Fedora Linux is a free and open-source platform designed for hardware, clouds, and containers that enables software developers and community members to create custom solutions for their customers. This book is a comprehensive guide focusing on workstation configuration for the modern system administrator.
The book begins by introducing you to the philosophy underlying the open-source movement, along with the unique attributes of the Fedora Project that set it apart from other Linux distributions. The chapters outline best practices and strategies for essential system administration tasks, including operating system installation, first-boot configuration, storage, and network setup. As you make progress, you’ll get to grips with the selection and usage of top applications and tools in the tech environment. The concluding chapters help you get a clear understanding of the basics of version control systems, enhanced Linux security, automation, virtualization, and containers, which are integral to modern system administration.
By the end of this book, you’ll have gained the knowledge needed to optimize day-to-day tasks related to Linux-based system administration
Author(s): ALEX. CALLEJAS
Publisher: Packt
Year: 2023
Language: English
Pages: 560
Cover
Title Page
Copyright
Dedication
Contributors
Table of Contents
Preface
Part 1:The Fedora Project
Chapter 1: Linux and Open Source Projects
A brief history of Linux
Understanding Linux distributions
The Fedora Project
The Red Hat contribution path
Fedora’s mission and foundations
Contributing to the project
Fedora as a system administration tool
The command-line interface
The basics
Guided example – releasing space in the filesystem
Desktop environments
Summary
Further reading
Part 2:Workstation Configuration
Chapter 2: Best Practices for Installation
Technical requirements
Creating the boot media
Fedora Media Writer
Booting
Partitioning local storage
The first startup
Package management
Extra package selection
Summary
Further reading
Chapter 3: Tuning the Desktop Environment
Technical requirements
Initial system tuning
Tuning the swappiness value
Tuning the desktop experience
GNOME Tweak Tool
Customizing the panel and the taskbar
The taskbar
Making tasks easy with widgets
Conky
Handy applications with docks
Summary
Further reading
Chapter 4: Optimizing Storage Usage
Technical requirements
Understanding file formats and filesystems
Creating a Btrfs filesystem
Optimizing storage space size
Space allocation check
Using the btrfs-usage-report command
Deep diving into Logical Volume Manager
Differences between snapshots
Discovering Stratis storage
Creating a Stratis pool
Summary
Further reading
Chapter 5: Network and Connectivity
Technical requirements
Walking through the basics
NetworkManager command-line interface (nmcli)
Tuning wireless connectivity
Identifying the device
Finding the best quality network connection
nm-connection-editor
What about security?
Improving network connectivity using a VPN
IPSec-based VPN
OpenVPN
Configuring a VPN client with the Control Center
Network performance monitoring
nmon
bpytop
Summary
Further reading
Part 3:Productivity Tools
Chapter 6: Sandbox Applications
Technical requirements
Inspecting sandbox applications
SELinux sandbox
Diving deep into AppImage apps
Running an AppImage
Developing AppImages
Examining Flatpak applications
Using Flatpak applications
Building Flatpak applications
Summary
Further reading
Chapter 7: Text Editors
Technical requirements
Text editors and the command line
Emacs overview
The basics
Mastering GNU Emacs
Nano basics
The mighty vim
The basics
Mastering vim
Summary
Further reading
Chapter 8: LibreOffice Suite
Technical requirements
Exploring office tools on Fedora Linux
WPS Office
ONLYOFFICE
Calligra
Fonts
LibreOffice
Getting used to Writer and Calc
Writer
Calc
Creating slides and image management
Summary
Further reading
Chapter 9: Mail Clients and Browsers
Technical requirements
Mailing with Evolution
Mailing with Thunderbird
Trusty old Firefox
Customizing Firefox
Expanding browsing with Google Chrome
Summary
Further reading
Part 4:System Administration Tools
Chapter 10: System Administration
Technical requirements
The three laws of the SysAdmin
The KISS principle
Knowing the basic tasks
A little bit of Git and programming
Bash scripting
Git
The basics
Don’t forget to back up
Archiving and compression
Version management with Git
Automating with Ansible
The basics
First steps
Never-ending study
Summary
Chapter 11: Performance Tuning Best Practices
Technical requirements
Understanding kernel tuning
Tuning kernel parameters
Main tuning – CPU and memory
Overview of monitoring tools
Improving CPU usage
Improving memory usage
Don’t ignore storage tuning
Improving storage space usage
Boosting performance with network tuning
Analyzing metrics
Summary
Chapter 12: Untangling Security with SELinux
Technical requirements
Learning about mandatory access control
Labeling and type enforcement
How SELinux works
How to troubleshoot SELinux issues
Labeling
SELinux needs to know
Policy bugs
Hack attack
Summary
Further reading
Chapter 13: Virtualization and Containers
Technical requirements
Virtualization with QEMU, KVM, and libvirt
Management tools
Streamlining the creation of virtual machines
Using GNOME Boxes
Discovering OCI containers with Podman
Summary
Further reading
Index
About Packt
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