Administration Guide
Documentation Summary:
Purpose: Document covering how to accomplish specific administrative tasks.
Audience: Individuals responsible for managing one or more Fedora systems.
Assumptions: The reader has access to a Fedora installation, but no particular type may be assumed. The system has the default network services installed with all Fedora installation types (SMTP, SSH, NFS, CUPS, and mDNS). The reader has a user account with the default settings. The reader has access to the root password. It is assumed that the reader has a basic knowledge of TCP/IP.
Related Documents: The DesktopUserGuide documents tasks using the desktop applications. The GettingStartedGuide is a general introduction to using Fedora. A Command-Line Survival Guide has been proposed to cover process management, file handling etc. A tutorial on Managing Software with yum has already been released. Look at the seminal Red Hat Enterprise Linux Introduction to System Administration for good ideas.
Sections
Pages for individual chapters:
- Introduction
- Working with User Accounts - Edit-ready
- Permissions - Edit-ready
- Access Controls - XML conversion-ready
- Managing Storage and Partitions
- Managing Software - Edit-ready
- Managing Services - Edit-ready
- Servers
- Mail Server
- Web Server - Edit-ready
- FTP Server
- Network File System/NFS Server - Edit-ready
- Samba Server - Edit-ready
- DNS And BIND - Edit-ready
- DHCP - Edit-ready
- NTP - Edit-ready
- Firewall/IP Tables - Edit-ready
- Using the Common UNIX Printing System
- Monitoring the System
- SchedulingTasks - Edit-ready
Summary of Sections
Brief description of the chapters:
Understanding the Directory Structure
- The File System Heirarchy
- Common Locations for Software
- Common Locations for Data
Working with User Accounts
- Understanding Logins and Sessions
- Managing User Accounts (creating, modifying and deleting)
- Securing User Accounts (e.g. password requirements)
- Managing Groups
Permissions
- Managing File and Directory Permissions
Access Controls
- Understanding Access Control Lists
Managing Storage and Partitions
LVM (Logical Volume Management) is the default for Fedora systems.
- Understanding LVM (overview, see Installation Guide)
- Adding a Drive (includes formatting partitions)
- Resizing LVM Partitions
- LVM Snapshotting
Working with Disks and Removable Storage
By default, attached storage should Just Work. Administrators may wish to modify the behavior of the mount system, or disable access to removable storage.
- Understanding Storage Configuration (
udev
andfstab
) - Managing Access to Removable Storage
- Configuring Other Storage Options
Managing Software
- Understanding Software Packages (link to the separate yum tutorial )
- Managing Scripts and Web Applications (same principles apply to both)
- Working with Source Code
Managing Services
- Understanding Run Levels
- Starting and Stopping Services
- Configuring Startup Services
- Managing Firewall Ports
Modifying the Startup Process
- Understanding Boot Loaders
- Advanced Boot Options
- Managing Kernels
- Running Commands on Startup
Using the Network File System
NFS is effectively an extension of the filesystem. The complication is maintaining a consistent set of account information between systems - LDAP requires separate documentation.
- Exporting a Directory (as an NFS share)
- Mounting a Remote Directory
Using the Common UNIX Printing System
- Adding a Printer
- Sharing a Printer
- Managing Print Jobs
Servers
- Mail Server
- Web Server
- FTP Server
- NFS Server
- Samba Server
- DNS/BIND name server
- Firewall IPTables (what would be more appropriate place for this one? perhaps separate section?)
Modifying the X Window System
- Understanding the X Window System
- Adding the X Window System (after installation)
- Configuring Graphics Hardware (
system-config-display
) - Selecting Graphical Desktops (switching between them, and adding new ones)
- Configuring Remote Desktop Access
- Attaching a Remote Desktop
Monitoring the System
- Enabling E-mail Reports
- Reading Logs
- Configuring Advanced Logging (setting up a log analyzer, redirecting syslog to a separate server)
Scheduling Tasks
Note that /etc/cron.* directories are sufficient for most tasks, but crontab
ought to be mentioned for more precise control.
- Understanding
cron
andanacron
- Scheduling a Task
- Using
crontab
Schedules