Book Image

Mastering Ubuntu Server - Third Edition

By : Jay LaCroix
Book Image

Mastering Ubuntu Server - Third Edition

By: Jay LaCroix

Overview of this book

Ubuntu Server has taken data centers around the world by storm. Whether you're deploying Ubuntu for a large-scale project or for a small office, it is a stable, customizable, and powerful Linux distribution with innovative and cutting-edge features. For both simple and complex server deployments, Ubuntu's flexible nature can be easily adapted to meet to the needs of your organization. This third edition is updated to cover the advancements of Ubuntu 20.04 LTS and further train you to understand how to use Ubuntu Server, from initial deployment to creating production-ready resources for your network. The book begins with the concepts of user management, group management, and file system permissions. Continuing into managing storage volumes, you will learn how to format storage devices, utilize logical volume management, and monitor disk usage. Later, you will learn how to virtualize hosts and applications, which will include setting up QEMU & KVM, as well as containerization with both Docker and LXD. As the book continues, you will learn how to automate configuration with Ansible, as well as take a look at writing scripts. Lastly, you will explore best practices and troubleshooting techniques when working with Ubuntu Server that are applicable to real-world scenarios. By the end of this Ubuntu Server book, you will be well-versed in Ubuntu server’s advanced concepts and attain the required proficiency needed for Ubuntu Server administration.

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Table of Contents (26 chapters)
Preface
Preface
Who this book is for
What this book covers
To get the most out of this book
Get in touch
1
Deploying Ubuntu Server
Deploying Ubuntu Server
Technical requirements
Determining your server's role
Setting up our server
Obtaining installation media
Creating a bootable flash drive
Installing Ubuntu Server
Installing Ubuntu on a Raspberry Pi
Summary
Further Reading
Free Chapter
2
Managing Users and Permissions
Managing Users and Permissions
Understanding users and groups
Understanding when to use root
Creating and removing users
Understanding the /etc/passwd and /etc/shadow files
Distributing default configuration files with /etc/skel
Switching users
Managing groups
Managing passwords and password policies
Configuring administrator access with sudo
Setting permissions on files and directories
Summary
Further reading
3
Managing Software Packages
Managing Software Packages
Understanding Linux package management
Understanding the differences between Debian and Snap packages
Installing and removing software
Searching for packages
Managing package repositories
Backing up and restoring Debian packages
Cleaning up orphaned apt packages
Taking advantage of hardware enablement updates
Summary
Further reading
4
Navigating and Essential Commands
Navigating and Essential Commands
Learning essential Linux commands
Understanding the Linux filesystem layout
Viewing the contents of files
Viewing application log files
Summary
Further reading
5
Managing Files and Directories
Managing Files and Directories
Copying, moving, and renaming files and directories
Editing files with the Nano and Vim text editors
Input and output streams
Using symbolic and hard links
Summary
Further reading
6
Boosting Your Command-line Efficiency
Boosting Your Command-line Efficiency
Understanding the Linux shell
Understanding Bash history
Learning some useful command-line tricks
Understanding variables
Writing simple scripts
Putting it all together – Writing an rsync backup script
Summary
Further reading
7
Controlling and Managing Processes
Controlling and Managing Processes
Managing jobs
Understanding the ps command
Changing the priority of processes
Dealing with misbehaving processes
Managing system processes
Scheduling tasks with cron
Summary
Further reading
8
Monitoring System Resources
Monitoring System Resources
Viewing disk usage
Monitoring memory usage
Understanding load average
Viewing resource usage with htop
Summary
Further reading
9
Managing Storage Volumes
Managing Storage Volumes
Adding additional storage volumes
Formatting and partitioning storage devices
Mounting and unmounting volumes
Understanding the /etc/fstab file
Backing up and restoring volumes
Utilizing LVM
Summary
Further reading
10
Connecting to Networks
Connecting to Networks
Setting the hostname
Managing network interfaces
Assigning static IP addresses
Understanding Linux name resolution
Getting started with OpenSSH
Getting started with SSH key management
Simplifying SSH connections with a config file
Summary
Further reading
11
Setting Up Network Services
Setting Up Network Services
Planning your IP address scheme
Setting up a DHCP server for serving IP addresses
Adding a DNS server
Setting up an internet gateway
Keeping your clock in sync with NTP
Summary
Further reading
12
Sharing and Transferring Files
Sharing and Transferring Files
File server considerations
Sharing files with Windows users via Samba
Setting up NFS shares
Transferring files with rsync
Transferring files with SCP
Mounting remote directories with SSHFS
Summary
Further reading
13
Managing Databases
Managing Databases
Preparations for setting up a database server
Installing MariaDB
Understanding the MariaDB configuration files
Managing MariaDB databases
Setting up a secondary database server
Summary
Further reading
14
Serving Web Content
Serving Web Content
Installing and configuring Apache
Installing additional Apache modules
Securing Apache with TLS
Installing and configuring NGINX
Setting up failover with keepalived
Setting up and configuring Nextcloud
Summary
Further reading
15
Automating Server Configuration with Ansible
Automating Server Configuration with Ansible
Understanding the need for configuration management
Why Ansible?
Creating a Git repository
Getting started with Ansible
Making your servers do your bidding
Putting it all together – automating web server deployment
Using Ansible's pull method
Summary
Further reading
16
Virtualization
Virtualization
Prerequisites and considerations
Setting up a virtual machine server
Creating virtual machines
Bridging the virtual machine network
Simplifying virtual machine creation with cloning
Managing virtual machines via the command line
Summary
Further reading
17
Running Containers
Running Containers
What is containerization?
Understanding the differences between Docker and LXD
Installing Docker
Managing Docker containers
Automating Docker image creation with Dockerfiles
Managing LXD containers
Summary
Further reading
18
Container Orchestration
Container Orchestration
Container orchestration
Preparing a lab environment for Kubernetes testing
Utilizing MicroK8s
Setting up a Kubernetes cluster
Deploying containers via Kubernetes
Summary
Further reading
19
Deploying Ubuntu in the Cloud
Deploying Ubuntu in the Cloud
Understanding the difference between on-premises and cloud infrastructure
Important considerations when considering cloud computing as a potential solution
Becoming familiar with some basic AWS concepts
Creating an AWS account
Choosing a region
Deploying Ubuntu as an AWS EC2 instance
Creating and deploying Ubuntu AMI images
Automatically scaling Ubuntu EC2 deployments with Auto Scaling
Keeping costs down: understanding how to save money and make cost-effective decisions
Taking cloud further: additional resources to grow your knowledge
Summary
Further reading
20
Automating Cloud Deployments with Terraform
Automating Cloud Deployments with Terraform
Why it's important to automate your infrastructure
Introduction to Terraform and how it can fit within your workflow
Installing Terraform
Automating an EC2 instance deployment
Managing security groups with Terraform
Using Terraform to destroy unused resources
Combining Ansible with Terraform for a full deployment solution
Summary
21
Securing Your Server
Securing Your Server
Lowering your attack surface
Understanding and responding to CVEs
Installing security updates
Automatically installing patches with the Canonical Livepatch service
Monitoring Ubuntu servers with Canonical's Landscape service
Securing OpenSSH
Installing and configuring Fail2ban
MariaDB best practices for secure database servers
Setting up a firewall
Encrypting and decrypting disks with LUKS
Locking down sudo
Summary
Further reading
22
Troubleshooting Ubuntu Servers
Troubleshooting Ubuntu Servers
Evaluating the scope
Conducting a root cause analysis
Viewing system logs
Tracing network issues
Troubleshooting resource issues
Diagnosing defective RAM
Summary
Further reading
23
Preventing Disasters
Preventing Disasters
Preventing disasters
Utilizing Git for configuration management
Implementing a backup plan
Replacing failed RAID disks
Utilizing bootable recovery media
Summary
Further reading
24
Another Book You May Enjoy
Another Book You May Enjoy
25
Index
Index

Making your servers do your bidding

As server administrators, we're control freaks. There are few things more exciting than executing a command and having every single server obey it and carry it out. Now that we have Ansible set up, that's exactly what we're going to do. I'm assuming by now you have some machines you want to configure, and they're all set up to communicate via SSH with your central server. Also, as I mentioned before, I highly recommend you utilize something like Git to store your configuration files, but that's not required for this section.

Setting up an inventory file and configuring Ansible settings

First, we'll need an inventory file, which is a special text file Ansible expects to find that tells it where to find servers to connect to. By default, the name of this file is simply hosts and Ansible expects to find this file in the /etc/ansible directory.

There's actually a way to avoid needing to create...

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