Red Hat Linux System Administration 1

Course Overview

This course is designed to give delegates practical experience in the administration of a RedHat Linux System. Covering the Advanced Server and Fedora releases, this course will enable the student to work towards the RedHat RHCT/RHCE qualifications. With a strong emphasis on practical, hands-on training this course will teach the essential administrative tasks required on a Red Hat Linux system.

Introduction

• Administration and course materials
• Course Structure and Agenda
• Delegate and trainer introductions

Session 1

• REDHAT PRODUCT OFFERINGS
• The RedHat Enterprise editions
• RedHat versions currently available
• The RedHat Certification Routes
• The Fedora project
• Hardware Configurations and requirements
• Documentation and Help

Session 2

• INSTALLING RED HAT / FEDORA LINUX
• Installation methods: FTP,HTTP,NFS etc.
• Multiboot configuration issues
• The Anaconda installer
• Passing boot time options
• Expert mode, driver disks and other install features
• Performing the installation
• Firstboot and post installation configuration

Session 3

• AUTOMATING THE INSTALL: KICKSTART
• The kickstart system and it’s operation
• Using Pre and Post kickstart processing
• Kickstart from floppy/CDROM
• Building the install server : NFS, FTP and HTTP
• Automatic Kickstart from DHCP and PXEBoot
• Using and configuring the DHCP/PXEBoot environment

Session 4

• INVESTIGATING THE SYSTEM
• The /proc filesystem
• Investigating hardware
• Investigating bus/devices:lspci,lsusb etc.
• Handling new hardware : kudzu
• Monitoring the essential logfiles
• Using the RedHat tools to administer
• The /etc/sysconfig directory
• dmesg and detecting new hardware

Session 5

• SYSTEM STARTUP/SHUTDOWN AND INITIALISATION
• The boot sequence.
• The lilo and grub boot managers
• Creating an emergency grub floppy
• Re-installing MBR using lilo or grub
• The system V startup script model : init, runlevels
• Control services using chkconfig/RedHat tools
• System shutdown and reboot

Session 6

• FILESYSTEM CONFIGURATION
• The Linux file system basics
• The RedHat Linux Filesytems available
• Disk partitioning: fdisk/parted/qt-parted
• Creating and maintaining Linux file systems.
• Checking and Repairing File systems
• Mount options and operation : /etc/fstab

Session 7

• LVM & RAID
• The Logical Volume Manager (LVM)
• Basic LVM configuration and use
• Extending filesystems under LVM
• Software RAID using Raidtools
• Implementing RAID 0,1 & 5 file systems

Session 8

• USER ADMINISTRATION
• User and group administration.
• Password management and control
• Command Line/Graphical tools for user administration
• Allowing access to privileged commands: sudo
• Setting up/maintaining disk quotas for users

Session 9

• PRINTING UNDER LINUX
• Printing under RedHat using cups
• Administering CUPS using a browser
• Using the system-config-printer tool
• Adding new printer drivers
• Cross platform printing

Session 10

• PROCESS SCHEDULING
• Using at to manage one-off jobs
• Using the vixie cron system
• System crontab files
• Managing your system with System Crontab
• Using anacron for missed jobs

Session 11

• BACKUP AND RESTORE
• Backup and Restore of Linux
• Backing up to tape devices/Hard disk
• Controlling tape devices
• Backup and compression utilities
• Remote backup administration
• How to restore a system from scratch

Session 12

• MANAGING SYSTEM SOFTWARE
• The Redhat Package Management system.
• The YUM/up2date package management tools
• Installing and removing software manually
• RPM queries and verifying packages
• Dependency problems and their resolution
• Creating a yum repository/Updating multiple systems
• Updating Enterprise Linux with up2date

Session 13

• COMPILING KERNELS AND SYSTEM SOFTWARE
• Monolithic and modular kernel design
• Kernel module configuration
• Compiling your own drivers/software
• How to compile and install a custom kernel
• Tuning the kernel : /proc/sys & sysctrl
• Loading a new kernel from an RPM package
• Updating the Boot Managers (LILO/GRUB)

Session 14

• CUSTOMISING AND USING X WINDOWS
• The Windowing Systems available
• Window managers, X and their operation
• Configuring Xfree86/Xorg
• Customising X for security :xauth and ssh operation.
• The font server and it’s operation
• Switching X systems
• Fixing X issues

Session 15

• BASIC NETWORKING
• Device recognition and control
• Configuring networking interfaces
• Using multiple and virtual interfaces
• Configuring your system as a NIS/DHCP/DNS client
• Configuring for routing
• Network tools ifup,mii-tool etc.

Session 16

• TROUBLESHOOTING
• The rescue environment
• Rescue environment utilities and operation
• The networked rescue environment
• Over riding boot levels from grub/lilo
• Disaster recovery distros
• Common boot problems and their resolution