[conspire] (forw) Re: Linux server

[Rick Moen]

----- Forwarded message from Denny Yang <yangcdenny at gmail.com> -----

Date: Fri, 26 May 2017 12:47:42 -0700
From: Denny Yang <yangcdenny at gmail.com>
To: Rick Moen <rick at linuxmafia.com>
Subject: Linux server

Hi Rick,

Happy Friday!
I hope you have been well.

As you know, I have been preparing for the exam. So so far what I have been
doing is trying to get familiar with the syntax and the concepts of the
commands.

But as for the Linux server itself, I guess it's better to buy one, and get
familiar with it? I've never seen a Linux server before.
I've been searching for it on Amazon, and I have no clue on what am I
looking for.

Maybe I am getting ahead of myself at the moment.

Do you have any suggestions on how to get a better understanding on a Linux
server?

PS. Configurations, servers, networking are my weakest areas, as I have
never had any computer experiences.

Thank you for your help and have a great Memorial Weekend,
Denny

----- End forwarded message -----
----- Forwarded message from Rick Moen <rick at linuxmafia.com> -----

Date: Fri, 26 May 2017 15:52:44 -0700
From: Rick Moen <rick at linuxmafia.com>
To: Denny Yang <yangcdenny at gmail.com>
Subject: Re: Linux server
Organization: If you lived here, you'd be $HOME already.

Quoting Denny Yang (yangcdenny at gmail.com):

> Hi Rick,
> 
> Happy Friday!
> I hope you have been well.
> 
> As you know, I have been preparing for the exam. So so far what I have been
> doing is trying to get familiar with the syntax and the concepts of the
> commands.
> 
> But as for the Linux server itself, I guess it's better to buy one, and get
> familiar with it?

You're definitely thinking in the right direction.  I can help you with
some additional specifics.

First of all, yes, absolutely the best way to learn Linux well is to
kick it around, play with it, get to be friends.  And even:  Do
deliberately risky and harmful things to it, damaging it beyond repair
and then laughing a bit and reinstalling.  All of these are experiences
you can and would learn from.

> I've never seen a Linux server before.  I've been searching for it on
> Amazon, and I have no clue on what am I looking for.

Here's where I inform you you can use either of two solutions, depending
on what you want to do.  You can install your play-around-with-it Linux
installation on a physical machine or a virtual one.

Generous hardware requirements in either case:  1GB of available RAM,
10GB of available disk space.  For the sake of discussion, let's assume
you're installing CentOS 7[1] for x86_64 (64-bit Intel x86
architecture), and doing a minimal server installation, omitting most or
all graphical software.  In that case, the hardware requirements I just
mentioned are ample.

That requirement can be easily met by any Intel-x86-architecture server or
workstation or laptop manufactured in the last decade and a half, so you
could just visit Weird Stuff in Sunnyvale and pick one up for $30.
Pretty much anything would suffice.

Get two of them for 2 x $30 and interconnect the two using an ethernet
cable, and that will help you test your understanding and use of network
functions.  Buy an ancient ethernet hub or switch, there, for $5, and
you can also put your personal workstation or laptop on that
ethernet-based local area network (LAN), assuming your personal machine
has an ethernet port, and experiment with use of your machine as a
network client to the Linux machine's (or machines') network services.
(You would of course also need three ethernet cables.)  If you get tired
of having a pair of 2012 boat-anchors around, you can sell them and the
ethernet hub or switch back to Weird Stuff when you're done.

The alternative of running Linux in a virtual machine requires that you
install 'hypervisor' software onto your personal workstation or laptop, 
which can be as simple as downloading and installing VirtualBox for your
workstation or laptop's operating system.  (There's VirtualBox for OS X,
MS-Windows, and Intel x86).  The hypervisor layer of software requires
some RAM to run.  Running it lets you launch 'virtual machines' (VMs) --
emulations of an entire x86 physical box, which you would initially see
attempting to boot and then halting because there's no OS installed in
them (same as with a physical box you turn on that has no OS).  You then
install your choice of OS (say, CentOS) into the VM, and then boot it.
So, at that point, you would have a little emulated Linux machine
running in the VirtualBox window, with CentOS thinking it's running on a
real machine where it is the native OS.


> Maybe I am getting ahead of myself at the moment.
> 
> Do you have any suggestions on how to get a better understanding on a Linux
> server?
> 
> PS. Configurations, servers, networking are my weakest areas, as I have
> never had any computer experiences.

Well, I was tempted to recommend a concise and very old-school online
small book called the Linux System Administrator's Guide (SAG),
http://www.tldp.org/LDP/sag/html/ .  The problem is that it was last
updated 14 years ago.  The basics will be correct, albeit there are some
things that are now different.  OTOH, it's free of charge, very
pragmatic, and competently written for its day.

Red Hat has as system administrator's guide that tells you details /
quirks that are specific to RHEL (and thus to CentOS), here:
https://access.redhat.com/documentation/en-US/Red_Hat_Enterprise_Linux/7/html/System_Administrators_Guide/

Back in the day (1980s, 90s), a bunch of us got to know foundational
topics such as the fundamentals of TCP/IP networking by either reading
O'Reilly books like Craig Hunt's _TCP/IP Network Administration_ (or any
number of others) or Æleen Frisch's _Essential System Administration_ or
Evi Nemeth's _UNIX and Linux System Administration Handbook_, or
Matthias Kalle Dalheimer & Matt Welsh's _Running Linux_.  All of those
are probably overkill for you, but you can look over references to them
online, and you might come across a used copy.

I'm so out of date on what is a good quickstart reference that I'm
probably the last person to ask, but I hope the above is of some use to
you, anyway.


[1] "CentOS" (Community Enterprise OS) is an unbranded exact replica of Red
Hat Enterprise Linux without the trademarked images and names/phrases in
RHEL.  CentOS is extremely common, almost ubiquitous, in the Linux
servers that run the Internet.  CentOS 7 is the latest series of relies,
parallel to RHEL 7.  It's what you will want to get your hands dirty
with.


----- End forwarded message -----