Color profile: Generic CMYK printer Bperogfiinl8e/ Red Hat Linux Administration: A Beginner’s Guide / Turner & Shah/ 222631-5 / Front Matter Composite Default screen Blind FolioFM:i Red Hat® Linux® Administration A Beginner’s Guide P:\010Comp\Begin8\631-5\fm.vp Wednesday, December 18, 2002 1:24:40 PM This page intentionally left blank. Color profile: Generic CMYK printer Bperogfiinl8e/ Red Hat Linux Administration: A Beginner’s Guide / Turner & Shah/ 222631-5 / Front Matter Composite Default screen Blind FolioFM:iii Red Hat® Linux® Administration A Beginner’s Guide Michael Turner Steve Shah McGraw-Hill/Osborne New York Chicago San Francisco Lisbon London Madrid Mexico City Milan New Delhi San Juan Seoul Singapore Sydney Toronto P:\010Comp\Begin8\631-5\fm.vp Wednesday, December 18, 2002 1:24:40 PM ebook_copyright 7.5x9.qxd 7/8/03 8:44 AM Page 1 Copyright ©2003 by The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc.]. All rights reserved. Manufactured in the United States of America. 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I couldn’t have done it without you. —Michael Turner P:\010Comp\Begin8\631-5\fm.vp Wednesday, December 18, 2002 1:24:41 PM Color profile: Generic CMYK printer Bperogfiinl8e/ Red Hat Linux Administration: A Beginner’s Guide / Turner & Shah/ 222631-5 / Front Matter Composite Default screen Blind FolioFM:vi About the Authors Michael Turneris a systems administrator, software engineer, author, and all around geek with over twenty years experience behind a computer keyboard. He first started working with UNIX in 1988 and has been working with Linux professionally since 1995. He has managed computer networks with over 80,000 users and has written software that has flown on the Space Shuttle Discovery. Currently he is employed at Collabnet Inc. as an instantiation engineer working on the SourceCast collaborative development environment. Inhissparetimeheenjoysreading,watchingindependentfilms,listening tomusic,andplayingwithnewtechnologicalgadgets.Freesoftwareadvocacy and programming are also among his interests. He lives with his family in the Silicon Valley of California and shares his home with two cats, three snakes and one bearded dragon. Steve Shahis the director of product management at Array Networks (www.arraynetworks.net) where he is responsible for the technical direction of traffic management and security products. His other author credits include contributions toUnixUnleashed,RedHatLinuxUnleashed,Using Linux,andContentDeliveryNetworks.PriortoArrayNetworks,Stevewas a developer and systems administrator for several companies,including AlteonWebSystemsandtheCenterforEnvironmentalResearchand Technology.BesidesLinux,Stevehasbeenresponsiblefor a variety of operating systems including Solaris, Irix, FreeBSD, SunOS, HPUX, and the many flavors of Microsoft Window. About the Technical Editor JoshBurke,CISSP,isanetworkandsecurityanalystwithBoeingEmployees Credit Union (BECU) near Seattle. He has held positions in networking, systems, and security over the past five years. A graduate of the business school at the University of Washington, Josh concentrates on balancing technical and business needs in the many areas of information security. His research interests include improving the security and resilience of the Domain Name System (DNS) and Internet routing protocol systems. Before joiningBECU,JoshwasasecurityandsystemsengineeratInternap Network Services. P:\010Comp\Begin8\631-5\fm.vp Wednesday, December 18, 2002 1:24:41 PM Color profile: Generic CMYK printer profile Begin8/ Red Hat Linux Administration: A Beginner’s Guide / Turner & Shah/ 222631-5 /1 Composite Default screen Blind FolioFM:vii For more information about this title, click here. Contents ACKNOWLEDGMENTS . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . xxi INTRODUCTION . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . xxiii PART I Installing Linux as a Server 1 Technical Summary of Linux Distributions and Windows . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3 Critical Skill 1.1Describing Linux and Linux Distributions . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 4 Project 1-1Investigating Distributions . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 5 Critical Skill 1.2Defining Free Software and the GNU License . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 5 What Is the GNU Public License? . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 6 The Advantages of Free Software . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 7 Ask the Expert . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 8 Critical Skill 1.3Determining Technical Differences Between Windows and Linux . 9 Single Users vs. Multiusers vs. Network Users . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 9 Separation of the GUI and the Kernel . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 10 The Network Neighborhood . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 11 The Registry vs. Text Files . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 12 Domains . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 13 Active Directory . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 14 vii Copyright 2003 by The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc. 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P:\010Comp\Begin8\631-5\fm.vp Wednesday, December 18, 2002 1:24:41 PM Color profile: Generic CMYK printer Bperogfiinl8e/ Red Hat Linux Administration: A Beginner’s Guide / Turner & Shah/ 222631-5 / Front Matter Composite Default screen Blind FolioFM:viii viii Red Hat Linux Administration: A Beginner’s Guide Critical Skill 1.4Exploring Other Linux Resources . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 14 Module Summary . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 15 Module 1 Mastery Check . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 15 2 Installing Linux in a Server Configuration . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 17 Critical Skill 2.1Performing Preinstallation Evaluation . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 18 Hardware . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 18 Server Design . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 19 Dual-Booting Issues . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 20 Methods of Installation . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 21 If It Just Won’t Work Right . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 22 Project 2-1Determining a Server’s Functions . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 23 Critical Skill 2.2Installing Red Hat Linux . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 24 Creating a Boot Disk . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 25 Starting the Installation . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 25 Installation Type . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 29 Project 2-2Installing a Server . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 54 Finding Additional Help . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 55 Module Summary . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 55 Module 2 Mastery Check . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 56 3 GNOME and KDE . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 59 Critical Skill 3.1Understanding the X Window System’s Origins . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 60 The Downside . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 61 Enter KDE and GNOME . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 62 What This Means for You . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 63 Critical Skill 3.2Using and Customizing GNOME . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 63 Starting the X Window System and GNOME . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 64 GNOME Basics . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 66 The GNOME Start Here Icon . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 67 Project 3-1Customizing a GNOME Desktop . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 71 Critical Skill 3.3Using and Customizing KDE . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 73 Starting the X Window System and KDE . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 74 KDE Basics . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 76 The KDE Control Center . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 76 Project 3-2Customizing a KDE Desktop . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 84 Module Summary . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 85 Module 3 Mastery Check . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 86 4 Installing Software . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 87 Critical Skill 4.1Using the Red Hat Package Manager . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 88 Installing a New Package . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 89 Querying a Package . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 91 Uninstalling a Package . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 92 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