Comprehensive System Administration


Lecture 1 notes:



getting an OCF account:

	This course will be taught on the Open Computing Facility's hardware.
	If you don't have an OCF account already, you'll need to sign up for one.

	You should do this on the first day of class, but if you missed this
	chance, you can do it anytime a staff member is around.
	You can go to this page to get the new account form 
	if you'd rather print it and fill it out at home although we usually 
	have copies in the lab).


administrivia:

	Class time: 1-2pm Fridays
	Location:   OCF Lab in Heller Lounge, MLK Student Union
	Duration:   10 weeks, ending on April 20th 
		       (no class March 30th, spring break)	

	Units:  variable (1-2, or 1-3?)

	Grading:  
		To be taken on a P/NP basis.
		There will be a short weekly homework sets given each week worth 1 point, 
		and one project worth 5 points.
		To pass the course, you need 10 points.  

	Questions?	


background material:

	What is "Unix"?  - by smcc
		history of unix - more history
		unix today
			-internet infrastructure
				-web, email and other 'servers'
				-routing
	
	What is "System Administration"?
"Activities which directly support the operations and integrity of computing systems and their use and which manage their intricaces. These activities minimally include system installation, configuration, integration, maintenance, performance management, data management, security management, failure analysis and recovery, and user support. In a inter-networked computing environment, the computer network is often included as part of the complex computing system." -sage.com 

	Why do system administration?
		-interesting, fun
		-community
		-helping people
		-flexible hours
		-demand and stability
		-pay

	Why not do system administration?
		-male dominated (this is changing!)
		-geeky image
		-on call/strange or inconsistant hours (firefighting)

	How to learn this stuff?
		-degree programs/classes?
		-mentorship and peergroups (at Cal- OCF, CSUA, ResComp, WS&T...)
		-online and offline sources
			-man pages
			-books
			-howtos
			-google
		-experience




Note: this is where we stopped on 2/9, we'll pick up
 
from here on 2/16, and assign the homework.

Feel free to get a head start!  -Devin



	Very basic unix commands...







    

  • ls


  • cp, mv, rm

  • chmod, chown, chgrp


  • cd, pwd

  • mkdir, rmdir


  • cat, more, less, head, tail


  • man, apropos


  • sort, uniq, wc, grep


  • vi, pico, emacs


  • date, cal


  • pine, elm, mutt, mail


  • telnet, rlogin, ssh


  • ftp, scp


  • w, who, finger, talk, nwrite


  • hostname, whoami, set


  • passwd, quota -v, du


  • lpr, lp


  • ps, kill


  • find, locate, which


  • exit

redirection >, >>, <, |

      

    •  >  send output to file:  ls > directory-listing

    •  >>  append output to end of file (don't overwrite file)

    •  < send a file as input to a command:   mail friend < filename

    •  |  send output of one command to input of next command: ls -la | more

    










Homework

Enrichment

There are several places on campus where you can get further basic unix instruction:

You can also find other good sources of information on the web:

There are numerous good books on System Administration in circulation.
System Administration Cultural Resources: