Red Hat Linux Essentials Course

This course is designed for system administrators and end-users that are new to the Linux or UNIX operating systems. On this course delegates will learn the basic skills required to use their own Red Hat Linux systems. This course shows delegates how to accomplish basic tasks such as creating, organising and removing files, using the GNOME interface and text editors, printing and setting file/directory permissions. Delegates learn to accomplish these tasks through the command line and graphical interfaces.

For students studying towards Red Hat Certified Engineer (RHCE) certification, this introductory level course provides the pre-requisite knowledge for courses RH133GB (Red Hat Linux System Administration I, II) and RH253GB (Red Hat Linux Networking and Security Administration).

Delegates should be familiar with basic information technology (IT) concepts and the role of an operating system. Experience of another operating system would also be beneficial.

Topics covered on the 5 day Red Hat Linux Essentials course

Introduction

• UNIX
• GNU
• Linux Origins
• Why Linux
• Red Hat Linux
• Linux GUI Environments

Quick Tour

• Local Logins
• Examining the File System
• Device Files
• Linux Processes
• Command-line Shells
• Running Commands
• Determining Options for Commands
• Shell Variables
• Users
• Changing Your Password
• Getting Online Help - man
• Other Help Utilities
• Virtual Consoles

File and Shell Basics

• Current Working Directory
• Changing Directories
• File Names
• System Directories
• Checking Free Space
• File Manipulation
• Directory Manipulation
• Viewing Files
• Pico - A simple File Editor
• File Globbing
• The Home Directory

Users and Groups

• Users and Groups
• The Linux Security Model
• The root User
• System Users and Groups
• User Information Commands
• Changing your identity

File Access Permissions

• Linux File Security
• User Categories
• File Permission Types
• Examining Permissions
• Examining Directories
• Changing Access Permissions
• Changing Permissions
• Default File Permissions

The Linux File System

• Linux System Directories
• Ext2 File System Details
• Hard Links
• Soft (or Symbolic) Links
• Mounting Removable Media
• Mtools Package/Commands
• Locating Files
• The find Command
• Finding and Processing Files
• Creating an Archive
• Extracting an Archive
• Compression Utilities
• Using gzip
• Compressing Archives

String Processing

• Commands: head, tail, wc
• The grep Command and Regular Expressions
• The sort, diff, cut, uniq, paste and tr Commands

Standard I/O and Pipes

• Standard Input and Output
• Redirecting Input
• Redirecting Standard Output
• Redirecting Standard Error
• Using Pipes to connect Processes

Introduction to Processes

• Linux Processes
• Process States
• Viewing/Monitoring Processes
• Sending Signals to Processes
• Process Scheduling Priority
• Foreground Processes
• Background Processes
• Suspending a Process
• Listing Background and Suspended Jobs
• Resuming Suspended Jobs

The bash Shell

• Bash Introduction
• Bash Heritage
• Shell Variables
• Shell vs. Environment Variables
• Common Variables
• Using which
• Command-Line Expansion
• Using nohup
• History - Command Recall
• Command Return Values
• Compound Commands
• Aliases
• Shell Functions
• Startup Scripts
• Login Shells
• Creating Shell Scripts
• Making Scripts Executable
• Generating Output
• Handling Input
• Conditional Execution Using the if Statement
• Conditional Execution Using the case Statement
• The for, while and until Loops
• Using Positional Parameters

X/GNOME/KDE

• The X Window System
• The X Protocol
• Window Managers
• Sawfish
• GNOME
• KDE
• NextStep
• Switchdesk
• Mouse Configuration
• Copy and Paste
• Xfree86 Startup
• Display Managers
• GUI Terminals and Editors
• GNU Midnight Commander
• Web Browsers
• Utilities and Applications
• X Customization

Printing and Mailing

• Printing in Linux
• Printing Commands
• Printing From Applications
• Printing Utilities
• Email Clients
• POP and IMAP
• Email Filtering

Basic Networking

• Basic Commands (ping, host, telnet, ftp)
• Network Browsers
• The R-commands
• Secure Shell

Using the vi Editor

• Overview of vi
• Starting vi
• Editor Modes
• Cursor Movement
• Saving and Exiting vi
• Cut, Copy and Paste
• Undoing Changes
• Searching For Text
• Using Regular Expressions

Sed, awk and perl

• The sed Command
• Addresses
• Scripting
• The awk Command
• Programs and Rules
• Perl Basics

System Tools

• Terminal Configuration
• Getting System Information
• Scheduling Periodic Processes
• Using cron
• The crontab File Format
• RPM Package Manager
• RPM queries
• GnoRPM
• System Administration Duties

Installation

• The Red Hat Installer
• Red Hat Linux Installation
• Partitioning Hard Drives
• Software RAID
• Network Configuration
• Package Selection
• Validating the Installation
• Post-Install Configuration
• System Configuration