Red Hat ENTERPRISE LINUX 4 - INTRODUCTION TO SYSTEM ADMINISTRATION Administration Manual

Also see for ENTERPRISE LINUX 4 - DEVELOPER TOOLS GUIDE: Installation guide Installation guide Tuning guide Installation guide Manual

Contents

Table of ContentsIntroduction.......................................................................................................................................... i1. Architecture-specific Information .......................................................................................... i2. Document Conventions .......................................................................................................... i3. Activate Your Subscription .................................................................................................. iv3.1. Provide a Red Hat Login....................................................................................... iv3.2. Provide Your Subscription Number ....................................................................... v3.3. Connect Your System............................................................................................. v4. More to Come ....................................................................................................................... v4.1. Send in Your Feedback .......................................................................................... v1. The Philosophy of System Administration ................................................................................... 11.1. Automate Everything ......................................................................................................... 11.2. Document Everything ........................................................................................................ 21.3. Communicate as Much as Possible.................................................................................... 31.3.1. Tell Your Users What You Are Going to Do ...................................................... 31.3.2. Tell Your Users What You Are Doing ................................................................ 41.3.3. Tell Your Users What You Have Done ............................................................... 41.4. Know Your Resources........................................................................................................ 51.5. Know Your Users ............................................................................................................... 61.6. Know Your Business .......................................................................................................... 61.7. Security Cannot be an Afterthought .................................................................................. 61.7.1. The Risks of Social Engineering......................................................................... 71.8. Plan Ahead ......................................................................................................................... 71.9. Expect the Unexpected ...................................................................................................... 81.10. Red Hat Enterprise Linux-Specific Information .............................................................. 81.10.1. Automation ....................................................................................................... 81.10.2. Documentation and Communication ................................................................ 91.10.3. Security ........................................................................................................... 101.11. Additional Resources ..................................................................................................... 101.11.1. Installed Documentation ................................................................................. 101.11.2. Useful Websites .............................................................................................. 111.11.3. Related Books ................................................................................................. 112. Resource Monitoring .................................................................................................................... 132.1. Basic Concepts................................................................................................................. 132.2. System Performance Monitoring ..................................................................................... 132.3. Monitoring System Capacity ........................................................................................... 142.4. What to Monitor? ............................................................................................................. 142.4.1. Monitoring CPU Power .................................................................................... 152.4.2. Monitoring Bandwidth ...................................................................................... 162.4.3. Monitoring Memory.......................................................................................... 162.4.4. Monitoring Storage ........................................................................................... 172.5. Red Hat Enterprise Linux-Specific Information .............................................................. 182.5.1. free .................................................................................................................. 182.5.2. top .................................................................................................................... 192.5.3. vmstat.............................................................................................................. 202.5.4. The Sysstat Suite of Resource Monitoring Tools ............................................. 222.5.5. OProfile ............................................................................................................. 242.6. Additional Resources ....................................................................................................... 282.6.1. Installed Documentation ................................................................................... 282.6.2. Useful Websites ................................................................................................ 282.6.3. Related Books ................................................................................................... 29