Ubuntu Linux Bible

David Clinton, Christopher Negus

• Publisher: Wiley
• Year: 2020
• ISBN:
  9781119722359
• Edition: 10
• Topic: Informatik
• Subtopic: Betriebssysteme

Quickly learn how to use Ubuntu, the fastest growing Linux distribution, in a personal or enterprise environment

Whether you're a newcomer to Linux or an experienced system administrator, the Ubuntu Linux Bible provides what you need to get the most out of one the world's top Linux distributions. Clear, step-by-step instructions cover everything from installing Ubuntu and creating your desktop, to writing shell scripts and setting up file sharing on your network. This up-to-date guide covers the latest Ubuntu release with long-term support (version 20.04) as well as the previous version. Throughout the book, numerous examples, figures, and review questions with answers ensure that you will fully understand each key topic.

Organized into four parts, the book offers you the flexibility to master the basics in the "Getting Started with Ubuntu Linux" section, or to skip directly to more advanced tasks. "Ubuntu for Desktop Users" shows you how to setup email, surf the web, play games, and create and publish documents, spreadsheets, and presentations. "Ubuntu for System Administrators" covers user administration, system backup, device management, network configuration, and other fundamentals of Linux administration. The book's final section, "Configuring Servers on Ubuntu, " teaches you to use Ubuntu to support network servers for the web, e-mail, print services, networked file sharing, DHCP (network address management), and DNS (network name/address resolution). This comprehensive, easy-to-use guide will help you:

• Install Ubuntu and create the perfect Linux desktop
• Use the wide variety of software included with Ubuntu Linux
• Stay up to date on recent changes and new versions of Ubuntu
• Create and edit graphics, and work with consumer IoT electronic devices
• Add printers, disks, and other devices to your system
• Configure core network services and administer Ubuntu systems

Ubuntu Linux Bible is a must-have for anyone looking for an accessible, step-by-step tutorial on this hugely popular Linux operating system.

Part I
Getting Started

IN THIS PART

• Chapter 1 Starting with Linux
• Chapter 2 Creating the Perfect Linux Desktop

CHAPTER 1
Starting with Linux

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IN THIS CHAPTER

• Learning what Linux is
• Learning where Linux came from
• Understanding Linux distributions
• Exploring professional opportunities with Linux
• Becoming certified in Linux

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The operating systems war is over, and Linux has won. Proprietary operating systems simply cannot keep up with the pace of improvements and quality that Linux can achieve with its culture of sharing and innovation. Even Microsoft, whose former CEO Steve Ballmer once referred to Linux as “a cancer,” now says that Linux's use on Microsoft's Azure cloud computing service has surpassed the use of Windows.

Linux is one of the most important technological advancements of the twenty-first century. Beyond its impact on the growth of the Internet and its place as an enabling technology for a range of computer-driven devices, Linux development has become a model for how collaborative projects can surpass what single individuals and companies can do alone.

Google runs thousands upon thousands of Linux servers to power its search technology. Its Android phones are based on Linux. Likewise, when you download and run Google's Chrome OS, you get a browser that is backed by a Linux operating system.

Facebook builds and deploys its site using what is referred to as a LAMP stack (Linux, Apache web server, MySQL database, and PHP web scripting language)—all open source projects. In fact, Facebook itself uses an open source development model, making source code for the applications and tools that drive Facebook available to the public. This model has helped Facebook shake out bugs quickly, get contributions from around the world, and fuel its exponential growth.

Financial organizations that have trillions of dollars riding on the speed and security of their operating systems also rely heavily on Linux. These include the New York Stock Exchange, Chicago Mercantile Exchange, and the Tokyo Stock Exchange.

As cloud continues to be one of the hottest buzzwords today, one part of the cloud that isn't hype is that Linux and other open source technologies continue to be the foundation on which today's greatest cloud innovations are being built. Every software component that you need to build a private or public cloud (such as hypervisors, cloud controllers, network storage, virtual networking, and authentication) is freely available from within the open source world.

The widespread adoption of Linux around the world has created huge demand for Linux expertise. This chapter starts you down a path to becoming a Linux—and Ubuntu—expert by helping you understand what Linux is, where it came from, and what your opportunities are for becoming proficient in it. The rest of this book provides you with hands-on activities to help you gain that expertise. The book's final part will show you how to apply that expertise to cloud technologies, including automation tools and container orchestration technologies.

Understanding What Linux Is

Linux is a computer operating system. An operating system consists of the software that manages your computer and lets you run applications on it. The features that make up Linux and similar computer operating systems include the following:

• Detecting and preparing hardware: When the Linux system boots up (when you turn on your computer), it looks at the components on your computer (CPU, hard drive, network cards, and so on) and loads the software (drivers and modules) needed to access those particular hardware devices.
• Managing processes: The operating system must keep track of multiple processes running at the same time and decide which have access to the CPU and when. The system also must offer ways of starting, stopping, and changing the status of processes.
• Managing memory: RAM and swap space (extended memory) must be allocated to applications as they need memory. The operating system decides how requests for memory are handled.
• Providing user interfaces: An operating system must provide ways of accessing the system. The first Linux systems were accessed from a command-line interpreter called a shell. Today, graphical desktop interfaces are commonly available as well.
• Controlling filesystems: Filesystem structures are built into the operating system (or loaded as modules). The operating system controls ownership and access to the files and directories (folders) that the filesystems contain.
• Providing user access and authentication: Creating user accounts and allowing boundaries to be set between users is a basic feature of Linux. Separate user and group accounts enable users to control their own files and processes.
• Offering administrative utilities: In Linux, hundreds (perhaps thousands) of commands and graphical windows are available to do such things as add users, manage disks, monitor the network, install software, and generally secure and manage your computer. Web UI tools, such as Cockpit, have lowered the bar for doing complex administrative tasks.
• Starting up services: To use printers, handle log messages, and provide a variety of system and network services, processes called daemon processes run in the background, waiting for requests to come in. Many types of services run in Linux. Linux provides different ways of starting and stopping these services. In other words, while Linux includes web browsers to view web pages, it can also be the computer that serves up web pages to others. Popular server features include web, mail, database, printer, file, DNS, and DHCP servers.
• Programming tools: A wide variety of programming utilities for creating applications and libraries for implementing specialty interfaces are available with Linux.

As someone managing Linux systems, you need to learn how to work with these features. While many of them can be managed using graphical interfaces, an understanding of the shell command line is critical for someone administering Linux systems.

Modern Linux systems now go way beyond what the first UNIX systems (on which Linux was based) could do. Advanced features in Linux, often used in large enterprises, include the following:

• Clustering: Linux can be configured to work in clusters so that multiple systems can appear as one system to the outside world. Services can be configured to pass back and forth between cluster nodes while appearing to those using the services that they are running without interruption.
• Virtualization: To manage computing resources more efficiently, Linux can run as a virtualization host. On that host, you could run other Linux systems, Microsoft Windows, BSD, or other operating systems as virtual guests. To the outside world, each of those virtual guests appears as a separate computer. KVM and Xen are two technologies in Linux for creating virtual hosts.
• Cloud computing: To manage large-scale virtualization environments, you can use full-blown cloud computing platforms based on Linux. Projects such as OpenStack and Red Hat Virtua...