SUSE Linux Enterprise Server Administration Course 3037

1
SUSE Linux Enterprise Server Administration
(Course 3037)

• Chapter 1
• Introduction to Managing the SUSE Linux
  Enterprise Server

2
Objectives

• Describe SLES 9
• Access and Use YaST
• Monitor Your SLES 9 System

3
Describe SLES 9

• SLES 9
• Supported by Novell
• Secure, reliable platform for open source
  computing
• Benefits
• New 2.6 kernel
• Scalability and availability
• Management tools
• Developer tools
• Provides open application programming interfaces
  (APIs)
• Simplify Linux integration and customization

4
Whats New in SLES 9

• New kernel features
• SLES 9 includes kernel version 2.6
• USB 2.0 and Bluetooth are also supported
• Hotplug support for SCSI, USB, Firewire, PCI, and
  CPU

5
Whats New in SLES 9 (continued)
6
Whats New in SLES 9 (continued)
7
Whats New in SLES 9 (continued)
8
Whats New in SLES 9 (continued)

• New scalability and available features
• SLES 9 delivers rapid scalability and high
  availability
• New systems management tools
• SLES 9 simplifies system administration

9
Whats New in SLES 9 (continued)
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Whats New in SLES 9 (continued)
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Whats New in SLES 9 (continued)
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Whats New in SLES 9 (continued)

• New developer tools
• SLES 9 supplies a dependable platform
• Offers rich software-development capabilities
• New software
• SLES 9 supports the best of new software
• As well as updated favorites

13
Whats New in SLES 9 (continued)
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Whats New in SLES 9 (continued)
15
Hardware Support and System Requirements

• Supported Processor Platforms
• See Table 1-6
• Supported Hardware Extensions
• See Table 1-7
• SLES 9 Hardware Requirements
• See Table 1-8

16
Hardware Support and System Requirements
(continued)
17
Hardware Support and System Requirements
(continued)
18
Hardware Support and System Requirements
(continued)
19
Hardware Support and System Requirements
(continued)
20
Service and Support

• Support programs
• Premium Service
• SUSE Linux Server Support
• Novell Linux Small Business Support
• Remote and Managed Services
• Novell Technical Subscriptions
• Online support options
• Bug fixes and security patches
• Provided for five years
• To customers with a valid maintenance contract or
  registration code for updates

21
Service and Support (continued)

• Maintenance contract
• Certification of OS by other software vendors
• Done only for the SUSE Linux Enterprise Server
• Maintenance and certifications
• Require considerable know-how and manpower
• Service is not provided for free
• Assures an up-to-date product
• Throughout its product life cycle

22
Linux Standards and SLES 9

• Linux Standard Base (LSB)
• Currently valid LSB specification is version
  1.3.x
• Covers only the x86 architecture
• Specification defines
• Package format
• System initialization
• File System Hierarchy Standard (FHS)
• SLES is compliant with FHS (package fhs)
• FHS defines that /usr/ can be mounted as read-only

23
Linux Standards and SLES 9 (continued)

• TeX Directory Structure (TDS)
• TeX
• Comprehensive typesetting system
• Can be expanded with macro packages
• Like LaTeX
• teTeX
• Compilation of current TeX software
• Compliant with TDS and FHS

24
Exercise 1-1 Explore Your KDE Desktop

• When you first install SLES 9 you probably want
  to explore your desktop and check available
  resources
• In this exercise, you log in as geeko (the normal
  user)
• And then explore and prepare your KDE desktop for
  performing the rest of the exercises in the course

25
Access and Use YaST

• Yet Another Setup Tool (YaST)
• Used to complete many configuration tasks
• As a SUSE Linux Enterprise Server administrator

26
YaST Basics

• YaST
• Used to install SLES 9
• Has a much greater role as a system management
  and configuration tool
• Start YaST with a GUI interface
• Shows the YaST Control Center
• Helps you starting a module
• Uses SuSEconfig to implement changes to the
  system
• Start YaST with a text interface (ncurses)
• As root run yast command
• Starts the ncurses interface

27
YaST Basics (continued)
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YaST Basics (continued)
29
The Role of SuSEconfig

• Consider YaST as front end to various other
  programs
• Sometimes YaST writes changes to final
  configuration files
• Sometimes it writes changes to files in
  /etc/sysconfig
• SuSEconfig
• Tool used in SUSE Linux Enterprise Server to
  configure the system
• According to variables in files in
  /etc/sysconfig/
• Run SuSEconfig after manually editing files in
  /etc/sysconfig/

30
Exercise 1-2 Customize Your SLES 9 Installation
with YaST

• In this exercise, you customize your SLES 9
  installation using the YaST text user interface
• And the YaST graphical user interface

31
Monitor Your SLES 9 System

• After installation, you probably have questions
  similar to the following
• Did the system boot normally?
• What is the kernel version?
• What services are running?
• What is the load on the system?

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Boot Log Information (/var/log/boot.msg)

• SLES 9 booting messages are kept in a buffer
• And saved to /var/log/boot.msg
• View this log by entering dmesg less
• You can scroll up and down
• Shows messages generated during initialization of
  the hardware
• By the kernel or kernel modules
• You can also use YaST to view this log file

33
Boot Log Information (/var/log/boot.msg)
(continued)
34
Hardware Information (/proc/)

• Directory /proc/
• Lets you view hardware information stored in
  kernel memory space
• Common filenames used to generate information
• /proc/devices
• /proc/cpuinfo
• /proc/ioports
• /proc/interrupts
• /proc/dma
• /proc/scsi/scsi
• /proc/bus/usb/devices
• /proc/bus/usb/drivers

35
Hardware Information (Command-Line Utilities)

• Command-line utilities
• hwinfo
• hdparm
• fdisk
• iostat
• lspci
• siga

36
System and Process Information (Command-Line
Utilities)

• top
• Gives you a summary of various system statistics
• In the top part of the screen
• Screen is updated every 2 seconds
• uptime
• Displays specific statistics information without
  starting a utility
• ps
• Displays processes running on the system
• Sorted by process ID

37
System and Process Information (Command-Line
Utilities) (continued)
38
System and Process Information (Command-Line
Utilities) (continued)

• netstat
• Used to find out
• Which network ports are offering services
• What connections are established
• uname
• Used to find out current kernel version

39
System and Process Information (Command-Line
Utilities) (continued)
40
GUI Desktop Utilities

• KDE System Guard
• KDE desktop task manager and performance monitor
• Xosview
• Display the status of several system-based
  parameters

41
GUI Desktop Utilities (continued)
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GUI Desktop Utilities (continued)
43
GUI Desktop Utilities (continued)
44
GUI Desktop Utilities (continued)

• SuSEPlugger
• Displays details about specific hardware
• Launches appropriate YaST module for configuring
  the hardware

45
GUI Desktop Utilities (continued)
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Exercise 1-3 Gather Information About Your SLES 9
Server

• In this exercise you will gather information
  about your SLES 9 server

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Summary

• SLES 9 uses the new 2.6 version of the Linux
  kernel
• SLES 9 supports new hardware platforms and
  extension such as
• USB 2.0 and Firewire
• SLES minimum installation system requirements
• 256 MB RAM
• 500 MB available hard disk space
• SLES versions are certified by many major
  software vendors
• Supports LSB, FHS, and TDS

48
Summary (continued)

• SLES has five-year period of software support
• YaST
• Used to configure SLES system
• /var/log/boot.msg log file
• View it using dmesg less
• Files in /proc/ directory
• Display hardware information for your SLES system

49
Summary (continued)

• Commands to display process-related information
• top
• uptime
• ps
• netstat
• uname