Introduction

This chapter is about performing system administration tasks common to nearly all users and we'll be looking at logs, archiving them, job/task management, network connectivity, securing systems using a firewall (IPtables), monitoring directories for changes, and creating users. We will also acknowledge that users and administrators often have to access resources from other systems for resources such as SQL or they have to use SSH to log in to another system using only cryptographic keys—no passwords required!

 

This chapter also serves as a crash course on some critical components in today's computing environment: networking.  Users might not know what a port is, an IP address, or how to find network interfaces (NICs) on their computer. By the end of this chapter, beginners should be able to configure a network, and will have an improved level of competency when working with a network terminology.