by Emmett Dulaney
8 BOOKS IN ONE
at a Glance
Book 1: Getting Started with Linux
Introducing Linux
Installing Linux
Troubleshooting and Configuring Linux
Trying Out Linux
Book 2: Linux Desktops
GNOME and Its Derivatives
The KDE Plasma Desktop
Commanding the Shell
Navigating the Linux File System
Introducing Linux Applications
Using Text Editors
Book 3: Networking
Connecting to the Internet
Setting Up a Local Area Network
Going Wireless
Managing the Network
Book 4: The Internet
Browsing the Web
Using FTP
Hosting Internet Services
Managing Mail Servers
Managing DNS
Book 5: Administration
Introducing Basic System Administration
Managing Users and Groups
Managing File Systems
Working with Samba and NFS
Book 6: Security
Introducing Linux Security
Securing Linux
Vulnerability Testing and Computer Security Audits
Book 7: Scripting
Introductory Shell Scripting
Working with Advanced Shell Scripting
Programming in Linux
Book 8: Linux Certification
Studying for the Linux Essentials Certification Exam
Studying for the CompTIA Linux+ Powered by LPI Certification Exams
Other Linux Certifications
Purchase Now !
Just with Paypal
Just with Paypal
Book Details
Price
|
3.50 USD |
|---|---|
Pages
| 563 p |
File Size
|
17,843 KB |
File Type
|
PDF format |
ISBN
| 978-1-119-49046-3 (pbk) 978-1-119-49052-4 (ebk) 978-1-119-49045-6 (ebk) |
Copyright
| 2018 by John Wiley & Sons, Inc |
Linux All-in-One For Dummies gives you eight quick-reference guides in a single
book. Taken together, these eight minibooks provide detailed information on
installing, configuring, and using Linux, as well as pointers for passing the vendorneutral
certification exams available from the Linux Professional Institute (LPI) to
authenticate your skills.
What you’ll like most about this book is that you don’t have to sequentially read
the whole thing chapter by chapter — or even read through each section in a
chapter. You can pretty much turn to the topic you want and quickly get the
answer to your pressing questions about Linux, whether they’re about using the
LibreOffice.org word processor, setting up the Apache web server, or a wide range of topics.
Here are some of the things you can do with this book:
»»Install and configure Linux using the information given in this book.
»»Connect the Linux PC to the Internet through a DSL or cable modem.
»»Add a wireless Ethernet to your existing network.
»»Get tips, techniques, and shortcuts for specific uses of Linux, such as
• Setting up and using Internet services
• Setting up a Windows server using Samba
• Using Linux commands
• Using shell programming
• Using the LibreOffice.org office suite and other applications that come with Linux
»»Understand the basics of system and network security.
»»Perform system administration tasks.
I use a simple notational style in this book. All listings, filenames, function names,
variable names, and keywords are typeset in a monospace font for ease of reading.
I italicize the first occurrences of new terms and concepts and then provide a definition
right there. I show typed commands in boldface. The output of commands
and any listing of files are shown in a monospace font.
Topics that correspond to the certification objectives are important after you’ve
become comfortable enough with the operating system to consider taking the certification
exams. As we discuss the material, Tips draw your attention to the key
concepts and topics tested in the LX0-103 and LX0-104 exams (both of which you
must pass to become certified by the Linux Professional Institute). Note, though,
that not all Tips indicate material that’s on the exams; I also share other types of
information in Tips.
If you are a novice to Linux, overlook the certification objective information as
you read. Only after you become comfortable with the operating system, and are
considering authenticating your skills by taking the LPI exams, should you revisit
the book and look for this information.
Each minibook zeros in on a specific task area — such as using the Internet or
running Internet servers — and then provides hands-on instructions on how to
perform a series of related tasks. You can jump right to a section and read about a
specific task. You don’t have to read anything but the few paragraphs or the list of
steps that relate to your question. Use the Table of Contents or the Index to locate
the pages relevant to your question.
You can safely ignore text next to the Technical Stuff icons, as well as text in sidebars.
However, if you’re the kind of person who likes to know some of the hidden
details of how Linux works, then, by all means, dig into the Technical Stuff icons
and the sidebars.
Table of Contents
INTRODUCTION. 1
About This Book. 2
Foolish Assumptions. 3
Icons Used in This Book. 4
Beyond the Book. 4
Where to Go from Here. 5
BOOK 1: GETTING STARTED WITH LINUX. 7
CHAPTER 1: Introducing Linux. 9
What Is Linux? . 9
Linux distributions. 10
Making sense of version numbers. 13
Linux Standard Base (LSB). 14
Contents of a Linux Distribution. 15
GNU software. 15
GUIs and applications. 16
Networks. 19
Internet servers. 19
Software development. 20
Online documentation. 22
Managing Your PC with Linux. 23
Distribution media .23
Peripheral devices. 24
File systems and sharing . 25
Network . 25
Getting Started. 26
Step 1: Install . 26
Step 2: Configure. 26
Step 3: Explore. 27
Step 4: Find out more. 27
CHAPTER 2: Installing Linux. 29
Following the Installation Steps. 29
Checking Your PC’s Hardware. 31
Setting Aside Space for Linux . 33
Trying a Live CD. 34
Installing Linux on a Flash Drive. 35
Creating the bootable flash drive. 35
Troubleshooting the workstation. 36
Working daily with the new drive. 37
CHAPTER 3: Troubleshooting and Configuring Linux. 39
Using Text Mode Installation. 40
Troubleshooting X. 40
Resolving Other Installation Problems. 42
Using Knoppix boot commands . 42
Handling the fatal signal 11 error. 45
Getting around the PC reboot problem. 45
Using Linux kernel boot options. 48
Setting Up Printers . 48
Managing DVDs, CD-ROMs, and Flash Drives. 51
Installing Other Software. 51
Installing software in Debian and Ubuntu. 52
Installing software in Fedora. 54
Installing software in SUSE. 55
CHAPTER 4: Trying Out Linux. 57
Starting Linux. 57
Playing with the Shell . 60
Starting the bash shell . 61
Understanding shell commands. 62
Trying a few Linux commands. 62
Shutting Down. 64
BOOK 2: LINUX DESKTOPS . 67
CHAPTER 1: GNOME and Its Derivatives. 69
Getting to Know the GNOME Desktop. 70
Understanding the GNOME Panels .72
The top panel. 72
The desktop. 72
The bottom panel . 73
Looking at Unity. 73
Looking at Cinnamon. 73
Looking at MATE . 74
CHAPTER 2: The KDE Plasma Desktop. 75
Getting to Know the Plasma Desktop. 75
Desktop contextual menus . 77
Icon contextual menus. 77
Understanding the Plasma Panel. 78
The Main Menu button. 79
Panel icons. 80
Configuring the Plasma Bottom Panel. 81
Configuring the Plasma Desktop. 81
CHAPTER 3: Commanding the Shell . 83
Opening Terminal Windows and Virtual Consoles. 83
Using the bash Shell. 84
Understanding the syntax of shell commands. 85
Combining shell commands . 86
Controlling command input and output . 87
Typing less with automatic command completion. 89
Going wild with asterisks and question marks. 90
Repeating previously typed commands. 91
Discovering and Using Linux Commands . 92
Becoming root (superuser) . 97
Managing processes. 97
Working with date and time. 99
Processing files . 100
Writing Shell Scripts . 102
CHAPTER 4: Navigating the Linux File System. 105
Understanding the Linux File System. 105
Navigating the File System with Linux Commands. 110
Commands for directory navigation. 110
Commands for directory listings and permissions. 112
Commands for changing permissions and ownerships . 114
Commands for working with files. 116
Commands for working with directories. 117
Commands for finding files. 118
Commands for mounting and unmounting . 119
Commands for checking disk-space use. 120
CHAPTER 5: Introducing Linux Applications. 123
Taking Stock of Linux Applications. 124
Introducing Office Applications and Tools. 124
LibreOffice.org office suite. 125
Calendars. 128
Calculators. 128
Checking out Multimedia Applications. 129
Using a digital camera. 130
Playing audio CDs. 131
Playing sound files. 131
Burning a DVD or CD. 132
Using Graphics and Imaging Apps . 133
The GIMP . 133
GNOME Ghostview. 134
CHAPTER 6: Using Text Editors. 137
Using GUI Text Editors . 137
Text Editing with ed and vi. 140
Using ed . 141
Using vi. 145
BOOK 3: NETWORKING .151
CHAPTER 1: Connecting to the Internet. 153
Understanding the Internet. 154
Deciding How to Connect to the Internet . 155
Connecting with DSL. 156
How DSL works . 156
DSL alphabet soup: ADSL, IDSL, SDSL . 157
Typical DSL setup. 158
Connecting with a Cable Modem . 162
How a cable modem works. 162
Typical cable modem setup. 164
CHAPTER 2: Setting Up a Local Area Network. 167
Understanding TCP/IP. 167
IP addresses. 169
Internet services and port numbers. 170
Setting Up an Ethernet LAN. 172
How Ethernet works. 173
Ethernet cables . 174
Configuring TCP/IP Networking. 176
Connecting Your LAN to the Internet. 178
CHAPTER 3: Going Wireless . 181
Understanding Wireless Ethernet Networks. 181
Understanding infrastructure and ad hoc modes. 183
Understanding Wired Equivalent Privacy (WEP). 183
Setting Up Wireless Hardware. 184
Configuring the Wireless Access Point. 185
Configuring Wireless Networking. 186
CHAPTER 4: Managing the Network. 191
Discovering the TCP/IP Configuration Files. 191
/etc/hosts. 192
/etc/networks. 193
/etc/host.conf. 193
/etc/resolv.conf . 193
/etc/hosts.allow. 194
/etc/hosts.deny . 195
/etc/nsswitch.conf. 195
Checking Out TCP/IP Networks. 196
Checking the network interfaces. 196
Checking the IP routing table. 196
Checking connectivity to a host. 197
Checking network status . 198
Sniffing network packets . 199
Using GUI tools . 200
Configuring Networks at Boot Time. 201
BOOK 4: THE INTERNET. 203
CHAPTER 1: Browsing the Web. 205
Surfing the Web. 205
Like a giant spider’s web. 206
Links and URLs. 206
Web servers and web browsers . 209
Web Browsing in Linux. 209
Checking out web browsers for Linux . 210
Introducing Firefox’s user interface . 210
Changing your home page. 213
Surfing the Internet with Firefox. 214
CHAPTER 2: Using FTP. 217
Using Graphical FTP Clients. 218
Using gFTP . 218
Introducing FileZilla. 220
Using a web browser as an FTP client . 221
Using the Command-Line FTP Client . 223
CHAPTER 3: Hosting Internet Services. 229
Understanding Internet Services . 229
TCP/IP and sockets . 230
Internet services and port numbers. 233
Using the Internet Super Server. 235
Using inetd. 236
Using xinetd. 237
Running Stand-Alone Servers . 239
Starting and stopping servers manually . 240
Starting servers automatically at boot time . 240
CHAPTER 4: Managing Mail Servers . 245
Installing the Mail Server. 245
Using sendmail . 245
A mail-delivery test. 246
The mail-delivery mechanism. 247
The sendmail configuration file. 247
Syntax of the sendmail.cf file. 253
Other sendmail files . 254
The .forward file. 256
The sendmail alias file. 257
CHAPTER 5: Managing DNS. 259
Understanding the Domain Name System (DNS). 259
What is DNS? . 260
Discovering hierarchical domain names. 261
Exploring BIND. 262
Configuring DNS . 266
Configuring the resolver. 266
Configuring a caching name server . 267
Configuring a primary name server. 278
BOOK 5: ADMINISTRATION. 281
CHAPTER 1: Introducing Basic System Administration. 283
Taking Stock of System Administration Tasks. 284
Becoming root. 285
Using the su - command. 285
Recovering from a forgotten root password. 286
Understanding How Linux Boots . 287
Understanding the init process. 288
Examining the /etc/inittab file. 289
Trying a new run level with the init command. 291
Understanding the Linux startup scripts. 291
Manually starting and stopping servers. 292
Automatically starting servers at system startup. 293
Taking Stock of Linux System Configuration Files . 294
Monitoring System Performance . 296
Using the top utility. 297
Using the uptime command . 298
Using the vmstat utility. 299
Checking disk performance and disk usage . 300
Viewing System Information with the /proc File System. 302
Understanding Linux Devices. 305
Device files. 305
Persistent device naming with udev. 307
Managing Loadable Driver Modules. 308
Loading and unloading modules. 308
Understanding the /etc/modprobe.d files. 309
Scheduling Jobs in Linux. 310
Scheduling one-time jobs. 310
Scheduling recurring jobs .312
Introducing Some GUI System Administration Tools. 316
CHAPTER 2: Managing Users and Groups. 319
Adding User Accounts. 320
Managing user accounts by using a GUI user manager . 320
Managing user accounts by using commands. 322
Understanding the /etc/passwd File. 323
Managing Groups. 324
Setting Other User and Group Administration Values. 325
Exploring the User Environment. 326
Changing User and Group Ownership of Files. 328
CHAPTER 3: Managing File Systems. 331
Exploring the Linux File System. 331
Understanding the file-system hierarchy. 333
Mounting a device on the file system. 336
Examining the /etc/fstab file . 337
Sharing Files with NFS. 339
Exporting a file system with NFS. 340
Mounting an NFS file system. 341
Backing Up and Restoring Files. 341
Selecting a backup strategy and media. 342
Commercial backup utilities for Linux. 343
Using the tape archiver: tar. 343
Accessing a DOS or Windows File System. 348
Mounting a DOS or Windows disk partition . 348
Mounting those ancient DOS floppy disks. 349
Mounting an NTFS partition. 351
CHAPTER 4: Working with Samba and NFS. 353
Sharing Files with NFS. 353
Exporting a file system with NFS. 354
Mounting an NFS file system. 357
Setting Up a Windows Server Using Samba . 357
Installing Samba . 359
Configuring Samba. 359
Trying out Samba .360
BOOK 6: SECURITY. 363
CHAPTER 1: Introducing Linux Security. 365
Why Worry about Security?. 366
Establishing a Security Framework. 366
Determining business requirements for security. 368
Performing risk analysis. 368
Establishing a security policy. 370
Implementing security solutions (mitigation). 371
Managing security. 372
Securing Linux. 372
Understanding the host-security issues. 373
Understanding network-security issues. 374
Delving Into Computer Security Terminology and Tools. 375
Keeping Up with Security News and Updates. 379
CHAPTER 2: Securing Linux . 381
Securing Passwords . 382
Shadow passwords. 382
Pluggable authentication modules (PAMs). 383
Protecting Files and Directories . 384
Viewing ownerships and permissions . 385
Changing file ownerships. 385
Changing file permissions . 385
Setting default permission. 386
Checking for set user ID permission. 388
Encrypting and Signing Files with GnuPG . 389
Understanding public key encryption . 389
Understanding digital signatures. 390
Using GPG. 391
Monitoring System Security. 396
Securing Internet Services. 397
Turning off stand-alone services. 397
Configuring the Internet super server. 398
Configuring TCP wrapper security . 398
Using Secure Shell for Remote Logins. 399
Setting Up Simple Firewalls. 402
Using NAT. 405
Enabling packet filtering on your Linux system . 406
Security Files to Be Aware Of. 411
CHAPTER 3: Vulnerability Testing and Computer
Security Audits. 413
Understanding Security Audits. 414
Nontechnical aspects of security audits. 414
Technical aspects of security audits. 415
Implementing a Security Test Methodology. 416
Some common computer vulnerabilities. 417
Host-security review. 418
Network-security review. 422
Vulnerability Testing Types . 424
Exploring Security Testing Tools. 425
BOOK 7: SCRIPTING. 429
CHAPTER 1: Introductory Shell Scripting. 431
Trying Out Simple Shell Scripts. 432
Exploring the Basics of Shell Scripting. 433
Storing stuff. 434
Calling shell functions. 435
Controlling the flow. 435
Exploring bash’s built-in commands. 439
CHAPTER 2: Working with Advanced Shell Scripting . 443
Trying Out sed. 443
Working with awk and sed. 446
Step 1: Pull out the ISBN. 447
Step 2: Calculate the 13th digit. 448
Step 3: Add the 13th digit to the other 12. 449
Step 4: Finish the process. 450
Final Notes on Shell Scripting . 450
CHAPTER 3: Programming in Linux. 451
An Overview of Programming. 452
Exploring the Software-Development Tools in Linux. 453
GNU C and C++ compilers. 454
The GNU make utility . 458
The GNU debugger. 466
Understanding the Implications of GNU Licenses. 473
The GNU General Public License. 473
The GNU Library General Public License. 474
BOOK 8: LINUX CERTIFICATION. 477
CHAPTER 1: Studying for the Linux Essentials
Certification Exam. 479
Overview of Linux Essentials. 479
The Linux Community and a Career in Open Source. 480
Finding Your Way on a Linux System. 482
The Power of the Command Line. 483
The Linux Operating System. 485
Security and File Permissions . 486
CHAPTER 2: Studying for the CompTIA Linux+ Powered
by LPI Certification Exams. 489
Overview of the CompTIA Linux+ Exams. 489
System Architecture. 490
Linux Installation and Package Management. 492
GNU and Unix Commands. 494
Devices, Linux File Systems, Filesystem Hierarchy Standard. 495
Shells, Scripting, and Data Management. 497
User Interfaces and Desktops. 498
Administrative Tasks. 500
Essential System Services. 501
Networking Fundamentals. 502
Security. 504
CHAPTER 3: Other Linux Certifications. 507
Vendor-Neutral Certifications. 507
Vendor-Specific Certifications. 508
INDEX. 509
Bookscreen
Foolish Assumptions
I assume that you’re familiar with a PC — you know how to turn it on and off and
you’ve dabbled with Windows. (Considering that most new PCs come preloaded
with Windows, this assumption is safe, right?) And I assume that you know how
to use some Windows applications, such as Microsoft Office.
When installing Linux on your PC, you may want to retain your Windows installations.
I assume that you don’t mind shrinking the Windows partition to make
room for Linux. For this procedure, you can invest in a good disk-partitioning tool
or use one of the partitioning tools included with most Linux distributions.
I also assume that you’re willing to accept the risk that when you try to install
Linux, some things may not quite work. Problems can happen if you have some
uncommon types of hardware. If you’re afraid of ruining your system, try finding
a slightly older, spare Pentium PC that you can sacrifice and then install Linux on that PC.
Linux All-in-One Desk Reference For Dummies has eight minibooks, each of which
focuses on a small set of related topics. If you’re looking for information on a
specific topic, check the minibook names on the thumbtabs or consult the Table of Contents.