Starting and Configuring the NetControl Master Server

This chapter describes the NetControl master server and provides procedures for starting, stopping, and controlling access to NetControl.

Understanding NetControl

NetControl is the master server that starts and stops all other services. NetControl lets you manually start and stop services through the Service Configuration Manager (SCM), or if a service has been configured to start automatically, NetControl listens at that service's port number, and starts it whenever a request comes in on the service's port.

Because NetControl starts everything else, it is recommended that you start NetControl before you run the Service Configuration Manager (SCM), which is described in Chapter 3.

Starting and Stopping NetControl

If the SCM is not running, you can start and stop NetControl from a command line. When the SCM is running, you can start and stop NetControl from the SCM.

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Note Before NetControl can be started, you must have configured services, either during installation or after installation using the ddm_xconfig or ddm_config utility (located in the MultiNet/bin subdirectory in your installation directory). For more information, see the installation procedure in the chapter titled "Installing the Cisco DNS/DHCP Manager and Cisco Server Suite 1000".

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Starting and Stopping NetControl with a Command Line

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Note To start or stop NetControl, you must have root access.

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To start NetControl:

Step 1 Log in as root (or equivalent).

Step 2 Enter the command:

installation_dir/MultiNet/bin/netcontrol

where installation_dir is the path in which you installed the Cisco DNS/DHCP Manager or Cisco Server Suite.

Caution If you stop NetControl, all other services stop as well.

To stop NetControl:

Step 1 Login in as root (or equivalent).

Step 2 Enter the command:

installation_dir/MultiNet/bin/stop_netcontrol

where installation_dir is the directory in which you installed the Cisco DNS/DHCP Manager or Cisco Server Suite 1000.

Starting and Stopping NetControl from the SCM

To start NetControl from the SCM:

Step 1 Start the SCM.

Step 2 Choose NetControl from the Available Services box.

Step 3 Click on Start.

Caution If you stop NetControl, all other services stop as well.

To stop NetControl from the SCM:

Step 1 Start the SCM.

Step 2 Choose NetControl from the Available Services box.

Step 3 Click on Stop.

Controlling Access to NetControl

The SCM lets you control access to NetControl and other services. You can accept or reject connections from specified networks and individual hosts, specify the message sent when a connection is refused, and log accepted and refused connections.

By default, NetControl is configured to accept connections only from the SCM, to reject connections from all other networks and hosts, and to send a message when a connection is refused. The default message is:

000 Access to NetControl server denied

For directions on changing the access control parameters, see the chapter titled "Configuring Services with the Service Configuration Manager".