Linux Administration and Support: Hands-On

You Will Learn How To

Install, configure and support Linux servers for reliability, functionality and performance
Control and troubleshoot the boot process
Create and extend volume management and mount external media
Deploy software components from source and packaged distributions
Deliver file, print and network services for both UNIX and Windows clients
Build, install and tune a customised Linux kernel for improved functionality

Course Benefits

Open source software and operating systems continue to increase in popularity, allowing organisations to maintain complex systems more cost effectively. The need for administrators who can leverage the benefits of these systems is growing at a rapid rate. In this course, you gain the knowledge and skills required to build, manage and tune a Linux server to meet your organisation's critical administrative needs.

Who Should Attend

Those responsible for the design, support and maintenance of new and existing Linux systems benefit from this course. Knowledge of Linux or UNIX at the level of Course 143, "Linux Comprehensive Introduction", or Course 428, "UNIX Comprehensive Introduction", is required.

Hands-On Training

Extensive exercises using Red Hat^® Enterprise Linux^® provide you with hands-on experience administering and supporting Linux. Exercises include:

Designing and performing an installation
Recovering from catastrophic failure
Creating and modifying users and groups
Administering logical volumes and file systems
Configuring network services
Sharing files and printers with Samba
Building a high-availability load-balancing cluster
Creating a customised kernel

Course Content

Installing Linux

Administering open source systems

The roles of an administrator
Open source licensing
Acquiring your Linux distribution

The installation process

Structuring the file system
Selecting software packages
Performing the installation

Workstation configuration

Supporting audio and X
Video card, monitor, keyboard, mouse

Booting Linux

Managing the boot process

Choosing the boot loader
Specifying the target run level
Following the boot scripts sequence
Assigning services with chkconfig
The /etc configuration hierarchy

Rescuing an unbootable system

Troubleshooting a boot loader
Recovering with rescue media

Developing an Administrative Framework

Users and groups

Defining users in passwd and shadow
Assigning users to groups
Establishing and modifying accounts

Process control and logging

ps
pstree
top
vmstat
Examining the /proc file system
Signalling processes with kill and pkill
Capturing important events with syslog

Managing File Systems

Device and volume management

Installing new discs
Establishing and extending logical volumes

Mounting file systems

Creating and tuning journaled file systems
Attaching to network file servers

Ensuring availability

Backing up and restoring data
Repairing file systems with fsck

Adding and Updating Software

Employing package management schemes

Manipulating portable tar archives
Installing and updating software with Red Hat Package Manager (RPM)
Listing and checking system software
Alternative packaging schemes

Building software from source

Working with SRPMs
Resolving dependency issues
Packaging binary RPMs

Configuring Networks

Connecting to an IP network

Specifying interface device drivers
Setting IP addresses and netmasks

Controlling network services

Configuring stand-alone network services
Running services through xinetd

Supporting Print and File Services

Service for UNIX clients

Offering local and network print services
Updating printer drivers
Sharing files with NFS

Service for Windows clients

Emulating Windows services with Samba
Authenticating users

The Linux Kernel

Kernel configuration and tuning

Probing the PCI bus with lspci
Discovering new hardware with udev
Manipulating kernel data structures

Running high-performance clusters

Balancing network load with Linux Virtual Server (LVS)
Ensuring high availability

Building an improved kernel

Deciding when to upgrade
Inserting new device drivers
Determining required functionality

Important Course Information

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