Using and Administering Linux: Volume 1 (PDF)

Learn to be a Linux sysadmin and an expert user of the Linux operating system, even with no previous Linux experience. This second edition of the popular and highly rated Linux self-study training course has been fully updated to Fedora Linux 37 with expanded and revised content and figures as well new chapters on the BTRFS file system, using Zram for swap, NetworkManager, automation with Ansible, and systemd.

Like the previous version, this edition has been reviewed for technical accuracy by a highly respected Linux expert and will prepare you to manage complex systems with ease and equip you for a new career. It has also been reviewed by a student who took this course to ensure its readability and flow for those with little or no previous experience with Linux.

In this first volume of the training course series, you will learn about operating systems in general and Linux in particular, and explore the Linux philosophy for SysAdmins in preparation for the rest of the course. This book provides you with the tools necessary for mastering user management; installing, updating, and deleting software; and using command line tools to do performance tuning and basic problem determination.

You'll begin by creating a virtual network and installing an instance of Fedora - a popular and powerful Linux distribution - on a VirtualBox VM that can be used for all of the experiments on an existing Windows or Linux computer. You'll then move on to the basics of using the Xfce GUI desktop and the many tools Linux provides for working on the command line including virtual consoles, various terminal emulators, Bash, and other shells.

Explore data streams and the Linux tools used to manipulate them, and learn about the Vim text editor, which is indispensable to advanced Linux users and system administrators and be introduced to some other text editors. You'll also see how to install software updates and new software, learn additional terminal emulators,and some advanced shell skills. Examine the sequence of events that take place as the computer boots and Linux starts up, configure your shell to personalize it in ways that can seriously enhance your command line efficiency, and delve into files and filesystems.