I dug my self into a hole... for the last 3 months I have been running 5 servers without a clue on how to configure them. Now I'm worried that my computer is a zombie.
"netstat -ntulp" says they are all running. Is there any way to shut them down without having to get a Ph. D, thanks. I don't want to uninstall them, I just want time to learn how to configure them.
When I was in windows I got used to installing anything that didn't look like a virus. If anything went wrong, I disabled it or reconfigured it, but I can't seem to find the "OFF" button for services in linux.
Which Linux distribution are you using (Ubuntu, CentOS, Fedora etc.)?
There is for sure a way to disable unneeded services, but it differs on different versions of Linux. For example, Fedora and CentOS have a chkconfig command, whereas on Ubuntu you will probably use the update-rc.d command.
You can start/stop services in linux like this: /etc/init.d/service stop (or start or restart)
ie: restarting apache:
/etc/init.d/httpd restart
Check this
post for more info about apache
There are some tools that check for nasties - rkhunter and chkrootkit are two.
Most common exploits rely on unpatched software or vulnerable web utilities installed. Post the output of "ps -ef" and someone can spot things out of the ordinary.
I think the final point is questioning your role in regards your goals - did you want to run these servers, or were you asked to run them for someone/some purpose? Sometimes it helps to understand the question before looking at your servers and trying to work out if they're the right answer.