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I have a few questions about the Internet settings (Prefs/Internet)...

1. Where are these Internet settings stored? I could not find anything respective in Sys:prefs/enarchive... There is in Devs:Netinterfaces a text file corresponding the name of my Internet definition, but the date was 2 years old and it did not include all the details I can see in my settings.

2. I noticed recently that some of these settings made by myself, had been changed without my own act! There appeared in the 'Name Resolution' list a totally foreign IP address which I had definitely not put there myself, and the ones I originally put there were gone. Net search showed that the server is owned my ISP, so probably not too much harm from it...

But how is this possible?! Does Roadshow have some automatic routines which can change and save Internet settings without that the user knows anything? Or is it (technically) possible that the ISP can, some way or another, access directly my AmigaOS setting and change them...?

3. Is there a way to protect these setting from this kind of obscure changes, or get at least an alert if something/someone tries to modify them?

I am using AmigaOS 4.1.6, and connect to the net via a 3G modem and A-link WNAP3G router (firewall is on, no changes to the default settings).

Most Internet settings are stored in Devs:Internet.

DNS is dynamically set by DHCP.

You can disable DHCP if you don't want dynamic IP addresses.

The brute force method is Protect Devs:Internet -wd all. But this does not prevent DHCP from configuring your interface dynamically.

See also SYS:Documentation/Roadshow/

Best regards,

Niels

thomasrapp wrote:Most Internet settings are stored in Devs:Internet.

Thanks!-) I found there what I was looking for...

DNS is dynamically set by DHCP.
You can disable DHCP if you don't want dynamic IP addresses.

I had to disable it already a few monts ago and input the DNS IPs manually as my router was shown to work unreliably with the automatic setting. I used it several years until I found the reason (Thanks Niels!-) for this problem... (this was discussed in another thread here).

The brute force method is Protect Devs:Internet -wd all. But this does not prevent DHCP from configuring your interface dynamically.

When this dynamic DHCP is on (which it was not in this case), it does not save any settings, or does it...? The configuration is remade every time when network is started, if I understand right...?

Gregor wrote:When this dynamic DHCP is on (which it was not in this case), it does not save any settings, or does it...? The configuration is remade every time when network is started, if I understand right...?

It doesn't save anything on my system because I keep my system partition write-protected (locked) but you can check the date of settings files to see if any settings were changed on your system.

xenic wrote:It doesn't save anything on my system because I keep my system partition write-protected (locked) ...

Keeping a system partition clean by write-protecting it is a highly recommended move. In case you want to be able to save settingfiles without jeopardising your system partition you could make use of the undervalued command of "MakeLink" to make setting file(s) excisting VIRTUALYY in your system partition, but PHYSICALLY residing somewhere else entirely. Done that for years in an AmigaOS multiboot environment thereby making (appropriate) setting files available to any and all version of the OS without the need of duplication and the hassle of updating all those duplicates in case of a permanent change in any of the settings.

OldFart

xenic wrote:It doesn't save anything on my system because I keep my system partition write-protected (locked) but you can check the date of settings files to see if any settings were changed on your system.

Yes, that is probably the most effective way... I used regularly partition locking in the early times of Amiga, when testing new programs. I had 'lock on' and 'lock off' programmed in the Function keys, to be able to switch it on and off easily.

I tested also protection bits as adviced by 'thomasrapp'. And I noticed that at least Internet-prefs circumvents this 'protection' by first renaming the settings files to xxx.deleted (protection bits do not prevent this) and then creating a new file with the original xxx name! It then gives an error message as it cannot delete the xxx.deleted due to the protection.

Fortunately, if you keep both the xxx and xxx.deleted there, and protect both of them, 'Internet' cannot anymore rename the original - thus the settings are not changed . But as it's last effort, it saves a file named xxx.temp (for some reason only for some of the settings files, not for all of them).

Keeping a system partition clean by write-protecting it is a highly recommended move.

No it isn't, unless you want an actively broken system. Environment variable wont work, appdir wont work, internet prefs wont work (you wonr be able to setup new serveices etc).

To the original point of this thread my best two guesses are that you either updated the DNS and forgot or that you made someother change to internet prefs (such as adding a service) and the DHCP based DNS details were saved at the same time. You claim that you are not using DHCP so for the second to happen you must have switched it on during some twiddling with your preferences.

broadblues wrote: No it isn't, unless you want an actively broken system. Environment variable wont work, appdir wont work, internet prefs wont work (you wonr be able to setup new serveices etc).

Not necessarily true. If a user has menus/AmiDock buttons/keyboard shortcuts for locking/unlocking partitions then the user gets to decide what gets written to disk because AmigaDOS wiill throw up a "disk write protected" requester so the user can either unlock the disk and retry or cancel the write. As far a AppDir goes, I disabled that a long time ago because it was just filling my system partition with commands & programs that I tested from RAM: and and then renamed or removed. One of the benefits of using AmigaDOS is user control. Just because the user is in control instead of a program doesn't mean the sytem is "actively broken". Granted, write protecting the system and leaving it that way could present problems.

P.S. Sorry for going O.T.

As far a AppDir goes, I disabled that a long time ago because it was just filling my system partition with commands & programs that I tested from RAM: and and then renamed or removed.

No, it doesn't do that. Ram: is explictly ignored by the appdir server.