Welcome to the Official Red Hat Linux System Administration Primer.
The Official Red Hat Linux System Administration Primer contains introductory information for new Red Hat Linux system administrators. It will not teach you how to perform a particular task; rather, it will provide you with the background knowledge that more experienced system administrators have learned over time.
This guide assumes you have a limited amount of experience as a Linux user, but no Linux system administration experience. If you are completely new to Linux in general (and Red Hat Linux in particular), you should start by reading the Official Red Hat Linux Getting Started Guide.
More experienced system administrators should skim the Official Red Hat Linux System Administration Primer for overall concepts, and then concentrate on using the Official Red Hat Linux Customization Guide for assistance in performing specific tasks in a Red Hat Linux environment. Administrators requiring more in-depth, factual information should refer to the Official Red Hat Linux Reference Guide.
![]() | Note | |
---|---|---|
Although this manual reflects the most current information possible, you should read the Red Hat Linux Release Notes for information that may not have been available prior to our documentation being finalized. They can be found on the Red Hat Linux CD #1 and online at:
|
When you read this manual, you will see that certain words are represented in different fonts, typefaces, sizes, and weights. This highlighting is systematic; different words are represented in the same style to indicate their inclusion in a specific category. The types of words that are represented this way include the following:
Linux commands (and other operating system commands, when used)
are represented this way. This style should indicate to you that
you can type the word or phrase on the command line and press
Use the cat testfile command to view the contents of a file, named testfile, in the current working directory.
Filenames, directory names, paths, and RPM package names are represented this way. This style should indicate that a particular file or directory exists by that name on your Red Hat Linux system. Examples:
The .bashrc file in your home directory contains bash shell definitions and aliases for your own use.
The /etc/fstab file contains information about different system devices and filesystems.
Install the webalizer RPM if you want to use a Web server log file analysis program.
This style should indicate to you that the program named is an end-user application (as opposed to system software). For example:
Use Mozilla to browse the Web.
A key on the keyboard is shown in this style. For example:
To use
A combination of keystrokes is represented in this way. For example:
The
A title, word, or phrase found on a GUI interface screen or window will be shown in this style. When you see text shown in this style, it is being used to identify a particular GUI screen or an element on a GUI screen (such as text associated with a checkbox or field). Example:
Select the Require Password checkbox if you would like your screensaver to require a password before stopping.
When you see a word in this style, it indicates that the word is the top level of a pulldown menu. If you click on the word on the GUI screen, the rest of the menu should appear. For example:
Under File on a GNOME terminal, you will see the New Tab option that allows you to open multiple shell prompts in the same window.
If you need to type in a sequence of commands from a GUI menu, they will be shown like the following example:
Go to Main Menu Button (on the Panel) => Programming => Emacs to start the Emacs text editor.
This style indicates that the text will be found on a clickable button on a GUI screen. For example:
Click on the Back button to return to the webpage you last viewed.
When you see text in this style, it indicates text displayed by the computer on the command line. You will see responses to commands you typed in, error messages, and interactive prompts for your input during scripts or programs shown this way. For example:
Use the ls command to display the contents of a directory:
$ ls Desktop about.html logs paulwesterberg.png Mail backupfiles mail reports |
The output returned in response to the command (in this case, the contents of the directory) is shown in this style.
A prompt, which is a computer's way of signifying that it is ready for you to input something, will be shown in this style. Examples:
$
#
[stephen@maturin stephen]$
leopard login:
Text that the user has to type, either on the command line, or into a text box on a GUI screen, is displayed in this style. In the following example, text is displayed in this style:
To boot your system into the text based installation program, you will need to type in the text command at the boot: prompt.
Additionally, we use several different strategies to draw your attention to certain pieces of information. In order of how critical the information is to your system, these items will be marked as note, tip, important, caution, or a warning. For example:
![]() | Note |
---|---|
Remember that Linux is case sensitive. In other words, a rose is not a ROSE is not a rOsE. |
![]() | Tip |
---|---|
The directory /usr/share/doc contains additional documentation for packages installed on your system. |
![]() | Important |
---|---|
If you modify the DHCP configuration file, the changes will not take effect until you restart the DHCP daemon. |
![]() | Caution |
---|---|
Do not perform routine tasks as root — use a regular user account unless you need to use the root account for system administration tasks. |
![]() | Warning |
---|---|
If you choose not to partition manually, a server installation will remove all existing partitions on all installed hard drives. Do not choose this installation class unless you are sure you have no data you need to save. |