Book Image

Linux for System Administrators

By : Viorel Rudareanu, Daniil Baturin
Book Image

Linux for System Administrators

By: Viorel Rudareanu, Daniil Baturin

Overview of this book

Linux system administration is an essential aspect of maintaining and managing Linux servers within an organization. The role of a Linux system administrator is pivotal in ensuring the smooth functioning and security of these servers, making it a critical job function for any company that relies on Linux infrastructure. This book is a comprehensive guide designed to help you build a solid foundation in Linux system administration. It takes you from the fundamentals of Linux to more advanced topics, encompassing key areas such as Linux system installation, managing user accounts and filesystems, networking fundamentals, and Linux security techniques. Additionally, the book delves into the automation of applications and infrastructure using Chef, enabling you to streamline and optimize your operations. For both newcomers getting started with Linux and professionals looking to enhance their skills, this book is an invaluable hands-on guide with a structured approach and concise explanations that make it an effective resource for quickly acquiring and reinforcing Linux system administration skills. With the help of this Linux book, you’ll be able to navigate the world of Linux administration confidently to meet the demands of your role.
Table of Contents (21 chapters)
1
Part 1: Linux Basics
7
Part 2: Configuring and Modifying Linux Systems
13
Part 3: Linux as a Part of a Larger System

Application layer load balancing

LVS is a flexible framework for load balancing and the fact that it is implemented within the kernel makes it a high-performance solution since it does not require context switches and data transfer between user-space programs and the kernel. The fact that it works at the TCP or UDP protocol level also makes it application-agnostic and allows you to use it with any application service.

However, its lack of application protocol awareness is also its greatest weakness because it means that it cannot perform any protocol-specific optimizations. For example, one obvious way to improve performance for applications that may return the same reply to multiple users is to cache replies. LVS operates with TCP connections or UDP streams, so it has no way to know what a request or a reply looks like in any application layer protocol – it simply does not inspect TCP or UDP payloads at all.

Additionally, many modern application layer protocols are encrypted...