Archive:Docs/Drafts/AdministrationGuide

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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.

Lead Writer: Bart Couvreur

All contributors and module assignments

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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 and fstab)
• 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 and anacron
• Scheduling a Task
• Using crontab Schedules