Linux Administration

Linux is almost the only operating system used on both small devices (IoT), and very large computers. Interested in Cyber security? The only tools professionals ever use for Penetration Testing all run on Linux (Kali, Parrot). 

Every year Microsoft incorporates more Linux into their offerings. Windows 10 can natively run many Linux apps (via Windows Subsystem for Linux). .NET applications are now expected to also work on Linux machines (via Docker containers). 

Linux is predominantly command-line driven, with awkward and often obscure commands. Consequently, it's super easy to make mistakes. This course will teach you what you need to know to avoid mistakes and learn to love Linux. 

Our Linux courses are always delivered on a fully up-to-date version of Linux (usually CentOS), but also always cover the differences between the major Linux distros (Red Hat Enterprise RHEL, Fedora, Debian, Ubuntu, Kali, Mint, SUSE etc.) Recent years have seen big changes in the UNIX/Linux world. 

For example: init and syslogd have been replaced with systemd; GRUB has been replaced with GRUB2; ext4 replaced with xfs and btrfs; physical partitions replaced with LVM; iptables replaced with firewalld; ifconfig, route, arp and netstat replaced with ip and ss; and Gnome 2 replaced with Gnome 3. 

Here at Quanta, we keep a close eye on changes, and update our courses on a regular basis to ensure you always learn all you need to keep your skills current.

Purpose Of The Course:

• The course is aimed at taking existing UNIX/Linux users through activities associated with the responsibility of running and managing Linux servers, focusing not just upon what to do and how to do it, but also who and when.

You Will Learn How To:

• Understand the roles and duties of a systems administrator
• Manage server resources including users/software/hardware/printers/performance
• Understand service continuity activities such as disaster recovery measures

Course Content:

• Overview of Linux
• What is Linux?
• Different Linux Distributions
• Differences between Linux and UNIX
• Linux Features
• Desktop Environments
• Linux on Microsoft Hyper-V
• RDP in to Microsoft Machines
• Windows Subsystem for Linux (WSL)
• The Superuser
• System Administration Tools
• Documentation
• User Management
• User Management Overview
• The Password File
• The Shadow File
• User Management Commands
• Group Management Commands
• Graphical User/Group Management Tools
• The User Environment
• Customising User Sessions
• Basic Security and Log Files
• Why Security?
• Password Aging
• Privilege Escalation
• The SSH Commands
• Network Login as root
• Security Files
• System Log Files
• Firewall Configuration
• iptables
• The firewalld Service
• SELinux
• Installing Software and Patches
• Software Installation Methods
• Package Management With RPM
• Configuring and Using yum
• Package Management with dpkg
• Configuring and Using apt
• Other Tools
• Graphical Package Management
• Patching Linux
• Upgrading Linux
• Installing Linux
• Kernel Upgrades
• Hardware Management
• Device Files
• Creating Devices Files
• Hardware Reporting Tools
• What Device Drivers do I Have?
• Monitoring Hardware
• Disk Management
• Linux Directory Layout
• Partitions Overview
• Partitioning a Disk
• Graphical Disk Management Tools
• Traditional Disk Storage v LVM
• Overview of LVM
• LVM Concepts
• Filesystems
• Filesystem Types
• Linux Filesystem Structure
• Creating Filesystems
• Using Filesystems
• Filesystems Mounted at Boot
• Removing a Filesystem
• Graphical Filesystem Tools
• Filesystem Maintenance
• Monitoring Filesystem Consumption
• Limiting Consumption
• Expanding/Reducing Filesystems
• Fixing Broken Filesystems
• Managing Virtual Memory
• Performance Monitoring
• Understanding Processes
• Background Processes
• Examining Processes
• Killing Processes
• System Monitoring
• Job Scheduling
• Writing Shell Scripts
• Scheduling One-off Jobs
• Regular Job Scheduling
• Backup and Restoring
• Why Back Up?
• Backup Targets
• Backup Commands
• Graphical Backup Tools
• Points to Remember
• Booting and Shutting Down
• Boot Loaders
• The Kernel
• The Boot Sequence
• Configuring Services
• Controlling Services
• Automatic Startup
• Configuration Before systemd
• Configuring Services with systemd
• Shutting The System Down
• Disaster Recovery
• Boot Failures
• Problems with Non-Critical Files
• Corrupt or Missing Critical Files
• In Conclusion
• Linux Networking
• Getting Network Information
• Network Files
• Changing Network Information
• Other Useful Commands