SUSE Linux Enterprise Server Administration (Course 3037) Chapter 1 Introduction to Managing the...

SUSE Linux Enterprise Server Administration (Course 3037)

Chapter 1Introduction to Managing the SUSE

Linux Enterprise Server

SUSE Linux Enterprise Server Administration (Course 3037) 2

Objectives

• Describe SLES 9

• Access and Use YaST

• Monitor Your SLES 9 System


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


What’s 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


What’s 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



• 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


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


Hardware Support and System Requirements (continued)


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


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


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


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


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


Access and Use YaST

• Yet Another Setup Tool (YaST)– Used to complete many configuration tasks

• As a SUSE Linux Enterprise Server administrator


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


YaST Basics (continued)


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/


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


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?


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


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


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


Hardware Information (Command-Line Utilities)

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


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


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


GUI Desktop Utilities

• KDE System Guard– KDE desktop task manager and performance monitor

• Xosview– Display the status of several system-based

parameters


GUI Desktop Utilities (continued)



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

the hardware


Exercise 1-3 Gather Information About Your SLES 9 Server

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


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


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


Summary (continued)

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

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