Debian Administration Training Course

Debian Distribution

Understanding Debian

• Selecting the appropriate Debian version
• Accessing Debian support and resources
• Engaging with the Debian community

Console Fundamentals

• Understanding the shell prompt
• Configuring the shell prompt within the X environment
• Managing the root account and shell prompt (using su, sudo, and running programs as root under X)
• Utilizing GUI system administration tools
• Navigating virtual consoles
• Exiting the command prompt
• Properly shutting down the system
• Restoring a functional console
• Recommended packages for beginners
• Setting up an additional user account
• Configuring sudo

Filesystem Management

• Understanding filesystem permissions
• Controlling permissions for new files: umask
• Managing group permissions for user sets
• Understanding timestamps
• Working with links
• Using named pipes (FIFOs)
• Utilizing sockets
• Working with device files
• Understanding special device files
• Exploring procfs and sysfs

Midnight Commander (MC)

• Customizing MC
• Launching MC
• Navigating the file manager in MC
• Advanced command-line techniques in MC
• Using MC's internal editor
• Using MC's internal viewer
• Configuring auto-start features
• Navigating the FTP virtual filesystem

The Basic Unix-like Work Environment

• Understanding the login shell
• Customizing bash
• Using special key strokes
• Utilizing the pager
• Setting a default text editor
• Exiting vim
• Logging shell activities
• Using basic Unix commands

Simple Shell Commands

• Command execution and environment variables
• Understanding the "$LANG" variable
• Understanding the "$PATH" variable
• Understanding the "$HOME" variable
• Using command line options
• Utilizing shell globbing
• Interpreting command return values
• Managing command sequences and shell redirection
• Creating command aliases

Unix-like Text Processing

• Overview of Unix text tools
• Understanding regular expressions
• Using replacement expressions
• Performing global substitution with regular expressions
• Extracting data from text file tables
• Creating script snippets for piping commands

Debian Package Management

Prerequisites for Debian Package Management

• Package configuration
• Essential precautions
• Managing continuous upgrades
• Fundamentals of the Debian archive
• Understanding package dependencies
• Tracing the event flow of package management
• Initial responses to package management issues

Basic Package Management Operations

• Comparing apt-get/apt-cache vs. aptitude
• Performing basic operations via the command line
• Interactively using aptitude
• Configuring key bindings for aptitude
• Navigating package views in aptitude
• Utilizing search method options in aptitude
• Writing aptitude regex patterns
• Resolving dependencies with aptitude
• Reviewing package activity logs

Examples of aptitude Operations

• Listing packages using regex matching on names
• Browsing packages with regex matching
• Permanently purging removed packages
• Clarifying auto/manual install status
• Performing a system-wide upgrade

Advanced Package Management Operations

• Executing advanced operations via the command line
• Verifying installed package files
• Safeguarding against package issues
• Searching package metadata

Internals of Debian Package Management

• Archive metadata
• Top-level "Release" files and authenticity verification
• Archive-level "Release" files
• Fetching package metadata
• APT package states
• aptitude package states
• Local copies of fetched packages
• Debian package naming conventions
• Using the dpkg command
• Using the update-alternative command
• Using the dpkg-statoverride command
• Using the dpkg-divert command

Recovering from a Broken System

• Addressing incompatibilities with old user configurations
• Handling different packages with overlapping files
• Fixing broken package scripts
• Rescuing with the dpkg command
• Recovering package selection data

Tips for Package Management

• Selecting Debian packages
• Managing packages from mixed archive sources
• Adjusting candidate versions
• Utilizing Updates and Backports
• Automating package download and upgrades
• Limiting APT download bandwidth
• Performing emergency downgrades
• Identifying package uploaders
• Using the equivs package
• Porting packages to stable systems
• Configuring a proxy server for APT
• Managing small public package archives
• Recording and copying system configurations
• Converting or installing alien binary packages
• Extracting packages without dpkg
• Further reading resources

System Initialization

• Overview of the bootstrapping process
• BIOS, boot loaders, and the mini-Debian system
• Understanding runlevels
• Configuring runlevels
• Runlevel management examples
• Default parameters for init scripts
• Configuring the hostname
• Filesystem initialization
• Network interface initialization
• Network service initialization
• Handling system messages
• Handling kernel messages
• The udev system
• Kernel module initialization

Authentication and Security

• Standard Unix authentication
• Managing account and password information
• Creating strong passwords
• Generating encrypted passwords
• Understanding PAM and NSS
• Configuration files for PAM and NSS
• Modern centralized system management
• "Why GNU su does not support the wheel group"
• Enforcing stricter password rules
• Other access control mechanisms
• Using sudo
• Implementing SELinux and AppArmor
• Restricting access to specific server services
• Securing authentication
• Transmitting passwords securely over the Internet
• Using Secure Shell (SSH)
• Additional security measures for Internet connectivity
• Securing the root password

Network Setup

Basic Network Infrastructure

• Managing domain names
• Configuring hostname resolution
• Network interface naming
• Defining LAN network address ranges
• Network device support

Modern Network Configuration for Desktops

• Using GUI network configuration tools

Low-Level Network Configuration

• Using iproute2 commands
• Performing safe low-level network operations

Network Optimization

• Identifying optimal MTU
• Setting MTU values
• Optimizing WAN TCP performance

Netfilter Infrastructure

Network Applications

The Mail System

• Fundamentals of modern mail services
• Mail configuration strategies for workstations

Mail Transport Agent (MTA) and Mail User Agent (MUA)

• Overview of exim4
• Basic MUA: Mutt

Mail Delivery Agent (MDA) with Filters

• Configuring maildrop
• Configuring procmail
• Redelivering mbox contents

POP3/IMAP4 Servers

Remote Access Server and Utility (SSH)

• SSH fundamentals
• Port forwarding for SMTP/POP3 tunneling
• Connecting without remote passwords
• Managing incompatible SSH clients
• Setting up ssh-agent
• Shutting down remote systems via SSH
• Troubleshooting SSH

Other Network Application Servers

Other Network Application Clients

Diagnosing System Daemons

The X Window System

• Setting up the desktop environment
• Understanding the server/client relationship
• Configuring the X server
• Launching the X Window System
• Starting X sessions with gdm
• Customizing X sessions (classic method)
• Customizing X sessions (modern method)
• Connecting remote X clients via SSH
• Securing X terminals over the Internet
• X applications
• X office applications
• X utility applications

System Tips

The Screen Program

• Use cases for screen(1)
• Key bindings for the screen command

Data Recording and Presentation

• The log daemon
• Log analysis tools
• Cleanly recording shell activities
• Customizing text data display
• Customizing time and date display
• Colorizing shell echo output
• Colorizing commands
• Recording editor activities for complex tasks
• Recording X application graphics
• Recording configuration file changes

Data Storage Tips

• Disk partition configuration
• Accessing partitions using UUID
• Filesystem configuration
• Filesystem creation and integrity checks
• Optimizing filesystems via mount options
• Optimizing filesystems via superblocks
• Optimizing hard disk performance
• Using SMART to predict hard disk failures
• Expanding storage via LVM
• Expanding storage by mounting additional partitions
• Expanding storage using symlinks
• Expanding storage using aufs

Data Encryption Tips

• Encrypting removable disks with dm-crypt/LUKS
• Encrypting swap partitions with dm-crypt
• Automatically encrypting files with eCryptfs
• Automatically mounting eCryptfs

Monitoring, Controlling, and Starting Program Activities

• Timing processes
• Managing scheduling priority
• Using the ps command
• Using the top command
• Listing files opened by a process
• Tracing program activities
• Identifying processes using files or sockets
• Repeating commands at constant intervals
• Repeating commands in loops over files
• Launching programs from the GUI
• Customizing startup programs
• Killing processes
• Scheduling one-time tasks
• Scheduling recurring tasks
• Using the Alt-SysRq key

System Maintenance Tips

• Identifying logged-in users
• Broadcasting warnings to all users
• Identifying hardware
• Configuring hardware
• Managing system and hardware time
• Configuring the terminal
• Managing the sound infrastructure
• Disabling the screen saver
• Disabling beep sounds
• Monitoring memory usage
• Conducting system security and integrity checks

The Kernel

• Kernel parameters
• Kernel headers
• Compiling the kernel and related modules
• Compiling the kernel source: Debian standard method
• Compiling module source: Debian standard method
• Non-free hardware drivers

Virtualized Systems

• Virtualization tools
• Virtualization workflow
• Mounting virtual disk image files
• Using chroot systems
• Managing multiple desktop systems

Data Management

Sharing, Copying, and Archiving

• Archive and compression tools
• Copy and synchronization tools
• Archiving idioms
• Copying idioms
• File selection idioms
• Backup and recovery strategies
• Backup utility suites
• Example script for system backup
• Copy script for data backup
• Managing removable storage devices
• Sharing data via the network
• Archive media

Binary Data

• Viewing and editing binary data
• Manipulating files without mounting disks
• Understanding data redundancy
• Data file recovery and forensic analysis
• Splitting large files into smaller ones
• Clearing file contents
• Creating dummy files
• Erasing entire hard disks
• Erasing unused areas of a hard disk
• Undeleting deleted but open files
• Searching for all hard links
• Managing invisible disk space consumption

Data Security Infrastructure

• Key management for GnuPG (signing and encrypting)
• Using MD5 sums