At prompt	Response
BOOT:	<ret>
ENGLISH	<NEXT>
Model \| layout \| Deadkeys	<NEXT>
Mouse	2 button PS/2 <Next>
Welcome	<NEXT>
Installation Type	Server <NEXT>
Partition	Auto <NEXT>
Auto Partition	<Next>
Warning	<NEXT>
Disk Setup	<Next>
Boot Loader	LILO <NEXT>
Firewall	Allow Incoming: SSH, WWW, FTP <NEXT>
Language Support	<NEXT>
Time Zone	Select Chicago (Central) <NEXT>
Root password	Type in password two times <next>
Packages	Default AND: GNOME WEB SQL <NEXT>
Video Card	<Next>
About to Install	<next>
Long Wait
Create Boot disk	Skip <Next>
Monitor	<next>
Graphics Config	1024x768 True Color <Test> <exit>

On first boot it will “FIND NEW HARDWARE” set up the Ethernet connection but ignore the sound card.

Be aware when it continues that when it hits eth0 it will take a while (making you think it locked up)……DO NOT reboot the machine, wait it out.

When the computer comes up, log in and go to the Service Configuration program and turn on HTTPD and turn off LPD.

Turn on Services

To turn on a service (ie httpd) use the following program in Gnome:

Programs | System | Service Configuration

Login Log

/var/log/secure

To show the last login for each user (this is a program not a text log):

/var/log/lastlog

File Search Tool

Use the following program in Gnome:

Programs | utilities | Gnome Search tool

File Size

To put output of ll, ls, df, du in human readable form, use the –h flag.

EG:

-h, --human-readable

print sizes in human readable format (e.g., 1K 234M 2G)

Directory Size

Use the following command to obtain the size of a directory or group of directories:

du –hc dir

the –h puts the output in human readable format (see above) and the –c gives you a total (useful if you want the total of a tree)

Disk Usage/Free Space

Use the following command to obtain the usage of all mounted disks:

df -h

File Search Using locate

To set up locate first do a: locate –u (this sets up the index file)

Then to search do: locate search_string

Screen Capture Tool

Use the following program in Gnome:

Applets | utilities | screen shooter

Printer Setup using print server box

To set up printer, use the following Gnome program:

Programs | system | Printer Configuration

1) Opening screen		Hit next
2) Setup the print Queue name and type		For Queue Name I used SOL-HP500C SOL-HP1120C For Queue Type use unix Printer
3) Configure a Unix Print Queue		For Server use the current printer IP as defined by the DHCP server For Queue use: lpt1 lpt2 as per SOL print server connections
4) Select a Print Driver		Self explanatory
5) Finish		Shows the configuration as set.
Change printer configuration for ‘Floyd-Steinberg Gray’ on the HP500c (or it will ask you to change the print cartridge) Change printer configuration for normal quality on the HP1120C (it printed junk in presentation mode)

Two known problems with this setup procedure:

In step 3, the IP changes when the print server resets and requests and IP from the DHCP so this configuration will need to be updated when that occurs.
This allows all users to print, including remote users. I know that /etc/lpd.perms needs to be configured so that only requests from the local (192.168.*.*) will print all other requests are rejected, but so far every time I tried to modify the file it will not allow any print job.

Printing to non-default printer

lp –d printer_name filename

Where printer_name is the name used in step 2 of ‘Printer setup using print server box

Start/Stop/Restart Print Service (LPD)

/etc/init.d/lpd start|stop|restart

Network Monitor

Use the following program in Gnome:

Programs | internet | RH Network Monitor

Will give you a window like this:

Eth0 -> Ethernet card

Loopback -> 127.0.0.1

Red (Top graph) -> Transmit

Green (Bottom graph) -> Receive

Package Manager

Use the following program in Gnome:

Programs | System | GnoRPM

Similar to windows “Add Programs”

Compare Files

Use the diff command:

diff [options] from-file to-file

Change File Time

Use the “touch” command to change the file modify time by using:

Touch –w –t [CC]YYMMDDhh[.ss] [optional]

Various System Status Programs

ps –aux

top [^C to end]

Fixing Ownership and Groups

When transferring files to user accounts when logged in as root, the file will be owned by root and in the root group. To change it to allow the user to modify these files type:

chown –R ownername *; chgrp –R groupname *

NOTE: the –R means that all files in the current directory and ALL SUB DIRECTORIES will be changed to the new owner and group

Create User Accounts via command line

To create a user account from a shell prompt:

1. At the shell prompt, log in as root.

2. Type useradd followed by a space and the username for the new account at the command line and press [Enter].

3. Now type passwd followed by a space and the username again.

4. The shell prompt should display New UNIX password. This is asking you to type the password for the new account.

5. Type the password again for confirmation.

[above from: http://www.redhat.com/docs/manuals/linux/RHL-7.1-Manual/getting-started-guide/s1-creating-account.html ]

Passwords

To give a user ROOT permissions:

Open the file /etc/passwd

The format of each line is as follows:

Name:Password: UserID(UID):PrincipleGroup(GID):Gecos: HomeDirectory:Shell

Change the uid and gid of the user to 0

1) SSH into your server as 'admin' and gain root access by

su -

2) Copy and paste this line to edit the file

pico -w /etc/ssh/sshd_config

3) Find the line

#Protocol 2, 1

4) Uncomment it and change it to look like

Protocol 2

5) Next, find the line

#PermitRootLogin yes

6)Uncomment it and make it look like

PermitRootLogin no

7) Save the file

ctrl 'x' then 'y' then enter

8) Restart SSH

Above from: http://forum.ev1servers.net/printthread.php?threadid=18437

Pico w/o word wrap

To turn off pico word wrap start pico with

pico –w

Change Gnome Terminal to Other user account

Use:

su username (default username is root)

(su does not stand for Super User, it stands for Substitute User)

Backing up Server

To backup the server, I created a script that saves the most pertinent directories. The script is as follows:

#!/bin/sh

tar -zcvpf backup-`date '+%d-%B-%Y'`.tar.gz /root /etc /home /var/www

this will create a file named “backup-dd-MONTH-yyyy.tar.gz”. I saved the script as backup.sh

Partial Backup (By directory Name)

Say you wanted to do a backup of /home directory and place all users with the beginning initials a-m in one tar file. Here is how you can do it:

find /home/[a-m]* –type f -print |tar –zcvf filename.tgz –T –

and yes you need the ending – (not sure why).

[a-m] is NOT case sensitive!

Restore Server

To restore using a backup created using the above script, be logged in as root and in the / directory. Use the following command:

tar –xvzf file_name_of_backup(including_full_path)

If you only want to restore a file or directory from the backup use the above line but add the directory or file to restore:

tar –xvzf file_name_of_backup(including_full_path) name_to_restore

eg:

tar –xvzf /usr/backup/backup-05-July-2003.tar.gz home

will restore only the home directory and all sub directories of home (because –v is verbose)

List Files in TAR

tar –ztvf name_of_file

Automatic Backup

To automatically backup the system do the following:

Create a directory (in my case I put it in /usr/backup because it had the disk space required)

Create a script file named backup.sh that will remove very old backups and then do the new one. Here is the script I use:

#!/bin/sh

find /usr/backup -name 'backup*.tar.gz' -mtime +28 -exec /bin/rm {} \;

tar -zcpf /usr/backup/backup-`date '+%d-%B-%Y'`.tar.gz /root /etc /home /var/www

Use crontab –e to create the following file:

0 21 * * 1 sh /usr/backup.sh

This will run the script backup.sh every Monday at 9pm and remove backup files older than 28 days.

Crontab

The following was taken from http://medgen.univr.it/~ciano/download/documentation/crontab.html

Creating a Crontab

What is Crontab?

Crontab is a program that allows users to create jobs that will run at a given time. Each individual user has their own crontab and the entire system has a crontab that can only be modified by those with root access. If you are adding a crontab for an individual user you must sign on as that user first. (ex. su userid)

The syntax of this file is very rigid. There are six fields to a file, each separated by a space. The first five fields specify exactly when the command is to be run; the sixth field is the command itself. The first five fields are:

Format

minute hour day month weekday command

Minute - Minutes after the hour (0-59).
Hour - 24-hour format (0-23).
Day - Day of the month (1-31).
Month - Month of the year (1-12).
Weekday - Day of the week. (0-6; the 0 refers to Sunday).

Asterisks (*) specify when commands are to be run in every instance of the value of the field. For instance, an asterisk in the Month field would mean that the command should be run every month. In addition, multiple events can be scheduled within a field by separating all instances with commas - with no space between.

Options

crontab -e
Edits the current crontab or creates a new one. *

crontab -l
Lists the contents of the crontab file.

crontab -r
Removes the crontab file.

Creating a Crontab for use with AccessWatch

You must first sign on as the individual user you are adding the crontab for. Do not create crontab while you are signed on as "su" under root or you will change the root crontab. After you sign on as root su as individual user.

su userid (ex su nercols)

Change editor to Joe from VI:

EDITOR=joe
export EDITOR