Linux - The Comprehensive Guide

Beginner or expert, professional or hobbyist, this is the Linux guide you need! Install Linux and walk through the basics: working in the terminal, handling files and directories, using Bash, and more. Then get into the nitty-gritty details of configuring your system and server, from compiling kernel modules to using tools like Apache, Postfix, and Samba. With information on backups, firewalls, virtualization, and more, you'll learn everything there is to know about Linux!

Highlights include:
1) Installation
2) GNOME and KDE
3) Bash, Vim, Emacs
4) Network configuration
5) Software and package management
6) Administration
7) Kernel modules
8) Apache
9) Postfix and Dovecot
10) Samba
11) Security
12) Virtualization

List of contents

... Preface ... 31

... What This Book Can Do-and What It Can't ... 31

... How This Book Is Organized ... 32

... Formal Aspects ... 33

Part I ... Installation ... 35

1 ... What Is Linux? ... 37

1.1 ... Introduction ... 37

1.2 ... Hardware Support ... 38

1.3 ... Distributions ... 39

1.4 ... Open-Source Licenses (GPL and Company) ... 44

1.5 ... The History of Linux ... 46

2 ... Installation Basics ... 49

2.1 ... Requirements ... 49

2.2 ... BIOS and EFI ... 50

2.3 ... Installation Variants ... 53

2.4 ... Overview of the Installation Process ... 56

2.5 ... Partitioning Basics ... 58

2.6 ... LVM and Encryption ... 61

2.7 ... Creating Linux Partitions ... 64

2.8 ... Setting the Scope of the Installation ... 68

2.9 ... Basic Configuration ... 68

2.10 ... System Changes, Extensions, and Updates ... 70

3 ... Installation Instructions ... 75

3.1 ... Debian ... 76

3.2 ... Fedora ... 84

3.3 ... Linux Mint ... 92

3.4 ... Manjaro Linux ... 95

3.5 ... openSUSE ... 98

3.6 ... Pop!_OS ... 104

3.7 ... Ubuntu ... 108

Part II ... Using Linux ... 117

4 ... GNOME ... 119

4.1 ... Personal Assessment ... 120

4.2 ... Getting Started ... 121

4.3 ... File Manager ... 128

4.4 ... System Configuration ... 138

4.5 ... Fonts ... 148

4.6 ... GNOME Tweak Tool ... 150

4.7 ... GNOME Shell Extensions ... 152

4.8 ... GNOME Shell Themes ... 156

4.9 ... Internal Details of GNOME ... 156

4.10 ... GNOME Classic ... 159

5 ... KDE ... 161

5.1 ... Basic Principles ... 161

5.2 ... Operation ... 163

5.3 ... File Manager ... 167

5.4 ... KDE Configuration ... 170

Part III ... Linux Basics ... 177

6 ... Using the Terminal ... 179

6.1 ... Text Consoles and Terminal Windows ... 179

6.2 ... Displaying and Editing Text Files ... 185

6.3 ... man and info ... 189

7 ... Bash (Shell) ... 193

7.1 ... What Is a Shell? ... 193

7.2 ... Configuration ... 195

7.3 ... Command Input ... 198

7.4 ... Input and Output Redirection ... 202

7.5 ... Executing Commands ... 205

7.6 ... Globbing and Substitution/Expansion ... 208

7.7 ... Variables ... 213

7.8 ... Bash Scripts ... 217

7.9 ... Basic Rules for Bash Scripts ... 223

7.10 ... Variables in Bash Scripts ... 225

7.11 ... Branches, Loops, and Functions ... 230

7.12 ... Important Special Characters in Bash: Quick Reference ... 237

8 ... Zsh (Shell) ... 241

8.1 ... Installation and Configuration ... 242

8.2 ... Usage ... 247

8.3 ... Oh My Zsh ... 250

9 ... Files and Directories ... 253

9.1 ... Handling Files and Directories ... 253

9.2 ... Links ... 264

9.3 ... Finding Files (find, grep, and locate Commands) ... 266

9.4 ... Greater Convenience with Modern Commands ... 271

9.5 ... Access Rights, Users, and Group Membership ... 273

9.6 ... Special Bits and the umask Setting ... 279

9.7 ... Access Control Lists and Extended Attributes ... 285

9.8 ... The Linux Directory Structure ... 289

9.9 ... Device Files ... 293

10 ... Process Management ... 297

10.1 ... Starting, Managing, and Stopping Processes ... 297

10.2 ... Running Processes under a Different Identity (su) ... 305

10.3 ... Running Processes under a Different Identity (sudo) ... 307

10.4 ... Running Processes under a Different Identity (PolicyKit) ... 312

10.5 ... System Processes (Daemons) ... 315

10.6 ... Starting Processes Automatically (Cron) ... 318

10.7 ... Starting Processes Automatically (systemd Timer) ... 323

11 ... Network Tools ... 329

11.1 ... Determining the Network Status ... 329

11.2 ... Working on Other Computers (SSH) ... 334

11.3 ... Transferring Files (FTP and Others) ... 341

11.4 ... Lynx ... 346

11.5 ... Mutt ... 346

Part IV ... Text and Code Editors ... 349

12 ... Vim ... 351

12.1 ... Quick Start ... 352

12.2 ... Cursor Movement ... 355

12.3 ... Editing Text ... 356

12.4 ... Search and Replace ... 360

12.5 ... Editing Multiple Files Simultaneously ... 361

12.6 ... Internal Details ... 363

12.7 ... Tips and Tricks ... 366

13 ... Emacs ... 369

13.1 ... Quick Start ... 369

13.2 ... Cursor Movement ... 373

13.3 ... Editing Text ... 374

13.4 ... Search and Replace ... 379

13.5 ... Buffers and Windows ... 382

13.6 ... Special Editing Modes ... 384

13.7 ... Configuration ... 386

Part V ... System Configuration and Administration ... 389

14 ... Basic Configuration ... 391

14.1 ... Introduction ... 391

14.2 ... Configuration of the Text Consoles ... 395

14.3 ... Date and Time ... 397

14.4 ... Synchronizing Date and Time via NTP ... 399

14.5 ... Users, Groups, and Passwords ... 401

14.6 ... PAM, NSS, and Nscd ... 412

14.7 ... Language Setting, Internationalization, and Unicode ... 418

14.8 ... Hardware Reference ... 423

14.9 ... CPU Tuning ... 434

14.10 ... Notebook Optimization ... 438

14.11 ... Printing System (CUPS) ... 444

14.12 ... Logging (Syslog) ... 452

14.13 ... Logging (Journal) ... 460

14.14 ... Cockpit ... 463

15 ... Network Configuration ... 469

15.1 ... NetworkManager ... 469

15.2 ... Manual LAN and Wi-Fi Configuration ... 478

15.3 ... LAN Configuration Files ... 487

15.4 ... Distribution-Specific Configuration Files ... 491

15.5 ... Zeroconf and Avahi ... 502

16 ... Software and Package Management ... 505

16.1 ... Introduction ... 505

16.2 ... RPM Package Management ... 509

16.3 ... DNF ... 513

16.4 ... ZYpp ... 521

16.5 ... Debian Package Management (dpkg) ... 524

16.6 ... APT ... 527

16.7 ... Pacman ... 537

16.8 ... PackageKit ... 540

16.9 ... Firmware, BIOS, and EFI Updates ... 541

16.10 ... Managing Parallel Installations (Alternatives) ... 545

16.11 ... Flatpak and Snap ... 547

16.12 ... Distribution-Specific Characteristics ... 554

17 ... Graphics System ... 567

17.1 ... Basic Principles ... 567

17.2 ... Graphics Drivers ... 572

17.3 ... NVIDIA Driver Installation ... 576

17.4 ... Determining the Status of the Graphics System ... 582

17.5 ... Starting the Graphics System ... 586

18 ... File System Administration ... 591

18.1 ... How Everything Is Connected ... 593

18.2 ... Formatting and Using USB Media ... 594

18.3 ... Device Names for Hard Disks and Other Data Media ... 598

18.4 ... Partitioning the Hard Disk or SSD ... 603

18.5 ... The parted Command ... 605

18.6 ... Partitioning Tools with a Graphical User Interface ... 610

18.7 ... File System Types ... 611

18.8 ... mount, umount, and /etc/fstab ... 616

18.9 ... Basic Principles of File Systems ... 625

18.10 ... The ext File System (ext2, ext3, and ext4) ... 627

18.11 ... The btrfs File System ... 630

18.12 ... The xfs File System ... 646

18.13 ... Windows File Systems (vfat and ntfs) ... 647

18.14 ... Swap Partitions and Files ... 651

18.15 ... RAID ... 654

18.16 ... Logical Volume Manager ... 665

18.17 ... Self-Monitoring, Analysis, and Reporting Technology ... 670

18.18 ... SSD TRIM ... 675

18.19 ... Encryption ... 676

19 ... Grand Unified Bootloader ... 687

19.1 ... Basic Principles of GRUB ... 687

19.2 ... Operating GRUB (User View) ... 695

19.3 ... GRUB Configuration ... 696

19.4 ... Manual GRUB Installation and First Aid ... 704

19.5 ... systemd-boot ... 707

20 ... The Init System ... 711

20.1 ... systemd ... 711

20.2 ... Custom systemd Services ... 721

20.3 ... Shutdown, Reboot, and Halt ... 725

20.4 ... The Traditional Init-V System ... 726

20.5 ... System Startup on Fedora and RHEL ... 729

20.6 ... System Startup on Debian, Raspberry Pi OS, and Ubuntu ... 730

20.7 ... System Startup on SUSE/openSUSE ... 732

21 ... Kernel and Modules ... 735

21.1 ... Kernel Modules ... 736

21.2 ... Compiling Kernel Modules Yourself ... 742

21.3 ... Configuring and Compiling the Kernel Yourself ... 745

21.4 ... Kernel Live Patches ... 755

21.5 ... The /proc and /sys Directories ... 759

21.6 ... Kernel Boot Options ... 760

21.7 ... Changing Kernel Parameters ... 765

21.8 ... Spectre, Meltdown, and Others ... 765

Part VI ... Server Configuration ... 769

22 ... Server Installation ... 771

22.1 ... Basic Principles ... 771

22.2 ... Red Hat Enterprise Linux ... 779

22.3 ... Ubuntu Server ... 790

22.4 ... Debian Server Installation ... 793

22.5 ... Elastic Compute Cloud ... 795

23 ... Secure Shell (SSH) ... 809

23.1 ... Installation ... 809

23.2 ... Configuration and Security ... 810

23.3 ... Fail2Ban ... 812

23.4 ... Authentication with Keys ... 814

23.5 ... Two-Factor Authentication ... 818

23.6 ... Additional Tools ... 824

24 ... Apache ... 829

24.1 ... Apache ... 829

24.2 ... Encrypted Connections (HTTPS) ... 836

24.3 ... Let's Encrypt ... 844

24.4 ... Setting Up and Securing Web Directories ... 851

24.5 ... Virtual Hosts ... 859

24.6 ... Web Access Statistics ... 861

24.7 ... PHP ... 865

24.8 ... NGINX ... 869

25 ... MySQL and MariaDB ... 873

25.1 ... Installation and Commissioning ... 874

25.2 ... Administration Tools ... 883

25.3 ... Backups ... 888

25.4 ... Installing WordPress ... 891

26 ... Postfix and Dovecot ... 895

26.1 ... Introduction and Basic Principles ... 895

26.2 ... Postfix (MTA) ... 906

26.3 ... Postfix Encryption (TLS/STARTTLS) ... 915

26.4 ... Postfix Accounts ... 921

26.5 ... Dovecot (POP and IMAP Server) ... 931

26.6 ... Client Configuration ... 939

26.7 ... SpamAssassin ... 941

26.8 ... ClamAV (Virus Protection) ... 947

26.9 ... SPF, DKIM, and DMARC ... 949

26.10 ... Configuration Test and Troubleshooting ... 961

27 ... Samba ... 963

27.1 ... Basic Principles and Terminology ... 963

27.2 ... Basic Configuration and Commissioning ... 969

27.3 ... Password Management ... 976

27.4 ... Network Directories ... 982

27.5 ... Example: Home and Media Server ... 990

27.6 ... Example: Company Server ... 993

27.7 ... SMB Client Access ... 996

Part VII ... Security ... 1005

28 ... Backups ... 1007

28.1 ... Déjà Dup ... 1007

28.2 ... Back In Time ... 1010

28.3 ... Grsync ... 1013

28.4 ... Borg Backup ... 1015

28.5 ... Compressing and Archiving Files ... 1019

28.6 ... Synchronizing Directories (rsync) ... 1022

28.7 ... Incremental Backups (rdiff-backup) ... 1025

28.8 ... Incremental Backups (rsnapshot) ... 1027

28.9 ... Backup Scripts ... 1030

28.10 ... Backups to S3 Storage ... 1032

29 ... Firewalls ... 1039

29.1 ... Network Fundamentals and Analysis ... 1039

29.2 ... Basic Protection of Network Services ... 1045

29.3 ... Basic Firewall Principles ... 1049

29.4 ... Firewall Configuration Tools ... 1050

29.5 ... Custom Firewall Built Using nft ... 1057

30 ... SELinux and AppArmor ... 1069

30.1 ... SELinux ... 1069

30.2 ... AppArmor ... 1077

Part VIII ... Virtualization ... 1085

31 ... VirtualBox ... 1087

31.1 ... Installing VirtualBox ... 1087

31.2 ... Setting Up VirtualBox Machines ... 1091

31.3 ... Working Techniques and Configuration Tips ... 1096

32 ... QEMU and Kernel-Based Virtual Machine ... 1105

32.1 ... Basic Principles ... 1106

32.2 ... Virtual Machine Manager ... 1113

32.3 ... libvirt Commands ... 1119

32.4 ... Integrating Virtual Machines into the LAN (Network Bridge) ... 1125

32.5 ... Direct Access to the Contents of an Image File ... 1130

33 ... Windows Subsystem for Linux ... 1137

33.1 ... Checking Out WSL ... 1138

33.2 ... WSL Network Integration ... 1145

33.3 ... The wsl Command and WSL Configuration ... 1146

... The Author ... 1151

... Index ... 1153

Summary

Beginner or expert, professional or hobbyist, this is the Linux guide you need! Install Linux and walk through the basics: working in the terminal, handling files and directories, using Bash, and more. Then get into the nitty-gritty details of configuring your system and server, from compiling kernel modules to using tools like Apache, Postfix, and Samba. With information on backups, firewalls, virtualization, and more, you’ll learn everything there is to know about Linux!

Highlights include:
1) Installation
2) GNOME and KDE
3) Bash, Vim, Emacs
4) Network configuration
5) Software and package management
6) Administration
7) Kernel modules
8) Apache
9) Postfix and Dovecot
10) Samba
11) Security
12) Virtualization

Product details

• Authors: Michael Kofler
• Publisher: Rheinwerk Verlag
• Languages: English
• Product format: Paperback / Softback
• Released: 01.06.2024
• EAN: 9781493224999
• ISBN: 978-1-4932-2499-9
• No. of pages: 1178
• Dimensions: 177 mm x 51 mm x 254 mm
• Weight: 1997 g
• Subjects: Natural sciences, medicine, IT, technology > IT, data processing > Programming languages; Linux