> Basic System Administration

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>man <command>

for example to lean more about the copy command, 'cp' type:

>man cp

You will probably want to "pipe" the output of the command to a 'less' so that you can more easily view the material like this:

>man cp | less

So now you are the sys-admin for your own linux empire. With great power comes great responsibility. It is up to you to keep your system running smoothly, securely and reliably.

Don't hesitate to add ideas, pointers to other resources and the like. This can be a great resource for the newbies out there.

Get a bootable rescue CD or floppy.

This is your emergency recuse tool. Most Distros now have a "function" that will create a bootable floppy for you. You can use something like Knopix. I use BBC-LNX, an approximately 50 meg distro that can fit on one of the Business card CDs. Another is SystemRescueCD from http://www.sysresccd.com. There are others.

Logins:

You need at least 2. Root is the administration login. Don't use it when you are playing. It is only for those administration tasks that need to be able to destroy everything

Create a user login for when you are surfing the web, playing games, writing, working with spreadsheets, ripping your CDs and all the rest. I have several. I use one for each of the windowing environments I play with (KDE, Gnome, etc) You can also create different accounts for when you are doing different tasks. You can have one set up with all the 'tools at hand' for when you are hacking code, another set up for office tasks and a third could be your multimedia playground.

Learn the command line.

There are times when that is the only tool you have. There are times when the comand line is quicker and easier than the sexy GUI tools. There are some things that cannot be adjusted in the GUI tools that are only accessible from the command line tools.

working with files - in linux *everything* is a file; data, programs configuration data, device drivers, everything!

cp - is copy, to duplicate a file somewhere else. mv - move a file or rename it. rm - remove (i.e. delete) stuff ln - This is what MS Scandisk doesn't like. access files
from several places to better control who can do what, for example.
mkdir - create directories (i.e. folders) rmdir - delete an empty directory
permissions: your first line of control. Classes of access are read, write and execute. They apply to the owner, the group & others. The joys and the dangers of the 'sticky bit' on files and ditrectories.
chmod - change permissions for files and/or directories umask - change your default permissions
su & sudo: be careful what you ask for. tar: it's not just for tape anymore. Look at Gzip too. ls: like dir on steroids. Use it to look at directories less: is more ... only better. vi: it may be an old dog, but there is a reason why
it is still in use today! Learn the basics.

You are the administrator of your server.

Keep your system patched. It is a lot easier to do these days.

Use superior passwords ... expecially for your root login! But any time someone can get in as a legitimate user on your system, your security is compromized!

Turn off "services" you don't need. It will make you more secure and make your system more responsive at the same time. Look in the init.d directory for the 'hackers way' or the "config GUI"

How your system stats up and moves from run level to run level - the init.d directory tree

hdparm - interesting but dangerous!

Looking at resources -

df and du tell you what you have in your partitions ps tells you what if running /proc - the fake file system
If you are connected to the internet, run your firewall!

Security Protections:

Don't let 'em bypass your HD with a CD or a Floppy. Protect your BIOS settings

Prevent single user mode from lilo or grub - add 'ss:S:respawn:/sbin/sulogin' to /etc/inittab just after '/etc/rc.d/rc.sysinit'

require tough passwords for all users and disable unused system accounts (guest, etc.)

Resources: Securing your server:

http://www.cromwell-intl.com/security/linux-hardening.html A great step by step for basic hardening with three levels of paranoia and the source for a lot of the security examples here.

Admin Intro resources for free:

http://infocom.cqu.edu.au/Units/aut99/85321/Resources/Print_Resources/Textbook/ A good place to start. It is downloadable, available in editable formats so you can add your own notes, print it if you want.

http://www.faqs.org/docs/linux_network/ This is a nice web based book like guide to the admin topics. It has a pretty complete list of topics

http://www.tldp.org/LDP/sag/html/index.html The Linux Documentation Project (tldp) is one of the oldest and most extensive linux documentation sites around. This should be one of your first stops when ever you have a linux question. This is the link to their Sys Admin section.

You get what you pay for resources:

Sys Admin magazine: http://www.samag.com/ ~$40/yr Linux Journal: http://www.linuxjournal.com/ ~$25/yr

Linux Administration: A Beginner's Guide by Steve Shah This is a great introduction. I found Steve's writing style to be clear enough that you can follow his discussions about the whys, hows and wherefors, and yet not so dry that you start noding off after a couple of pages. I found used copies of this on Amazon for under $5!

Real World Linux Security by Bob Toxen If you are going to be 'exposing' your system to the internet by runnging a web server, FTP, VPN, mail server or the like you will want more information on how to secure your system than you can get from most of the resources listed above. This book is a good source for information about securing and protecting your system.

PC Hacks for Linux by Jim Aspinwall This is a great resource if you need to fix things that have gone wrong as well as tips to improve the performance and security of your system.

MoinMoin Powered

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