Linux Administration
Duration: 3 days

Back to course list Home
Synopsis This course is meant to transform the novice Linux user into a knowledgeable administrator. Get a deeper insight into the Linux operating system through related administrative tasks, such as user management, software installation and maintenance, network administration, backups and more. This course focuses on Linux, but variants are offered for Solaris and other flavors of UNIX
Target Audience System Administrators, or people who want to become system administrators.
Prerequisites
Objectives
  • Understand user management in Linux
  • Perform basic performance tuning
  • Set up, modify, or remove software installations
  • Set up basic networking
  • Manage WWW, SSH and DNS services
Exercises This course allocates plenty of time for hands-on practice.
The hands-on exercises include:
  • Adding/Removing users and setting their profiles/preferences
  • Installing and removing software - both packages and sources
  • Setting up Linux as a TCP/IP client
  • Setting up Linux as a Web Server
Modules
1. User Management
2 hours

  • Users and groups in UNIX and Linux
    • /etc/passwd and /etc/shadow
      • /etc/group
        • Adding and removing users
          • Setting user profiles and startup files
            • The various Shells (bash, tcsh, zsh..)
              • Logging into AD or LDAP from Linux
                2. Process Management
                2 hours
                		Maintaining system performance while dealing with multiple processes and tasks to execute.
                • Process basics
                  • Using the ps(1) command effectively
                    • Using top(1)
                      • Miscellaneous process utilities - lsof, fuser..
                        • Signals
                          • The /proc filesystem
                            3. Logging & Auditing
                            1 hours

                            • System Logs
                              • syslogd, syslogng, and rsyslogd
                                • Remote logging (via UDP 514)
                                  • Auditing (auditd)
                                    4. The Boot Process
                                    2 hours

                                    • The BIOS
                                      • The BootLoader - we focus on the bootloader of choice, GRUB, explaining:
                                        • How GRUB works
                                          • Installing multiple OSes side by side
                                            • Password protecting the boot setup
                                              • Advanced GRUB options
                                              • Kernel startup - We explain the flow of the Kernel startup, pointing out the various subsystems, and their interrelations.
                                                • RamDisks - explaining InitRD, InitRamFS, and how to create custom startup disks
                                                  • Init - the user-mode startup: Init and its successor, event.d
                                                    5. Software Management
                                                    1 hours
                                                    		We cover the two ways of installing software on Linux:
                                                    • Installing software automatically with RPM
                                                      • Installing software even more automatically with YUM
                                                        • Installing manually - TarBalls (.tar.gz)
                                                          • Troubleshooting installations and dependencies
                                                            6. Network Management
                                                            2 hours
                                                            		This module focuses on basic networking in Linux:
                                                            • Interface configuration with ifconfig
                                                              • Subnet masks and default routes
                                                                • Automatic configuration with DHCP
                                                                  • Interface aliasing (multiple IPs)
                                                                    • Name services, NIS and DNS clients
                                                                      • Miscellaneous network commands
                                                                        • ping
                                                                          • ip
                                                                            • nc
                                                                              • netstat
                                                                              7. Network Server Management
                                                                              2 hours

                                                                              • InetD and xInetD
                                                                                • Adding custom services
                                                                                  • Hardening services
                                                                                    8. Web Server Management
                                                                                    2 hours

                                                                                    • Apache - the HTTP server of choice
                                                                                      • Apache modules and extensions
                                                                                        • Installing Apache automatically
                                                                                          • Compiling and customizing Apache
                                                                                            • httpd.conf basics
                                                                                              • .htaccess
                                                                                                • Proxying through Apache
                                                                                                  9. SSH
                                                                                                  2 hours
                                                                                                  		SSH is the de facto standard for remote access to Linux and UNIX alike. Whereas many use it on a daily basis, relatively few are aware of its advanced features and sheer power for strong authentication, on-demand VPN-tunnels, and X11/VNC support.
                                                                                                  • Why you should move immediately to SSH
                                                                                                    • SSH Clients and Servers
                                                                                                      • Configuring SSHD
                                                                                                        • Advanced Configuration - Certificates
                                                                                                          • Advanced Configuration - VPNs & Port Forwarding
                                                                                                            10. Kernel management
                                                                                                            2 hours
                                                                                                            		Even without being a Kernel developer, or knowing anything about reading C source code, a good administrator can eke out considerable performance gains simply by recompiling the Kernel. In this chapter we present a few simple tweaks that can boost performance by 10-20% or even more. We also explain the module related commands
                                                                                                            • Basic overview of Kernel functions
                                                                                                              • The modutils - lsmod, insmod, rmmod
                                                                                                                • Module dependencies (modprobe)
                                                                                                                  • Compiling and optimizing the Kernel