Book Image

Oracle Linux Cookbook

By : Erik Benner, Erik B. Thomsen, Jonathan Spindel
Book Image

Oracle Linux Cookbook

By: Erik Benner, Erik B. Thomsen, Jonathan Spindel

Overview of this book

Discover the power of Oracle Linux 8, the free and enterprise-grade Linux distribution designed for use in any environment, with this recipe-style book. Starting with instructions on how to obtain Oracle Linux for both X86 and ARM-based platforms, this book walks you through various installation methods, from running it as a Windows service to installing it on a Raspberry Pi. It unravels advanced topics such as system upgrades using Leapp for major version transitions and using a PXE server and kickstart files for more advanced installations. The book then delves into swapping kernels to take advantage of Oracle’s UEK, exploring boot options, managing software with DNF, and achieving high availability. Detailed recipes involving security topics will assist with tasks such as data encryption, both at rest and in motion. For developers, it offers guidance on building RPM files, using Docker and Podman in a containerized environment, working with AppStreams, and more. For large-scale deployments, the book introduces Oracle Linux Automation Manager for enterprise-level Ansible utilization, from setting up the Ansible server to basic playbook writing. Finally, you’ll discover strategies for cloud migration. By the end of this book, you’ll possess a comprehensive toolkit that will elevate your skills as a Linux administrator.
Table of Contents (16 chapters)

Playing with Secure Boot

Secure Boot is an additional optional feature implemented in UEFI intended to help prevent malware execution during a boot process. To enable or disable Secure Boot, you need to access your specific UEFI setup program. This is different for each system manufacturer. Check your system documentation to see how to access the UEFI configuration.

The Secure Boot steps are identical to the regular UEFI booting but an important exception is that it requires the components to be signed and authenticated to be loaded and executed (private and public key pairs are used for authentication). It consists of two launch Roots of Trust (RoT) to build the transitive trust chains:

  • The verification RoT is responsible for the signature verification. The verification RoT is the launch RoT, which is what most are referring to when speaking about Secure Boot, and it will lie on the boot flash drive as the RoT for storage to protect the key database. Verify only after the...