Administering Red Hat Linux 8 – Part 1

This highly practical instructor led Administering Red Hat Linux 8 – Part 1 training course introduces the delegate to the main concepts of the Red Hat Linux operating system and basic systems administration.

Targeted to closely follow the Red Hat courses, this course together with the follow on Administering Red Hat Linux 8 – Part 2 course will enable the delegate to work towards achieving the Red Hat Certified System Administrator (RHCSA) qualification.

Commonly used commands are described in detail as well as GUI tools. The attendee will also gain basic administration techniques used in the workplace.

Course Objectives

To provide command line and GUI skills required to work productively in the workplace using Red Hat Enterprise Linux (RHEL). The delegate will possess at the end of the course some of the fundamental skills required to begin their studies towards achieving the various Red Hat certifications.

Who will the Course Benefit?

The Administering Red Hat Linux 8 – Part 1 training course is suitable for anyone who is new to Linux and needs to understand and use the operating system. The course will particularly appeal to Microsoft Windows system administrators, network administrators and other operating system professionals or anyone who requires a proficiency in Linux.

Skills Gained

The delegate will learn and acquire skills as follows:

Work on the command line with Bash Shell commands
Access help and documentation facilities both locally and online
Understand the Linux file system and managing files from the command line
Use the graphical desktop and be able to manage files graphically
Understand the Cockpit web based interface for Administration tasks
Create and edit files using gedit
Manage users, groups and passwords
List and change access permissions on files and directories from the command line
Managing processes
Understand system daemons using systemd
Use systemctl to start, stop and view services
Understand disk organisation and Logical Volume Manager
View information relating to file systems
Archive files and copy files between systems
Understand, analyse and rotate system log files
Access logging information using journalctl
Manage system software using rpm, yum and dnf
Understand basic IPV4 networking concepts
Use basic network commands to access remote systems using the command line (ssh, scp and rsync)
Create and access a virtual machine that uses KVM and libvirt

Prerequisites

The delegate should be familiar with basic computer concepts and terminology e.g. hardware, software, files and directories.

Examinations

This Administering Red Hat Linux 8 – Part 1 training course is the first of two courses which will provide the basic skills required to study towards taking the Red Hat Certified System Administrator (RHCSA) examination. For those required to study for the Red Hat Certified Engineer (RHCE) examination, the skills acquired on this course are also a requirement.

Before taking any exam, ensure you have the recommended experience. The Red Hat website lists all exam requirements and these are updated regularly.

Exams are not included as part of the course.

• Course content

  Day 1

  Course Introduction
  Administration and Course Materials
  Course Structure and Agenda
  Delegate and Trainer Introductions

  Session 1: AN INTRODUCTION TO LINUX

  A brief history of UNIX and LINUX
  GNU project
  GPL – GNU General Public license
  The LINUX kernel
  The Bash Shell
  Login sessions

  Session 2: THE GRAPHICAL ENVIRONMENT

  The GUI Desktop
  GNOME 3 and GNOME Classic
  Configuring the Desktop
  Managing files graphically
  Graphical tools for investigating hardware
  Exercise

  Session 3: BASIC COMMANDS AND BASH ENVIRONMENT

  Basic syntax Rules
  Essential keyboard shortcuts
  Basic commands and utilities
  Getting Help – man pages, info, /usr/share/doc
  Sources of information available on the WEB
  Command line history, viewing and re-executing
  Entering commands in the Bash Shell
  The Bash Environment
  Shell Variables
  Exercise

  Day 2

  Session 4: THE LINUX FILE SYSTEM

  The file system structure
  Standard Linux directories and files
  Pathnames : relative and absolute
  Navigating the file system using shell commands
  Managing files and directories
  Hard and symbolic links
  Monitoring file system usage
  Exercise

  Session 5: EDITING FILES USING GEDIT

  Using the GUI Editor to edit text files
  Exercise

  Session 6: FILE ACCESS CONTROL

  Basic file access permissions
  List permissions
  Changing file permissions on the command line
  Overview of SELinux
  Exercise

  Day 3

  Session 7: MANAGING USER ACCOUNTS

  User and Group administration
  Adding a new user and group on the command line
  Introduction to Cockpit web based GUI for adding new users
  Adding users and groups
  Setting a password
  Bash profile files
  Exercise

  Session 8: USING SYSTEMD AND CONTROLLING SERVICES

  The systemd deamon
  Control Services using systemctl etc.
  System Shutdown and Reboot management
  Exercise

  Session 9: BUILDING A VIRTUAL MACHINE

  Virtualisation concepts
  Installation methods available
  Install a virtual system
  Checking for supported hardware
  Start and shutdown a virtual system
  Exercises

  Session 10: BASIC CLIENT NETWORKING

  Configuring Network Interfaces
  Controlling Network Devices: ifup/ifdown
  Configuring IPV4 dynamic and static networking
  Network Tools ifconfig, ethtool etc
  Configuring Remote Desktops
  Accessing Remote Desktop using vncviewer
  Configuring basic NTP
  Connecting NIS and LDAP clients to corresponding servers
  Linking to a system using ssh
  Exercise

  Day 4

  Session 11: MANAGE LOGICAL VOLUMES

  Basic LVM design and configuration
  The Logical Volume Manager (LVM)
  Displaying information regarding LVM volumes
  Exercise

  Session 12: MANAGE FILE SYSTEM ATTRIBUTES AND SWAP SPACE

  Mounting and un-mounting file systems using both labels and UUID’s
  File System attributes
  Handling Removable Media
  Exercise

  Session 13: ACCESSING AND INTERPRETING LOG FILES

  System Log Files
  rsyslog configuration
  Using journalctl
  Analysing and rotating logfiles
  Exercise

  Session 14: ARCHIVING FILES AND COPYING TO ANOTHER SYSTEM

  Tape archive – tar
  Compression utilities- bzip2, gzip, star and zip
  Secure copy – scp
  Local and remote copying with rsync

  Day 5

  Session 15: MANAGE MEMORY AND CPU USAGE

  Time-sharing
  What is a process?
  System and user processes
  Monitoring processes
  Killing processes
  Basic Job Control
  Altering process scheduling priorities
  Desktop tools to monitor and manage processes
  Exercise

  Session 16: PACKAGE MANAGEMENT USING RPM

  The Red Hat Package Management system
  Installing removing software manually using rpm
  RPM queries and verifying packages
  Dependency problems and resolution
  Updating the Kernel from RPM’s
  Other RPM features
  Updating using Red Hat Network
  Exercise

  Session 17: PACKAGE MANAGEMENT USING YUM

  The YUM management tool
  yum4 (dnf) and yum3
  The software repositories
  Accessing repositories from a client
  Exercise