LPIC-2 Linux Professional Institute Certification Study Guide, 2nd Edition

Sybex, 2016

by Christine Bresnahan and Richard Blum



Description

LPIC-2 is the one-stop preparation resource for the Linux Professional Institute's Advanced Level certification exam. With 100 percent coverage of all exam objectives, this book provides clear and concise coverage of the Linux administration topics you'll need to know for exams 201 and 202. Practical examples highlight the real-world applications of important concepts, and together, the author team provides insights based on almost fifty years in the IT industry. This brand new second edition has been completely revamped to align with the latest versions of the exams, with authoritative coverage of the Linux kernel, system startup, advanced storage, network configuration, system maintenance, web services, security, troubleshooting, and more. You also get access to online learning tools including electronic flashcards, chapter tests, practice exams, and a glossary of critical terms to help you solidify your understanding of upper-level Linux administration topics.

Table of Contents

Introduction xxiii

Assessment Test xliii

Part I The LPI 201 Exam 1

Chapter 1 Starting a System 3
The Linux Boot Process 4
Following the Boot Process 4
Viewing the Boot Process 5
The Firmware Startup 6
The BIOS Startup 6
The UEFI Startup 7
Linux Bootloaders 8
GRUB Legacy 9
GRUB 2 12
Alternative Bootloaders 14
Secure Bootloaders 15
Process Initialization 16
The SysV Method 17
The systemd Method 21
The Upstart Method 26
System Recovery 27
Kernel Failures 27
Root Drive Failure 29
Summary 31
Exam Essentials 31
Review Questions 33

Chapter 2 Maintaining the System 37
Keeping Users Informed 38
Looking at Fluid Messaging 39
Looking at Static Messaging 47
Backing Up the System 51
Developing a Backup Strategy 51
Performing Backups 61
Installing Programs from Source 72
Obtaining the Installation Files 73
Unpacking the Installation Files 73
Reading Installation Documentation 74
Compiling Preparation 75
Compiling the Program 76
Completing the Installation 76
Managing Resource Usage 79
Measuring Resource Usage 79
Predicting Resource Usage 83
Troubleshooting Resource Usage 85
Summary 87
Exam Essentials 87
Review Questions 89

Chapter 3 Mastering the Kernel 93
What Is the Kernel? 94
The Kernel Features 94
Parts of the Kernel 104
Kernel Versions 107
Compiling a Kernel 108
Obtaining Source Code 109
Creating the Configuration File 110
Compiling and Installing the Kernel 114
Compiling and Installing Modules 116
Creating an Initial RAM Disk 116
Booting the New Kernel 118
Creating a Kernel Package 119
Maintaining the Kernel 120
Working with Module Files 120
Module Commands 120
Working with Hardware 125
Automatically Detecting Hardware 128
Troubleshooting the Kernel 129
Summary 132
Exam Essentials 133
Review Questions 135

Chapter 4 Managing the Filesystem 139
Operating the Linux Filesystem 140
Understanding Filesystem Structures 140
Understanding Filesystem Types 141
Making a Filesystem 144
Attaching a Filesystem 146
Exploring Additional Filesystem Topics 162
Looking at Memory-Based Linux Filesystems 162
Looking at the Btrfs Filesystem 163
Exploring Btrfs Subvolumes 165
Exploring Btrfs Snapshots 169
Looking at Optical Filesystems 171
Looking at Swap Filesystems 177
Looking at Network-Based Filesystems 180
Understanding Auto-Mounting 180
Looking at Encrypted Filesystems 183
Maintaining Linux Filesystems 185
Adjusting a Filesystem 185
Checking and Repairing a Filesystem 187
Using SMART 189
Summary 192
Exam Essentials 192
Review Questions 195

Chapter 5 Administering Advanced Storage Devices 199
Configuring RAID 200
Understanding RAID 200
Implementing RAID on Linux 204
Managing a RAID Array 216
Adjusting Storage Devices 221
Looking at Drive Interface Concepts 221
Testing and Tuning Drives 223
Implementing iSCSI 234
Managing Logical Volumes 245
Understanding LVM 245
Creating Logical Volumes 246
Supporting Logical Volumes 254
Understanding the Device Mapper 263
Summary 264
Exam Essentials 264
Review Questions 267

Chapter 6 Navigating Network Services 271
Networking Basics 272
The Physical Layer 272
The Network Layer 274
The Transport Layer 278
The Application Layer 279
Configuring Network Features 279
Network Configuration Files 280
Graphical Tools 282
Command-Line Tools 284
Basic Network Troubleshooting 288
Checking the Log Files 288
Viewing the ARP Cache 289
Sending Test Packets 290
Testing Network Routes 291
Testing Client/Server Connectivity 293
Finding Host Information 295
Network Security 297
Advanced Network Troubleshooting 297
Viewing Open Network Connections 297
Viewing Network Statistics 300
Scanning the Network 302
Capturing Network Traffic 303
Summary 308
Exam Essentials 308
Review Questions 310

Part II The LPI 202 Exam 315

Chapter 7 Organizing Email Services 317
The Linux Mail System 318
Mail Transfer Agent 319
Mail Delivery Agent 321
Mail User Agent 323
Email Protocols 325
Simple Mail Transfer Protocol 326
Post Office Protocol 332
Internet Message Access Protocol 334
Using Email Servers 338
Using Sendmail 338
Using Postfix 342
Local Email Delivery 351
Procmail Basics 351
Sieve 356
Remote Email Delivery 359
Using Courier 359
Using Dovecot 360
Summary 363
Exam Essentials 364
Review Questions 366

Chapter 8 Directing DNS 371
Configuring a DNS Server 372
Understanding DNS and BIND 372
Configuring DNS on Linux 379
Starting, Stopping, and Reloading BIND 395
Configuring BIND Logging 398
Creating and Maintaining DNS Zones 403
Exploring BIND Zone Files 403
Managing BIND Zones on Linux 417
Securing a DNS Server 427
Setting Up Basic Security 427
Jailing BIND 431
Using DNSSEC 434
Connecting via TSIG 440
Employing DANE 442
Summary 445
Exam Essentials 445
Review Questions 447

Chapter 9 Offering Web Services 451
What Is a Web Server? 452
Web Server Basics 452
The HTTP Standard 453
Linux Web Servers 459
The Apache Web Server 461
Installing an Apache Server 462
Configuring the Apache Server 464
Hosting Dynamic Web Applications 472
Creating a Secure Web Server 474
Using a Proxy Server 482
Installing Squid 482
Configuring Squid 483
Configuring Clients 486
The Nginx Server 487
Installing Nginx 487
Configuring Nginx 488
Summary 490
Exam Essentials 491
Review Questions 493

Chapter 10 Sharing Files 497
Looking at Samba 498
Understanding Samba 498
Configuring Samba 500
Troubleshooting Samba 527
Looking at NFS 530
Understanding NFS 530
Configuring NFS 533
Securing NFS 549
Troubleshooting NFS 552
Looking at FTP Servers 553
Understanding FTP 554
Configuring vsftpd 556
Configuring Pure-FTPd 568
Summary 575
Exam Essentials 575
Review Questions 577

Chapter 11 Managing Network Clients 581
Assigning Network Addresses 582
The DHCP Standard 583
Linux DHCP Software 584
Installing a Linux DHCP Server 585
Configuring a DHCP Server 585
Configuring Clients 590
Authentication Service 591
PAM Basics 591
Configuring PAM 594
Using PAM Application Files 595
Network Directories 597
LDAP Basics 597
The OpenLDAP Server 601
Implementing LDAP Clients 607
Summary 613
Exam Essentials 613
Review Questions 615

Chapter 12 Setting Up System Security 619
Server Network Security 620
Port Scanning 620
Intrusion Detection Systems 628
External Network Security 631
Using iptables 634
Routing in Linux 639
Connecting Securely to a Server 639
OpenSSH 640
OpenVPN 643
Security Resources 646
US-CERT 646
SANS Institute 647
Bugtraq 647
Summary 648
Exam Essentials 649
Review Questions 651

Appendix Answers to Review Questions 655

Comments

No comments posted yet. Add a comment


Useful Web sites:



Linux


DistroWatch
Here's where I keep up to date on the latest Linux distribution news.

Ubuntu
The most popular desktop Linux distribution.

openSUSE
A popular full-featured Linux distribution, great for both desktops and servers.

CentOS
A popular Linux server distribution.


Web Programming


PHP online manual
The ultimate resource in all PHP programming topics

MySQL online manual
The MySQL database online manual.

W3Schools
A great online tutorial and reference for many Web programming languages.


Bass Guitar


Fender basses
One of my favorites, I love the Fender Jazz bass. It's such a versatile instrument you can take it to just about any gig!

Lakland basses
The Lakland Skyline 55-01 bass is yet another of my favorite basses!


Bible Study


Reformed Theological Seminary
When I'm not reading computer books, I'm doing bible studies. The Reformed Theological Seminary has some great online courses for free that cover the basics of reformed theology.

BiblicalTraining.org
A smorgasbord of more reformed and evangelical seminary course recordings, all for free!