SUSE Linux Enterprise Server 11 SP4 Administration Guide Administration Guide SUSE Linux Enterprise Server 11 SP4 Publication Date: September 24, 2021 SUSE LLC 1800 South Novell Place Provo, UT 84606 USA https://documentation.suse.com Copyright © 2006– 2021 SUSE LLC and contributors. All rights reserved. Permission is granted to copy, distribute and/or modify this document under the terms of the GNU Free Documentation License, Version 1.2 or (at your option) version 1.3; with the Invariant Section being this copyright notice and license. A copy of the license version 1.2 is included in the section entitled “GNU Free Documentation License”. For SUSE trademarks, see http://www.suse.com/company/legal/ . All other third party trademarks are the property of their respective owners. A trademark symbol (®, ™ etc.) denotes a SUSE or Novell trademark; an asterisk (*) denotes a third party trademark. All information found in this book has been compiled with utmost attention to detail. However, this does not guarantee complete accuracy. Neither SUSE LLC, its aliates, the authors nor the translators shall be held liable for possible errors or the consequences thereof. Contents About This Guide xix 1 Available Documentation xx 2 Feedback xxii 3 Documentation Conventions xxii I SUPPORT AND COMMON TASKS 1 1 YaST Online Update 2 1.1 The Online Update Dialog 3 KDE Interface (Qt) 3 • GNOME Interface (GTK) 4 1.2 Installing Patches 6 1.3 Automatic Online Update 7 2 Gathering System Information for Support 9 2.1 Collecting System Information with Supportconfig 9 Creating a Service Request Number 9 • Upload Targets 10 • Creating a Supportconfig Archive with YaST 10 • Creating a Supportconfig Archive from Command Line 12 • Common Supportconfig Options 12 2.2 Submitting Information to Global Technical Support 13 2.3 Support of Kernel Modules 15 Technical Background 16 • Working with Unsupported Modules 16 2.4 For More Information 17 3 YaST in Text Mode 18 3.1 Navigation in Modules 19 3.2 Restriction of Key Combinations 21 iii Administration Guide 3.3 YaST Command Line Options 21 Starting the Individual Modules 21 • Installing Packages from the Command Line 22 • Command Line Parameters of the YaST Modules 22 4 Snapshots/Rollback with Snapper 23 4.1 Requirements 23 Snapshots and Disk Space 23 4.2 Using Snapper to Undo System Changes 24 Undoing YaST and Zypper Changes 25 • Using Snapper to Restore Files from Hourly Backups 30 • Creating and Modifying Snapper Configurations 31 • Disabling Automatic Snapshots 35 4.3 Manually Creating and Managing Snapshots 35 Snapshot Metadata 36 • Creating Snapshots 37 • Modifying Snapshot Metadata 38 • Deleting Snapshots 39 4.4 Limitations 39 Data Consistency 40 • Reverting User Additions 40 • No Rollback on / boot and Boot Loader Changes 40 4.5 Frequently Asked Questions 41 4.6 Using Snapper on Thin-Provisioned LVM Volumes 41 5 Remote Access with VNC 43 5.1 One-time VNC Sessions 43 Initiating a One-time VNC Session 44 • Configuring One-time VNC Sessions 44 5.2 Persistent VNC Sessions 45 Connecting to a Persistent VNC Session 47 • Configuring Persistent VNC Sessions 47 6 Managing Software with Command Line Tools 48 6.1 Using Zypper 48 General Usage 48 • Installing and Removing Software with Zypper 49 • Updating Software with Zypper 52 • Distribution Upgrade iv Administration Guide with zypper 55 • Managing Repositories with zypper 59 • Querying Repositories and Packages with Zypper 61 • Configuring Zypper 62 • Troubleshooting 63 • Zypper Rollback Feature on btrfs File System 63 6.2 RPM—the Package Manager 63 Verifying Package Authenticity 64 • Managing Packages: Install, Update, and Uninstall 64 • RPM and Patches 66 • Delta RPM Packages 67 • RPM Queries 68 • Installing and Compiling Source Packages 71 • Compiling RPM Packages with build 73 • Tools for RPM Archives and the RPM Database 73 7 Bash and Bash Scripts 74 7.1 What is “The Shell”? 74 Knowing The Bash Configuration Files 74 • The Directory Structure 75 7.2 Writing Shell Scripts 79 7.3 Redirecting Command Events 80 7.4 Using Aliases 81 7.5 Using Variables in Bash 82 Using Argument Variables 83 • Using Variable Substitution 83 7.6 Grouping And Combining Commands 84 7.7 Working with Common Flow Constructs 85 The if Control Command 85 • Creating Loops With the For Command 86 7.8 For More Information 86 8 Using Third-Party Software 87 II SYSTEM 88 9 32-Bit and 64-Bit Applications in a 64-Bit System Environment 89 9.1 Runtime Support 89 9.2 Software Development 90 v Administration Guide 9.3 Software Compilation on Biarch Platforms 91 9.4 Kernel Specifications 92 10 Booting and Configuring a Linux System 94 10.1 The Linux Boot Process 94 initramfs 95 • init on initramfs 96 10.2 The init Process 98 Runlevels 98 • Init Scripts 101 • Configuring System Services (Runlevel) with YaST 104 10.3 System Configuration via /etc/sysconfig 106 Changing the System Configuration Using the YaST sysconfig Editor 107 • Changing the System Configuration Manually 108 11 The Boot Loader GRUB 109 11.1 Booting with GRUB 110 The File /boot/grub/menu.lst 111 • The File device.map 116 • The File / etc/grub.conf 117 • The File /etc/sysconfig/bootloader 118 • Setting a Boot Password 119 11.2 Configuring the Boot Loader with YaST 120 Adjusting the Default Boot Entry 121 • Modifying the Boot Loader Location 122 • Changing the Boot Loader Time-Out 122 • Setting a Boot Password 123 • Adjusting the Disk Order 123 • Configuring Advanced Options 124 • Changing Boot Loader Type 125 11.3 Uninstalling the Linux Boot Loader 126 11.4 Creating Boot CDs 126 11.5 The Graphical SUSE Screen 128 11.6 Troubleshooting 128 11.7 For More Information 130 vi Administration Guide 12 UEFI (Unified Extensible Firmware Interface) 131 12.1 Secure Boot 131 Implementation on SUSE Linux Enterprise 132 • MOK (Machine Owner Key) 135 • Booting a Custom Kernel 135 • Using Non-Inbox Drivers 137 • Limitations 138 12.2 For More Information 138 13 Special System Features 139 13.1 Information about Special Software Packages 139 The bash Package and /etc/profile 139 • The cron Package 140 • Log Files: Package logrotate 141 • The locate Command 142 • The ulimit Command 142 • The free Command 143 • Man Pages and Info Pages 144 • Selecting Man Pages Using the man Command 144 • Settings for GNU Emacs 144 13.2 Virtual Consoles 145 13.3 Keyboard Mapping 146 13.4 Language and Country-Specific Settings 146 Some Examples 147 • Locale Settings in ~/.i18n 149 • Settings for Language Support 149 • For More Information 150 14 Printer Operation 151 14.1 The Workflow of the Printing System 152 14.2 Methods and Protocols for Connecting Printers 153 14.3 Installing the Software 153 14.4 Network Printers 154 Configuring CUPS with Command Line Tools 155 14.5 Printing from the Command Line 157 14.6 Special Features in SUSE Linux Enterprise Server 157 CUPS and Firewall 157 • PPD Files in Various Packages 158 vii Administration Guide 14.7 Troubleshooting 159 Printers without Standard Printer Language Support 159 • No Suitable PPD File Available for a PostScript Printer 160 • Parallel Ports 160 • Network Printer Connections 161 • Defective Printouts without Error Message 164 • Disabled Queues 164 • CUPS Browsing: Deleting Print Jobs 164 • Defective Print Jobs and Data Transfer Errors 165 • Debugging the CUPS Print System 165 • For More Information 166 15 Dynamic Kernel Device Management with udev 167 15.1 The /dev Directory 167 15.2 Kernel uevents and udev 167 15.3 Drivers, Kernel Modules and Devices 168 15.4 Booting and Initial Device Setup 168 15.5 Monitoring the Running udev Daemon 169 15.6 Influencing Kernel Device Event Handling with udev Rules 170 Using Operators in udev Rules 172 • Using Substitutions in udev Rules 173 • Using udev Match Keys 174 • Using udev Assign Keys 175 15.7 Persistent Device Naming 176 15.8 Files used by udev 177 15.9 For More Information 178 16 The X Window System 179 16.1 Manually Configuring the X Window System 179 Screen Section 183 • Device Section 184 • Monitor and Modes Section 185 16.2 Installing and Configuring Fonts 186 X11 Core Fonts 187 • Xft 188 16.3 For More Information 192 17 Accessing File Systems with FUSE 193 17.1 Configuring FUSE 193 viii Administration Guide 17.2 Available FUSE Plug-ins 193 17.3 For More Information 194 III MOBILE COMPUTERS 195 18 Mobile Computing with Linux 196 18.1 Laptops 196 Power Conservation 196 • Integration in Changing Operating Environments 197 • Software Options 200 • Data Security 202 18.2 Mobile Hardware 203 18.3 Cellular Phones and PDAs 204 18.4 For More Information 204 19 Wireless LAN 206 19.1 WLAN Standards 206 19.2 Operating Modes 207 19.3 Authentication 208 19.4 Encryption 209 19.5 Configuration with YaST 210 Deactivating NetworkManager 211 • Configuration for Access Points 211 • Establishing an Ad-Hoc Network 215 • Setting Additional Configuration Parameters 216 19.6 Tips and Tricks for Setting Up a WLAN 217 Utilities 217 • Stability and Speed 217 • Security 218 19.7 Troubleshooting 219 Check the Network Status 219 • Multiple Network Devices 220 • Problems with Prism2 Cards 220 19.8 For More Information 220 ix Administration Guide 20 Power Management 222 20.1 Power Saving Functions 222 20.2 Advanced Configuration and Power Interface (ACPI) 223 Controlling the CPU Performance 223 • Troubleshooting 224 20.3 Rest for the Hard Disk 225 20.4 Troubleshooting 227 ACPI Activated with Hardware Support but Functions Do Not Work 227 • CPU Frequency Does Not Work 228 • Suspend and Standby Do Not Work 228 20.5 For More Information 228 21 Using Tablet PCs 229 21.1 Installing Tablet