Related YoLinux Configuration and Admin Tutorials:

 init: The Linux boot process.

 Quotas: Assign disk resource limits to users or groups.
 Managing groups and user security:
 Linux Networking tutorial
 DHCP Server tutorial
 NIS Server / Client configuration tutorial
 Configuring an internet web server. Apache, DNS, FTP,...
 Internet Server Security
 System optimization:
 System re-configuration: Commands used to re-configure video, keyboard, mouse,
date/time, sound card, NIC, Printer...
 Installing a new kernel RPM
 YoLinux Tutorials Index

Monitoring the system:

Basic command line:

pstree Processes and parent-child relationships

top Show top processes
Report CPU statistics and input/output statistics for devices and
iostat
partitions.
ps -auxw process status
uname -a print system information
cat /proc/version Display Linux kernel version in use.
cat /etc/redhat-
Display Red Hat Linux Release. (also /etc/issue)
release
Tell how long the system has been running. Also number of users and
uptime
system's load average.
w Show who is logged on and what they are doing.
List all currently loaded kernel modules.
/sbin/lsmod
Same as cat /proc/modules
/sbin/runlevel Displays the system's current runlevel.
Displays/changes the system's node name. (Must also manually
hostname change hostname setting in /etc/sysconfig/network. Command will
change entry in /etc/hosts)
service Red Hat/Fedora command to display status of system services.
Example: service --status-all
Help: service --help

GUI/Graphical:

gnome-system-monitor Operating system monitor and usage graphing.

gkrellm Graphical system monitor. (Additional RPM package: gkrellm)
ps3 3D load meter. Very cool 3-D graphics.
xosview Operating system monitor: load, memory, swap, net, disk, ...

List of tools:

 tools for finding the status of your system

Process Management:
The basic Linux monitoring commands such as pstree and ps -auxw and top will inform you of
the processes running on your system. Sometimes a process must be terminated. To terminate
a process:

1. Identify the process:

o pstree -p 
OR
o ps -auxw 
OR
o top
2. Kill the process:
o kill <process-id-number>
o killall <command-name>

This will perform an orderly shutdown of the process. If it hangs give a stronger signal with: kill
-9 <process-id-number>. This method is not as sanitary and thus less preferred.

A signal may be given to the process. The program must be programmed to handle the given
signal. See /usr/include/bits/signum.h for a full list. For example, to restart a process after
updating it's configuration file, issue the command kill -HUP <process-id-number>

In the previous example, the HUP signal was sent to the process. The software was written to
trap for the signal so that it could respond to it. If the software (command) is not written to
respond to a particular signal, then the sending of the signal to the process is futile.

Identify all known signals: fuser -l

Process Management GUI Tools:

 xosview: Oldie but goodie.

 gnome-system-monitor
 ksysguard (comes with SuSE)
 QPS (See below)

QPS:

Also see the GUI tool QPS. (Handles MOSIX cluster) This tool is outstanding for
monitoring, adjusting nice values (priorities), issue signals to the process, view files the
process is using, the memory, environmnet variables and sockets the process is using.
RPM available from this site. It is so simple to use, no instructions are necessary. It can
monitor a program to make sure it isn't doing something bad. It is also reverse engineer
what applications are doing and the environments under which they run. I love this tool!!
 QPS home page:
o Downloads
o QPS: 1.9.8-1.9.14
o Download RPMs for Fedora 4, 5, SuSE, Mandriva 
(SuSE version 9.3 ships with a brokern QPS. Download a working
version at link above.)

Note: The RPM provided was compiled for RedHat 7.x. For RedHat 8.0+ one must
install the appropriate QT library RPMs to satisfy dependencies:

rpm -ivh qt2-2.3.1-8.i386.rpm qt2-Xt-2.3.1-8.i386.rpm qt2-devel-2.3.1-8.i386.rpm qt2-

static-2.3.1-8.i386.rpm
Then install qps: rpm -ivh qps-1.9.7-5.i386.rpm
 Note Fedora Core 3: rpm -ivh qt2-2.3.1-8.i386.rpm qps-1.9.7-5.i386.rpm 
These older RH 8.0 and 7 binary release rpms even work on my AMD64 Fedora Core 3
x86_64 OS system.

Configuring QPS to run applications against a process: Select "Command" + "Edit

Commands..." + "Add..."

 Description: GDB 
Command Line: xterm -T "GDB %C" -e gdb -d /directory-where-source-code-is-
located --pid=%p
 Description: gdb 
Command Line: xterm -T "gdb %c (%p)" -e gdb /proc/%p/exe %p & 
(As issued in RPM) 
gdb man page
 Description: strace 
Command Line: xterm -T "strace %c (%p)" -e sh -c 'strace -f -p%p; sleep
10000'& 
(show process system calls and signals. Try it with the process qps itself.) 
Show output written by process: 
xterm -T "strace %c (%p)" -e sh -c 'strace -f -q -e trace=write -p%p; sleep
10000'& 
strace man page
 Description: truss (Solaris command) 
Command Line: xterm -T "truss %C (%p) -e sh -c 'truss -f -p %p; sleep 1000'&

IPCs: Semaphores, Shared Memory and Queues

Note that some processes may use Linux InterProcess Communication or IPC
(semaphores, shared memory or queues) which may need to be cleaned up manually:
1. Identify the semaphores: ipcs 
ipcs -q List share queues. 
ipcs -m Shared memory. 
ipcs -s List Semaphores.
2. Remove the semaphores: ipcrm -s <ipcs id>

Example: If you are running Apache, you may see the following:

[root@node DIR]# ipcs -m

------ Shared Memory Segments --------

key shmid owner perms bytes nattch status
0x00000000 341504 nobody 600 46084 27 dest

lsof - Processes attached to open files or open network ports:

The command lsof shows a list of processes attached to open files or network ports.

 List processes attached to a given file: lsof filename:

[root@node DIR]# lsof /var/log/mailman/qrunner

python 18538 mailman 4u REG 3,5 657 486746 /var/log/mailman/qrunner
python 18578 mailman 6u REG 3,5 657 486746 /var/log/mailman/qrunner
python 18579 mailman 6u REG 3,5 657 486746 /var/log/mailman/qrunner
python 18580 mailman 6u REG 3,5 657 486746 /var/log/mailman/qrunner
python 18581 mailman 6u REG 3,5 657 486746 /var/log/mailman/qrunner
python 18582 mailman 6u REG 3,5 657 486746 /var/log/mailman/qrunner
python 18583 mailman 6u REG 3,5 657 486746 /var/log/mailman/qrunner
python 18584 mailman 6u REG 3,5 657 486746 /var/log/mailman/qrunner
 The process attached to an open file can be killed using the command fuser -
ki filename


List all open files on system: lsof 
(Long list)
 List all files opened by user: lsof -u user-id
 The commands netstat -punta and socklist will list open network connections. 
Use the command lsof -i TCP:port-number to see the processes attached to the
port. 
Example:
 [root@node DIR]# lsof -i TCP:389
 COMMAND PID USER FD TYPE DEVICE SIZE NODE NAME
 slapd 5927 ldap 6u IPv4 7560023 TCP *:ldap (LISTEN)
 slapd 5928 ldap 6u IPv4 7560023 TCP *:ldap (LISTEN)
 slapd 21185 ldap 6u IPv4 7560023 TCP *:ldap (LISTEN)
 slapd 21186 ldap 6u IPv4 7560023 TCP *:ldap (LISTEN)
 slapd 21193 ldap 6u IPv4 7560023 TCP *:ldap (LISTEN)

This shows that the command slapd running under user id ldap is running five
process connected to port 389.

Restricting user resources:

 ulimit: (bash shell command)

Shell and process resources may be controlled and reported using

the ulimit command. Display the limits of a shell using the bash command
"ulimit -a". Limits can be set for the number of open files and processes,
memory and virtual memory etc.

 See limits assigned in /etc/security (discussed below)

 Modify process scheduling priority: Range goes from -20 (highest priority) to 19
(lowest).
o Lower scheduling priority (runs slower and less likely to slow you
down.) 
nice -n 19 program-to-launch 
Default for "nice -n" is 10
o Show default for any process: nice executable 
Shows nice value to be used if run.

Memory Usage:

Linux Commands to Monitor Memory Usage:

vmstat Monitor virtual memory

Display amount of free and used memory in the system.
free
(Also: cat /proc/meminfo)
Display/examine memory map and libraries (so).
pmap
Usage: pmap pid
top Show top processes
sar -B Show statistics on page swapping.
time -v date Show system page size, page faults, etc of a process during
execution. Note you must fully qualify the command as
"/usr/bin/time" to avoid using the bash shell command "time".
cat Display virtual memory "free pages". 
 /proc/sys/vm/freepages One may increase/decrease this limit: echo 300 400 500 >
/proc/sys/vm/freepages
cat /proc/meminfo Show memory size and usage.

Examination of memory usage:

 Show system page size: /usr/bin/time -v date

...
Page size (bytes): 4096
Exit status: 0

 Show paging: /usr/bin/time -v firefox

...
Major (requiring I/O) page faults: 24
Minor (reclaiming a frame) page faults: 11271
Voluntary context switches: 302
Involuntary context switches: 3689
...

Explanation of terms:

 Major Page Fault (MPF): When a request for memory is made but it does not exist in
physical memory, a request to the disk subsystem to retrieve pages from virtual
memory and buffer them in RAM. The MPF occurs most when an application is started.
 Minor Page Fault (MnPF): Reusing a page in memory as opposed to placing it back on
disk.

Filesystems and Storage Devices:

Hard Drive Info:

df -k report filesystem disk space usage. (-k reports in Kbytes)

Calculates file space usage for a given directory. (and everything
du -sh
under it) (-s option summarizes)
Displays all mounted devices, their mount point, filesystem, and
mount
access. Used with command line arguments to mount file system.
cat /proc/filesystems Display filesystems currently in use.
cat /proc/mounts Display mounted filesystems currently in use.
showmount Displays mount info for NFS filesystems.
cat /proc/swaps Displays swap partition(s) size, type and quantity used.
cat
Displays disk information held by kernel.
/proc/ide/hda/any-file

Adding an extra hard drive: (See commands and dialog of adding a second IDE hard drive)

1. fdisk /dev/<drive> - Allocate drive space and register info on the partition

table. (Option "n"/"p", then "w" to write.) 
Also see: sfdisk - cfdisk
2. mkfs -t ext3 /dev/<drive> - Create file system. (RH 7.1 and earlier use ext2, RH 7.2-8.0
use ext3)
3. mount -t ext3 /dev/<drive's device name> /<home2 or some suitable directory> - Mount
the drive 
Mount a raw ISO file: mount -t iso9660 -o loop /home/user1/RedHat-9.0-i386-
 Disk1.iso /mnt/iso-1 
(Fstab entry: /home/user1/RedHat-9.0-i386-Disk1.iso /mnt/iso-1 iso9660 loop,ro 0 3)

Also see: mkefs man page

Where the drive is /dev/hdb or some device as conforms to the Linux device names:

IDE drives are referred to as hda for the first drive, hdb for the second etc... IDE uses separate
ribbon cables for primary and secondary drives. The partitions on each drive are referred
numerically. The first partition on the first drive is referred to as hda1, the second as hda2, the
third as hda3 etc ...

Linux IDE naming conventions:

Device Description Configuration

/dev/hda 1st (Primary) IDE controller Master
/dev/hdb 1st (Primary) IDE controller Slave
/dev/hdc 2nd (Secondary) IDE controller Master
/dev/hdd 2nd (Secondary) IDE controller Slave

Note: SCSI disks are labeled /dev/sda, sdb, etc... For more info see SCSI info.

Use the command cat /proc/partitions to see full list of disks and partitions that your system can
see.

See Linux devices:

 Kernel 2.4: (Red Hat 7.1+)

o file:/usr/src/linux-2.4/Documentation/devices.txt - (local file)
 Kernel 2.2: (Red Hat 7.0-)
o file:/usr/src/linux/Documentation/devices.txt (local file) - H. Peter Anvin

To make the drive a permanent member of your system and have it mount upon system boot,
add it to your /etc/fstab file which holds all the file system information for your system. See man
page for fstab.

Example of existing /etc/fstab file:

/dev/sdb6 / ext2 defaults 11

/dev/sdb1 /boot ext2 defaults 12
/dev/cdrom /mnt/cdrom iso9660 noauto,user,users,ro 0 0
/dev/fd0 /mnt/floppy auto noauto,owner 0 0
none /proc proc defaults 00
none /dev/pts devpts gid=5,mode=620 0 0
/dev/sdb5 swap swap defaults 00

Add SCSI drive by adding line:

/dev/sdc1 /home2 ext2 defaults 12

At this point one may optionally check the file system created with the command: fsck /dev/sdc1
Note that fsck is NOT run against a mounted file system. Unmount it first if necessary. (umount)
Also see the man page for:

 cfdisk - Curses based disk partition table manipulator. (very nice)

 fdisk - Manipulate/configure the partition table.
 sfdisk - Manipulate/configure the partition table.
 fsck

Mounting other file systems: (locally attached drives)

 Mounting a CD: mount -r -t iso9660 /dev/cdrom /mnt/cdrom 

Un-Mount the CD-ROM: umount /dev/cdrom (No "n" in umount)

This command should work for a Red Hat installation. Other distributions may require
the following set-up:

ln -sf /dev/hdc /dev/scd0 Reference SCSI device directly.

OR
ln -sf /dev/hdc /dev/cdrom A more typical system

cd /mnt
mkdir cdrom
mount -t iso9660 -o ro /dev/cdrom /mnt/cdrom

Don't forget to un-mount the CD with umount /mnt/cdrom 

[Potential Pitfall]: There is NO "N" in umount!!!

For trouble shooting your CD see your kernel documentation:

o Kernel 2.4: file:/usr/src/linux-2.4/Documentation/ide.txt (local file)

o Kernel 2.2: file:/usr/src/linux/Documentation/ide.txt (local file)
 Mounting a Windows partition.
 Mounting a floppy:
o Mount MS-DOS floppy: mount /dev/fd1 -t vfat /mnt/floppy

Also see the YoLinux tutorial on using MS-DOS floppies with Linux.

o Unix floppy: See YoLinux Tutorial - Linux Recovery and Boot Disk Creation
 Ramdisk: Using a portion of RAM memory to act like a superfast disk.

/sbin/mkfs -t ext2 /dev/ram

mount /dev/ram /mnt/ramd

[Potential Pitfall]: I've never actually tried this. Use at your own risk!

See How to use a Ramdisk for Linux

 Add system swap space for virtual memory paging: 

Swap space may be a swap partition, a swap file or a combination of the two. One
 should size swap space to be at least twice the size of the computer's RAM. (but less
than 2GB)
 dd if=/dev/zero of=/swapfile bs=1024 count=265032 - Create file filled with zeros of
size 256Mb
 mkswap /swapfile - Create swap file
 swapon /swapfile - Begin use of given swap file. Assign a priority with the "-
p" flag.
 swapon -s - List swap files
 cat /proc/swaps - Same as above

This example refers to a swap file. One may also use a swap partition. Make entry
to /etc/fstab to permanently use swap file or partition.

/swapfile swap swap defaults 00

Note: To remove the use of swap space, use the command swapoff. If using a swap
partition, the partition must be unmounted.

Man pages:

o swapon/swapoff
o mkswap
o fstab

 YoLinux Tutorial: Adding an Additional Hard Drive to Your Linux System

 YoLinux Tutorial: System Optimization and hdparm
 Mounting a Windows partition or other file systems.
 YoLinux Tutorial: File System Quotas
 Hard Disk Upgrade Mini How-To

Increase open files limit:

cat /proc/sys/fs/file-max - Kernel configuration for max number of files

cat /proc/sys/fs/file-nr - Number of files presently open
echo 4096 > /proc/sys/fs/file-max - Set max file limit. (This is default)

cat /proc/sys/fs/inode-max - Kernel 2.2 configuration for max number of inodes

To change: echo 12288 > /proc/sys/kernel/inode-max

 See:
o proc man page - process information pseudo-filesystem
o Local file Kernel 2.2 (RH 7.0-):file:/usr/src/linux/Documentation/proc.txt (local
file)

Reboot count and fsck:

Pertains to Red Hat systems using the EXT2 filesystem (RH 7.2+ uses EXT3)
 After 20 reboots of the system, Linux will perform a file system check using fsck. This is
annoying for systems with many file systems because they will all be checked at once.
The individual file system's mount count may be changed so that they will be checked
on a different reboot.

Check current reboot status: /sbin/dumpe2fs /dev/sdb6 | grep '[mM]ount count'

dumpe2fs 1.19, 13-Jul-2000 for EXT2 FS 0.5b, 95/08/09

Mount count: 2
Maximum mount count: 20
(This of course is specific for my system. Refer to your particular filesystem.)

Perform the previous command on all the filesystems to obtain their mount counts. Next
change the mount counts for some of them.

umount /dev/sdb6
tune2fs -C 9 /dev/sdb6
mount /dev/sdb6
Now the filesystems will have an fsck performed on them on different system boots
rather than all at the same time.

For home users who routinely shutdown and boot their systems, one can increase the
maximum mount count: tune2fs -c 40 
This feature can also be disabled: tune2fs -c -1 
Check every week: tune2fs -i 7

System crash and disk check upon boot:

Pertains to Red Hat 7.1 EXT2 filesystems and earlier which require an integrity check.
(RH 7.2+ uses EXT3 which is a journaled file system which maintains file system
integrity even with a crash.)

If the system crashes (due to power outage etc...) then upon boot the system will check
if the disk was unmounted cleanly. If not you may get the following message:

Unexpected inconsistency; Run fsck Manually

...
*** An error occurred during the file system check.
*** Dropping you to a shell; the system will reboot
...
.
Give root password for maintenance
(or type Control-D for normal startup):
At this point enter the root password then run fsck:
(repair file system) 1# fsck -A -y
...
..
.
***** FILE SYSTEM WAS MODIFIED *****
...
..
.
(repair file system) 2# exit
The system will hopefully reboot properly at this point. 
fsck man page 
Note that fsck is NOT run against mounted file systems.
Journaled Filesystem EXT3:

Convert from ext2 to ext3:

 Red Hat 7.2 upgrade gives one the option to perform this file system upgrade.
 Manual method:
o Convert: tune2fs -j /dev/hda1
o Configuration file changes: /etc/fstab change ext2 to ext3

Also see:
 tune2fs Man Page
 Linux today: EXT3 info

Other journaled file systems: SGI XFS, IBM JFS and reiserfs. For files larger than 2Gb
use SGI XFS and the SGI Linux Red Hat RPM or Red Hat ISO CD install image.

Raw Devices: Commercial databases such as Oracle and IBM DB2 can maximize performance
by using raw I/O. One may use the raw command for both IDE and SCSI devices. This will map
a raw device to a blocked device for an entire disk partition. To see if your system is using raw
I/O issue the command: raw -a

 raw man page
 Configuration file: /etc/sysconfig/rawdevices 
Add entries to this file to invoke raw I/O upon system boot.
 Devices: /dev/raw/raw??
 Raw device controller: /dev/rawctl
 Sample use of command: raw /dev/raw/raw1 /dev/hdb5
 One must be of group disk to use the raw device or change permissions:
o chmod a+r /dev/rawctl
o chmod a+r /dev/hdb5
o chmod a+rw /dev/raw/raw1

Note: The above information applies to Red Hat distributions. This info may be different for other
distributions. i.e. S.U.S.E. uses /dev/raw1 as a device and /dev/raw as the controller. 
You can mimic Red Hat behavior with a symbolic link: ln -s /dev/your_raw_controller /dev/rawctl

Mounting Network Drives:

 SMB Mount: Mounting a Microsoft Windows shared file server drive
 NFS: Mounting/exporting a Linux shared file server drive with NFS. 
Requires the following packages:
o Red Hat/CentOS: portmapper nfs-utils nfs-utils-lib redhat-config-nfs 
(Optional: nfs4-acl-tools)
o Debian/Ubuntu: apt-get install nfs-kernel-server nfs-common portmap

Client Server
File: /etc/fstab File: /etc/exports
... ...
server:/directory-to-export /mnt/mount-point nfs
rw,hard,intr 0 0 /shared/images
176.168.1.0/255.255.255.0(rw)
server1:/shared/images /mnt/srv1-images
 nfs rw,hard,intr 0 0 ...
...
List of directories to export and
Hard mount read/write. Mount can be restrictions. 
interrupted by the kill command. For more see exports man page.

Command line mount: mount -t

nfs server1:/shared/images /mnt/srv1-images

 Options:
Option Description
ro Mounts of the exported file system are read-only.
rw Mounts of the exported file system are read-write.
The program accessing a file on a NFS mounted file system will hang when the
hard
server crashes.
If an NFS file operation has a major time-out and it is hard mounted, then allow
intr
signals to interrupt the file operation and cause it to return.
If the exported file system is read/write and hosts are making changes to the file
async
system when the server crashes, data can be lost.
By specifying the sync option, all file writes are committed to the disk before the
sync write request by the client is completed. The sync option, however, can lower
performance.
Causes the NFS server to delay writing to the disk if it suspects another write
request is imminent. This can improve performance by reducing the number of
wdelay times the disk must be accessed by separate write commands, reducing write
overhead. The no_wdelay option turns off this feature, but is only available when
using the sync option.
Prevents root users connected remotely from having root privileges and assigns
them the user ID for the user nfsnobody. This effectively "squashes" the power of
root_squash the remote root user to the lowest local user, preventing unauthorized alteration
of files on the remote server. Alternatively, the no_root_squash option turns off
root squashing.
 Pitfalls:
o Server must run services: portmap, nfslock, netfs, nfs
o Restart server service to pick up file changes: service nfs restart 
(or: /etc/init.d/nfs restart)
o Iptables may block port. Clear iptables rules with iptables -F to test. Keep ports
111 and 2049 clear.

iptables -A INPUT -f -j ACCEPT -s ip.pc.client

iptables -A INPUT -s ip.pc.client -d 0/0 4000:4003 -p 6 -j ACCEPT
iptables -A INPUT -s ip.pc.client -d 0/0 4000:4003 -p 17 -j ACCEPT
iptables -A INPUT -s ip.pc.client -d 0/0 2049 -p 17 -j ACCEPT
iptables -A INPUT -s ip.pc.client -d 0/0 2049 -p 6 -j ACCEPT
iptables -A INPUT -s ip.pc.client -d 0/0 111 -p 6 -j ACCEPT
iptables -A INPUT -s ip.pc.client -d 0/0 111 -p 17 -j ACCEPT

o Check PAM restrictions in /etc/hosts.deny and hosts.allow.

o To avoid NFS hanging up the system and immunity from the kill command, use
the "intr" option to allow the process to be interrupted.
 o The user id (uid) numbers and the group id (gid) numbers on both systems
MUST match to preserve sanity. Check the numbers used
in/etc/passwd and /etc/group. Typically this problem is solved by using a single
point of authentication. Use NIS or LDAP.
o NEVER EVER mount to a user's home directory. i.e. /home/user1/mount-point 
This is because when the user is removed from the system with the
command userdel -r user1, the user's home directory is wiped and all
subdirectories including the path below the mount point will be erased!!
o NFS is not an encrypted protocol, and anyone on the same physical network
could sniff the traffic and reassemble the information being passed back and
forth.

NFS Man pages:

o nfs - fstab format and options

o exports - NFS file systems being exported (for Kernel based NFS)
o exportfs - maintain list of NFS exported file systems
o nfsd/rpc.nfsd - NFS server process
o nfsstat - print NFS statistics
o rpc.mountd - NFS mount daemon

NFS GUI Configuration tool:

o system-config-nfs (Fedora Core 2+, RHEL4)

o redhat-config-nfs (Fedora Core 1)

NIS (Network Information Systems) is often used in NFS clusters to manage authentication. See
the YoLinux.com NIS tutorial.

User Info:

Commands:

who Displays currently logged in users. 

Use who -uH for idle time and terminal info.
users Show all users logged in.
w Displays currently logged in users and processes they are running.
whoami Displays user id.
groups Display groups you are part of.
Use groups user-id to display groups for a given user.
set Display all environment variables in your current environment.
id Display user and all group ids. 
Use id user-id to display info for another user id.
last Listing of most recent logins by users. Show where from, date and time of login
(ftp, ssh, ...) Also see lastlog command.
Show last 100 logins: last -100
history Shell command to display previously entered commands.

User Greetings:

The greeting messages and login displays are all customizable.

Type of greeting File

 Telnet pre-login Text: File containing text: /etc/issue
Ssh pre-login Text: /etc/ssh/sshd_config
Specify text file: Banner /etc/issue
vsftpd Login Text: vsftpd config file: /etc/vsftpd/vsftpd.conf
Set text greeting: ftpd_banner=Put welcome greeting here
Post login text message:  /etc/motd
(message of the day) Default is blank.
GDM graphical login display: /etc/X11/gdm/gdm.conf (or /etc/gdm/gdm.conf)
Set image: DefaultFace=/path/file.png
Set logo: Logo=/path/file.png
Set background: BackgroundImage=/path/file.png

Creating a new system local user account:

The three most common methods of defining a Linux user and authenticating their logins are:

1. Local user authenticated locally with the password files /etc/passwd and /etc/shadow

2. Network authentication using an LDAP authentication server
3. NIS authentication server. To specify an NIS authentication server,
use /etc/ypconf which contains the line: ypserver ip.address.of.server. Find
with ypwhich

The following describes creating a local user:

 Command Line Method: (My preference) 

o useradd user_name : Add a user to the system. System uses configuration and
security defaults set in /etc/default/useradd and/etc/login.defs
o useradd -m user_name : Add a user to the system and create a home directory
populated with default files from /etc/skel/
o useradd -m user_name -G floppy : Will grant the user read/write privileges to
the floppy (/dev/fd0) upon creation of user by adding user to group floppy in
addition to the default group specified in /etc/default/useradd.
o useradd options:
Option Description
-c Adds a comment or description to the password record.
-d HOME_DIR Specify but don't create the user's home directory.
Create (if it does not already exist by appending username to "/home/")
-m and specify this as the users home directory. Default files
from /etc/skel/ will be placed in the users home directory. eg. ~/.bashrc
-g Initial (default) group
-G grp1, grp2 Specify additional supplementary groups to which the user belongs.
-s Specify default shell. Default is /bin/bash in most Linux distributions.
o See the useradd man page for a full list of options.
o userdel user_name : Delete user from system. Purges user from /etc/passwd,
group and shadow files
o userdel -r user_name : Delete user and remove his home directory from the
system. Other files will remain. 
[Potential Pitfall]: Use the command "df" to see if there are any mount points to
the user's directory. If there are any, they will get wiped out with the recursive
delete. Thus as a policy it is best to NEVER generate a mount point within a
user's directory. It is best to mount to /mnt/mount-dir and use a sym-link (ln
-s /mnt/mount-dir /home/user-name/mount-dir-local) to the user's directory. The
default is to not follow symlinks during the delete.
 o passwd user_name : Assign a password to the user. (Also see pwgen, a
password generator)

Also see man page for: usermod. 

Configuration file for useradd command: /etc/default/useradd

Default directory configuration and files for a new user are copied from the
directory /etc/skel/. The default shell is called bash (bsh) and is a cross of the UNIX ksh
and csh command shells. The users personal bash shell customizations are held in
$HOME/.bashrc.

 GUI Method:
o system-config-users: GUI admin tool for managing users and groups. (Fedora
Core 2+, RHEL4)
o redhat-config-users: GUI admin tool for managing users and groups. (Fedora
Core 1)
o linuxconf: (Note: Linuxconf is no longer included with Red Hat Linux 7.3+)
 Start linuxconf:
 RH 5.2: Select Start + Programs + Administration + linuxconf .
 RH 6+: Select Gnome Start icon (located lower left corner) +
System + Linuxconf .
 Add the user: Select options Config + User accounts +Normal + User
accounts + select button Add . There is also the option of adding the
user to additional groups. (I.e enter floppy under the heading
Supplementary groups and then Accept ) For a list of groups, the group
names should be separated by a simple space. This tool will allow you
to set default directories, shells, add rules about passwords, set e-mail
aliases, group membership and disk quotas. One can modify or delete
users from linuxconf as well.
 Set user password: After creating the user, use options Config + User
accounts + Normal + User accounts .Select the user from the list. Then
select the Passwd button. This will allow you to enter an initial
password for the account.
 File Editing Method: - (as root) Edit files to add/remove a user 
o Create user entry in /etc/passwd 
user:x:505:505:Mr. Dude User:/home/user:/bin/bash
o Create group: /etc/group 
user:x:505:
o Create home directory: 
cd /home
mkdir user
o Copy default files: 
cp -pR /etc/skel/. /home/user
chown -R user.user /home/user
o The creation of /etc/shadow and /etc/gshadow require the execution of a
program to encrypt passwords. Use the commands pwconv andgrpconv to
synchronize the shadow files.
o Assign a password: passwd user
o Also see:
 Shadow integrity verification: grpck [-r] [group shadow]
 File editor: vipw.

Note:

 For every user ID text string there is an associated UID integer. See the third ":"
delimited field in the file /etc/passwd.
 The "Linux Standard Base" pecification states that IDs 0 to 99 should be statically
allocated by the system and that user IDs from 100 to 499 should be reserved for
 dynamic allocation by system administrators and post install scripts using useradd.
[LSB chapter 21] This is of course not completely realistic as it would limit Linux to 400
users. Red Hat/Fedora Linux distributions begin incrementing user UIDs from 500. By
default the useraddcommand will increment by one for each new ID.
 Large organizations need to think ahead when creating a new user. Autonomous
systems are often eventually linked together to share files using NFS at a later date and
have synchronization problems. The same user ID (text string) on two different systems
may have different UIDs. The problem this creates is when a file with one system can
not be edited when accessed from the second system as the second system regard him
as a different user because the system has a different UID. It is best to use
the useradd "-u" option to assign users a UID integer associated with the text string ID.
Many systems administrators use the employee ID as they know it will be unique across
the corporation. Group GIDs can be assigned to department or division numbers. This
will allow smooth operation of connected systems.
 NFS: For systems which will use NFS to share files, one can administer user accounts
to make creation, editing and ownership of files seamless and consistent. Look at the
file /etc/passwd on the file server which you will mount to determine the user ID
number and group ID number.

user1:x:505:505:Joe Hacker:/home/user1:/bin/bash
User-ID:User-ID-Number:Group-ID-Number:comment:/home/User-ID-Home-Directory:default-
shell

 Add a user to the system which matches. This will allow files generated on the file
server to match ownership of those generated on the client system.
[root]# useradd -u User-ID-Number -g Group-ID-Number User-ID 
Ideally you would configure an NIS or LDAP authentication server so that login id's and
group id's would reside on one server. This tip is for separate autonomous systems or
for systems using different authentication servers which are sharing files using NFS.
This tip also can also apply to smbmounted MS/Windows shares.
 Default settings for new users are stored in /etc/skel/. To modify default .bash_logout
.bash_profile .bashrc .gtkrc .kde/ configuration files for new users, make the changes
here.
 Also see the YoLinux tutorial on Managing groups

SELinux security policies and context:

Security Enhanced Linux (SELinux) enhancements developed by the US Federal National

Security Agency (NSA) are included with Fedora Core beginning with version 3 and Red Hat
Enterprise Linux version 4. The fine-grained access control architecture is supported in the
Linux kernel. Both "type" enforcement and Role Based Access Control (RBAC) are supported.
System processes and files (including socket descriptors, IPC's, devices, ...) are each assigned
a collection of security attributes known as a security context.

Security Goals:

 Protect the system from the users

 Protect the users from each other
 Protect the files from scripts/programs

The following RPM packages comprise SELinux:

 selinux-policy-strict
 selinux-policy-strict-sources: Configuration files
 selinux-policy-targeted
 selinux-policy-targeted-sources: Configuration files
  libselinux: Library which provides a set of interfaces for security-aware applications to
get and set process and file security contexts.
 selinux-doc

Configuration file: /etc/selinux/config

# This file controls the state of SELinux on the system.

# SELINUX= can take one of these three values:
# enforcing - SELinux security policy is enforced.
# permissive - SELinux prints warnings instead of enforcing.
# disabled - SELinux is fully disabled.
SELINUX=enforcing
# SELINUXTYPE= type of policy in use. Possible values are:
# targeted - Only targeted network daemons are protected.
# strict - Full SELinux protection.
SELINUXTYPE=targeted
One may turn off the SELinux features by setting: SELINUX=disabled 
(Requires reboot to read new configuration.)

Direct setting of enforcement:

 Enforce:
o Use command: setenforce 1 
(Alter SELinux enforcement while kernel is running.) 
or
o echo 1 > /selinux/enforce 
or
o Specify in /etc/grub.conf on the "kernel" command line: enforcing=1 
(Sets enforcement during boot.)
 Disable:
o Use command: setenforce 0 
or
o echo 0 > /selinux/enforce 
or
o Specify in /etc/grub.conf on the "kernel" command line: selinux=0

See current setting using the command: getenforce

Security contexts:

 View file/directory contexts: ls -Z /var/www

 Set file/directory context: chcon -R -h -t httpd_sys_content_t /home/user1/public_html 
Options:
o -R: Recursive. Files and directories in current directory and all subdirectories.
o -h: Affect symbolic links.
o -t: Specify type of security context.
 View security context of running processes: ps -eZ
 View security context of a user: id

uid=500(user1) gid=500(user1) groups=500(user1)

context=user_u:system_r:unconfined_t
 Security contexts for a new file default to that of the parent directory.

Also see YoLinux Tutorials on Web Site configuration and SELinux policies.
For tar backups which preserve SELinux file and directory policies, see star discussed in Linux
backups and archiving below.

Restrict/Limit Users: (/etc/security/)

User limitations are set in the following files:

 File: /etc/security/limits.conf :
o core - limits the core file size (KB)
o data - max data size (KB)
o fsize - maximum filesize (KB)
o memlock - max locked-in-memory address space (KB)
o nofile - max number of open files
o rss - max resident set size (KB)
o stack - max stack size (KB)
o cpu - max CPU time (MIN)
o nproc - max number of processes
o as - address space limit
o maxlogins - max number of logins for this user
o priority - the priority to run user process with
o locks - max number of file locks the user can hold
 File: /etc/security/access.conf : 
Limit access by network or local console logins.
 File: /etc/security/group.conf : 
Grant/restrict group device access. 
Also see the YoLinux tutorial on Managing groups
 File: /etc/security/time.conf : 
Restrict user access by time, day.

Also see:

 Set user quotas on hard drive usage - YoLinux Tutorial

 bash shell command ulimit. (Mentioned above)
 getrlimit, getrusage, setrlimit - get/set resource limits and usage (C programmer api)
 sysconf - Get configuration information at runtime (C programmer api)

Operating as root: (System Administrator)

If you are planning to administer the system, one would login as root to perform the tasks. In
many instances one would be logged in as a user and wish to perform some "root" sys-admin
tasks. Here is how:

 Switch user account to root: Shell/command mode: 

su - 
and then you will be prompted to enter the root password.
 GUI mode:
o Allow console to be accessed by another user from same system: 
xhost +localhost
o Switch user and then you will be prompted to enter the root password: 
su -
o Set environment variable for GUI sessions so that display used is local display.
(Remember X-windows is a network enables windowing system) 
export DISPLAY=:0.0
o Launch GUI application.
Note: The su command was issued with a trailing "-" which means that the login process will
follow the login steps of the user and will execute its profiles. Since no user id was given, the
default is root user. This all would be equivalent to: su - root

Some systems may be configured so that only the switch user (su) command may be required
without all of the X-window configuration.

APT/dpkg - Ubuntu / Debian Package Manager:

dpkg:

Ubuntu/Debian package management. (equivalent to rpm in functionality.)

Command Description
dpkg -l List all packages installed on system. Often used with grep: dpkg -l |
grep partial-name-of-package
dpkg -l package- Query version of package and if package is installed.
name
dpkg -L package- List all files on the system associated with the package.
name
dpkg -S file-name List the package name to which this file is associated.
dpkg -p file-name Print package information. See /var/lib/dpkg/available
dpkg -i package- Install package. 
name.deb Also see "apt-get install package-name".
dpkg -r package- Remove package. Keep configuration files.
name Also see "apt-get remove package-name".
dpkg -P package- Remove package. Remove configuration files.
name Also see "apt-get remove package-name".

apt-get:

Ubuntu/Debian package installer using an internet repository. (equivalent to yum in

functionality.)
Command Description
apt-get install package-name Query repository for package and if package is available,
apt-get install package- download and install.
1, package-2
apt-get remove package-name Remove package from system. Keeps configuration files. Use
flag "--purge" to remove configuration files.
apt-get -s update Simulate apt-get actions to be taken but no action is
or performed. In this example, apt-get simulates an update.
apt-get --simulate update
apt-get update Update the package index on the system to the latest version
associated with the OS release in use. Only the index
(package list) is changed. An update should always be
performed before an upgrade
apt-get -s upgrade The command will identify all packages to be upgraded
without performing an upgrade. Stop any services targeted
for upgrade before perfoming the upgrade.
apt-get upgrade Upgrade all packages on the system to the newest versions
of all the packages. The command will first identify all
 packages to be upgraded and then with permission, will
perform an upgrade on the packages. Use flag "-y" to grant
permission and avoid question.
apt-get dist-upgrade Upgrade the OS and all packages on the system to the
newest version.
apt-get source package-name Download package source.
apt-get build-dep package-name Configure build-dependencies for source packages.

Uses the configuration file: /etc/apt/apt.conf

Uses the repository source list: /etc/apt/sources.list

deb http://us.archive.ubuntu.com/ubuntu/ dapper main restricted

deb-src http://us.archive.ubuntu.com/ubuntu/ dapper main restricted

## Major bug fix updates produced after the final release of the
## distribution.
deb http://us.archive.ubuntu.com/ubuntu/ dapper-updates main restricted
deb-src http://us.archive.ubuntu.com/ubuntu/ dapper-updates main restricted

## Uncomment the following two lines to add software from the 'universe'
## repository.
## N.B. software from this repository is ENTIRELY UNSUPPORTED by the Ubuntu
## team, and may not be under a free licence. Please satisfy yourself as to
## your rights to use the software. Also, please note that software in
## universe WILL NOT receive any review or updates from the Ubuntu security
## team.
deb http://us.archive.ubuntu.com/ubuntu/ dapper universe
deb-src http://us.archive.ubuntu.com/ubuntu/ dapper universe

## Uncomment the following two lines to add software from the 'backports'
## repository.
## N.B. software from this repository may not have been tested as
## extensively as that contained in the main release, although it includes
## newer versions of some applications which may provide useful features.
## Also, please note that software in backports WILL NOT receive any review
## or updates from the Ubuntu security team.
#deb http://us.archive.ubuntu.com/ubuntu/ dapper-backports main restricted universe
multiverse
#deb-src http://us.archive.ubuntu.com/ubuntu/ dapper-backports main restricted universe
multiverse

deb http://security.ubuntu.com/ubuntu dapper-security main restricted

deb-src http://security.ubuntu.com/ubuntu dapper-security main restricted
# deb http://security.ubuntu.com/ubuntu dapper-security universe
# deb-src http://security.ubuntu.com/ubuntu dapper-security universe
[Potential Pitfall]: A new installation requires use of the command: apt-get update before apt-
get will work.
[Potential Pitfall]: If you add a new repository you must execute the command: apt-get update.
Attempting to install a package (apt-get install xxxxxxx) from a new archive without first
updating, will give you the following error message:
Package xxxxxxx is not available, but is referred to by another package.
This may mean that the package is missing, has been obsoleted, or
is only available from another source
E: Package mplayer has no installation candidate

Where "xxxxxxx" is the package you were trying to install.

Other:

Command Description
apt-cache search package-name Query repositories to see if package is available.

Also see the man pages for: dpkg, dselect, apt-get, apt-cache, apt-cdrom (add CD-Rom to
sources list), apt-config

RPM - Redhat Package Manager:

The rpm command is used to manage software applications and system modules for Red Hat,
Fedora, CentOS, Suse and many other Linux distributions.

Step One: Import Red Hat and Fedora GPG signature keys:

View your public key: (RHEL5)

[root@yoserver2 ~]# rpm -qa gpg-pubkey

gpg-pubkey-ed555983-3457f7f3
[root@yoserver2 ~]# rpm -qi gpg-pubkey-ed555983-3457f7f3
...
...

(Thus already installed. Your system is ready.)

Remove your public key: (RHEL5)

[root@yoserver2 ~]# rpm -e gpg-pubkey-ed555983-3457f7f3

Install public key: (Red Hat package up2date - now depricated. Use YUM.)

[root@yoserver2 ~]# rpm --import /usr/share/rhn/RPM-GPG-KEY

[root@yoserver2 ~]# rpm --import /usr/share/rhn/RPM-GPG-KEY-fedora

Do this once to configure RPM so that you won't constantly get the warning message
that the signature is "NOKEY". 
The purpose is to protect you from using a corrupt or hacked RPM. 
Once these command are performed, you are ready to use the RPM command. (This is
also required for the YUM commands below.)

Note: Many GPG public keys for other RPM packages (i.e. MySQL: 0x5072E1F5), can
be obtained from http://www.keyserver.net/. 
(The following RPM installation warning will inform you of the key to obtain: warning:
MySQL-XXXX.rpm: V3 DSA signature: NOKEY, key ID 5072e1f5) 
Importing a new key from key server:

1. gpg --keyserver keyserver.veridis.com --recv-key 5072e1f5

2. gpg --export -a 5072e1f5 > pubkey_mysql.asc
3. rpm --import pubkey_mysql.asc

Step Two: RPM commands and their use

RPM Command Description

 rpm -qilp program_package- Query for information on package and list destination of files to
ver.rpm be installed by the package.
You can also use the Gnome GUI program file-roller to view
and read the contents of an RPM. Great tool for inspecting an
RPM package and reading the package documentation before
you decide to install the package.
rpm2cpio -
Extract a single file (with path) from the RPM package to the
< program_package-ver.rpm |
local directory.
cpio -id ./path/and/file-name
rpm -Uvh program_package-
Upgrade the system with the RPM package
ver.rpm
rpm -ivh program_package-
New Install
ver.rpm
rpm -Fvh program_package- Freshen install. Removes all files (including config files) of
ver.rpm older version during upgrade.
Query system RPM database (/var/lib/rpm), to see if package
rpm -q program_package
is installed.
Query system RPM database for info/description on package
rpm -qi program_package
(if installed)
rpm -ql program_package List all files on the system associated with the package.
rpm -qf file Identify the package to which this file belongs.
rpm -e program_package Uninstall package from your system
List ALL packages on your system. Use this with grep to find
rpm -qa
families of packages.
rpm -qp --requires List dependancies (files and packages) of RPM. List
program_package-ver.rpm prerequisites.
rpm -q --whatrequires List dependant packages of RPM. What packages will break if
program_package this RPM is removed.
rpm -K --nogpg *.rpm Non sure if RPM downloaded ok? Verify md5 sum.
RPM Flag Description
--nodeps RPM flag to force install even if dependency requirements are not met.
--force Overwrite of other packages allowed.
--notriggers Don't execute scripts which are triggered by the installation of this package.
Use the system chrooted at /directory-name. This means the database will be
--root/directory-
read or modified under /directory-name. (Used by developers to maintain
name
multiple environments)
Allow installation even if the architectures of the binary RPM and host don't
--ignorearch
match. This is often required for RPM's which were assembled incorrectly

Notes:

 Fedora Core RPM

downloads: http://download.fedora.redhat.com/pub/fedora/linux/core/ 
Use your browser, wget, curl (downloads using http, https, ftp, ...) or ftp the
site download.fedora.redhat.com (login: anonymous, password: your-email-address).
 Many times, (like with glibc library or Netscape RPMs etc) it is necessary to mention two
or more packages on the command line. The rpm command will account for the co-
dependency of the packages. i.e.: 

rpm -ivh abc-package1-i386.rpm abc-package2-i386.rpm abc-package3-i386.rpm

 Configuration information is stored in /var/lib/rpm
 Database of descriptive package info. RPM package rpmdb-redhat. Installs database of
all packages in distributions to make RPM more informative.
 When installing additional RPM's from the Red Hat CD, cd to the RPMS directory on the
CD which contains the packages to be installed.
 Building from a "src" (source) RPM: rpmbuild --rebuild package-name.src.rpm 
The source will be placed in /usr/src/redhat/RPMS/.... 
The command then performs a prep, compile, install and finally creates a new binary
RPM package. Use option --clean for cleanup. 
The command rpmbuild --showrc package-name.src.rpm shows options to be used as
specified in rpmrc and macros configuration file(s). 
The source RPMs are not in the RPM database and will not be seen with "rpm -qa
 [Potential Pitfall]: If you get the errors:

error: cannot get exclusive lock on /var/lib/rpm/Packages

error: cannot open Packages index using db3 - Operation not permitted (1)
error: cannot open Packages database in /var/lib/rpm

then you must check:

o Who are you logged in as?: whoami 

You must be root.
o File permissions: ls -l /var/lib/rpm/Packages 
File must be owned by root.
o Command to kill processes locking file: fuser -k /var/lib/rpm/Packages 
It is best to terminate processes by exiting program (like glint) normally if
possible.
 [Potential Pitfall]: If you get the errors:
 [root]# rpm -e package-name
error: "package-name-X.X.X-X" specifies multiple packages

This is because a package is doubly listed: (Often due to dual 32/64 bit architectures
such as the AMD Athelon/Opteron and Intel EM64T - Extended Memory 64
Technology)
[root]# rpm -q package-name
package-name-X.X.X-X
package-name-X.X.X-X

Fix: rpm -e --allmatches package-name

 [Potential Pitfall]: You try and install an RPM but you can not get the appropriate version
of the run time libraries because they are too old and not present on your system or you
get a runtime error: 
/usr/bin/ld: cannot find /lib/libxx.so.1.0.4

Here is how to install some old libraries on your newer system without corrupting your
current installation.

1. First force the installation of the RPM without the dependency requirement: rpm
--nodeps -ivh xxxx-...rmp.
2. Next download an old RPM of the appropriate library, i.e. glibc-x.x.x.rpm
3. Extract the libraries from the RPM: rpm2cpio glibc-x.x.x.rpm | cpio -idv 
This will install to your current directory: ./usr/lib/.. and ./lib/...
4. Manually copy the library file to the library directory or path accessible by
LD_LIBRARY_PATH or ldconfig: i.e.
 cp ./lib/libxx.so.1.0.4 /lib/libxx.so.1.0.4

Useful man pages:

 rpm - Red Hat Package Manager

 rpmbuild - Build/create an RPM package.
 redhat-config-packages - RH 8.0 GUI
 gnorpm - RH 6.0+ GUI
 glint - RH 5.2 GUI

Also see:

 RPM HowTo.
 RPM.org Home Page
 Alien - package converter between rpm, dpkg, stampede slp, and slackware tgz file
formats.
 CheckInstall - Create packages for RPM (Red Hat, Fedora, Suse), Debian or Slackware
for install and uninstall.

Automated System Updates: up2date (Red Hat 7.1 and later)

Select the red dot and exclamation
mark icon on the toolbar to launch
up2date and follow the GUI. One
may also use the command line if
managing a remote server.

Execute the following commands (in order given) to perform an automatic system update:

1. /usr/bin/rhn_register :You must first register your system with the Red Hat database.
This command will perform a hardware inventory and reporting of your system so that
Red Hat knows which software to load to match your needs.
2. /usr/bin/up2date-config :This allows you to configure the "up2date" process. It allows
you to define directories to use, actions to take (i.e. download updates, install or not
install, keep RPM's after install or not), network access (i.e. proxy configuration), use of
GPG for package verification, packages or files to skip, etc. Use of GPG requires the
Red Hat public key: rpm -import /usr/share/rhn/RPM-GPG-KEY
3. /usr/sbin/up2date :This command will perform an audit of RPM's on your system and
discover what needs to be updated. It gives you a chance to unselect packages
targeted for upgrade. It will download RPM packages needed, resolve dependencies
and perform a system update if requested.

[Potential Pitfall]: This works quite well but it is not perfect. Red Hat 7.1 Apache upgrade to
1.3.22 changed the configuration completely. (Beware. manual clean-up and re-configuration is
required). When up2date finds the first messed up dependency it stops to tells you. You then
have to unselect the package. It then starts again from the beginning.

Installing a new package with up2date: up2date package-name 

The package name is given without the version number. If the package is not currently installed,
it will be downloaded and installed, along with any dependencies that package requires.

Command line options (partial list) for up2date:

Option Description
--nox Do not display the GUI interface.
 -u Completely update the system
--update
-h Display command line arguments
--help
-v Print more info about what up2date is doing
--verbose
--showall Show a list of all packages available for your release of Red Hat Linux,
including those not currently installed.

Also see man pages for:

 up2date-gnome
 rhn_register-gnome

Notes:

 Update in console mode (no GUI): up2date --nox --update

 Configuration file for up2date: /etc/sysconfig/rhn/up2date
 System id and configuration info held in XML format for
up2date: /etc/sysconfig/rhn/systemid
 The default download directory for up2date is /var/spool/up2date/. RPM packages and
support files are downloaded to this directory.
 An automated alert to the need to update utilizes the rhnsd which can be started by
issuing the command: /etc/rc.d/init.d/rhnsd start

YUM/YUMEX: RPM Updates

YUM (Yellowdog Updater, Modified) is a client command line application for updating an RPM
based system from an internet repository (YUM "yum-arch" server) accessible by URL
(http://xxx, ftp://yyy or even file://zzz local or NFS). The YUM repository has a directory of the
headers with RPM info and directory path information. YUM will resolve RPM package
dependencies and manage the importation and installation of dependencies.

YUM is also capable of upgrading across releases. One can upgrade Red Hat Linux 7 and 8 to
9. Red Hat 8 and 9 can be upgraded to Fedora Core. SeeRed Hat YUM upgrades.

YUM config file: /etc/yum.conf (Fedora Core 3)

[main]
cachedir=/var/cache/yum
debuglevel=2
logfile=/var/log/yum.log
pkgpolicy=newest
distroverpkg=redhat-release
tolerant=1
exactarch=1
retries=20
obsoletes=1
gpgcheck=1
exclude=firefox mozplugger gftp

# PUT YOUR REPOS HERE OR IN separate files named file.repo

# in /etc/yum.repos.d
 You may list packages you wish NOT to update (Space delimited list. '*' wildcards
allowed.): exclude=package-name 
(i.e. On x86_64 I do not update firefox or mozplugger with the 64 bit version, I use the
32 bit version so that 32 bit plugins will work.) 
Set "gpgcheck=0" to avoid the signature check. 
For the option "gpgcheck=1" to work, use the "rpm --import GPG-KEY commands as
detailed above in section one of the RPM tutorial.
[root@server2 ~]# rpm --import /usr/share/rhn/RPM-GPG-KEY
[root@server2 ~]# rpm --import /usr/share/rhn/RPM-GPG-KEY-fedora

File: /etc/yum.repos.d/fedora.repo (Fedora Core 3)

[base]
name=Fedora Core $releasever - $basearch - Base
#baseurl=http://download.fedora.redhat.com/pub/fedora/linux/core/$releasever/$basearch/os/
mirrorlist=http://fedora.redhat.com/download/mirrors/fedora-core-$releasever
enabled=1
gpgcheck=1

Mirror site/sites which contain Fedora base configuration RPM's. 

Other protocols such as ftp can be used as well as http.

File: /etc/yum.repos.d/fedora-updates.repo (Fedora Core 3)

[updates-released]
name=Fedora Core $releasever - $basearch - Released Updates
#baseurl=http://download.fedora.redhat.com/pub/fedora/linux/core/updates/$releasever/
$basearch/
mirrorlist=http://fedora.redhat.com/download/mirrors/updates-released-fc$releasever
enabled=1
gpgcheck=1

Fedora RPM updates: http://download.fedora.redhat.com/pub/fedora/linux/updates/

Terms:

 releasever: Release Version - current version of Fedora.

 basearch: Base Architecture - system hardware architecture i.e. i386

Add other repositories: (not included in default install)

 Fedora Extras: 
Create file: /etc/yum.repos.d/extras.repo

[extras]
name=Fedora Extras $releasever - $basearch
baseurl=http://mirrors.kernel.org/fedora/extras/$releasever/$basearch/
http://www.mirrorservice.org/sites/download.fedora.redhat.com/pub/fedora/linux/extras/
$releasever/$basearch/
http://fr2.rpmfind.net/linux/fedora/extras/$releasever/$basearch/
gpgcheck=1

Adding FreshRPM GPG signature key:

 [root@server2 ~]# rpm --import
http://download.fedora.redhat.com/pub/fedora/linux/extras/RPM-GPG-KEY-Fedora-
Extras
 Add FreshRPM repository site to your list for downloads of non-standard Fedora
software. 
(Software not released by Red Hat like DVD players, audio encoders/rippers, etc) 
Create file: /etc/yum.repos.d/freshrpms.repo

[freshrpms]
name=Fedora Linux $releasever - $basearch - freshrpms
baseurl=http://ayo.freshrpms.net/fedora/linux/$releasever/$basearch/freshrpms
enabled=0
gpgcheck=1

To directly enable a particular repository which is currently disabled (enabled=0): yum

-y --enablerepo=freshrpms install kino

Adding FreshRPM GPG signature key:

[root@server2 ~]# rpm --import http://freshrpms.net/packages/builds/yum/RPM-GPG-

KEY.freshrpms

More examples of FreshRPMs yum.conf

 Add: RpmForge.org (add by installing RPM with RpmForge configuration: rpmforge-

release-xxxx.rpm) 
Installs file: /etc/yum.repos.d/rpmforge.repo

[rpmforge]
name = RHEL $releasever - RPMforge.net - dag
baseurl = http://apt.sw.be/redhat/el6/en/$basearch/rpmforge
mirrorlist = http://apt.sw.be/redhat/el6/en/mirrors-rpmforge
enabled = 1
protect = 0
gpgkey = file:///etc/pki/rpm-gpg/RPM-GPG-KEY-rpmforge-dag
gpgcheck = 1

Required keys and support files are included in the RPM.

Adding GPG signature key:

[root@server2 ~]# rpm --import http://apt.sw.be/RPM-GPG-KEY.dag.txt

 Add: Macromedia.mplug.org 
Create file: /etc/yum.repos.d/flash.repo

[flash]
name=Macromedia Flash plugin
baseurl=http://macromedia.mplug.org/apt/fedora/$releasever
http://sluglug.ucsc.edu/macromedia/apt/fedora/$releasever
http://ruslug.rutgers.edu/macromedia/apt/fedora/$releasever
http://macromedia.rediris.es/apt/fedora/$releasever
enabled=0
#gpgcheck=1
  To directly enable a particular repository which is currently disabled (enabled=0): yum
-y --enablerepo=flash install flash-plugin
 Fedora examples (more repositories: Jpackage, ...)

Registering Red Hat Enterprise Linux to enable YUM repository use:

Commands:
 rhn_register: GUI to enter user account and "Installation Number". Must purchase a
license to get this.
 rhnreg_ks: Register a login/user account

Data is stored in /etc/sysconfig/rhn/

Using YUM and YUM examples:

 Update:
o List packages which will be updated: yum check-update 
(Does not perform an update)
o Update all packages on your system: yum update
o Update a package: yum update package-name
o Update all with same prefix: yum update package-name-prefix\* 
This command will update your system. It will interactively ask permission. i.e.
"Is this ok [y/N]:"
o To avoid the prompt/questions use the command: yum -y update Sample
session:

# yum -y update
Setting up Update Process
Setting up Repos
base 100% |=========================| 1.1 kB 00:00
updates-released 100% |=========================| 951 B 00:00
Reading repository metadata in from local files
base : ################################################## 2852/2852
primary.xml.gz 100% |=========================| 367 kB 00:02
MD Read : ################################################## 927/927
updates-re: ################################################## 927/927
Excluding Packages in global exclude list
Finished
Resolving Dependencies
--> Populating transaction set with selected packages. Please wait.
---> Downloading header for mod_dav_svn to pack into transaction set.
mod_dav_svn-1.1.4-1.1.x86 100% |=========================| 8.9 kB 00:00
---> Package mod_dav_svn.x86_64 0:1.1.4-1.1 set to be updated
---> Downloading header for initscripts to pack into transaction set.
initscripts-7.93.7-1.x86_ 100% |=========================| 87 kB 00:00
---> Package initscripts.x86_64 0:7.93.7-1 set to be updated
---> Downloading header for gtk2 to pack into transaction set.
...
...

--> Running transaction check

Dependencies Resolved
Transaction Listing:
 Install: aqhbci.x86_64 0:1.0.2beta-0.fc3 - updates-released
Install: aqhbci-devel.x86_64 0:1.0.2beta-0.fc3 - updates-released
Install: kernel.x86_64 0:2.6.11-1.14_FC3 - updates-released
...
...

Performing the following to resolve dependencies:

Install: aqbanking-devel.x86_64 0:1.0.4beta-0.fc3 - updates-released
Install: gwenhywfar-devel.x86_64 0:1.7.2-0.fc3 - updates-released
Total download size: 431 M
Downloading Packages:
(1/168): mod_dav_svn-1.1. 100% |=========================| 54 kB 00:00
(2/168): initscripts-7.93 100% |=========================| 1.1 MB 00:03
...
...

Running Transaction Test

Finished Transaction Test
Transaction Test Succeeded
Running Transaction
Updating: libgcc 100 % done 1/333
Updating: libgcc 100 % done 2/333
...
...
Completing update for mod_dav_svn - 169/333
Completing update for initscripts - 170/333
Completing update for gtk2 - 171/333
...
...
Installed: aqhbci.x86_64 0:1.0.2beta-0.fc3 aqhbci-devel.x86_64 0:1.0.2beta-0.fc3
kernel.x86_64 0:2.6.11...
Dependency Installed: aqbanking-devel.x86_64 0:1.0.4beta-0.fc3 gwenhywfar-devel.x86_64
0:1.7.2-0.fc3
Updated: ImageMagick.i386 0:6.2.0.7-2.fc3 ImageMagick.x86_64 0:6.2.0.7-2.fc3
ImageMagick-c++.i386 ...
...
...
Obsoleted: openhbci.x86_64 0:0.9.17-1 openhbci.i386 0:0.9.17-1 openhbci-devel.x86_64
0:0.9.17-1
Complete!
#

o [Potential Pitfall]: Many times I have found that I can get the following
errors:

Setting up Update Process

Setting up repositories
Reading repository metadata in from local files
Could not find update match for package-name
...
...
--> Finished Dependency Resolution
Error: Missing Dependency: package-name

o I find that the error is traced to having two version of a package installed at
once. The following command will reveal if this is true: rpm -qpackage-name. If
 there are two versions of the same package installed, I find that removing the
newer version and re-running YUM to install an upgrade gets past these errors.
 To install a single package: yum -y install package-name 
This will also resolve package dependencies.
 Remove a package: yum remove package-name
 Info:
o List available packages, version and state (base, installed, updates-
released): yum list
o List the packages installed which are not available in repository listed in config
file: yum list extras
o List packages which are obsoleted by packages in yum repository: yum list
obsoletes
 Clean local cache of headers and RPM's: yum clean all 
(See: /var/cache/yum/)

Yum Commands:

YUM Command Description

yum -y install package- Install package.
name
yum -y install package- Install package of specified architecture. This is common when
name.arch installing Firefox "i386" on a "x86_64" platform. 
i.e.: yum -y install firefox.i386
yum -y update package- Update package.
name Update all packages on system for which updates are available.
yum -y update Update all packages which have available updates excluding the
yum -y --exclude=package- specified package.
name update
yum remove package- Remove package.
name Remove packages.
yum remove package-
name-1 package-name
yum remove package-
name-2
yum clean headers Remove RPM header files.
yum clean cache Remove files from YUM cache: /var/cache/yum/
yum clean all Clean up all YUM files left over from previous installations.
yum list package-name List information about available packages from configured YUM
yum list regex repository. Will also list those which contain the specified regular
expression search pattern.
yum list installed [regex- List installed packages. Same as rpm -qa
optional]

yum list available [regex- List all available packages.

optional]

yum check-update Show which packages are available to be updated.

yum search partial- List all packages which match the string specied in the package
package-name name or description.
yum grouplist List available package groups.
yum groupinstall group- Install default packages in specified group.
name Remove packages in group.
yum groupremove group- Update packages in group.
name
 yum groupupdate group-
name

rhn_register Register to a Red Hat Network hosted server. Typically useful for
licensed Red Hat Enterprise Linux.
See yum man page for a full listing of commands and command arguments.

Notes:

 yum man page

 yum.conf man page
 You can set up your own YUM server for your own cluster or intranet. Set up a web
server with the same paths as used in the configuration files and point your
configuration files to your server. See YoLinux web server tutorial for configuration
information.
 Fedora configures YUM as a daily cron job: /etc/cron.daily/yum.cron

#!/bin/sh

if [ -f /var/lock/subsys/yum ]; then
/usr/bin/yum -R 10 -e 0 -d 0 -y update yum
/usr/bin/yum -R 120 -e 0 -d 0 -y update
fi

Links:

 YUM Homepage
 YUM Guides - YUM download, install and YUM server configuration.

YumEx: (Yum Extender) GUI interface to YUM commands and configuration

YumEx will allow you to manage the RPM packages on your system. It allows the administrator
to install/update packages from internet repositories as well as un-install RPMs from the system.

 YumEx illustrated tutorial

 
RDIST: Remotely distributing and installing software/files

The command rdist helps the system administrator install software or update files across many
machines. The process is launched from one computer.

Command: rdist -f instruction-file

Instruction file:

files=(
/fully-qualified-path-and-file-name
/next-fully-qualified-path-and-file-name
)
dest = ( computer-node-name )

${files} -> ${dest}

install /fully-qualified-directory-name-of-destination;

Note: Don't forget the ";" at the end.

For more info see the rdist man page and rdistd man page (section 8: "man 8 rdistd").
Also see the rsync man page to migrate file changes.

RSYNC: Synchronizing files on two computers

The command rsync helps the system administrator synchronize files on two separate

computers. This is ideal for web site maintenance.

Command to use rsync with ssh: rsync -e ssh -p 777 --delete --include-from=files-to-sync.txt

-avzu ./ www.your-domain.com:

Test with flags -navzu

File: files-to-sync.txt

+index.html
-README
+webpage-1.html
+webpage-2.html
+webpage-3.html
Files to include (+) and files which are excluded from synchronization (-).

Links:

 rsync Home Page

 Rsync Documentation
 For more info see the rsync man page

System log files:

/var/log/messages - system messages
/secure - Logging by PAM of network access attempts
/dmesg - Log of system boot. Also see command dmesg
/boot.log - Log of system init process
/xferlog.1 - File transfer log
/lastlog - Requires the use of the lastlog command to examine contents
/maillog - log from sendmail daemon

Note: The lastlog command prints time stamp of the last login of system users. (Interprets
file: /var/log/lastlog) 
Also see last command.

logrotate - Rotate log files:

Many system and server application programs such as Apache, generate log files. If left
unchecked they would grow large enough to burden the system and application.
The logrotate program will periodically backup the log file by renaming it. The program will also
allow the system administrator to set the limit for the number of logs or their size. There is also
the option to compress the backed up files.

Configuration file: /etc/logrotate.conf 
Directory for logrotate configuration scripts: /etc/logrotate.d/

Example logrotate configuration script: /etc/logrotate.d/process-name

 /var/log/process-name.log {
rotate 12
monthly
errors root@localhost
missingok
postrotate
/usr/bin/killall -HUP process-name 2> /dev/null || true
endscript
}

The configuration file lists the log file to be rotated, the process kill command to momentarily
shut down and restart the process, and some configuration parameters listed in the logrotate
man page.

Using the find command:

Find man page

Form of command: find path operators

Examples:

 Search and list all files from current directory and down for the string ABC: 
find ./ -name "*" -exec grep -H ABC {} \; 
find ./ -type f -print | xargs grep -H "ABC" /dev/null 
egrep -r ABC *
 Find all files of a given type from current directory on down: 
find ./ -name "*.conf" -print
 Find all user files larger than 5Mb: 
find /home -size +5000000c -print
 Find all files owned by a user (defined by user id number. see /etc/passwd) on the
system: (could take a very long time) 
find / -user 501 -print
 Find all files created or updated in the last five minutes: (Great for finding effects
of make install) 
find / -cmin -5
 Find all users in group 20 and change them to group 102: (execute as root) 
find / -group 20 -exec chown :102 {} \;
 Find all suid and setgid executables: 
find / \( -perm -4000 -o -perm -2000 \) -type f -exec ls -ldb {} \; 
find / -type f -perm +6000 -ls

Note: suid executable binaries are programs which switch to root privileges to perform
their tasks. These are created by applying a "sticky" bit:chmod +s. These programs
should be watched as they are often the first point of entry for hackers. Thus it is
prudent to run this command and remove the "sticky" bits from executables which either
won't be used or are not required by users. chmod -s filename

 Find all world writable directories: 

find / -perm -0002 -type d -print
 Find all world writable files: 
find / -perm -0002 -type f -print 
find / -perm -2 ! -type l -ls
 Find files with no user: 
find / -nouser -o -nogroup -print
 Find files modified in the last two days: 
find / -mtime 2 -o -ctime 2
  Compare two drives to see if all files are identical: 
find / -path /proc -prune -o -path /new-disk -prune -o -xtype f -exec cmp {} /new-disk{} \;

Partial list of find directives:

Directive Description
-name Find files whose name matches given pattern
-print Display path of matching files
-user Searches for files belonging to a specific user
-exec command {} \
Execute Unix/Linux command for each matching file.
;
Find files accessed more that +t days ago, less than -t or precisely t
-atime (+t,-t,t)
days ago.
-ctime (+t,-t,t) Find files changed ...
-perm Find files set with specified permissions.
-type Locate files of a specified type:
 c: character device files
 b: blocked device
 d: directories
 p: pipes
 l: symbolic links
 s: sockets

 f: regular files
-size n Find file size is larger than "n" 512-byte blocks (default) or specify a
different measurement by using the specified letter following "n":
 nb: bytes
 nc: bytes
 nk: kilobytes

 nw: 2-byte words

Also see:

 gnome-Find - GUI front-end to the GNU find utility

Finding/Locating files:
locate/slocate Find location/list of files which contain a given partial name
Find executable file location of command given. Command must be in
which
path.
whereis Find executable file location of command given and related files
rpm -qf file Display name of RPM package from which the file was installed.

Note: The script /etc/cron.daily/updatedb.cron generates the index for the locate command. It

will generate the database /var/lib/locatedb

File Information/Status/Ownership/Security:
ls List directory contents. List file information
chmod Change file access permissions 
chmod ugo+rwx file-name :Change file security so that the user, group and
 all others have read, write and execute privileges. 
chmod go-wx file-name :Remove file access so that the group and all others
have write and execute privileges revoked/removed.
chown Change file owner and group 
chown root.root file-name :Make file owned by root. Group assignment is also
root.
fuser Identify processes using files or sockets 
If you ever get the message: error: cannot get exclusive lock 
then you may need to kill a process that has the file locked. Either terminate the
process through the application interface or using the fuser command: fuser
-k file-name
file Identify file type.
file file-name
Uses /usr/share/magic, /usr/share/magic.mime for file signatures to identify file
type. The file extension is NOT used.

CRON - Scheduling a re-occurring task:

Add shell script to have run hourly, daily, weekly or monthly into the appropriate directory:

 /etc/cron.hourly/
 /etc/cron.daily/
 /etc/cron.weekly/
 /etc/cron.monthly/

These are preconfigured schedules. To assign a very specific schedule add a line to
the /etc/crontab file. Cron entries may also be added to a crontab formatted file located in the
directory /var/spool/cron/.

Online, web based crontab entry generator.

Red Hat/CentOS/Fedora SeLinux security contexts for cron:

 Specify each context separately: chcon -u system_u -r object_r -t

bin_t /etc/cron.weekly/crontask
 Specify context all at once: chcon system_u:object_r:bin_t /etc/cron.weekly/crontask 
[Potential Pitfall]: Try this method if you get the following error: 
  chcon: can't apply partial context to unlabeled file /etc/cron.weekly/crontask

Scheduling access and control:

 The administrator can allow users to use this facility with specific control by using the
/etc/cron.deny and /etc/cron.allow files.
 The at facility may be controlled with the /etc/at.deny and /etc/at.allow files.

Man pages:

 cron
 crontab

AT - Scheduling a single occurrance of a task:

The at command will schedule single jobs. (cron is for re-occurring jobs) The
daemon /usr/sbin/atd will run jobs scheduled with the at command. Access control to the
command is controlled using the files /etc/at.allow (list of user id's permitted to use
the at command) and /etc/at.deny.

Time is specified before the date:

 at HH:MM month-name day with an optional year

 at midnight MMDDYY
 at HH PM today
 at noon DD.MM.YY
 at 14:30 19.03.06
 at noon tomorrow

The at command will respond with it's "at>" prompt upon which you enter the command you
wish to execute followed by "Enter". More commands may be entered. When done enter
"control-d".

Input at commands from a file: at midnight today < job-list-file

List jobs with the command atq

[prompt]$ atq
1 2002-03-07 12:00 a user-id

The first column lists the job number.

Delete job with the command atrm

[prompt]$ atrm 1

Man pages:

 at - schedule job at a specified time

 atq - lists the user's pending jobs or all if root
 atrm - deletes jobs, identified by their job number
 batch - executes commands when system load levels permit (based on a specified
system load)
 atrun - for backward compatibility. Functionality built into at
 after - Execute a command after a time delay

Managing Time:

The BIOS computer clock stores hardware time while the OS keeps track of system time. The
system time is initialized during boot by syncing OS time to the hardware time. It is common for
web servers to set their clocks to GMT0 time as their audience is worldwide and GMT is the
only true standard time. Your local office server would most likely be set to local time.

Read time:
 Read system time (Linux OS time):
o date
 Read hardware clock (BIOS clock):
o /sbin/hwclock
(Same as /sbin/hwclock --show)
o /sbin/hwclock --utc

Set time: (two methods)

 Note than when setting server time to GMT, set your local environment first to
GMT: export TZ=GMT0 
(link to current GMT)
1. Set hardware clock and sync system (OS) time to match: (hctosys)
o Set hardware clock: /sbin/hwclock --utc --set --date="07/30/2008 23:16:30" 
(Set either --utc or --localtime) 
Then match system clock: hwclock --hctosys 
(Set the System Time from the Hardware Clock.)
2. Set system (OS) clock and sync hardware time to match: (systohc)
o Set system time (Linux OS time):
 date -s 10:20
 date 073023162008.30
July 30, 2008 11:16 pm and 30 seconds
 date MMDDhhmm.ss
(month, day, hour, minute, year and dot seconds - seconds optional)
(where hours are from 00 to 24)
o Set hardware clock to system clock in UTC: /sbin/hwclock --systohc --utc 
(UTC preferred for Linux because it allows automatic accounting of daylight
savings time. Microsoft OS's use local time. UTC will mess up the time setting
on a dual boot system which hosts a Microsoft OS)
o Set hardware clock in localtime to current system clock: /sbin/hwclock
--systohc 
(Same as: /sbin/hwclock --systohc --localtime)

UTC (true/false) set in /etc/sysconfig/clock (eg. UTC=true) 

View settings in /etc/adjtime

Configure time settings: Time, Time zone, NTP

 Red Hat Enterprise 4/ Fedora Core (2+) GUI configuration: /usr/bin/system-config-time

o Time zone: tzselect
 Ubuntu:
o Time zone: tzconfig

Note that the time zone setting is a soft link from /etc/localtime to a file
under /usr/share/zoneinfo/ (or /usr/lib/zoneinfo/ on older systems). To set the default time zone
to US CST, generate a new link manually with the command: ln -sf
/usr/share/zoneinfo/US/Central /etc/localtime

Set System Time: (using NTP - Network Time Protocol)

 Query/Print the time returned by the remote host:

o Fedora Core (RPM: ntp-4.2.0): /usr/sbin/ntpdate -q hostname
o Up to Red Hat 9.0 (RPM: ntp-4.1.2): rdate -p hostname
 Set the system time to the returned time: (Must be root. Only root can change system
clock.)
o Fedora Core (RPM: ntp-4.2.0): /usr/sbin/ntpdate hostname
o Up to Red Hat 9.0 (RPM: ntp-4.1.2): rdate -s hostname

Try: /usr/sbin/ntpdate -q time.ucla.edu

See List of public NTP Time Servers or http://www.pool.ntp.org.

Note: Typically many web servers set their time to GMT due to the world wide nature of their
service. Internally UNIX systems use Coordinated Universal Time (UTC) which is the number of
seconds since Jan 1, 1970 0 hrs. "Calendar Time" is then calculated based on your time zone
and whether you are on Standard or Daylight Savings time (Second Sunday of March to First
Sunday of November - beginning March 2007).

Sync System Time:

The timed (time server daemon) allows one to synchronizes the host's time with the
time of another host. This is a master - slave configuration. See
the timed and timedc man pages.

Shell environment variables:

 TZ: Time Zone

o i.e.: export TZ=PST8PDT
o Zone format: [time standard] [offset] [dst]
o See directory: /usr/share/zoneinfo/
o File: /usr/share/zoneinfo/PST8PDT not viewable.
o See file: /usr/share/zoneinfo/zone.tab
o See tzselect, tzset, tzfile, zic (time zone compiler) man pages.
o Print time zone info with zdump: zdump HKT-8
 TIMEFORMAT: 
For more info see the man page for your shell. (i.e. man bash)

TZ Environment Variables:
GMT
TZ Variable Description
Offset
GMT0 0 Greewich Mean Time
UTC0 0 Universal Coordinated Time
FST2FDT 2 Fernando De Noronha Std
GST3 3 Greenland Standard Time
BST3 3 Brazil Standard Time
EST3EDT 3 Eastern Brazil Standard Time
NST3:30NDT 3.5 Newfoundland Standard Time/Newfoundland Daylight Time
AST4ADT 4 Atlantic Standard Time/ Atlantic Daylight Time
EST5EDT 5 USA Eastern Standard Time/ Eastern Daylight Time
EST6CDT 5 USA Eastern Standard Time/ Central Daylight Time
CST6CDT 6 USA Central Standard Time/ Central Daylight Time
MST7 7 USA Mountain Standard Time
MST7MDT 7 USA Mountain Standard Time/ Mountain Daylight Time
USA Pacific Standard Time/Pacific Daylight Time, 8 hrs
PST8PDT 8
from GMT
AKS9AKD 9 USA Alaska Standard Time/Alaska Daylight Time
YST9YDT 9 Yukon Standard Time/Yukon Daylight Time
HST10 10 USA Hawaiian Standard Time/ Hawaiian Daylight Time
NZST-12NZDT -12 New Zealand Standard Time/ New Zealand Daylight Time
EST-10 -10 Australian Eastern Standard Time
Australian Eastern Standard Time/Australian Eastern
EST-10EDT -10
Daylight Time
CST-9:30 -9.5 Australian Central Standard Time
CST-9:30CDT -9.5 Australian Central Standard Time/Australian Central
 Daylight Time
JST-9 -9 Japan Standard Time
KST-9KDT -9 Korean Standard Time
WST-8:00
-8 Australian Western Standard Time
WAS-8WAD
CCT-8 -8 China Coast Time
HKT-8 -8 Hong Kong Time
JST-7:30 -7.5 Java Standard Time
NST-7 -7 North Sumatra Time
IST-5:30 -5.5 Indian Standard Time
IST-3:30IDT -3.5 Iran Standard Time
MSK-3MSD -3 Moscow Time
SAST-2SADT -2 South Africa Standard Time/South Africa Daylight Time
Eastern European Time/Eastern European Time Daylight
EET-2EEST -2
Savings Time
Middle European Time/Middle European Time Daylight
MET-2METDST -2
Savings Time
Central European Time/Central European Time Daylight
CET-1CEST -1
Savings Time
WAT-1 -1 West Africa Time
Western European Time/Western European Time Daylight
WET0WETDST 0
Savings Time

See /usr/share/zoneinfo/.

Network Time Protocol (NTP): (configuration)

The daemon ntpd will continually monitor time and synchronize your system clock with
that of a known accurate time system (atomic clock). Corrections are implemented in
small steps to correct the clock over time. Errors of over 1000 seconds causes ntpd to
abort correction. The init script /etc/rc.d/init.d/ntpd issues the
command /usr/sbin/ntpdate to set the time.

You may also issue the command: /usr/sbin/ntpdate -b -s time.nist.gov ns.arc.nasa.gov

tick.usno.navy.mil

This will hang without an internet connection!!!

Time servers:

 time.nist.gov
 ns.arc.nasa.gov
 tick.usno.navy.mil

Configuring NTP:

The system may be configured as:

1. a pure NTP client.

 2. a pure NTP server
3. an NTP client which then acts as an NTP server for a domain

Client Configuration:

1. List accurate clocks to use in file: /etc/ntp.conf

server time1.ntpServer.gov
server time2.ntpServer.gov
restrict time1.ntpServer.gov mask 255.255.255.255 nomodify notrap noquery
restrict time2.ntpServer.gov mask 255.255.255.255 nomodify notrap noquery
restrict 127.0.0.1

2. This will synchronize your system clock with the times servers listed. 
Note that using IP addresses instead of fully qualified domain names will provide a
faster response. 
restrict options:
option Description
Limits the remote NTP server to a single IP address (255.255.255.255),
mask
default mask 0.0.0.0.
nomodify Run time configuration can not be modified by remote NTP server
notrap Do not log remote messages.
noquery Do not allow remote ntpq or ntpdc querries
notrust Deny cryptographically un-authenticated NTP querries.
3. Syncronize time with NTP server: ntpdate -u time1.ntpServer.gov
4. Start NTP daemon: service ntpd start 
(or: /etc/init.d/ntpd start)
5. Configure NTP daemon to start during boot: chkconfig ntpd on
6. Check time: date

Note:

 NTP uses UDP on port 123 for inbound and outbound communication.
 Check /var/log/messages for errors.
 PHP has an independent setting in /etc/php.ini

[Date]
; Defines the default timezone used by the date functions
;date.timezone = GMT-0
date.timezone = Europe/London

 MySQL has an independent setting in /etc/my.cnf

[mysqld_safe]
timezone = Europe/London

 Where the time zone is one from the list in /usr/share/zoneinfo/zone.tab

 Or in SQL: SET time_zone timezone=GMT 
Or in SQL: SET SESSION timezone=GMT

Linux GUI Time Configuration Tools:

  Red Hat Enterprise 4/ Fedora Core (2+) GUI configuration:

Command: /usr/bin/system-config-time 

 SuSE GUI configuration:

[root]# yast2 ntp-client

NTP Man Pages:

 ntpd - Network Time Protocol (NTP) daemon
 ntpdate - Set the date and time via NTP
 ntpq - Standard NTP query program
 ntpc - Special NTP query program
 ntpstat - Show network time synchronization status
 ntptime - Read kernel time variables
 ntprace - Trace a chain of NTP servers back to the primary source

Links:

 NTP.org: Network Time Protocol (NTP)

 See documentation /usr/share/doc/ntp-*/ntpd.html
 Time codes
 IRIG - Inter-Range Instrumentation Group (GPS satellite based time. Very accurate.)
 IRIG PCI cards (Linux drivers)
 Internet time code RFCs:
o RFC 1305 - NTP
 o RFC 867 - old
o RFC 868 - older

"You have new mail.":

When you login, this message may greet you. The system will often send a mail message to the
"root" user after the completion of some cron jobs, software installation or as an error message
meant to alert the system administrator. Type the console command "mail". The following
simple commands will help you navigate through this simple mail client.

Mail command Description

? List commands (Help)
h Print mail headers
h1 Print mail headers starting with message number 1
q Quit and delete mail which has been viewed (typed)
x Quit but save mail viewed.
t Type (view) current message
t4 Type out message 4 to the console
n Type out next message
d Delete the active message
d4 Delete message number 4
d 1-4 Delete messages number 1 to 4

The "mail" command is included with the package "mailx". This is included with the default
Fedora and Red Hat installations. Ubuntu users must include the "universe" repository to get
access to the package "mailx".

Text Terminal Configuration:

 tty: Print the file name of the terminal connected to standard input

[prompt]$ tty
/dev/pts/4
 stty: Text Terminal configuration commands.

[prompt]$ stty -all - Human-readable form

speed 38400 baud; rows 24; columns 80; line = 0;
intr = ^C; quit = ^\; erase = ^?; kill = ^U; eof = ^D; eol = M-^?; eol2 = M-^?;
start = ^Q; stop = ^S; susp = ^Z; rprnt = ^R; werase = ^W; lnext = ^V;
flush = ^O; min = 1; time = 0;
-parenb -parodd cs8 hupcl -cstopb cread -clocal -crtscts
-ignbrk brkint -ignpar -parmrk -inpck -istrip -inlcr -igncr icrnl ixon -ixoff
-iuclc ixany imaxbel
opost -olcuc -ocrnl onlcr -onocr -onlret -ofill -ofdel nl0 cr0 tab0 bs0 vt0 ff0
isig icanon iexten echo echoe echok -echonl -noflsh -xcase -tostop -echoprt
echoctl echoke
[prompt]$ stty -g - stty-readable form
2d02:5:4bf:8a3b:3:1c:7f:15:4:0:1:ff:11:13:1a:ff:12:f:17:16:ff:0:0:0:0:0:0:0:0:0:0:0:0:0:0:0
[prompt]$ stty `echo
2d02:5:4bf:8a3b:3:1c:7f:15:4:0:1:ff:11:13:1a:ff:12:f:17:16:ff:0:0:0:0:0:0:0:0:0:0:0:0:0:0:0`
 [prompt]$ stty columns 132
[prompt]$ stty erase '^?' - Here the "^" refers to the caracter shift-6 and not <ctrl>
[prompt]$ stty sane
[prompt]$ stty -tabs - Expand tabs to spaces
[prompt]$ stty --help | more
 clear: Clear Text Terminal
 reset: Reset Text Terminal

Terminal control characters:

Control
Description C format ASCII (decimal)
Character
Linefeed ctrl-j \n 10
Carriage Return ctrl-m \r 13
Escape Character ctrl-v 22
Stop screen scroll ctrl-s 19
Resume screen scroll ctrl-q 17
Backspace (and delete) one character ctrl-h \b 8
Backspace (and delete) one word ctrl-w 23
Delete line ctrl-u 21
End of file ctrl-d 4
ctrl-z (DOS/VAX)
Interrupt signal SIGINT ctrl-c 3
Suspend signal SIGSTOP ctrl-z 26
Quit signal SIGQUIT ctrl-\ 28
Typically repaint screen.  ctrl-r 18
(In bash reverse search of command
history)
(Non POSIX)

Note:

 When typing a "ctrl-m" is just like hitting the "Enter" key. If you want to enter the "ctrl-m"
as part of the entry to the stty command then prefix it with "ctrl-v" so that the "ctrl-m"
"escaped" from acting as a terminal directive but instead acts as command input.
 Check terminal type: echo $TERM
 Set terminal type: export TERM=xterm 
This is a very common fix for many remote terminal problems.

Gnome Terminal:

Terminal configuration to handle the annoying backspace problems associated with telnet-ing to
a different system. For example, how to configure the Linux gnome-terminal for use with an
SGI/IRIX system:
 Start /usr/bin/gnome-terminal
 Select: "File" + "New Profile..."
 Enter profile name: SGI 
Base on: Default 
Select: "Create"
 Select: "Edit" + "Profiles..." 
Select profile: "SGI" and select "Edit" button.
  Select the tab: "Compatibility" 
Backspace key generates: change from "ASCII DEL" to "Control-H" 
Select: "Close"
 Select: "Terminal" + "Profile" + "SGI"

Man Pages:

 termios - get and set terminal attributes

 ascii - the ASCII character set
 setserial - get/set Linux serial port information
 term - format of compiled term file
 terminfo - terminal capability data base
 tic - the terminfo entry-description compiler
 xterm - terminal emulator for X
 ncurses - CRT screen handling and optimization package

Also see /usr/include/bits/termios.h

Text Terminal Programs:

 GNU Screen - multiplex terminal between processes.

 MultiGnomeTerminal
 KDE: Konsole
 xterm
 PuTTY

Directory Listings and Terminal Colors for "ls": If you alter your terminal background color,
you will quickly find that the display from the command "ls" may obscure some of the results.
There are three options for setting the colors applied to the results of the "ls" command:

1. The color scheme can be ignored and all output displayed in the foreground color. 
Set an alias in your $HOME/.bashrc file: alias ls='ls -F' 
The output will use symbols instead of colors to identify the types:
o A closing "/" will denote a directory.
o A "@" denotes a symbolic link.
o An "*" denotes execute permissions.
2. Use the command dircolors to list the system default. Change and assign new colors
using the environment variable "LS_COLORS". This can be set in
your $HOME/.bashrc file. 
LS_COLORS='no=00:fi=00:di=01;34:ln=01;36:pi=40;33:so=01;35:do=01;35:
bd=40;33;01:cd=40;33;01:or=40;31;01:ex=01;32:*.tar=01;31:
*.tgz=01;31:*.arj=01;31:*.taz=01;31:*.lzh=01;31:*.zip=01;31:
*.z=01;31:*.Z=01;31:*.gz=01;31:*.bz2=01;31:*.deb=01;31:
*.rpm=01;31:*.jar=01;31:*.jpg=01;35:*.jpeg=01;35:*.gif=01;35:
*.bmp=01;35:*.pbm=01;35:*.pgm=01;35:*.ppm=01;35:*.tga=01;35:
*.xbm=01;35:*.xpm=01;35:*.tif=01;35:*.tiff=01;35:*.png=01;35:
*.mov=01;35:*.mpg=01;35:*.mpeg=01;35:*.avi=01;35:*.fli=01;35:
*.gl=01;35:*.dl=01;35:*.xcf=01;35:*.xwd=01;35:*.ogg=01;35:*.mp3=01;35:*.wav=01;35:'; 

export LS_COLORS 
System defaults shown. (Fedora Core 3)
3. Specify colors used in the system configuration file: /etc/DIR_COLORS or in your local
file $HOME/.dir_colors
Hardware Info:
/usr/bin/lsdev List devices and info on system hardware. Also IRQ's.(RPM package
procinfo)
Also cat /proc/devices
/sbin/lspci list all PCI devices (result of probe) Also lspci -vvx and cat /proc/pci
cat /proc/interrupts List IRQ's used by system and the device using the interrupt.
cat /proc/ioports List I/O ports used by system.
cat /proc/dma List DMA channels and device used by system.
cat /proc/cpuinfo List info about CPU.

Also See:

 Kernel 2.4: (Red Hat 7.1+)

o file:/usr/src/linux-2.4/Documentation/devices.txt - (local file)
 Kernel 2.2: (Red Hat 7.0-)
o See Linux devices: file:/usr/src/linux/Documentation/devices.txt (local file) - H.
Peter Anvin
o Local file Kernel 2.2:file:/usr/src/linux/Documentation/proc.txt (local file)

PERL Administration/Maintenance:

At some point you will be required to administer the installation of PERL modules. 
Installation can be done:

 Manually:
o Un-zip/Un-tar module: tar xzf yourmodule.tar.gz
o Build with PERL makefile:
 perl Makefile.PL
 make
o Install: make install

See: CPAN module install page

 Automatically: (preferred)

# perl -MCPAN -e shell - First time through it will ask questions.

.... Answer "no" to the first question for autoconfigure.
...
..

cpan> install URI

...
..

cpan> i /PerlMagick/ - Inquire about module. (Search by keyword)

Distribution J/JC/JCRISTY/PerlMagick-5.36.tar.gz
Module Image::Magick (J/JC/JCRISTY/PerlMagick-5.36.tar.gz)

cpan> install Image::Magick

...

cpan> install Image::Info

...
 cpan> install IO::String
IO::String is up to date.

cpan> help

 This method rocks! It connects to a CPAN server and ftp's a gzipped tarball and installs
it. First time through it will ask a bunch of questions. (Answer "no" to the first question
for autoconfigure.) Defaults were good for me. The only reason to manually configure
this is if you are using a proxy. It then asks for your location (i.e. North America) and
country. I entered a number for the first CPAN server but after that the actual URL was
cut and pasted in whole.
 If it fails, you must load the appropriate RPMs and retry using "force install module-
name"

 PERL update: perl -MCPAN -e 'install Perl'

 Testing for a working Perl module: (Apache::AuthenNIS)

File: testAuthenNIS.pl
#!/usr/bin/perl
BEGIN{push @INC, "/usr/lib/perl5/site_perl/5.8.5/Apache";}
eval "use Apache::AuthenNIS"; $hasApacheAuth = $@ ? 0 : 1;
printf "Apache::AuthenNIS". ($hasApacheAuth ? "" : " not") . " installed";
printf "\n";

Test: [root]# ./testAuthenNIS.pl
o Good: Apache::AuthenNIS installed
o Not good: Apache::AuthenNIS not installed

(Installation)
 Most PERL modules are now available as RPMs. See:
o RpmForge.org (Also available via YUM)
o Search RpmFind.net

File compression/decompression utilities:

Basic file compression utilities: (and file extensions)

 gzip (.gz): Also see zcat, gunzip, gznew, gzmore 

compress: gzip file-name 
decompress: gzip -d file-name.gz
 bzip2 (.bz2): Also see: bunzip2, bzcat, bzip2recover 
compress: bzip2 file-name 
decompress: bunzip2 file-name.bz2
 compress (.Z): (Adaptive Lempel-Ziv compression) Also see: uncompress, zcat 
compress: compress file-name 
decompress: uncompress file-name.Z 
(Provided by the RPM package ncompress)
 pack (.z): Also see: unpack 
compress: pack file-name 
decompress: unpack file-name.z
 zip (.zip): Compress files or groups of files. (R.P.Byrne compression) Compatible with
PC PKZIP files. Also see: unzip 
compress: zip file-name 
decompress: unzip file-name.zip
Also see the GUI Gnome based program file-roller. The file utility is great for viewing the
contents and extracting compressed tar, RPM and Java "jar" files. It even can view and extract
compressed files within other compressed tar archives!! It can also create compressed archive
files as well. Great tool for inspecting an RPM package and reading the package documentation
before you decide to install the package. (Introduced in Red Hat 8.0) 
Gnome file-roller home page

File packing/archiving:

Basic file packing/archiving ultilities:

 shar (.shar): create shell archives which can be unpacked with /bin/sh 

Can also mix in tar, uuencode, mixed uuencode, gzip, etc. 
pack: shar *.h > includes.shar 
unpack: unshar includes.shar or sh
 ar (.a): create, modify or extract from archive library file. 
pack: ar cvq libctest.a ctest1.o ctest2.o 
unpack: ar x libctest.a 
Typicall used by programmers to generate link libraries. 
For more see the YoLinux Static, Shared Dynamic and Loadable Linux Libraries tutorial.

Using TAR (Tape Archive) for simple Linux backups:

It should be noted that automated enterprise wide multi-system backups should use a system
such as Amanda. (See Backup/Restore links on YoLinux home page) Simple backups can be
performed using the tar command:

tar -cvf /dev/st0 /home /opt

This will backup the files, directories and all it's subdirectories and files of the
directories /home and /opt to the first SCSI tape device. (/dev/st0)

Restoring files from backup:

tar -xvf /dev/st0

Script to perform weekly archive backups: /etc/cron.weekly/backup-weekly.sh

#!/bin/bash
tar -cz -f /mnt/BackupServer/user-id/backup-weekly-`date +%F`.tar.gz -C /home/user-id
dir-to-back-up

Be sure to allow execute permission on the script: chmod ugo+x /etc/cron.weekly/backup-

weekly.sh

Manual page for the tar command.

SELinux Tar:

"Security Enhanced" Linux archive backup, "star", will save and restore the SELinux attributes.
Note that the "tar" command will not operate with the "star" archive.
star -xattr -H=exustar -c -f archive-file.star /directory/path/to/backup/

For more on SELinux, see above section.

Notes:

 Backup using compression to put more on SCSI tape device: tar -z -cvf /dev/st0
/home /opt
 List contents of tape: tar -tf /dev/st0
 List contents of compressed backup tape: tar -tzf /dev/st0
 Backup directory to a floppy: tar -cvf /dev/fd0 /home/user1 
When restored it requires root because the root of the backup is "/home". 
For more on Linux floppy devices see the YoLinux tutorial: Using floppies with Linux.
 Backup sub-directory to floppy using a relative path: tar -cvf /dev/fd0 src 
First execute this command to go to the parent directory: cd /home/user1
 Backup sub-directory to floppy using a defined relative path: tar -cvf /dev/fd0 -C
/home/user1 src
 Restore from floppy: tar -xvf /dev/fd0
 Backup directory to a compressed archive file: 
tar -z -cvf /usr/local/Backups/backup-03212001.tar.gz -C /home/user2/src project-x 
List contents: tar -tzf /usr/local/Backups/backup-03212001.tar.gz 
Restore: 
cd /home/user2/src
tar -xzf /usr/local/Backups/backup-03212001.tar.gz

Also see:

 Automated Snapshot-Style Backups with Linux and Rsync

 Manual page for the mt mag tape control command. 
Example, rewind tape: mt -f /dev/st0 rewind
 Manual page for the dd command. 
Example, retrieve and convert data from tape: dd if=/dev/st0 bs=2 | tar -x - 
(National Institute of Justice (NIJ) Special Report documenting results of testing dd for
computer forensics)
 Manual page for the dump command. 
Example: /sbin/dump -0u -f /dev/st0 /home/user1 
Level 0 (everything backed up, not incremental) 
Option u: Update file /etc/dumpdates 
(XFS file system users use xfsdump) 
Note: this is also tied to the /etc/fstab file and dump flags (field 5) set for each file
system.
 Manual page for the restore command. 
(XFS file system users use xfsrestore)

System Fixes:
 Fix the error: "Failed to activate 'OAFID:GNOME_SettingsDaemon" This annoying
dialog box may appear after one logs in. Themes, sounds or background may cease to
operate properly. You may also get the error message "The Settings Daemon restarted
too many times."

To fix this condition run the script: /usr/bin/oaf-slay 

This script will kill OAF processes on systems using OAF and bonobo.
Admin Scripts:
 sysreport - This script generates an HTML report on your system configuration.

Admin Tips:
 Unix command line output is sent to the screen (default) but you would also like the
output to print to a file (bash shell): 
command 2>&1 | tee output-file.txt
 Red Hat Enterprise 4/Fedora Core (2+) GUI system configuration tool commands begin
with "system-config-". Type this in a bash shell and press tab twice to view all the GUI
configuration tool commands available.

Links:
 Process Monitoring HowTo - Alavoor Vasudevan
 SysAdmin Magazine - Journal for Unix System Administrators
 LinuxConf (Solucorp)
 Shell Script Resources:
o Bash: Linux terminal command guide
o http://theory.uwinnipeg.ca/UNIXhelp/scrpt/index.html
o Regular Expressions - By Peter Benjamin

SysAdmin Tools:

 Webmin

Alternate configurations:

 Diskless-HOWTO
 Diskless-root-NFS-HOWTO