OpenSUSE 13.1 Services (which ones need to be running and which canbe disabled if not used?)

English Install/Boot/Login
#1

I first (on 26.12.13) installed 13.1 (i586) from install DVD media and
chose the XFCE DE and after initial first reboot, I left the OS alone
for a couple of days. When next I tried to boot into the new 13.1 OS, I
ran into some boot hang issues that I could not fix easily and I had to
take some, IMO, drastic actions in order to overcome it.

The following are the basics steps I took to fix the boot hang:

  1. Disabled all networking services and all others I assumed are not
    necessary for my basic setup running on a standalone laptop and mostly
    using a MBB connection to connect to the net (not using any printers,
    scanners, bluetooth devices or networks of any kind).

  2. uninstalled all apparmor packages.

  3. Installed Kde4 via pattern selection. At this stage I was able to
    boot normally and I started to enable networking services in order to
    obtain a MBB (and ethernet) connection and allow the firewall to work.

  4. I then completely removed xfce and now have an almost pure KDE4 DE
    (with some extra Gnome 3 apps and their dependencies).

These are the current service running on my system:
linux-xxxx:~ # service -s
after-local.service loaded active exited
cron.service loaded active running
cycle.service loaded active exited
dbus.service loaded active running
getty@tty1.service loaded active running
kmod-static-nodes.service loaded active exited
ModemManager.service loaded active running
NetworkManager.service loaded active running
polkit.service loaded active running
postfix.service loaded active running
rc-local.service loaded active exited
rsyslog.service loaded active running
rtkit-daemon.service loaded active running
smpppd.service loaded active running
SuSEfirewall2.service loaded active exited
SuSEfirewall2_init.service loaded active exited
systemd-fsck@dev-disk-by…service loaded active exited
systemd-journald.service loaded active running
systemd-logind.service loaded active running
systemd-random-seed.service loaded active exited
systemd-readahead-collect.service loaded active exited
systemd-readahead-replay.service loaded active exited
systemd-remount-fs.service loaded active exited
systemd-sysctl.service loaded active exited
systemd-tmpfiles-setup-dev.service loaded active exited
systemd-tmpfiles-setup.service loaded active exited
systemd-udev-root-symlink.service loaded active exited
systemd-udev-settle.service loaded active exited
systemd-udev-trigger.service loaded active exited
systemd-udevd.service loaded active running
systemd-update-utmp.service loaded active exited
systemd-user-sessions.service loaded active exited
systemd-vconsole-setup.service loaded active exited
udisks2.service loaded active running
upower.service loaded active running
user@0.service loaded active running
user@1001.service loaded active running
xdm.service loaded active running
linux-xxxx:~ #

Lastly, I did a full update again (first was on xfce) and discovered a
serious issue with Firefox, Thunderbird and Libre Office developing a
long lag when launching. At this stage I was planning on giving up on
13.1 but yesterday I decided to play around with it some more and to
install extra TT fonts (msttfonts and some others I need) and the lag
disappeared afterward. I am guessing/assuming that running the
fonts-config during font install probably fixed a problem that occurred
during the large update process but I have no real clue what fixed the
launch hang of the above applications.

Now that I am basically happy with my openSUSE 13.1 KDE4 OS and starting
to fine-tune it, I need to know what services are needed to be running
on a no-thrills install like mine.

#2

On 2014-01-09 10:44, jmartini wrote:
> I first (on 26.12.13) installed 13.1 (i586) from install DVD media and
> chose the XFCE DE and after initial first reboot, I left the OS alone
> for a couple of days. When next I tried to boot into the new 13.1 OS, I
> ran into some boot hang issues that I could not fix easily and I had to
> take some, IMO, drastic actions in order to overcome it.
>
> The following are the basics steps I took to fix the boot hang:
> 1. Disabled all networking services and all others I assumed are not
> necessary for my basic setup running on a standalone laptop and mostly
> using a MBB connection to connect to the net (not using any printers,
> scanners, bluetooth devices or networks of any kind).

which exactly?

>
> 2. uninstalled all apparmor packages.
>
> 3. Installed Kde4 via pattern selection. At this stage I was able to
> boot normally and I started to enable networking services in order to
> obtain a MBB (and ethernet) connection and allow the firewall to work.

I don’t understand how you say you disabled all network services, yet
you install, update, etc… meaning you do have network.

What is MBB?

> 4. I then completely removed xfce and now have an almost pure KDE4 DE
> (with some extra Gnome 3 apps and their dependencies).

Some KDE components require network during startup (not boot), or they hang.

> Now that I am basically happy with my openSUSE 13.1 KDE4 OS and starting
> to fine-tune it, I need to know what services are needed to be running
> on a no-thrills install like mine.

Nobody really knows. I stopped caring long ago :slight_smile:

Nothing in your list pops-up as an obvious candidate for removal.

Suggestion: change your from address to forum_login_name at
no-mx.forums.opensuse.org - so that it is recognized by the web side,
when it comes back.

–
Cheers / Saludos,

Carlos E. R.
(from 12.3 x86_64 “Dartmouth” at Telcontar)

#3

On 10/01/14 01:18, Carlos E. R. wrote:
> On 2014-01-09 10:44, jmartini wrote:
>> I first (on 26.12.13) installed 13.1 (i586) from install DVD media and
>> chose the XFCE DE and after initial first reboot, I left the OS alone
>> for a couple of days. When next I tried to boot into the new 13.1 OS, I
>> ran into some boot hang issues that I could not fix easily and I had to
>> take some, IMO, drastic actions in order to overcome it.
>>
>> The following are the basics steps I took to fix the boot hang:
>> 1. Disabled all networking services and all others I assumed are not
>> necessary for my basic setup running on a standalone laptop and mostly
>> using a MBB connection to connect to the net (not using any printers,
>> scanners, bluetooth devices or networks of any kind).
>
> which exactly?
disabled and then re-enabled (after boot hang cleared)
dbus-org.freedesktop.ModemManager1
dbus-org.freedesktop.nm-dispatcher (now enabled but inactive)
ModemManager
network
NetworkManager
NetworkManager-dispatcher (now enabled but inactive)
NetworkManger-wait-online (now enabled but inactive)
SuSEfirewall2
SuSEfirewall2_init
SuSEfirewall2_setup
wpa_supllicant (now enabled but inactive … not using wifi at present)

disabled and left that way
avahi-daemon
avahi-dnsconfd
mysql
ntp
nscd
nfs
openvpn@
rpcbind
rsyncd
sshd

**smpppd (disabled active)

The following few below are all disabled and inactive:
accounts-daemon (**I probably should enable this service)
atd
auditd
autofs
autovt@
autoyast-initscripts

>> 2. uninstalled all apparmor packages.
>>
>> 3. Installed Kde4 via pattern selection. At this stage I was able to
>> boot normally and I started to enable networking services in order to
>> obtain a MBB (and ethernet) connection and allow the firewall to work.
>
> I don’t understand how you say you disabled all network services, yet
> you install, update, etc… meaning you do have network.
I installed from DVD and point 3 is clear that I first re-enabled
networking services in order to obtain a working connection.

Secondly, even during original boot hang I was able to do ctrl+alt+f1
and get to console mode, login as root and run startx
and have a root GUI to do various tasks (e.g. connect to the net to do
updates
or install extra software from online repos, enable or disable services
in yast2, and etc.).

> What is MBB?
Acronym for Mobile Broadband (e.g. 3G/4G).

>> 4. I then completely removed xfce and now have an almost pure KDE4 DE
>> (with some extra Gnome 3 apps and their dependencies).
>
> Some KDE components require network during startup (not boot), or they hang.

OK but that is not a major issue for me, as far as I am aware.

> Nobody really knows. I stopped caring long ago :slight_smile:
Nobody really knows what services openSUSE 13.1 needs to run or
I need to run? :slight_smile:

> Nothing in your list pops-up as an obvious candidate for removal.
But is there anything that should be running on a non-networked
desktop/laptop install? After doing some online reading
(http://www.linuxquestions.org/questions/linux-general-1/daemon-
accounts-412852/), I think I should enable ‘accounts-daemon’.

Thanks for your response Carlos.

Cheers

PS: The following are a few links I discovered that could be of some use
to someone wanting to optimise running services on their OS:

  1. openSUSE 13.1 Tips, Tricks, and Tweaks
    http://www.tweakhound.com/2013/12/01/opensuse-13-1-tips-tricks-and-tweaks/

  2. Securing a Linux desktop part 1: removing unwanted services
    http://www.ihackforfun.eu/index.php?title=improve-security-by-removing-services&more=1&c=1&tb=1&pb=1

  3. which F18 services can be disabled to speedup boot?
    https://ask.fedoraproject.org/question/23687/which-f18-services-can-be-disabled-to-speedup-boot/

#4

On 2014-01-10 03:15, jmartini wrote:

> disabled and then re-enabled (after boot hang cleared)

That’s a lot.

>> Some KDE components require network during startup (not boot), or they
>> hang.
>
> OK but that is not a major issue for me, as far as I am aware.

Some people have reported hangs. I thought that might be your initial issue.

>> Nobody really knows. I stopped caring long ago :slight_smile:
> Nobody really knows what services openSUSE 13.1 needs to run or
> I need to run? :slight_smile:

There is no openSUSE comprehensive documentation on what services are
needed for what and which can be safely removed on what circumstances,
to my knowledge.

For instance, you have disabled mysql, but some KDE services do use mysql.

You disable things like atd, but what for? It does nothing unless you
use it.

Or nscd, it speeds things up.

–
Cheers / Saludos,

Carlos E. R.
(from 12.3 x86_64 “Dartmouth” at Telcontar)

#5

On 10/01/14 13:33, Carlos E. R. wrote:
> On 2014-01-10 03:15, jmartini wrote:
> That’s a lot.
It was quicker to do that than mucking around and disabling services one
by one. At least it eliminated the intel graphics driver as a possible
cause very quickly.

> Some people have reported hangs. I thought that might be your initial issue.
Ok.

> There is no openSUSE comprehensive documentation on what services are
> needed for what and which can be safely removed on what circumstances,
> to my knowledge.
That is true and I found an openSUSE WIKI with only three services
listed but there were good guides previously (for 11.4 and prior) and I
followed some of them to workout what I can disable.

> For instance, you have disabled mysql, but some KDE services do use mysql.
> You disable things like atd, but what for? It does nothing unless you
> use it. Or nscd, it speeds things up.

Thanks for the tips and I have now enabled them.

Here is another link I found that may be of use to someone in order to
disable unneeded services:
http://www.tuxradar.com/content/banish-your-daemons

Cheers