What is on Your Mind?

Hi all,

One of my friends, who runs a small IT training institute here, he asked me for suggestions for a comprehensive Linux system administration course outline for beginners assuming no experience, duration 3 months (total 72 hours), I can suggest the following:

Code:

1-  Linux/GNU History
2-  Linux Installation
3-  /proc, /sys structure
4-  Boot Process and SysV Init (LILO, GRUB, /etc/inittab, rc)
5-  Bash
6-  File Editing (vi, sed, awk)
7-  Post-Install System Configuration (RPM, CUPS, NTP)
8-  User Administration and NFS
9-  Filesystem Administration
10- Task Automation & Process Accounting
11- Client Networking (Routing tables, DNS, dhcp.conf, PPP)
12- The X Window System
13- Security Concepts
14- Linux Kernel Compilation

If I ask you the same question what you'll add or remove from the above list or how you'll rearrange the list and what Linux distro you'll recommend for learning purpose.

Thanks in advance for any replies.

Regards,
Tayyab

I would recommend Fedora as a learning platform, just because it's free and will enable a new admin to easily step into an environment using Redhat Enterprise. Also consider OpenSuse, since Suse may be more common outside the US.

I would add a section on performance monitoring using the sysstat suite, such as vmstat, iostat, and explain how best to search for bottlenecks in performance using those.

I assume that task automation includes cron and some basic shell scripting.

I would remove kernel recompile and save it for a more advanced course.

well, 72 hours is a good start, but you should see the focus on administration, not on compiling or advanced security. i am missing in your table things like file system structure or daily admin jobs, eg. backup....

in my trainings i make things like:

- history, what is "unix/linux"
- filesystem structure (/etc, /var, /opt, ..)
- shell (command syntax, man, $PATH, profile)
- basic commands (cd, ls, more, cp, mv, find, grep, ...)
- init (runlevels, rc-scripts, daemons, cron)
- user management (add, passwd, shadow, groups)
- file permissions
- vi
- installation
- more shell (wildcards *?[]~, redirections ><>>|; variables)
- network, shares
- services, nfs, ftp, ntp, ..
- backup (tar, fsdump)
- package management
- ....
..
.

some people need ages to understand the sense of a shell, or vi ...
working in sh or using "man" are essential for good admins ...

gP

I agree with Radar in that kernel compilation should definitely be left for a more advanced course. A couple of other suggestions to the list might be basic shell scripting, also perhaps a brief section on disaster recovery / backup

Gentoo or Debian[s].

so, if the "security concepts" are including in this course, why you say, that [re]compiling linux-kernel has to be in advanced course???

In the original post the following phrase was used to describe the course "administration course outline for beginners assuming no experience"

To incorporate all the other elements of the training into 72 hours effectively I really doubt you are going to be able to teach someone, to a point where the understand what they are doing and the complexity involved, to re-compile a kernel.

How can I find a good way to compare this..... hmmm.... it's like teaching someone to drive but on the freeway. Yes it can be done but your chance of screwing up is greatly increased

Thank you all for your replies. Finally, I'm going to drop security and linux re-compilation concepts, and going mostly with what "pressy" has suggested, course outline looks like this now:

And a Debian variant for the platform, maybe Ubuntu or Gentoo as DCrystal suggested.

Regards,
Tayyab