IT31023 - Systems Admin

& Maintenance

1. Introduction to System & Network

Administration

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1.1 Essential duties of the system
administrator

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 What is Systems Administration?
System Administration - Activities which directly support the
operations and integrity of computing systems and their use
and which manage their intricacies (complexity).

These activities minimally include system installation,

configuration, integration, maintenance, performance
management, data management, security management,
failure analysis /recovery, and user support.

In a inter-networked computing environment, the computer

network is often included as part of the complex computing
system.
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 Being a SysAdmin Professional

 System Administration, if done well,

should be equal parts:
– Technical skills
– People & communications skills
– Problem solving & Common sense
– Personal Commitment

 “SysAdmin involves a tension between

authority and responsibility on one hand and
service and co-operation on the other.”
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 System Administration: An
introduction
 Who is a system administrator?
– Anyone who managers a computer not solely for
their own use.
 What are the goals of system
administration?
– Ensure that computing systems run correctly
and as efficiently as possible
– Ensure that all users can and do use the
computing systems to carry out their required
work in the easiest and most efficient manner.
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Who is a System Administrator?

System Running Users able to work in

Smoothly and Efficiently Easy and Efficient Manner

ul
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Tasks of a Network Administrator

 Security Management

 Performance Management

 Planning for Growth

 Fault Management and Recovery

 Account/User Management

 Networked Application Support

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 Security Management

 Firewalls

 Usernames

 Password control

 Resource Access Control

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Performance Management

 Availability
 Response Time
 Accuracy

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 Planning for Growth
 A Network (or any organisation) is not static

 Growth means increased load on a network. This

must be planned for….
 Systems eventually need replacement. This must
be planned for – in advance…

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Fault Management and Recovery

 Monitoring
– Reporting status
 Testing
– Fixes and Patches
– Updates
– Repairs
– Change Management

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 Account / User Management
 Communication Facilities
– Connection - Rental - Charges
 Hardware Usage
– Lease - Rent - Hire
 Consumables Usage
– Power, Paper,
Media
 Software Usage
– Licensing,
– Tolls,
– Application usage
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 Account / User Management

 Accounts are Managed for:

– Intrusion detection / prevention

– Charging for Services

– Legal protection of the Organisation

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Networked Application Support
 Client / Server systems support
 Internet support
 Server support
– Applications and Hardware
 Helpdesk
– Trouble report / Bug fixes
– Printing
– eMail
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 How to be a Sys/Net Admin
(Yet another Job Description…)
 Learn Operating System basics

 Learn shell utilities and script programming

 Learn how to Install and Configure OS

 Learn Web, DNS, Email, Proxy, …

 Learn TCP/IP networking

 Learn about system tuning and accounting

 Learn Compile and Customization

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Goals of System/Network Administration
 Put together a network of computers

 Get them running

 Keep them running (despite Users….)

 Provide a Service to Users

 Requires skills of
– Mechanic
– Sociologist
– Researcher
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 Challenges of System/Network
Administration

Systems or Network Administration is

more than just installing computers
or networks.
It is about planning and designing an
efficient community of computers that
allow users to get their jobs done.

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 Challenges of Administration
 Design Logical, Efficient networks
 Easily deploy & update many machines
 Decide what services are needed
– know the business tasks & customers
 Plan and implement adequate security
 Provide comfortable User environment
 Be able to fix errors and problems
 Keep track of & be able to use knowledge

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 Comparison of System/Network
Management Styles
 Fire-Fighting
– Managing by responding to situations when
they happen (Reactive)
 Preventative management
– Monitor network and make repairs and
changes before problems appear (Proactive)
 These are two opposite extremes.
Most real managers combine both.

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 Fire-Fighting

 Investigate the Fault or Problem

– Isolate the problem and identify/define it
– Use tests and tools to diagnose the problem
– Solve the problem and document the solution
 Prioritize multiple problems

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Preventative Management Techniques
 Capacity Planning
 Simulation and Testing
– load generators
– Benchmarks
 Performance Monitors and System Tuning
– Network analysis and modelling
– Load balancing
– Hardware upgrades

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 Sources of Information for
System/Network Administrators
 Manuals and Online Documentation
 World Wide Web
 RFCs, FYIs, …
 News groups, Discussion lists, WebLogs,
Blogs,
….
 Meetings, Seminars, Examinations …
– SAGE/Usenix, Microsoft TechNet/TechEd,
RHCE
 How-To books
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 Successful System Administration
 Need to find a balance between
– Authority and responsibility
– Service and cooperation
 A few Basic strategies
– Plan it before you go it
– Make it reversible
– Make changes incrementally
– Test, test, test before you unleash it on the
world
– Know how things REALLY work.
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 Successful System Administration
 Example: editing system configuration files.
– Keep a copy before any change to the configuration file
• For original version, using suffix of .dist, .orig
• For further changes, using suffix of .old, .sav, .yymmdd,
etc
– Keep the current modification date
• cp –p
– Plan how to back up if the change didn’t work – say
system does not even boot
• Such as boot to single user mode and copy the old
version back
– Test the change on a non-production environment first
• Eliminate the most obvious problems
– Make one major change at a time
• Make the test easier 24
 Successful System Administration
 Successful system administration
– Careful planning
– Habit
• Change root password regularly
• Faithfully making backups ( no matter how tedious)
• Testing every change several times
• Sticking to policies you’ve set
 Handling crises
– Have the foresight
– Take time to anticipate and plan for the emergency
– Prevent crises by carrying out all careful procedures.

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 Final Word on System Admin
The task of system administration is a balancing act. It
requires patience, understanding, knowledge and
experience.
(eg. Working in a casualty ward of a hospital .....)

In order to be good at system administration, a certain

amount of dedication is required with both theoretical and
practical skills.

Even though the best system administration tool are free,

companies actively seeking to pay consultants/system
administrators to set up and maintain administration tools
for them!!
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1.2 Unix and Linux
Distributions

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 Multics
 Bell Labs join “Multics” project of GE and MIT
in 1965
 Primitive version of Multics running on GE
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 Bell Labs ended its participation of Multics
in 1969

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 Unics / UNIX
 Former Multics group at Bell
Labs wanted to continue system
programming
 Ken Thompson used a cast
off PDP-7 to play the game
“Space-Travel”
 With Dennis Ritchie, Ken
gradually implemented an
operating system for PDP-7
 The new OS was named
“Unics” as opposed to “Multics”

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 UNIX
 UNIX was originally
written in assembler and
“B”
 Dennis Ritchie improves
“B” and named it “C”
 In 1973, most of UNIX
was rewritten in C
 UNIX was migrated from
PDP-7 to a PDP-11

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UNIX

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/technology-15287391 31
 BSD
 In 70s AT&T was under a courts order not
to sell software
 AT&T gave away UNIX to Universities
charging only for media
 Kernighan took UNIX to his University at
Berkeley
 Berkeley released BSD (Berkeley
Software Distribution) version of UNIX
 BSD too went through many releases until
BSD 4.4 was released. This too become
accepted in the commercial world So, two
competing versions reined namely System
V and BSD1

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 System V &
 In 1984, AT&T wasGNU
divested, and was allowed
to sell UNIX
 AT&T developed more versions, until it
released a commercial version called System 3
and this was followed by System V Release 4
– SVR4 (supported by many vendors)
 UNIX became commercial, source code
restricted
 Richard M Stallman (RMS) left MIT AI Labs to
found the GNU (GNU's Not UNIX) Project GNU's
under Free Software Foundation Not
 The goal of the GNU was to create a free UNIX Unix
like operating system
 GNU defined the word “free” as in “free
speech”, not as in “free beer”
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 GNU
 GNU distributed it's software under the
GNU General Public License (GPL)
 GPL mandated changes to GPLed
programs also to be under GPL
 By 1990, the GNU system was almost
complete
 “GNU Herd”, the kernel of the GNU
system was not ready

http://www.gnu.org/

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 Finally on Unix
 Most of the Unix versions were based on BSD or System
V
 IEEE developed a standard to enable various flavors
of Unix to inter-network. This ANSI
standard(Portable
POSIX known as OS Interface for Computer
Environments) is the collective name of a family of
related standards specified by the IEEE to
the application programming interface (API), along with
define
shell and utilities interfaces for software compatible with
variants of the Unix operating system, although the
standard can apply to any operating system. The term
POSIX was suggested by Richard Stallman in response to
an IEEE request for a memorable name.
© 2012, University of Colombo School of Computing 35
 What is Linux?
 Linux is a free Unix-type operating system originally
created by Linus Torvalds with the assistance of
developers around the world.
 Linux is an independent POSIX implementation and
includes true multitasking, virtual memory, shared libraries,
demand loading, proper memory management, TCP/IP
networking, and other features consistent with Unix-type
systems.
 The source code for Linux is freely available to everyone.
 ‘Linux' refers to the kernel part of the OS. pha,
 The kernel will run on many platforms: PDP/11,
Al Cray,
 x86, PowerPC, PDAs and many more.
 Today ….
http://www.linux.org
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 The Origins of Linux
The Beginning
The core of the Linux operating system was coded
by a Finnish programmer called Linus Benedict
Torvalds in 1991, when he was just 21. He had got a
new 386, and he found the existing DOS and UNIX
too expensive and inadequate.
In those days, a UNIX-like tiny, free OS called Minix
was extensively used for academic purposes. Since
its source code was available, Linus decided to take
Minix as a model. In his own words,
‘I wanted to write a better Minix than Minix’

In order to encourage wide dissemination of his OS, Linus made the source
code open to public. At the end of 1992 there were about a hundred Linux
developers. Next year there were 1000. And the numbers multiplied every
year.
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 The Origins of Linux
(Contd.)
 1991 – Linux is created as a hobby by Linus
 1992 – First public version (Linux 0.02)
 1993 – First prefabricated Linux distributions
 1996 – Support for non-Intel processors
 1999 – 2.2 kernel released
 Then 2.4 and 2.6 kernels …

Though Linus never imagined it, Linux quickly became a general tool for
computing. People stopped looking at Linux as a toy, and began to think
about it seriously. Today there are thousands of applications that can be
run on Linux, from Office Suites to 3D games. Hundreds of Linux User
Groups the world over discuss ways to make Linux work better. Many
number of web sites, and thousands of newsgroups and mailing lists talk
about Linux.

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 Linux Lineage
While many UNIX systems are based on System V of AT&T or BSD (Berkeley
Systems Distribution) of the University of California, Berkeley, Linux has
been developed without using the source codes of these two systems.

As a result, Linux can PC UNIX

function as an independent
UNIX-type operating system BSD FreeBSD
and can be freely
redistributed
UNIX
infringing the license.
without
The Minix
development of Linux has
been based on the activities System V
of many volunteers and its
functions and reliability are
comparable with any of the
commercially marketed
UNIX systems.
Linux

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 What is Linux Really?
 Linux itself is just kernel  The kernel is only useful
used in when
The heart of the system;
conjunction software with other
care
takes of memory
management, interrupt handling, - GNU Project
etc ….. - XFree86
(i.e. a common interface between - Others
user process and hardware )
SHELL
Utility
Kernel
Hardware

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Linux Distributions

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 What is a Linux Distribution?
 Takes the kernel (2.6) & other software and sells/gives them to you
 Provide a “friendly” method of installing the system
 Provide security updates and bug fixes
 Provide a method for installing and removing extra software
A ‘packaging’ system
 Provide their own utility software, e.g.
Printer setup,
Network setup,
And so on
 Each distribution has its
own characteristics
 Though the OS is the same, the bundled software do vary from one
distribution to another.
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What Makes Distributions Different?
 System Installer
– Anaconda (Red Hat, Fedora and ...)
– Yast (SuSE)
 Package Management
– RPM (Red Hat, Fedora, SuSE and ...)
– DEB (Debian based distros)
– TGZ (Slackware based distros)
 Configuration System
– Yast (SuSE)
– system-config-* (Fedora)
 Packages

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 Major Distribution Types
Linux kernel

Command (GNU Distribution

tools) Library
(glib)
Appl/Installation tools

Distribution Types

RedHat Debian Slackware Source-based

Mandrake Storm Plamo Gentoo

Suse Sorcerer
Corel
Popular Linux Distributions

http://distrowatch.com/
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 Linux Kernel Release Number
 Release Number a.b.c
– a - means major release
– b - if b is odd means development
release if b is even means stable
release
– c - minor number ( patch number of major
release )
 Linux Kernel maintainer
– Release 2.0.x - David Weinehall
– Release 2.2.x - Marc-Christian Petersen
(former maintainer Alan
Cox)
– Release 2.4.x - Willy Tarreau
(former maintainer Marcelo Tosatti)
– Release 2.6.x - Linus Trovals (Current Development)
– Latest stable version is 3. …… (Check the 46
Internet) 0
http://www.kernel.org/
 Linux Kernel
 Linus Torvalds releases Linux kernel version 3 to celebrate
20 years of penguin-powered computing
 This third iteration, currently named 3.0.0-rc1, comes
years
15 after 2.0 first hit the web. Also included is
code optimized for AMD's Fusion and Intel'sSandy
Ivy and and some updated graphics drivers, too.
Bridgesilicon,

 Despite these tasty new

treats, Torvalds is quick to point out
new release
that this an
is
change and unleashing
evolutionary
the big
three-oh was all about moving into a
third decade of distribution, not about
overhauling the OS.

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 What is GNU/Linux?

 GNU/Linux is
– Operating System that compose with
• LINUX – Core Kernel
• GNU Software– Free software
 GNU/Linux is free.
 You can redistribute and modify GNU/Linux while you
don’t break GPL.

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1.3 Ethics

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 Ethics
 Systems and Network administrators play a critical role in the
security and availability of the systems and networks they are
responsible for. During the course of their duties it is inevitable
that they will come into contact with sensitive, personal or
restricted information.
 For these reasons system and network administrators must
display an exemplary work ethic.
 Systems Administration is a profession.
• It is a powerful profession.
• A Systems Administrator must be ethical
• Respect private information
• Do not abuse power

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 Being a System Administrator
 Systems Administrators need extremely high privileges,
which involve rights over other people's files and directories.
They must have such rights as they need access to
directories and files to investigate problems, change
passwords, perform backups, etc.

 The Super User – The user with such far reaching powers is
known as the Super-user. The one in UNIX is called root.
Root owns the UNIX implementation and has rights to
everything - including deleting all files (including the Kernel!!)
on the system. The root password must only be known by
one person (and a copy kept in a sealed envelope in a safe).
For security reasons, you cannot have many people with root
password.

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 SAGE Code of Ethics (1/3)
 The integrity of a system administrator must be
beyond reproach.
– SAs come in contact with privileged information regularly
– Need to protect integrity and privacy of data
– Must uphold law and policies as established for their systems

 A system administrator shall not unnecessarily

infringe upon the rights of users.
– No tolerance for discrimination except when required for job
– Must not exercise special powers to access information except
when necessary

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 SAGE Code of Ethics (2/3)
 Communications of system administrators with all whom
they may come in contact shall be kept to the highest
standards of professional behavior.
– Must keep users informed of computing matters that might affect
them
– Must give impartial advice, and disclose any potential conflicts of
interest
 The continuance of professional education is critical to
maintaining currency as a system administrator.
– Reading, study, training, and sharing
knowledge and experiences are requirements

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 SAGE Code of Ethics (3/3)
 A system administrator must maintain an exemplary
work ethic.
– A sysadmin can have a significant impact on an organization – a
high level of trust is maintained by exemplary behavior

 At all times system administrators must display

professionalism in the performance of their duties.
– Need to be professional, even when dealing with management,
vendors, users, or other sysadmins

 SAGE is now known as Usenix LISA (Special

Interest Group for Sysadmins) and for more
information visit:
https://www.usenix.org/lisa
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 Ethics – LOPSA
 The of Professional System Administrators
League is a nonprofit corporation with members
(LOPSA)
throughout the world. Their mission is to advance the
practice of system administration; to support, recognize,
educate, and encourage its practitioners; and to serve
the public through education and outreach on system
administration issues.

 LOPSA’s System Administrators' Code of Ethics can be

found at: https://lopsa.org/CodeOfEthics

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