Starting network services

Kali Linux comes with several network services which may be useful in various situations and are disabled by default. In this recipe, we will cover the steps to set up and start each service using various methods.

Getting ready

The following requirement is needed in order to continue:

• A connection to the network with a valid IP address

How to do it...

Let's begin the process of starting our default service:

1. Start the Apache server:

   service apache2 start
   

   We can verify the server is running by browsing to the localhost address.

2. To start the Secure Shell (SSH) service, SSH keys need to be generated for the first time:

   sshd-generate
   

3. Start the Secure Shell server:

   service ssh start
   

4. To verify the server is up and listening, use the netstat command:

   netstat -tpan | grep 22
   

5. Start the FTP server:

   service pure-ftpd start
   

6. To verify the FTP server, use the following command:

   netstat -ant | grep 21
   

   Note

   You can also use the ps-ef | grep 21 command.

7. To stop a service, just issue the following command:

   service <servicename> stop
   

   Where <servicename> stands for the network service we want to stop. For example:

   service apache2 stop
   

8. To enable a service at boot time, use the following command:

   update-rc.d –f <servicename> defaults
   

   Where <servicename> stands for the network service we want at boot time. For example:

   update-rc.d –f ssh defaults
   

   Note

   You can also do this from the Services menu in Kali Linux. From the Start menu, go to Kali Linux | Services.