INSTALLATION

Red hat Enterprise Linux is available for the Intel x86, Intel Itanium2, AMD64, IBM eServer
zSeries, and IBM eServer iSeries.
Recommended Hardware Specifications:

Installation Types
1. Graphical
2. Text

Pentium class or better CPU

128 MB or more RAM
2-6 GB disk space depending on intended use
Bootable cdrom
:- <ENTER>
:- linux text <ENTER>

Installation Media: - linux askmethod or linux text askmethod

Local Cdrom
Hard drive
NFS
FTP
HTTP

Kickstart or Automated installation :

With the help of Kickstart utility you can install you Red hat Linux automatically
without attending.
To create a answer or Kickstart file:1.
In graphical user interface,
2.
rpm ivh system-config-kickstart or yum install system-config-kickstart
3.
system-config-kickstart
4.
answer the questions and save that file with name ks.cfg, and place that file in a
floppy drive or on ftp server or on http server
5.
For the kickstart installation just say when you boot from cd,
linux ks=floppy/ks.cfg
linux ks=ftp://192.168.0.254/ks.cfg
linux ks=http://192.168.0.254/ks.cfg

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SYSTEM INITILIZATION & SERVICES

BIOS Initialization: - The BIOS (Basic Input/Output System) is the interface between the
hardware and software on a very basic level. The BIOS provides the basic set of instructions
used by the operating system. A successful boot depends on the BIOS, which is the fact provides
the lowest level of interface to peripheral devices and controls.
BOOT LOADER COMPONENTS: - The boot loader is responsible for reading and starting
your Linux operating system (or possibly other operating systems) when the computer is started
up.
The boot loader is generally invoked in one of two ways
BIOS passes control to an Initial Program Loader (IPL) installed within a drives
Master Boot Record (MBR).
BIOS passes control to another boot loader, which passes control to an IPL installed a
partitions boot sector
Primary boot loader: - Install the first stage of your Linux boot loader into the Master Boot
Record.
Secondary boot loader: -Install the first stage of your Linux boot loader into the Boot sector
of some partition. Another boot loader must be installed into the MBR.
GRUB (GRand Unified Boot loader) : Command-lie interface available at boot prompt
Boot from ext2/ext3 & FAT file systems
Support for MD5 password protection

/boot/grub/grub.conf
timeout=5
splashimage=(hd0,0)/grub/splash.xpm
hiddenmenu
password --md5 $1$ / dfhadshhg324j3hefyffh
default=0
title Red Hat Enterprise Linux
root (hd0.0)
kernel /vmlinuz-2.6.18-8.el5 ro root=LABEL=/ rhgb quiet
initrd /initrd-2.6.18-8.el5.img
title Windows
rootnoverify (hd0,1)
chainloader +1
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BOOT PROCESS: POST-----------BIOS-------------MBR-----------BOOT LOADER-----------KERNEL-------------------INIT

INIT
/etc/rc.d/rc.sysinit
/etc/rc.d/rc.local
/etc/rc.d/rc.?d
/sbin/mingetty
/etc/inittab
/boot/grub/grub.conf

for system initialization

For kernel
For runlevel
For terminals
For default configuration of kernel
For the grub loader configuration

RUNLEVELS: - The Runlevel is nothing but the different type ode available to load the kernel.
The run level is selected by either,
the default in /etc/inittab at boot
passing argument from the boot loader
using the command init new runlevel
To check the current runlevel we have command runlevel.

The following the chart details about the run levels that Linux has by defaults: -

Halt or shutdown

Single user mode

Multi-user mode without NFS, typically for

the servers

Full multi-user mode with NFS

Officially undefined

Graphical login, typical for desktops and

laptops

Reboot

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DAEMON PROCESSES: A daemon process is a program that is run in the background,

providing some system services
Two types of daemons: standalone are started up either by init or by startup scripts
transient are controlled by the super daemon xinetd
System V runlevels: Run level defines which services to start, each run level has a
corresponding directory like /etc/rc.d/rcX.d .
The System V init scripts reside in:
/etc/rc.d/init.d .
Symbolic links in the runlevel directories call the init.d scripts with a start or stop argument.

KERNEL SERVICES AND CONFIGURATION:

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The Linux kernel is the heart of linux operating system. It is the kernels responsibility to
control hardware, enforce security and allocate resources such as CPU and RAM.
Kernel information and configuration: /sys file system
/proc file system
dmesg
/boot/grub/grub.conf

hardware and module interface

process information
kernel messages
kernel command line

Some interesting /proc entries

/proc/<PID>
Information on running processes (ps, top)
/proc/cmdline
Boot time options
/proc/cpuinfo
Processor information
/proc/mdstat
Software RAID information
/proc/meminfo
System memory usage
/proc/swaps
System memory usage
/proc/mounts
Mounted file systems
/proc/net
Network activity and configuration
/proc/partitions
Block devices known to the kernel
/proc/version
Version of the Linux kernel
Some interesting /sys entries
/sys/block/*
Block device information
/sys/bus/*
Hardware information
/sys/class/*
Driver information
/sys/power/state Access to suspend functionality
KERNEL HARDWARE SUPPORT: Kernel complied for architecture, CPU, memory
Seven Supported Architectures: x86, Itanium2, AMD64, S/390, zSeries, iSeries, pSeries
32bit i686/athlon kernel limitations
Up to 32 logical CPUs with SMP
Standard kernel: 4 GB RAM
SMP kernel: 16 GB RAM (3 GB per process)
Hugemem kernel: 64 GB RAM (4 GB per process)

FILESYSTEM MANAGEMENT
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To create a new partition on a hard drive,

1. fdisk -l
2. fdisk /dev/hda
Command (m for help): m
Command (m for help): n
First cylinder (1111-1305, default 1111): <ENTER>
Using------------Last cylinder-----------------------(1111-1305, default 1305):+200M
Command (m for help): p
Command (m for help): w
2. partprobe or reboot
3. mkfs.ext3
/dev/hda5
4. mkdir /new
5. mount /dev/had5 /new
6. mount
7. ls /new
==lost+found
8. vim /etc/fstab (add entry)
LABEL=/
LABEL=/boot
devpts
tmpfs
proc
sysfs
LABEL=SWAP-sda5

/
/boot
/dev/pts
/dev/shm
/proc
/sys
swap

/dev/hda5

/new

ext3
ext3
devpts
tmpfs
proc
sysfs
swap

defaults
defaults
gid=5,mode=620
defaults
defaults
defaults
defaults
ext3

1
1
0
0
0
0
0

1
2
0
0
0
0
0

defaults

0 0

9. init 6 or reboot
NETWORK CONFIGURATION
Some commands,
ifconfig

To check the local IP address

mii-tool

To check the connectivity

hostname

To check & change the hostname

system-config-network

To set the ip address of local system

route

Show the ip routing table

ethtool

To display ethernet card settings

Client side of servers,

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1. DHCP
system-config-network
use dhcp
service network restart
ifconfig
2. DNS
hostname
ifconfig
vim /etc/resolv.conf
add entries as follows,
search
<domain name>
like example.com
nameserver <IP Address of DNS server> like 192.168.0.254
service network restart
nslookup
>example.com
>192.168.0.254
3. FTP or HTTP
elinks: -test web browser
fire fox: -GUI web browser
4. Samba
smbclient -L <server IP or hostname> -U <username>
smbclient //<server IP or hostname> -U <username>

PACKAGE MAINTAINS: 7

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As per the requirement we have to add some applications, servers, etc. for that we have two
methods in RHEL5.
1. RPM (Red hat Package Manager): - the rpm command is used for the installation of
packages which can be installed on your system.
rpm

<operation>

<location with package name>

Ex,
rpm ivh /opt/Server/rpm -ivh bind-9.3.3-7.el5.i386.rpm
<operations>
-i
-v
-h
-q
-a
--import
--aid
--force
--nodeps

install
verbose
hashes
query
all
import keys
to automatically install the dependcies
forcefully
Without dependcies

2. YUM (Yellow Update Modifier): - As the rpm command was failed to resolve the
dependcies the red hat people decided to search another solution which was the YUM.
Also with the help of yum, you do not require to copy the packages on each and every
computer. You can share your database with the help of ftp or http protocol.
Configuration: 1. insert the Linux DVD
2. mount /dev/cdrom /opt
3. mkdir p /var/ftp/pub
4. cp rf /opt/* /var/ftp/pub
5. vim /etc/yum.repos.d/server1.repo
[Server]
name=station1
baseurl=file:///var/ftp/pub or baseurl=ftp://192.168.0.1/pub
enabled=1
gpgcheck=0
6. rpm ivh /var/ftp/pub/Server/createrepo-0.44-2.fc6.noarch.rpm
7. createrepo -v /var/ftp/pub
8. yum list
*note
yum install <package name>
yum update <package name>
ADVANCE USER MANAGEMENT
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Password aging policies

By default, password do not expires
To modify password aging for existing users, use the chage command
chage

<username>

Minimum Password Age [0]:

Maximum Password Age [99999]:
Last Password Change (YYYY-MM-DD) [2008-03-06]:
Password Expiration Warning [7]:
Password Inactive [-1]:
Account Expiration Date (YYYY-MM-DD) [1969-12-31]:

Login Shell Scripts

/etc/profile
/etc/profile.d/
`/.bash_profile
`/.bashrc
/etc/profile is excuted every time a user logs into the system. It will set environment
variables for the user such as HISTSIZE and MAIL.This is the first script excuted at
login.
/etc/profile.d/ contain initialization scripts specific to software packages installed by
RPM.
`/.bash_profile is excuted once at login time. It is usually used to set environment
variables and to start programs at login, as opposed to every time you open a terminal
window.
`./bashrc is excuted at login time. It is usually used to set the aliases of users.
Switching accounts
The su command is used to switch to another account from command line. This
command is most often used by administrators to temporarily become the root user
without looging out of their non-privileged account.The password of the account
being switched to must be supplied unless the superuser issued the su command.
su <username>

SUID & SGID

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Normally processes started by a user under the user & group security context of that user. SUID
and/or SGID bits set on an excutable file cause it to run under the user and/or group security
context of the files owner and/or group.
To set a SUID,
chmod u+s <filename>
To set a SGID,To set the group owner for the subcontent of the directory.
chmod g+s <filename>
Sticky bit
Normally users with write permissions directory can delete any file in that directory regardless of
that files permissions or ownership. With sticky bit set on a directory, only the owner of a file
can delete the file.
Setgid access mode
Normally,
files created in a directory belong to the default group of the user. When a file
created in a directory with the setgid bit set, it belong to the same group as the directory.
Access Control List (ACL): The ext3 filesystem includes support for access control lists which allow finer
grained control of filesystem permissions that are possible with the standard three access
categories that are normally provided.
To view the ACLs for a file, use the command: getfacl <filename with location>

To set the ACLs for a file, use the command: setfacl -m u:<username>:<permissions>
<filename with location>
setfacl -m g:<groupname>:<permissions> <filename with location>
To remove the ACLs
setfacl -x u:<username> <filename with location>
SELINUX (SECURITY ENHANCED LINUX) : Security enhanced Linux (SELinux) has been around for some time, but has recently seen a rise
in popularity. It was developed by National Security Agency (NSA), as a research project.
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Linux was selected because it is open source and therefore easier to get people involved. It also
makes it easier to prove the technology.
The primary goal of SELinux was to protect user-space from system-space & protect user data
from system services.
With SELinux they introduced a concept called Mandatory Access Control (MAC). With MAC,
the security administrator decides who can do what to which files.
SELinux installation options : During the installation, SELinux is automatically activated.
Disabled: -This option turn of the SELinux features
Permissive: - This option sets up some default policies & logging
Enforcing: -SELinux is now enforced, but it will affect certain daemons.
Each process or object (file, directory, network socket also has a SELinux context.)
Like,
Identity:role:domain/type
root:object_r:user_home_t
Controlling SELinux : To control SELinux,
a. system-config-securitylevel
b. vim /etc/sysconfig/selinux
SELinux Contexts
List process contexts ps Z
List file contexts
ls -Z
Change the contexts
chcon
Troubleshooting SELinux
What is the error? Check /var/log/messages
Is the process doing something it shouldnt
Does the target have the right context
ADVANCE FILESYSTEM MANAGEMENT: RAID: Redudunt Array of Independent Disk. RAID has different levels
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RAID Level

0 (Striping)

1 (Mirroring)

5 (Striping with parity)

Minimum hard-disk
Maximum hard-disk
Read Performance
Write Performance
Disk Utilization
Fault tolerence
Coasting

2
32
High
High
100%
0%
Less

2
32
High
Low
50%
Maximum
High

3
32
High
High
75%
75%
Moderate

Software RAID Configuration

1. Create 3 to 4 partitions
2. Change there system id as fd
3. partprobe or reboot
4. mdadm --create /dev/md0 --level=1 raid-devices=2 /dev/hda5
/dev/hda6 --spare-devices=1 /dev/hda7
5. mdadm -D /dev/md0
6. mkfs.ext3 /dev/md0
7. mkdir /raid
8. mount /dev/md0 /raid
9. vim /etc/fstab
add a entry as follows,
/dev/md0 /raid ext3 defaults 0 0
10. cd /raid
11. mkdir test
12. cd test
13. create some database (files or directories)
14. On a Second Console give a command,
watch cat /proc/mdstat
15. On a first Console
16. mdadm -D /dev/md0
17. After excuting the following command please go to second console to
see the process of data recovery.
mdadm --mange /dev/md0 --fail /dev/hda5
18. mdadm -D /dev/md0
19. ls /raid
20. mdadm --manage /dev/md0 --remove /dev/hda5
21. mdadm -D /dev/md0
22. mdadm --manage /dev/md0 --add /dev/hda5
23. ls /raid
LOGICAL VOLUME MANAGER
LVMs are created to reduce the time & patients of an engg. Which is required to recreate the
partitions of differnt size which requires deleting, formatting & backup operations. With the help
of logical volumes we can easily recreate the volumes of a different size without deleting,
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formatting & without loss of data.

4
3
2
1

Logical volume
Volume Groups
Physical Volumes
Partitions

Creating Logical Volumes: 1. Create 3 to 4 partitions

2. Change the system Id as 8e
3. pvcreate /dev/hda5
4. pvcreate /dev/hda6
5. pvcreate /dev/hda7
6. pvdisplay /dev/hda5
7. vgcreate volA /dev/hda5 /dev/hda6
8. vgdisplay volA
9. lvcreate L +<size> -n lvm1 volA
10. lvdisplay /dev/volA/lvm1
11. mkfs.ext3 /dev/volA/lvm1
12. mkdir -p /volA/lvm1
13. mount /dev/volA/lvm1 /volA/lvm1
14. df -hT
14. vim /etc/fstab
add a entry as follows,
/dev/volA/lvm1
/volA/lvm1
ext3
Resizing Logical Volumes
1. Create a new partition
2. pvcreate /dev/hda8
3. vgdisplay volA
4. vgextend volA /dev/hda8
5. vgdisplay volA
6. lvdisplay /dev/volA/lvm1
7. lvextend -L +<size to add >
8. resize2fs /dev/volA/lvm1
9. lvdisplay /dev/volA/lvm1
10. df -hT

defaults

0 0

/dev/volA/lvm1

QUOTA
The Linux quota system allows an administrator to estalish limits on the amount of disk
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resources users can consume. Because resources accounting must occur with every file creatiion,
quotas are implemented within kernel.
Implementation: 1. Create one partition
2. mkdir /quota
3. mkfs.ext3 /dev/hda?
4. mount /dev/hda? /quota
5. vim /etc/fstab
add a entry
/dev/hda?

/quota

ext3

6. mount -o remount,usrquota,grpquota

defaults,usrquota,grpquota
/quota

7. quotacheck cuvg /quota

8. ls /quota
9. useraddd -d /quota/user1

user1

10. passwd user1

11. edquota -u user1
12. quotaon /quota
13. Login with user1 on a second console & try to access quota limits.

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MANUALLY UPGRADING THE KERNEL: The Red Hat Enterprise Linux Kernel is custom built by the RHEL kernel team to ensure its
integrity and compatibilty with supported hardware.RHEL kernel are packaged in RPM format
so that they are easy to upgrade and verify using the package management tool, or yum
command.
Overview of kernel-packages: kernel : Contains the kernel for multi-processor systems. For x86 system, only the first 4GB
of RAM is used.
kernel-devel: -Contains the kernel headers and makefiles sufficient to build module against the
kernel package.
kernel-PAE: - Contains the kernel for multi-processor systems. For x86 system, support for
over 4GB of RAM (up to 64GB).4GB/4GB split, 4GB of virtual address space for the kernel
and almost 4GB for each user process on x86 systems.
kernel-PAE-devel: - Contains the kernel headers and makefiles sufficient to build module
against the kernel-PAE package.
kernel-doc: -Contains documentation files from kernel source.Installation of these package
provides a reference to that options that can be passed to Linux kernel modules at load time.
kernel-headers: - Includes the C header files that specify the interface between the Linux
kernel and userspace libraries and programs.
kernel-xen: -Includes a version of the Linux kernel which is needed to run Virtulization.
kernel-xen-devel : - Contains the kernel headers and makefiles sufficient to build module
against the kernel-xen-devel package.

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