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CentOS Quick Start Guide
CentOS Quick Start Guide

CentOS Quick Start Guide: Get up and running with CentOS server administration

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CentOS Quick Start Guide

Command-Line and Filesystem Navigation

In this chapter, our objective is to identify the purpose of important directories in the CentOS 7 filesystem, and to learn various basic command-line skills. When we are working on the command line, it is essential that we have a clear picture of the filesystem hierarchy, layout, and organization in mind. We will go through the variety of documentation that exists on CentOS 7, including man pages, info pages, help command options, and so on. Thereafter, we will learn various filesystem navigation and management commands for changing directories, copying, moving, and renaming files, and so on. Finally, we'll learn about archiving and compressing files, which are very often required when creating backups.

In this chapter, we will cover the following:

  • Understanding the CentOS 7 filesystem hierarchy
  • Using man pages and the help command...

Understanding the CentOS 7 filesystem hierarchy

We can compare a filesystem to a refrigerator, or any other storage with multiple shelves that is used for storing different items. These shelves or compartments help us to organize grocery items in our refrigerator by certain characteristics, such as shape, size, type, and so on. The same analogy is applicable to a filesystem, which is the epitome of storing and organizing collections of data and files in human-usable form.

A filesystem is organized in an inverted root tree design with / (a forward slash; pronounced root) as the root of the filesystem, and underneath /, we see the rest of the directories and subdirectories, as shown in the following diagram:

Important filesystem directories in CentOS 7

This layout of the filesystem hierarchy is described in the Linux Filesystem Hierarchy Standard.

Here, / represents two things...

Using man pages and the help command

We could spend a good amount of time learning CentOS 7; it is equivalent to serving you cooked food, but in place of this, we could actually learn how to cook, so that you'll be able to make your own different recipes. Linux has one of the best and largest bodies of documentation in the operating system for most of the commands and their options. Whether you are an experienced user or a beginner, you will never remember the exact use of all the Linux commands and utilities, each with its own multiple options. It is in this case that Linux documentation comes to our rescue.

Different types of documentation available in Linux

There are multiple sources of documentation available in...

Managing filenames with path expansion

In this section, we will see the meta-characters and expansion technique that can improve file management efficiency.

File globbing

The bash shell can match a pathname based on some meta-characters. This feature is known as file globbing. The pathname matching capability was historically called globbing (also known as pattern-matching or wildcard matching) for managing a large number of files. It expands the meta-characters used in filenames and pathnames.

When using file globbing for matching filenames or pathnames, the meta-characters are replaced by the list of matching pathnames prior to command execution. The following table lists the pattern and its corresponding result:

Pattern...

Managing files using command-line tools

Commands are names of programs installed on the system. Before proceeding with the basic command operation, let's have a look at the two types of path traversal in Linux:

  • Absolute path: This method specifies the full path of a file, regardless of your current location. This path always begins with a leading / (root directory) and specifies each subdirectory traversed in order to uniquely represent a single file in the filesystem. This removes any ambiguity whatsoever in the pathname. One directory is separated from another by a forward slash (/) in the pathname. While creating shell scripts, this type of naming convention should be used to refer to a file. Absolute pathnames are long to type in comparison to relative pathnames, which are used frequently when working on the command line to refer to a file or directory.
  • Relative path...

Managing archives and compressed files

Archiving is the process of fetching multiple files from the same or different locations and putting them into a single file bundle. It is generally done together with compression, or immediately followed by compression. This helps in streamlining the backup process, as discussed in the following section.

Compression

File data is generally compressed to save the disk space and reduce traffic, as well as the time to transmit files over a network. Linux has multiple utilities for compression; some of them are listed in the table that follows:

Command

Description

gzip

Most popular Linux compression utility

gunzip

Utility to decompress gzip compressed files

bzip2

Another...

Summary

In this chapter, we understood the Linux Filesystem Hierarchy Standard and different types of built-in documentation. Thereafter, we covered basic command-line operations, which included filesystem navigation and filesystem management from the command line. Finally, we got our hands dirty with different types of compression techniques and archiving in Linux.

In the next chapter, we will learn about different methods of managing text files.

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Key benefits

  • No previous Linux environment experience needed for reading this book
  • Get comfortable with a popular and stable Red Hat Enterprise Linux distribution
  • Most of the command line based concepts are explained with graphics

Description

Linux kernel development has been the worlds largest collaborative project to date. With this practical guide, you will learn Linux through one of its most popular and stable distributions. This book will introduce you to essential Linux skills using CentOS 7. It describes how a Linux system is organized, and will introduce you to key command-line concepts you can practice on your own. It will guide you in performing basic system administration tasks and day-to-day operations in a Linux environment. You will learn core system administration skills for managing a system running CentOS 7 or a similar operating system, such as RHEL 7, Scientific Linux, and Oracle Linux. You will be able to perform installation, establish network connectivity and user and process management, modify file permissions, manage text files using the command line, and implement basic security administration after covering this book. By the end of this book, you will have a solid understanding of working with Linux using the command line.

Who is this book for?

Any individual who wants to learn how to use Linux as server or desktop in his environment. Whether you are a developer, budding system administrator, or tech lover with no previous Linux administration background, you will be able to start your journey in Linux using CentOS 7 with this book.

What you will learn

  • Understand file system hierarchy and essential command-line skills
  • Use Vi editor, I/O redirections and how to work with common text manipulating tools
  • Create, delete, modify user accounts and manage passwords and their aging policy
  • Manage file ownership, permissions, and ACL
  • Execute process management and monitoring on the command line
  • Validate and manage network configuration using nmcli
  • Manage remote logins using SSH and file transfer using SCP and Rsync
  • Understand system logging, how to control system services with systemd and systemctl, and manage firewalId

Product Details

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Publication date, Length, Edition, Language, ISBN-13
Publication date : Dec 26, 2018
Length: 320 pages
Edition : 1st
Language : English
ISBN-13 : 9781789344875
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Product Details

Publication date : Dec 26, 2018
Length: 320 pages
Edition : 1st
Language : English
ISBN-13 : 9781789344875
Concepts :
Tools :

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Table of Contents

10 Chapters
Getting Started with CentOS 7 Chevron down icon Chevron up icon
Command-Line and Filesystem Navigation Chevron down icon Chevron up icon
Managing Text Files Chevron down icon Chevron up icon
User and Group Management Chevron down icon Chevron up icon
Managing File Permissions Chevron down icon Chevron up icon
Process Management Chevron down icon Chevron up icon
Managing Networking in CentOS Chevron down icon Chevron up icon
Software Package Management Chevron down icon Chevron up icon
Overview of Essential Advance Utilities Chevron down icon Chevron up icon
Other Books You May Enjoy Chevron down icon Chevron up icon

Customer reviews

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AG Apr 07, 2019
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Probably the favorite book of mine on this topic so far. The content is very well structured and well written. Easy to follow. I will definitely recommend it to other people.
Amazon Verified review Amazon
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