Linux Guide to Linux Certification, Third Edition

1
Linux Guide to Linux Certification, Third Edition

• Chapter 2
• Linux Installation and Usage

2
Objectives

• Install Red Hat Fedora Linux using good practices
• Outline the structure of the Linux interface
• Enter basic shell commands and find command
  documentation
• Properly shut down the Linux operating system

3
Installing Linux Preparing for Installation

• All OSs require a minimum set of hardware
  components to function properly
• Can be obtained from manual or file in DVD of OS,
  or from vendor website
• Each individual hardware component should be
  checked against the Hardware Compatibility List
  (HCL) found on the vendors Web site

4
Installing Linux Preparing for Installation
(continued)
Table 2-1 Fedora 13 hardware requirements
5
Installing Linux Preparing for Installation
(continued)

• Need to identify software that will be used in
  the Linux operating system
• Computers host name
• Network configuration parameters
• Specific software packages to be installed
• Create preinstallation checklist to document
  hardware and software information

6
Table 2-2 Sample preinstallation checklist
7
Installing Linux Installation Methods

• DVD media
• FTP server
• HTTP Web server
• NFS server
• SMB server
• Packages on hard disk
• CD-ROM media

8
Starting the Installation and Checking Media for
Errors

• Boot from first Red Hat Fedora Linux DVD
• A Welcome screen is displayed, can select option
• Default graphical installation
• Installation with basic video driver
• Rescue installed items
• Boot from local drive
• Memory test
• Check media for errors prior to installation
• Optional, but recommended

9
Starting the Installation and Checking Media for
Errors (continued)
Figure 2-1 Beginning a Fedora installation
10
Starting the Installation and Checking Media for
Errors (continued)
Figure 2-3 Testing DVD media
11
Choosing the Language, Keyboard, and Storage Type

• Allowed to choose installation language
• Choose keyboard configuration
• Keyboard model and layout automatically detected
• Select types of storage devices used to host the
  Linux OS
• For internal or locally attached hard drive
  installation, select Basic Storage Devices
• For installation on SAN or DASD, select
  Specialized Storage Devices

12
Choosing the Language, Keyboard, and Storage Type
(continued)
Figure 2-4 Selecting an installation language
13
Choosing the Language, Keyboard, and Storage Type
(continued)
Figure 2-5 Verifying keyboard configuration
14
Selecting a Host Name, Time Zone, and Root
Password

• Supply a host name that will identify system on
  the network
• By default use localhost.localdomain
• Important to select correct time zone for the
  local system
• Authentication Users log in via valid user name
  and password
• Configure two user accounts
• Administrator account (root) full rights to
  system
• Regular user account

15
Selecting a Host Name, Time Zone, and Root
Password (continued)
Figure 2-7 Selecting a host name
16
Selecting a Host Name, Time Zone, and Root
Password (continued)
Figure 2-8 Selecting a time zone
17
Selecting a Host Name, Time Zone, and Root
Password (continued)
Figure 2-9 Setting a root password
18
Configuring Storage Devices

• Most common storage devices for storing Linux OS
  are hard disks
• Parallel Advanced Technology Attachment (PATA)
• Serial Advanced Technology Attachment (SATA)
• Small Computer Systems Interface (SCSI)
• Each hard disk is divided into partitions
• Partitions formatted with filesystems
• Maximum four primary partitions
• Extended partition can be divided into logical
  drives

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Configuring Storage Devices (continued)
Table 2-3 PATA hard disk configurations
20
Configuring Storage Devices (continued)
Table 2-4 Example of a partitioning scheme for a
primary master IDE hard disk
21
Configuring Storage Devices (continued)

• Filesystems can be accessed if attached (mounted)
  to a directory
• Minimum of two partitions
• Partition for root directory
• Partition for virtual memory (swap memory)
• Area on hard disk used to store information
  normally residing in physical memory (RAM)
• Automatic or manual partitioning
• Better to manually partition

22
Table 2-5 Common Linux filesystems and sizes
23
Configuring Storage Devices (continued)

• Different types of filesystems
• Ext2 used on most Linux computers
• Ext3, Ext4 performs journaling
• Vfat compatible with Windows FAT filesystem
• REISER performs journaling
• Journaling keeps track of the information
  written to the hard drive

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Configuring Storage Devices (continued)
Figure 2-10 Selecting a partition strategy
25
Configuring Storage Devices (continued)

• When creating a partition, specify the partition
  technology
• For standard disk partitions need to provide
  information regarding size, filesystem type,
  encryption options and mount point
• Instead of standard partitions, can create
  volumes that span multiple disks
• Logical Volume Manager (LVM)
• Redundant Array of Inexpensive Disks (RAID)

26
Configuring the Boot Loader

• Boot loader program started by BIOS at system
  startup
• Loads Linux kernel into memory from hard disk
• Can also boot other existing OSs
• GRand Unified Bootloader (GRUB) boot loader
  configured during Fedora Linux installation
• Dual booting choose OS to boot at startup

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Configuring the Boot Loader (continued)
Figure 2-14 Configuring a boot loader
28
Configuring the Boot Loader (continued)

• Boot loader usually resides on the MBR or on
  first sector of / or /boot partition
• Kernel parameters information passed to Linux
  kernel via the boot loader
• Large Block Addressing 32-bit (LBA32) enables
  Large Block Addressing in boot loader
• For large hard disks not fully supported by the
  BIOS

29
Selecting and Installing Packages
Figure 2-15 Selecting system role and software
repositories
30
Selecting and Installing Packages (continued)
Figure 2-16 Selecting individual packages
31
Completing the Firstboot Wizard

• Complete the installation
• License agreement
• User accounts and authentication
• Date and time
• Network Time Protocol (NTP)
• Confirmation of hardware to be used
• Log in with user account for daily tasks
• Use Network Login authenticate users based on an
  external database

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Completing the Firstboot Wizard (continued)
Figure 2-18 Creating a regular user account
33
Completing the Firstboot Wizard (continued)
Figure 2-19 Choosing authentication options
34
Completing the Firstboot Wizard (continued)
Figure 2-20 Advanced authentication options
35
Completing the Firstboot Wizard (continued)
Figure 2-21 Setting the date and time
36
Completing the Firstboot Wizard (continued)
Figure 2-22 Viewing the hardware profile
37
Basic Linux Usage Shells, Terminals, and the
Kernel

• Terminal channel allowing users to log on to the
  kernel locally or across a network
• Shell user interface which accepts user inputs
  and transfers them to the kernel
• BASH Shell (Bourne Again Shell) default Linux
  shell
• Command line shell
• Linux allows multiple terminals, each with its
  own shell

38
Basic Linux Usage Shells, Terminals, and the
Kernel (continued)
Figure 2-23 Shells, terminals, and the kernel
39
Basic Linux Usage Shells, Terminals, and the
Kernel (continued)

• Graphical interface
• Start GUI environment on top of BASH shell
• Or, switch to a graphical terminal
• e.g., GNOME Display Manager (gdm)
• From the local server, use key combinations to
  change to separate terminal
• Command-line terminal may be accessed from GUI
  environment
• Command line prompt
• Root user
• Regular user

40
Basic Linux Usage Shells, Terminals, and the
Kernel (continued)
Table 2-6 Common Linux terminals
41
Basic Linux Usage Shells, Terminals, and the
Kernel (continued)
Figure 2-25 Accessing a command-line terminal in
a GUI environment
42
Basic Shell Commands

• Commands indicate name of program to execute
• Case sensitive
• Options specific letters starting with -
  appearing after command name
• Alter way command works
• Arguments specify a commands specific working
  parameters

43
Basic Shell Commands (continued)
Table 2-7 Some common Linux commands
44
Shell Metacharacters

• Metacharacters characters with a special meaning
• e.g.,
• Refers to a variable
• Avoid use of metacharacters when typing commands
  unless using their special functionality
• Single quotation marks protect metacharacter
  from being interpreted specially by the shell

45
Shell Metacharacters (continued)
Table 2-8 Common BASH Shell metacharacters
46
Getting Command Help

• Manual (man) pages most common form of
  documentation for Linux commands
• At command prompt, type man followed by command
  name
• Contain different sections
• Searchable by keyword
• Info pages set of local, easy-to-read command
  syntax documentation
• At command prompt, type info followed by a
  command name

47
Getting Command Help (continued)
Table 2-9 Manual page section numbers
48
Shutting Down the Linux System

Table 2-10 Commands to halt and reboot the Linux
operating system
49
Summary

• Prior to installation
• Verify hardware requirements using HCL
• Create preinstallation checklist
• DVDbased installation
• Easiest
• Most common

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Summary (continued)

• Installation prompts for language, host name,
  date, time zone, keyboard layout, user account
  configuration, storage configuration, boot loader
  configuration, and package selection
• Users must log in to a terminal and receive a
  shell before they are able to interact with the
  Linux system and kernel

51
Summary (continued)

• From any type of terminal you can enter commands,
  options, and arguments at a shell prompt to
  perform system tasks, obtain command help, or
  shut down the Linux system
• The shell is case sensitive and understands a
  variety of special characters called shell
  metacharacters, which should be protected if
  their special meaning is not required