Using and Administering Linux: Volume 1 (eBook)

Zero to SysAdmin: Getting Started

David Both (Autor)

eBook Download: PDF

2019 | 1st ed.
XXXV, 629 Seiten
Apress (Verlag)
978-1-4842-5049-5 (ISBN)

Infos

Become a Linux sysadmin and expert user of Linux, even with no previous Linux experience and learn to manage complex systems with ease.  Volume 1 of this three volume training course introduces operating systems in general and Linux in particular. It briefly explores the The Linux Philosophy for SysAdmins in preparation for the rest of the course. This book provides you with the tools necessary for mastering user management; installing, updating, and deleting software; and using command line tools to do performance tuning and basic problem determination.

You'll begin by creating a virtual network and installing an instance of Fedora - a popular and powerful Linux distribution - on a VirtualBox VM that can be used for all of the experiments on an existing Windows or Linux computer. You'll then move on to the basics of using the Xfce GUI desktop and the many tools Linux provides for working on the command line including virtual consoles, various terminal emulators, BASH, and other shells.

Explore data streams and the Linux tools used to manipulate them, and learn about the Vim text editor, which is indispensable to advanced Linux users and system administrators, and be introduced to some other text editors. You'll also see how to install software updates and new software, learn additional terminal emulators, and some advanced shell skills. Examine the sequence of events that take place as the computer boots and Linux starts up, configure your shell to personalize it in ways that can seriously enhance your command line efficiency, and delve into all things file and filesystems.

What You Will Learn

• Install Fedora Linux and basic configuration of the Xfce desktop
• Access the root user ID, and the care that must be taken when working as root
• Use Bash and other shells in the Linux virtual consoles and terminal emulators
• Create and modify system configuration files with Use the Vim text editor
• Explore administrative tools available to root that enable you to manage users, filesystems, processes, and basic network communications
• Configure the boot and startup sequences

Who This Book Is For

Anyone who wants to learn Linux as an advanced user and system administrator at the command line while using the GUI desktop to leverage productivity. 

David Both is an Open Source Software and GNU/Linux advocate, trainer, writer, and speaker. He has been working with Linux and Open Source Software for more than 20 years and has been working with computers for over 45 years.  He is a strong proponent of and evangelist for the 'Linux Philosophy for System Administrators.' David has been in the IT industry for over forty years.

He worked for IBM for 21 years and, while working as a Course Development Representative in Boca Raton, FL, in 1981, wrote the training course for the first IBM PC. He has taught RHCE classes for Red Hat and has worked at MCI Worldcom, Cisco, and the State of North Carolina. In most of the places he has worked since leaving IBM in 1995, he has taught classes on Linux ranging from Lunch'n'Learns to full five day courses. Helping others learn about Linux and open source software is one of his great pleasures.

David had some amazing teachers and mentors in his 40 years in IT and more than 20 years working with Linux.  At their core, Linux and open source in general are about sharing and helping others and about contributing to the community. These books, along with 'The Linux philosophy for SysAdmins,' are a continuation of his desire to pass on his knowledge and to provide mentoring to anyone interested in learning about Linux.

David is the author of The Linux Philosophy for SysAdmins (Apress, 2018) and can be found on Twitter @linuxgeek46. 

Inhalt

Table of Contents 5
About the Author 18
About the Technical Reviewer 19
Acknowledgments 20
Introduction 21
Chapter 1: Introduction 32
Objectives 32
About Linux 32
The birth of Windows 34
Black box syndrome 34
The birth of Linux 36
The open box 37
The Linux Truth 38
Knowledge 39
Flexibility 40
Stability 41
Scalability 42
Security 42
Freedom 43
Our software rights 43
Longevity 44
Keep the hardware relevant 45
Resist malware 45
Should I be a SysAdmin? 46
About this course 48
About the experiments 49
What to do if the experiments do not work 51
Terminology 52
How to access the command line 52
Chapter summary 53
Exercises 53
Chapter 2: Introduction to Operating Systems 54
Objectives 54
Choice – Really! 54
What is an operating system? 55
Hardware 56
Motherboard 56
The processor 57
Peripherals 60
The operating system 61
The definition 61
Typical operating system functions 62
Memory management 63
Multitasking 63
Multiuser 64
Process management 65
Interprocess communication 66
Device management 66
Error handling 67
Utilities 67
A bit of history 68
Starting with UNICS 68
UNIX 69
The Berkeley Software Distribution (BSD) 70
The Unix Philosophy 71
A (very) brief history of Linux 72
Core utilities 72
GNU coreutils 73
util-linux 74
Copyleft 75
Games 75
Chapter summary 76
Exercises 76
Chapter 3: The Linux Philosophy for SysAdmins 77
Objectives 77
Background 77
The structure of the philosophy 78
The tenets 80
Data streams are a universal interface 80
Transforming data streams 81
Everything is a file 82
Use the Linux FHS 82
Embrace the CLI 83
Be the lazy SysAdmin 84
Automate everything 84
Always use shell scripts 85
Test early test often 85
Use common sense naming 86
Store data in open formats 87
Use separate filesystems for data 88
Make programs portable 89
Use open source software 90
Strive for elegance 91
Find the simplicity 91
Use your favorite editor 93
Document everything 93
Back up everything – frequently 95
Follow your curiosity 95
There is no should 96
Mentor the young SysAdmins 97
Support your favorite open source project 97
Reality bytes 98
Chapter summary 99
Exercises 99
Chapter 4: Preparation 100
Objectives 100
Overview 100
Got root? 101
Hardware specifications 102
Host software requirements 103
Installing VirtualBox 104
Install VirtualBox on a Linux host 104
Install VirtualBox on a Windows host 111
Creating the VM 115
VirtualBox Manager 115
Configuring the virtual network 117
Preparing disk space 119
Windows 120
Linux 122
Download the ISO image file 133
Creating the VM 134
Chapter summary 143
Exercises 144
Chapter 5: Installing Linux 145
Objectives 145
Overview 145
Boot the Fedora live image 146
Installing Fedora 151
Start the installation 152
Set the hostname 153
Hard drive partitioning 154
About swap space 164
Types of memory 164
Swap 165
Types of Linux swap 165
Thrashing 166
What is the right amount of swap space? 166
Finish partitioning 168
Begin the installation 168
Set the root password 169
Create the student user 171
Finishing the installation 172
Exit the installer 172
Shut down the Live system 173
Reconfigure the VM 174
Create a snapshot 174
First boot 176
What to do if the experiments do not work 177
Chapter summary 179
Exercises 179
Chapter 6: Using the Xfce Desktop 180
Objectives 180
Why Xfce 180
The desktop 181
The file manager 183
Stability 183
xfce4-terminal emulator 183
Configurability 184
Getting started 184
Login 186
Exploring the Xfce desktop 189
Settings Manager 192
Adding launchers to Panel 2 193
Preferred applications 195
Desktop appearance 197
Appearance 197
Multiple desktops 200
Installing updates 202
Chapter summary 205
Exercises 206
Chapter 7: Using the Linux Command Line 207
Objectives 207
Introduction 207
Preparation 208
Defining the command line 209
CLI terminology 209
Command prompt 210
Command line 210
Command-line interface 210
Command 211
Terminal 211
Console 213
Virtual consoles 214
Using virtual consoles 215
Terminal emulator 221
Pseudo-terminal 222
Device special files 223
Session 223
Shell 224
Using different shells 224
Secure Shell (SSH) 227
screen 227
The GUI and the CLI 230
Some important Linux commands 231
The PWD 232
Directory path notation styles 232
Moving around the directory tree 233
Tab completion facility 238
Exploring files 240
More commands 243
Command recall and editing 246
Chapter summary 249
Exercises 249
Chapter 8: Core Utilities 251
Objectives 251
GNU coreutils 251
util-linux 256
Chapter summary 262
Exercises 263
Chapter 9: Data Streams 264
Objectives 264
Data streams as raw materials 264
Text streams – A universal interface 266
STDIO file handles 266
Preparing a USB thumb drive 267
Generating data streams 272
Test a theory with yes 275
Exploring the USB drive 279
Randomness 286
Pipe dreams 287
Building pipelines 289
Redirection 290
Just grep’ing around 293
Cleanup 294
Chapter summary 295
Exercises 296
Chapter 10: Text Editors 297
Objectives 297
Why we need text editors 297
Vim 299
Other editors 300
Emacs 300
gedit 300
Leafpad 301
Kate 301
xfw 301
xed 301
Learning Vim 301
Disabling SELinux 302
Use your favorite text editor 304
Chapter summary 305
Exercises 305
Chapter 11: Working As Root 306
Objectives 306
Why root? 306
More about the su command 307
Getting to know the root account 309
Disadvantages of root 315
Escalating user privilege 316
The bad ways 316
Using sudo 316
Do do that sudo that you do so well 319
The sudoers file 320
Host aliases 321
User aliases 321
Command aliases 322
Environment defaults 322
Command section 322
Bypassing passwords 323
wheel 323
Real SysAdmins don’t sudo 324
sudo or not sudo 324
Bypass sudo 325
Valid uses for sudo 327
Using su as root 328
Chapter summary 329
Exercises 329
Chapter 12: Installing and Updating Software 331
Objectives 331
Dependency hell 331
RPM 332
YUM 337
DNF 338
Installing packages 339
Installing updates 342
Post-update tasks 345
Removing packages 346
Groups 348
Adding repositories 349
About the kernel 352
Chapter summary 354
Exercises 354
Chapter 13: Tools for Problem Solving 356
Objectives 356
The art of problem solving 357
The five steps of problem solving 357
Knowledge 358
Observation 359
Reasoning 360
Action 361
Test 361
System performance and problem solving 362
top 363
Summary section 365
Load averages 366
CPU usage 367
Process section 369
Things to look for with CPU usage 370
Memory statistics 374
The task list 378
Signals 378
Consistency 379
Other top-like tools 379
htop 380
atop 382
More tools 385
Memory tools 385
Tools that display disk I/O statistics 387
The /proc filesystem 390
Exploring hardware 393
Monitoring hardware temperatures 395
Monitoring hard drives 398
System statistics with SAR 407
Installation and configuration 407
Examining collected data 407
Cleanup 412
Chapter summary 413
Exercises 414
Chapter 14: Terminal Emulator Mania 416
Objectives 416
About terminals 416
My requirements 417
rxvt 419
xfce4-terminal 419
LXTerminal 423
Tilix 425
Konsole 431
Terminator 433
Chapter summary 436
Exercises 436
Chapter 15: Advanced Shell Topics 438
Objectives 438
The Bash shell 439
Shell options 439
Shell variables 441
Commands 442
The PATH 443
Internal commands 445
External commands 448
Forcing the use of external commands 449
Compound commands 450
Time-saving tools 454
Brace expansion 454
Special pattern characters 456
Sets 459
Meta-characters 461
Using grep 461
Finding files 466
Chapter summary 469
Exercises 469
Chapter 16: Linux Boot and Startup 471
Objectives 471
Overview 471
Hardware boot 472
Linux boot 473
GRUB 474
GRUB stage 1 474
GRUB stage 1.5 479
GRUB stage 2 482
Configuring GRUB 485
The Linux kernel 490
Linux startup 491
systemd 491
Graphical login screen 498
Display manager 499
Window manager 500
How do I deal with all these choices? 502
About the login 507
CLI login screen 507
GUI login screen 508
Chapter summary 509
Exercises 510
Chapter 17: Shell Configuration 511
Objectives 511
Starting the shell 512
Non-login shell startup 515
Login shell startup 515
Exploring the global configuration scripts 516
Exploring the local configuration scripts 519
Testing it 520
Exploring the environment 524
User shell variables 525
Aliases 528
Chapter summary 530
Exercises 530
Chapter 18: Files, Directories, and Links 532
Objectives 532
Introduction 533
Preparation 533
User accounts and security 535
File attributes 536
File ownership 536
File permissions 539
Directory permissions 541
Implications of Group ownership 541
umask 546
Changing file permissions 548
Applying permissions 550
Timestamps 551
File meta-structures 552
The directory entry 552
The inode 552
File information 552
Links 555
Hard links 556
Locating files with several hard links 561
Symbolic (soft) links 562
Chapter summary 565
Exercises 565
Chapter 19: Filesystems 567
Objectives 567
Overview 567
Definitions 568
Filesystem functions 569
The Linux Filesystem Hierarchical Standard 571
The standard 571
Problem solving 574
Using the filesystem incorrectly 574
Adhering to the standard 575
Linux unified directory structure 575
Filesystem types 577
Mounting 579
The Linux EXT4 filesystem 580
Cylinder groups 581
The inode 587
Journal 588
Data allocation strategies 590
Data fragmentation 591
Repairing problems 596
The /etc/fstab file 596
Repairing damaged filesystems 603
Finding lost files 612
Creating a new filesystem 612
Finding space 613
Add a new virtual hard drive 614
Other filesystems 622
Chapter summary 624
Exercises 624
Bibliography 626
Books 626
Web sites 627
Index 631

Produkt-Details

• Erscheint lt. Verlag: 10.12.2019
• Zusatzinfo: XXXV, 629 p. 131 illus.
• Sprache: englisch
• Themenwelt: Mathematik / Informatik ► Informatik
• Schlagworte: Bash • command line • Fedora • Linux • linux philosophy • open source systems • Shell Scripting • sysadmin • system administration • system administrator
• ISBN-10: 1-4842-5049-4 / 1484250494
• ISBN-13: 978-1-4842-5049-5 / 9781484250495