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

Summary

In this chapter, we learned that the Linux kernel can gather a lot of information about the system hardware and provide it to the user. In an emergency situation, it’s possible to retrieve all that information directly from the kernel, using the /proc and /sys filesystems and reading files such as /proc/cpuinfo.

However, high-level utilities such as lscpu, lsscsi, and lsusb can make it much easier to retrieve information and analyze it.

There are also platform-specific utilities, such as dmidecode for x86 PCs, that can help you retrieve even more detailed information that cannot be retrieved otherwise, such as the number of memory slots.

In the next chapter, we will learn about configuring basic system settings.