Linux System Administration

This course is aimed at anyone who will be in a position of administrating a Linux based system or in need of a fuller knowledge of the tools and methods available for administration within Linux.

This course is aimed at anyone who will be in a position of administrating a Linux based system or in need of a fuller knowledge of the tools and methods available for administration within Linux.

This course assumes that delegates have already gained a good understanding of basic Linux (or UNIX) commands. Attending our UNIX & Linux Essentials course is recommended.

The course is based on the latest versions of Enterprise Linux (including SUSE, Red Hat and CentOS), however, most of the subjects are applicable to any Linux flavour.

On completion of the course delegates will be able to:

• Know Linux history, good/bad points
• Understand the roles of an administrator
• Configure X Windows/KDE/Gnome
• Understand Linux documentation
• Manage users and groups
• Maintain and interpret System Logs
• Fully understand and manage hardware
• Fully understand and manage disk filesystems
• Understand and control processes
• Implement job scheduling using at and cron
• Install, remove, list and verify software
• Upgrade to a new Kernel
• Be able to backup and restore a Linux system
• Understand and configure the boot loaders LILO, ELILO and GRUB2
• Understand Boot and Shutdown procedures, including starting/stopping subsystems
• Basic Firewall configuration
• Basic Network configuration
• Perform basic troubleshooting
• Recover from a variety of boot problems
• Share files and printers between Linux and Microsoft machines using SAMBA
• Manage all aspects of printer administration
• Install a Linux system

Linux Overview
Define and identify origins, benefits, drawbacks, and uses of the Linux operating system
Differences between Linux and UNIX
Differences between the Linux distributions

The Role of an Administrator
The superuser, SU
System Admin Tools
Denying root access

Configure X Windows
Configure, start, disable and troubleshoot X Windows
Virtual Terminals
The Gnome and KDE Interfaces

Linux Documentation
man
HOWTOs
Guides
LDP
The info command

User and Group Management
useradd, usermod, userdel
groupadd, groupmod, groupdel
/etc/passwd, /etc/shadow, /etc/group
Privileged users
The sudo command
Customising shells with .bash_profile and .bashrc

Maintaining and Interpreting System Logs
What and where are logs
How/when to trim logs

Understanding and Managing Hardware
What hardware do I have?
How to add/remove hardware (e.g., disks)
Device Files - What are they, what do they contain, how to create them, and what are they called?
The dmesg command
The hwconf file

Understanding and Managing Disk Filesystems
The Linux/UNIX directory layout
Partitions (primary and logical)
Filesystem types and the differences between ext2, ext3 and ext4
Raw and block usage
Creating a new partition and formatting it for a filesystem
Mounting and unmounting a filesystem and checking it's mounted correctly
Mounting automatically at boot time
The /etc/fstab file
Mounting/ejecting cdroms
Filesystem maintenance (e.g., monitoring disk usage, how full is too full?)
Expanding/reducing filesystems
Fixing broken filesystems
Creating and managing software RAID

Managing the Linux Logical Volume Manager
Why Logical Volume management
Creating volume groups
Creating logical volumes
Installing filesystems in logical volumes
Extending volume groups
Extending logical volumes
Mirroring
Changing volume group characteristics

Process Control
The process tree
ps
kill
pkill
top
Other performance and monitoring tools

Job Scheduling using At and Cron
at
crontab
/etc/crontab
anacron

Software and Package Management
Installing, removing, listing and verifing software
rpm with all the options

Upgrading to a new Kernel
Where, when, why and how?
Backup and restore a Linux system
Dump, cpio, tar, gzip and dd

Configuring Boot Loaders (LILO and GRUB)
Difference between LILO and GRUB
Installing a new loader
Switching between LILO and GRUB

The Boot and Shutdown Procedures, Including Starting/Stopping Subsystems
init and the /etc/rc.d directories and files
Permanently and/or temporarily starting/stopping subsystems (eg ssh)
The shutdown commands
Enabling/disabling Ctrl-Alt-Del
Allowing non-root users to shutdown

Basic Firewall Configuration
Disabling insecure connections (e.g., telnet)
Using secure connections (e.g., ssh)

Basic Network Configuration
Displaying and changing hostnames, IP addresses, netmasks and broadcast addresses
Using DHCP
Configuring a Modem
Setting up a Web Server

Recovering from Boot Problems
Breaking in with no root password
Recovering from both minor and major boot problems
Booting from CD/DVD/Rescue Media

Sharing Files and Printers between Linux and Windows Machines
SAMBA installation. configuration and use

Printer Administration
Managing local, remote and networked printers

Installing a Linux System
Installing bespoke and custom systems
Installation using Kickstart (RHEL) or AutoYAST (SUSE)