This course is designed to follow an identical set of topics as the other RHCE exam prep courses with the added benefit of very comprehensive lab exercises and detailed lecture material.

The Red Hat Enterprise Linux (RHEL) system administration topics covered in this course along with the course cover the certification objects of the Red Hat Certified Engineer (RHCE) exam.

This course builds upon a foundation of core Linux systems administration principles and skills. Students will advance their Linux systems administration knowledge. The course will focus on helping students optimize system administration skills using automation techniques and deploy commonly used network services. Once this course is completed students will know how to deploy critical network services in a secure fashion.

Current Version: A00

Red Hat® is a registered trademark of Red Hat, Inc. and its use by us does not imply association or sponsorship by Red Hat, Inc.

Linux Training Prerequisites

Students should have skill equal to those taught in the "Red Hat Enterprise Linux Systems Admin I" and "Red Hat Enterprise Linux Systems Admin I" courses. Also these prerequisite skills are taught in the "Linux Fundamentals" and "Enterprise Linux Systems Administration" courses.

Linux Training Course duration

4 days

Linux Training Supported Distributions:

Red Hat Enterprise Linux 6

Linux Training Course outline

1. Enhance User Security
   1. Kerberos Concepts
   2. Kerberos Components
   3. Kerberos Principals
   4. Overall Goals for Users
   5. Authentication Process
   6. Install krb5.conf on Clients
   7. Client PAM Configuration
   8. Signing In to Kerberos
   9. Viewing Tickets
   10. Removing Tickets
   11. Passwords
   12. Changing Passwords
   13. Giving Others Access
   14. SSH Key Management
   15. ssh-agent
   16. OpenSSH and Kerberos
   Lab Tasks
   1. SSH Key-based User Authentication
   2. Using ssh-agent
   3. Kerberos Client Setup
   4. OpenSSH with Kerberos
2. Bash Scripting and Tools
   1. Shell Script Strengths and Weaknesses
   2. Example Shell Script
   3. Positional Parameters
   4. Input & Output
   5. Doing Math
   6. Comparisons with test
   7. Exit Status
   8. Conditional Statements
   9. Flow Control: case
   10. The for Loop
   11. The while and until Loops
   Lab Tasks
   1. Writing a Shell Script
3. File Security with GnuPG
   1. GPG - GNU Privacy Guard
   Lab Tasks
   1. File Encryption with GPG
4. Software Management
   1. RPM Package Files
   2. Source RPMs
   3. Using Source RPMs
   4. Installing Source RPM Packages
   5. Creating Support Files
   6. The Spec file
   7. The Header Stanza
   8. Prep, Build, and Install
   9. The Files Section
   10. Optional Script Section(s)
   11. The Changelog Section
   12. Building Packages
   13. Digitally Signing Packages
   14. Revising a Package
   15. RPM Development Tools
   16. Yum Plugins
   17. Dealing With RPM & YUM Digest Changes
   Lab Tasks
   1. rpmdevtools and Simple RPM Creation
5. Network Monitoring
   1. tcpdump and wireshark
   2. Information from netstat and ss
   3. lsof and fuser
   4. nmap
   Lab Tasks
   1. Network Tools
   2. NMAP
6. Route Network Traffic
   1. Configuring the Kernel via /proc/
   2. Tuning Kernel Network Settings
   3. Linux as a Router
   4. Configuring Routing Tables
   5. IP to MAC Address Mapping with ARP
   Lab Tasks
   1. Adjusting Kernel Options
7. Secure Network Traffic
   1. SSH Port Forwarding
   2. Persistent Port Forwarding Configuration
   3. Netfilter: Stateful Packet Filter Firewall
   4. Netfilter Concepts
   5. Using the iptables Command
   6. Common match_specs
   7. Address Translation
   8. Configuring NAT and PAT
   9. NAT Limitations
   10. Security Using NAT and PAT
   11. Detecting NAT
   Lab Tasks
   1. Tunneling TCP connections over SSH
   2. Securing Services with Netfilter
8. NTP Server Configuration
   1. Managing Network-Wide Time
   2. Continual Time Sync with NTP
   3. Configuring NTP Clients
   4. Useful NTP Commands
   Lab Tasks
   1. NTP Client Configuration
9. System Monitoring and Logs
   1. Filesystem Structures
   2. Determining Disk Usage With df and du
   3. Filesystem Maintenance
   4. Corrupt Filesystems
   5. Troubleshooting Incorrect File Permissions
   6. System Status - Memory
   7. System Status - I/O
   8. System Status - CPU
   9. Viewing Processes
   10. Performance Trending with sar
   11. System Logging
   12. Rsyslog
   13. /etc/rsyslog.conf
   14. Log Management
   15. Log Anomaly Detector
   Lab Tasks
   1. Setting up a Full Debug Logfile
   2. Remote Syslog Configuration
   3. System Activity Reporter
10. Centralized and Secure Storage
    1. SAN Multipathing
    2. Multipath Configuration
    3. Multipathing Best Practices
    4. iSCSI Architecture
    5. Open-iSCSI Initiator Implementation
    6. iSCSI Initiator Discovery
    7. iSCSI Initiator Node Administration
    8. Mounting iSCSI Targets at Boot
    9. iSCSI Multipathing Considerations
    10. File Encryption With encfs
    11. Linux Unified Key Setup (LUKS)
    Lab Tasks
    1. iSCSI Initiator Configuration
    2. LUKS-on-disk format Encrypted Filesystem
11. SSL-encapsulated Web Services
    1. Apache Architecture
    2. Adding Modules to Apache
    3. Apache Configuration Files
    4. httpd.conf - Server Settings
    5. httpd.conf - Main Configuration
    6. Symmetric Encryption Algorithms
    7. Asymmetric Encryption Algorithms
    8. Digital Certificates
    9. SSL Using mod_ssl.so
    Lab Tasks
    1. Apache Architecture
    2. Apache Content
    3. Using SSL Certificates with Apache
12. Web Server Additional Configuration
    1. Virtual Hosting DNS Implications
    2. httpd.conf - VirtualHost Configuration
    3. Name-based Virtual Host
    4. Apache Logging
    5. Delegating Administration
    6. Directory Protection
    7. Directory Protection with AllowOverride
    8. Common Uses for .htaccess
    9. Configuring CGI
    Lab Tasks
    1. Configuring Virtual Hosts
    2. Using .htaccess Files
    3. CGI Scripts in Apache
13. Basic SMTP Configuration
    1. Postfix Features
    2. Postfix Components
    3. Postfix Configuration
    4. master.cf
    5. main.cf
    6. Postfix Map Types
    7. Postfix Pattern Matching
    8. Virtual Domains
    9. Configuration Commands
    10. Management Commands
    11. Postfix, Relaying and SMTP AUTH
    12. SMTP AUTH Server and Relay Control
    Lab Tasks
    1. Configuring Postfix
    2. Postfix Network Configuration
    3. Postfix Virtual Host Configuration
14. Caching-Only DNS Server
    1. Naming Services
    2. The Domain Name Space
    3. Delegation and Zones
    4. Server Roles
    5. Resolving Names
    6. Resolving IP Addresses
    7. Basic BIND Administration
    8. Configuring the Resolver
    9. Testing Resolution
    10. Creating a Site-Wide Cache
    11. SOA - Start of Authority
    12. A & PTR - Address & Pointer Records
    13. NS - Name Server
    14. CNAME & MX - Alias & Mail Host
    Lab Tasks
    1. Caching-only DNS
15. File Sharing with NFS
    1. File Sharing via NFS
    2. NFSv4
    3. NFS Clients
    4. NFS Server Configuration
    5. Implementing NFSv4
    Lab Tasks
    1. NFS Server Configuration
16. File Sharing with CIFS
    1. Samba Daemons
    2. Accessing Windows/Samba Shares from Linux
    3. Samba Utilities
    4. Samba Configuration Files
    5. The smb.conf File
    6. Mapping Permissions and ACLs
    7. Mapping Linux Concepts
    8. Mapping Users
    9. Share Authentication
    10. User-Level Access
    11. Samba Account Database
    12. User Share Restrictions
    Lab Tasks
    1. Samba Share-Level Access
    2. Samba User-Level Access
    3. Samba Group Shares
17. File Sharing with FTP
    1. The FTP Protocol
    2. Active Mode FTP
    3. Passive Mode FTP
    4. vsftpd
    5. Anonymous FTP with vsftpd
    Lab Tasks
    1. Configuring vsftpd
18. Troubleshooting Boot Process
    1. Booting Linux on PCs
    2. GRUB Configuration
    3. Boot Parameters
    4. Initial ramdisk
    5. /sbin/init
    6. System Init Styles
    7. Linux Runlevels
    8. /etc/inittab
    9. /etc/rc.d/rc.sysinit
    10. Runlevel Implementation
    11. System Configuration Files
    12. Typical SysV Init Script
    13. The /etc/rc.local File
    14. Shutdown and Reboot
    15. Rescue Environment
    Lab Tasks
    1. Boot Process
    2. Recovering Damaged MBR
    3. Introduction to Troubleshooting Labs
    4. Troubleshooting Practice: Boot Process