SUMMARY:   This course is designed to give experienced Linux/UNIX administrators practical experience in the administration, security and performance administration of a Linux System. This course will enable the student to work towards the RedHat RHCE qualifications. AUDIENCE:   The course is designed for experienced Linux/UNIX System Administrators who need to acquire knowledge of the key administrative, networking and security tasks required to administer a Linux system. The course assumes a strong prior knowledge of the LINUX or UNIX Operating Systems to a minimum level covered in the LINUX System Administration 1 course. DURATION:   5 Days OBJECTIVES:   On completion of the course the delegate will have a greater technical awareness of the system, and acquired practical experience of the key administration duties of Linux systems. They will posses the essential knowledge required to study towards the official Red Hat certification routes. COURSE CONTENT:   REDHAT PRODUCT OFFERINGS The RedHat Enterprise editions RedHat desktop releases for the Enterprise RedHat additonal applications The RedHat Certification routes The Fedora project Configurations supported Hardware requirements INSTALLING RED HAT LINUX/Kickstart/PXE boot Installation methods available The virtual consoles Using boot time options Firstboot and post installation The kickstart process Kickstart methods Using PXE boot INVESTIGATING THE SYSTEM The /proc psuedo filesystem Investigating bus/devices:lspci,lsusb etc. Graphical tools for investigating hardware Serial device management. Monitoring and managing logfiles Using the redhat-config tools The /etc/sysconfig directory BASIC ADMINISTRATION The RedHat Administartive tools available User and group and password administration The sudo command Control services using chkconfig,ntsysv etc. System shutdown and reboot management Printer Management Vixie cron/anacron Backup/Restore utilities FILESYSTEM CONFIGURATION The Native Linux Filesytems ext2fs and ext3fs Disk partitioning: fdisk and parted FileSystem administration and Maintenance Using Disk quotas/Swap space management Basic LVM design and configuration Software RAID using Raidtools Implementing RAID0,1 & 5 file systems Hot swap replacement KERNEL RECOMPILATION AND INSTALLATION Monolithic and modular kernel design Kernel module configuration Tuning the kernel : /proc/sys & sysctrl Loading a new kernel from an RPM package Rebuilding a kernel from source Updating the Boot Managers (LILO/GRUB) MANAGING SYSTEM SOFTWARE The Redhat Package Management system The YUM and APT package management tools Installing and removing software manually RPM queries and verifying packages Dependency problems and resolution Building APT/YUM repositories Updating Enterprise Linux with up2date CUSTOMISING AND USING X WINDOWS Windowing System available The X windowing system managers Configuring using redhat-config and Xfree86 Customising X start-up The X window protocol and X security xauth and ssh operation The font server NETWORK CONFIGURATION & SERVICES Configuring network interfaces Controlling network devices:ifup/ifdown/mii-tool/ethtool Creating virtual interfaces Routing IP traffic under RedHat Linux Network diagnosis tools : tcpdump, netstat etc. The xinetd daemon operation & ports/sockets Limiting access to services using TCP wrappers The FTP service using vsftpd The DHCP service, the NIS service THE DOMAIN NAME SYSTEM The DNS/BIND system under Red Hat Linux Master/Slave/Reverse zones Name Daemon control utility (rndc) Address match lists (acl) Sub-domains BIND checking utilities SHARING FILE SYSTEM (NFS & SAMBA) NFS operation : daemons, portmapper etc. Configuring an NFS server Using the automounter to access NFS mounts The Samba system. Samba Daemons and operation Samba authentication methods Samba client tools Using smbmount to access Windows shares WEB Services : Apache,Squid & Email The Apache and Tux web servers Apache Server configuration files Virtual host management : name and IP based access CGI programs and Apache modules The squid web proxy cache Configuring squid Sendmail and Postfix Debugging sendmail Switching to postfix, a sendmail replacement Postfix configuration. Procmail configuration SECURITY AND AUTHENTICATION SERVICES Types of attack usually experienced Packet sniffing/attacks : the tools System and user security policies Authentication services : PAM PAM operation Configuring resource limits & access control through PAM SECURING NETWORKS : FIREWALLS & SECURITY Netfilter overview Packet filtering using iptables Source and Destination NAT configuration RedHat supplied tools for iptables configuration Encryption methods Certificate encryption and digital signatures OpenSSH Overview Client and server side configuration of OpenSSH Kerberos security SYSTEM MONITORING/PERFORMANCE MANAGEMENT System Log files Syslogd & klogd configuration Advanced syslogd configuration Analysing logfiles System performance monitoring System activity reporting Simple process accounting TROUBLESHOOTING The rescue environment Rescue environment utilities and operation The networked rescue environment Over riding boot levels from grub/lilo Boot floppies Common boot problems and their resolution GC/05