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shorewall_code/docs/support.xml
Tom Eastep 1d249567ed Add unsubscribe instructions to the FAQ.
Signed-off-by: Tom Eastep <teastep@shorewall.net>
2012-03-05 13:32:12 -08:00

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<?xml version="1.0" encoding="UTF-8"?>
<!DOCTYPE article PUBLIC "-//OASIS//DTD DocBook XML V4.4//EN"
"http://www.oasis-open.org/docbook/xml/4.4/docbookx.dtd">
<article id="IPIP">
<!--$Id$-->
<articleinfo>
<title>Shorewall Support Guide</title>
<pubdate><?dbtimestamp format="Y/m/d"?></pubdate>
<copyright>
<year>2001-20011</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>
</legalnotice>
</articleinfo>
<caution>
<para><emphasis role="bold">This article applies to Shorewall 4.0 and
later. If you are running a version of Shorewall earlier than Shorewall
4.0.0 then please see the documentation for that
release.</emphasis></para>
</caution>
<section id="First">
<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 currently-supported Shorewall <ulink
url="ReleaseModel.html">major release</ulink> is 4.4.</para>
<note>
<para>Shorewall versions earlier than 4.4.0 are no longer supported;
we will try to help but we will not spend time reading earlier code
to try to help you solve a problem and we will not release a patch
to correct any defect found.</para>
</note>
</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
90 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="http://dir.gmane.org/gmane.comp.security.shorewall">Shorewall
Users Mailing List Archives</ulink> are a good source of
information.</para>
</listitem>
</itemizedlist>
</section>
<section id="Guidelines">
<title>Problem Reporting Guidelines</title>
<para>Please refer to the following flowchart to guide you through the
problem reporting process. It will ensure that you provide us with the
information we need to solve your problem as quickly as possible.</para>
<graphic align="center" fileref="images/Troubleshoot.png"/>
<orderedlist>
<important>
<para><emphasis role="bold">Please don't use distribution specific
programs like "service" or init scripts to start/restart Shorewall
while trying to solve a problem</emphasis>, just follow carefully the
instructions below.</para>
</important>
<important>
<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
<emphasis role="bold">aren't secrets</emphasis>, and concealing them
often misleads us (and 80% of the time, a cracker could derive them
anyway from information contained in the SMTP headers of your
post).</para>
</important>
<listitem>
<para>If your problem is that an <emphasis
role="bold">error</emphasis> occurs when you try to
<quote><command>shorewall start</command></quote> or if Shorewall is
otherwise failing to start properly, then please do the
following.</para>
<blockquote>
<para>If your VERBOSITY setting in shorewall.conf is less than 2 and
you are running the Shorewall-shell compiler, then try running with
a higher verbosity level by using the "-vv" option:</para>
<blockquote>
<programlisting><command>shorewall -vv [re]start</command></programlisting>
</blockquote>
<para>That will give you additional progress messages that may make
it clear which entry in which file is generating the error.</para>
<para>If that didn't solve your problem, then please</para>
<programlisting><command>/sbin/shorewall trace start 2&gt; /tmp/trace</command></programlisting>
<para>Forward the <filename>/tmp/trace</filename> file as an
attachment compressed with gzip or bzip2 (If you are running
Shorewall-perl, there is no need to compress the file — it will be
very short).</para>
<para>If compilation succeeds but the compiled program fails, then
please include the compiled program with your report. The compiled
program will be named <filename>/var/lib/shorewall/.start</filename>
if the command is <command>shorewall start</command> and it will be
named <filename>/var/lib/shorewall/.restart</filename> if the
command is <command>shorewall restart</command>.</para>
<para>If you are running Shorewall-perl 4.0.5 or later, you may also
include the word <emphasis role="bold">debug</emphasis> as the first
argument to the <filename>/sbin/shorewall</filename> and
<filename>/sbin/shorewall-lite</filename> commands.<programlisting><command>shorewall debug restart</command></programlisting>In
most cases, <emphasis role="bold">debug</emphasis> is a synonym for
<emphasis role="bold">trace</emphasis>. The exceptions are:</para>
<itemizedlist>
<listitem>
<para><emphasis role="bold">debug</emphasis> is ignored by the
Shorewall-perl compiler.</para>
</listitem>
<listitem>
<para><emphasis role="bold">debug</emphasis> causes altered
behavior of scripts generated by the Shorewall-perl compiler.
These scripts normally use<command> iptables-restore</command>
to install the Netfilter ruleset but with <emphasis
role="bold">debug</emphasis>, the commands normally passed to
<command>iptables-restore</command> in its input file are passed
individually to <command>iptables</command>. This is a
diagnostic aid which allows identifying the individual command
that is causing <command>iptables-restore</command> to fail; it
should be used when iptables-restore fails when executing a
<command>COMMIT</command> command.</para>
</listitem>
</itemizedlist>
<warning>
<para>The <emphasis role="bold">debug</emphasis> feature is
strictly for problem analysis. When <emphasis
role="bold">debug</emphasis> is used:</para>
<orderedlist>
<listitem>
<para>The firewall is made 'wide open' before the rules are
applied.</para>
</listitem>
<listitem>
<para>The <filename>routestopped</filename> file is not
consulted.</para>
</listitem>
<listitem>
<para>The rules are applied in the canonical
<command>iptables-restore</command> order. So if you need
critical hosts to be always available during start/restart,
you may not be able to use <emphasis
role="bold">debug</emphasis>.</para>
</listitem>
</orderedlist>
</warning>
</blockquote>
</listitem>
<listitem>
<para>If you are unsure if Shorewall is starting successfully or not
then first note that if Shorewall starts successfully, the last
message produced by Shorewall 3.0 is "Shorewall Started" and the last
message produced by Shorewall is "done.":</para>
<blockquote>
<para/>
<programlisting>
Activating Rules...
<emphasis role="bold">done.</emphasis>
gateway:~#</programlisting>
</blockquote>
<para>If you are seeing this message then Shorewall is starting
successfully.</para>
<para>If you are still unsure if Shorewall is starting or not, enter
the following command:</para>
<blockquote>
<programlisting><command>/sbin/shorewall status</command></programlisting>
</blockquote>
<para>If Shorewall has started successfully, you will see output
similar to this:</para>
<blockquote>
<programlisting>Shorewall-4.0.6 Status at gateway - Thu Mar 30 14:07:29 PDT 2008
Shorewall is running
State:Started (Thu Mar 30 14:07:29 PDT 2006)</programlisting>
</blockquote>
<para>If Shorewall has not started properly, you will see output
similar to this:</para>
<blockquote>
<programlisting>Shorewall-4.0.6 Status at gateway - Thu Mar 30 14:08:11 PDT 2008
Shorewall is stopped
State:Stopped (Thu Mar 30 14:08:11 PDT 2006)</programlisting>
</blockquote>
<para>The "State:" refers to the <ulink
url="starting_and_stopping_shorewall.htm#State">Shorewall State
Diagram</ulink>.</para>
</listitem>
<listitem>
<para>If Shorewall is starting successfully and your problem is that
some set of <emphasis role="bold">connections</emphasis> to/from or
through your firewall <emphasis role="bold">isn't working</emphasis>
(examples: local systems can't access the Internet, you can't send
email through the firewall, you can't surf the web from the firewall,
connections that you are certain should be rejected are mysteriously
accepted, etc.) or <emphasis role="bold">you are having problems with
traffic shaping</emphasis> then please perform the following six
steps:</para>
<orderedlist>
<listitem>
<para>Be sure that the LOGFILE setting in<filename>
/etc/shorewall/shorewall.conf</filename> is correct (that it names
the file where 'Shorewall' messages are being logged). See <ulink
url="manpages/shorewall.conf.html">shorewall.conf </ulink>(5) and
the <ulink url="shorewall_logging.html">Shorewall Logging
Article</ulink>.</para>
</listitem>
<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 dump &gt;
/tmp/status.txt</command></para>
</listitem>
<listitem>
<para>Post the <filename>/tmp/status.txt</filename> file as an
attachment compressed with gzip or bzip2.</para>
</listitem>
<listitem>
<para>Describe where you are trying to make the connection from
(IP address) and what host (IP address) you are trying to connect
to.</para>
</listitem>
</orderedlist>
</listitem>
<listitem>
<para>Otherwise:</para>
<para>Shorewall is starting successfully and you have <emphasis
role="bold">no connection problems</emphasis> and you have <emphasis
role="bold">no traffic shaping problems</emphasis>. Your problem is
with performance, logging, etc. Please include the following:</para>
<itemizedlist>
<listitem>
<para>the exact version of Shorewall you are running.</para>
<programlisting><emphasis role="bold">/sbin/shorewall version</emphasis></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>A detailed description of your problem.</para>
</listitem>
</itemizedlist>
</listitem>
</orderedlist>
<itemizedlist>
<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. <emphasis role="bold">Try to
make it easy for us to help you</emphasis>. 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 <emphasis role="bold">give details about what doesn't
work</emphasis>. Reports that say <quote>I followed the directions and
it didn't work</quote> may 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 <emphasis role="bold">do NOT include the output
of</emphasis> <command>iptables -L</command> — the output of <emphasis
role="bold">shorewall show</emphasis> or <command>shorewall
dump</command> is much more useful to us.</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.</para>
</listitem>
<listitem>
<para>Please <emphasis role="bold">do not include Shorewall
configuration files</emphasis> unless you have been specifically asked
to do so. The output of <command>shorewall dump</command> collected as
described above is much more useful.</para>
</listitem>
<listitem>
<para><emphasis role="bold">The list server limits the size of posts
to the lists, 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 acknowledges that the above list was
heavily plagiarized from the excellent LEAF document by <emphasis>Ray
Olszewski</emphasis> found <ulink
url="http://leaf-project.org/index.php?module=pagemaster&amp;PAGE_user_op=view_page&amp;PAGE_id=6&amp;MMN_position=21:21">here</ulink>.</para>
</listitem>
</itemizedlist>
</section>
<section id="Where">
<title>Where to Send your Problem Report or to Ask for Help</title>
<para><emphasis role="bold">If you haven't read the <link
linkend="Guidelines">Problem Reporting Guidelines</link> above, please
read them now — Failure to supply the information that we need will just
delay a solution to your problem.</emphasis></para>
<para><emphasis role="bold">If you run the current development release and
your question involves a feature that is only available in the development
release</emphasis> (see the <ulink url="NewRelease.html">Shorewall Release
Model page</ulink>) then please post your question or problem to the
<ulink url="mailto:shorewall-devel@lists.sourceforge.net">Shorewall
Development Mailing List</ulink>.</para>
<para>Otherwise, please post your question or problem report to the <ulink
url="mailto:shorewall-users@lists.sourceforge.net">Shorewall users mailing
list</ulink>.</para>
<para><emphasis role="bold">IMPORTANT</emphasis>: You must subscribe to
the mailing lists before you will be able to post to them (see links
below).</para>
<para>For <emphasis role="bold">quick questions</emphasis>, there is also
a #shorewall channel at irc.freenode.net.</para>
</section>
<section id="Users">
<title>Subscribing to the Users Mailing List</title>
<para>To Subscribe to the users mailing list go to <ulink
url="https://lists.sourceforge.net/lists/listinfo/shorewall-users">https://lists.sourceforge.net/lists/listinfo/shorewall-users</ulink>.</para>
</section>
<section id="Announce">
<title>Subscribing to the Announce Mailing List</title>
<para>To Subscribe to the announce mailing list (low-traffic,read only) go
to:</para>
<para><ulink
url="https://lists.sourceforge.net/lists/listinfo/shorewall-announce">https://lists.sourceforge.net/lists/listinfo/shorewall-announce</ulink></para>
</section>
<section id="Devel">
<title>Subscribing to the Development Mailing List</title>
<para>To Subscribe to the development mailing list go to <ulink
url="https://lists.sourceforge.net/lists/listinfo/shorewall-devel">https://lists.sourceforge.net/lists/listinfo/shorewall-devel</ulink>.</para>
</section>
<section id="Unsubscribe">
<title>Unsubscribing from Shorewall Mailing Lists</title>
<para>See <ulink url="FAQ.htm#faq98">Shorewall FAQ 98</ulink>.</para>
</section>
<section id="Other">
<title>Other Mailing Lists</title>
<para>For information on other Shorewall mailing lists, go to <ulink
url="http://sourceforge.net/mail/?group_id=22587">http://sourceforge.net/mail/?group_id=22587</ulink>
.</para>
</section>
</article>