Book Image

Mastering Ubuntu Server - Fourth Edition

By : Jay LaCroix
4.7 (7)
Book Image

Mastering Ubuntu Server - Fourth Edition

4.7 (7)
By: Jay LaCroix

Overview of this book

Ubuntu Server is taking the server world by storm - and for a good reason! The server-focused spin of Ubuntu is a stable, flexible, and powerful enterprise-class distribution of Linux with a focus on running servers both small and large. Mastering Ubuntu Server is a book that will teach you everything you need to know in order to manage real Ubuntu-based servers in actual production deployments. This book will take you from initial installation to deploying production-ready solutions to empower your small office network, or even a full data center. You'll see examples of running an Ubuntu Server in the cloud, be walked through set up popular applications (such as Nextcloud), host your own websites, and deploy network resources such as DHCP, DNS, and others. You’ll also see how to containerize applications via LXD to maximize efficiency and learn how to build Kubernetes clusters. This new fourth edition updates the popular book to cover Ubuntu 22.04 LTS, which takes advantage of the latest in Linux-based technologies. By the end of this Ubuntu book, you will have gained all the knowledge you need in order to work on real-life Ubuntu Server deployments and become an expert Ubuntu Server administrator who is well versed in its feature set.

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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
Share your thoughts
1
Deploying Ubuntu Server
Deploying Ubuntu Server
Technical requirements
Determining your server’s role
Choosing a device for our server
Obtaining installation media
Creating a bootable flash drive
Installing Ubuntu Server
Installing Ubuntu on a Raspberry Pi
Summary
Relevant tutorials
Free Chapter
2
Managing Users and Permissions
Managing Users and Permissions
Understanding the purpose of 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
Relevant videos
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
Relevant video
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
Relevant video
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
Relevant videos
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
Relevant videos
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
Relevant videos
Further reading
8
Monitoring System Resources
Monitoring System Resources
Viewing disk usage
Monitoring memory usage
Understanding load average
Viewing resource usage with htop
Summary
Relevant videos
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
Relevant videos
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
Relevant videos
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
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
Summary
Relevant videos
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 and configuring Nextcloud
Summary
Relevant videos
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
Relevant videos
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
Relevant video
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
Relevant videos
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
Relevant videos
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 AMIs
Automatically scaling Ubuntu EC2 deployments with Auto Scaling
Keeping costs down: understanding how to save money and make cost-effective decisions
Taking the 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
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
Utilizing bootable recovery media
Summary
Further reading
24
Other Books You May Enjoy
Other Books You May Enjoy
25
Index
Index

Understanding load average

Another very important topic to understand when monitoring performance is load average, which is a series of numbers that represents your server’s trend in CPU utilization over a given time. You’ve probably already seen these series of numbers before, as there are several places in which the load average appears. If you run the htop utility, for example, the load average is shown on the screen. In addition, if you execute the uptime command, you can see the load average in the output of that command as well. You can also view your load average by viewing the text file that stores it in the first place:

cat /proc/loadavg

Personally, I habitually use the uptime command in order to view the load average. The primary purpose of the uptime command is to display the amount of time that the server has been in use, and this time resets anytime you power off or reboot the server. But in addition to how long the server has been powered on, the...

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