CHAPTER - 1

What is LINUX?

1.1 Introduction
Linux or, less frequently is a Unix-like computer operating system assembled under
the model of free and open-source software development and distribution. The defining
component of Linux is the Linux kernel an operating system kernel first released on
September 17, 1991 by Linus Torvalds. The Free Software Foundation uses the name
GNU/Linux to describe the operating system, which has led to some controversy
Linux was originally developed for personal computers based on the Intel x86
architecture, but has since been ported to more platforms than any other operating
system. Because of the dominance of the Linux kernel-based Android OS on
smartphones , Linux has the largest installed base of all general-purpose operating systems.
Linux is also the leading operating system on servers and other big iron systems such as
mainframe computers, and is used on 99.6% of the TOP500 supercomputers. It is used by
around 2.3% of desktop computers. Linux also runs on embedded systems – devices whose
operating system is typically built into the firmware and is highly tailored to the system.

The development of Linux is one of the most prominent examples of free and open-source
software collaboration. The underlying source code may be used, modified and distributed—
commercially or non-commercially—by anyone under the terms of its respective licenses,
such as the GNU General Public License. Typically, Linux is packaged in a form known as
a Linux distribution (or distro for short) for both desktop and server use. Distributions
include the Linux kernel, supporting utilities and libraries, many of which are provided by the
GNU Project, and usually a large amount of application software to fulfil the distribution's
intended use.

1.2 How LINUX differ from other Operating System?

In many ways, Linux is similar to other operating systems Like other operating systems,
Linux has a graphical interface, and types of software you are accustomed to using on other
operating systems, such as word processing applications, have Linux equivalents. In many
cases, the software’s creator may have made a Linux version of the same program you use on
other systems.

But Linux also is different from other operating systems in many important ways. First, and
perhaps most importantly, Linux is open source software. The code used to create Linux is
free and available to the public to view, edit, and—for users with the appropriate skills. Linux
is also different in that, although the core pieces of the Linux operating system are generally
common, there are many distributions of Linux, which include different software options.
This means that Linux is incredibly customizable, because not just applications, such as word
processors and web browsers, can be swapped out. Linux users also can choose core
components, such as which system displays graphics, and other user-interface components.

1
1.3 LINUX Distribution, Flavours and Variants

Linux may be obtained in two different ways. All the necessary components can be
downloaded free of charge from the Internet, which means an operating system can be
assembled for almost nothing. An alternative is to use a so-called distribution, which is a
Linux variation offered by many companies. They include a broad range of applications and
full programs that significantly simplify the installation of Linux.

There are hundreds of different distributions of Linux that have been released. Below are just
a few that we currently uses.

A-D F-L M-R S-Z

ArchLinux Fedora Linux MacPup Slackware Linux
Backbox Gentoo Mageia Linux Snowlinux
CalderaLinux Kali Linux MakuluLinux SparkyLinux
CentOS Kondara Linux Mandriva Linux SUSE Linux
ChromeOS Kubuntu Mint Linux Trisquel
CorelLinux Kylin Puppy Linux Turbolinux
Crunchbang Linpus Linux Rasbian Ubuntu
Linux Red Hat Linux VectorLinux
DamnSmall Linux Zorin
(DSL)
Debian

1.4 Where is LINUX Used?

Presently, Linux is successfully being used by several millions of users worldwide. The
composition of users varies from private users, training companies, universities, research
centers, and companies. Below are some examples of where Linux is used today.

• Android phones and tablets – Android phones and tablets use a form of Linux.
• Servers - A vast majority of the web servers that run many web pages are using
Linux.
• TV, Cameras, DVD players, etc. - Most of the appliances that use some form of a
computer use Linux.
• Amazon - Many of the computers that help run Amazon use Linux.
• Google - Computers that help run Google and Google search results use a Linux.
• Planes - Airplanes computers and screens you watch on the plane use Linux.
• U.S. Postal service - The computers and servers that help run systems to sort
and manage mail in the U.S.
• NYSE - The New York Stock Exchange uses Linux to help run its exchange.
• LHC - The Large Hadron Collider is using Linux.
• OLPC - The One Laptop Per Child program used Linux on all of its computers

2
1.5 How can I Contribute to LINUX ?

Most of the Linux kernel is written in the C programming language, with a little bit of
assembly and other languages sprinkled in. If you’re interested in writing code for the Linux
kernel itself, a good place to get started is in the Kernel Newbies FAQ, which will explain
some of the concepts and processes you’ll want to be familiar with.

But the Linux community is much more than the kernel, and needs contributions from lots of
other people besides programmers. Every distribution contains hundreds or thousands of
programs that can be distributed along with it, and each of these programs, as well as the
distribution itself, need a variety of people and skill sets to make them successful, including:

• Testers to make sure everything works on different configurations of hardware and

software, and to report the bugs when it does not.
• Designers to create user interfaces and graphics distributed with various programs.
• Writers who can create documentation, how-tos, and other important text
distributed with software.
• Translators to take programs and documentation from their native languages and
make them accessible to people around the world.
• Packagers to take software programs and put all the parts together to make sure
they run flawlessly in different distributions.
• Evangelists to spread the word about Linux and open source in general.
• And of course developers to write the software itself.

3
 CHAPTER – 2

Functional Requirements

This chapter lists system requirements for successfully running virtual machines, referred
to as VMs on Red Hat Enterprise Linux 7. Virtualization is available for Red Hat
Enterprise Linux 7 on the Intel 64 and AMD64 architecture. The KVM hypervisor is
provided with Red Hat Enterprise Linux 7

2.1 Minimum system requirements

Minimum requirement is Pentium 4 or AMD or Celeron Processor. All the processors above
this configuration would be very well working to go with Linux. So, the processors like Core
2 Duo Processor, Dual Core Processor, Dual core i3, Dual core i5, Dual core i7, AMD Duron,
AMD Sempron, AMD Turion, MD Opteron, AMD Phenom 1, and Celeron III are
recommended. Minimum of 512 MB RAM is required and the RAM above this size
would be recommended.

2.2 Recommended system requirements

• One processor core or hyper-thread for the maximum number of virtualized CPUs in a
guest virtual machine and one for the host.
• 2 GB of RAM plus additional RAM for virtual machines.
• 6 GB disk space for the host, plus the required disk space for each virtual machine.

2.3 Calculating Swap Space

Using swap space can provide additional memory beyond the available physical memory.
The swap partition is used for swapping underused memory to the hard drive to speed up
memory performance. The default size of the swap partition is calculated from the physical
RAM of the host.

4
2.4 Storage Support
The guest virtual machine storage methods are:

• files on local storage,

• physical disk partitions,
• locally connected physical LUNs,
• LVM partitions,
• NFS shared file systems,
• iSCSI,
• GFS2 clustered file systems,
• Fibre Channel-based LUNs, and
• Fibre Channel over Ethernet (FCoE).

2.5 INSTALLIG THE REDHAT ENTERPRISE LINUX 7.2:

Installing a Linux system is easy and fast task. There is one more reason to use Linux system
is because it’s free.

5
 CHAPTER – 3

Installation

This section describes the simple procedure to install and register Red Hat Enterprise Linux
after you have created and booted from an installation USB drive.

3.1 Prerequisites :

Create an installation USB drive and boot it.

After booting the installation USB drive:
⁠

1. Select Install Red Hat Enterprise Linux in the boot menu and press Enter.
2. After Anaconda, the Red Hat Enterprise Linux installer, started, select your language
and region, and click Continue.
3. The Installation Summary is the central screen to set configuration options
4. Select Date & Time:

a. Set your region and the nearest city in your time zone.
b. Click Done to return to the Installation Summary.

5. Select Keyboard Layout:

a. Use the + and - buttons to add and remove keyboard layouts.

b. If you enable multiple keyboard layouts, move your preferred layout to the top of
the list using the ↑ button to set it as default.
c. Click Done to return to the Installation Summary.

6. Select Installation Destination:

a. Select the target disk. A check mark is displayed next to the selected target.
a. The selected disk is partitioned automatically.
b. Click Done to return to the Installation Summary.

7. Select Network and Hostname:

a. Click the Ethernet sliding switch in the top right corner to enable the network
configuration.
b. Optional, select the device and click Configure to update the network interface
configuration.
c. Click Done to return to the Installation Summary.

8. On the Installation Summary screen, click Begin Installation.

9. Select Root Password:

6
 a. Enter the password for the root user and confirm it.
b. Click Done to return to the Configuration screen.

10. After the installed system has been started:

If you installed the server using the Server with GUI base environment, the Initial
Setup application is started automatically:

1. Accept the license agreement.

2. Register the system.

7
 CHAPTER - 4
A CLIENT-SERVER RELATIONSHIP

4.1 Introduction

The client–server model is a distributed application structure that partitions tasks or

workloads between the providers of a resource or service, called servers, and service
requesters, called clients.Often clients and servers communicate over a computer network on
separate hardware, but both client and server may reside in the same system. A server host
runs one or more server programs which share their resources with clients. A client does not
share any of its resources, but requests a server's content or service function. Clients therefore
initiate communication sessions with servers which await incoming requests. Examples of
computer applications that use the client–server model are Email, network printing, and the
World Wide Web.

The Client-server characteristic describes the relationship of cooperating programs in an

application. The server component provides a function or service to one or many clients,
which initiate requests for such services.

Servers are classified by the services they provide. For instance, a web server serves web
pages and a file server serves computer files. A shared resource may be any of the server
computer's software and electronic components, from programs and data to processors and
storage devices. The sharing of resources of a server constitutes a service.

Whether a computer is a client, a server, or both, is determined by the nature of the

application that requires the service functions. For example, a single computer can run web
server and file server software at the same time to serve different data to clients making
different kinds of requests. Client software can also communicate with server software within
the same computer. Communication between servers, such as to synchronize data, is
sometimes called inter-server or server-to-server communication.

8
4.2 COMPONENTS OF A SERVER:

The hardware components that a typical server computer comprises are similar to the
components used in less expensive client computers. However, server computers are usually
built from higher-grade components than client computers. The following paragraphs
describe the typical components of a server computer.

Motherboard

The motherboard is the computer's main electronic circuit board to which all the other
components of your computer are connected. More than any other component, the
motherboard is the computer. All other components attach to the motherboard.

The major components on the motherboard include the processor (or CPU), supporting
circuitry called the chipset, memory, expansion slots, a standard IDE hard drive controller,
and input/output (I/O) ports for devices such as keyboards, mice, and printers. Some
motherboards also include additional built-in features such as a graphics adapter, SCSI disk
controller, or a network interface.

9
Processor

The processor, or CPU, is the brain of the computer. Although the processor isn't the only
component that affects overall system performance, it is the one that most people think of
first when deciding what type of server to purchase. At the time of this writing, Intel had four
processor models designed for use in server computers:

• Itanium 2: 1.60GHz clock speed; 1–2 processor cores

• Xeon: 1.83–2.33GHz clock speed; 1–4 processor cores

• Pentium D: 2.66-3.6GHz clock speed; 2 processor cores

• Pentium 4: 2.4-3.6GHz clock speed; 1 processor core

Each motherboard is designed to support a particular type of processor. CPUs come in two
basic mounting styles: slot or socket. However, you can choose from several types of slots
and sockets, so you have to make sure that the motherboard supports the specific slot or
socket style used by the CPU. Some server motherboards have two or more slots or sockets to
hold two or more CPUs.

NOTE: The term clock speed refers to how fast the basic clock that drives the processor's
operation ticks. In theory, the faster the clock speed, the faster the processor. However, clock
speed alone is reliable only for comparing processors within the same family. In fact, the
Itanium processors are faster than Xeon processors at the same clock speed. The same holds
true for Xeon processors compared with Pentium D processors. That's because the newer
processor models contain more advanced circuitry than the older models, so they can
accomplish more work with each tick of the clock.

The number of processor cores also has a dramatic effect on performance. Each processor
core acts as if it's a separate processor. Most server computers use dual-core (two processor
cores) or quad-core (four cores) chips.

Memory

Don't scrimp on memory. People rarely complain about servers having too much memory.
Many different types of memory are available, so you have to pick the right type of memory

10
to match the memory supported by your motherboard. The total memory capacity of the
server depends on the motherboard. Most new servers can support at least 12GB of memory,
and some can handle up to 32GB.

Hard drives

Most desktop computers use inexpensive hard drives called IDE drives (sometimes also
called ATA). These drives are adequate for individual users, but because performance is more
important for servers, another type of drive known as SCSI is usually used instead. For the
best performance, use the SCSI drives along with a high-performance SCSI controller card.

Recently, a new type of inexpensive drive called SATA has been appearing in desktop
computers. SATA drives are also being used more and more in server computers as well due
to their reliability and performance.

Network connection

The network connection is one of the most important parts of any server. Many servers have
network adapters built into the motherboard. If your server isn't equipped as such, you'll need
to add a separate network adapter card.

Video

Fancy graphics aren't that important for a server computer. You can equip your servers with
inexpensive generic video cards and monitors without affecting network performance. (This
is one of the few areas where it's acceptable to cut costs on a server.)

Power supply

Because a server usually has more devices than a typical desktop computer, it requires a
larger power supply (300 watts is typical). If the server houses a large number of hard drives,
it may require an even larger power supply.

11
 CHAPTER – 5

Installing Local Yum Server

The Yellowdog Updater, Modified (yum) is an open-source command-line package-

management utility for computers running the Linux operating system using the RPM
Package Manager. Though yum has a command-line interface, several other tools provide
graphical user interfaces to yum functionality.

Yum allows automatic updates, package and dependency management, on RPM-based

distributions.

• Mount the RHEL 7 installation ISO to a directory like /mnt, e.g.:

• Change the directory to /mnt and copy the Packages to the created directory
/server

• Installing following rpm Packages:

Createrepo-0.9.9-23.e17.noarch.rpm

Deltarpm-3.6-3.e17.x86_64.rpm

Python-deltarpm-3.6-3.e17.x86_64.rpm

Net-tools-2.0.0.17.20131004git.e17.x86_64.rpm

12
• Creating repo file from the saved Packages in /server/Packages

• Editing a repo file using a vim editor

13
 CHAPTER – 6

SSH-Secure Shell

Secure Shell (SSH) is a cryptographic network protocol for operating network services
securely over an unsecured network. The best known example application is for remote login
to computer systems by users.

SSH provides a secure channel over an unsecured network in a client-server architecture,

connecting an SSH client application with an SSH server. Common applications include
remote command-line login and remote command execution, but any network service can
be secured with SSH.

SSH was designed as a replacement for Telnet and for unsecured remote shell protocols such
as the Berkeley rlogin, rsh, and rexec protocols. The encryption used by SSH is intended to
provide confidentiality and integrity of data over an unsecured network, such as the
Internet.

6.1 Definition
SSH uses public-key cryptography to authenticate the remote computer and allow it to
authenticate the user, if necessary. There are several ways to use SSH; one is to use
automatically generated public-private key pairs to simply encrypt a network connection,
and then use password authentication to log on. The public key is placed on all computers
that must allow access to the owner of the matching private key (the owner keeps the
private key secret). While authentication is based on the private key, the key itself is never
transferred through the network during authentication. SSH only verifies whether the same
person offering the public key also owns the matching private key.

6.2 Usage

SSH is typically used to log into a remote machine and execute commands, but it also
supports tunneling, forwarding TCP ports and X11 connections; it can transfer files using
the associated SSH file transfer (SFTP) or secure copy (SCP) protocols.SSH uses the client-
server model.

The standard TCP port 22 has been assigned for contacting SSH servers. An SSH client
program is typically used for establishing connections to an SSH daemon accepting remote
connections. Both are commonly present on most modern operating systems, including
macOS, most distributions of Linux, SSH is important in cloud computing to solve
connectivity problems, avoiding the security issues of exposing a cloud-based virtual
machine directly on the Internet. An SSH tunnel can provide a secure path over the Internet,
through a firewall to a virtual machine

14
6.3 How does SSH Protocol Work?

The protocol works in the client-server model, which means that the connection is established
by the SSH client connecting to the SSH server. The SSH client drives the connection setup
process and uses public key cryptography to verify the identity of the SSH server. After the
setup phase the SSH protocol uses strong symmetric encryption and hashing algorithms to
ensure the privacy and integrity of the data that is exchanged between the client and server.

6.4 Configuration Files

There are two different sets of configuration files: those for client programs (that is, ssh, scp,
and sftp), and those for the server (the sshd daemon).
System-wide SSH configuration information is stored in the /etc/ssh/ directory, “System-wide
configuration files”. User-specific SSH configuration information is stored in ~/.ssh/ within
the user's home directory “User-specific configuration files”.

• System-wide configuration

File Description
/etc/ssh/moduli Contains Diffie-Hellman groups used for the
Diffie-Hellman key exchange which is critical for
constructing a secure transport layer. When keys
are exchanged at the beginning of an SSH session,
a shared, secret value is created which cannot be
determined by either party alone. This value is
then used to provide host authentication.

15
/etc/ssh/ssh_config
/etc/ssh/sshd_config
/etc/ssh/ssh_host_ecdsa_key
/etc/ssh/ssh_host_ecdsa_key.pub
/etc/ssh/ssh_host_key
/etc/ssh/ssh_host_key.pub
/etc/ssh/ssh_host_rsa_key
/etc/ssh/ssh_host_rsa_key.pub
/etc/pam.d/sshd
/etc/sysconfig/sshd
• User-specific Configuration File
File
~/.ssh/authorized_keys
~/.ssh/id_ecdsa
~/.ssh/id_ecdsa.pub
~/.ssh/id_rsa
~/.ssh/id_rsa.pub
~/.ssh/identity
~/.ssh/identity.pub
~/.ssh/known_hosts
The default SSH client configuration file. Note that
it is overridden by ~/.ssh/config if it exists.
The configuration file for the sshd daemon.
The ECDSA private key used by the sshd daemon.
The ECDSA public key used by the sshd daemon.
The RSA private key used by the sshd daemon for
version 1 of the SSH protocol.
The RSA public key used by the sshd daemon for
version 1 of the SSH protocol.
The RSA private key used by the sshd daemon for
version 2 of the SSH protocol.
The RSA public key used by the sshd daemon for
version 2 of the SSH protocol.
The PAM configuration file for the sshd daemon.
Configuration file for the sshd service.
Description
Holds a list of authorized public keys for servers.
When the client connects to a server, the server
authenticates the client by checking its signed public
key stored within this file.
Contains the ECDSA private key of the user.
The ECDSA public key of the user.
The RSA private key used by ssh for version 2 of
the SSH protocol.
The RSA public key used by ssh for version 2 of
the SSH protocol.
The RSA private key used by ssh for version 1 of
the SSH protocol.
The RSA public key used by ssh for version 1 of the
SSH protocol.
Contains host keys of SSH servers accessed by the
user. This file is very important for ensuring that the
SSH client is connecting to the correct SSH server.
16
6.5 Installation:

• .In order to run an OpenSSH server, you must have the openssh-server package
installed. To start the sshd daemon in the current session, type the following at a shell
prompt as root:

• To stop the running sshd daemon in the current session, use the following command
as root:

• If you want the daemon to start automatically at boot time, type as root:

• After this, reload the systemd manager configuration using the following command:

17
 CHAPTER – 7

SSH Keys & Generation

SSH secures communication through public-key encryption. When an ssh client connects to
an SSH server, before the client logs in, the server sends it a copy of its public key. This is
used to set up the secure encryption for the communication channel and to authenticate the
server to the client.

The first time the user uses ssh to connect to a particular server, the ssh command stores the
server’s public key in the user’s ~/.ssh/known_hosts file. Every time the user connects after
that, the client makes sure it gets the same public key from the server by comparing the
server’s entry in the ~/.ssh/known_hosts file to the public key the server sent. If the keys do
not match, the client assumes that the network traffic is being hijacked or that the server has
been compromised , and breaks the connection.

This means that if a server’s public key is changed (because the key was lost due to hard
drive failure, or replaced for some legitimate reason), users will need to update
~/.ssh/known_hosts files and remove the old entry in order to log in.

7.1 SSH Keybased Authentication

Users can authenticate ssh logins without a password by using public key authentication. ssh
allows users to authenticate using a private-pubic key scheme. This means that two keys are
generated, a private key and public key. The private key file is used as the authentication
credential, and like a password, must be kept secret and secure. The public key is copied to
the systems the user wants to log into , and is used to verify the private key. The public key
does not need to be secret. An SSH server that has the public key can issue a challenge that
can only be answered by a system holding your privat key. As a result , you can authenticate
using the presence of your key. This allows you to access systems in a way that doesn’t
require typing a password every time, but is still secure.

Once the SSH keys have been generated , they are stored by default in the .ssh/ directory of
your home directory. Permissions should be 600 on the private key and 644 on the public
key.

18
• Using ssh-keygen to create a public-private key pair.

• Before key-based authentification can be used, the public key needs to be copied to
the destination systems. This is done using ssh-copy-id and copies to the
~/.ssh/id_rsa.pub.

19
20
 CHAPTER – 8

Copying & Synchronising Remotely

The ssh command is useful for securely running shell commands on remote systems. It can
also be used to securely copy files from one machine to another. The scp command transfer
files from a remote host to the local system or from the local system to a remote host. It
utilises the SSH server for authentication and encrypted data transfer.

Remote file system locations are always specified in the format [user@]host:/path for either
the source or target location of the filesto be transferred. The user@ portion is optional and if
it is missing, the current local user that invokes the scp command is used. Before the
transfer is initiated, the user must authenticate with the SSH server by password or SSH keys.

A user can copy a file from a remote account on a remote machine to the local file system
with scp. In this example, copying the file /etc/hostname from the account student to the
server machine to the local directory /home/student.

Copying a whole directory tree recursively, the -r option is available. In the following
example the remote directory /var/log on server is copied recursively to the local directory
/tmp/ on desktop. To be able to read all the contents of the /etc directory, the root user must
connect to kremote connection.

8.1 Transfer remotely with sftp

If an interactive tool is preferred when uploading or downloading files to SSH server, the
sftp command can be used. A session with sftp is similar to classic FTP session, but uses the
secure authentication mechanism and encrypted data transfer of the SSH server.

To initiate a sftp session, the sftp expects a remote location in the format [user@]host, where
the user@ portion is optional and, if it is missing the user invoking the sftp scomand is used.
To establish the sftp session, authentication with any of the methods the SSH server accepts
is necessary.

The sftp session accepts various commands that work the same way on the remote file
system as they do in the local file system, such as ls , cd, mkdir,rmdir, and pwd. In addition
there are the put and get commands for uploading and downloading files. The exit
command exits the sftp session.

21
8.2 Upload the local file /etc/hosts to the newly created directory

/hom/student/hostbackup on the remote host server. The sftp session always assumes that
the put command is followed on the local file system and starts in the connecting user’s home
directory : in this case, /home/student:

To download the remote file /etc/yum.conf from the remote host to the current directory on
the local file system, execute the command get /etc/yum.conf and exit the sftp session with
the exit command.

8.3 Synchronize files and folders

The rsync tool is another way to securely copy files from one system to another. It differs
from scp in that if two files or directories are similar between two systes, rsync only needs to
copy the differences between the systems, while scp would need to copy everything.

One of the advantages of rsync is that it can copy files between a local system and a remote
system securely aand efficiently. While the initial synchronisation of a directory takes about
the same time as copying it, any subsequent synchronisation only requires the differences to
be copied over the network.

One of the most important options of rsync is -n option to perform a dry run. A dry run is a
simulation of what happens when the command really gets executed. It will display the
changes it will perform when the command is executed without the dry run option. It is
recommended to perform a dry run of any rsync operation to ensure no important files get
overwritten or deleted.

The two most common options when synchronizing files and folders with rsync are the -a
and –v options. While the –v option adds verbosity to the output as the synchronisation
proceeds, the -a option stands for “archive mode” and enables the following options all in
one::

• -r , synchronise recursively the whole directory tree

• -l , synchronise symbolic links
• -p , preserve permissions
• -t , preserve time stamps
• -g , preserve group ownership
• -o, preserve the owner of the files
• -D, synchronise Device files

While the -a already synchronise symbolic links, there are additional options necessary
to preserve hardlinks, as they are treated as separate files instead. The -H option enables
the handling of hardlinks, so the rsync command will identify the hardlinks present in the
source folder and link the files accordingly in the destination folder instead of just
copying them as a separate files.

22
Similar to scp , the rsync command expects remote file system locations to be specified
in the format [user@]host:/path. It is possible to use a remote location as either source or
target. In the following example, the local folder /var/log gets a synchronised copy in the
/tmp directory on the server machine. For rsync to synchronise ownership of the
transferred files, the target location must be written as a user root, so connect to remote
system server as the root user. The connecting user root must then authenticate with the
SSH server by any of the accepted methods.

23
 CHAPTER – 9

PROJECT SUMMARY

Linux and networking go hand in hand. The Linux kernel has support for all common and
most uncommon network protocols. The standard UNIX networking tools are provided in
each distribution. Next to those, most distributions offer tools for easy network
installation and management.

Linux is well known as a stable platform for running various Internet services, the amount
of Internet software is endless. Like UNIX, Linux can be just as well used and
administered from a remote location, using one of several solutions for remote execution
of programs.

We briefly touched the subject of security. Linux is an ideal firewall system, light and
cheap, but can be used in several other network functions such as routers and proxy
servers.

Increasing network security is mainly done by applying frequent updates and common
sense.

Here is an overview of network related commands:

Command Meaning
ftp Transfer files to another host (insecure).
host Get information about networked hosts.
ipconfig Display IP address information.
ip Display IP address information.
netstat Display routing information and network
statistics.
ping Send answer requests to other hosts.
rdesktop Display and MS Windows desktop on your
Linux system.
route Show routing information.
scp Secure copy files to and from other hosts.
sftp Secure FTP files to and from other hosts.
ssh Make an encrypted connection to another
host.
ssh-keygen Generate authentication keys for Secure
SHell.
telnet Make an insecure connection to another
hosts.
tracepath Print the route that packets follow to another
host.

24
25