on one of my RH 9.0 boxes, when i do: chkconfig --list |grep on

i see an entry for sgi_fam: on <----- what service is sgi_fam and do i need to be running it??

zepplin611

When a user connects to the fam service, it specifies the name of a file or directory to watch for modifications. If the name of a directory is specified, the server returns a listing of that directory. It stands for file alteration monitor.It has a documented vulnerability against malicious attacks.It is usually for irix systems.
You can disable it if you don't require it. This can be done by finding the line in /etc/inetd.conf starting with sgi_fam and putting a comment sign (#) at the beginning of the line. Then at the command prompt type "/etc/killall -HUP inetd" and "/etc/killall fam". Disabling fam may disrupt other services which depend upon it, such as fm, mailbox, mediad, scanners, sysmon, fxbuilder, and IRIS annotator, if they are running.

thanks for the tips corbis_demon...should i then assume, if none the mentioned services are applicable to my situation (fm, mailbox, mediad, scanners, sysmon, fxbuilder, and IRIS annotator), then i can turn this off w/o problems? Also...by "scanners"...do you mean hardware scanners or things such as "nmap" ??

thanks again...