Administering Red Hat Linux 8 - Part 1

This highly practical instructor led Administering Red Hat Linux 8 - Part 1 training course introduces the delegate to the main concepts of the Red Hat Linux operating system and basic systems administration.

Targeted to closely follow the Red Hat courses, this course together with the follow on Administering Red Hat Linux 8 - Part 2 course will enable the delegate to work towards achieving the Red Hat Certified System Administrator (RHCSA) qualification.

Commonly used commands are described in detail as well as GUI tools. The attendee will also gain basic administration techniques used in the workplace.

The delegate will learn and acquire skills as follows:

• Work on the command line with Bash Shell commands
• Access help and documentation facilities both locally and online
• Understand the Linux file system and managing files from the command line
• Use the graphical desktop and be able to manage files graphically
• Understand the Cockpit web based interface for Administration tasks
• Create and edit files using gedit
• Manage users, groups and passwords
• List and change access permissions on files and directories from the command line
• Managing processes
• Understand system daemons using systemd
• Use systemctl to start, stop and view services
• Understand disk organisation and Logical Volume Manager
• View information relating to file systems
• Archive files and copy files between systems
• Understand, analyse and rotate system log files
• Access logging information using journalctl
• Manage system software using rpm, yum and dnf
• Understand basic IPV4 networking concepts
• Use basic network commands to access remote systems using the command line (ssh, scp and rsync)
• Create and access a virtual machine that uses KVM and libvirt

The Administering Red Hat Linux 8 - Part 1 training course is suitable for anyone who is new to Linux and needs to understand and use the operating system. The course will particularly appeal to Microsoft Windows system administrators, network administrators and other operating system professionals or anyone who requires a proficiency in Linux.

To provide command line and GUI skills required to work productively in the workplace using Red Hat Enterprise Linux (RHEL). The delegate will possess at the end of the course some of the fundamental skills required to begin their studies towards achieving the various Red Hat certifications.

This Administering Red Hat Linux 8 - Part 1 training course is the first of two courses which will provide the basic skills required to study towards taking the Red Hat Certified System Administrator (RHCSA) examination. For those required to study for the Red Hat Certified Engineer (RHCE) examination, the skills acquired on this course are also a requirement.

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.

The delegate should be familiar with basic computer concepts and terminology e.g. hardware, software, files and directories.

• Administering Red Hat Linux 8 - Part 2
• Apache Web Server
• Perl Programming
• Oracle SQL

• Course technical content is subject to change without notice.
• Course content is structured as sessions, this does not strictly map to course timings. Concepts, content and practicals often span sessions.

Course Contents - DAY 1

Course Introduction

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

Session 1: AN INTRODUCTION TO LINUX

• A brief history of UNIX and LINUX
• GNU project
• GPL - GNU General Public license
• The LINUX kernel
• The Bash Shell
• Login sessions

Session 2: THE GRAPHICAL ENVIRONMENT

• The GUI Desktop
• GNOME 3 and GNOME Classic
• Configuring the Desktop
• Managing files graphically
• Graphical tools for investigating hardware
• Exercise

Session 3: BASIC COMMANDS AND BASH ENVIRONMENT

• Basic syntax Rules
• Essential keyboard shortcuts
• Basic commands and utilities
• Getting Help - man pages, info, /usr/share/doc
• Sources of information available on the WEB
• Command line history, viewing and re-executing
• Entering commands in the Bash Shell
• The Bash Environment
• Shell Variables
• Exercise

Course Contents - DAY 2

Session 4: THE LINUX FILE SYSTEM

• The file system structure
• Standard Linux directories and files
• Pathnames : relative and absolute
• Navigating the file system using shell commands
• Managing files and directories
• Hard and symbolic links
• Monitoring file system usage
• Exercise

Session 5: EDITING FILES USING GEDIT

• Using the GUI Editor to edit text files
• Exercise

Session 6: FILE ACCESS CONTROL

• Basic file access permissions
• List permissions
• Changing file permissions on the command line
• Overview of SELinux
• Exercise

Course Contents - DAY 3

Session 7: MANAGING USER ACCOUNTS

• User and Group administration
• Adding a new user and group on the command line
• Introduction to Cockpit web based GUI for adding new users
• Adding users and groups
• Setting a password
• Bash profile files
• Exercise

Session 8: USING SYSTEMD AND CONTROLLING SERVICES

• The systemd deamon
• Control Services using systemctl etc.
• System Shutdown and Reboot management
• Exercise

Session 9: BUILDING A VIRTUAL MACHINE

• Virtualisation concepts
• Installation methods available
• Install a virtual system
• Checking for supported hardware
• Start and shutdown a virtual system
• Exercises

Session 10: BASIC CLIENT NETWORKING

• Configuring Network Interfaces
• Controlling Network Devices: ifup/ifdown
• Configuring IPV4 dynamic and static networking
• Network Tools ifconfig, ethtool etc
• Configuring Remote Desktops
• Accessing Remote Desktop using vncviewer
• Configuring basic NTP
• Connecting NIS and LDAP clients to corresponding servers
• Linking to a system using ssh
• Exercise

Course Contents - DAY 4

Session 11: MANAGE LOGICAL VOLUMES

• Basic LVM design and configuration
• The Logical Volume Manager (LVM)
• Displaying information regarding LVM volumes
• Exercise

Session 12: MANAGE FILE SYSTEM ATTRIBUTES AND SWAP SPACE

• Mounting and un-mounting file systems using both labels and UUID's
• File System attributes
• Handling Removable Media
• Exercise

Session 13: ACCESSING AND INTERPRETING LOG FILES

• System Log Files
• rsyslog configuration
• Using journalctl
• Analysing and rotating logfiles
• Exercise

Session 14: ARCHIVING FILES AND COPYING TO ANOTHER SYSTEM

• Tape archive - tar
• Compression utilities- bzip2, gzip, star and zip
• Secure copy - scp
• Local and remote copying with rsync

Course Contents - DAY 5

Session 15: MANAGE MEMORY AND CPU USAGE

• Time-sharing
• What is a process?
• System and user processes
• Monitoring processes
• Killing processes
• Basic Job Control
• Altering process scheduling priorities
• Desktop tools to monitor and manage processes
• Exercise

Session 16: PACKAGE MANAGEMENT USING RPM

• The Red Hat Package Management system
• Installing removing software manually using rpm
• RPM queries and verifying packages
• Dependency problems and resolution
• Updating the Kernel from RPM's
• Other RPM features
• Updating using Red Hat Network
• Exercise

Session 17: PACKAGE MANAGEMENT USING YUM

• The YUM management tool
• yum4 (dnf) and yum3
• The software repositories
• Accessing repositories from a client
• Exercise