Linux Administration

5. Shells, Scripting and Data Management

5.1. Customize and use the shell environment

Description: Candidates should be able to customize shell environments to meet users’ needs. Candidates should be able to modify global and user profiles.

Key Knowledge Areas:

• Set environment variables (e.g. PATH) at login or when spawning a new shell
• Write Bash functions for frequently used sequences of commands
• Maintain skeleton directories for new user accounts
• Set command search path with the proper directory

5.2. Customize or write simple scripts

Description: Candidates should be able to customize existing scripts, or write simple new Bash scripts.

Key Knowledge Areas:

• Use standard sh syntax (loops, tests)
• Use command substitution
• Test return values for success or failure or other information provided by a command
• Perform conditional mailing to the superuser
• Correctly select the script interpreter through the shebang (#!) line
• Manage the location, ownership, execution and suid-rights of scripts

 

5.3. SQL data management

Description: Candidates should be able to query databases and manipulate data using basic SQL commands. This objective includes performing queries involving joining of 2 tables and/or subselects.

Key Knowledge Areas:

• Use of basic SQL commands
• Perform basic data manipulation

6. User Interfaces and Desktops

6.1. Install and configure X11

Description: Candidates should be able to install and configure X11.

Key Knowledge Areas:

• Verify that the video card and monitor are supported by an X server
• Awareness of the X font server
• Basic understanding and knowledge of the X Window configuration file

 

6.2 Setup a display manager

Description: Candidates should be able to describe the basic features and configuration of the LightDM display manager. This objective covers awareness of the display managers XDM (X Display Manger), GDM (Gnome Display Manager) and KDM (KDE Display Manager).

Key Knowledge Areas:

• Basic configuration of LightDM
• Turn the display manager on or off
• Change the display manager greeting
• Awareness of XDM, KDM and GDM

6.3 Accessibility

Description: Demonstrate knowledge and awareness of accessibility technologies.

Key Knowledge Areas:

• Basic knowledge of keyboard accessibility settings (AccessX)
• Basic knowledge of visual settings and themes
• Basic knowledge of assistive technology (ATs)

7: Administrative Tasks

7.1 Manage user and group accounts and related system files

Description: Candidates should be able to add, remove, suspend and change user accounts.

Key Knowledge Areas:

• Add, modify and remove users and groups
• Manage user/group info in password/group databases
• Create and manage special purpose and limited accounts

7.2 Automate system administration tasks by scheduling jobs

Description: Candidates should be able to use cron or anacron to run jobs at regular intervals and to use at to run jobs at a specific time.

Key Knowledge Areas:

• Manage cron and at jobs
• Configure user access to cron and at services
• Configure anacron

7.3 Localisation and internationalisation

Description: Candidates should be able to localize a system in a different language than English. As well, an understanding of why LANG=C is useful when scripting.

Key Knowledge Areas:

• Configure locale settings and environment variables
• Configure timezone settings and environment variables

8: Essential System Services

8.1 Maintain system time

Description: Candidates should be able to properly maintain the system time and synchronize the clock via NTP.

Key Knowledge Areas:

• Set the system date and time
• Set the hardware clock to the correct time in UTC
• Configure the correct timezone
• Basic NTP configuration
• Knowledge of using the pool.ntp.org service
• Awareness of the ntpq command

8.2 System logging

Description: Candidates should be able to configure the syslog daemon. This objective also includes configuring the logging daemon to send log output to a central log server or accept log output as a central log server. Use of the systemd journal subsystem is covered. Also, awareness of rsyslog and syslog-ng as alternative logging systems is included.

Key Knowledge Areas:

• Configuration of the syslog daemon
• Understanding of standard facilities, priorities and actions
• Configuration of logrotate
• Awareness of rsyslog and syslog-ng

8.3 Mail Transfer Agent (MTA) basics

Description: Candidates should be aware of the commonly available MTA programs and be able to perform basic forward and alias configuration on a client host. Other configuration files are not covered.

Key Knowledge Areas:

• Create e-mail aliases
• Configure e-mail forwarding
• Knowledge of commonly available MTA programs (postfix, sendmail, qmail, exim) (no configuration)

8.4 Manage printers and printing

Description: Candidates should be able to manage print queues and user print jobs using CUPS and the LPD compatibility interface.

Key Knowledge Areas:

• Basic CUPS configuration (for local and remote printers)
• Manage user print queues
• Troubleshoot general printing problems
• Add and remove jobs from configured printer queues

9: Networking Fundamentals

9.1 Fundamentals of internet protocols

Description: Candidates should demonstrate a proper understanding of TCP/IP network fundamentals.

Key Knowledge Areas:

• Demonstrate an understanding of network masks and CIDR notation
• Knowledge of the differences between private and public “dotted quad” IP addresses
• Knowledge about common TCP and UDP ports and services (20, 21, 22, 23, 25, 53, 80, 110, 123, 139, 143, 161, 162, 389, 443, 465, 514, 636, 993, 995)
• Knowledge about the differences and major features of UDP, TCP and ICMP
• Knowledge of the major differences between IPv4 and IPv6
• Knowledge of the basic features of IPv6

9.2 Basic network configuration

Description: Candidates should be able to view, change and verify configuration settings on client hosts.

Key Knowledge Areas:

• Manually and automatically configure network interfaces
• Basic TCP/IP host configuration
• Setting a default route

9.3 Basic network troubleshooting

Description: Candidates should be able to troubleshoot networking issues on client hosts.

Key Knowledge Areas:

• Manually and automatically configure network interfaces and routing tables to include adding, starting, stopping, restarting, deleting or reconfiguring network interfaces
• Change, view, or configure the routing table and correct an improperly set default route manually
• Debug problems associated with the network configuration

9.4 Configure client side DNS

Description: Candidates should be able to configure DNS on a client host.

Key Knowledge Areas:

• Query remote DNS servers
• Configure local name resolution and use remote DNS servers
• Modify the order in which name resolution is done

10: Security

10.1 Perform security administration tasks

Description: Candidates should know how to review system configuration to ensure host security in accordance with local security policies.

Key Knowledge Areas:

• Audit a system to find files with the suid/sgid bit set
• Set or change user passwords and password aging information
• Being able to use nmap and netstat to discover open ports on a system
• Set up limits on user logins, processes and memory usage
• Determine which users have logged in to the system or are currently logged in
• Basic sudo configuration and usage

10.2 Setup host security

Description: Candidates should know how to set up a basic level of host security.

Key Knowledge Areas:

• Awareness of shadow passwords and how they work
• Turn off network services not in use
• Understand the role of TCP wrappers

110.3 Securing data with encryption

Description: The candidate should be able to use public key techniques to secure data and communication.

Key Knowledge Areas:

• Perform basic OpenSSH 2 client configuration and usage
• Understand the role of OpenSSH 2 server host keys
• Perform basic GnuPG configuration, usage and revocation
• Understand SSH port tunnels (including X11 tunnels)

 

Our trainer have taught Linux Administration for  7 years.