Using and Administering Linux: Volume 2

Learn to be a Linux sysadmin and an expert user of the Linux operating system, even with no previous Linux experience. This second edition of the popular and highly rated Linux self-study training course has been fully updated to Fedora Linux 37 with expanded and revised content and figures as well new chapters on the BTRFS file system, using Zram for swap, NetworkManager, automation with Ansible, and systemd.

Like the previous version, this edition has been reviewed for technical accuracy by a highly respected Linux expert and will prepare you to manage complex systems with ease and equip you for a new career. It has also been reviewed by a student who took this course to ensure its readability and flow for those with little or no previous experience with Linux. This second volume builds upon what you learned in the first and depends upon the virtual network and virtual machine created there.

You’ll see how to manage and monitor running processes, discover the power of the special filesystems, monitor and tune the kernel while it is running – without a reboot. You’ll then turn to regular expressions and the power that using them for pattern matching can bring to the command line, and learn to manage printers and printing from the command line and unlock the secrets of the hardware on which your Linux operating system is running.

Experiment with command line programming and how to automate various administrative tasks, networking, and the many services that are required in a Linux system. Use the logs and journals to look for clues to problems and confirmation that things are working correctly, and learn to enhance the security of your Linux systems and how to perform easy local and remote backups. 

What You Will Learn

• Understand Logical Volume Management, using file managers, and special filesystems
• Exploit everything is a file
• Perform command line programming and basic automation
• Configure printers and manage other hardware
• Manage system services with systemd, user management, security, and local and remote backups using simple and freely available tools

Who This Book Is For

Anyone who wants to continue to learn Linux in depth as an advanced user and system administrator at the command line while using the GUI desktop to leverage productivity. 

David Both is an Open Source Software and GNU/Linux advocate, trainer, writer, and speaker. He has been working with Linux and Open Source Software for more than 20 years and has been working with computers for over 45 years.  He is a strong proponent of and evangelist for the "Linux Philosophy for System Administrators." David has been in the IT industry for over forty years.

He worked for IBM for 21 years and, while working as a Course Development Representative in Boca Raton, FL, in 1981, wrote the training course for the first IBM PC. He has taught RHCE classes for Red Hat and has worked at MCI Worldcom, Cisco, and the State of North Carolina. In most of the places he has worked since leaving IBM in 1995, he has taught classes on Linux ranging from Lunch'n'Learns to full five day courses. Helping others learn about Linux and open source software is one of his great pleasures.

David had some amazing teachers and mentors in his 40 years in IT and more than 20 years working with Linux.  At their core, Linux and open source in general are about sharing and helping others and about contributing to the community. These books, along with “The Linux philosophy for SysAdmins,” are a continuation of his desire to pass on his knowledge and to provide mentoring to anyone interested in learning about Linux.

David is the author of The Linux Philosophy for SysAdmins (Apress, 2018), co-author of Linux for Small Business Owners (Apress, 2022) and can be found on Twitter @linuxgeek46