Practical Guide to Ubuntu Linux, A

The Most Complete, Easy-to-Follow Guide to Ubuntu Linux   “As an in-depth guide to Ubuntu, this book does an exceptional job of covering everything from using the Unity desktop to exploring key server configurations.” –Elizabeth K. Joseph, Systems Administrator & Ubuntu Community Member  The #1 Ubuntu resource, fully updated for Ubuntu 14.04 (Trusty Tahr)–the Long Term Support (LTS) release Canonical will support into 2019 Extensive new coverage of installation, security, virtualization, MariaDB, Python Programming, and much more Updated JumpStarts help you set up many complex servers in minutes Hundreds of up-to-date examples, plus four updated indexes deliver fast access to reliable answers  Mark Sobell’s A Practical Guide to Ubuntu Linux®, Fourth Edition, is the most thorough and up-to-date reference to installing, configuring, securing, and working with Ubuntu desktops and servers.   This edition has been fully updated for Ubuntu 14.04 (Trusty Tahr), a milestone LTS (Long Term Support) release, which Canonical will support on both desktops and servers into 2019.   Sobell walks you through every essential feature and technique, from installing Ubuntu to working with the latest Ubuntu Unity desktop, and from configuring servers and monitoring networks to handling day-to-day system administration. His exceptionally clear explanations demystify everything from Apache, Samba, and postfix, to ufw, virtualization, and MariaDB/MySQL database management. PLUS a new chapter on programming in Python, today’s most popular system automation tool!   Fully updated JumpStart sections quickly help you get complex servers running–often in minutes. You’ll also find up-to-date guidance on new LPI and CompTIA Linux certification pathways for Linux professionals.   Sobell draws on his immense Linux knowledge to explain both the “hows” and the “whys” of Ubuntu. He’s taught hundreds of thousands of readers and never forgets what it’s like to be new to Linux. Whether you’re a user, administrator, or programmer, you’ll find everything you need here–now, and for years to come.   The world’s most practical Ubuntu Linux book is now even more useful!   This book delivers Completely revamped installation coverage reflecting Ubuntu 14.04’s improved ubiquity (graphical) and debian-installer (textual) installers Updated JumpStarts for quickly setting up Samba, Apache, postfix, FTP, NFS, CUPS, OpenSSH, DNS, and other complex servers Revamped and updated explanations of the ufw, gufw, and iptables firewall tools An all-new chapter on creating VMs (virtual machines) locally and in the cloud New coverage of the MariaDB open source plug-in replacement for MySQL Comprehensive networking coverage, including DNS/BIND, NFS, NIS, FTP, LDAP, and Cacti network monitoring Expert coverage of Internet server configuration and customization, including apache2 (Web) and postfix (mail) A new chapter covering state-of-the-art security techniques, including sudo, cryptography, hash functions, SSL certificates, plus a section on using GPG (GNU Privacy Guard) to protect documents in transit Deep coverage of essential administration tasks–from managing users to CUPS printing, and from configuring LANs and LDAP to building VMs (virtual machines) Complete instructions on keeping systems up to date using apt-get, dpkg, and other tools And much more . . . including a revised 500+ term glossary and four indexes

Table of Contents:
Preface xliii   Chapter 1: Welcome to Linux 1 The History of UNIX and GNU–Linux 2 Overview of Linux 11 Choosing an Operating System 19 Chapter Summary 21 Exercises 21   Part I: Installing Ubuntu Linux 23   Chapter 2: Installation Overview 25 Conventions Used in This Book 26 More Information 29 Planning the Installation 30 Ubuntu Releases, Editions, and Derivatives 35 Setting Up the Hard Disk 38 Downloading an Image File and Burning/Writing the Installation Medium 47 Chapter Summary 53 Exercises 54 Advanced Exercises 54   Chapter 3: Step-by-Step Installation 55 Booting Ubuntu and Running a Live Session 56 Basic Installation 59 Advanced Installation 71 Chapter Summary 93 Exercises 94 Advanced Exercises 94   Part II: Using Ubuntu Linux 95   Chapter 4: Introduction to Ubuntu 97 Curbing Your Power: root Privileges/sudo 98 Logging In on the System 99 Working with the Unity Desktop 104 Using the Nautilus File Manager 108 The System Settings Window 113 Getting Help 118 Installing, Removing, and Updating Software Packages 121 Working from the Command Line 125 More About Logging In and Passwords 142 Chapter Summary 145 Exercises 146 Advanced Exercises 147   Chapter 5: The Shell 149 Special Characters 150 Ordinary Files and Directory Files 151 The Command Line 152 Standard Input and Standard Output 159 Running a Command in the Background 171 Filename Generation/Pathname Expansion 173 Builtins 178 Chapter Summary 178 Exercises 179 Advanced Exercises 181   Chapter 6: The Linux Filesystem 183 The Hierarchical Filesystem 184 Ordinary Files and Directory Files 185 Pathnames 189 Working with Directories 191 Access Permissions 199 ACLs: Access Control Lists 206 Links 211 Chapter Summary 217 Exercises 219 Advanced Exercises 220   Chapter 7: The Linux Utilities 223 Basic Utilities 224 Working with Files 232 Compressing and Archiving Files 253 Displaying User and System Information 260 Miscellaneous Utilities 263 Editing Files 270 Chapter Summary 280 Exercises 282 Advanced Exercises 283   Chapter 8: Networking and the Internet 285 Introduction to Networking 286 Types of Networks and How They Work 288 Communicate over a Network 307 Network Utilities 308 Distributed Computing 315 WWW: World Wide Web 325 Chapter Summary 327 Exercises 328 Advanced Exercises 328   Part III: System Administration 331   Chapter 9: The Bourne Again Shell (bash) 333 Background 334 Startup Files 335 Commands That Are Symbols 339 Redirecting Standard Error 339 Writing and Executing a Shell Script 342 Control Operators: Separate and Group Commands 347 Job Control 352 Manipulating the Directory Stack 355 Parameters and Variables 358 Special Characters 372 Locale 374 Time 377 Processes 379 History 382 Aliases 398 Functions 402 Controlling bash: Features and Options 404 Processing the Command Line 409 Chapter Summary 420 Exercises 421 Advanced Exercises 423   Chapter 10: System Administration: Core Concepts 425 The Upstart Event-Based init Daemon 427 System Operation 437 GRUB: The Linux Boot Loader 444 Recovery (Single-User) Mode 450 Textual System Administration Utilities 454 Setting Up a Server 460 DHCP: Configures Network Interfaces 464 nsswitch.conf: Which Service to Look at First 468 X Window System 471 Getting Help 476 Chapter Summary 477 Exercises 478 Advanced Exercises 478   Chapter 11: Files, Directories, and Filesystems 479 Important Files and Directories 480 File Types 493 Filesystems 497 The XFS Filesystem 506 Chapter Summary 507 Exercises 508 Advanced Exercises 508   Chapter 12: Finding, Downloading, and Installing Software 509 Introduction 510 JumpStart: Installing and Removing Software Packages Using apt-get 512 Finding the Package That Holds an Application or File You Need 514 APT: Keeps the System Up to Date 515 dpkg: The Debian Package Management System 524 BitTorrent 531 Installing Non-dpkg Software 533 Keeping Software Up to Date 535 curl: Downloads Files Noninteractively 536 Chapter Summary 536 Exercises 537 Advanced Exercises 537   Chapter 13: Printing with CUPS 539 Introduction 540 The System Configures a Local Printer Automatically 542 JumpStart I: Configuring a Printer Using system-config-printer 542 JumpStart II: Setting Up a Local or Remote Printer 544 Working with the CUPS Web Interface 548 Configuring Printers 549 Traditional UNIX Printing 557 Printing from Windows 558 Printing to Windows 560 Chapter Summary 560 Exercises 561 Advanced Exercises 561   Chapter 14: Administration Tasks 563 Configuring User and Group Accounts 564 Backing Up Files 568 Scheduling Tasks 573 System Reports 576 Maintaining the System 578 Chapter Summary 593 Exercises 594 Advanced Exercises 594   Chapter 15: System Security 595 Running Commands with root Privileges 596 Passwords 615 Securing a Server 616 PAM 621 Cryptography 626 GPG (GNU Privacy Guard) 641 Security Resources 656 Chapter Summary 659 Exercises 660 Advanced Exercises 660   Chapter 16: Configuring and Monitoring a LAN 661 More Information 662 Setting Up the Hardware 662 Configuring the Systems 666 NetworkManager: Configures Network Connections 667 Setting Up Servers 672 Introduction to Cacti 674 Chapter Summary 683 Exercises 684 Advanced Exercises 685   Chapter 17: Setting Up Virtual Machines Locally and in the Cloud 687 VMs (Virtual Machines) 688 gnome-boxes 690 QEMU/KVM 691 VMware Player: Installing Ubuntu on VMware 698 Cloud Computing 703 Chapter Summary 708 Exercises 709 Advanced Exercises 709   Part IV: Using Clients and Setting Up Servers 711   Chapter 18: The OpenSSH Secure CommunicationUtilities 713 Introduction to OpenSSH 714 Running the ssh, scp, and sftp OpenSSH Clients 716 Setting Up an OpenSSH Server (sshd) 727 Troubleshooting 735 Tunneling/Port Forwarding 735 Chapter Summary 738 Exercises 739 Advanced Exercises 739   Chapter 19: The rsync Secure Copy Utility 741 Syntax 742 Arguments 742 Options 742 Examples 745 Chapter Summary 752 Exercises 752   Chapter 20: FTP: Transferring Files Across a Network 753 Introduction to FTP 754 Running the ftp and sftp FTP Clients 756 Setting Up an FTP Server (vsftpd) 764 Chapter Summary 777 Exercises 778 Advanced Exercises 778   Chapter 21: postfix: Setting Up Mail Servers, Clients, and More 779 Overview 780 Introduction to postfix 781 Setting Up a postfix Mail Server 784 JumpStart: Configuring postfix to Use Gmail as a Smarthost 787 Configuring postfix 789 SpamAssassin 797 Additional Email Tools 801 dovecot: Setting Up an IMAP or POP3 Mail Server 807 Chapter Summary 810 Exercises 811 Advanced Exercises 812   Chapter 22: NIS and LDAP 813 Introduction to NIS 814 Running an NIS Client 817 Setting Up an NIS Server 822 Introduction to LDAP 830 Setting Up an LDAP Server 833 Chapter Summary 839 Exercises 840 Advanced Exercises 840   Chapter 23: NFS: Sharing Directory Hierarchies 843 Introduction to NFS 845 Running an NFS Client 847 Setting Up an NFS Server 853 automount: Mounts Directory Hierarchies on Demand 863 Chapter Summary 866 Exercises 867 Advanced Exercises 867   Chapter 24: Samba: Linux and Windows File and Printer Sharing 869 Introduction to Samba 870 Running Samba Clients 874 Setting Up a Samba Server 878 Troubleshooting 887 Chapter Summary 889 Exercises 890 Advanced Exercises 890   Chapter 25: DNS/BIND: Tracking Domain Names and Addresses 891 Introduction to DNS 892 Setting Up a DNS Server 904 Configuring a DNS Server 907 Chapter Summary 920 Exercises 921 Advanced Exercises 921   Chapter 26: ufw, gufw, and iptables: Setting Up a Firewall 923 ufw: The Uncomplicated Firewall 924 gufw: The Graphical Interface to ufw 927 Introduction to iptables 932 Building a Set of Rules Using iptables 937 Copying Rules to and from the Kernel 944 Sharing an Internet Connection Using NAT 945 Chapter Summary 948 Exercises 949 Advanced Exercises 949   Chapter 27: Apache (apache2): Setting Up a Web Server 951 Introduction 952 Running an Apache Web Server 954 Configuration Directives 961 Advanced Configuration 984 Troubleshooting 990 Modules 991 webalizer: Analyzes Web Traffic 997 Error Codes 997 Chapter Summary 998 Exercises 998 Advanced Exercises 999   Part V: Programming Tools 1001   Chapter 28: Programming the Bourne Again Shell (bash) 1003 Control Structures 1004 File Descriptors 1038 Parameters 1044 Variables 1053 Builtin Commands 1062 Expressions 1078 Implicit Command-Line Continuation 1085 Shell Programs 1086 Chapter Summary 1096 Exercises 1098 Advanced Exercises 1100   Chapter 29: The Python Programming Language 1103 Introduction 1104 Scalar Variables, Lists, and Dictionaries 1108 Control Structures 1114 Reading from and Writing to Files 1119 Regular Expressions 1123 Defining a Function 1124 Using Libraries 1125 Lambda Functions 1129 List Comprehensions 1130 Chapter Summary 1131 Exercises 1132 Advanced Exercises 1132   Chapter 30: The MariaDB SQL Database Management System 1135 History 1136 Notes 1136 Installing a MariaDB Server 1140 Setting Up MariaDB 1141 Examples 1145 Chapter Summary 1157 Exercises 1157 Advanced Exercises 1157   Part VI: Appendixes 1159   Appendix A: Regular Expressions 1161 Characters 1162 Delimiters 1162 Simple Strings 1162 Special Characters 1162 Rules 1165 Bracketing Expressions 1166 The Replacement String 1166 Extended Regular Expressions 1167 Appendix Summary 1169   Appendix B: Help 1171 Solving a Problem 1172 Finding Linux-Related Information 1173 Specifying a Terminal 1175   Appendix C: Keeping the System Up to Date Using yum 1177 Installing and Removing Software Packages Using yum 1178 Working with yum 1179   Appendix D: LPI and Comptia Certification 1183 More Information 1184 Linux Essentials 1184 Certification Exam 1 Objectives: LX0-101 1198 Certification Exam 2 Objectives: LX0-102 1214   Glossary 1231 JumpStart Index 1285 File Tree Index 1287 Utility Index 1291 Main Index 1297