Linux Administration Made Easy by Steve Frampton, <[email protected]> The "Linux Administration Made Easy" (LAME) guide attempts to describe day−to−day administration and maintenance issues commonly faced by Linux system administrators. Part of the Linux Documentation Project. Linux Administration Made Easy Table of Contents Chapter 1. Preface..............................................................................................................................................1 1.1. Acknowledgements...........................................................................................................................1 1.2. Copyright Information and Legal Disclaimers.................................................................................1 1.3. A Plea for Help.................................................................................................................................1 Chapter 2. Introduction......................................................................................................................................2 2.1. Scope.................................................................................................................................................2 2.2. Choosing a Linux Distribution.........................................................................................................2 Chapter 3. Linux Overview................................................................................................................................5 3.1. What is Linux?..................................................................................................................................5 3.2. Breaking the Myths...........................................................................................................................5 3.3. One User's Perspective......................................................................................................................7 Chapter 4. Installation and Hardware Configuration.....................................................................................9 4.1. Creating an Installation Diskette.......................................................................................................9 4.2. Booting Linux Installation Program...............................................................................................10 4.3. Partitioning Hard Drive(s)..............................................................................................................11 4.4. Setting up Swap Space....................................................................................................................15 4.5. Choosing Partitions to Format........................................................................................................15 4.6. Choosing Desired Packages to Install.............................................................................................16 4.7. Hardware Configuration.................................................................................................................16 4.8. Booting with LILO.........................................................................................................................17 4.8.1. Multi−boot with Other Operating Systems..................................................................................17 4.9. Downloading and Installing Red Hat Updates................................................................................18 Chapter 5. Configuring the X Window System..............................................................................................19 5.1. Getting the X Window System Working with X−Configurator.....................................................19 5.2. Using the X Desktop Manager........................................................................................................20 5.3. Improving Font Appearance Under X............................................................................................21 5.4. Choosing a Window Manager for X...............................................................................................22 5.5. GNOME Installation and Configuration.........................................................................................22 5.6. KDE Installation and Configuration...............................................................................................23 Chapter 6. General System Administration Issues........................................................................................25 6.1. Root Account..................................................................................................................................25 6.2. Creating User Accounts..................................................................................................................25 6.3. Changing User Passwords...............................................................................................................27 6.4. Disabling User Accounts................................................................................................................27 6.5. Removing User Accounts...............................................................................................................27 6.6. Linux Password & Shadow File Formats.......................................................................................28 6.7. System Shutdown and Restart........................................................................................................29 Chapter 7. Custom Configuration and Administration Issues.....................................................................31 7.1. Web Server and HTTP Caching Proxy Administration..................................................................31 7.2. Domain Name Server (DNS) Configuration and Administration...................................................32 7.3. Internet User Authentication with TACACS..................................................................................35 7.4. Windows−style File and Print Services with Samba......................................................................36 i Linux Administration Made Easy Table of Contents 7.5. Macintosh−style File and Print Services with Netatalk..................................................................40 7.6. Network File System (NFS) Services.............................................................................................42 7.7. Configuration from A−Z with Linuxconf.......................................................................................43 Chapter 8. Backup and Restore Procedures..................................................................................................44 8.1. Server Backup Procedures..............................................................................................................44 8.1.1. Backing up with ``tar'':.................................................................................................................45 8.1.2. Backing up with ``KDat'':............................................................................................................47 8.2. Server Restore Procedures..............................................................................................................48 8.2.1. Restoring with ``tar'':...................................................................................................................48 8.2.2. Restoring with ``KDat'':...............................................................................................................49 8.3. Cisco Router Configuration Backups.............................................................................................50 Chapter 9. Various & Sundry Administrative Tasks....................................................................................53 9.1. Checking Storage Space.................................................................................................................53 9.2. Managing Processes........................................................................................................................54 9.3. Starting and Stopping Processes.....................................................................................................56 9.4. Automating Tasks with Cron and Crontab files.............................................................................56 Chapter 10. Upgrading Linux and Other Applications................................................................................58 10.1. Using the Red Hat Package Manager (RPM)...............................................................................58 10.2. Installing or Upgrading Without RPM.........................................................................................59 10.3. Strategies for Keeping an Up−to−date System.............................................................................60 10.4. Linux Kernel Upgrades.................................................................................................................61 10.5. Upgrading a Red Hat Stock Kernel..............................................................................................62 10.6. Building a Custom Kernel............................................................................................................63 10.7. Moving to the Linux 2.2.x Kernels...............................................................................................66 10.8. Configuring the Apache Web Server............................................................................................68