Book Image

Mastering Ubuntu Server

By : Jay LaCroix
Book Image

Mastering Ubuntu Server

By: Jay LaCroix

Overview of this book

Ubuntu is a Debian-based Linux operating system, and has various versions targeted at servers, desktops, phones, tablets and televisions. The Ubuntu Server Edition, also called Ubuntu Server, offers support for several common configurations, and also simplifies common Linux server deployment processes. With this book as their guide, readers will be able to configure and deploy Ubuntu Servers using Ubuntu Server 16.04, with all the skills necessary to manage real servers. The book begins with the concept of user management, group management, as well as file-system permissions. To manage your storage on Ubuntu Server systems, you will learn how to add and format storage and view disk usage. Later, you will also learn how to configure network interfaces, manage IP addresses, deploy Network Manager in order to connect to networks, and manage network interfaces. Furthermore, you will understand how to start and stop services so that you can manage running processes on Linux servers. The book will then demonstrate how to access and share files to or from Ubuntu Servers. You will learn how to create and manage databases using MariaDB and share web content with Apache. To virtualize hosts and applications, you will be shown how to set up KVM/Qemu and Docker and manage virtual machines with virt-manager. Lastly, you will explore best practices and troubleshooting techniques when working with Ubuntu Servers. By the end of the book, you will be an expert Ubuntu Server user well-versed in its advanced concepts.
Table of Contents (22 chapters)
Mastering Ubuntu Server
Credits
About the Author
Acknowledgments
About the Reviewers
www.PacktPub.com
Preface
Index

Encrypting and decrypting disks with LUKS


An important aspect of security that many don't even think about is encryption. As I'm sure you know, backups are essential for business continuity. If a server breaks down, or a resource stops functioning, backups will be your saving grace. But what happens if your backup medium gets stolen or somehow falls into the wrong hands? If your backup is not encrypted, then anyone will be able to view its contents. Some data is just not sensitive, so encryption isn't always required. But anything that contains personally identifiable information, company secrets, or anything else that would cause any kind of hardship if leaked, should be encrypted. In this section, I'll walk you through setting up Linux Unified Key Setup (LUKS) encryption on an external backup drive.

Before we get into that though, I want to quickly mention the importance of full disk encryption for your distribution as well. Although this section is going to go over how to encrypt external...