LINUX Fast Track System Administration

Course: LNXFT

Duration: 5 Days

Level: I

Course Summary

This course is designed to give experienced Linux/UNIX administrators practical experience in the administration, security and performance administration of a Linux System. This course will enable the student to work towards the RedHat RHCE qualifications.

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Topics Covered In This Course

REDHAT PRODUCT OFFERINGS

The RedHat Enterprise editions
RedHat desktop releases for the Enterprise
RedHat additonal applications
The RedHat Certification routes
The Fedora project
Configurations supported
Hardware requirements

INSTALLING RED HAT LINUX/Kickstart/PXE boot

Installation methods available
The virtual consoles
Using boot time options
Firstboot and post installation
The kickstart process
Kickstart methods
Using PXE boot

INVESTIGATING THE SYSTEM

The /proc psuedo filesystem
Investigating bus/devices:lspci,lsusb etc.
Graphical tools for investigating hardware
Serial device management.
Monitoring and managing logfiles
Using the redhat-config tools
The /etc/sysconfig directory

BASIC ADMINISTRATION

The RedHat Administartive tools available
User and group and password administration
The sudo command
Control services using chkconfig,ntsysv etc.
System shutdown and reboot management
Printer Management
Vixie cron/anacron
Backup/Restore utilities

FILESYSTEM CONFIGURATION

The Native Linux Filesytems ext2fs and ext3fs
Disk partitioning: fdisk and parted
FileSystem administration and Maintenance
Using Disk quotas/Swap space management
Basic LVM design and configuration
Software RAID using Raidtools
Implementing RAID0,1 & 5 file systems
Hot swap replacement

KERNEL RECOMPILATION AND INSTALLATION

Monolithic and modular kernel design
Kernel module configuration
Tuning the kernel : /proc/sys & sysctrl
Loading a new kernel from an RPM package
Rebuilding a kernel from source
Updating the Boot Managers (LILO/GRUB)

MANAGING SYSTEM SOFTWARE

The Redhat Package Management system
The YUM and APT package management tools
Installing and removing software manually
RPM queries and verifying packages
Dependency problems and resolution
Building APT/YUM repositories
Updating Enterprise Linux with up2date

CUSTOMISING AND USING X WINDOWS

Windowing System available
The X windowing system managers
Configuring using redhat-config and Xfree86
Customising X start-up
The X window protocol and X security
xauth and ssh operation
The font server

THE DOMAIN NAME SYSTEM

The DNS/BIND system under Red Hat Linux
Master/Slave/Reverse zones
Name Daemon control utility (rndc)
Address match lists (acl)
Sub-domains
BIND checking utilities

SHARING FILE SYSTEM (NFS & SAMBA)

NFS operation : daemons, portmapper etc.
Configuring an NFS server
Using the automounter to access NFS mounts
The Samba system.
Samba Daemons and operation
Samba authentication methods
Samba client tools
Using smbmount to access Windows shares

WEB Services : Apache,Squid & Email

The Apache and Tux web servers
Apache Server configuration files
Virtual host management : name and IP based access
CGI programs and Apache modules
The squid web proxy cache
Configuring squid
Sendmail and Postfix
Debugging sendmail
Switching to postfix, a sendmail replacement
Postfix configuration.
Procmail configuration

SECURITY AND AUTHENTICATION SERVICES

Types of attack usually experienced
Packet sniffing/attacks : the tools
System and user security policies
Authentication services : PAM
PAM operation
Configuring resource limits & access control through PAM

SECURING NETWORKS : FIREWALLS & SECURITY

Netfilter overview
Packet filtering using iptables
Source and Destination NAT configuration
RedHat supplied tools for iptables configuration
Encryption methods
Certificate encryption and digital signatures
OpenSSH Overview
Client and server side configuration of OpenSSH
Kerberos security

SYSTEM MONITORING/PERFORMANCE MANAGEMENT

System Log files
Syslogd & klogd configuration
Advanced syslogd configuration
Analysing logfiles
System performance monitoring
System activity reporting
Simple process accounting

TROUBLESHOOTING

The rescue environment
Rescue environment utilities and operation
The networked rescue environment
Over riding boot levels from grub/lilo
Boot floppies
Common boot problems and their resolution

What You Can Expect

On completion of the course the delegate will have a greater technical awareness of the system, and acquired practical experience of the key administration duties of Linux systems. They will posses the essential knowledge required to study towards the official Red Hat certification routes.

Who Should Take This Course

The course is designed for experienced Linux/UNIX System Administrators who need to acquire knowledge of the key administrative, networking and security tasks required to administer a Linux system.

The course assumes a strong prior knowledge of the LINUX or UNIX Operating Systems to a minimum level covered in the LINUX System Administration 1 course.