ssh, what're the steps invlolved in
installing it again? Here is what I think.

1. create /etc/xinetd.d/ssh file, and define service sshd (someone
pls post the contents of this file).
2. Install open ssl packages: (what all packages are required?)
3. Install open ssh package:
4. Restart xinetd.
Pls correct me if I am wrong.

TIA,
Ravi

1. How to make sure telnet, ssh deamons are running?

TESTED ON REDHAT 7.1 and 7.2
login as root and type ntsysv. Check the appropriate services and reboot. All to it.

2. What're the major config files concerning networking?

/sbin/ifconfig
/sbin/route
/etc/hosts
/etc/networks
/etc/host.conf
/etc/resolv.conf
/etc/hosts.allow
/etc/hosts.deny
3. How to manually reconfigure firewall (ipchains?), or even unninstall it?

unninstall it. Use IPTABLES.
go to the shell and type ntsysv and check iptables, uncheck ipchains and perhaps iptables6

Lets say you have a cable modem and you are using redhat as a firewall.
type the following commands

Lets assume your local subnet is 10.0.0.0/16
type this at the shell prompt

iptables -P INPUT ACCEPT
iptables -A INPUT -i eth0 -d 10.0.0.0/16 -j ACCEPT
iptables -t nat -A POSTROUTING -i eth0 -j SNAT --to-source "your wan ip"

echo 1 > /proc/sys/net/ipv4/ip_forward

4. How do I run vnc server (or any other app) at start up?
same way as answer to question 1

If you are somewhere else besides your LAN and want to access a internal computer via your redhat FIREWALL enter the following entry in your firewall at the shell prompt.

iptables -t nat -A PREROUTING -i eth0 -p tcp --dport 5900 -j DNAT --to "your boxes ip running vnc"
5. If telnet/ssh are not running, how to configure them to run at start up?
same way as answer to question 1

6. While in the setup, I chose ftp/telnet services. Does it mean that these services are *only* installed, but not configured to start at boot?
This means when you check one of these servcies and reboot they will start up automatically.

Thanks Storm. I am trying ..

In one of previous posts peter_rob mentioned to try
iptables -t nat -A PREROUTING -p tcp -j LOG --log-prefix "incoming_tcp " --log-level 6
then,
tail -f /var/log/messages
This is causing enormous messages being sent to the terminal.
Is there a way to turn those message off?

Ooops... Guilty.
Find the entry 1st
iptables -t nat -nL PREROUTING --line-numbers
then iptables -t nat -D PREROUTING linenumber

ssh installs in different places depending on how you installed it.
I still think that it's better to make 'something' work then remove the excess later.
I've got a box in a similar condition that will get cleaned, one day, like the housework...
Regards,
Peter