Introduction xxxi Assessment Test xliv Answers to Assessment Test lv Part I Gathering Your Tools 1 Chapter 1 Preparing Your Environment 3 Setting Up a Learning Space 4 Using That Old Laptop 4 Creating a Virtualized Environment 5 Jumping to the Cloud 7 Exploring Linux Distributions 8 Looking at Red Hat Enterprise Linux 9 Looking at Ubuntu 10 Looking at openSUSE 11 Looking at Fedora 12 Locating a Terminal 14 Summary 15 Chapter 2 Introduction to Services 17 What Is a Linux Server? 18 Launching Services 19 Listening for Clients 20 Serving the Basics 22 Web Servers 22 Database Servers 23 Mail Servers 25 Serving Local Networks 27 File Servers 27 Print Servers 28 Network Resource Servers 29 Implementing Security 31 Authentication Server 31 Certificate Authority 33 Access Server (SSH) 33 Virtual Private Networks 34 Proxy Server 34 Monitoring 34 Improving Performance 35 Clustering 35 Load Balancing 35 Containers 35 Summary 36 Exam Essentials 37 Review Questions 38 Chapter 3 Managing Files, Directories, and Text 43 Handling Files and Directories 44 Viewing and Creating Files 44 Copying and Moving Files 50 Removing Files 56 Linking Files and Directories 60 Establishing a Hard Link 60 Constructing a Soft Link 62 Reading Files 63 Reading Entire Text Files 64 Reading Text File Portions 66 Reading Text File Pages 70 Finding Information 71 Viewing File Information 72 Exploring File Differences 72 Using Simple Pinpoint Commands 75 Using Intricate Pinpoint Commands 79 Summary 82 Exam Essentials 83 Review Questions 84 Chapter 4 Searching and Analyzing Text 89 Processing Text Files 90 Filtering Text 90 Formatting Text 95 Determining Word Count 99 Redirecting Input and Output 101 Handling Standard Output 101 Redirecting Standard Error 102 Regulating Standard Input 104 Piping Commands 106 Creating Here Documents 108 Creating Command Lines 109 Editing Text Files 111 Appreciating Text Editors 111 Learning about Stream Editors 116 Summary 123 Exam Essentials 124 Review Questions 125 Part II Starting Up and Configuring Your System 131 Chapter 5 Explaining the Boot Process 133 The Linux Boot Process 134 Following the Boot Process 134 Viewing the Boot Process 135 The Firmware Startup 136 The BIOS Startup 136 The UEFI Startup 137 Linux Bootloaders 138 GRUB Legacy 139 Grub 2 143 Alternative Bootloaders 145 System Recovery 146 Kernel Failures 146 Root Drive Failure 148 Summary 150 Exam Essentials 150 Review Questions 152 Chapter 6 Maintaining System Startup and Services 157 Looking at init 158 Managing systemd Systems 159 Exploring Unit Files 160 Focusing on Service Unit Files 162 Focusing on Target Unit Files 167 Looking at systemctl 168 Examining Special systemd Commands 172 Managing SysV init Systems 178 Understanding Runlevels 178 Investigating SysV init Commands 182 Digging Deeper into systemd 187 Looking at systemd Mount Units 187 Exploring Automount Units 189 Focusing on Timer Unit Files 190 Summary 191 Exam Essentials 191 Review Questions 194 Chapter 7 Configuring Network Connections 199 Configuring Network Features 200 Network Configuration Files 201 Graphical Tools 203 Command- Line Tools 205 Command- Line Networking Tool 214 Basic Network Troubleshooting 217 Sending Test Packets 217 Finding Host Information 219 Advanced Network Troubleshooting 222 The netstat Command 222 Examining Sockets 226 Monitoring the Network 226 Summary 228 Exam Essentials 229 Review Questions 231 Chapter 8 Comparing GUIs 235 Focusing on the GUI 236 Getting to Know GNOME 237 Probing KDE Plasma 239 Considering Cinnamon 241 Making Acquaintance with MATE 243 Setting Up Accessibility 245 Serving Up the GUI 247 Figuring Out Wayland 248 Examining X 11 250 Using Remote Desktops 252 Viewing VNC 252 Grasping Xrdp 254 Exploring NX 256 Studying SPICE 257 Forwarding 257 Local 259 Remote 260 Tunneling Your X11 Connection 261 Summary 262 Exam Essentials 262 Review Questions 264 Chapter 9 Adjusting Localization Options 269 Understanding Localization 270 Character Sets 270 Environment Variables 271 Setting Your Locale 272 Installation Locale Decisions 272 Changing Your Locale 272 Looking at Time 275 Working with Time Zones 275 Setting the Time and Date 276 Watching System Time 280 Summary 281 Exam Essentials 282 Review Questions 284 Part III Managing Your System 289 Chapter 10 Administering Users and Groups 291 Managing User Accounts 292 Adding Accounts 292 Maintaining Passwords 304 Modifying Accounts 306 Deleting Accounts 308 Managing Groups 309 Setting Up the Environment 313 Perusing Bash Parameters 313 Understanding User Entries 314 Grasping Global Entries 316 Querying Users 316 Exploring the whoami Utility 316 Understanding the who Utility 317 Identifying with the id Program 318 Displaying Access History with the last Utility 319 Managing Disk Space Usage 320 Summary 323 Exam Essentials 324 Review Questions 325 Chapter 11 Handling Storage 329 Storage Basics 330 Drive Connections 330 Partitioning Drives 331 Automatic Drive Detection 331 Partitioning Tools 332 Working with fdisk 332 Working with gdisk 334 The GNU parted Command 336 Graphical Tools 337 Understanding Filesystems 337 The Virtual Directory 338 Maneuvering around the Filesystem 341 Formatting Filesystems 341 Common Filesystem Types 341 Creating Filesystems 343 Mounting Filesystems 344 Manually Mounting Devices 344 Automatically Mounting Devices 345 Managing Filesystems 346 Retrieving Filesystem Stats 346 Filesystem Tools 348 Storage Alternatives 349 Multipath 350 Logical Volume Manager 350 Using RAID Technology 354 Encrypting Partitions 355 Summary 358 Exam Essentials 358 Review Questions 360 Chapter 12 Protecting Files 363 Understanding Backup Types 364 Looking at Compression Methods 366 Comparing Archive and Restore Utilities 368 Copying with cpio 369 Archiving with tar 372 Duplicating with dd 377 Replicating with rsync 380 Securing Offsite/Off- System Backups 382 Copying Securely via scp 382 Transferring Securely via sftp 384 Checking Backup Integrity 387 Digesting an MD5 Algorithm 387 Securing Hash Algorithms 388 Summary 389 Exam Essentials 389 Review Questions 390 Chapter 13 Governing Software 393 Working with Source Code 394 Downloading Source Code 394 Bundling Source Code Packages 395 Compiling Source Code 399 Packaging Applications 400 Installing and Managing Packages 401 Understanding Repositories 405 Using Application Containers 413 Using Snap Containers 414 Using Flatpak Containers 416 Summary 418 Exam Essentials 419 Review Questions 421 Chapter 14 Tending Kernel Modules 423 Exploring Kernel Modules 424 Installing Kernel Modules 428 Removing Kernel Modules 431 Summary 432 Exam Essentials 432 Review Questions 434 Part IV Securing Your System 437 Chapter 15 Applying Ownership and Permissions 439 Looking at File and Directory Permissions 440 Understanding Ownership 440 Controlling Access Permissions 442 Exploring Special Permissions 445 Managing Default Permissions 446 Access Control Lists 448 Context- Based Permissions 450 Using SELinux 451 Using AppArmor 455 Understanding Linux User Types 457 Types of User Accounts 458 Escalating Privileges 458 Restricting Users and Files 459 Summary 464 Exam Essentials 465 Review Questions 466 Chapter 16 Looking at Access and Authentication Methods 469 Getting to Know PAM 470 Exploring PAM Configuration Files 471 Enforcing Strong Passwords 474 Locking Out Accounts 477 Limiting Root Access 481 Exploring PKI Concepts 483 Getting Certificates 483 Discovering Key Concepts 483 Securing Data 484 Signing Transmissions 485 Using SSH 486 Exploring Basic SSH Concepts 486 Configuring SSH 488 Generating SSH Keys 490 Authenticating with SSH Keys 492 Authenticating with the Authentication Agent 494 Using SSH Securely 496 Using VPN as a Client 498 Summary 499 Exam Essentials 499 Review Questions 501 Chapter 17 Implementing.