Prerequisite Modules
Description
This module is designed to introduce
the student to the principles and practice of system administration.
It is a practical module which will equip the student with sufficient
knowledge and skill to be able to function as a system administrator
or as a technical support agent.
Aims
-
To introduce general principles of
computer systems Administration.
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To equip the student with a
sufficient understanding of the architecture of computer systems to
support systems administration activities.
-
To give hands on practice of
applying systems administration techniques.
Learning Outcomes
On successful completion of this
module, the student will be able to:
-
Have a broad overview of system
administration
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Be able to analyse the
architecture of a computer system and understand the significance of
different architectural features and their affect on system
administration.
-
Be able to perform the basic
system administration operations
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Appreciate the protocols and
policies of System Administration
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Be competent and experienced at
performing the common system administration operations
-
Develop further appreciation of
the protocols and policies of System Administration
Learning and Teaching Methods
Lectures, self-study, labs,
tutorials, and any combination of discussion, case study,
problem-solving exercises, readings, seminars, and computer-based
learning.
Content
Essential Tasks of the System
Administrator
Adding and Removing Users. Adding
and Removing Hardware. Performing Backups. Installing New Software.
Monitoring the System. Managing system resources - CPU, memory, disk
I/O disk space. Troubleshooting. Maintaining Local Documentation.
Security. Contingency planning, disaster recovery. Helping Users.
Booting and Shutting Down
Bootstrapping. Automatic and Manual
Booting. Steps in the Boot Process. Kernel Initialization. Hardware
Configuration. System Processes. Scripts. Startup scripts. rebooting
and shutting down. Turning off the power.
Controlling Processes
Components of a Process. PID:
Process ID Number. PPID: Parent PID. UID and EUID: Real and Effective
User ID. GID and EGID: Real and Effective Group ID. Niceness. Control
Terminal. The Life Cycle of a Process. Signals. Kill: Send Signals.
Process States. Nice and Renice: Influence Scheduling Priority. Ps:
Monitor Processes. Top: Monitor Processes Even Better. Runaway
Processes.
The Filesystem
Pathnames. Mounting and Unmounting
Filesystems. The Organization of the File Tree. File Types. Regular
Files. Directories. Character and Block Device Files. UNIX Domain
Sockets. Named Pipes. Symbolic Links. File Attributes. The Setuid and
Setgid Bits. The Sticky Bit. The Permission Bits. Viewing File
Attributes. Freebsd Bonus Flags. Chmod: Change Permissions. Chown and
Chgrp: Change Ownerships. Umask: Assign Default Permissions.
UNIX User Management
The /etc/passwd File. Login Name.
The Superuser Encrypted Password. UID Number. Default GID Number.
GECOS Field. Home Directory. Login Shell. Setting an Initial Password.
Creating the User's Home Directory. Copying in the Default Startup
Files. Setting the User's Mail Home. Editing the /etc/group File.
Setting Disk Quotas. Verifying the New Login. Removing Users.
Disabling Logins. Vendor-Supplied Account Management Utilities.
Windows User Management
LDAP Protocol. Microsoft Active
Directory. Novell Active Director. Open LDAP. User account creation.
User Group Creation. User Management Tools. Domain Structures.
Logon Procedures
UNIX Logon procedures. Character
Mode, Graphical Mode. dtlogin on Solaris and other UNIX variants.
Windows Logon Procedures. Windows Telnet Services. Windows Terminal
Services.
Backups
Labelling Tapes. Selecting a Backup
Interval. Comparison of Filesystems . Make Filesystems Smaller than
the Backup Device. Protection of Backups. Checking backups Tapes.
Develop a Tape Life Cycle. Designing Data for Backups. Backup Devices
and Media. Setting Up an Incremental Backup Regime. Dumping
Filesystems. Dump Sequences. Restoring from Dumps. Restoring
Individual Files. Restoring Entire Filesystems. Dumping and Restoring
for Upgrades. Commercial Backup Suites. ArcServe, Veritas.
Log Files
Logging Policies. Disposal of Log
Files. Rotating Log Files. Archiving Log Files. Finding Log Files.
Condensing Log Files to Useful Information.
Drivers and the Kernel
Kernel Types. Configuring a Kernel..
Build the Kernel. Install the New Kernel. Test the New Kernel.
Document the New Kernel. Configuration File. Adding Device Drivers.
Device Numbers. Device Files. Naming Conventions for Devices. Loadable
Kernel Modules.
Printing
Types of Printers. Serial and
Parallel Printers. Network Printers: Configuring the Printing
Environment. Controlling Spooling. Controlling a Printing. Adding a
Printer. Debugging Printing Problems.
Network Configuration
Configuring clients on IP networks.
Static IP, DHCP, Bootp, DNS client configuration.
Performance Analysis
Optimising Performance. Factors That
Affect Performance. System Performance Checkup. Analyzing CPU Usage.
How UNIX Manages Memory. Analyzing Memory Usage. Analyzing Disk I/O.
Procinfo: Display Red Hat Performance Data. Pstat: Print Random
Freebsd Statistics.
Cooperating with Windows
File and Print Sharing. NFS: The
Network File System. CIFS: The Common Internet File System. Samba:
CIFS for UNIX. Installing and Configuring Samba. Debugging Samba.
Secure Terminal Emulation with SSH. X Windows Emulators. PC Mail
Clients. PC Backups. Dual Booting. Running Windows Applications Under
UNIX. PC Hardware Tips.
Adding a Disk
Disk Interfaces. The SCSI Interface.
The IDE Interface. Comparison between SCSI and IDE. Disk Geometry. An
Overview of the Disk Installation Procedure. Connecting the Disk.
Creating Device Entries. Mounting a filesystem. Formatting the Disk.
Labeling and Partitioning the Disk. Establishing Logical Volumes.
Software RAID. Hardware RAID. Network Area Storage (NAS). Storage Area
Networks (SANs).
Backups
Labelling Tapes. Selecting a Backup
Interval. Comparison of Filesystems . Make Filesystems Smaller than
the Backup Device. Protection of Backups. Checking backups Tapes.
Develop a Tape Life Cycle. Designing Data for Backups. Backup Devices
and Media. Setting Up an Incremental Backup Regime. Dumping
Filesystems. Dump Sequences. Restoring from Dumps. Restoring
Individual Files. Restoring Entire Filesystems. Dumping and Restoring
for Upgrades.
Drivers and the Kernel
Kernel Types. Configuring a Kernel..
Build the Kernel. Install the New Kernel. Test the New Kernel.
Document the New Kernel. Configuration File. Adding Device Drivers.
Device Numbers. Device Files. Naming Conventions for Devices. Loadable
Kernel Modules.
Performance Analysis
Optimising Performance. Factors That
Affect Performance. System Performance Checkup. Analyzing CPU Usage.
How UNIX Manages Memory. Analyzing Memory Usage. Analyzing Disk I/O.
Procinfo: Display Red Hat Performance Data. Pstat: Print Random
Freebsd Statistics.
Network Services
Planning and configuring Network
Services. Firewall. SSHD. BIND. NIS. DHCP. OpenLDAP.
Assessment
The methods of assessment to be used
to measure the learning objectives stated above are written
examination and continuous assessment including one or more of
assignment, essay, problem-solving exercise, oral presentation, and
class or lab tests.
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Continuous Assessment: 30%
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Examination: 70%
Recommended
Reading
-
Running Linux, (3rd Ed), Matt
Welsh; Matthias Kalle Dalheimer; Lar Kaufman O'Reilly UK, Published
in UK, 1999.
-
Linux System Administration : A
User's Guide by Marcel Gagne, Addison Wesley, Published in UK, 2001.
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Linux System Administration Guide,
Wirzenius and Oja. (Free Book), Linux Documentation.
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Computer Organisation and
Architecture, 5th Edition William Stallings Prentice Hall
-
Upgrading and repairing PCs 12th
Edition Scott Meuller QUE
Hardware Bible Winn L. Roche QUE
-
Linux System Administration : A
User's Guide by Marcel Gagne, Addison Wesley, Published in UK, 2001.
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