Linux bible ninth edition web companion

Linux Bible, Ninth Edition Web Companion Although the focus of the Linux Bible, 9th Edition is on Red Hat and Debian Ubuntu based Linux distributions, you can choose from hundreds of L

Linux Bible, Ninth Edition

Web Companion

Although the focus of the Linux Bible, 9th Edition is on Red Hat and Debian

(Ubuntu) based Linux distributions, you can choose from hundreds of Linux

distributions You also have many ways to expand your knowledge of Linux beyond what is covered in the book Use this document to expand your interactions with Linux to find other distributions and topics of interest associated with Linux and other free and open source software

Finding Linux Distributions

Because Linux rarely comes preinstalled on a computer, you must typically download a Linux distribution from the Internet before you can start using Linux This section contains links to Linux distributions you can use with the book, as well

as to other Linux distributions that may interest you

After you have chosen and downloaded the Linux distribution image (usually

a CD, DVD, or USB image), you can burn the image to the appropriate physical

medium using the instructions included in Appendix A of Linux Bible, 9th Edition

Getting Linux distributions for use with this book

Linux Bible, 9th Edition uses Fedora 21 and Red Hat Enterprise Linux 7 for

most of the demonstrations and exercises in the book Using later versions of Fedora and Red Hat Enterprise Linux should work for most cases as well

Using Ubuntu to follow along with the book will not work consistently The most common differences relate to package names and packaging tools, as well as techniques for managing services On occasion, configuration files have different names

To download the Linux distributions that work with the book, follow these

links:

 Fedora—With few exceptions, almost all of the descriptions and exercises

in the book will work on the Fedora Linux distribution You can get the latest version of Fedora here:

http://fedoraproject.org/get-fedora

In particular, the Fedora 21 Live Workstation DVD was used to test most

of the book

 Red Hat Enterprise Linux—If you are a customer of Red Hat, Inc., you

can use the Red Hat Customer portal to download any release of Red Hat Enterprise Linux you choose from this location:

https://access.redhat.com/downloads

If you are not a customer, you can get a trial version by clicking the following link and filling out the information requested:

https://access.redhat.com/products/red-hat-enterprise-linux/evaluation

Those sections of the book that specifically refer to Red Hat Enterprise Linux were tested against Red Hat Enterprise Linux 7, although there are also references to many Red Hat Enterprise Linux 6 features (including the System V init facility, iptables firewalls, and the GNOME 2 desktop)

 Ubuntu—If you want to use Ubuntu to work through examples in the

book, you can download the latest version of Ubuntu from the following link (Be sure to choose either the 32-bit or 64-bit version to match your computer hardware):

http://www.ubuntu.com/download/desktop

NOTE: Although many procedures in this edition of the Linux Bible were

enhanced to include instructions for Ubuntu, if you choose to use Ubuntu, not all of the examples and exercises described in the book will work as illustrated

The descriptions from the book will match better if you install the GNOME 3 desktop software packages and choose GNOME 3 as the default desktop environment on your Ubuntu system

Getting other Linux distributions

In previous editions of the Linux Bible, we described many different Linux

distributions While this made the book’s coverage very wide, it did not make it very deep For that reason, we decided to focus this edition primarily on Fedora and Red Hat Enterprise Linux (which are very similar) and touch on Ubuntu (which gives you

a flavor of how such things as software packaging and service management can be done on different Linux distributions)

That said, you still may be interested in exploring different Linux distributions for different reasons This section includes a list of some other popular Linux distributions, along with links for obtaining those distributions

Debian GNU/Linux

Debian offers thoroughly tested Linux operating system releases that many Linux consultants and experts use because of Debian’s excellent software packaging and stability Many other popular Linux distributions, such as Ubuntu, Linux Mint, KNOPPIX and Damn Small Linux, are all based on Debian You can download Debian GNU/Linux from here:

http://www.debian.org/distrib/

KNOPPIX Linux

KNOPPIX was one of the first popular live CD Linux distributions and offers some unique features that set it apart from other bootable Linux distributions It was one of the first live CD Linux systems to work immediately with a large number of video cards and network interfaces Features in KNOPPIX also made it easy to save your data to alternate media (such as a USB drive), making your KNOPPIX sessions persistent across reboots You can get KNOPPIX at the following location:

http://knoppix.net/get.php

Slackware Linux

Slackware is the oldest surviving Linux system and continues to have a loyal following among Linux enthusiasts One of Slackware’s goals was simplicity

Instead of having lots of fancy packaging facilities and slick graphical interfaces, Slackware provides more opportunities for learning the basic commands for things such as configuring disks, managing users, and managing services You can get Slackware here:

http://slackware.com/getslack/

AntiX Linux

AntiX is a lightweight, desktop-oriented Live CD that is suitable for older, less powerful computers It can run on machines with as little as 64MB of RAM (although 128MB is recommended) AntiX is based on MEPIS

(http://www.mepis.org/) You can get AntiX here:

http://sourceforge.net/projects/antix-linux/files/

Kali Linux Penetration Testing Distribution

Kali Linux is a Live DVD Linux distribution that contains a set of tools for testing, repairing, and otherwise securing Linux systems, Windows systems, and networks You can download Kali Linux from this location:

https://www.kali.org/downloads/

Gentoo Linux

Gentoo is a highly tunable Linux distribution You can start Gentoo with pre-built live media or installation media, just as you can with other Linux distributions However, Gentoo also gives you the option of building the entire operating system from scratch, compiling the source code into binaries that exactly suit the processors and other hardware features of your computer You can get Gentoo in various forms from this site:

https://www.gentoo.org/downloads/

PCLinuxOS

PCLinuxOS is a popular desktop Linux distribution PCLinuxOS makes it easy to get support for common multimedia content that isn’t always so easy to find with other Linux distributions There is a KDE-based PCLinuxOS system However, PCLinuxOS also provides excellent light-weight desktops you can download that feature Xfce and LXDE graphical desktop environments You can get PCLinuxOS from the following site:

http://www.pclinuxos.com/get-pclinuxos/

Puppy Linux

This live mini-CD contains a desktop Linux system that you can use for creating documents, playing multimedia content, accessing the Internet, and many other functions Puppy Linux also contains many features for configuring your desktop and saving your features across reboots To download Puppy Linux, go to the following site:

http://puppylinux.org/main/Download%20Latest%20Release.htm

Damn Small Linux

Damn Small Linux (DSL) illustrates how a useful desktop Linux distribution, which includes full network connectivity, a functional Web browser, and some useful productivity applications, can fit in a very small space The basic DSL

desktop live image is only 50MB in size From there, you can add an array of

prebuilt packages to tailor the exact Linux system you want You can download Damn Small Linux from here:

http://www.damnsmalllinux.org/download.html

SystemRescueCd

Like INSERT, SystemRescueCd is a bootable Linux that includes a variety of tools for checking and fixing your installed computer systems It includes tools for managing and fixing file systems, checking for viruses, monitoring the network, and checking whether a machine has been cracked You can get SystemRescueCd from here:

http://www.sysresccd.org/Download

Finding more Linux distributions

Hundreds of Linux distributions are available Some are general-purpose Linux systems, while others are specialized for running live or managing specialty devices A good place to find Linux distributions is the Distrowatch site:

http://distrowatch.com

From the Distrowatch homepage, you can get a sense of which Linux distributions are popular by viewing the page hit rankings in the right column

Preparing for Linux Certification

As noted in Linux Bible, 9th Edition, almost all of the content needed to pass

Red Hat Certification programs (RHCE and RHCSA) is covered in the book

However, simply because of the constraints of space, not every topic you need to pass the RHCE exam, in particular, is fully covered If you are preparing to take the RHCSA and/or the RHCE certification exams, the next section provides some

additional information so you can be fully prepared for all content you may see in those exams

Preparing for a Red Hat Certified System

Administrator (RHCSA) exam

The RHCSA exam (EX200) tests the basic skills needed to become a Linux system administrator Refer to the following the RHCSA exam objectives page for a complete list of topics you need to know to be able to pass an RHCSA exam:

http://www.redhat.com/training/courses/ex200/examobjective

Keep in mind that the test is a “hands-on, practical exam,” which means that you need to expect to carry out tasks on a Linux system directly, rather than just answer questions about it Read through the bullet items on the exam objectives page and make sure you can understand the topics and do the exercises associated with

each bulleted item You should be able to find nearly every topic in the Linux Bible,

9th Edition

Coverage of RHCSA exam objectives is fairly complete in the book, with the exception of the area of virtualization Fedora, RHEL, and other Linux systems are capable of working as virtual hosts What that means is that guest operating systems can run as virtual machines on a virtual Linux host

The RHCSA exam objectives don’t ask you to be able to configure a virtual host However, you should be able to open virtual consoles from a virtual host and start and stop virtual machines For information on how to use the Virtual Machine Manager in Red Hat Enterprise Linux, refer to the Red Hat Virtualization

Administration Guide:

http://docs.redhat.com/docs/en-US/Red_Hat_Enterprise_Linux/6/html-

single/Virtualization_Administration_Guide/index.html#chap-

Virtualization_Administration_Guide-Managing_guests_with_the_Virtual_Machine_Manager_virt_manager

Preparing for a Red Hat Certified Engineer (RHCE) exam

To pass an RHCE exam (EX300), you are expected to have basic RHCSA skills (the ability to work from the command-line shell, work with users and file systems, install packages, and do basic system administration) Most of the

additional skills you need to pass the RHCE are related to configuring and managing servers, as well as securing those services Refer to the following site to see the RHCE exam objectives:

http://www.redhat.com/training/courses/ex300/examobjective

Although the security features in Linux, such as iptables, SELinux, and TCP

wrappers, are well covered in the Linux Bible, 9th Edition, not all of the servers you

need to configure for an RHCE exam are described there Here is the list of servers from the RHCE exam objectives along with suggestions on how to you should

extend your study for the RHCE exam beyond what is included in Linux Bible, 9th

Edition:

 HTTP/HTTPS—Chapter 17 covers all the topics listed in the RHCE

exam objectives for configuring a web server (HTTP and HTTPS) Topics include configuring a virtual host and private directories, deploying CGI

applications, and configuring group-managed content

 DNS—A Domain Name System server translates hostnames into IP

addresses (and vice versa) In most Linux systems, including Red Hat Enterprise Linux, the Berkeley Internet Name Domain (BIND) software project is available to configure as a DNS service

In RHEL, the bind package provides the components you need to

configure a BIND DNS server As the RHCE objective states, you don’t have to configure a full master or slave DNS server You only have to be able to configure a caching-only name server and enable forwarders

In the bind package is the

/usr/share/doc/bind-*/named.conf.default file You can copy that file to

/etc/named.conf or /var/named/chroot/etc/named.conf (if you are running it in a chroot environment) and edit that file as

needed (type man named.conf for details) Then enable and start the named service

 FTP—Chapter 18 describes everything you need to know to meet the

RHCE exam objectives for configuring an FTP server In particular, you

need to be able to configure an anonymous-only download

 NFS—Chapter 20 describes what you need to know to configure an NFS

server In particular, you need to configure network shares to specific

clients and configure shares for group collaboration

 SMB—Chapter 19 covers how to configure a Samba (SMB) server As

with NFS, you need to be able to configure network shares to specific

clients and configure shares for group collaboration

 SMTP—There is no information on configuring an SMTP (e-mail) server

in the book Red Hat Enterprise Linux provides the sendmail and postfix packages for configuring an SMTP server When you start the sendmail or postfix services, they only listen on localhost To make either service accept inbound e-mail, you need to edit the configuration

files for the one you choose (/etc/mail/sendmail.mc or /etc/postfix/main.cf)

The other objective listed for an SMTP service is to be able to configure sendmail or postfix to forward (relay) e-mail through a smart host Editing the configuration file, enabling the service, and starting the service

are the basic steps you need to complete any of those objectives

 SSH—Commands related to the Secure Shell (SSH) service (ssh, scp,

rsync, and so on) are installed by default in Red Hat Enterprise Linux The SSH server is installed by default as well (openssh-server package) On the client side, the RHCE requirement is to be able to do key-based authentication (described in the “Using key-based

(passwordless) authentication” section of Chapter 13)

On the SSH server side, you need to be able to configure different features

of the sshd service For that, read the sshd_config man page Type

man sshd_config

 NTP—The Network Time Protocol (NTP) server is included in Red Hat

Enterprise Linux by way of the ntp package Although the book doesn’t describe how to configure this service, a simple graphical tool is available for configuring NTP

To install the Date/Time Properties window, install the system-config-date package (if it is not already installed) and run the command of the same name Select the Synchronize date and time over the network box, and then add the NTP servers you want to synchronize with

For each of the services just listed, practice configuring the service Then configure security services to make sure you can restrict or allow access to the

service in various ways

Cloud Computing with Linux

The Linux Bible 9th Edition covers some of the basic features you need to understand to enter the world of cloud computing with Linux If you are interested in going beyond the cloud features described in the book, I recommend you refer to the

following:

 Try OpenStack with RDO (https://www.rdoproject.org/Quickstart):

The RDO project is the upstream project for Red Hat Enterprise Linux OpenStack Platform You don’t need Red Hat subscriptions to try out

OpenStack from the RDO project That page also points to a quick way to

try out OpenStack from the TryStack page (http://trystack.org/)

 Try different Linux distros with Google Compute Engine

(https://cloud.google.com/compute/docs/operating-systems/linux-os):

This page describes a variety of instances from different Linux

distributions that you can try out in Google Compute Engine Distributions include CentOS, Debian, Red Hat Enterprise Linux, SUSE, CoreOS, openSUSE, and Ubuntu