Note: although it is not required, I strongly urge to sign up a daily newsletter of tips, tricks, & information about Linux called The Penguin Shell. It's quite good. To subscribe, go here -- http://www.lockergnome.com/issues/penguinshell.html -- and then scroll down, check the box next to "For Linux users", enter your email, and then sign up.
6 September 2003 ~ Jumping in head first
Topics: History ~ installation ~ logging in & out ~ Reboot & shutdown
Readings
- History & background
- An Overview of the UNIX Operating System ~ http://www.bell-labs.com/history/unix/tutorial.html ~ From the folks at Lucent, formerly Bell Labs, where UNIX was invented
- The Creation of the UNIX Operating System ~ http://www.bell-labs.com/history/unix/ ~ Bell Labs, the inventors of UNIX, tell the story (stupidly broken up over page after page after page, instead of on one big page ... *sigh*)
- The new kernel: 2.6.0
- Linux v2.6 scales the enterprise ~ http://www.infoworld.com/article/04/01/30/05FElinux_1.html?s=feature ~ "Bigger, stronger kernel sizzles in our performance tests"
- How the Linux kernel gets built ~ http://www.infoworld.com/article/04/01/30/05FElinuxdev_1.html?s=feature ~ A nice overview of the kernel development process.
- Migrating to Linux kernel 2.6 -- Part 1: Customizing a 2.6-based kernel ~ http://www.linuxdevices.com/articles/AT3855888078.html
- Linux distributions
- LinuxISO ~ http://www.linuxiso.org/
- Comparison of Linux Distributions ~ http://www.distrowatch.com/
- CD-based Linux Distributions ~ http://www.distrowatch.com/cd.php ~ Linux distros that fit on one CD & allow you to boot off them without affecting your computer.
- Knoppix gives bootable, one-disk Linux ~ http://www-106.ibm.com/developerworks/linux/library/l-knopp.html?ca=dgr-lnxw02Knoppix
- Looking at Libranet GNU/Linux 2.8 ~ http://www.linuxiran.org/modules/news/article.php?storyid=232
- Fedora and Red Hat to Merge ~ http://www.linuxjournal.com/article.php?sid=7169
- Installation
- Partitioning
- Linux Partition HOWTO ~ http://www.tldp.org/HOWTO/mini/Partition/ ~ The complete explanation about all facets of partitioning disks in Linux.
- Disk Partitioning Setup, from The Official Red Hat Linux x86 Installation Guide ~ http://www.redhat.com/docs/manuals/linux/RHL-8.0-Manual/install-guide/s1-diskpartsetup.html
- An Introduction to Disk Partitions, from The Official Red Hat Linux x86 Installation Guide ~ http://www.redhat.com/docs/manuals/linux/RHL-8.0-Manual/install-guide/ch-partitions.html
- Proper Filesystem Layout ~ http://linux.oreillynet.com/lpt/a/1221 ~ "... some basic guidelines for how to partition your all-important data"
- Root
- Root 101: If you don't 'get it,' you probably haven't got it ~ http://www.iodynamics.com/education/root101.html ~ "This article is intended to help explain what root access is, whether you need it, what you can do with it, and how you can get it."
13 September 2003 ~ Installation & GUIs
Topics: Installation ~ X Windows ~ KDE & GNOME overview ~ updating Linux
Commands
- halt, shutdown, logout, exit
- startx
- switchdesk
Programs
- Desktop environments: KDE, GNOME, & switchdesk
- Updating Linux: apt-get
Readings
20 September 2003 ~ Your data
Topics: Files & directories ~ Konqueror file manager ~ permissions ~ help
Commands
- cd, ls, pwd
- file
- cp, mv, mkdir
- rm, rmdir
- ln
- more, cat
- find, locate, whereis
- chmod, chown, chgrp
- man, info
Programs
- File managers: Konqueror, Nautilus
Readings
27 September 2003 ~ Administration using GUI tools
Topics: Webmin & built-in admin tools
Commands:
Programs
Readings
- System administration overviews
- Networking
- Users and Groups
- System Administration
- Using the /proc virtual filesystem
4 October 2003 ~ Software installation
Topics: Installing software ~ building from source ~ recompiling the kernel
Commands
- rpm, apt-get
- ftp
- tar
- configure, make, make install
- make xconfig, make menuconfig, make config
- make dep, make clean, make bzImage
- make modules, make modules_install
Programs
- RPM: Gnome RPM, Package Manager, Red Carpet
- Kernel configuration: xconfig
Readings
11 October 2003 ~ Commands galore
Topics: BASH shell ~ commands ~ basic sysadmin
Commands
- grep, cat, more, head, tail
- | (pipe), >, <
- *, ?, []
- alias, unalias
- &, ps, kill
- mount, umount
- df, du
- gzip, gunzip
Programs
- Add users (& much, much more): Linuxconf
Readings
- Collections
- Alphabetical Directory of Linux Commands ~ http://www.onlamp.com/linux/cmd/
- 'Dogs' of the Linux Shell ~ http://www.linuxjournal.com/article.php?sid=6158 ~ head, tail, tac, nl, fmt, fold, tr, pr, basename, dirname
- Free Online Unix Training Materials: Unix Commandline Skills ~ http://www.kegel.com/linux/training.html ~ Manuals and course notes, listed in order of increasing skill level
- Archiving
- CLI for noobies: making and melting tarballs ~ http://www.newsforge.com/article.pl?sid=03/11/19/2314243
- UNIX Tutorial: Lesson 8: Archiving Utilities ~ http://www.ctssn.com/linux/lesson8.html
- Various commands
18 October 2003 ~ Day to day work
Topics: Text editors ~ office software ~ printing ~ Web browsers ~ Email
Commands
Programs
- Text editors: pico, vi, emacs, Kate, gEdit, KWrite
- Calendar: ical, calendar, KOrganizer
- Word processing: AbiWord
- Spreadsheet: Gnumeric
- Office Suite: OpenOffice, StarOffice, KOffice
- Web browsers: Mozilla, Netscape, Konqueror, Galeon, Opera
- Email: Evolution, Mozilla Mail, KMail, Sylpheed, balsa, pine
- Calculator: Calculator
- Personal Finance: GnuCash
Readings
25 October 2003 ~ Networking via NFS
Topics: Networking ~ Internetworking ~ NFS
Commands:
Readings
1 November 2003 ~ Samba
Topics:
Commands:
Programs:
- LinNeighborhood
- KSambaPlugin
Readings
8 November 2003 ~ Working with Windows
Topics: Windows partitions & floppies ~ Win4Lin ~ Wine
Commands:
Readings
15 November 2003 ~
22 November 2003 ~
29 November 2003 ~ No class: Thanksgiving
6 December 2003 ~
13 December 2003 ~ Security / Goodbyes
Topics: Monitoring your system ~ securing security
Commands: top
Readings
- The Official Red Hat Linux Security Guide ~ http://www.redhat.com/docs/manuals/linux/RHL-8.0-Manual/security-guide/
- Secure distributions
- Security resources
- Security Focus ~ http://www.securityfocus.com
- Qaddisin ~ http://www.qaddisin.com
- Qaddisin Security Blog ~ http://blog.qaddisin.com/ ~ News & commentary about the world of security
- System hardening
- UNIX System Hardening Checklist ~ http://www.linuxmagazine.com/2002-09/harden_list.htm
- Go Directly to Jail: Secure Untrusted Applications with Chroot ~ http://www.linux-mag.com/2002-12/chroot_01.html
- Firewalls
- Basic Firewall Configuration, from The Official Red Hat Linux Customization Guide ~ http://www.redhat.com/docs/manuals/linux/RHL-8.0-Manual/custom-guide/ch-basic-firewall.html
- Linux Productivity Magazine: IPTables ~ http://www.troubleshooters.com/lpm/200305/200305.htm ~ An excellent, lengthy introduction to IPTables.
- User tools
- Intrusion Detection
- Real-time alerting with Snort, part 1, part 2, & part 3 ~ "Snort is built to perform one task and perform it very well. It does a magnificent job of detecting intrusions."
- Assessment tools
- Audit Your LAN Before the Bad Guys Do with nmap ~ http://networking.earthweb.com/netsecur/article/0,,12084_1429131,00.html ~ A very brief intro to one of the most useful security tools available: nmap.
- Scanning and Defending Networks with Nmap ~ http://www.linuxsecurity.com/feature_stories/feature_story-4.html ~ A more detailed look at nmap.
- Introduction to Nessus, a Vulnerability Scanner ~ http://www.linuxsecurity.com/feature_stories/nessusintro-printer.html ~ An excellent step-by-step overview of Nessus: how to install it & how to use it.
- Police your network traffic with IPTraf ~ http://techupdate.zdnet.co.uk/story/0,,t481-s2109393,00.html ~ An intro to an open source, free, "simple, reliable network monitoring tool"
- Bridge the Gap Between Physical and Virtual Networking with netstat ~ http://www.linuxjournal.com/article.php?sid=6613 ~ "Use netstat and a variety of options to see what services are available on what hosts, where the vulnerabilities are and more."
- Making a Connection with tcpdump ~ http://www.linuxjournal.com/article.php?sid=6446 ~ "How to use tcpdump and what to do with the data you collect."
- Incident Response Tools For Unix, Part One: System Tools ~ http://www.securityfocus.com/infocus/1679 ~ "... tools that are useful during incident response and investigation after a compromise has occurred ..."
- Open source security
- Viruses: a concern for all of us ~ http://tldp.org/linuxfocus/English/September2002/article255.shtml ~ An excellent overview of viruses, trojans, and the like, along with reasons that open source software is safer.
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