I currently have my Linux box running as a firewall with NAT using Firestarter. I am wondering if there is any services that I dont need to have running. I am using Redhat 8.0 with Gnome. The only services that I need to run are what is needed to use the firewall and nat. I dont need any FTP or mail services. I am very new at this, and I'm not sure what all of this stuff is...all though, I did get everything setup and running on my own as a first time Linux user.


This is what I having running:

-- System Configuration --

Anacron
APMD
ATD
AUTOFS
Firestarter
GPM
ISDN
Keytable
Kudzu
Netfs
Network
NFSLock
PCMCIA
Portmap
Random
Rawdevices
Rhnsd
Sendmail
Sgi_fam
sshd
Syslog
XineTd

-- System Monitor --
atd
bdflush
bonobo_activation_server
crond
dhclient
firestarter
gconfd-2
gdm-binary
x
gnome session
ssh-agent
gnome panel
gnome-settings daemon
gnome-system-monitor
gpm
init
keventd
kjournalald
klogd
kswapd
kupdated
magicdev
mingetty
mozilla-bin
netstat
nautilus
nautilus-text-view
nautilus-throbber
pam-panel-icon
pam_timestamp_check
portmap
rhnsd
rpc.statd
sendmail
syslogd
xfs
xinetd
fam
python
metacity
mdrecoveryd
ksoftirqd_cpu0
--

Thanks!!

I would definitely turn off the following services:
portmap
sshd
sendmail

I would probably turn off:
apmd -> unless your running on a laptop
atd
isdn -> unless you have an isdn internet connection
netfs -> unless mounting network shares
nfslock -> unless mounting network shares
pcmcia -> unless you have pcmcia cards

I recommend turning off xinetd. Unless you want to specifically run services through it, you don't really need it.

login as root and use: chkconfig --level 2345 servicename off to turn off each service you don't want. Once your done reboot and use netstat -la to see what services are still up and listening. You can be extra careful and run nmap against yourself as well.

As far as securing your linux box: the fewer services you run the better. The more unnecessary services, the greater the chance is that someone will exploit them.

iptables
keytable
network
xfs

in my machine only there are open

Thank you very much for your assistance! I shut down these services, as I have no need to run them and it will help mantain the security of my box.