1 Introduction To Unixadmin
1 Introduction To Unixadmin
Objectives
to identify the basic concepts of Unix administration
Contents
history of Unix
unix vendors and standards
working as root
system administration shells
Practicals
evaluating an administration shell
Summary
Unix
Unix - Genealogy
Systems
Date
1969
1972
1975
1978
1981
1983
1985
1987
1989
1991
1993
1995
Unix - PDP/7
BSD 4.1
BSD 4.2
25
Unix System V
Amdahl UTS
SunOS
BSD 4.3
AIX
500
XENIX
SCO Unix
100000
SunOS 4
AIX 3.1
Solaris 1.0
Solaris 2.0
AIX 4.1
UnixWare 2.0
Unix SVR4.2
2800000
5000000
HP/UX
HP/UX
DRX
DRX
DC/OSx
DC/OSx
IRIX
IRIX
UnixWare
UnixWare
Solaris
Solaris22
SVR4
SVR4++OSF/1
OSF/1
SVR4
SVR4
SVR4
SVR4
SVR4
SVR4
SVR4
SVR4
SVR4
SVR4
SCO
SCO
Sequent
Sequent
SCO
SCOUnix
Unix
Dynix/PTX
Dynix/PTX
SVR3.2
SVR3.2
SVR3.2
SVR3.2++security
security
Sun
SunMicrosystems
Microsystems
DEC
DEC
IBM
IBM
SunOS
SunOS44
Digital
DigitalUnix
Unix
AIX
AIX
BSD
BSD
OSF/1
OSF/1++SVR4
SVR4
OSF/1
+
SVR4
OSF/1 + SVR4
Unix Standards
Unix has been standardised
SVR4, OSF/1, POSIX, spec1170
standards concentrate on kernel functionality and API
administration not covered by standards
Operations
Administration
Technical Support
General Responsibilities
Identify your role and responsibilities
can you delegate some of your work?
System Logbook
Keep a logbook for each system
Record activities such as
system crashes
maintenance,
hardware problems
system upgrades
software installations
Working As Root
Nearly all Unix administration must be done as user root
this superuser account (user id 0) has unrestricted access to the
system
WARNING
root can irrevocably damage the system
take care when working as root
The su Command
The set user (su) command changes to another user
runs a new shell for the new user
exit from the new shell to resume original user's shell
Exercise - Using su
What do the following commands do and which ones require
a password?
$$ su
su
## su
su -- henry
henry
$$ su
su -## su
su -- root
root -c
-c poweroff
poweroff
## exit
exit
$$ su
su root
root -c
-c "rm
"rm /tmp/.lock321"
/tmp/.lock321"
Traditional Administration
Traditionally, Unix administration requires a good knowledge
of the Unix operating system
Administrators work directly with configuration files and
special programs
Administrators develop or borrow extra programs and scripts
to support standard utilities
Difficult for novice administrators even to get started...
Administration Shells
System manufacturers often provide menu driven
administration interfaces
some are better than others
some only work under X-Windows
WebMin
WebMin
YaST
YaST
SMIT
SMIT
setup
setup
SAM
SAM
Cadmin
Cadmin
sysadmsh
sysadmsh
admintool
admintool
sysadm
sysadm
http
http
tty
tty&&XX
tty
tty&&XX
tty
tty
XX
XX
tty
tty
XX
tty
tty
Summary
Unix administration is similar but not identical
for all systems
Unix administrators tend to learn a lot about
how Unix works
Nearly all administration is undertaken as the
superuser (root)
Administration shells such as sysadm or SMIT
can simplify Unix for novice administrators
Use the su command to run a shell as another
user
When you know one Unix system you can easly
learn all other dialects.
SuSE uses yast and yast2 for most common
admin work.