INLS 183: Distributed Systems and Analysis

Class Schedule

Week 1: Wednesday August 23 (online class notes)

• Class overview
• What is Unix? What is Linux?
• Tour of a Linux system
• The Unix/Linux filesystem; ls; file permissions and modes; chmod
• Your $PATH; the man command
• /etc/passwd, /etc/shadow; file ownership; suid
• The root username; su, sudo
• Class PC facilities
• Software installation: GNU's grep

• Read: Shah Ch. 6; online Unix manual pages for ls, chmod, su and man; RedHat Linux FAQ and other items in the RedHat 6.2 support area; Study the Unix-and-Internet-Fundamentals HOWTO
• Due: Subscribe to inls183-01 mailing list by sending an email subscribe message to listproc@ils.unc.edu. The text of the message should be subscribe inls183-01 Your Name where "Your Name" is your real name.

Week 2: Wednesday August 30 (online class notes)

• Systems installation day: Groups will install and configure RedHat Linux 6.2 on class PCs

• Read: Shah Ch. 1-2; RedHat Linux Getting Started Guide (skim)

Week 3: Wednesday September 6 (online class notes (Ruby), also ftp to blue)

• Compilers for C and C++; linkers and assemblers
• make, Makefiles: instructions to build software
• shell scripts for software configuration
• tar: to make one file containing multiple other files
• gzip and compress: to compress files
• ftp: anonymous and non-anonymous file transfer
• Software installation: less
• Software installation: ssh
• Software installation via RPM

• Read: Shah Ch. 4, Appendix A; GCC HOWTO; man pages for make, tar, gzip, and ftp; FTP mini HOWTO
• To do: Peruse the RedHat 6.2 security errata and install updated RPMs as needed. (Minimally: RPM update, wu-ftpd update)

Week 4: Wednesday September 13 (On Ruby: notes for compiling, emacs, vi and ps. On Blue: via FTP, httpd and emacs installations)

• Editors: vi and emacs
• inetd; ports and binding; privileged ports
• Software installation: Apache httpd
• /etc/rc.d files
• ps
• CGI examples
• log files
• Software installation: emacs & elim

• Read: Shah, Ch. 7, 9; Emacs Tutorial; Emacs beginner HOWTO; vi tutorial; Unix Friendly strip
• Due: 1st systems administration exercise

Week 5: Wednesday September 20 (On Ruby: notes for network configuration, X-Windows; on blue: examples of WU-FTPD, httpd.conf, tcp_wrappers)

• Network testing and evaluation
• Network configuration files
• Software installation: tcp_wrappers
• FTP configuration (anonymous & non-anonymous)
• Software installation: wuftpd
• X-Windows: remote & console display; setenv

• Read: Shah Ch. 3, 13; WUFTPD.org's FAQ and other guides
• Due: 2nd systems administration exercise

Week 6: Wednesday September 27 (notes, steps and installation directories on blue)

• SMTP: sendmail installation and configuration
• Mail clients: pine, mutt, nmh
• POP and IMAP daemons: qpopper and imapd

• Read: Shah Ch. 15, 16; sendmail.org FAQ and other guides
• Due: 3rd systems administration exercise

Week 7: Wednesday October 4

• No class: Fall break begins at 5:00 pm

Week 8: Wednesday October 11 (notes, steps and installation directories on blue)

• Database servers for Linux
• Software installation: mysql
• Extending Apache: PHP and mod_perl
• Software installation: PERL

• Read: Apache-mods mini HOWTO; PHP HOWTO; man perl; Oracle-8 HOWTO (skim)
• Due: 4th systems administration exercise

Week 9: Wednesday October 18 (notes, steps and installation directories on blue)

• Security auditing: checklists & software
• Log file analysis
• Firewalls
• Software installation: PGP
• Software installation: https

• Read: Shah Ch. 11; Apache+SSL+PHP+fp mini HOWTO; comp.security.firewalls FAQ; Firewall HOWTO; Security HOWTO; recent Pournell Byte column
• Due: 5th systems administration exercise

Week 10: Wednesday October 25 (Online notes: kernel upgrade and majordomo on blue; filesystems and related topics on Ruby.)

• The Linux kernel
• Adding support for new hardware
• Software installtion: new Linux kernel
• Configuring LILO for multiple boot options; /etc/lilo.conf
• Mailing list managers: Majordomo and others

• Read: Shah Ch. 10; Kernel HOWTO; linuxvideo.org; LILO mini-HOWTO; Majordomo-MajorCool HOWTO
• Due: 6th systems administration exercise

Week 11: Wednesday November 1 (Online notes: htdig on blue other notes on Ruby)

• Ready-made search engine: ht://dig
• Window managers, desktop environments; GNOME & KDE
• Free software: what's "free" and do we care?

• Read: ESR's The Cathedral and the Bazaar (skim); GNU's ht://dig installation instructions and FAQ
• Due: 7th systems administration exercise

Week 12: Wednesday November 8 (Online notes: Performance and benchmarks on Ruby; htdig revisited, gimp, tin on blue)

• Unix performance evaluation; benchmarks
• Network news: tin
• Interactive graphics; graphics editing with gimp

• Read: news.announce.newusers (Usenet newsgroups) articles about history of news and netiquette
• Due: 8th systems administration exercise

Week 13: Wednesday November 15

• The SILS computing environment
• SAMBA
• Windows & Unix interconnectivity
• Backup systems

• Read: Shah, Ch. 20; SILS Computing Lab hardware & software list
• Due: 9th systems administration exercise

Week 14: Wednesday November 22

• No class: Thanksgiving recess

Week 15: Wednesday November 29 (online class notes (Ruby), also http to blue)

• Network-based chat
• Software installation: IRCD
• Web-based discussions: hypernews
• Text-based virtual environments: MUD software

• Read: irchelp.org (skim), Basic information about MUDs and MUDding (old document!)
• Due: 10th systems administration exercise

Week 16: Wednesday December 6 (notes on Ruby)

• The future of Linux; the future of Unix
• Computer hardware: where is it going?
• Linux certification
• Staying informed of new events and activities
• Software installation: fun and games

• Read: Linux online (recent news). Revisit the Unix-and-Internet-Fundamentals HOWTO; Update HOWTO; Loginataka
• Due: 11th systems administration exercise