Preface/Introduction
Overview/Background Expected
Common command review
cat, echo, pwd, ls, more or less, file, *sh
Common shells in system administration review
Bash, Bourne, Korn, C Shell
CDE desktop review
GUI administration
System Essentials
Startup
Basic startup
/etc/init
runlevels
rc scripts
Shutdown
shutdown vs. reboot and halt
Administration Tools:
SMIT vs. Command line
Editors
GUI text editors
vi is still your friend
Navigation
GUI and text use of SMIT
User Management
Adding a new user
Password
Home Directory
Profile
Deleting a User
Deactivating an Account
Change password
Change shell
Archiving
To removable media
Make on-line read-only
Wait, then remove
Permissions for Users and
Groups and Others
Authorization
File Protection and Ownership
Setting special file permissions
Setting default creation permissions
Guidelines
Tools and tips
Advanced permissions
File Types
Regular files
Directories
Character special files
Block special files
The AIX /dev directory
Major/Minor device numbers
Creating device files
Symbolic links
Named pipes
Sockets
Filesystems
Disk Geometry: from blocks to partitions
Partitions and directories - mount
Higher-level abstraction: LVM
Journaled filesystems
Demo lab – create filesystem
Filesystem
Care and Feeding
Df
Du
Find
Files that grow
Filesystem integrity
Data and Meta-Data
Tripwire and Aide
Initial Setup
Computer Roles
Desktop
Server
Hardware
Central Unit
Power and Cooling
Keyboard/Mouse
Monitor
ASCII Terminal (headless)
KVM switch
Unconfiguring a system prior to movement
sys-unconfig
Software Install
CDROM/DVD
Automatic Jobs
Cron
Permissions
Authorization
At
Permission
Authorization
Backup and Restore
Media
Tape
Optical
CD-ROM
DVD
Magnetic Disk
Firewire
Hot-Plug
Logical – directory structure
tar
cpio
Physical – partition structure
Dd
Dump/restore
Consistent: Point in Time/Snapshot/Quiescent
Disaster recovery - bootable backups
Demo lab of recovery
Printing
Printer Types
Imaging: Ink Jet/Laser
Language: Postscript/PCL
Interface: Serial/Parallel/Network
Adding Printers
Managing Print Queues
Basic Networking
TCP/IP Network Basics
Ipv4 vs Ipv6
NAT
Hardware Connectivity
Coax
UTP
WiFi
Basic NIC configuration
DHCP vs. manual
NIC names
Address
Netmask
Default Route
Name Service
nsswitch.conf
/etc/hosts
DNS
Firewalls and security
iptables
tcp wrappers
Additional administrative tasks
Basic Performance Tuning
Summary of common tools
vmstat, iostat, netstat, swapon, etc.
Baseline
performance documentation
Kernel configuration
Loading kernel modules
Dynamic changes
Static (kernel rebuild) changes
Managing software licenses:
Vendor licenses
3rd party software licenses
X Windows – network login
Software Updates
Software subsets
Application Software
Helpful topics:
NTP
Ssh
rsync
Aeleen Frisch’s (author of Essential System
Administration) top five:
Amanda
LDAP
GRUB
Nagios
Cfengine
Closed-source multi-platform tools
Openview
Tivoli
Other Sysadmin Tasks (see the Practice
of System and Network Administration)
Handling User
Requests
Trouble Ticket System
Change/Configuration Management
Test/Staging/Production
Monitoring/Paging
From Client to Server – Network
Services
Workgroup
Printing
File Sharing
SMB Services
Enterprise
e-mail
web server
DNS
Streaming Media
Directory Services – LDAP
(Appendix)
Other Helps:
Man Pages
Vendor-Specific Documentation
Web Resources
Usenix
SAGE
O’Reilly Associates Books
Users’ Groups
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