Linux Install and Configuration Hands-On Practice 1
This page is at: http://joelandrebecca.martintribe.org/linuxconf/install/hands_on1.html Do the following hands-on excercises at your own pace. Feel free to work in pairs. Ask questions to your neighbors and instructor whenever you need help. Preparation: A. Configure yum - yum is a network aware update program that is able to automate some common rpm tasks. - We are going to configure yum to use the "Dag Wieers" online repository which is a large collection of rpms. - Log into you system as root. Then open a terminal window "System Tools->Terminal" - Now, import the Dag Wieers gpg public key. This is used by rpm to verify that the packages that we download from Dag Wieers were actually created at Dag Wieers and not by somebody else impersonating the Dag Wieers site. rpm --import http://dag.wieers.com/packages/RPM-GPG-KEY.dag.txt - Now inform yum about the location of the repository. Download a short configuration file into the correct location. cd /etc/yum.repos.d wget http://joelandrebecca.martintribe.org/linuxconf/dag.repo B. Install synaptic - Use yum to find, download and install the synaptic package manger which provides a nice graphical interface to package management. When you execute this command yum will gather information from all the repositories that it is aware of. Then ask you if you wish to continue installing the package. yum install synaptic - If that completes successfully then you're done and ready to do this hands-on session. 1. Basics - Make sure networking is fully configured by starting the web browser from the panel and browsing the web. - Start up Nautilus by clicking on the Computer icon on the desktop. Browse around the filesystem some and familiarize yourself with Nautilus. 2. Windows and workspaces - Find the Workspace Switcher on the Panel (four squares, lower right) - Get a couple of programs running (any) - In the Workspace Switcher, drag the miniture of one of the windows to another workspace. - Practice switching workspaces and moving windows between workspaces - Another way to move a window between workspaces is to right click on the window's title bar. 3. Package Management: Add/Remove original Fedora packages - Situation: a graphical ftp client called gftp is available on the installation media but is not installed by default. and you wish to install it. - Run "System Settings->Add/Remove Applications" from the launcher - Find the application gftp (Graphical Internet) and install it - You will need to insert installation CD #2 - Find and run the application you just installed - Remove the application you just installed - Close the Add/Remove Applications program 4. Package Management: Add other packages - Situation: You want the latest version of the firefox browser because a security vulnerability has been discovered in the current version. You will use the synaptic graphical package manager that supports automatic dependency resolution of rpms and is network aware and able scan online package repositories. - Run firefox by clicking on World/Mouse icon on the taskbar - Go to firfox's Help->About and note that the installed version is "1.0 Preview Release" - Close firefox - Run "System Settings->Synaptic Package Manager" from the launcher - Do a search for "firefox" - The star means that there is an upgrade available for firefox - Click on firefox and mark it for upgrade - Click Apply to do the upgrade - Run firefox again and note the version now - Close synaptic 5. Process Management - Situation: there is runaway program on the system that is sucking up memory and bogging the system down. You know which program it is and wish to stop it. - Run "System Tools->System Monitor" - Switch to the "Resource Monitor" tab - Grab a window a "shake it around" to make the CPU usage go up. - Switch to the "Process Listing" tab - Run "Accessories->Text Editor" - In System Monitor's process list, find a process named gedit and kill it (There is a bug in System Monitor where some system processes may have blank names) - Close the System Monitor 6. Service Management - Situation: You want to run the apache web server on your system. On another system you wish to deactivate the web browser on a system where it is running and should not be. - If you didn't select the web browser when you installed the system then you will need to use the Add/Remove Programs GUI to do so first. - Run "System Settings->Server Settings->Services" - Find httpd in the services list. This is the apache web browser. The service is called httpd. - Note that the check mark indicates whether the service will start automatically on boot not whether it is currently running. - Set the service to start every time you boot by click the check mark box next to httpd and then the "Save" button. - Highlight the httpd service, then click the start button. - Using your web browser, browse to http://localhost/ You should see "Fedora Core Test Page" - Stop the httpd service - Reload your browser, you should receive an error. - Close the Services program 7. User Management - Situation: you have a new student that you need to add to your system. - Run "System Settings->Users and Groups" - Click Add User - Pick a username (no spaces), Full name, and password - Observe the user appear in the list - Logout as root - Login as the user you just created - Change the desktop background image by right clicking on the background, change it to a weird solid color - Logout as the user, log back in as root - Notice that the background has reverted to root's setting 8. Network Settings - Run "System Settings->Network" - Look at the settings available under the four tabs - On the Devices tab, select the active network device and click Edit. - Look at the setting under the three tabs - These dialogs are fairly similar to Windows dialogs. One key difference is that no change require a reboot. 9. Display settings - Run "System Settings->Display" - Look at the tabs and settings. These settings work similarly to the way they work in Windows. However, in order to activate the change you will need to log out and log back in. It will tell you this. 10. Text Editor - Situation: You wish to directly view the configuration file that specifies users on the system. - An important tool for UNIX/Linux administration and configuration is the text editor. - Run "Accessories->Text Editor" - "File->Open Location". Open the file /etc/passwd - This is the system's passwd file. Don't save any changes. - Create a new file. Add some text. Save it to your home directory. - Notice the nice tabbed interface. - Close both files. - Open the file you just created from your home directory. - Close Text Editor. 11. Log files - Run "System Tools->System Logs" - Look through each log category - More on this later, close down the "System Logs" program 12. The terminal and the panel - Run "System Tools->Terminal". - Meet the command line interface. Don't be afraid, you'll know it better before the end of the day. But that's enough for now: Close the Terminal. - Open the "System Tools" menu - Right click on "Terminal" and choose add to panel. - Use the new icon to launch the Terminal window. - Close the terminal window. If there is time, feel free to poke around some more or go on to the second hands-on practice.