LINUX (or Solaris) System Administration Lab Crash Course including one day of Networking Fundamentals

Be sure to select LINUX, Solaris or a combination of both, when registering.

Class Description:

This is a practical, fast-paced, hands-on, crash course on the concepts and procedures needed to install, configure, fix and administer a LINUX (or Solaris) system. Topics include details of system startup and shutdown, account management, security, creating and using file systems, devices, device files; Also serial port, terminal and printer configurations, software and package management, system backups, configuring automation and network daemons, system error logging, and operating system installation to name a few. Lectures are reinforced by providing the attendees with many hands-on real-life exercises throughout the learning experience, allowing them to gain practical experience with configuring and customizing Red Hat LINUX or Sun SOLARIS both as a system administrator and as a power user.

This course also provides the opportunity to advance the novice LINUX/Solaris user in their understanding of one of the world’s two most flexible and customizable operating systems, with the goal that they will become more proficient in working within a LINUX/Solaris environment. By the end of this course, attendees will also have gained considerable experience and understanding in what goes on behind the scenes in a UNIX operating system and how to effectively manage and run a LINUX/Solaris system, both locally and on a network.

Prerequisite:

This is an accelerated curriculum and students are expected to already be familiar with either UNIX, Solaris or LINUX, and be proficient with the VI Visual Editor prior to to the first day of class. Attendees not meeting these prerequisites are required to enroll in the one-day fundamentals class held on the Friday before classes begin.

Targeted for:

Individuals with some experience in BSD or System V UNIX or some variant, who wish to become more proficient in LINUX or Solaris, and understand the bigger picture, and learning what it is like to maintain a LINUX/Solaris system in their home or office.

Handouts:

Copies of the course outline slides will be provided along with relevant handouts when appropriate.

Content Outline Summary:

Class 1 - Introduction to System Administration and the UNIX File System
• UNIX Architecture Overview
• Responsibilities of a System Administrator
• Quick History of UNIX
• Hardware Components, Busses, IRQs
• Command Line Syntax and Help Subsystem
• Login vs su, Basic Commands and System Shutdown
• Understanding the UNIX File System
• Disk Terminology and Partitions
• System V File System Overview
• Introduction to Mounting
• Navigating Around the UNIX Directory Structure

Class 2 - File System Details, Processes and System Startup
• The UNIX File system Details:
• Type of Files, Ordinary, Directories, Links, Special
• Superblock, Inodes, Data-blocks
• Chmod, Access Permission, SUID, SGID, Sticky bits
• Anatomy of the UNIX Process:
• Variations on PS command, SysV vs BSD vs UNIX
• Forks and Execs, inherited Environment
• Signals and Traps, Daemons, Cron and At Jobs
• System Startup and Shutdown:
• Power-on to Login Sequence
• Bootstrap procedure, System Startup Files
• Run Levels, Inittab
• Serial Port and Terminal Initialization
• Logins, Gettys, SAF, Terminals

Class 3 - Startup, User Management and User Environment
• Customizing System Startup and Shutdown
• Creating and Deleting User Accounts
• Controlling Files: Passwd, Shadow, Group
• UIDs, GIDs, Privileged Users, Changing UIDs
• Security, Restricting User Accounts
• Login Shells, Password Aging, Using Groups
• User Environments and Dot Files (Profiles)
• Devices, Device Drivers

Class 4 - Device Management and Printing
• Configuring Printers in UNIX; Using Serial Ports in UNIX
• Device Files, Block and Char, Major/Minor; Device Drivers, Device Naming Conventions
• More Details on Disk, Partitions and Slices; Mounting File Systems
• Using Devices as Devices, Not File Systems

Class 5 - Backup Techniques, Software Packages and System Install
• Tape Backup Techniques:
• Full dumps, Differentials, Incremental, Partials; Using TAR- Tape Archive Retrieval Subsystem
• Using DD, CPIO; Dealing with Compressed Backups
• Software Packages:
• Installing Software; RPM- Red Hat Package Management
• System Error Logging; System Install Lab

Class 6 - UNIX Networking Fundamentals
• TCP/IP Fundamentals; IP Addressing Configuration Basics; Ports, Sockets, Inetd, Services
• Network Configuration Files; Changing One’s IP Address; Changing One’s Hostname
• Configuring Default Gateway; Static Routes
• Introduction to UNIX X Windows Subsystem and GNOME

For more info: email to jeffg@qualware.com  Add "not spam" to subject field.

Lecturer's biography:

An honor graduate of Tufts University, Jeffrey M. Goldberg has served the engineering and academic community in various roles from principal design engineer/project leader to senior consultant and trainer at companies such as Hewlett Packard, Siemens, Picturetel, 3Com, IBM, NMS, FST, IEEE, and EMC. Mr. Goldberg is a long-time innovative user of UNIX and Internet services. He currently develops and delivers public seminars and customized corporate training classes along with very flexible scheduling, to avoid project disruption, in the fields of IT operations, operating system and computer languages. Specialties include UNIX Fundamentals, Perl and Shell Scripting, C/C++ and Java, Linux/Solaris/ UNIX System Administration and TCP/IP Networking, Web Technologies such as Visual Basic, Delphi/Pascal, JavaScript, PHP Apache /Tomcat, JSP/Servlets and SQL Database Access, Computer and Network Security. As a part time faculty of Worcester Polytechnic Institute and Boston University, Mr. Goldberg is continually adding new cutting-edge technology to his curriculum, and accepts requests for customized on-site corporate training classes and tutoring. For more information, please contact Mr. Goldberg at 781-229-1530 ext. 2 (Qualware), e-mail to training2010@qualware.com or visit www.Qualware.com.

Besides operating Qualware Instructional Services, Mr. Goldberg is also a principal of Qualware Consulting Group, which performs a wide range of consulting services. For more information, visit http://www.qualware.com/qualware.

Copyright 2003-2010 Qualware Instructional Services and Jeffrey Goldberg.

Copyright © 2010 Qualware Consulting Group. All rights reserved.        
Maintained by Jeff Goldberg