Linux System Administration Part 2

Overview
This course follows on from course 420 to provide advanced system and network administration skills for Linux.
The course is closely aligned with the objectives of the Linux Professional Institute's examination 102.

Intended Audience
The course is intended for experienced Linux users wishing to obtain comprehensive, advanced skills to install and administer Linux as part of a corporate network environment. The course is appropriate for system administrators, network managers, Linux consultants, internet service providers, systems and network integrators, second-level help desk support staff, and anyone responsible for the deployment of Linux as part of a corporate infrastructure.
Attendees need significant experience of using Linux prior to attending this course. You should be comfortable using a wide range of Linux tools and utilities at the command line and understand concepts such as the file system, the Linux security model, and processes. Courses 410 and 420 provide adequate background. Some prior knowledge of PC hardware and TCP/IP networking would be an advantage but is not essential.

Key Skills
After completing this course you will be able to:

• Add hardware such as SCSI disks, network adaptors, sound cards and modems
• Install new software from source or from binary packages
• Build a custom kernel
• Install and configure the X window system
• Establish connectivity to a TCP/IP network
• Provide network services including sendmail, apache, NFS, and DNS
• Secure the system using TCP wrappers and other tools

Practical Work
Extensive workshops throughout the course provide practical experience of system and network installation and configuration in a safe, controlled environment. Exercises include:

• Building and installing a custom kernel
• Installing the apache web server from source
• Adding packages using the RedHat package manager
• Connecting the system to a TCP/IP network
• Serving files to Linux and Windows systems
• Setting up a DNS server
• Configuring TCP Wrappers to limit and log service access

Course Contents
Linux Installation and package management

• Designing a partitioning scheme
• Installing Linux
• Installing a boot manager for multi-boot scenarios
• Unpacking, configuring and building software from source "tarballs"
• Debian and RedHat package management systems

The Linux Kernel

• Managing loadable kernel modules
• Building and installing a new kernel

PC Hardware and architecture

• Changing BIOS settings
• Determining IRQs and I/O addresses
• Setting up SCSI disk devices using the SCSI BIOS
• Low-level configuration of network, modem and sound cards

The X Window System

• Architecture of the X Window System
• Setting up and tuning the X server
• Tuning the X server for the graphics card and monitor
• Selecting and customising the window manager / desktop environment

TCP/IP Connectivity

• Understanding the protocols: TCP, UDP, ICMP, PPP
• Setting up an IP address, netmask, default route and gateway
• Configuring dial-out connections with PPP
• Standard TCP/IP tools: ftp, telnet, ping, dig ...

Networking Services

• The inetd and xinetd 'super-servers'
• sendmail without tears
• Establishing a baseline Apache (web) service
• Managing NFS and Samba file sharing
• Configuring host name resolution
• Providing name resolution with DNS

System Security

• TCP_wrappers
• Hardening the system
• Verifying the integrity of new packages
• Monitoring CERT and BUGTRAQ postings