Here is the way to disable selinux:

1-Edit /etc/selinux/config and set the SELINUX variable to 'disabled'
2-Use the setenforce command to disable on-the-fly

With solution 1, your changes are permanent but only effective if you reboot the machine.

With solution 2, your changes are NOT permanent but effective immediately.

Hope this clears it up :-).

taken from : http://www.linuxquestions.org