is there a way to find my ip addres of my linux ftp server when im on the road im told it may change form time to time.... im a newbe to the linux world so be discriptive Thanks Tim

This is not a linux problem it's a ISP problem. But linux is friendly and allows you to set up a cronjob. (man cron) In your cronjob you can send an e-mail to yourself (say at joe@yahoo.com; it's free) containing the current ip-address. ' ifconfig -a > x mail -s ip joe@yahoo.com < x '

i know that im woring the sytem here do i need to have a mail server set up to do this

Have you looked in to using dynamic DNS? This is a method of attaching a domain name (e.g. mylinuxbox.dyndns.org) to a computer where the IP address may change (e.g. if you are allocated a DHCP IP address by your ISP). A daemon on the Linux box then periodically checks the IP address (say every 10 minutes or so), and sends an update to the dynamic DNS provider if the IP address changes telling them to update their records with your new IP address. You can then just do an "ftp mylinuxbox.dyndns.org" and should be directed to your Linux box even if the IP address has changed. See http://www.dyndns.org/ for more information. Cheers Rick

The mail service is active by default in most linux systems, if not, just activate the service "sendmail", this should allow to send mail.

the Linux ftp sever is not conected to the modem i have a linksys router/hub so it acts ans a fire wall and does not give me the actual ip adress is there a way to get it buy using a mac address to get the ip address that the modem is using???

The only way, I can come up with right away is something like this forum. When you try to post a reply, it tells you your IP address. You can actually set up a web site, that does the same and maybe some "guestbook" software allows you to register IP-addresses and to connect it with some other user information. I know trhis is not a solution, just a thought