Linux System Administration: Solve Real-life Linux Problems Quickly

by Tom Adelstein, Bill Lubanovic

Overview

If you're an experienced system administrator looking to acquire Linux skills, or a seasoned Linux user facing a new challenge, Linux System Administration offers practical knowledge for managing a complete range of Linux systems and servers. The book summarizes the steps you need to build everything from standalone SOHO hubs, web servers, and LAN servers to load-balanced clusters and servers consolidated through virtualization. Along the way, you'll learn about all of the tools you need to set up and maintain these working environments.

Linux is now a standard corporate platform with users numbering in the hundreds of millions, and there is a definite shortage of talented administrators. Linux System Administration is ideal as an introduction to Linux for Unix veterans, MCSEs, and mainframe administrators, and as an advanced (and refresher) guide for existing Linux administrators who will want to jump into the middle of the book. Inside, you'll learn how to:

• Set up a stand-alone Linux server



• Install, configure, maintain, and troubleshoot a DNS server using BIND



• Build an Internet server to manage sites, perform email and file transfers, and more



• Set up an email service for a small-to-medium-sized site, complete with authentication



• Install and configure Apache, PHP, and MySQL on a web server built from scratch



• Combine computers into a load-balanced Apache web server cluster based on the free Linux Virtual Server



• Set up local network services from distributed file systems to DHCP services, gateway services, print services, user management and more



• Use Linux virtualization with Xen or VMWare to run multiple kernels on one piece of hardware; manage each kernel's access to processor time, devices, and memory



• Create shell scripts and adapt them for your own needs



• Back up and restore data with rsync, tar, cdrecord, Amanda, and MySQL tools

Linux System Administration is not only knowledgeable and practical, but convenient. The ingredients for this book had been scattered throughout mailing lists, forums, and discussion groups, as well as books, periodicals, and the experiences of colleagues. Everything is now in one handy guide. In the course of their research, the authors also solved many problems whose solutions were completely undocumented. They now pass their lessons on to you.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780596009526
Publisher:	O'Reilly Media, Incorporated
Publication date:	03/01/2007
Pages:	296
Product dimensions:	7.00(w) x 9.19(h) x 0.78(d)

About the Author

Tom Adelstein works as a system administrator and a technical writer. He became a young author by accident in 1985 and has written prolifically ever since. Tom's career began in public accounting and investment banking where he excelled by using computer technology to help his companies become industry leaders in the financial service sector. In 1993, he decided to change industries completely to pursue information technology full time. He says he chose to follow his heart instead of his head.

Bill Lubanovic started developing software with Unix in the 1970s, GUIs in the 1980s, and the Web in the 1990s. He now does web visualization work for a wind energy company.

Table of Contents

Copyright; Preface; How This Book Is Organized; Conventions Used in This Book; Using Code Examples; Safari® Enabled; How to Contact Us; Acknowledgments; Chapter 1: Requirements for a Linux System Administrator; 1.1 About This Book; 1.2 How Can We Help?; 1.3 Where Do You Start?; 1.4 Do You Need a Book?; 1.5 Who Needs You?; 1.6 What System Managers Should Know About Linux; 1.7 What's Next; Chapter 2: Setting Up a Linux Multifunction Server; 2.1 Server Requirements; 2.2 Installing Debian; 2.3 Logging in Remotely; 2.4 Configuring the Network; 2.5 Changing the Default Debian Packages; 2.6 Setting Up Quotas; 2.7 Providing Domain Name Services; 2.8 Adding a Relational Database: MySQL; 2.9 Configuring Mail Securely with Postfix, POP3, and IMAP; 2.10 Putting Apache to Work; 2.11 Adding FTP Services with ProFTPD; 2.12 Summarizing Your Web Statistics with Webalizer; 2.13 Synchronizing the System Clock; 2.14 Installing Perl Modules Needed by SpamAssassin; 2.15 What's Next; Chapter 3: The Domain Name System; 3.1 DNS Basics; 3.2 Getting into the BIND; 3.3 Setting Up a DNS Server; 3.4 Configuring an Authoritative DNS Server; 3.5 Editing the Configuration Files; 3.6 BIND Tools; 3.7 Troubleshooting BIND; 3.8 What's Next; Chapter 4: An Initial Internet-Ready Environment; 4.1 Installing ISPConfig; 4.2 Setting Up a Server and Users with ISPConfig; 4.3 Safeguarding a Linux Web Server; 4.4 What's Next; Chapter 5: Mail; 5.1 Key Mail Service Terms; 5.2 Postfix, Sendmail, and Other MTAs; 5.3 The Postfix SMTP Mail Server on Debian; 5.4 Adding Authentication and Encryption; 5.5 Configuring POP3 and IMAP Mail Delivery Agents; 5.6 Email Client Configuration; 5.7 What's Next; Chapter 6: Administering Apache; 6.1 Static and Dynamic Files; 6.2 A Simple LAMP Setup; 6.3 Installation; 6.4 Apache Configuration Files; 6.5 Logfiles; 6.6 SSL/TLS Encryption; 6.7 suEXEC Support; 6.8 Benchmarking; 6.9 Installing and Administering Drupal; 6.10 Troubleshooting; 6.11 Further Reading; Chapter 7: Load-Balanced Clusters; 7.1 Load Balancing and High Availability; 7.2 Scaling Without LB and HA; 7.3 Further Reading; Chapter 8: Local Network Services; 8.1 Distributed Filesystems; 8.2 Introduction to Samba; 8.3 Configuring the Network; 8.4 DHCP; 8.5 Gateway Services; 8.6 Print Services; 8.7 User Management; Chapter 9: Virtualization in the Modern Enterprise; 9.1 Why Virtualization Is Popular; 9.2 High-Performance Computing; 9.3 Installing Xen on Fedora 5; 9.4 Installing VMware; 9.5 Virtualization: A Passing Fad?; Chapter 10: Scripting; 10.1 bash Beginnings; 10.2 Useful Elements for bash Scripts; 10.3 Scripting Language Shootout; 10.4 Further Reading; Chapter 11: Backing Up Data; 11.1 Backing Up User Data to a Server with rsync; 11.2 tar Archives; 11.3 Saving Files on Optical Media; 11.4 Backing Up and Archiving to Tape with Amanda; 11.5 Backing Up MySQL Data; bash Script Samples; A.1 Adding Users; A.2 Random Password Generator; A.3 Authoritative DNS Lookup; A.4 Integrating ssh and screen; About the Authors; Colophon;

Editorial Reviews

The Barnes & Noble Review
With Linux doing so much more than file and print nowadays, Linux administrators must know more, too. Not every Linux admin book can keep up. This one can: O'Reilly's Linux System Administration.

You'll begin by setting up a Linux "multifunction" server: one that can be customized to all sorts of tasks, much as a car's wheelbase can be customized with different chassis and features. Then, building on it, you'll construct full-fledged Internet-ready environments; DNS servers; Postfix mail servers complete with authentication; LAMP (Apache, MySQL and PHP ) servers; and much more.

You'll even learn how to implement load-balanced clusters and virtualization (Xen and VMWare). Just try looking for those topics in your old-fashioned admin guide. It ain't happening. (In fact, this book contains plenty of solutions the authors had to craft entirely from scratch. They're not on the Web, or newsgroups, or maillists: just here.) Bill Camarda, from the May 2007 Read Only