Essential System Administration : Tools and Techniques for Linux and Unix Administration

by Frisch, Aeleen

• ISBN13: 9780596003432
• ISBN10: 0596003439
• Edition: 3rd
• Format: Paperback
• Copyright: 2002-09-01
• Publisher: Oreilly & Associates Inc

Summary

This is the definitive practical guide for UNIX system administration, covering all the fundamental and essential tasks required to run such divergent UNIX systems as Solaris, Linux, AIX, IRIX, BSD and more. Beginners and experienced administrators alike will quickly be able to apply its principles and advice to solve everyday problems. Along with the latest information on different UNIX platforms, Essential System Administration, 3rd Edition includes a significantly beefed up chapter on Electronic Mail, coverage of CUPS in the printing chapter, a good discussion of PAM in the chapter on user management, and valuable information on using LDAP as a store for user information. As the foundation of O'Reilly's entire system administration series, this book is a must-have for any administrator - or user - of a UNIX system.

Table of Contents

Preface	xi
Introduction to System Administration	1	(31)
Thinking About System Administration	3	(3)
Becoming Superuser	6	(6)
Communicating with Users	12	(2)
About Menus and GUIs	14	(17)
Where Does the Time Go?	31	(1)
The Unix Way	32	(42)
Files	33	(20)
Processes	53	(8)
Devices	61	(13)
Essential Administrative Tools and Techniques	74	(53)
Getting the Most from Common Commands	74	(16)
Essential Administrative Techniques	90	(37)
Startup and Shutdown	127	(53)
About the Unix Boot Process	127	(24)
Initialization Files and Boot Scripts	151	(18)
Shutting Down a Unix System	169	(4)
Troubleshooting: Handling Crashes and Boot Failures	173	(7)
TCP/IP Networking	180	(42)
Understanding TCP/IP Networking	180	(22)
Adding a New Network Host	202	(17)
Network Testing and Troubleshooting	219	(3)
Managing Users and Groups	222	(109)
Unix Users and Groups	222	(15)
Managing User Accounts	237	(19)
Administrative Tools for Managing User Accounts	256	(21)
Administering User Passwords	277	(25)
User Authentication with PAM	302	(11)
LDAP: Using a Directory Service for User Authentication	313	(18)
Security	331	(83)
Prelude: What's Wrong with This Picture?	332	(1)
Thinking About Security	332	(7)
User Authentication Revisited	339	(9)
Protecting Files and the Filesystem	348	(18)
Role-Based Access Control	366	(7)
Network Security	373	(14)
Hardening Unix Systems	387	(4)
Detecting Problems	391	(23)
Managing Network Services	414	(107)
Managing DNS Servers	414	(38)
Routing Daemons	452	(5)
Configuring a DHCP Server	457	(12)
Time Synchronization with NTP	469	(6)
Managing Network Daemons under AIX	475	(1)
Monitoring the Network	475	(46)
Electronic Mail	521	(95)
About Electronic Mail	521	(11)
Configuring User Mail Programs	532	(5)
Configuring Access Agents	537	(5)
Configuring the Transport Agent	542	(54)
Retrieving Mail Messages	596	(3)
Mail Filtering with procmail	599	(15)
A Few Final Tools	614	(2)
Filesystems and Disks	616	(91)
Filesystem Types	617	(4)
Managing Filesystems	621	(13)
From Disks to Filesystems	634	(60)
Sharing Filesystems	694	(13)
Backup and Restore	707	(59)
Planning for Disasters and Everyday Needs	707	(10)
Backup Media	717	(9)
Backing Up Files and Filesystems	726	(10)
Restoring Files from Backups	736	(6)
Making Table of Contents Files	742	(2)
Network Backup Systems	744	(15)
Backing Up and Restoring the System Filesystems	759	(7)
Serial Lines and Devices	766	(48)
About Serial Lines	766	(3)
Specifying Terminal Characteristics	769	(7)
Adding a New Serial Device	776	(18)
Troubleshooting Terminal Problems	794	(2)
Controlling Access to Serial Lines	796	(1)
HP-UX and Tru64 Terminal Line Attributes	797	(2)
The HylaFAX Fax Service	799	(8)
USB Devices	807	(7)
Printers and the Spooling Subsystem	814	(71)
The BSD Spooling Facility	818	(11)
System V Printing	829	(19)
The AIX Spooling Facility	848	(10)
Troubleshooting Printers	858	(2)
Sharing Printers with Windows Systems	860	(4)
LPRng	864	(10)
CUPS	874	(4)
Font Management Under X	878	(7)
Automating Administrative Tasks	885	(60)
Creating Effective Shell Scripts	886	(13)
Perl: An Alternate Administrative Language	899	(12)
Expect: Automating Interactive Programs	911	(8)
When Only C Will Do	919	(2)
Automating Complex Configuration Tasks with Cfengine	921	(11)
Stem: Simplified Creation of Client-Server Applications	932	(10)
Adding Local man Pages	942	(3)
Managing System Resources	945	(79)
Thinking About System Performance	945	(6)
Monitoring and Controlling Processes	951	(12)
Managing CPU Resources	963	(15)
Managing Memory	978	(23)
Disk I/O Performance Issues	1001	(6)
Monitoring and Managing Disk Space Usage	1007	(10)
Network Performance	1017	(7)
Configuring and Building Kernels	1024	(25)
FreeBSD and Tru64	1026	(5)
HP-UX	1031	(2)
Linux	1033	(13)
Solaris	1046	(1)
AIX System Parameters	1047	(2)
Accounting	1049	(20)
Standard Accounting Files	1051	(1)
BSD-Style Accounting: FreeBSD, Linux, and AIX	1052	(6)
System V-Style Accounting: AIX, HP-UX, and Solaris	1058	(8)
Printing Accounting	1066	(3)
Afterword: The Profession of System Administration	1069	(4)
Sage: The System Administrators Guild	1069	(1)
Administrative Virtues	1070	(3)
Appendix: Administrative Shell Programming	1073	(24)
Index	1097