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Practical Linux topics
Binnie C., Apress, New York, NY, 2015. 151 pp. Type: Book (978-1-484217-71-9)
Date Reviewed: Mar 30 2016

If you manage Linux servers, you have probably picked up books that include screenshots showing graphical user interface (GUI) management tools for such servers. This is not one of those books.

The author recognizes that a reliable server is often one on which a bare minimum number of packages is installed. He has therefore written about a selection of utilities he has found useful, and the majority of these can be used in a simple terminal. Where appropriate, he has included installation instructions for both Debian-based systems and Red Hat-based systems.

In the first chapter, it is noted that the monitoring of network traffic using the netstat tool can be an exercise in frustration. One could instead use iftop, and some screenshots are included showing how various outputs would appear on a user’s terminal. There are some minor errors in the command formats and associated text; however, the overall benefits of using iftop are clearly evident.

There are times when an administrator needs to destroy potentially sensitive data written on a disk. The shred and dd utilities are recommended, but usage of the latter is inadequately explained. Mention is also made of the wipefs and DBAN utilities.

System D has now been adopted within the major Linux distributions, and a brief description of its “target” and “unit” concepts is included, together with some sample file listings. I was interested in the systemd-analyze command coverage; it revealed some capabilities about which I previously knew little.

I expected that the “Zero Downtime Linux” chapter would describe database replication mechanisms and stonith-enabled systems with cluster components connected to redundant array of independent disks (RAID) arrays. What I found instead was discourse about live-patch kernels, with a suggestion that I might try a developmental kpatch arrangement; interesting stuff, but not the whole story.

Time-based one-time password key fobs have been used for many years in corporate environments. The author shows how a mobile phone can perform a similar role. The target machine’s pluggable authentication module (PAM) configuration is adjusted so that the Google Authenticator module is invoked during a secure shell (SSH) login. This results in the display of a prompt for entry of whatever code is shown at that time in an application running on the user’s phone.

The “Improve Security with SELinux” chapter shows how SELinux packages can be installed and managed on Red Hat and other systems. The basic concepts are explained, and a number of commands are shown. There are also instructions for accessing a Debian SELinux test machine operated by a well-known Australian Linux expert.

I was deeply shocked to read that the ifconfig and route commands are now regarded as “old school”; they have, it seems, been replaced by the single command ip. The author has included a number of examples illustrating the capabilities of this command, and it is worth taking careful note because the older commands are no longer included in default installations of some Linux systems.

If you are transferring data that is sensitive and/or extensive in size, you will be interested in the two chapters that tell you more than you’ll really want to know about the capabilities found in the wget and lftp tools.

There may be occasions where you need to install a Linux guest inside an enterprise Windows machine. It is suggested that you might do this using the Wubi loop-disk arrangement, and some screenshots are provided. A better suggestion might have been Virtualbox or Hyper-V.

This book will not teach you Linux. But if your day-to-day job requires that you do Linux system administration, you are bound to find something of real value among the selection of topics offered by the author.

Reviewer:  G. K. Jenkins Review #: CR144274 (1606-0373)
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