Managing Services

From Terminal
chkconfig:
 * Can be used from a terminal to turn on and off services boot preference
 * Does not start the service until Boot.
 * Syntax
 * chkconfig foobar on (could some one verify this?)

service:
 * Can be used to turn off or on a service in real time
 * does not change how it will be when the system starts
 * Syntax
 * service foobar stop/start/restart

setup:
 * Terminal menu driven interactive program
 * Type setup into a terminal
 * Use arrow keys to select services - Use Enter key to enter the menu.
 * Use arrow keys to select the serice you want to turn off and on
 * Use the space bar to enable and disable.
 * Tab is used to get to the OK and cancel options at the bottom.
 * Shows a list of the services on the system and is marked with an [*] when enabled and a [ ] when not.

Graphical User Interface
The application that when ran gives a graphical interface similar to the Setup listed above. However this will also give descriptions of the services and tell you if they are currently running. You can also stop/stop the services in this Graphical interface. system-config-services

Disclaimer
Depending on the packages installed on this system, your running services will be different. The system you are using may have some that are not listed here, it will be up to you to determine if they are needed for you system.

The recommendations listed here mwith static IPs - have little to no reason to run NetworkManager; some DHCP users may require this. -- NetworkManager has had significant improvements in Fedora 8. If you have hardware that works perfectly using NetworkManager, then you can try disabling the network service.


 * It is possible to use NetworkManager without enabling NetworkManagerDispatcher.


 * Recommendation: Your Choice

acpid


 * Advanced Configuration and Power Interface daemon which controls and allows interfacing to power management and certain input devices. It is recommended to be enabled only if you need it. Test disabling it, if you have power management issues (suspend, sleep, wakeup) then re-enable it. Needed on older system to turn off the computer on shutdown.


 * Recommendation: Your Choice

anacron


 * Simular to cron, it runs jobs listed in /etc/anacrontab. If your system misses a scheduled task due to downtime, anacron can be set up to run missed tasks at a later time. This is better than cron for systems that are not on at all times.


 * Recommendation: Your Choice

atd


 * Using the at command, jobs can be scheduled to only run when the system has low usage. This could be very useful for production server updates, backups, and other administrative task. Most workstations and laptops can disable this unless you understand the system enough to know you'll need it.


 * Recommendation: Your Choice

cron


 * Cron is job scheduling system. This system can be set to run a job at determined time intervals. Many modern distributions use cron "in the background" for system maintenance; as such, it is not advised to disable this.


 * Recommendation: Enabled

auditd


 * This saves audit records generated by the kernel. This information can be used in different ways. SELinux uses the audit daemon to record events. While there are other logging services it is recommended you leave this enabled (especially for users with SELinux enabled). Some information on how to utilize audit can be found on RH Magazine.

Users with SELinux disabled can disable auditd.


 * Recommendation: Enabled

autofs


 * This mounts removable disks (such as USB harddrives) on demand. It is recommended to keep this enabled if you use removable media. If you are knowledgeable enough about manually mounting and unmounting media under Linux, you can get away with not having this on, but will have to explicitly (manually) unmount and mount devices.


 * Recommendation: Enabled

avahi-daemon


 * Avahi is an implementation of zeroconf and is useful for detecting devices and services on local network without a DNS server. This is also the same as mDNS. Most users may have this disabled. Please note that in order to use the networked audio functionality of Pulse Audio you will need Avahi enabled.


 * Recommendation: Disabled

bluetooth | hcid | hidd | dund | pand


 * Bluetooth is for portable local wireless devices (NOT wifi,802.11). Some laptops come with Bluetooth support. There are Bluetooth mice, headsets and cell phone accessories. Most people do not have need for Bluetooth, and should disable this. Other services related to Bluetooth device management: hcid manages all devices, hidd provides support for input devices (keyboard, mouse), dund supports dialup networking over Bluetooth, and pand allows connections to Ethernet networks over Bluetooth.


 * Recommendation: Disabled

btseed | bttrack


 * These services support the automatic seeding and tracking for torrents used by the peer-to-peer networking system BitTorrent. These should be disabled unless you specifically wish to seed or track torrents. By seeding you are essentially sharing the contents of the torrent with others and by tracking you are coordinate the action of other BitTorrent clients. Keep in mind these require network bandwidth and other configuration as well.


 * Recommendation: Disabled

capi


 * For users with ISDN hardware only. Should be disabled for most users, including users with cable internet connections.


 * Recommendation: Disabled

cpuspeed

This throttles your CPU running frequency to save power and cause the processor to run cooler (both are important for laptops). Many modern laptop CPUs support this feature and now many desktops also support this. Most people should enable only if they are users of Pentium-M, Centrino, AMD PowerNow, Transmetta, Intel SpeedStep, Athlon-64, Athlon-X2, Intel Core 2 hardware. Disable this if you want your CPU to remain at a fixed state or if your processor does not support throttling.


 * Recommendation: Enabled, especially for laptop users

cupsd


 * Used for printing. These should be enabled only if you have CUPS compatible printer that works in Fedora.


 * Recommendation: Enabled

firstboot


 * This service is specific to Fedora's installation process meant to perform certain tasks that should only be executed once upon booting after installation. Even though it verifies it has been run before (using /etc/sysconfig/firstboot), it can be disabled.


 * Recommendation: Disabled

gpm


 * This is the console mouse pointer (no graphics).


 * Recommendation: By Preference.

haldaemon


 * HAL refers to the Hardware Abstraction Layer. This is a critical service for collecting and maintaing information about hardware from several sources. Fedora requires this, hence leave this enabled.


 * Recommendation: Enabled

hplip | hpiod | hpssd


 * HPLIP is a service to support HP printers in Linux, including Inkjet, DeskJet, OfficeJet, Photosmart, Business Inkjet and some LaserJet printers. This supported by HP through HP Linux Printing Project. HPLIP should be enabled only if you have a supported compatible printer.


 * Recommendation: Your Choice

httpd


 * his is the Apache HTTP Web Server. If you installed this and are doing web development then leave this enabled. Most desktop users and/or non-developers should leave this disabled.


 * Recommendation: Your Choice (most users don't need it)

iptables


 * This is the standard Linux software firewall. This is highly recommended if you are directly connected to internet (cable, DSL, T1). If you are already behind a firewall, you may be able to disable iptables with little risk to security.


 * Recommendation: Enabled

ip6tables


 * This services is the firewall for IPv6 communication. If you are not using IPv6 - most users, especially in North America - then you can disable this. (If you are unsure then it might be best to leave it enabled.)


 * Recommendation: Enabled

irda | irattach


 * IrDA support infrared communications between devices (laptops, PDA's, mobile phones, calculators, etc). This should be disabled for most users.


 * Recommendation: Disabled

irqbalance


 * This service is used to load balance across processors or processor cores on a multiprocessor system. For users who do not have multiple processors/multiple cores, this service can be disabled. However, newer computers with multi-core CPUs (Intel Core 2 Duo, AMD X2) should enable this. Leaving this enabled will not affect performance on single CPU/single core systems.


 * Recommendation: Enabled

isdn


 * This is another form of internet connect service/hardware. Unless you have an ISDN modem, disable this.


 * Recommendation: Disabled

kudzu


 * Kudzu is Fedora's hardware probing service. It optionally configures changed hardware. If you swap hardware or need to detect/re-detect hardware this can be left enabled. However most desktop or servers can disable this and run it only when necessary.


 * Recommendation: Disabled for normal power-ons and power-offs; it may, however, be a good idea to enable Kudzu before powering down your machine in order to add any hardware.

lirc


 * LIRC provides support for infrared remote controls in Linux. If you do not have this hardware, leave this disabled. However this is required for infrared control in applications such as Myth TV.


 * Recommendation: Disabled

lisa


 * LISa is LAN information service and provides similar functionality to the "network neighbourhood" concept in Windows. While this is only useful for computers on a network, users of Samba or NFS may not require this. Most users should leave this disabled.


 * Recommendation: Disabled

lm_sensors


 * lm_sensors provides monitoring for motherboard sensor values or specific hardware (commonly used with laptops or high-end servers). It is useful for watching realtime values for PC health, etc. This is also popular with GKrellM users. It is recommended to disable this unless you have a need.


 * Recommendation: Disabled

mcstrans


 * This is required to see proper context information when you are using SELinux. By default, Fedora has SELinux enabled. Users who do not use SELinux can disable this.


 * Recommendation: Enabled

mdmonitor


 * Useful for monitoring Software RAID or LVM information. It is not a critical service and may be disabled. Users who are not using Software RAID or LVM can disable this with no ill effect.


 * Recommendation: Disabled

messagebus


 * This is an IPC (Interprocess Communication) service for Linux. Specifically this communicates with D-BUS, a critical component. It is highly recommended to leave this enabled.


 * Recommendation: Enabled

nasd


 * The Network Audio System is a network transparent, client/server audio transport system. It can be described as the audio equivalent of an X server. This is connected into the KDE sound system. This should be left enabled.


 * Recommendation: Enabled

netconsole


 * Initializes network console logging. This can be left to its default disabled state.


 * Recommendation: Disabled

netfs


 * This is used for automatic mounting of any shared network file space such as NFS, Samba, etc on bootup. Useful if you connect to another server or filesharing on your local network. Most single desktop/laptop users should have this disabled.


 * Recommendation: Disabled

netplugd


 * Netplugd can monitor network interfaces and executes commands when their state changes. This can be left to default disabled.


 * Recommendation: Disabled

nfs | nfslock


 * This the standard network file sharing for Unix/Linux/BSD style operating systems. Unless you require to share data in this manner, disable this.


 * Recommendation: Disabled

nscd


 * This daemon handles passwords and caches them for naming/authentication services like NIS, NIS+, LDAP, or hesiod. This should be disabled unless you are running a domain controller of some sort.


 * Recommendation: Disabled

ntpd


 * This automatically updates the system time from the internet. Mentioned in the installation process. If you have an "always-on" internet connection, there is no harm in running this and it will ensure that your time is always synced with NTP servers (most of which are, in turn, synced to highly-accurate atomic clocks). Without ntpd running, your system will get its time from thee motherboard's internal system-clock; in the case of misconfiguration, this can cause problems when dual-booting multiple operating systems.


 * Recommendation: Your Choice

pcscd


 * Provides support for Smart Cards and Smart Card Readers. This are small chip like devices that are embedded in certain credit cards, identification cards, etc. Unless you have such a reader, this should be disabled.


 * Recommendation: Disabled

restorecond


 * Is used to monitor and restore proper file contexts for SELinux. This is not required but highly recommended if you use SELinux.


 * Recommendation: Enabled

rpcbind


 * This manages remote procedure call support for other services (such as NFS or NIS). This is similar to 'portmap'. This can be disabled if you have no other services depend on it.


 * Recommendation: Disabled

rpcgssd | rpcidmapd | rpcsvcgssd


 * Used for NFS v4. Unless you require or use NFS v4, these should be disabled.


 * Recommendation: Disabled

sendmail


 * Unless you run a server or you like to transfer or support a locally shared IMAP or POP3 service, most people do NOT need a mail transport agent. If you check your mail on the web (hotmail/yahoo/gmail) or you use a mail program such as Thunderbird, Kmail, Evolution, etc. then you should disable this.


 * Recommendation: Disabled

setroubleshoot


 * This is the SELinux Troubleshooting Daemon. This services provides information to the setroubleshoot Browser. This application provides notices on the desktop if there were SELinux problems (usually AVC denials. While this is not a critical service it is incredibly helpful for debuggin SELinux issues. Leave this enabled only if you have SELinux enabled.


 * Recommendation: Enabled for SELinux users; the service will do nothing for users with SELinux disabled, so it can be disabled for these users.

smartd


 * The SMART Disk Monitoring Daemon can be used to monitor and predict disk failure or problems on hard disk that support this. Most desktop users may not need this unless there is possible problems, but is it recommend to be left enabled (especially for servers).


 * Recommendation: Enabled

smb | nmbd

The SAMBA daemon is required to share files or Printers from Linux to Windows. This should be enabled only if you have windows computers that require file or Printer access to Linux.


 * Recommendation: Your Choice

smolt


 * This daemon provides monthly information for Smolt which is gather statistics and information to assist Fedora developers. Statistics are available. Users who wish to help and share information should enable this, otherwise leave this disabled.


 * Recommendation: Enabled

sshd


 * SSH allows other users to log into or run applications on your computer from another computer on your network or remotely. This is a potential security issue. This is not needed if you have no other computers or no need to login from a remote location (work, school, etc.). Most likely this should be disabled.


 * Recommendation: Disabled

udev-post


 * The device management system Fedora uses is 'udev'. By default 'udev' supports many rules, permissions and behaviours for devices. This service allows for saving user applied rules. It is highly recommended to leave enabled.


 * Recommendation: Enabled

wpa_supplicant

This service is required if you use a wireless card and need to authenticate to wireless networks utilizing WPA encryption. Other users can leave this disabled. 8
 * Recommendation: Your Choice

yum-updatesd


 * The YUM Update notifier daemon provides notification of updates which are available to be installed to your computer. If you do NOT have an active ("always-on") internet connection leave this disabled. Some updates are for security and many are for bug fixes and or newer software versions. Please understand that continuous updating with yum may lead to many problems.


 * Recommendation: Enabled

=Links=
 * F8 Services
 * F9 Services