<html><head></head><body><div style="color:#000; background-color:#fff; font-family:lucida console, sans-serif;font-size:13px"><div id="yui_3_16_0_ym19_1_1495844143131_8364"><span id="yui_3_16_0_ym19_1_1495844143131_8386">Adding my 2 cents. <br></span></div><div id="yui_3_16_0_ym19_1_1495844143131_8840"><span id="yui_3_16_0_ym19_1_1495844143131_8386"><br></span></div><div id="yui_3_16_0_ym19_1_1495844143131_8839"><span id="yui_3_16_0_ym19_1_1495844143131_8386">Becoming a sysadmin was never one of my personal goals. Linux really isn't needlessly complicated. It is written and maintained by programmers who need to do their work efficiently. No extra stuff just to make it difficult because of a business model based on license fees.<br></span></div><div id="yui_3_16_0_ym19_1_1495844143131_8540"><br></div><div id="yui_3_16_0_ym19_1_1495844143131_9025">Only 2 strong recommendations:</div><div id="yui_3_16_0_ym19_1_1495844143131_9110">1) Do keep detailed notes of the exact phrases of error messages, and how you answered the install / config questions.</div><div id="yui_3_16_0_ym19_1_1495844143131_9391">2) Do have a working computer so you can Google for help.<br></div><div id="yui_3_16_0_ym19_1_1495844143131_9111"><br><span id="yui_3_16_0_ym19_1_1495844143131_8386"></span></div><div dir="ltr" id="yui_3_16_0_ym19_1_1495844143131_8541">There will be assorted configurations that require editing certain files. My personal style is to keep copies of the changes. A copy of the original file is named <file_name>.0 Copies of each revision are kept as .1 .2 etc. Then you can easily back up and start-over. <br><span id="yui_3_16_0_ym19_1_1495844143131_8386"></span></div><div id="yui_3_16_0_ym19_1_1495844143131_9394" dir="ltr"><span id="yui_3_16_0_ym19_1_1495844143131_8386"><br></span></div><div id="yui_3_16_0_ym19_1_1495844143131_9393" dir="ltr"><span id="yui_3_16_0_ym19_1_1495844143131_8386">Otherwise, follow Rick's advice to get an inexpensive computer or two and jump in. Be relaxed. Don't worry over every detail of the install / configuration. If it works, great. If not start over. Your notes will be a guide to how to proceed the next time.<br></span></div><div id="yui_3_16_0_ym19_1_1495844143131_8469" class="qtdSeparateBR"><br><div id="yui_3_16_0_ym19_1_1495844143131_9132"><br></div><div id="yui_3_16_0_ym19_1_1495844143131_9133"><br></div></div><div style="display: block;" id="yui_3_16_0_ym19_1_1495844143131_8473" class="yahoo_quoted"> <div id="yui_3_16_0_ym19_1_1495844143131_8472" style="font-family: lucida console, sans-serif; font-size: 13px;"> <div id="yui_3_16_0_ym19_1_1495844143131_8471" style="font-family: HelveticaNeue, Helvetica Neue, Helvetica, Arial, Lucida Grande, sans-serif; font-size: 16px;"> <div id="yui_3_16_0_ym19_1_1495844143131_8470" dir="ltr"> <font id="yui_3_16_0_ym19_1_1495844143131_8478" face="Arial" size="2"> <hr id="yui_3_16_0_ym19_1_1495844143131_9248" size="1"> <b><span style="font-weight:bold;">From:</span></b> Rick Moen <rick@linuxmafia.com><br> <b><span style="font-weight: bold;">To:</span></b> conspire@linuxmafia.com <br> <b><span style="font-weight: bold;">Sent:</span></b> Friday, May 26, 2017 3:54 PM<br> <b><span style="font-weight: bold;">Subject:</span></b> [conspire] (forw) Re: Linux server<br> </font> </div> <div id="yui_3_16_0_ym19_1_1495844143131_8815" class="y_msg_container"><br>----- Forwarded message from Denny Yang <<a ymailto="mailto:yangcdenny@gmail.com" href="mailto:yangcdenny@gmail.com">yangcdenny@gmail.com</a>> -----<br><br>Date: Fri, 26 May 2017 12:47:42 -0700<br>From: Denny Yang <<a ymailto="mailto:yangcdenny@gmail.com" href="mailto:yangcdenny@gmail.com">yangcdenny@gmail.com</a>><br>To: Rick Moen <<a ymailto="mailto:rick@linuxmafia.com" href="mailto:rick@linuxmafia.com">rick@linuxmafia.com</a>><br>Subject: Linux server<br><br>Hi Rick,<br><br>Happy Friday!<br>I hope you have been well.<br><br>As you know, I have been preparing for the exam. So so far what I have been<br>doing is trying to get familiar with the syntax and the concepts of the<br>commands.<br><br>But as for the Linux server itself, I guess it's better to buy one, and get<br>familiar with it? I've never seen a Linux server before.<br>I've been searching for it on Amazon, and I have no clue on what am I<br>looking for.<br><br>Maybe I am getting ahead of myself at the moment.<br><br>Do you have any suggestions on how to get a better understanding on a Linux<br>server?<br><br>PS. Configurations, servers, networking are my weakest areas, as I have<br>never had any computer experiences.<br><br>Thank you for your help and have a great Memorial Weekend,<br>Denny<br><br>----- End forwarded message -----<br>----- Forwarded message from Rick Moen <<a ymailto="mailto:rick@linuxmafia.com" href="mailto:rick@linuxmafia.com">rick@linuxmafia.com</a>> -----<br><br>Date: Fri, 26 May 2017 15:52:44 -0700<br>From: Rick Moen <<a ymailto="mailto:rick@linuxmafia.com" href="mailto:rick@linuxmafia.com">rick@linuxmafia.com</a>><br>To: Denny Yang <<a ymailto="mailto:yangcdenny@gmail.com" href="mailto:yangcdenny@gmail.com">yangcdenny@gmail.com</a>><br>Subject: Re: Linux server<br>Organization: If you lived here, you'd be $HOME already.<br><br>Quoting Denny Yang (<a ymailto="mailto:yangcdenny@gmail.com" href="mailto:yangcdenny@gmail.com">yangcdenny@gmail.com</a>):<br><br>> Hi Rick,<br>> <br>> Happy Friday!<br>> I hope you have been well.<br>> <br>> As you know, I have been preparing for the exam. So so far what I have been<br>> doing is trying to get familiar with the syntax and the concepts of the<br>> commands.<br>> <br>> But as for the Linux server itself, I guess it's better to buy one, and get<br>> familiar with it?<br><br>You're definitely thinking in the right direction. I can help you with<br>some additional specifics.<br><br>First of all, yes, absolutely the best way to learn Linux well is to<br>kick it around, play with it, get to be friends. And even: Do<br>deliberately risky and harmful things to it, damaging it beyond repair<br>and then laughing a bit and reinstalling. All of these are experiences<br>you can and would learn from.<br><br>> I've never seen a Linux server before. I've been searching for it on<br>> Amazon, and I have no clue on what am I looking for.<br><br>Here's where I inform you you can use either of two solutions, depending<br>on what you want to do. You can install your play-around-with-it Linux<br>installation on a physical machine or a virtual one.<br><br>Generous hardware requirements in either case: 1GB of available RAM,<br>10GB of available disk space. For the sake of discussion, let's assume<br>you're installing CentOS 7[1] for x86_64 (64-bit Intel x86<br>architecture), and doing a minimal server installation, omitting most or<br>all graphical software. In that case, the hardware requirements I just<br>mentioned are ample.<br><br>That requirement can be easily met by any Intel-x86-architecture server or<br>workstation or laptop manufactured in the last decade and a half, so you<br>could just visit Weird Stuff in Sunnyvale and pick one up for $30.<br>Pretty much anything would suffice.<br><br>Get two of them for 2 x $30 and interconnect the two using an ethernet<br>cable, and that will help you test your understanding and use of network<br>functions. Buy an ancient ethernet hub or switch, there, for $5, and<br>you can also put your personal workstation or laptop on that<br>ethernet-based local area network (LAN), assuming your personal machine<br>has an ethernet port, and experiment with use of your machine as a<br>network client to the Linux machine's (or machines') network services.<br>(You would of course also need three ethernet cables.) If you get tired<br>of having a pair of 2012 boat-anchors around, you can sell them and the<br>ethernet hub or switch back to Weird Stuff when you're done.<br><br>The alternative of running Linux in a virtual machine requires that you<br>install 'hypervisor' software onto your personal workstation or laptop, <br>which can be as simple as downloading and installing VirtualBox for your<br>workstation or laptop's operating system. (There's VirtualBox for OS X,<br>MS-Windows, and Intel x86). The hypervisor layer of software requires<br>some RAM to run. Running it lets you launch 'virtual machines' (VMs) --<br>emulations of an entire x86 physical box, which you would initially see<br>attempting to boot and then halting because there's no OS installed in<br>them (same as with a physical box you turn on that has no OS). You then<br>install your choice of OS (say, CentOS) into the VM, and then boot it.<br>So, at that point, you would have a little emulated Linux machine<br>running in the VirtualBox window, with CentOS thinking it's running on a<br>real machine where it is the native OS.<br><br><br>> Maybe I am getting ahead of myself at the moment.<br>> <br>> Do you have any suggestions on how to get a better understanding on a Linux<br>> server?<br>> <br>> PS. Configurations, servers, networking are my weakest areas, as I have<br>> never had any computer experiences.<br><br>Well, I was tempted to recommend a concise and very old-school online<br>small book called the Linux System Administrator's Guide (SAG),<br><a href="http://www.tldp.org/LDP/sag/html/" target="_blank">http://www.tldp.org/LDP/sag/html/ </a>. The problem is that it was last<br>updated 14 years ago. The basics will be correct, albeit there are some<br>things that are now different. OTOH, it's free of charge, very<br>pragmatic, and competently written for its day.<br><br>Red Hat has as system administrator's guide that tells you details /<br>quirks that are specific to RHEL (and thus to CentOS), here:<br><a href="https://access.redhat.com/documentation/en-US/Red_Hat_Enterprise_Linux/7/html/System_Administrators_Guide/" target="_blank">https://access.redhat.com/documentation/en-US/Red_Hat_Enterprise_Linux/7/html/System_Administrators_Guide/</a><br><br>Back in the day (1980s, 90s), a bunch of us got to know foundational<br>topics such as the fundamentals of TCP/IP networking by either reading<br>O'Reilly books like Craig Hunt's _TCP/IP Network Administration_ (or any<br>number of others) or Æleen Frisch's _Essential System Administration_ or<br>Evi Nemeth's _UNIX and Linux System Administration Handbook_, or<br>Matthias Kalle Dalheimer & Matt Welsh's _Running Linux_. All of those<br>are probably overkill for you, but you can look over references to them<br>online, and you might come across a used copy.<br><br>I'm so out of date on what is a good quickstart reference that I'm<br>probably the last person to ask, but I hope the above is of some use to<br>you, anyway.<br><br><br>[1] "CentOS" (Community Enterprise OS) is an unbranded exact replica of Red<br>Hat Enterprise Linux without the trademarked images and names/phrases in<br>RHEL. CentOS is extremely common, almost ubiquitous, in the Linux<br>servers that run the Internet. CentOS 7 is the latest series of relies,<br>parallel to RHEL 7. It's what you will want to get your hands dirty<br>with.<br><br><br>----- End forwarded message -----<br><br>_______________________________________________<br>conspire mailing list<br><a ymailto="mailto:conspire@linuxmafia.com" href="mailto:conspire@linuxmafia.com">conspire@linuxmafia.com</a><br><a href="http://linuxmafia.com/mailman/listinfo/conspire" target="_blank">http://linuxmafia.com/mailman/listinfo/conspire</a><br><br><br></div> </div> </div> </div></div></body></html>