Welcome To:

Module 5

Linux System
Administration
 Linux File Editor
• A text editor is a program which enables you to create and manipulate data
(text) in a Linux file

• There are several standard text editors available on most Linux systems
• vi - Visual editor
• ed - Standard line editor
• ex - Extended line editor
• emacs - A full screen editor
• pico - Beginner’s editor
• vim - Advance version of vi

• Our editor = vi (available in almost every Linux distribution)

Introduction to vi Editor

• vi supplies commands for:

• Inserting and deleting text
• Replacing text
• Moving around the file
• Finding and substituting strings
• Cutting and pasting text

• Most common keys:

• i – insert
• Esc – Escape out of any mode
• r – replace
• d – delete
• :q! – quit without saving
• :wq! – quit and save
 Difference Between vi and vim Editor
• As far as functionality is concerned, both editors work in the same manner. Which
editor you choose is a matter of personal choice. Some people recommend learning the
vim editor instead of the vi editor. Due to added features, learning and using vim editor
is much easier than the vi editor.

• Since vim is based on the vi, when you will learn how to use the vim editor, you will
automatically learn how to use the vi editor.

• vim has all the features as vi with some excellent addition

• There's also a comprehensive help system and lots of customization options available.
Difference Between vi and vim Editor
 “vim” Interactive Learning Tools

• There are many websites that offer free vim interactive training:

• https://www.openvim.com/

• http://www.vimgenius.com

• https://vim-adventures.com/ (Games)
 “sed” Command

• Replace a string in a file with a newstring

• Find and delete a line
• Remove empty lines
• Remove the first or n lines in a file
• To replace tabs with spaces
• Show defined lines from a file
• Substitute within vi editor
• And much more…
User Account Management
Commands
• useradd
• groupadd
• userdel
• groupdel
• usermod

Files
• /etc/passwd
• /etc/group
• /etc/shadow

Example:
useradd –g superheros –s /bin/bash –c “user description” –m –d
/home/spiderman spiderman
 The /etc/login.def File
• The chage command – per user
• Example
chage [-m mindays] [-M maxdays] [-d lastday] [-I inactive] [-E
expiredate] [-W warndays] user

• File = /etc/login.def

• PASS_MAX_DAYS 99999
• PASS_MIN_DAYS 0
• PASS_MIN_LEN 5
• PASS_WARN_AGE 7

By: Imran Afzal

 The chage Command

• The chage command – per user

• Example
chage [-d lastday] [-m mindays] [-M maxdays] [-W warndays] [-I
inactive] [-E expiredate] user

-d = 3. Last password change (lastchanged) : Days since Jan 1, 1970 that password was last changed
-m = 4. Minimum : The minimum number of days required between password changes i.e. the number of days left
before the user is allowed to change his/her password
-M = 5. Maximum : The maximum number of days the password is valid (after that user is forced to change his/her
password)
-W = 6. Warn : The number of days before password is to expire that user is warned that his/her password must be
changed
-I = 7. Inactive : The number of days after password expires that account is disabled
-E = 8. Expire : days since Jan 1, 1970 that account is disabled i.e. an absolute date specifying when the login may no
longer be used.

By: Imran Afzal

Switch Users and sudo Access
Commands
• su – username
• sudo command
• visudo

File
• /etc/sudoers
Monitor Users
• who
• last
•w
• finger
• id
Talking to Users

• users
• wall
• write
 Linux Account Authentication
• Types of Accounts
• Local accounts
• Domain/Directory accounts

Account authentication

User authenticated
Client Server

• Windows = Active Directory

• Linux = LDAP?
Difference between Active Directory, LDAP, IDM, WinBIND,
OpenLDAP etc.

• Active Directory = Microsoft

• IDM = Identity Manager
• WinBIND = Used in Linux to communicate with Windows
(Samba)
• OpenLDAP (open source)
• IBM Directory Server
• JumpCloud
• LDAP = Lightweight Directory Access Protocol
System Utility Commands
• date
• uptime
• hostname
• uname
• which
• cal
• bc

By: Imran Afzal

Processes and Jobs
• Application = Service
• Script
• Process
• Daemon
• Threads
• Job

By: Imran Afzal

Process / Services Commands

• systemctl or service
• ps
• top
• kill
• crontab
• at.

By: Imran Afzal

 systemctl command
• systemctl command is a new tool to control system services
• It is available in version 7 and later and it replaces the service command

• Usage example:
systemctl start|stop|status servicename.service (firewalld)
systemctl enable servicename.service
systemctl restart|reload servicename.service
systemctl list-units --all

By: Imran Afzal

www.utclisolutions.com
 systemctl command
• To add a service under systemctl management:
Create a unit file in /etc/systemd/system/servicename.service

• To control system with systemctl

systemctl poweroff
systemctl halt
systemctl reboot

By: Imran Afzal

www.utclisolutions.com
 “ps” command
• ps command stands for process status and it displays all the currently running processes in the
Linux system

Usage examples:
• ps = Shows the processes of the current shell

PID = the unique process ID

TTY = terminal type that the user logged-in to
TIME = amount of CPU in minutes and seconds that the process has been running
CMD = name of the command

• ps –e = Shows all running processes

• ps aux = Shows all running processes in BSD format
• ps –ef = Shows all running processes in full format listing (Most commonly used)
• ps –u username = Shows all processes by username.

By: Imran Afzal

www.utclisolutions.com
 “top” command
• top command is used to show the Linux processes and it provides a real-time view of the running system
• This command shows the summary information of the system and the list of processes or threads which
are currently managed by the Linux Kernel
• When the top command is executed then it goes into interactive mode and you can exit out by hitting q

• Usage: top

PID: Shows task’s unique process id

USER: Username of owner of task
PR: The “PR” field shows the scheduling priority of the process from the perspective of the kernel
NI: Represents a Nice Value of task. A Negative nice value implies higher priority, and positive Nice value means lower priority.
VIRT: Total virtual memory used by the task
RES: Memory consumed by the process in RAM
SHR: Represents the amount of shared memory used by a task
S: This field shows the process state in the single-letter form
%CPU: Represents the CPU usage
%MEM: Shows the Memory usage of task
TIME+: CPU Time, the same as ‘TIME’, but reflecting more granularity through hundredths of a second.

By: Imran Afzal

www.utclisolutions.com
 “top” command
• top –u iafzal = shows tasks/processes by user owned
• top then press c = shows commands absolute path
• top then press k = kill a process by PID within top session
• top then M and P = To sort all Linux running processes by Memory usage

Please note:
Top command refreshes the information every 3 seconds

By: Imran Afzal

www.utclisolutions.com
 “kill” command
• kill command is used to terminate processes manually
• It sends a signal which ultimately terminates or kills a particular process or
group of processes

Usage:
kill [OPTION] [PID]
OPTION = Signal name or signal number/ID
PID = Process ID

kill –l = to get a list of all signal names or signal number

Most used signals are:

kill PID = Kill a process with default signal
kill -1 = Restart
kill -2 = Interrupt from the keyboard just like Ctrl C
kill -9 = Forcefully kill the process
kill -15 = Kill a process gracefully

By: Imran Afzal

www.utclisolutions.com
 “kill” command
• Other similar kill commands are:
killall
pkill

By: Imran Afzal

www.utclisolutions.com
 “crontab” command
• Crontab command is used to schedule tasks

Usage:
o crontab –e = Edit the crontab
o crontab –l = List the crontab entries
o crontab –r = Remove the crontab
o crond = crontab daemon/service that manages scheduling
o systemctl status crond = To manage the crond service

o Create crontab entry by scheduling a task:

crontab –e
schedule, echo “This is my first crontab entry” > crontab-entry By: Imran Afzal
www.utclisolutions.com
 “at” command
• at command is like crontab which allows you to schedule jobs but only once
• When the command is run it will enter interactive mode and you can get out by pressing Ctrl D

Usage:
o at HH:MM PM = Schedule a job
o atq = List the at entries
o atrm # = Remove at entry
o atd = at daemon/service that manages scheduling
o systemctl status atd = To manage the atd service

• Create at entry by scheduling a task:

at 4:45PM → enter
echo “This is my first at entry” > at-entry
Crtl D

By: Imran Afzal

www.utclisolutions.com
 “at” command
Other future scheduling format:

o at 2:45 AM 101621 = Schedule a job to run on Oct 16th, 2021 at 2:45am

o at 4PM + 4 days = Schedule a job at 4pm four days from now
o at now +5 hours = Schedule a job to run five hours from now
o at 8:00 AM Sun = Schedule a job to 8am on coming Sunday
o at 10:00 AM next month = Schedule a job to 10am next month

By: Imran Afzal

www.utclisolutions.com
 Additional Cron Jobs
• By default, there are 4 different types of cronjobs
• Hourly
• Daily
• Weekly
• Monthly
• All the above crons are setup in
• /etc/cron.___ (directory)
• The timing for each are set in
• /etc/anacrontab -- except hourly
• For hourly
• /etc/cron.d/0hourly
By: Imran Afzal
 Process Management
• Background = Ctrl-z, jobs and bg
• Foreground = fg
• Run process even after exit = nohup process &
OR = nohup process > /dev/null 2>&1 &
• Kill a process by name = pkill
• Process priority = nice (e.g. nice –n 5 process)
The niceness scale goes from -20 to 19. The lower the number more priority that task gets
• Process monitoring = top
• List process = ps.

By: Imran Afzal

System Monitoring

• top
• df
• dmesg
• iostat 1
• netstat
• free
• cat /proc/cpuinfo
• cat /proc/meminfo

By: Imran Afzal

 Log Monitoring
Another and most important way of system administration is log monitor

Log Directory = /var/log

• boot
• chronyd = NTP
• cron
• maillog
• secure
• messages
• httpd

By: Imran Afzal

 System Maintenance Commands

• shutdown
• init 0-7
• reboot
• halt

By: Imran Afzal

 Changing System Hostname

• hostnamectl – set-hostname newhostname

• Version 7 = Edit /etc/hostname

• Version 6 = Edit /etc/sysconfig/network

By: Imran Afzal

Finding System Information

• cat /etc/redhat-release
• uname –a
• dmidecode
 System Architecture
• Differences between a 32-bit and 64-bit CPU
A big difference between 32-bit processors and 64-bit processors is the number of
calculations per second they can perform, which affects the speed at which they can
complete tasks. 64-bit processors can come in dual core, quad core, six core, and eight core
versions for home computing. Multiple cores allow for an increased number of calculations per
second that can be performed, which can increase the processing power and help make a
computer run faster. Software programs that require many calculations to function smoothly
can operate faster and more efficiently on the multi-core 64-bit processors

• Linux = arch
• Windows = My computer → Properties
Terminal Control Keys
Several key combinations on your keyboard usually have a special effect on the terminal.

These "control" (CTRL) keys are accomplished by holding the CTRL key while typing the second key.
For example, CTRL-c means to hold the CTRL key while you type the letter "c".

The most common control keys are listed below:

• CTRL-u - erase everything you've typed on the command line

• CTRL-c - stop/kill a command
• CTRL-z - suspend a command
• CTRL-d - exit from an interactive program (signals end of data).

By: Imran Afzal

 Terminal Commands

• clear
Clears your screen

• exit
Exit out of the shell, terminal or a user session

• script
The script command stores terminal activities in a log file that can be
named by a user, when a name is not provided by a user, the default
file name, typescript is used
 Recover Root Password

• Restart your computer

• Edit grub
• Change password
• reboot
CentOS / Red Hat 9

rd.break
 SOS Report

• What is SOS Report?

• Collect and package diagnostic and support data

• Package name
• sos-version

• Command
• sosreport
 Environment Variables
• What are environment variables?
• An environment variable is a dynamic-named value that can affect the way
running processes will behave on a computer. They are part of the environment
in which a process runs.
• In simple words: set of defined rules and values to build an environment
• E.g.

Playroom
Bedroom

Kitchen

Dining Room
 Environment Variables
• To view all environment variables
• printevn OR env
• To view ONE environment variable
• echo $SHELL
• To set the environment variables
• export TEST=1
• echo $TEST
• To set environment variable permanently
• vi .bashrc
• TEST=‘123’
• export TEST
• To set global environment variable permanently
• vi /etc/profile or /etc/bashrc
• Test=‘123’
• export TEST
Special Permissions with setuid, setgid and sticky bit
• All permissions on a file or directory are referred as bits

-r w x r w x r w x

bits chmod

Users Groups Others

Not actual commands
• There are 3 additional permissions in Linux
• setuid: bit tells Linux to run a program with the effective user id of the owner instead of the
executor: (e.g. passwd command) → /etc/shadow
• setgid: bit tells Linux to run a program with the effective group id of the owner instead of the
executor: (e.g. locate or wall command)
Please note: This bit is present for only files which have executable permissions

• sticky bit: a bit set on files/directories that allows only the owner or root to delete those files
Special Permissions with setuid, setgid and sticky bit

• To assign special permissions at the user level

• chmod u+s xyz.sh
Please note:
• To assign special permissions at the group level These bits work on c
• chmod g+s xyz.sh programming executables not
on bash shell scripts
• To remove special permissions at the user or group level
• chmod u-s xyz.sh
• chmod g-s xyz.sh

• To find all executables in Linux with setuid and setgid permissions

• find / -perm /6000 -type f

Sticky bit
• It is assigned to the last bit of permissions

-r w x r w x r w t

• Why? Example of /tmp directory

Special Permissions with setuid, setgid and sticky bit
Lab exercise:
• Become root and create a directory allinone in / = mkdir /allinone
• Assign all rwx permissions to that directory = chmod 777 /allinone
• Become iafzal and create directory inside of /allinone = mkdir imrandir
• Give all rwx permissions to that directory = chmod 777 imrandir
• Create 3 files in that directory = touch a b c
• Open another terminal and login as spiderman
• Go to /allinone directory and delete imrandir directory = rm –rf imrandir
• You will see the directory is deleted
• Now become root again and assign sticky bit permission to /allinone = chmod +t /allinone
• Become iafzal and create directory again inside of /allinone = mkdir imrandir
• Give all rwx permissions to that directory = chmod 777 imrandir
• Create 3 files in that directory = touch a b c
• Become spiderman user again
• Go to /allinone directory and try to delete imrandir directory = rm –rf imrandir
• Now as spiderman you cannot delete the directory