Red Hat Linux System Administration Course Overview

This highly practical instructor-led course is designed to give delegates practical experience in the administration of a Red Hat Linux system.  With a strong emphasis on practical hands-on training, this course will teach the essential administrative tasks required to administer a Red Hat Linux system.

Targeted to closely follow the official Red Hat certification curriculum, this course together with the Using Red Linux course will enable the delegate to work towards achieving the Red Hat Certified Technician (RHCT) qualification.

Targeted to closely follow the official Red Hat certification curriculum, this course together with the Using Red Linux and the Securing and Networking Red Hat Linux course will also enable the delegate to work towards achieving the Red Hat Certified Engineer (RHCE) qualification.

Skills Gained

The delegate will have knowledge in all, and practise in some, of the following:

• Installing Red Hat Linux
• Package Management
• Customising and Using X Windows
• Kernel updates for RPM
• System Startup/Shutdown and Initialisation
• System Logs and their Management
• File system Configuration
• Partitioning Disks
• LVM, RAID and Swap management
• Controlling Common Hardware
• Printer Configuration
• Account Management and Security
• Backup and Restore
• Process Scheduling and Control
• Configure Basic Networking for Client Access
• XEN Virtualisation
• Troubleshooting and Disaster Recovery

Who will the Course Benefit?

The course is suitable for novice System Administrators, Programmers and other technical IT staff who need to acquire knowledge of the key administration tasks required to administer a Red Hat Linux system.

This course will teach some of the necessary skills to enable the delegate to work towards achieving the Red Hat Certified Technician (RHCT) and the Red Hat Certified Engineer (RHCE) certifications.  The course assumes knowledge of the Red Hat Linux operating system to the level covered in the Using Red Hat Linux course.

Course Objectives

On completion of this course the delegate will have gained practical experience of the Linux commands and GUI and posses the technical knowledge required to administer a Red Hat Linux system.

Examinations

The delegate will gain the essential knowledge required to study towards the official Red Hat Certified Technician (RHCT) and the Red Hat Certified Engineer (RHCE) certification routes.

Before taking any exam, ensure you have the recommended experience.  The Red Hat website lists all exam requirements and these are updated regularly.

Exams are not included as part of the course.

Pre-Requisite Courses

• Red Hat Linux Essentials

Follow-On Courses

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Red Hat Linux System Administration Training Course

Course Contents - DAY 1

Session Introduction

• Introduction Administration and Course Materials Course Structure and Agenda Delegate and Trainer Introductions

Session 1: INSTALLING RED HAT LINUX

• Installation Methods Available
• Multiboot Systems
• The RHEL Installer: Anaconda
• The Virtual Consoles
• Using Boot Time Options
• Performing the Installation
• Firstboot and Post Installation

Session 2: INVESTIGATING THE SYSTEM

• The /proc pseudo Filesystem
• Investigating Bus/Devices: lspci, lsusb etc.
• Graphical Tools for Investigating Hardware
• Serial Device Management
• Monitoring and Managing log files
• Using the system-config Tools
• The /etc/sysconfig Directory and Main Configuration Files

Session 3: USER ADMINISTRATION

• User and Group Administration
• Adding a New User and Group
• Password Management Using passwd, chage etc.
• Authentication Policies and User Private Groups
• Switching Accounts
• The su Command
• The Shells and the User Environment

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Red Hat Linux System Administration Training Course

Course Contents - DAY 2

Session 4: SYSTEM STARTUP/SHUTDOWN AND INITIALISATION

• The boot Sequence Explained
• The grub boot managers
• The init Program and Run Levels
• The /etc/rc.d/rc.sysinitrc Program
• The System V Startup Script Model
• Control Services Using chkconfig, ntsysv etc.
• System Shutdown and Reboot Management

Session 5: FILESYSTEM CONFIGURATION

• The Linux File System Basics
• The Native Linux File Systems ext2fs and ext3fs
• Disk Partitioning: fdisk and parted
• Creating and Maintaining Linux File Systems
• Autofs
• Checking and Repairing File Systems
• Handling Removable Media
• File System Attributes
• Using Disk Quotas

Session 6: LVM, RAID AND SWAP MANAGEMENT

• The Logical Volume Manager (LVM)
• Basic LVM Design and Configuration
• Software RAID Using mdadm
• Implementing RAID0, 1 and 5 File Systems
• Hot Swap Replacement
• Simulating RAID Disk Failure
• Swap Space Management

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Red Hat Linux System Administration Training Course

Course Contents - DAY 3

Session 7: PRINTERS

• Files Printing under Red Hat Using cups
• Administering CUPS Using the Web Browser Interface
• Administering CUPS Using the Red Hat Tools
• Print Queue Management
• Print Commands

Session 8: PROCESS SCHEDULING

• Using at to Manage One-Off Jobs
• Using the cron System
• System crontab Files
• Monitoring cron Access
• Controlling Access to cron and at Using cron Processes
• Using anacron

Session 9: BACKUP AND RESTORE

• Backup and Restore
• Backing Up to Tape Devices
• Controlling Tape Devices
• Using the backup Commands
• Using Compression
• Remote Backup Administration

Session 10: PACKAGE MANAGEMENT

• The Red Hat Package Management system
• The YUM management tool
• Installing and Removing software manually
• RPM queries and verifying packages
• Dependency problems and resolution
• Updating the Kernel from RPM's
• Other RPM features
• Updating Enterprise Linux

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Red Hat Linux System Administration Training Course

Course Contents - DAY 4

Session 11: CUSTOMISING AND USING X WINDOWS

• Windowing System Available
• The X Windowing System Managers
• Configuring Using system-config-display
• Customising X Start-up
• The X window protocol and X security
• xauth and ssh operation
• The font server

Session 12: BASIC CLIENT NETWORKING

• Device Recognition and Control
• Configuring Networking Interfaces
• Using Multiple and Virtual Interfaces
• Configuring NTP
• Configuring Your System as a DHCP/DNS Client
• Configuring for Routing
• Network Tools ifup, mii-tool etc.

Session 13: XEN VIRTUALISATION

• Basic definition
• XEN components
• Installing XEN
• Enabling access to a CD Drive
• Managing the VM Environment
• Migration

Session 14: TROUBLESHOOTING

• The Rescue Environment
• Rescue Environment Utilities and Operation
• The Networked Rescue Environment
• Overriding Boot Levels From grub
• Booting from USB Devices
• Common boot problems and their resolution