Linux System Administration Table of Contents Linux System Administration, Second Edition...............................................................................1 Foreword............................................................................................................................................3 Acknowledgments....................................................................................................................3 Introduction........................................................................................................................................4 The Benefits of Linux...............................................................................................................4 Who Should Buy This Book.....................................................................................................5 About the Second Edition........................................................................................................5 How This Book Is Organized...................................................................................................6 Chapter 1: The Basics of System Administration...............................................................6 Chapter 2: Installing Linux..................................................................................................6 Chapter 3: Startup and Shutdown......................................................................................6 Chapter 4: Tools of the Trade............................................................................................7 Chapter 5: Creating and Maintaining User Accounts.........................................................7 Chapter 6: Filesystems and Disk Management.................................................................7 Chapter 7: Linux Files and Processes...............................................................................7 Chapter 8: Software Administration...................................................................................7 Chapter 9: Backup and Restore.........................................................................................7 Chapter 10: Printers and the Spooling Subsystem............................................................7 Chapter 11: Serial Communications, Terminals, and Modems..........................................7 Chapter 12: TCP/IP Linux Networking...............................................................................8 Chapter 13: The X Window System...................................................................................8 Chapter 14: Setting Up Your Mail Server...........................................................................8 Chapter 15: Security..........................................................................................................8 Chapter 16: Performance Tuning.......................................................................................8 Chapter 17: Making Your Job Easier with Scripts..............................................................8 Chapter 18: Troubleshooting Your Linux System..............................................................8 Conventions Used in This Book...............................................................................................9 Help Us Help You..................................................................................................................10 Part I: The Basics.............................................................................................................................11 Chapter List............................................................................................................................11 Featuring................................................................................................................................11 Chapter 1: The Basics of System Administration........................................................................12 Overview................................................................................................................................12 Your Role as a System Administrator....................................................................................12 Tasks of a System Administrator...........................................................................................13 Configuring Hardware......................................................................................................13 Installing the Operating System.......................................................................................14 Installing Application Software.........................................................................................14 System Security...............................................................................................................14 Configuring the Kernel.....................................................................................................14 Creating Users and Groups.............................................................................................15 Software Updates.............................................................................................................15 Performance Tuning.........................................................................................................15 Disaster Recovery............................................................................................................15 Capacity Planning............................................................................................................16 Network Administration....................................................................................................16 i Table of Contents Chapter 1: The Basics of System Administration "When You Have a Minute..."...........................................................................................16 Tools of the Linux Administrator............................................................................................16 Commands.......................................................................................................................17 System Logbook..............................................................................................................18 Communicating with Users..............................................................................................20 Working on the System as Root............................................................................................21 Becoming the Root User..................................................................................................21 In Sum....................................................................................................................................23 Chapter 2: Installing Linux..............................................................................................................24 Overview................................................................................................................................24 Benchmarks...........................................................................................................................24 Selecting Hardware................................................................................................................25 Minimal Acceptable Hardware.........................................................................................25 CPU Performance............................................................................................................25 Random Access Memory.................................................................................................26 Selecting Hardware by Intended Usage...........................................................................27 Specialized Hardware Performance Solutions.................................................................28 Types of Hardware to Avoid.............................................................................................33 Selecting a Linux Distribution.................................................................................................35 Red Hat Linux..................................................................................................................35 Mandrake.........................................................................................................................37 Caldera.............................................................................................................................37 SuSE Linux......................................................................................................................38 Slackware Linux...............................................................................................................38 Debian..............................................................................................................................39 The Choice Is Yours.........................................................................................................39 Installing Red Hat Linux.........................................................................................................40 Preparing for Installation..................................................................................................40 Choosing a Partitioning Scheme......................................................................................41 Installing a Server............................................................................................................42