Red Hat Enterprise Linux 5 Administration Unleashed

DESCRIPTION

This comprehensive guide can help you administer Red Hat Enterprise Linux 5 effectively in any production environment, no matter how complex or challenging.



Long-time Red Hat insider Tammy Fox brings together today?s best practices for the entire system lifecycle, from planning and deployment through maintenance and troubleshooting. Fox shows how to maximize your efficiency and effectiveness by automating day-to-day maintenance through scripting, deploying security updates via Red Hat Network, implementing central identity management services, and providing shared data with NFS and Samba.



Red Hat Enterprise Linux 5 Administration Unleashed contains extensive coverage of network and web services, from the Apache HTTP server and Sendmail email services to remote login with OpenSSH. Fox also describes Red Hat?s most valuable tools for monitoring and optimization and presents thorough coverage of security?including a detailed introduction to Security-Enhanced Linux (SELinux).



Streamline deployment with Kickstart
Find, install, update, remove, and verify software
Detect, analyze, and manage hardware
Manage storage with LVM, RAID, ACLs, and quotas
Use Red Hat Enterprise Linux 5 on 64-bit and multi-core systems
Administer users and groups more efficiently and securely
Ensure trustworthy backup and rapid recovery
Script and schedule tasks to run automatically
Provide unifiedidentity management services
Configure Apache, BIND, Samba, and Sendmail
Monitor and tune the kernel and individual applications
Protect against intruders with SELinux and ExecShield
Set up firewalls with iptables
Enable the Linux Auditing System
Use virtualization to run multiple operating systems concurrently


Table of Contents
Part I Installation and Configuration





Chapter 1 Installing Red Hat Enterprise Linux


Choosing an Installation Method


Creating the Installation Source

Starting the Installation

Performing the Installation

Installing with Kickstart

Installing with PXE

Performing an Upgrade


Red Hat Network Provisioning


Summary



Chapter 2 Post-Installation Configuration


Red Hat Setup Agent

Logging In for the First Time

Network Configuration

Printer Configuration

Adding Boot Parameters


Summary



Chapter 3 Operating System Updates


Navigating Through the RHN Website

Assigning Users for the RHN Website

Subscribing to RHN Channels


Performing Actions on Individual Systems from the RHN Website

Using System Groups on the RHN Website


Retrieving Software from RHN with YUM


Summary



Part II Operating System Core Concepts




Chapter 4 Understanding Linux Concepts


Learning the Desktop

Filesystem Hierarchy System

Shell Basics

Becoming the Root User


Manual Pages

Editing Text Files


File Permissions

Initialization Scripts

Runlevels

Summary




Chapter 5 Working with RPM Software


Understanding How RPM Works


Finding the Software

Installing Software

Updating Software

Removing Software

Verifying Software Files


Querying Package Files

Building RPM Packages

Summary




Chapter 6 Analyzing Hardware


Listing Devices

Detecting Hardware


Gathering Information from the BIOS

Listing and Configuring Kernel Modules


HAL

Summary



Chapter 7 Managing Storage


Understanding Partitioning

Understanding LVM

Understanding RAID

Understanding Clustering and GFS

Using Access Control Lists

Using Disk Quotas


Summary




Chapter 8 64-Bit, Multi-Core, and Hyper-Threading Technology Processors


64-Bit Processors


Multi-Core Processors

Processors with Hyper-Threading Technology

Summary




Part III System Administration




Chapter 9 Managing Users and Groups


What Are Users and Groups?

Managing Users

Managing Groups

How It All Works

Best Practices

Summary




Chapter 10 Techniques for Backup and Recovery


Writing a Backup Plan

Using Amanda for Backups

Other Linux Backup Utilities

Recovery and Repair


Summary




Chapter 11 Automating Tasks with Scripts


Writing Scripts with Bash

Additional Scripting Languages

Scheduling Tasks with Cron

Summary



Part IV Network Services




12 Identity Management


Understanding PAM

Enabling NIS

Enabling LDAP

Enabling Kerberos

Enabling SMB or Winbind Authentication


Enabling with the Authentication Tool


Summary



Chapter 13 Network File Sharing


Network File System


Samba File Sharing


Summary



Chapter 14 Granting Network Connectivity with DHCP


Allowing Connections

Configuring the Server


Logging Connections


Summary



Chapter 15 Creating a Web Server with the Apache HTTP Server


Apache HTTP Server and SELinux

Allowing Connections

Configuring the Server


Logging Connections


Starting and Stopping the Server

Summary



Chapter 16 Hostname Resolution with BIND


Understanding DNS Concepts

Allowing Connections

Configuring BIND


Configuring BIND Graphically

Logging Connections


Summary



Chapter 17 Securing Remote Logins with OpenSSH


Allowing Connections

Configuring the Server


Connecting from the Client


Logging Connections

Summary



Chapter 18 Setting Up an Email Server with Sendmail


Understanding Email Concepts

Configuring Sendmail

Using POP and IMAP

Logging Sendmail Connections

Allowing Email Connections


Summary



Chapter 19 Explaining Other Common Network Services


The xinetd Super Server


Keeping Accurate Time with NTP

Creating a Network Printer with CUPS

Summary




Part V Monitoring and Tuning




Chapter 20 Monitoring System Resources


Reporting Filesystem Usage

Reporting Disk Performance

Reporting System Processes


Reporting on the System Processors

Reporting Memory Usage

Reporting on the Network Subsystem

Generating a System Report


Locating Log Files

Viewing Log Files with Logwatch

Summary



Chapter 21 Monitoring and Tuning the Kernel


Using the /proc Directory .

Optimizing Virtual Memory

Managing Memory with NUMA


Using AltSysRq to Execute System Requests


Saving Kernel Dumps for Analysis


Setting SMP IRQ Affinity

Enabling NMI Watchdog for Locked Systems

Summary




Chapter 22 Monitoring and Tuning Applications


OProfile


Valgrind

Additional Programs to Consider


Summary



Chapter 23 Protecting Against Intruders with Security-Enhanced Linux


Selecting an SELinux Mode

Selecting and Customizing the SELinux Policy

Utilizing the SELinux Troubleshooting Tool

Working with Security Contexts

Summary



Chapter 24 Configuring a Firewall


Selecting a Table and Command for IPTables

Selecting IPTables Options

Using IPTables Match Extensions

Using IPTables Target Extensions

Starting and Stopping the IPTables Service

Saving the IPTables Rules

IPTables Examples

Enabling the Default Firewall

Summary



Chapter 25 Linux Auditing System


Configuring the Audit Daemon

Writing Audit Rules and Watches

Starting and Stopping the Daemon

Analyzing the Records

Tracing a Process with Audit

Summary



Appendixes




Appendix A Installing Proprietary Kernel Modules


Installing Proprietary Modules

Installing the nVidia Display Driver

Recognizing a Tainted Kernel



Appendix B Creating Virtual Machines


Virtualization System Requirements

Installing Virtualization

Setting Up the VM and Installing the Guest OS


Introducing the virsh Command

Starting and Stopping the Virtual Machine

Modifying Dedicated Resources

Performing Additional Actions

Managing VMs with the xm Utility




Appendix C Preventing Security Breaches with ExecShield 547

How ExecShield Works

Determining Status of ExecShield

Disabling ExecShield




Appendix D Troubleshooting


Installation and Configuration Troubleshooting

OS Core Concepts Troubleshooting

System Administration Troubleshooting

Network Troubleshooting

Monitoring and Tuning Troubleshooting

Security Troubleshooting