shorewall_code/Shorewall-docs2/support.xml

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  <articleinfo>
    <title>Shorewall Support Guide</title>

    <authorgroup>
      <author>
        <firstname>Tom</firstname>

        <surname>Eastep</surname>
      </author>
    </authorgroup>

    <pubdate>2004-09-07</pubdate>

    <copyright>
      <year>2001-2004</year>

      <holder>Thomas M. Eastep</holder>
    </copyright>

    <legalnotice>
      <para>Permission is granted to copy, distribute and/or modify this
      document under the terms of the GNU Free Documentation License, Version
      1.2 or any later version published by the Free Software Foundation; with
      no Invariant Sections, with no Front-Cover, and with no Back-Cover
      Texts. A copy of the license is included in the section entitled
      <quote><ulink url="GnuCopyright.htm">GNU Free Documentation
      License</ulink></quote>.</para>

      <important>
        <para>Problem reports that do not include the information requested in
        the <link linkend="Guidelines">Problem Reporting Guidelines</link>
        below will not be answered by the Shorewall author.</para>
      </important>
    </legalnotice>
  </articleinfo>

  <section>
    <title>Before Reporting a Problem or Asking a Question</title>

    <para>There are a number of sources of Shorewall information. Please try
    these before you post.</para>

    <itemizedlist>
      <listitem>
        <para>The two currently-supported Shorewall <ulink
        url="ReleaseModel.html">major releases</ulink> are 1.4 and 2.0.</para>
      </listitem>

      <listitem>
        <para>More than half of the questions posted on the support list have
        answers directly accessible from the <ulink
        url="Documentation_Index.html">Documentation Index</ulink></para>
      </listitem>

      <listitem>
        <para>The <ulink url="FAQ.htm">FAQ</ulink> has solutions to more than
        30 common problems.</para>
      </listitem>

      <listitem>
        <para>The <ulink url="troubleshoot.htm">Troubleshooting
        Information</ulink> contains a number of tips to help you solve common
        problems.</para>
      </listitem>

      <listitem>
        <para>The <ulink url="errata.htm">Errata</ulink> has links to download
        updated components.</para>
      </listitem>

      <listitem>
        <para>The <ulink
        url="http://lists.shorewall.net/htdig/search.html">Site and Mailing
        List Archives search facility</ulink> can locate documents and posts
        about similar problems:</para>
      </listitem>
    </itemizedlist>
  </section>

  <section id="Guidelines">
    <title>Problem Reporting Guidelines</title>

    <note>
      <para>Shorewall versions earlier that 1.4.0 are no longer
      supported.</para>
    </note>

    <itemizedlist>
      <listitem>
        <para>When reporting a problem, <emphasis
        role="bold">ALWAYS</emphasis> include this information:</para>

        <itemizedlist>
          <listitem>
            <para>the exact version of Shorewall you are running.</para>

            <programlisting><command>shorewall version</command></programlisting>
          </listitem>

          <listitem>
            <para>the complete, exact output of</para>

            <programlisting><command>ip addr show</command></programlisting>
          </listitem>

          <listitem>
            <para>the complete, exact output of</para>

            <programlisting><command>ip route show</command></programlisting>
          </listitem>

          <listitem>
            <para><emphasis role="bold">THIS IS IMPORTANT!</emphasis> If your
            problem is that some type of connection to/from or through your
            firewall isn't working then please perform the following four
            steps:</para>

            <orderedlist>
              <listitem>
                <para>If Shorewall isn't started then
                <command>/sbin/shorewall/start</command>. Otherwise
                <command>/sbin/shorewall reset</command>.</para>
              </listitem>

              <listitem>
                <para>Try making the connection that is failing.</para>
              </listitem>

              <listitem>
                <para><command>/sbin/shorewall status &gt;
                /tmp/status.txt</command></para>
              </listitem>

              <listitem>
                <para>Post the <filename>/tmp/status.txt</filename> file as an
                attachment (you may compress it if you like).</para>
              </listitem>
            </orderedlist>
          </listitem>

          <listitem>
            <para>the exact wording of any ping failure responses</para>
          </listitem>

          <listitem>
            <para><emphasis role="bold">If you installed Shorewall using one
            of the QuickStart Guides, please indicate which
            one</emphasis>.</para>
          </listitem>
        </itemizedlist>
      </listitem>

      <listitem>
        <para>Please remember we only know what is posted in your message. Do
        not leave out any information that appears to be correct, or was
        mentioned in a previous post. There have been countless posts by
        people who were sure that some part of their configuration was correct
        when it actually contained a small error. We tend to be skeptics where
        detail is lacking.</para>
      </listitem>

      <listitem>
        <para>Please keep in mind that you're asking for <emphasis
        role="bold">free</emphasis> technical support. Any help we offer is an
        act of generosity, not an obligation. Try to make it easy for us to
        help you. Follow good, courteous practices in writing and formatting
        your e-mail. Provide details that we need if you expect good answers.
        Exact quoting of error messages, log entries, command output, and
        other output is better than a paraphrase or summary.</para>
      </listitem>

      <listitem>
        <para>Please give details about what doesn't work. Reports that say
        <quote>I followed the directions and it didn't work</quote> will
        elicit sympathy but probably little in the way of help. Again -- if
        ping from A to B fails, say so (and see below for information about
        reporting <quote>ping</quote> problems). If Computer B doesn't show up
        in <quote>Network Neighborhood</quote> then say so. If access by IP
        address works but by DNS names it doesn't then say so.</para>
      </listitem>

      <listitem>
        <para>Please don't describe your environment and then ask us to send
        you custom configuration files. We're here to answer your questions
        but we can't do your job for you.</para>
      </listitem>

      <listitem>
        <para>Please do NOT include the output of <command>iptables
        -L</command> — the output of <emphasis role="bold">shorewall
        show</emphasis> or <command>shorewall status</command> is much more
        useful.</para>
      </listitem>

      <listitem>
        <para>As a general matter, <emphasis role="bold">please do not edit
        the diagnostic information</emphasis> in an attempt to conceal your IP
        address, netmask, nameserver addresses, domain name, etc. These aren't
        secrets, and concealing them often misleads us (and 80% of the time, a
        hacker could derive them anyway from information contained in the SMTP
        headers of your post).</para>
      </listitem>

      <listitem>
        <para>Do you see any <quote>Shorewall</quote> messages
        (<quote><command>/sbin/shorewall show log</command></quote>) when you
        exercise the function that is giving you problems? If so, include the
        message(s) in your post along with a copy of your
        /etc/shorewall/interfaces file (and /etc/shorewall/hosts file if you
        have entries in that file).</para>
      </listitem>

      <listitem>
        <para>Please include any of the Shorewall configuration files
        (especially the /etc/shorewall/hosts file if you have modified that
        file) that you think are relevant. If you include
        /etc/shorewall/rules, please include /etc/shorewall/policy as well
        (rules are meaningless unless one also knows the policies).</para>
      </listitem>

      <listitem>
        <para>If an error occurs when you try to <quote><command>shorewall
        start</command></quote>, include a trace (See the <ulink
        url="troubleshoot.htm">Troubleshooting section</ulink> for
        instructions).</para>
      </listitem>

      <listitem>
        <para><emphasis role="bold">The list server limits posts to 120kb so
        don't post graphics of your network layout, etc. to the Mailing List
        -- your post will be rejected</emphasis>.</para>
      </listitem>

      <listitem>
        <para>The author gratefully acknowleges that the above list was
        heavily plagiarized from the excellent LEAF document by <emphasis>Ray
        Olszewski</emphasis> found at <ulink
        url="http://leaf-project.org/pub/doc/docmanager/docid_1891.html">http://leaf-project.org/pub/doc/docmanager/docid_1891.html</ulink>.</para>
      </listitem>
    </itemizedlist>
  </section>

  <section>
    <title>When using the mailing list, please post in plain text</title>

    <para>A growing number of MTAs serving list subscribers are rejecting all
    HTML traffic. At least one MTA has gone so far as to blacklist
    shorewall.net <quote>for continuous abuse</quote> because it has been my
    policy to allow HTML in list posts!!</para>

    <para>I think that blocking all HTML is a Draconian way to control spam
    and that the ultimate losers here are not the spammers but the list
    subscribers whose MTAs are bouncing all shorewall.net mail. As one list
    subscriber wrote to me privately <quote>These e-mail admin's need to get a
    (expletive deleted) life instead of trying to rid the planet of HTML based
    e-mail</quote>. Nevertheless, to allow subscribers to receive list posts
    as must as possible, I have now configured the list server at
    shorewall.net to convert all HTML to plain text. These converted posts are
    difficult to read so all of us will appreciate it if you just post in
    plain text to begin with.</para>
  </section>

  <section>
    <title>Where to Send your Problem Report or to Ask for Help</title>

    <para><emphasis role="bold">If you run the current development
    release</emphasis> (see the <ulink url="ReleaseModel.html">Shorewall
    Release Model page</ulink>) -- please post your question or problem to the
    <ulink url="mailto:shorewall-devel@lists.shorewall.net">Shorewall
    Development Mailing List</ulink>.</para>

    <para><emphasis role="bold">If you run Shorewall under MandrakeSoft Multi
    Network Firewall (MNF) and you have not purchased an MNF license from
    MandrakeSoft then you can post non MNF-specific Shorewall questions to the
    <ulink url="mailto:shorewall-users@lists.shorewall.net">Shorewall users
    mailing list</ulink>. Do not expect to get free MNF support on the
    list</emphasis>.</para>

    <para>Otherwise, please post your question or problem to the <ulink
    url="mailto:shorewall-users@lists.shorewall.net">Shorewall users mailing
    list</ulink>. <emphasis role="bold">IMPORTANT</emphasis>: If you are not
    subscribed to the list, please say so -- otherwise, you will not be
    included in any replies.</para>
  </section>

  <section>
    <title>Subscribing to the Users Mailing List</title>

    <para>To Subscribe to the mailing list go to <ulink
    url="https://lists.shorewall.net/mailman/listinfo/shorewall-users">https://lists.shorewall.net/mailman/listinfo/shorewall-users</ulink>.</para>
  </section>

  <section>
    <title>Other Mailing Lists</title>

    <para>For information on other Shorewall mailing lists, go to <ulink
    url="http://lists.shorewall.net">http://lists.shorewall.net</ulink>
    .</para>
  </section>

  <appendix>
    <title>Revision History</title>

    <para><revhistory>
        <revision>
          <revnumber>1.6</revnumber>

          <date>2003-07-03</date>

          <authorinitials>TE</authorinitials>

          <revremark>New Release Model</revremark>
        </revision>

        <revision>
          <revnumber>1.5</revnumber>

          <date>2003-05-16</date>

          <authorinitials>TE</authorinitials>

          <revremark>Add link to the troubleshooting section</revremark>
        </revision>

        <revision>
          <revnumber>1.4</revnumber>

          <date>2003-03-15</date>

          <authorinitials>TE</authorinitials>

          <revremark>Remove Newbies Mailing List.</revremark>
        </revision>

        <revision>
          <revnumber>1.3</revnumber>

          <date>2003-02-19</date>

          <authorinitials>TE</authorinitials>

          <revremark>Admonish against including "iptables -L"
          output.</revremark>
        </revision>

        <revision>
          <revnumber>1.2</revnumber>

          <date>2003-01-01</date>

          <authorinitials>TE</authorinitials>

          <revremark>Removed .GIF and moved note about unsupported releases.
          Move Revision History to this Appendix.</revremark>
        </revision>

        <revision>
          <revnumber>1.1</revnumber>

          <date>2003-12-19</date>

          <authorinitials>TE</authorinitials>

          <revremark>Corrected URL for Newbies List</revremark>
        </revision>
      </revhistory></para>
  </appendix>
</article>