Linux Lab: SysAdmin 101

Image of a terminal prompt

So you wanna be a Linux Systems Administrator?

Every now and again, I am asked to provide a bit of training for budding systems admins or people on the career path of becoming a qualified Linux Sysadmin or DevOps engineer (or at least the Ops part!). This slide deck can be used by yourself, but it is intended to be given in a classroom type environment. It includes a number of major areas that are significant need-to-know commands and ways to get around a Linux system. Each section is followed up by a number of practical sessions so that you can have your class try it out for themselves.

Top tip for the tutor: This has worked well for me with smaller classes (2-3 people). I ssh’d into an Ubuntu Server VM and ran tmux on it. I then asked each of the students to ssh in (as the same student user) and run ‘tmux attach’. That way they all shared the same terminal, and the tutor can also interact/see their terminals at the same time as running slides from their own laptop. I present the slides on a projector or TV.

The course outline includes:

  • What is Linux, inc. very brief history.
  • Distributions.
  • The (Bourne again) shell.
  • The UNIX filesystem.
  • File-based commands/tools
  • Bash builtin commands
  • Redirection and Pipes
  • User account management
  • Permissions
  • Disk tools
  • Processes
  • Networking
  • Software Installation / Packages
  • Logs / Log Management

NOTE: The following presentation is designed to be presented by a proficient presenter.

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