Syllabus for System Administration

Professor: Ken Koehler
Office: Muntz 372
Telephone: 745-5782
E-mail: koehlekr@ucrwcu.rwc.uc.edu

Course Goals

This is a course in UNIX system administration. Our goals are:

To understand how to operate a system from a bootable DVD.
To partition a hard drive and install the system software onto it.
To learn how to manipulate filesystems and devices.
To understand process control and how to interpret log files.
To understand system startup and configuration.
To learn how to implement filesystem security through user and group permissions.
To understand print spooling and the use of multimedia files.
To understand and implement effective backup procedures.
To learn how to build software from source.
To learn how to customize the operating system kernel.

This course fulfills the General Education Breadth of Knowledge (BoK) area of Natural Science.

Prerequisites

Introduction to Computer Mathematics, Object-Oriented Programming I and II, Introduction to UNIX and Principles of Operating Systems.

Text

Readings are linked to the schedule below. References include those available online, and Introduction to Unix.

Electronic Communications Policy

Because of e-mail instabilities, all assignments must be turned in on paper.

Attendance Policy

Failure to attend class will result in the following:

0 to 10% of class meetings missed: no grade reduction
11 to 20% of class meetings missed: final grade is reduced by one letter grade
21 to 30% of class meetings missed: final grade is reduced by two letter grades
more than 30% of class meetings missed: final grade is an F

Attendance will be taken at the start of each class period. If you are not present when it is taken, it counts as a missed class.

Schedule

Week 1 - System Startup and Operation
Reading assignments: Linux Information Sheet, Introduction to Linux, Man pages on emacs, endeavour2, gpm, seamonkey, sftp, ssh, startx, wall, wmaker, write, X, xcalc, xlock, xman, xterm.
Notes for Week 1 (CD-ROM version).

Week 2 - Disk Partitioning and Filesystem Installation
Reading assignments: Exploring the Filesystem, Overview of the Directory Tree, Managing Filesystems, Man pages on e2fsck, fdisk, fs, fstab, hier, ln, mke2fs, mount, umount.
Notes for Week 2 (CD-ROM version).

Week 3 - Filesystem and Device Manipulation
Reading assignments: Using Disks and Other Storage Media, Filesystems Howto, Man pages on dd, df, du, fdformat, fuser, hdparm, mknod, stat, sync, touch.
Notes for Week 3 (CD-ROM version).

Week 4 - Process and Log Analysis
Reading assignments: Man pages on kill, logger, proc, ps, pstree, signal (in section 7), tail, top, xosview.
Notes for Week 4 (CD-ROM version).

Week 5 - Startup Scripts and Configuration Files
Reading assignments: Boots and Shutdowns, Init, Shutting Down, Customizing Your Environment, Bash Programming Introduction Howto, Man pages on agetty, bash, boot, environ, init, inittab, login.defs, man.conf, printenv, sshd, syslog.conf, telinit, xorg.conf.
Notes for Week 5 (CD-ROM version).

Week 6 - User/Group Security and Permissions
Reading assignments: Managing Users, File Permissions, Managing User Accounts, Linux Security Howto, Man pages on chgrp, chmod, chown, groupadd, passwd, su, useradd, usermod.
Notes for Week 6 (CD-ROM version).

Week 7 - Print Spooling, File Formats and Media Access
Reading assignments: Linux Printing Usage Howto, Man pages on gs, lpd, lpd.conf, lpd.perms, lpq, lpr, lprm, od, printcap, suffixes.
Notes for Week 7 (CD-ROM version).

Week 8 - Backup
Reading assignments: Archiving and Compressing Files, Man pages on cmp, diff, find, md5sum, tar.
Notes for Week 8.

Week 9 - Building Software
Reading assignments: Linux From Scratch 6.2, Beyond Linux From Scratch 6.2, Man pages on ldd, make, patch.
Notes for Week 9 (CD-ROM version).

Week 10 - Customizing the Kernel
Reading assignments: Online Troubleshooting Resources Howto, Upgrading and installing new software, Linux Kernel Howto, Man pages on bootparam, grub, insmod, lsmod, modprobe, rmmod.
Notes for Week 10 (CD-ROM version).
Final Exam - 3 / 20, 6 - 8 PM

Tests and Grades

There will be a laboratory exercise during each class. Each exercise must be completed before the end of that class, and is worth 5 points.

The remainder of your grade will be based on the final exam. The final is a practical exam; you will have 2 hours to fix 2 small problems I will inflict on your system, and to implement the 2 small assignments you will find in the file /root/final.txt. Each assignment is worth 10 points, and you receive 10 points for attempting the exam.

Grades will be assigned on the following scale:

90 to 100 points = an A
80 to 89 points = a B
70 to 79 points = a C
60 to 69 points = A D
0 to 59 points = an F

Plus or minus grades will not be given.

If you in any way damage the disk partitions (or the partition table) on your PC which are assigned to other classes through a careless or malicious act, you will be summarily withdrawn from the class. If the act was intentional, or if you are caught attempting to cheat on the final, expulsion proceedings may be initiated against you.