Essential System Administration

List of contents

Dedication;
Preface;
The Unix Universe;
Audience;
Organization;
Conventions Used in This Book;
Comments and Questions;
Acknowledgments;
Chapter 1: Introduction to System Administration;
1.1 Thinking About System Administration;
1.2 Becoming Superuser;
1.3 Communicating with Users;
1.4 About Menus and GUIs;
1.5 Where Does the Time Go?;
Chapter 2: The Unix Way;
2.1 Files;
2.2 Processes;
2.3 Devices;
Chapter 3: Essential AdministrativeTools and Techniques;
3.1 Getting the Most from Common Commands;
3.2 Essential Administrative Techniques;
Chapter 4: Startup and Shutdown;
4.1 About the Unix Boot Process;
4.2 Initialization Files and Boot Scripts;
4.3 Shutting Down a Unix System;
4.4 Troubleshooting: Handling Crashes and Boot Failures;
Chapter 5: TCP/IP Networking;
5.1 Understanding TCP/IP Networking;
5.2 Adding a New Network Host;
5.3 Network Testing and Troubleshooting;
Chapter 6: Managing Users and Groups;
6.1 Unix Users and Groups;
6.2 Managing User Accounts;
6.3 Administrative Tools for Managing User Accounts;
6.4 Administering User Passwords;
6.5 User Authentication with PAM;
6.6 LDAP: Using a Directory Service for User Authentication;
Chapter 7: Security;
7.1 Prelude: What's Wrong with This Picture?;
7.2 Thinking About Security;
7.3 User Authentication Revisited;
7.4 Protecting Files and the Filesystem;
7.5 Role-Based Access Control;
7.6 Network Security;
7.7 Hardening Unix Systems;
7.8 Detecting Problems;
Chapter 8: Managing Network Services;
8.1 Managing DNS Servers;
8.2 Routing Daemons;
8.3 Configuring a DHCP Server;
8.4 Time Synchronization with NTP;
8.5 Managing Network Daemons under AIX;
8.6 Monitoring the Network;
Chapter 9: Electronic Mail;
9.1 About Electronic Mail;
9.2 Configuring User Mail Programs;
9.3 Configuring Access Agents;
9.4 Configuring the Transport Agent;
9.5 Retrieving Mail Messages;
9.6 Mail Filtering with procmail;
9.7 A Few Final Tools;
Chapter 10: Filesystems and Disks;
10.1 Filesystem Types;
10.2 Managing Filesystems;
10.3 From Disks to Filesystems;
10.4 Sharing Filesystems;
Chapter 11: Backup and Restore;
11.1 Planning for Disasters and Everyday Needs;
11.2 Backup Media;
11.3 Backing Up Files and Filesystems;
11.4 Restoring Files from Backups;
11.5 Making Table of Contents Files;
11.6 Network Backup Systems;
11.7 Backing Up and Restoring the System Filesystems;
Chapter 12: Serial Lines and Devices;
12.1 About Serial Lines;
12.2 Specifying Terminal Characteristics;
12.3 Adding a New Serial Device;
12.4 Troubleshooting Terminal Problems;
12.5 Controlling Access to Serial Lines;
12.6 HP-UX and Tru64 Terminal Line Attributes;
12.7 The HylaFAX Fax Service;
12.8 USB Devices;
Chapter 13: Printers and the Spooling Subsystem;
13.1 The BSD Spooling Facility;
13.2 System V Printing;
13.3 The AIX Spooling Facility;
13.4 Troubleshooting Printers;
13.5 Sharing Printers with Windows Systems;
13.6 LPRng;
13.7 CUPS;
13.8 Font Management Under X;
Chapter 14: Automating Administrative Tasks;
14.1 Creating Effective Shell Scripts;
14.2 Perl: An Alternate Administrative Language;
14.3 Expect: Automating Interactive Programs;
14.4 When Only C Will Do;
14.5 Automating Complex Configuration Tasks with Cfengine;
14.6 Stem: Simplified Creation of Client-Server Applications;
14.7 Adding Local man Pages;
Chapter 15: Managing System Resources;
15.1 Thinking About System Performance;
15.2 Monitoring and Controlling Processes;
15.3 Managing CPU Resources;
15.4 Managing Memory;
15.5 Disk I/O Performance Issues;
15.6 Monitoring and Managing Disk Space Usage;
15.7 Network Performance;
Chapter 16: Configuring and Building Kernels;
16.1 FreeBSD and Tru64;
16.2 HP-UX;
16.3 Linux;
16.4 Solaris;
16.5 AIX System Parameters;
Chapter 17: Accounting;
17.1 Standard Accounting Files;
17.2 BSD-Style Accounting: FreeBSD, Linux, and AIX;
17.3 System V-Style Accounting: AIX, HP-UX, and Solaris;
17.4 Printing Accounting;
Chapter 18: The Profession of System Administration;
18.1 SAGE: The System Administrators Guild;
18.2 Administrative Virtues;
Appendix A: Administrative Shell Programming;
A.1 Basic Syntax;
A.2 The if Statement;
A.3 Other Control Structures;
A.4 Getting Input: The read Command;
A.5 Other Useful Commands;
A.6 Shell Functions;
Colophon;

About the author

Æleen Frisch has been a system administrator for over 20 years, tending a plethora of VMS, Unix, and Windows systems over the years. Her current system administration responsibilities center on looking after a very heterogeneous network of Unix and Windows NT/2000/XP systems. She is also a writer, lecturer, teacher, marketing consultant and occasional database programmer. She has written eight books, including Essential System Administration (now in its third edition), Essential Windows NT System Administration and the Windows 2000 Desktop Reference (all from O'Reilly Media, Inc.) and Exploring Chemistry with Electronic Structure Methods (Gaussian, Inc.). Currently, she writes the "Guru Guidance" column for Linux Magazine. She also writes poetry and is currently working on her first novel.

Product details

• Authors: Æleen Frisch
• Publisher: O'Reilly Media
• Languages: English
• Product format: Paperback / Softback
• Released: 01.10.2002
• EAN: 0636920003434
• ISBN: 978-0-596-00343-2
• No. of pages: 1176
• Dimensions: 179 mm x 231 mm x 63 mm
• Weight: 1892 g
• Subject: Natural sciences, medicine, IT, technology > IT, data processing > Operating systems, user interfaces