Practical Linux System Administration: A Guide to Installation, Configuration, and Management (Thirteenth Early Release)

This essential guide covers all aspects of Linux system administration, from user maintenance, backups, filesystem housekeeping, storage management, and network setup to hardware and software troubleshooting and some application management. It's both a practical daily reference manual for sysadmins and IT pros and a handy study guide for those taking Linux certification exams. You'll turn to it frequently, not only because of the sheer volume of valuable information it provides but because of the real-world examples within and the clear, useful way the information is presented. Linux system administration means different things to different people. Administration, for this book, means the daily actions that a Linux system administrator must take to manage and support users, maintain system health, implement best practices for security, install software, and perform housekeeping tasks. This chapter covers Linux installation, initial setup, and system exploration using simple shell commands. You’ll spend a significant portion of your time at the command line, also known as the command line interface (CLI). Linux system administrators rarely install or use graphic user interfaces (GUIs) on their supported server systems. This chapter introduces you to the CLI and some simple commands to navigate the filesystem, to locate important files, and to familiarize yourself with the Linux CLI. Creating scripts and automating tasks is challenging and fun. Watching a series of scripts and schedules work as planned to mimic human keystrokes, decisions, and activities is rewarding. Every sysadmin must know how to create basic shell scripts and should automate every possible non-privileged, repetitive task. Writing backup scripts is a good place to start. Backups are required, and you’ll be a hero in case of a failure or human error, which could be your own. I’ve known sysadmins with more than ten years of experience who have removed entire /etc directories by accident, so a good backup is essential to a happy life as a sysadmin.