Book Image

CentOS 6 Linux Server Cookbook

By : Jonathan Hobson
Book Image

CentOS 6 Linux Server Cookbook

By: Jonathan Hobson

Overview of this book

CentOS is a community-based enterprise class operating system and this book will provide a series of practical solutions that will not only show you how to install and maintain CentOS as a server, but to explore this well-known Linux distribution with the intention of tackling many common issues by providing some tricks of the trade in order to simplify the task of building a server."CentOS 6 Linux Server Cookbook" is a practical guide to installation, configuration, administration, and maintenance. This is a one-stop-shop to all things CentOS, so regardless as to whether you need a mail server, web server, database server, domain server or a file sharing platform, this book provides a comprehensive series of starting points that will give you direct access to the inner workings of this open source, community-based enterprise server."CentOS 6 Linux Server Cookbook" is a practical guide to the complete installation, configuration, administration, and maintenance of one of the world's most popular community-based enterprise servers.From installation to configuration, this book of recipes will take you on a journey to explore inner workings of CentOS server. Within this book you will learn how to install CentOS in variety of settings, enhance your installation with the correct tools of the trade and prepare your server to fulfil almost any role you could ever need.By discovering more about time, networking, package management, system management and security, this book will serve to show you how to get the very best from this freely available, open source server by presenting a series of solutions that will enable you to master the art of building your very own web, database, mail, domain name, file sharing services.CentOS 6 Linux Server Cookbook is a hands-on approach to installing, configuring and managing this ever popular community based enterprise server. By taking you from installation to customization this book will serve all Linux professionals and enthusiasts alike by providing you with a practical guide to using CentOS as a world-class server solution that is capable of delivering your mail, web, ftp, domain and file sharing services.

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CentOS 6 Linux Server Cookbook
Jonathan Hobson
Apr, 2013 | 374 pages
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Table of Contents (18 chapters)
CentOS 6 Linux Server Cookbook
CentOS 6 Linux Server Cookbook
Credits
Credits
About the Author
About the Author
About the Reviewers
About the Reviewers
www.PacktPub.com
www.PacktPub.com
Preface
Preface
Free Chapter
1
Installing CentOS
Installing CentOS
Introduction
Downloading CentOS and confirming the checksum on a Windows desktop
Performing an installation of CentOS using the graphical installer
Running a netinstall over HTTP
Installing CentOS in Text Mode and building a minimal installation
Re-installing the boot loader
Updating the installation and enhancing the minimal install with additional administration and development tools
Finishing the installation process with Firstboot
Adding the GNOME desktop environment, changing the runlevel, and installing additional software
2
Configuring CentOS
Configuring CentOS
Introduction
Changing the time zone and updating the hardware clock
Synchronizing the system clock with NTP
Setting a static IP address
Binding multiple IP addresses to a single Ethernet device
Bonding two Ethernet devices to increase bandwidth and provide redundancy
Changing the hostname and resolving a fully qualified domain name
Switching SELinux off
Disabling the IPv6 module
3
Working with CentOS
Working with CentOS
Introduction
Creating an administrative user and becoming root with the switch user command
Introducing mailx and forwarding the root's e-mail to an external e-mail address
Automating tasks with cron
Synchronizing files and directories with rsync and working towards a full system backup with cron
Issuing customized e-mail reports with Mutt
Using logrotate to manage logfiles
Extending log rotation by adding NTP to logrotate
Using chkconfig to enable a custom service at boot
Evaluating current memory usage with the free and top commands and clearing the memory cache
4
Managing Packages with Yum
Managing Packages with Yum
Introduction
Updating the system with YUM
Cleaning the YUM cache
Automating Yum updates with Yum-cron
Installing packages with YUM
Removing packages with YUM
Finding packages with YUM
Installing Yum Priorities to support additional repositories
Enhancing CentOS with the EPEL and Remi repositories
5
Securing CentOS
Securing CentOS
Introduction
Escalating user privilege with sudo
Hardening the secure shell environment
Configuring a firewall and working with IPTables
Protecting SSH with fail2ban
Preventing dictionary-based attacks with DenyHosts
Running antivirus scans with ClamAV
6
Working with Samba
Working with Samba
Introduction
Configuring Samba as a standalone server and enabling home directories
Adding, deleting, and disabling a Samba user
Providing a network recycle bin for Samba
Hiding folders and files with Samba
Creating a custom share folder for a specific user or a group of users
7
Working with Domains
Working with Domains
Introduction
Building a caching-only nameserver with BIND
Writing zone files for BIND
Adding zones to BIND and configuring a nameserver
Deploying a local nameserver with dnsmasq
Logging events with dnsmasq and combining this with logrotate
Enabling domain name wildcards with dnsmasq
Hardening BIND with chroot and providing better security measures
8
Working with Databases
Working with Databases
Introduction
Installing and hardening MySQL server with mysql_secure_installation
Creating a MySQL database, adding a MySQL user, and assigning user privilege from the command line
Installing PostgreSQL, adding a user, and creating your first database
Configuring remote access to PostgreSQL
9
Providing Mail Services
Providing Mail Services
Introduction
Enabling a domain-wide Mail Transport Agent (MTA) and testing your SMTP configuration with Telnet
Building a local POP3/SMTP server with Postfix and Dovecot
Closing the open relay, enabling SMTP authentication and dealing with Spam by configuring SASL, and enabling Postfix header and body checks
Using Postfix and Dovecot to serve e-mails across virtual domains
10
Working with Apache
Working with Apache
Introduction
Installing the Apache web server with CGI/Perl, PHP, configuring mod_perl, and preparing httpd for a production environment
Adding a secure connection to the Apache web server by creating a self-signed SSL certificate using OpenSSL
Hosting peers by enabling user directories on the Apache web server and troubleshooting suexec
Configuring Apache name-based virtual hosting
Working with publishing directories, vhosts.d, error documents, directives, and the rewrite rule for virtual hosting with the Apache web server
11
Working with FTP
Working with FTP
Introduction
Building a basic FTP service by installing and configuring VSFTP
Providing a secure connection to VSFTP with SSL/TLS using OpenSSL encryption
Implementing virtual users and directories in standalone mode on VSFTP
Providing an anonymous upload and download or download only FTP server with VSFTP
Index
Index

Changing the time zone and updating the hardware clock

In this recipe we will introduce the concept of TZDATA in order that we can learn how to change a server's time zone and update the hardware clock.

Over the lifetime of your server, the need to change the time and date for one or more users may not happen very often but when it does the process of managing this modification can seem to be quite complicated. You may want to make this change for any number of reasons, you can even use this approach to implement an independent time zone solution for different users, but regardless as to the reason why, it is the purpose of this recipe to illustrate a series of best practices that can be applied to your server and provide you with the solution you need.

Getting ready

To complete this recipe, you will require a working installation of the CentOS 6 operating system with root privileges, a console-based text editor of your choice, and a connection to the Internet to facilitate the download...

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