Introduction to Linux System Administration

AUDIENCE: 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.
PREREQUISITES: This course assumes the delegate has already gained a good understanding of basic UNIX/LINUX commands, e.g. from attending our LINIX Essentials course, or our UNIX Essentials
DURATION: 3 days. Hands on.
OBJECTIVES: The course is based on the latest versions of SuSE and Red Hat. 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
- 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 and GRUB
- 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
COURSE CONTENT:
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

Understand the roles of an administrator
The superuser, SU, System Admin Tools, Denying root access

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

Understand Linux Documentation
man, HOWTOs, Guides, LDP, the info command

Manage users and groups
useradd, usermod, userdel, groupadd, groupmod, groupdel, /etc/passwd, /etc/shadow, /etc/group.
Privileged users, the sudo command, customising shells with .bash_profile and .bashrc

Maintain and Interpret System Logs
What and where are my logs, and how/when to trim them.

Fully understand and manage hardware
What hardware do I have? How to add/remove hardware. (eg disks, modems etc). Device Files
What are they, what do they contain, how to create them, and what are they called?
The dmesg command. The hwconf file

Fully understand and manage disk filesystems
The Linux/UNIX directory layout. Partitions (primary and logical). Filesystem types, differences between ext2 and ext3. Raw and block useage. Creating a new partition, putting a filesystem on it, mounting it, checking it''s mounted, getting it mounted automatically at boot time. The /etc/fstab file. Mounting/ejecting cdroms and floppies. Unmounting. Filesystem maintenance, monitoring disk usage, how full is too full? Expanding/reducing filesystems, fixing broken filesystems.

Understand and control processes
The process tree, ps, kill, pkill, pstree, top, other performance and monitoring tools.

Implement job scheduling using at and cron
at, crontab, /etc/crontab, anacron

Install, remove, list and verify software
rpm with all the options.

Upgrade to a new Kernel.
Where, when, why and how?
Be able to backup and restore a Linux system
dump, cpio, tar, gzip, dd

Understand and configure the boot loaders LILO and GRUB
Difference between LILO and GRUB. Installing a new loader. Switching between LILO and GRUB

Understand 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 telnet). The shutdown commands. Enabling/disabling Ctrl-Alt-Del. Allowing non-root users to shutdown.

Basic Firewall Configuration
Disabling insecure connections, (eg telnet, ftp), and using the ssh commands.

Basic Network Configuration.
Displaying/changing hostname, IP, netmask and Broadcast Addresses. Using DHCP.
Configuring a Modem, setting up a Web Server.

Recover from a variety of boot problems
Breaking in with no root password, recovering from both minor and major boot problems. Booting from floppy/CD-ROM.

Share files and printers between Linux and Microsoft machines
Basic SAMBA configuration

Manage all aspects of printer administration
Local, remote and network printers

Install a Linux System