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The industry favorite Linux guide
Linux Bible, 10th Edition is the ultimate hands-on Linux user guide, whether you're a true beginner or a more advanced user navigating recent changes. this updated tenth edition covers the latest versions of Red Hat Enterprise Linux (RHEL 8), Fedora 30, and Ubuntu 18.04 LTS. It includes information on cloud computing, with new guidance on containerization, Ansible automation, and Kubernetes and OpenShift. With a focus on RHEL 8, this new edition teaches techniques for managing storage, users, and security, while emphasizing simplified administrative techniques with Cockpit. Written by a Red Hat expert, this book provides the clear explanations and step-by-step instructions that demystify Linux and bring the new features seamlessly into your workflow.


This useful guide assumes a base of little or no Linux knowledge, and takes you step by step through what you need to know to get the job done.





Get Linux up and running quickly

Master basic operations and tackle more advanced tasks

Get up to date on the recent changes to Linux server system management

Bring Linux to the cloud using Openstack and Cloudforms

Simplified Linux administration through the Cockpit Web Interface

Automated Linux Deployment with Ansible

Learn to navigate Linux with Amazon (AWS), Google (GCE), and Microsofr Azure Cloud services



Linux Bible, 10th Edition is the one resource you need, and provides the hands-on training that gets you on track in a flash.

Linux Bible, Tenth Edition

Acknowledgments xi





Introduction xxxv





Part I: Getting Started 1





Chapter 1: Starting with Linux 3





Understanding What Linux Is 4





Understanding How Linux Differs from Other Operating Systems 6





Exploring Linux History 7





Free-flowing UNIX culture at Bell Labs 7





Commercial UNIX 9





GNU transitions UNIX to freedom 11





BSD loses some steam 12





Linus builds the missing piece 13





OSI open source definition 14





Understanding How Linux Distributions Emerged 16





Choosing a Red Hat distribution 16





Choosing Ubuntu or another Debian distribution 19





Finding Professional Opportunities with Linux Today 19





Understanding how companies make money with Linux 20





Becoming Red Hat certified 21





Summary 25





Chapter 2: Creating the Perfect Linux Desktop 27





Understanding Linux Desktop Technology 28





Starting with the Fedora GNOME Desktop Live image 30





Using the GNOME 3 Desktop 31





After the computer boots up 31





Setting up the GNOME 3 desktop 38





Extending the GNOME 3 desktop 39





Starting with desktop applications 41





Stopping the GNOME 3 desktop 46





Using the GNOME 2 Desktop 46





Using the Metacity window manager 48





Changing GNOME's appearance 49





Using the GNOME panels 50





Adding 3D effects with AIGLX 54





Summary 57





Exercises 57





Part II: Becoming a Linux Power User 59





Chapter 3: Using the Shell 61





About Shells and Terminal Windows 62





Using the shell prompt 63





Using a Terminal window 63





Using virtual consoles 65





Choosing Your Shell 65





Running Commands 66





Understanding command syntax 67





Locating commands 70





Recalling Commands Using Command History 72





Command-line editing 73





Command-line completion 75





Command-line recall 76





Connecting and Expanding Commands 78





Piping between commands 78





Sequential commands 79





Background commands 79





Expanding commands 80





Expanding arithmetic expressions 80





Expanding variables 80





Using Shell Variables 81





Creating and using aliases 81





Exiting the shell 83





Creating Your Shell Environment 84





Configuring your shell 84





Setting your prompt 85





Adding environment variables 87





Getting Information about Commands 88





Summary 90





Exercises 90





Chapter 4: Moving Around the Filesystem 93





Using Basic Filesystem Commands 96





Using Metacharacters and Operators 98





Using file-matching metacharacters 98





Using file-redirection metacharacters 99





Using brace expansion characters 101





Listing Files and Directories 101





Understanding File Permissions and Ownership 105





Changing permissions with chmod (numbers) 106





Changing permissions with chmod (letters) 107





Setting default file permission with umask 108





Changing file ownership 109





Moving, Copying, and Removing Files 109





Summary 111





Exercises 111





Chapter 5: Working with Text Files 113





Editing Files with vim and vi 113





Starting with vi 115





Skipping around in the file 119





Searching for text 119





Using ex mode 120





Learning more about vi and vim 120





Finding Files 120





Using locate to find files by name 121





Searching for files with find 122





Searching in files with grep 128





Summary 129





Exercises 129





Chapter 6: Managing Running Processes 131





Understanding Processes 131





Listing Processes 132





Listing processes with ps 132





Listing and changing processes with top 134





Listing processes with System Monitor 136





Managing Background and Foreground Processes 137





Starting background processes 138





Using foreground and background commands 139





Killing and Renicing Processes140





Killing processes with kill and killall 140





Setting processor priority with nice and renice 142





Limiting Processes with cgroups 143





Summary 144





Exercises 145





Chapter 7: Writing Simple Shell Scripts 147





Understanding Shell Scripts 147





Executing and debugging shell scripts 148





Understanding shell variables 149





Performing arithmetic in shell scripts 152





Using programming constructs in shell scripts 153





Trying some useful text manipulation programs 159





Using simple shell scripts 161





Summary 163





Exercises 163





Part III: Becoming a Linux System Administrator 165





Chapter 8: Learning System Administration 167





Understanding System Administration 167





Using Graphical Administration Tools 169





Using the root User Account 174





Exploring Administrative Commands, Configuration Files, and Log Files 178





Administrative commands 178





Administrative configuration files 179





Using Other Administrative Accounts 185





Checking and Configuring Hardware 186





Checking your hardware 187





Managing removable hardware 189





Working with loadable modules 191





Summary 193





Exercises 193





Chapter 9: Installing Linux 195





Choosing a Computer 196





Installing Fedora from Live Media 198





Installing Red Hat Enterprise Linux from Installation Media 201





Understanding Cloud-Based Installations 204





Installing Linux in the Enterprise 205





Exploring Common Installation Topics 207





Upgrading or installing from scratch 207





Dual booting 208





Installing Linux to run virtually 209





Using installation boot options 210





Using specialized storage 213





Partitioning hard drives 214





Using the GRUB boot loader 217





Summary 219





Exercises 219





Chapter 10: Getting and Managing Software 221





Managing Software on the Desktop 221





Going Beyond the Software Window 223





Understanding Linux RPM and DEB Software Packaging 224





Understanding DEB packaging 225





Understanding RPM packaging 226





Managing RPM Packages with YUM 229





Transitioning from yum to dnf 229





Understanding how yum works 229





Using YUM with third-party software repositories 233





Managing software with the yum command 233





Installing, Querying, and Verifying Software with the rpm Command 241





Installing and removing packages with rpm 241





Querying rpm information 242





Verifying RPM packages 244





Managing Software in the Enterprise 245





Summary 246





Exercises 247





Chapter 11: Managing User Accounts 249





Creating User Accounts 249





Adding users with useradd 252





Setting user defaults 255





Modifying users with usermod 257





Deleting users with userdel 258





Understanding Group Accounts 259





Using group accounts 259





Creating group accounts 260





Managing Users in the Enterprise 261





Setting permissions with Access Control Lists 262





Centralizing User Accounts 269





Summary 270





Exercises 270





Chapter 12: Managing Disks and Filesystems 273





Understanding Disk Storage 273





Partitioning Hard Disks 275





Understanding partition tables 275





Viewing disk partitions 276





Creating a single-partition disk 277





Creating a multiple-partition disk 281





Using Logical Volume Manager Partitions 285





Checking an existing LVM 286





Creating LVM logical volumes 289





Growing LVM logical volumes 290





Mounting Filesystems 291





Supported filesystems 291





Enabling swap areas 293





Disabling swap area 294





Using the fstab file to define mountable file systems 295





Using the mount command to mount file systems 297





Mounting a disk image in loopback 298





Using the umount command 299





Using the mkfs Command to Create a Filesystem 300





Managing Storage with Cockpit 301





Summary 303





Exercises 303





Part IV: Becoming a Linux Server Administrator 305





Chapter 13: Understanding Server Administration 307





Starting with Server Administration 308





Step 1: Install the server 308





Step 2: Configure the server 310





Step 3: Start the server 311





Step 4: Secure the server 312





Step 5: Monitor the server 314





Checking and Setting Servers 316





Managing Remote Access with the Secure Shell Service 316





Starting the openssh-server service 317





Using SSH client tools 318





Using key-based (passwordless) authentication 324





Configuring System Logging 326





Enabling system logging with rsyslog 326





Watching logs with logwatch 331





Checking System Resources with sar 332





Checking System Space 334





Displaying system space with df 334





Checking disk usage with du 334





Finding disk consumption with find 335





Managing Servers in the Enterprise 336





Summary 336





Exercises 337





Chapter 14: Administering Networking 339





Configuring Networking for Desktops 340





Checking your network interfaces 342





Configuring network interfaces 349





Configuring a network proxy connection 352





Configuring Networking from the Command Line 353





Configure networking with nmtui 354





Editing a NetworkManager TUI connection 354





Understanding networking configuration files 355





Setting alias network interfaces 360





Setting up Ethernet channel bonding 361





Setting custom routes 363





Configuring Networking in the Enterprise 364





Configuring Linux as a router 364





Configuring Linux as a DHCP server 365





Configuring Linux as a DNS server 365





Configuring Linux as a proxy server 366





Summary 366





Exercises 367





Chapter 15: Starting and Stopping Services 369





Understanding the Initialization Daemon (init or systemd) 370





Understanding the classic init daemons 371





Understanding systemd initialization 377





Checking the Status of Services 384





Checking services for SysVinit systems 385





Stopping and Starting Services 387





Stopping and starting SysVinit services 387





Enabling Persistent Services 391





Configuring persistent services for SysVinit 391





Configuring a Default Runlevel or Target Unit 394





Configuring the SysVinit default runlevel 394





Adding New or Customized Services 396





Adding new services to SysVinit 396





Adding new services to systemd 399





Summary 401





Exercises 401





Chapter 16: Configuring a Print Server 403





Common UNIX Printing System 403





Setting Up Printers 405





Adding a printer automatically 405





Using web-based CUPS administration 406





Using the Print Settings window 409





Working with CUPS Printing 415





Configuring the CUPS server (cupsdconf) 415





Starting the CUPS server 417





Configuring CUPS printer options manually 417





Using Printing Commands 418





Printing with lp 419





Listing status with lpstat -t 419





Removing print jobs with lprm 419





Configuring Print Servers 420





Configuring a shared CUPS printer 420





Configuring a shared Samba printer 422





Summary 424





Exercises 424





Chapter 17: Configuring a Web Server 427





Understanding the Apache Web Server 427





Getting and Installing Your Web Server 428





Understanding the httpd package 428





Installing Apache 431





Starting Apache 432





Securing Apache 433





Understanding the Apache configuration files 435





Adding a virtual host to Apache 440





Allowing users to publish their own web content 442





Securing your web traffic with SSL/TLS 443





Troubleshooting Your Web Server 449





Checking for configuration errors 449





Accessing forbidden and server internal errors 451





Summary 453





Exercises 453





Chapter 18: Configuring an FTP Server 455





Understanding FTP 455





Installing the vsftpd FTP Server 457





Starting the vsftpd Service 458





Securing Your FTP Server 461





Opening up your firewall for FTP 461





Configuring SELinux for your FTP server 463





Relating Linux file permissions to vsftpd 465





Configuring Your FTP Server 465





Setting up user access 465





Allowing uploading 467





Setting up vsftpd for the Internet 468





Using FTP Clients to Connect to Your Server 469





Accessing an FTP server from Firefox 470





Accessing an FTP server with the lftp command 470





Using the gFTP client 472





Summary 473





Exercises 473





Chapter 19: Configuring a Windows File Sharing (Samba) Server 475





Understanding Samba 475





Installing Samba 476





Starting and Stopping Samba 478





Starting the Samba (smb) service 478





Starting the NetBIOS (nmbd) name server 480





Stopping the Samba (smb) and NetBIOS (nmb) services 481





Securing Samba 482





Configuring firewalls for Samba 482





Configuring SELinux for Samba 484





Configuring Samba host/user permissions 486





Configuring Samba 486





Configuring the [global] section 486





Configuring the [homes] section487





Configuring the [printers] section 489





Accessing Samba Shares 493





Accessing Samba shares in Linux 493





Accessing Samba shares in Windows 496





Using Samba in the Enterprise 497





Summary 497





Exercises 498





Chapter 20: Configuring an NFS File Server 499





Installing an NFS Server 502





Starting the NFS service 502





Sharing NFS Filesystems 503





Configuring the /etc/exports file 504





Exporting the shared filesystems 507





Securing Your NFS Server 508





Opening up your firewall for NFS 508





Allowing NFS access in TCP wrappers 510





Configuring SELinux for your NFS server 511





Using NFS Filesystems 512





Viewing NFS shares 512





Manually mounting an NFS filesystem 512





Mounting an NFS filesystem at boot time 513





Using autofs to mount NFS filesystems on demand 517





Unmounting NFS filesystems 520





Summary 521





Exercises 521





Chapter 21: Troubleshooting Linux 523





Boot-Up Troubleshooting 523





Understanding Startup Methods 524





Starting from the firmware (BIOS or UEFI) 526





Troubleshooting the GRUB boot loader 528





GRUB 2 Boot loader 530





Starting the kernel 532





Troubleshooting Software Packages 542





Fixing RPM databases and cache 545





Troubleshooting Networking 547





Troubleshooting outgoing connections 547





Troubleshooting incoming connections 550





Troubleshooting Memory 553





Uncovering memory issues 554





Troubleshooting in Rescue Mode 559





Summary 561





Exercises 561





Part V: Learning Linux Security Techniques 563





Chapter 22: Understanding Basic Linux Security 565





Implementing Physical Security 565





Implementing disaster recovery 566





Securing user accounts 566





Securing passwords 570





Securing the filesystem 576





Managing software and services 579





Advanced implementation 580





Monitoring Your Systems 580





Monitoring log files 581





Monitoring user accounts 584





Monitoring the filesystem 587





Auditing and Reviewing Linux 595





Conducting compliance reviews 595





Conducting security reviews 596





Summary 596





Exercises 597





Chapter 23: Understanding Advanced Linux Security 599





Implementing Linux Security with Cryptography 599





Understanding hashing 600





Understanding encryption/decryption 602





Implementing Linux cryptography 610





Implementing Linux Security with PAM 618





Understanding the PAM authentication process 619





Administering PAM on your Linux system 622





Obtaining more information on PAM 633





Summary 633





Exercises 633





Chapter 24: Enhancing Linux Security with SELinux 635





Understanding SELinux Benefits 635





Understanding How SELinux Works 637





Understanding Type Enforcement 637





Understanding Multi-Level Security 638





Implementing SELinux security models 639





Configuring SELinux 645





Setting the SELinux mode 645





Setting the SELinux policy type 647





Managing SELinux security contexts 648





Managing SELinux policy rule packages 651





Managing SELinux via Booleans 653





Monitoring and Troubleshooting SELinux 654





Understanding SELinux logging 654





Troubleshooting SELinux logging 656





Troubleshooting common SELinux problems 657





Putting It All Together 659





Obtaining More Information on SELinux 659





Summary 660





Exercises 660





Chapter 25: Securing Linux on a Network 663





Auditing Network Services 663





Evaluating access to network services with nmap 665





Using nmap to audit your network services advertisements 668





Working with Firewalls 672





Understanding firewalls 673





Implementing firewalls 674





Summary 688





Exercises 688





Part VI: Engaging with Cloud Computing 691





Chapter 26: Shifting to Clouds and Containers 693





Understanding Linux Containers 694





Namespaces 695





Container registries 695





Base images and layers 696





Starting with Linux Containers 697





Pulling and running containers 697





Starting and stopping containers 701





Building a container image 702





Tagging and pushing an image to a registry 705





Using containers in the enterprise 706





Summary 706





Exercises 707





Chapter 27: Using Linux for Cloud Computing 709





Overview of Linux and Cloud Computing 710





Trying Basic Cloud Technology 713





Setting Up a Small Cloud 714





Configuring hypervisors 715





Configuring storage 718





Creating virtual machines 720





Managing virtual machines 724





Migrating virtual machines 725





Summary 727





Exercises 727





Chapter 28: Deploying Linux to the Cloud 729





Getting Linux to Run in a Cloud 729





Creating Linux Images for Clouds 731





Configuring and running a cloud-init cloud instance 731





Investigating the cloud instance 733





Cloning the cloud instance 734





Using cloud-init in enterprise computing 738





Using OpenStack to Deploy Cloud Images 739





Starting from the OpenStack Dashboard 739





Using Amazon EC2 to Deploy Cloud Images 744





Summary 746





Exercises 746





Chapter 29: Automating Apps and Infrastructure with Ansible 749





Understanding Ansible 750





Exploring Ansible Components 751





Inventories 751





Playbooks 752





Stepping Through an Ansible Deployment 753





Installing Ansible 756





Running Ad-Hoc Ansible Commands 760





Automating Tasks with Ansible Tower Automation Framework 762





Summary 763





Exercises 763





Chapter 30: Deploying Applications as Containers with Kubernetes 765





Understanding Kubernetes 766





Kubernetes masters 766





Kubernetes workers 767





Kubernetes applications 767





Kubernetes interfaces 768





Trying Kubernetes 768





Getting Kubernetes 769





Running the Kubernetes Basics tutorial 771





Enterprise-Quality Kubernetes with OpenShift 782





Summary 783





Exercises 783





Part VII: Appendixes 785





Appendix A: Media 787





Appendix B: Exercise Answers 797





Index 863