Linux System Administration

Linux System Administration

Released October 2013
Publisher(s): Pearson
ISBN: 0133551334

Read it now on the O’Reilly learning platform with a 10-day free trial.

O’Reilly members get unlimited access to books, live events, courses curated by job role, and more from O’Reilly and nearly 200 top publishers.

Start your free trial

Video description

Linux System Administration LiveLessonsprovides novice Linux users with more than five hours of step-by-step video training covering essential system administration responsibilities and skills with professional system administrator Ben Whaley.

The content comprises nine video lessons featuring command-line examples and conceptual discussion. The video tutorials offer practical advice for real world system administration, such as encouraging the use of shell shortcuts and automation to reduce tedious manual tasks and improve administrative efficiency.

About the Instructor:

Ben Whaleyis the co-author of the UNIX and Linux System Administration Handbook, widely regarded as the de facto system administration text. He has been managing Linux systems since 1999 and is a Red Hat Certified Engineer. He currently uses Linux to power the Amazon Web Services infrastructure at Anki, a robotics and artificial intelligence company in San Francisco.

Skill Level:

  • Intermediate

Who Should Take This Course?

  • Individuals seeking to learn more about the system administration discipline
  • Individuals with some existing Linux command line experience looking to deepen their knowledge
  • Users returning to Linux wishing to learn new tricks or refresh their skills

What You Will Learn:

  • How to use Vagrant and VirtualBox as a makeshift lab environment
  • Linux’s history and background
  • Shell shortcuts and basic bash scripting
  • The Linux startup and shutdown procedures
  • Management of user accounts
  • The use of sudo to control access to privileged commands
  • Interact with processes from the command line
  • The filesystem layout
  • File permissions and attributes
  • Log file management with syslog and logrotate
  • Linux on a TCP/IP network
  • Network debugging with tcpdump and ping
  • Using SSH for remote management
  • The iptables host-based firewall
  • How to secure a Linux system

Course Requirements:

  • Some existing familiarity with operating systems concepts
  • The fundamentals of TCP/IP networking (what an IP address and subnet mask are, the purpose of DNS, ICMP)

Table of contents

  1. Introduction
    1. Introduction to Linux System Administration LiveLessons
  2. Lesson 1: Where to Start
    1. Learning objectives
    2. 1.1 Understand the duties of a system administrator
    3. 1.2 Review suggested experience and background
    4. 1.3 Explain the history of Linux
    5. 1.4 Practice with Linux
    6. 1.5 Refer to man pages and online documentation
    7. 1.6 Find and install software
  3. Lesson 2: The Shell
    1. Learning objectives
    2. 2.1 Take command of the system with shells
    3. 2.2 Explore shell basics
    4. 2.3 Explain regular expressions and shell globbing
    5. 2.4 Master file editing with Vim
    6. 2.5 Write a basic Bash script
    7. 2.6 Discuss other important scripting languages
  4. Lesson 3: Booting and Shutting Down
    1. Learning objectives
    2. 3.1 Bootstrap the system
    3. 3.2 Load Linux using GRUB
    4. 3.3 Behold the kernel
    5. 3.4 Manage Upstart
    6. 3.5 Review init startup scripts
  5. Lesson 4: Access Control, Accounts and Rootly Powers
    1. Learning objectives
    2. 4.1 Understand the Linux access control model
    3. 4.2 Switch between accounts
    4. 4.3 Add users and groups
    5. 4.4 Elevate privileges using sudo
    6. 4.5 Maintain the home directory and automatic shell startup files
  6. Lesson 5: Controlling Processes
    1. Learning objectives
    2. 5.1 Review the components of a process
    3. 5.2 Understand the lifecycle of a process
    4. 5.3 Send signals to processes
    5. 5.4 Use ps and top to inspect and monitor processes
    6. 5.5 Browse the /proc filesystem
    7. 5.6 Trace system calls and signals with strace
    8. 5.7 Schedule commands with cron
  7. Lesson 6: The Filesystem
    1. Learning objectives
    2. 6.1 Understand the Linux filesystem
    3. 6.2 Organize the filesystem hierarchy
    4. 6.3 Understand file types and attributes
    5. 6.4 Manage access control lists (ACLs)
  8. Lesson 7: Log Files and Syslog
    1. Learning objectives
    2. 7.1 Explore Linux log files
    3. 7.2 Manage syslog
    4. 7.3 Rotate and condense log files
    5. 7.4 Centralize logs and use logging services
  9. Lesson 8: TCP/IP Networking
    1. Learning objectives
    2. 8.1 Discuss Linux's versatility on the network
    3. 8.2 Configure TCP/IP
    4. 8.3 Configure DNS
    5. 8.4 Troubleshoot networking
  10. Lesson 9: Security
    1. Learning objectives
    2. 9.1 Secure a Linux system
    3. 9.2 Use SSH for secure remote management
    4. 9.3 Configure a Linux firewall
  11. Summary
    1. Summary of Linux System Administration LiveLessons

Product information

  • Title: Linux System Administration
  • Author(s):
  • Release date: October 2013
  • Publisher(s): Pearson
  • ISBN: 0133551334