Foreword. Preface. Acknowledgments. BASIC ADMINISTRATION.
1.Where to Start. Suggested background. Linux's relationship to UNIX. Linux and UNIX history. Linux distributions. Notation and typographical conventions. Where to go for information. How to find and install software. Essential tasks of the system administrator. System administration under duress. Recommended reading. Exercises.
2.Booting and Shutting Down. Bootstrapping. Booting PCs. Boot loaders: LILO and GRUB. Booting single-user mode. Startup Scripts. Rebooting and shutting down. Exercises.
3. Rootly Powers. Ownership of files and processes. The superuser. Choosing a root password. Becoming root. Other pseudo-users. Exercises.
4. Controlling Processes. Components of a process. The life cycle of a process. Signals. kill and killall: send signals. Process states. nice and renice: influence scheduling priority. ps: monitor processes. top: monitor processes even better. Runaway processes. Exercises.
5. The Filesystem. Pathnames. Mounting and unmounting filesystems. The organization of the file tree. File types. File attributes. Exercises.
6. Adding New Users. The /etc/passwd file. The /etc/shadow file. The /etc/group file. Adding users. Removing users. Disabling logins. Account management utilities. Exercises.
7. Serial Devices. Serial standards. Alternative connectors. Hard and soft carrier. Hardware flow control. Cable length. Serial device files. setserial: tell the driver about serial port parameters. Software configuration for serial devices. Configuration of hardwired terminals. Special characters and the terminal driver. stty: set terminal options. tset: set options automatically. How to unwedge a terminal. Modems. Debugging a serial line. Other common I/O ports. Exercises.
8. Adding A Disk. Disk interfaces. Disk geometry. An overview of the disk installation procedure. The ext2 and ext3 filesystems. fsck: check and repair filesystems Adding a disk to Linux: a step-by-step guide. Exercises.
9. Periodic Processes. cron: schedule commands. The format of crontab files. Crontab management. Some common uses for cron. Exercises.
10. Backups. Motherhood and apple pie. Backup devices and media. Setting up an incremental backup regime with dump. Restoring from dumps with restore. Dumping and restoring for upgrades. Using other archiving programs. Using multiple files on a single tape. Amanda. Commercial backup products. Recommended reading. Exercises.
11. Syslog and Log Files. Logging policies. Linux log files. logrotate: manage log files. Syslog: the system event logger. Condensing log files to useful information. Exercises
12. Drivers and The Kernel. Kernel adaptation. Why configure the kernel? Configuration methods. Tuning a Linux kernel. Adding device drivers. Adding a Linux device driver. Device files. Loadable kernel modules. Building a Linux kernel. Don't fix it if it ain't broken. Recommended reading. Exercises.
NETWORKING.
13. TCP/IP Networking. TCP/IP and the Internet. Networking road map. Packets and encapsulation. IP addresses: the gory details. Routing. ARP: The address resolution protocol. Adding a machine to a network. Distribution-specific network configuration. DHCP: the Dynamic Host Configuration Protocol. Linux dynamic reconfiguration and tuning. Security issues. Linux NAT (IP masquerading) PPP: the Point-to-Point Protocol. Linux networking quirks. Recommended reading Exercises.
14. Routing. Packet forwarding: a closer look. Routing daemons and routing protocols. Protocols on parade. routed: RIP yourself a new hole. gated: a better routing daemon. Routing strategy selection criteria. Cisco routers. Recommended reading. Exercises.
15. Network Hardware LAN, WAN, or MAN? Ethernet: the common LAN. Wireless: the nomad's LAN. FDDI: the disappointing and expensive LAN. ATM: the promised (but sorely defeated) LAN. Frame relay: the sacrificial WAN. ISDN: the indigenous WAN. DSL and cable modems: the people's WAN. Where is the network going? Network testing and debugging. Building wiring. Network design issues. Management issues. Recommended vendors. Recommended reading. Exercises.
16. The Domain Name System. DNS for the impatient: adding a new machine. The history of DNS. Who needs DNS? What's new in DNS. The DNS namespace. The BIND software. How DNS works. BIND client issues. BIND server configuration. BIND configuration examples. The DNS database. Updating zone files. Security issues. Testing and debugging. Loose ends. Distribution specifics. Recommended reading. Exercises.
17. The Network File System. General information about NFS. Server-side NFS. Client-side NFS. nfsstat: dump NFS statistics. Dedicated NFS file servers. Automatic mounting. Automount. amd: a more sophisticated automounter. Recommended reading. Exercises.
18. Sharing System Files. What to share. Copying files around. NIS: the Network Information Service. NIS+: son of NIS. LDAP: the Lightweight Directory Access Protocol. Exercises.
19. Electronic Mail. Mail systems. The anatomy of a mail message. Mail philosophy. Mail aliases. sendmail: ringmaster of the electronic mail circus. sendmail configuration. Basic sendmail configuration primitives. Fancier sendmail configuration primitives. Configuration file examples. Spam-related features in sendmail. Security and sendmail. Sendmail performance. sendmail statistics, testing, and debugging. The Exim Mail System. Recommended reading. Exercises
20. Network Management and Debugging. Troubleshooting a network. ping: check to see if a host is alive. traceroute: trace IP packets. netstat: get tons o' network statistics. Packet sniffers. Network management protocols. SNMP: the Simple Network Management Protocol. The NET-SMNP agent. Network management applications. Recommended reading. Exercises.
21. Security. Is Linux secure? Linux security, the CliffsNotes version. How security is compromised. Security problems in the /etc/passwd and /etc/shadow files. Setuid programs. Important file permissions. Miscellaneous security issues. Security power tools. Cryptographic security tools. Firewalls. Linux firewall features: IP tables. Virtual private networks (VPNs). Sources of security information. Hardened Linux distributions. What to do when your site has been attacked. Recommended reading. Exercises.
22. Web Hosting and Internet Servers. Web hosting. Web hosting basics. HTTP server installation. Virtual interfaces. Caching and proxy servers. Anonymous FTP server setup. Exercises.
BUNCH O' STUFF.
23. Software Installation and Localization. Basic Linux installation. Automating installation. Localization. Keeping your systems up to date with rsync or rdist. Package management. apt-get: automate downloading and installation. Recommended reading. Exercises.
24. Printing. Mini-glossary of printing terms. Linux printing. Types of printers. LPD: the good ol' printing system. LPRng. Adding a printer. Debugging printing problems. Common printing software. Printer philosophy. Exercises.
25. Maintenance and Environment. Maintenance basics. Maintenance contracts. Board-handling lore. Monitors. Memory modules. Preventive maintenance. Environment. Power. Racks. Tools. Exercises.
26. Performance Analysis. What you can do to improve performance. Factors that affect performance. System performance checkup. Help! My system just got really slow! Recommended reading. Exercises.
27. Cooperating with Windows. File and print sharing. Secure terminal emulation with SSH. X Windows emulators. PC mail clients. PC backups. Dual booting. Running Windows applications under Linux. PC hardware tips. Recommended reading. Exercises.
28. Daemons. init: the primordial process. cron and atd: schedule commands. inetd and xinetd: manage daemons. Kernel daemons. File service daemons. Administrative database daemons. Internet daemons. Time synchronization daemons. Booting and configuration daemons. Exercises.
29. Policy and Politics. Linux culture. Policy and procedure. Legal issues. Scope of service. Trouble-reporting systems. Managing management. Hiring, firing, and training. War stories and ethics. Local documentation. Procurement. Decommissioning hardware. Organizations, conferences, and other resources. Standards. Sample documents. Recommended reading. Exercises.
Colophon. Index. 