GL250RHEL5 - Enterprise Linux Systems Administration for RHEL5 | Courses

GL250RHEL5 - Enterprise Linux Systems Administration for RHEL5

Request Class

The GL250 is an in-depth course that explores installation, configuration and maintenance of Linux systems. The course focuses on issues universal to every workstation and server. Like all Guru Labs courses, the course material is designed to provide extensive hands-on experience. Topics include: installation and configuration; the boot process; user and group administration; filesystem administration, including quotas, FACLs, RAID and LVM; task automation; client networking; SELinux; software management; log files; troubleshooting; and more.

Current Version: E00

Prerequisites:

Students should already be comfortable working in a Linux or Unix environment. Fundamentals such as the Linux filesystem, process management, and how to edit files will not be covered in class. An understanding of network concepts, and the TCP/IP protocol suite is helpful. These skills are taught in the GL120 "Linux Fundamentals" course.

Supported Distributions:

Red Hat Enterprise Linux 5

Course Outline:

Pre-Installation Considerations
1. Pre-Installation Considerations
2. Hardware Compatibility
3. Multi-OS Booting
4. Partition Considerations
5. Filesystem Planning
6. Selecting a Filesystem
Installing RHEL5
1. Installation Choices
2. Starting Installations from CD/DVD or USB
3. Installing From a Network Server
4. Installing From a Local Hard Drive
5. Anaconda
6. Installation Diagnostics
7. Language and Keyboard Selection
8. Automatic Partitioning
9. Partitioning with Disk Druid
10. Installing a Boot Loader
11. Network Configuration
12. Time Zone Configuration
13. root Password Configuration
14. Package Group Selection
15. Installing Packages
16. Install Finished
17. Firstboot
18. Firstboot Firewall Configuration
19. Firstboot SELinux Configuration
20. Firstboot Kernel Crash Dump Configuration
21. Firstboot Date and Time Configuration
22. Firstboot Authentication Configuration
23. Kickstart
24. Creating Kickstart Files
25. Using Kickstart Files
Lab Tasks
1. Linux Installation [RHEL5.4]
2. Automating Installation with Kickstart [RHEL5.4]
Installing SLES11
1. Installation Choices
2. DVD-ROM Install Media
3. Network Installation
4. SLP for SUSE Linux Installation
5. Local Hard Drive Installation
6. The linuxrc Program
7. Install Program Interface
8. Installation Diagnostics
9. Language/Keyboard Selection and EULA
10. Installation Mode
11. Clock and Time Zone
12. Desktop Selection
13. Server Base Scenario
14. The YaST Installer Design
15. Disk Partitioning
16. Boot Loader Configuration
17. Software Package Selection
18. Kernel Crash Dump Configuration
19. Confirmation and File Installation
20. Setting the Root Password
21. Hostname and Domain Name
22. Network Configuration
23. SLES Services Configuration
24. Adding a User Account
25. Release Notes
26. Final Installation Hub
27. Installation Complete and AutoYaST2 "Cloning"
28. Using AutoYaST2 files
29. Creating AutoYaST2 Files
30. linuxrc Automation
Lab Tasks
1. Linux Installation [SLES11]
2. Automating Installation with AutoYaST [SLES11]
Linux Hardware Discovery, Interaction, and Control
1. Hardware Discovery Tools
2. Configuring New Hardware with Kudzu
3. Hardware and System Clock
4. Console
5. Virtual Terminals
6. Serial Ports
7. SCSI Devices
8. USB Devices
9. USB Configuration
10. Common UNIX Printing System
11. Defining a Printer
12. Managing Optical Media
13. Tape Drives
14. Tape Libraries
15. Managing Linux Device Files
16. Kernel Hardware Info - /sys/
17. /sys/ Structure
18. udev
19. Kernel Modules
20. Configuring Kernel Components and Modules
21. Handling Module Dependencies
22. Configuring the Kernel via /proc/
Lab Tasks
1. Adjusting Kernel Options
2. Configuring Print Queues
3. Introduction to Troubleshooting Labs
4. Troubleshooting Practice: Kernel Modules
Boot Process and SYSV Init
1. Booting Linux on PCs
2. GRUB Configuration
3. Kernel Boot Parameters
4. /sbin/init
5. System Init Styles
6. Linux Runlevels
7. /etc/inittab
8. /etc/rc.sysinit
9. SUSE /etc/init.d/boot
10. Runlevel Implementation
11. System Configuration Files
12. Configuration Utilities
13. Novell's Configuration Utilities
14. Typical SysV Init Script
15. The /etc/rc.local File
16. The /etc/init.d/*.local Files
17. Managing Daemons
18. Controlling Service Startup
19. Shutdown and Reboot
Lab Tasks
1. Boot Process
2. GRUB Command Line
3. Basic GRUB Security
4. Managing System V Init Scripts
5. Troubleshooting Practice: Boot Process
Software Maintenance
1. Managing Software
2. RPM Features
3. RPM Architecture
4. RPM Package Files
5. Working With RPMs
6. Querying and Verifying with rpm
7. Updating the Kernel RPM
8. Managing Software Dependencies
9. Using the YUM command
10. YUM package groups
11. Configuring YUM
12. YUM Repositories
13. Compiling/Installing from Source
14. Manually Installed Shared Libraries
15. Installing Source RPM Packages
Lab Tasks
1. Managing Software with RPM
2. Creating a Custom RPM Repository
3. Querying the RPM Database
4. Installing Software via RPM/Source and Rebuilding SRPMs
5. YUM [RHEL5.4]
Filesystem Administration
1. Partitioning Disks with fdisk
2. Partitioning Disks with parted
3. File System Creation
4. Mounting File Systems
5. Filesystem Maintenance
6. Persistent Block Devices
7. Resizing Filesystems
8. Swap
9. Two Types of Disk Space
10. Determining Disk Usage With df and du
11. Configuring Disk Quotas
12. Setting Quotas
13. Viewing and Monitoring Quotas
14. Filesystem Attributes
15. Backup Software
16. Backup Examples
Lab Tasks
1. Creating and Managing Filesystems
2. Hot Adding Swap
3. Setting User Quotas
4. Using tar and cpio for Backups
5. Using rsync and ssh for Backups
6. Using dump and restore for Backups
7. Creating CD Images for Backups
LVM and RAID
1. Logical Volume Management
2. Implementing LVM
3. Creating Logical Volumes
4. Manipulating VGs and LVs
5. Advanced LVM Concepts
6. system-config-lvm
7. SLES Graphical Disk Tool
8. RAID Concepts
9. Array Creation with mdadm
10. Software RAID Monitoring
11. Software RAID Control and Display
Lab Tasks
1. Creating and Managing LVM Volumes
2. Creating and Managing a RAID-5 Array
Remote Storage Administration
1. Remote Storage Overview
2. Remote Filesystem Protocols
3. Remote Block Device Protocols
4. File Sharing via NFS
5. NFSv4
6. NFS Clients
7. NFS Server Configuration
8. Implementing NFSv4
9. AutoFS
10. AutoFS Configuration
11. Accessing Windows/Samba Shares from Linux
12. SAN Multipathing
13. Multipath Configuration
14. Multipathing Best Practices
15. iSCSI Architecture
16. iSCSI Target Implementations
17. iSCSI Target Configuration (tgt)
18. iSCSI Target LUN Configuration (tgt)
19. iSCSI Target Auth Configuration (tgt)
20. iSCSI Persistent Configuration (tgt)
21. Open-iSCSI Initiator Implementation
22. iSCSI Initiator Discovery
23. iSCSI Initiator Node Administration
24. Mounting iSCSI Targets at Boot
25. iSCSI Multipathing Considerations
Lab Tasks
1. Using autofs
2. NFS Server Configuration
3. iSCSI Initiator Configuration
User/Group Administration
1. User and Group Concepts
2. User Administration
3. Modifying Accounts
4. Group Administration
5. Password Aging
6. Default User Files
7. Controlling Logins
8. Manual DS Client Configuration
9. system-config-authentication
Lab Tasks
1. User and Group Administration
2. Configure NIS Authentication
3. Using LDAP for Centralized User Accounts
4. Troubleshooting Practice: Account Management
Pluggable Authentication Modules (PAM)
1. PAM Overview
2. PAM Module Types
3. PAM Order of Processing
4. PAM Control Statements
5. PAM Modules
6. pam_unix.so
7. pam_unix2.so
8. pam_nologin.so
9. pam_limits.so
10. pam_wheel.so
11. pam_xauth.so
Lab Tasks
1. Restricting superuser access to wheel group membership
2. Using pam_nologin to Restrict Logins
3. Setting Limits with the pam_limits Modules
4. Using pam_limits to Restrict Simultaneous Logins
Security Administration
1. Security Concepts
2. Tightening Default Security
3. Security Advisories
4. File Access Control Lists
5. Manipulating FACLs
6. Viewing FACLs
7. Backing Up FACLs
8. File Creation Permissions with umask
9. User Private Group Scheme
10. Alternatives to UPG
11. SELinux Security Framework
12. SELinux Commands
13. Choosing an SELinux Policy
14. SELinux Booleans
15. Graphical SELinux Policy Tools
Lab Tasks
1. User Private Groups
2. Using Filesystem ACLs
3. Exploring SELinux Modes [RHEL5.4]
4. SELinux File Contexts [RHEL5.4]
Process Administration
1. Automating Tasks
2. at/batch
3. cron
4. The crontab Command
5. crontab Format
6. /etc/cron.*/ Directories
7. anacron
8. Viewing Processes
9. Managing Processes
10. Tuning Process Scheduling
11. Process Accounting
12. Enabling Process Accounting
13. Setting Resource Limits via ulimit
Lab Tasks
1. Creating and Managing User Cron Jobs
2. Adding System cron Jobs
3. Using BSD Process Accounting
Basic Networking
1. IPv4 Fundamentals
2. TCP/UDP Fundamentals
3. Linux Network Interfaces
4. Ethernet Hardware Tools
5. Configuring Network Interfaces
6. Configuring Routing Tables
7. IP to MAC Address Mapping with ARP
8. Network Configuration with ip Command
9. Starting and Stopping Interfaces
10. NetworkManager
11. DNS Clients
12. DHCP Clients
13. system-config-network{,-cmd}
14. SUSE YaST Network Configuration Tool
15. Network Diagnostics
16. Information from netstat
17. Managing Network-Wide Time
18. Continual Time Sync with NTP
19. Configuring NTP Clients
Lab Tasks
1. Network Discovery
2. NTP Client Configuration
Advanced Networking
1. Multiple IP Addresses
2. Enabling IPv6
3. Interface Bonding
4. Interface Bridging
5. 802.1q VLANS
6. Tuning Kernel Network Settings
Lab Tasks
1. Multiple IP Addresses Per Network Interface
2. Configuring IPv6
3. Troubleshooting Practice: Networking
The X Window System
1. The X Window System
2. X Modularity
3. X.Org Drivers
4. Configuring X Manually
5. Automatic X Configuration
6. Xorg and Fonts
7. The X Font Server
8. Installing Fonts for Modern Applications
9. Installing Fonts for Legacy Applications
10. The X11 Protocol and Display Names
11. Display Managers and Graphical Login
12. Starting X Apps Automatically
13. X Access Control
14. Remote X Access (historical/insecure approach)
15. Remote X Access (modern/secure approach)
16. XDMCP
17. Remote Graphical Access With VNC and RDP
18. Specialized X Servers
Lab Tasks
1. Remote X with XDMCP
2. Configure X Security
3. Configure a VNC Server [RHEL5.4]
4. Configure a VNC Server [SLES11]
5. Launching X Apps Automatically
6. Secure X
7. Troubleshooting Practice: X11
Log File Administration
1. System Logging
2. /etc/syslog.conf
3. syslog-ng
4. Rsyslog
5. Log Management
6. Log Anomaly Detector
Lab Tasks
1. Remote Syslog Configuration
2. Setting up a Full Debug Logfile
Monitoring and Troubleshooting
1. System Status - Memory
2. System Status - I/O
3. System Status - CPU
4. Performance Trending with sar
5. Troubleshooting Basics: The Process
6. Troubleshooting Basics: The Tools
7. strace and ltrace
8. Common Problems
9. Incorrect File Permissions
10. Inability to Boot
11. Typos in Configuration Files
12. Corrupt Filesystems
13. Rescue Environment
14. SUSE Rescue Environment
Lab Tasks
1. Recovering Damaged MBR

Xen Virtualization
1. Virtualization: What and Why?
2. What is Xen?
3. Xen Architecture, Deployment Options and Considerations
4. Xen Networking
5. Live Migration of Xen Virtual Servers
6. xend Configuration
7. Guest Config Files
8. The xm Command
9. Common xm Usage
10. Xen Configuration Tools
Lab Tasks
1. Installing a Xen VM
2. Creating a Bootstrapped Xen Guest
Linux Kernel Compilation
1. Why Compile?
2. Getting Kernel Source
3. Preparing to Compile
4. Configuring the Kernel Compilation Options
5. Available Kernel Compile Options
6. Compiling the Kernel
7. Install Compiled Kernel Modules
8. Installing the Kernel
9. Tips and Tricks
Lab Tasks
1. Linux Kernel 2.6 Driver Compilation
2. Linux Kernel 2.6 Compilation