Linux: System Administration and Practical Management Guidelines

★ Making Day-to-Day Administration and Maintenance a Breeze! ★

System administration is an aspect of Linux that is unavoidable. Even with the emergence of user friendly distributions like Ubuntu and Mint, a significant amount of user configuration is still required to keep a Linux system running on a daily basis. This book has been created to guide you through most scenarios you will encounter, whether you’re new to system administration or have been maintaining systems for years.

In this book we take a detailed look at managing users and groups, we look at how to create a more secure system that will be less vulnerable to threats, as well as delving into the various aspects of managing filesystems and storage partitions. We also address specific topics such as working with hard and soft links, getting the most out of text processing, package management and architecture, utilizing shared libraries, manipulating processes for system optimization, as well as other essential topics every proficient Linux user and administrator needs to know.

What This Book Offers

Detailed Practical Examples
Throughout the entire guide we provide practical examples with command line snippets and system screenshots to demonstrate how the aspects we discuss are applied on a real system. For complicated topics we also include step-by-step examples to guide you through a process every step of the way.

Dissected Commands
Command line instructions are broken down into their basic commands, with each component explained in detail, making learning easy and much more manageable. We also look at the various options and switches available for each command, along with accompanying examples.

Referenced GUI Tools
Graphical tools can make administering a Linux system much more enjoyable and hassle free. As such, we provide references to our recommended GUI options for many administrative functions, where available.

Key Topics

The Linux Boot Process

Startup and Boot Order
Alternative Boot Loaders
Reviewing the Boot Process
Commands to Restart and Stop the System

Hardware Management

Hardware Detection
Using the /proc Filesystem
Command Line Tools
Graphical Tools

Shared Libraries

Naming Conventions
Identifying Referenced Libraries using ldd
Identifying Referenced Libraries using objdump

User and Group Management

Storage of User and Group Data
User and Group Commands

Filesystems

Types of Commonly Used Filesystems
Filesystem Commands

Disk Storage Management

Naming the Devices
Primary, Extended, and Logical Partitions
udev and df
Mounting a Filesystem
Unmounting a Filesystem
Automating Mount Points
Setting up New Partitions

Working with Links

Hard Links
Soft Links

Text Processing

Text Processing Commands
Combining Commands

Package Management

Understanding Package Architecture