kernel
The kernel is in essence the central nervous system of Linux. It is what is used to access the hardware. Different pars of the kernel interact with NICs, SCSI controllers, sound cards, etc. Without the kernel you would just have a very heavy paperweight.
In order to modify or install a new kernel take the following steps.
1.) Make certain the kernel source code and supporting packages are installed on your system.
2.) Configure the modules you would like to use by looking in /lib/modules/version/kernel (the version is the version number of the kernel that is on your system.) and then use the modprobe to manually enter the modules you want.
3.) Use a string of make commands to compile your new kernel.
To maintain your Linux kernel modules you can use the modinfo command to learn about each of the modules that are currently installed, the rmmod command to remove a module, and the insmod command to install a new module into a running kernel.
Backups
For the command line utility that we are using in Pandora. I would do a backup of all the work that the students are doing. This way if there is a memory loss on the server the students do not lose all of there work.
By backing up once a month it would protect the students work, and if there is a loss then there would not be as much to catch up on.
Linux components are very reliable so I would use the dump command to do my backups, and then the restore command if a restore is neccessary.
I would have a backup server that is a clone of the first. This way there is a large enough space to hold several months worth of backups. If there is a problem with a backup there will be more on the server to take its place.
Friday, May 1, 2009
Sunday, April 26, 2009
Chapter 12 Case Project
1.) For the smaller office of the firm I would recommend using a /etc/hosts file versus a DNS server. Because of the large spread out nature of the firm I would use the DNS overall because it would be easier to maintain that one server instead of having to maintain the /etc/hosts files in each of the buildings. It would also be cheaper this way because the DNS server would be centrally located.
2.) In order to properly maintain static IP addresses you have to have a skilled network administrator that is able to account for variable change, so I would recommend using DHCP servers in each of the offices. This would eliminate most of the chances for human error with the IP addressing, and ease some of the burdon off of the administrator. While there is still work in maintaining the DHCP servers it is negligible compared to the cost of having to track down a faulty IP address.
3.) I would go with the Konica Minolta bizhub c550 for the firms printing needs. It offers a wide range of features, has superior quality printing, and comes from a trusted name in Minolta. This model is designed for business, and has an easy to use touch screen. It is perfectly rated to be used on Linux operating systems, and you are able to get support directly from the Konica Minolta site. Running a search engine on the web also brings up many support sites with places to buy repair parts and toner.
2.) In order to properly maintain static IP addresses you have to have a skilled network administrator that is able to account for variable change, so I would recommend using DHCP servers in each of the offices. This would eliminate most of the chances for human error with the IP addressing, and ease some of the burdon off of the administrator. While there is still work in maintaining the DHCP servers it is negligible compared to the cost of having to track down a faulty IP address.
3.) I would go with the Konica Minolta bizhub c550 for the firms printing needs. It offers a wide range of features, has superior quality printing, and comes from a trusted name in Minolta. This model is designed for business, and has an easy to use touch screen. It is perfectly rated to be used on Linux operating systems, and you are able to get support directly from the Konica Minolta site. Running a search engine on the web also brings up many support sites with places to buy repair parts and toner.
Saturday, April 18, 2009
Password Proposal
From the desk of Christopher M. Edwards
Memorandum 11.2
Password Security
Members of the board:
As you are all aware, last week we had a major security breach into our company. After looking into it further we have discovered that the breach was caused by an employee that had used her daughter's birth date as her password. In Memorandum 11.1 I had warned against using such passwords because they are among the easiest to hack. Anyone that has access to personal information can use methods of deduction to decipher common passwords such as birth dates, hobbies, or anniversaries. It is in my professional opinion that we need to take further steps to prevent future breaches into our company.
By changing certain features that are stored in the password protection files we can make it to where passwords have to meet certain parameters in order to be used. If these changes are implemented we can require passwords to be at least certain length, that they are not words found in a dictionary, and that they have a variety of lowercase, uppercase, symbols and numbers.
Other features can be altered to change how long the password is good for. This makes sure that an employee is changing their password often enough that if someone does hack into the system using a known password, that password is only good for so long before it must be changed again. We can also make it to where you can not use the same password within a certain time period. If you have used the password within a given number of changes you will not be able to use it again until a sufficient period of time has elapsed.
If we make these changes it will go a long way towards maintaining our companies internal and external security, as well as giving piece of mind to everyone that our information is secure.
Thank you,
Christopher M. Edwards
Network Manager
Memorandum 11.2
Password Security
Members of the board:
As you are all aware, last week we had a major security breach into our company. After looking into it further we have discovered that the breach was caused by an employee that had used her daughter's birth date as her password. In Memorandum 11.1 I had warned against using such passwords because they are among the easiest to hack. Anyone that has access to personal information can use methods of deduction to decipher common passwords such as birth dates, hobbies, or anniversaries. It is in my professional opinion that we need to take further steps to prevent future breaches into our company.
By changing certain features that are stored in the password protection files we can make it to where passwords have to meet certain parameters in order to be used. If these changes are implemented we can require passwords to be at least certain length, that they are not words found in a dictionary, and that they have a variety of lowercase, uppercase, symbols and numbers.
Other features can be altered to change how long the password is good for. This makes sure that an employee is changing their password often enough that if someone does hack into the system using a known password, that password is only good for so long before it must be changed again. We can also make it to where you can not use the same password within a certain time period. If you have used the password within a given number of changes you will not be able to use it again until a sufficient period of time has elapsed.
If we make these changes it will go a long way towards maintaining our companies internal and external security, as well as giving piece of mind to everyone that our information is secure.
Thank you,
Christopher M. Edwards
Network Manager
Saturday, April 11, 2009
Chapter 10 Review Questions
1.) Name the two widely used software package formats for Linux, with the file system extensions used for each type and the command-line utility use to manage each.
The Red Hat Package Manger uses the .tgz file extension and the rpm command-line utility. The Debian package format uses the .deb file extension and the dpkg command-line utility.
2.) Within the system-config-packages utility, selecting details and checking a package name:
Marks the package as one that will be installed after the Update button is selected after other categories of packages have also been reviewed for possible changes.
3.) Which option of the rpm command is used to verify the cryptographic signature so you know for certain the person or organization that created a given rpm file?
--checksig or -K
4.) If you know the name of a package, you can see a list of all the files contained in that package using this command:
rpm -ql packagename
5.) If you have an rpm-format file stored on your system, and then you use the rpm command to install that software package, the rpm file will no longer be on your system. True or False?
False
6.) When querying an installed package using the -q option, you use ______; when installing an rpm file using the -U option you use ______:
The name of the package alone; the complete file name with all version numbers and file extensions.
7.) The command rpm -q packagename does the following:
Determines whether packagename is installed on the system.
8.) The volume label for a file system is:
Stored in /etc/fstab
9.) Defragmentation, the process of collecting all parts of a file into one contiguous part of a hard disk:
Is not needed in Linux because of the way ext2, ext3, and other Linux file systems arrange files.
10.) The Linux kernel is able to support multiple file system types because it uses:
A virtual file system that separates standard disk operations from the drivers that perform those operations.
11.) Which piece of information is not provided in the output when the mount command is entered with no parameters or options?
The size of each mounted file system
12.) Which of the following lists contains only commands used to learn about the status of file systems?
df, du, fsck, tune2fs, mount
13.) The ______ command is used to display the attributes assigned to a file or directory?
lsattr
14. Name two attributes that are currently supported by the ext3 file system and tow attributes that are not yet supported or are used only for developers at this time.
A, and a are currently supported. X and Z are used by developers.
15.) The Linux command used to format a Linux ext3 hard disk partition is:
mke2fs
16.) Disk quotas let you manage how much disk space a user consumes, but they must be first enabled:
On the file system where you want the quota to apply (in /etc/fstab)
17.) A mounted file system is defines as one that:
Has been included as part of the Linux directory structure.
18.) The fdisk utility is used to:
establish partitions of the correct type to hold a Linux file system.
19.) The df utility provides information about which one of the following?
File system capacity, device name, and percentage used status for each mounted file system.
20.) Describe the effect of the defaults option in a configuration line of the /etc/fstab file.
Defaults includes the following options in the configuration automatically: rw, suid, dev, exec, auto, nouser, and async.
21.) Describe the main advantage of having swap space located on a hard disk separate from the Linux data partitions.
It allows both hard drives to work at the same time and increases system performance.
22.) If you attempt to unmount a mounted file system and receive an error message, the most likely cause is:
One or more users are working in the file system.
23.) The autofs service is used to:
Permit users to access file systems that are not mounted by automatically mounting them when the user enters a configured directory (mount point).
24.) Virtual memory space to be used by the kernel must be located on a single separate partition, which can be located on the same hard disk or a different hard disk from the root file system. True of False?
False
25.) Which command is used to establish a quota for a user when disk space quotas have been enabled for a file system?
edquota
The Red Hat Package Manger uses the .tgz file extension and the rpm command-line utility. The Debian package format uses the .deb file extension and the dpkg command-line utility.
2.) Within the system-config-packages utility, selecting details and checking a package name:
Marks the package as one that will be installed after the Update button is selected after other categories of packages have also been reviewed for possible changes.
3.) Which option of the rpm command is used to verify the cryptographic signature so you know for certain the person or organization that created a given rpm file?
--checksig or -K
4.) If you know the name of a package, you can see a list of all the files contained in that package using this command:
rpm -ql packagename
5.) If you have an rpm-format file stored on your system, and then you use the rpm command to install that software package, the rpm file will no longer be on your system. True or False?
False
6.) When querying an installed package using the -q option, you use ______; when installing an rpm file using the -U option you use ______:
The name of the package alone; the complete file name with all version numbers and file extensions.
7.) The command rpm -q packagename does the following:
Determines whether packagename is installed on the system.
8.) The volume label for a file system is:
Stored in /etc/fstab
9.) Defragmentation, the process of collecting all parts of a file into one contiguous part of a hard disk:
Is not needed in Linux because of the way ext2, ext3, and other Linux file systems arrange files.
10.) The Linux kernel is able to support multiple file system types because it uses:
A virtual file system that separates standard disk operations from the drivers that perform those operations.
11.) Which piece of information is not provided in the output when the mount command is entered with no parameters or options?
The size of each mounted file system
12.) Which of the following lists contains only commands used to learn about the status of file systems?
df, du, fsck, tune2fs, mount
13.) The ______ command is used to display the attributes assigned to a file or directory?
lsattr
14. Name two attributes that are currently supported by the ext3 file system and tow attributes that are not yet supported or are used only for developers at this time.
A, and a are currently supported. X and Z are used by developers.
15.) The Linux command used to format a Linux ext3 hard disk partition is:
mke2fs
16.) Disk quotas let you manage how much disk space a user consumes, but they must be first enabled:
On the file system where you want the quota to apply (in /etc/fstab)
17.) A mounted file system is defines as one that:
Has been included as part of the Linux directory structure.
18.) The fdisk utility is used to:
establish partitions of the correct type to hold a Linux file system.
19.) The df utility provides information about which one of the following?
File system capacity, device name, and percentage used status for each mounted file system.
20.) Describe the effect of the defaults option in a configuration line of the /etc/fstab file.
Defaults includes the following options in the configuration automatically: rw, suid, dev, exec, auto, nouser, and async.
21.) Describe the main advantage of having swap space located on a hard disk separate from the Linux data partitions.
It allows both hard drives to work at the same time and increases system performance.
22.) If you attempt to unmount a mounted file system and receive an error message, the most likely cause is:
One or more users are working in the file system.
23.) The autofs service is used to:
Permit users to access file systems that are not mounted by automatically mounting them when the user enters a configured directory (mount point).
24.) Virtual memory space to be used by the kernel must be located on a single separate partition, which can be located on the same hard disk or a different hard disk from the root file system. True of False?
False
25.) Which command is used to establish a quota for a user when disk space quotas have been enabled for a file system?
edquota
Friday, April 3, 2009
Chapter 9 Review Questions
1.) Which of the following occurs first when a computer is booted?
The CPU starts executing commands found in the BIOS.
2.) On new computers, the BIOS can typically boot from which of the following devices?
Hard disks, CD-ROM drives, removable disks, a network connection, or USB devices.
3.) When using LILO rather than GRUB, you must do which of the following after making a configuration change in order for the change to be effective the next time you boot Linux?
Run the lilo command as root.
4.) Assuming a standard configuration, the BIOS looks first in which of the following locations on a hard disk when trying to find a boot loader or operating system?
The boot record of the active partition on the first IDE hard disk.
5.) In order to use chained boot loaders, you must be certain that:
The first boot loader can be found by the BIOS, and each operating system can be reached via one of the chained boot loaders.
6.) The Linux kernel is a file having a name that starts with _____ and typically stored in the ______ subdirectory.
vmlinuz, /boot
7.) Which feature is part of GRUB but not LILO?
Including non-Linux operating systems in the list of bootable devices.
8.) Describe the output of the uname command.
It just says Linux, but if you add different designators to the command you can change the output.
9.) The GRUB boot manager can be reconfigured directly as you boot your system, but is also controlled by this configuration file:
/boot/grub/grub.conf
10.) Which of the following statements about boot parameters is accurate?
They are passed to the Linux kernel by the boot loader.
11.) The scripts in /etc/rc.d/init.d are provided by:
The software package that installs the service that the script controls.
12.) Explain the difference between the configuration data stored in files within the /etc/sysconfig directory and service-specific configuration data stored in other subdirectories of /etc.
You can edit the /etc/sysconfig files directly, where as if you use the service-specific configuration files the alterations you make there make the changes themselves.
13.) The ______ utility displays kernel hardware configuration messages from the system boot process.
dmesg
14.) The init program relies on the following configuration file:
/etc/inittab
15.) Name the two run levels normally used to run a Linux-based computer, and describe the difference between the two run levels.
Level 3 which has a non-graphical login, and level 5 which has a graphical login.
16.) The files in /etc/rc.d/init.d can be used to:
Stop and restart most standard services in Linux.
17.) Name three commands that can be used to begin a graceful shutdown of Linux.
reboot, halt, and shutdown
18.) A boot loader can be configured to boot multiple Linux kernel that use the same partition as their root file system. True or False?
False
19.) The timeout= parameter in a GRUB configuration and the delay=parameter in a LILO configuration both refer to:
How long the boot loader waits for user input before booting the default operating system.
20.) The service command is used to:
View or change the current status of a service via a script in /etc/rc.d/init.d
21.) The chkconfig command is used to:
Change the boot-up status of a service that is controlled via a script located in /etc/rc.d/init.d
22.) Name the graphical configuration utility provided with Red Hat Linux and Fedora that can be used in place of the command-line utilities service and chkconfig.
The Service Configuration utility.
23.) If a journaling file system prevents partially written information from causing a corrupted file system in Linux, why is it still important to use graceful shutdown techniques rather than just turning off the system power?
Because you can still lose important data that has not yet been written to the disk. If you do a graceful shutdown it gives the system a chance to write the data.
24.) Which command is typically executed when the Ctrl+Alt+Del key combination is pressed, and where is that command configured?
It is a shutdown command that automatically restarts the system. It is configured in the /etc/inittab file.
25.) What is the command you use to cause the init program to reread its configuration file after you have made changes to it?
telinit
The CPU starts executing commands found in the BIOS.
2.) On new computers, the BIOS can typically boot from which of the following devices?
Hard disks, CD-ROM drives, removable disks, a network connection, or USB devices.
3.) When using LILO rather than GRUB, you must do which of the following after making a configuration change in order for the change to be effective the next time you boot Linux?
Run the lilo command as root.
4.) Assuming a standard configuration, the BIOS looks first in which of the following locations on a hard disk when trying to find a boot loader or operating system?
The boot record of the active partition on the first IDE hard disk.
5.) In order to use chained boot loaders, you must be certain that:
The first boot loader can be found by the BIOS, and each operating system can be reached via one of the chained boot loaders.
6.) The Linux kernel is a file having a name that starts with _____ and typically stored in the ______ subdirectory.
vmlinuz, /boot
7.) Which feature is part of GRUB but not LILO?
Including non-Linux operating systems in the list of bootable devices.
8.) Describe the output of the uname command.
It just says Linux, but if you add different designators to the command you can change the output.
9.) The GRUB boot manager can be reconfigured directly as you boot your system, but is also controlled by this configuration file:
/boot/grub/grub.conf
10.) Which of the following statements about boot parameters is accurate?
They are passed to the Linux kernel by the boot loader.
11.) The scripts in /etc/rc.d/init.d are provided by:
The software package that installs the service that the script controls.
12.) Explain the difference between the configuration data stored in files within the /etc/sysconfig directory and service-specific configuration data stored in other subdirectories of /etc.
You can edit the /etc/sysconfig files directly, where as if you use the service-specific configuration files the alterations you make there make the changes themselves.
13.) The ______ utility displays kernel hardware configuration messages from the system boot process.
dmesg
14.) The init program relies on the following configuration file:
/etc/inittab
15.) Name the two run levels normally used to run a Linux-based computer, and describe the difference between the two run levels.
Level 3 which has a non-graphical login, and level 5 which has a graphical login.
16.) The files in /etc/rc.d/init.d can be used to:
Stop and restart most standard services in Linux.
17.) Name three commands that can be used to begin a graceful shutdown of Linux.
reboot, halt, and shutdown
18.) A boot loader can be configured to boot multiple Linux kernel that use the same partition as their root file system. True or False?
False
19.) The timeout= parameter in a GRUB configuration and the delay=parameter in a LILO configuration both refer to:
How long the boot loader waits for user input before booting the default operating system.
20.) The service command is used to:
View or change the current status of a service via a script in /etc/rc.d/init.d
21.) The chkconfig command is used to:
Change the boot-up status of a service that is controlled via a script located in /etc/rc.d/init.d
22.) Name the graphical configuration utility provided with Red Hat Linux and Fedora that can be used in place of the command-line utilities service and chkconfig.
The Service Configuration utility.
23.) If a journaling file system prevents partially written information from causing a corrupted file system in Linux, why is it still important to use graceful shutdown techniques rather than just turning off the system power?
Because you can still lose important data that has not yet been written to the disk. If you do a graceful shutdown it gives the system a chance to write the data.
24.) Which command is typically executed when the Ctrl+Alt+Del key combination is pressed, and where is that command configured?
It is a shutdown command that automatically restarts the system. It is configured in the /etc/inittab file.
25.) What is the command you use to cause the init program to reread its configuration file after you have made changes to it?
telinit
Sunday, March 29, 2009
OLPC
One Laptop Per Child is a brilliant idea that has the goal of bringing laptops to the underprivelaged children of the world. Announced to the public in January 2005 OLPC rolled out 1,000,000 laptops to several different countries during their initial release. While there were a number of different concepts preceding OLPC, it is the main program that has survived the startup period.
A major contributor to the success of OLPC is that companies such as Red Hat, and Microsoft are both contributing operating systems for the laptops. To me this is a step in the right direction for major companies. There are also companies that are working on making cheap but functional laptops such as the XO-2, and the CM1. If more companies followed these examples I have no doubt that every child in the world could have a working laptop and be able to get access to the educational material that is now available on the World Wide Web.
OLPC is by far not the only program of this nature that is out in the world today. Another major program is called Give 1 Get 1. This program allows you either buy a single unit for $199 and have it sent to a underprivelaged child somewhere in the world, or you can buy two units for $399 and keep the second unit for yourself. OLPC and Give 1 Get 1 while not 100% successful yet are both heading in the right direction.
OLPC is designed to help underprivelaged children across the globe get their own laptops. There are countires on every inhabited continent that participate in the program. As this program grows more and more children are able to get the education they have otherwise been denied. This is a very good thing in my book. With the way the world is changing getting an education is more and more important.
Unfortunately there is also a negative with the program. The "cheap" laptops are not widely available, and you can not go out to the store and just buy one. This can cause major problems with children being at risk for theft, as well as people taking advantage of the lack of availability by auctioning off the laptops on places like e-bay.
A major contributor to the success of OLPC is that companies such as Red Hat, and Microsoft are both contributing operating systems for the laptops. To me this is a step in the right direction for major companies. There are also companies that are working on making cheap but functional laptops such as the XO-2, and the CM1. If more companies followed these examples I have no doubt that every child in the world could have a working laptop and be able to get access to the educational material that is now available on the World Wide Web.
OLPC is by far not the only program of this nature that is out in the world today. Another major program is called Give 1 Get 1. This program allows you either buy a single unit for $199 and have it sent to a underprivelaged child somewhere in the world, or you can buy two units for $399 and keep the second unit for yourself. OLPC and Give 1 Get 1 while not 100% successful yet are both heading in the right direction.
OLPC is designed to help underprivelaged children across the globe get their own laptops. There are countires on every inhabited continent that participate in the program. As this program grows more and more children are able to get the education they have otherwise been denied. This is a very good thing in my book. With the way the world is changing getting an education is more and more important.
Unfortunately there is also a negative with the program. The "cheap" laptops are not widely available, and you can not go out to the store and just buy one. This can cause major problems with children being at risk for theft, as well as people taking advantage of the lack of availability by auctioning off the laptops on places like e-bay.
Monday, March 9, 2009
Chapter 7 Review Questions
1.) Name three types of remote connectivity supported by Linux and explain why one is better than the other two.
SSH, the r-utilities, and Telnet. SSH is a more secure protocol.
2.) One advantage of Telnet is that:
It can be used on many different platforms, including Linux and Windows.
3.) Name three utilities that are part of the r-utilities and explain what each does.
There is rsh for executing a command on a remote host without actually logging on to the system, rcp which allows you to copy files between two hosts, and rlogin which lets you login to a remote system in a similar way to Telnet.
4.) The rcp program is able to copy files between:
Any two computers that are configure to use the r-utilities programs.
5.) Name the three types of authentication that SSH can use to connect to a remote system. Which is preferred as the most secure?
You can use the r-utilities, using passwords, or public key encryption. The public key encryption is the most secure.
6.) Which utility is used to prepare a set of keys needed to use public key encryption within SSH?
ssh-keygen
7.) Why might you need to use the -l option with the ssh command?
It tells you that you are wanting to access the user account that immediately follows the option.
8.) If you use the ssh command without first creating and storing a key pair on the remote host:
You are prompted for a password to aid authentication.
9.) If you have installed and configured r-utilities, then including a host and user name in your .rhosts file allows a person using the rcp command on another host to:
Copy files to or from your home directory without entering a password.
10.) SSH is commonly used in place of Telnet because:
SSH protocols use a more robust encryption algorithm than that used by Telnet.
11.) When using Telnet you might refer to VT100 because it is:
The most commonly used terminal emulation standard.
12.) Telnet is considered dangerous because:
It transmits data--including passwords--without encrypting them, so anyone on the network can see them by using special software.
13.) When using the wget command, you should include the http:// designation to download a Web page so that:
The program knows which protocol to use when accessing the server.
14.) Suppose you want to mirror a Web site to your local computer in order to study the information it contains. You intend to update the mirror once each month to view changes in the Web pages on the site. You are concerned that the Web site administrator will block access if he realizes you are mirroring the entire site instead of using a regular browser to access it. In order to reduce the chance that the wget program creates suspicion, you can:
Use the --random-wait option with wget.
15.) The rsync program is best suited for:
Synchronizing collections of files such as software development files.
16.) On a publicly available anonymous FTP server, the first level subdirectory that you should to to when locating files to download is virtually always:
/pub
17.) A graphical FTP client can be more convenient than a text-mode FTP client such as ncftp because:
The graphical program lets you see lists of files locally and remotely and drag and drop multiple files between systems.
18.) The ncftp package includes a utility that is similar in functionality to wget. This utility is called:
ncftpget
19.) If an IP address is not assigned explicitly when networking is configured, one must be obtained automatically from a server on the network using ________.
DHCP
20.) The process of resolving a domain name:
Determines the IP address associated with that domain name by contacting a DNS server.
21.) ping is used to test networking connections by:
Trying to contact systems that are progressively further from your host to see if any networking problems occur.
22.) traceroute is a useful troubleshooting tool because:
It reports each router that a packet passes through to a remote computer, along with the time needed to reach that router.
23.) If you cannot ping a host on your local network using that system's IP address, you probably wouldn't bother checking:
Whether you could ping that system using its domain name or host name.
24.) Which of the following is not included in the output of the traceroute command?
The size of the test packet sent by traceroute.
25.) A DHCP server can provide what information to a host on the network in response to a DHCP client request?
An IP address, a network mask, a gateway address, a DNS server address, and a host name, among other things.
SSH, the r-utilities, and Telnet. SSH is a more secure protocol.
2.) One advantage of Telnet is that:
It can be used on many different platforms, including Linux and Windows.
3.) Name three utilities that are part of the r-utilities and explain what each does.
There is rsh for executing a command on a remote host without actually logging on to the system, rcp which allows you to copy files between two hosts, and rlogin which lets you login to a remote system in a similar way to Telnet.
4.) The rcp program is able to copy files between:
Any two computers that are configure to use the r-utilities programs.
5.) Name the three types of authentication that SSH can use to connect to a remote system. Which is preferred as the most secure?
You can use the r-utilities, using passwords, or public key encryption. The public key encryption is the most secure.
6.) Which utility is used to prepare a set of keys needed to use public key encryption within SSH?
ssh-keygen
7.) Why might you need to use the -l option with the ssh command?
It tells you that you are wanting to access the user account that immediately follows the option.
8.) If you use the ssh command without first creating and storing a key pair on the remote host:
You are prompted for a password to aid authentication.
9.) If you have installed and configured r-utilities, then including a host and user name in your .rhosts file allows a person using the rcp command on another host to:
Copy files to or from your home directory without entering a password.
10.) SSH is commonly used in place of Telnet because:
SSH protocols use a more robust encryption algorithm than that used by Telnet.
11.) When using Telnet you might refer to VT100 because it is:
The most commonly used terminal emulation standard.
12.) Telnet is considered dangerous because:
It transmits data--including passwords--without encrypting them, so anyone on the network can see them by using special software.
13.) When using the wget command, you should include the http:// designation to download a Web page so that:
The program knows which protocol to use when accessing the server.
14.) Suppose you want to mirror a Web site to your local computer in order to study the information it contains. You intend to update the mirror once each month to view changes in the Web pages on the site. You are concerned that the Web site administrator will block access if he realizes you are mirroring the entire site instead of using a regular browser to access it. In order to reduce the chance that the wget program creates suspicion, you can:
Use the --random-wait option with wget.
15.) The rsync program is best suited for:
Synchronizing collections of files such as software development files.
16.) On a publicly available anonymous FTP server, the first level subdirectory that you should to to when locating files to download is virtually always:
/pub
17.) A graphical FTP client can be more convenient than a text-mode FTP client such as ncftp because:
The graphical program lets you see lists of files locally and remotely and drag and drop multiple files between systems.
18.) The ncftp package includes a utility that is similar in functionality to wget. This utility is called:
ncftpget
19.) If an IP address is not assigned explicitly when networking is configured, one must be obtained automatically from a server on the network using ________.
DHCP
20.) The process of resolving a domain name:
Determines the IP address associated with that domain name by contacting a DNS server.
21.) ping is used to test networking connections by:
Trying to contact systems that are progressively further from your host to see if any networking problems occur.
22.) traceroute is a useful troubleshooting tool because:
It reports each router that a packet passes through to a remote computer, along with the time needed to reach that router.
23.) If you cannot ping a host on your local network using that system's IP address, you probably wouldn't bother checking:
Whether you could ping that system using its domain name or host name.
24.) Which of the following is not included in the output of the traceroute command?
The size of the test packet sent by traceroute.
25.) A DHCP server can provide what information to a host on the network in response to a DHCP client request?
An IP address, a network mask, a gateway address, a DNS server address, and a host name, among other things.
Friday, March 6, 2009
Chapter 6 Review Questions
1.) The command ps -A xo comm displays the following information:
All processes running on the system, including those with no controlling terminal, with the command-line field displayed for each one.
2.) The _____ field in the ps command output defines how much cumulative CPU time a process has used since it was started.
TIME
3.) The CMDLINE field of the ps command output displays:
The command line used to start the process on each line.
4.) Which of the following commands is invalid if run by a regular user?
renice -10 1035
5.) Which of these programs does not allow you to change the nice level of a running program?
free
6.) To update the process displayed by the top command, you press which key?
spacebar
7.) Dynamically linked applications are preferred for their better memory usage unless:
The necessary libraries to run the application are not installed on the Linux system.
8.) Thrashing occurs when:
An excessive amount of information is moved to and from the swap partition in a short time.
9.) The command vmstat 4 does which of the following?
Displays continuous updates of the virtual memory status on a new line every four seconds.
10.) How can you switch between multiple virtual consoles in text and graphical environments?
In the graphical environment you press F1 through F6 to switch between the different consoles, and then F7 to return to the graphical desktop. In a text environment Ctrl+Alt+ to switch between the different consoles.
11.) Describe at least four fields of information provided by the command ps auxf.
The User field tells you which user is currently employing that process. The %mem field tells you the percentage of the memory that the process is using. The Start field tells you what day the process was started. The %cpu field tells you what percent of the processing power is being used by a process. The Command field tells you what the command line of that process is.
12.) By starting multiple jobs from one shell, you can:
Manage those jobs with the jobs, fg, and bg commands.
13.) Briefly explain the difference in time specification formats for the at and crontab commands.
With at you input the command and then you have the option of putting in a time from now whether it is hours or days away, or you have the option of entering a specific day. With the crontab command you input the minute, hour, date, month, and weekday using a * to designated whichever field you don't need to fill in.
14.) The background processes that manage commands submitted using at and cron are:
atd and crond
15.) When using the at command interactively to enter commands scheduled for futuer execution, you indicate that you have finished entering commands by pressing:
Ctrl+d
16.) The batch command is used to schedule jobs so that:
The system will not be overloaded with scheduled tasks.
17.) A simple method for root to schedule recurring system administration tasks is to:
Add a script to a directory such as /etc/cron.daily or /etc/cron.weekly
18.) The output of a cron job is normally sent via ____ to the user who submitted the cron job or to the user defined by the ____ variable within the file containing the cron job.
e-mail, MAILTO
19.) Name, in order from left to right, the fields of the crontab time specification, giving the range of valid numeric values for each.
Minute of the hour from 0-59, Hour of the day from 0-23, Day of the month from 0-31 depending on the month you are in, Month of the year from 0-12, and Day of the week from 0-7(0 and 7 are both Sunday).
20.) Output from a command executed as part of a cron job cannot be redirected to a file using standard redirection operators because the environment in which the cron job was created is unlikely to exist when the job is executed. True or False?
True
21.) The ____ file can include a user name in order to deny that user access to the crontab command.
/etc/cron.deny
22.) Name the two separate commands that can be used instead of at -l and at -d.
atq and atrm
23.) All process in Linux, except the init process (PID 1) are created:
When another process forks.
24.) A zombie process is one that:
Is no longer in existence, though the Linux kernel still maintains information as if it were.
25.) Describe why you should try SIGTERM before using SIGKILL.
SIGTERM requests that the process manually shuts itself down and allows it to save the current information while SIGKILL tells the kernel to shut the process down immediately which can cause you to lose what you are working on.
All processes running on the system, including those with no controlling terminal, with the command-line field displayed for each one.
2.) The _____ field in the ps command output defines how much cumulative CPU time a process has used since it was started.
TIME
3.) The CMDLINE field of the ps command output displays:
The command line used to start the process on each line.
4.) Which of the following commands is invalid if run by a regular user?
renice -10 1035
5.) Which of these programs does not allow you to change the nice level of a running program?
free
6.) To update the process displayed by the top command, you press which key?
spacebar
7.) Dynamically linked applications are preferred for their better memory usage unless:
The necessary libraries to run the application are not installed on the Linux system.
8.) Thrashing occurs when:
An excessive amount of information is moved to and from the swap partition in a short time.
9.) The command vmstat 4 does which of the following?
Displays continuous updates of the virtual memory status on a new line every four seconds.
10.) How can you switch between multiple virtual consoles in text and graphical environments?
In the graphical environment you press F1 through F6 to switch between the different consoles, and then F7 to return to the graphical desktop. In a text environment Ctrl+Alt+
11.) Describe at least four fields of information provided by the command ps auxf.
The User field tells you which user is currently employing that process. The %mem field tells you the percentage of the memory that the process is using. The Start field tells you what day the process was started. The %cpu field tells you what percent of the processing power is being used by a process. The Command field tells you what the command line of that process is.
12.) By starting multiple jobs from one shell, you can:
Manage those jobs with the jobs, fg, and bg commands.
13.) Briefly explain the difference in time specification formats for the at and crontab commands.
With at you input the command and then you have the option of putting in a time from now whether it is hours or days away, or you have the option of entering a specific day. With the crontab command you input the minute, hour, date, month, and weekday using a * to designated whichever field you don't need to fill in.
14.) The background processes that manage commands submitted using at and cron are:
atd and crond
15.) When using the at command interactively to enter commands scheduled for futuer execution, you indicate that you have finished entering commands by pressing:
Ctrl+d
16.) The batch command is used to schedule jobs so that:
The system will not be overloaded with scheduled tasks.
17.) A simple method for root to schedule recurring system administration tasks is to:
Add a script to a directory such as /etc/cron.daily or /etc/cron.weekly
18.) The output of a cron job is normally sent via ____ to the user who submitted the cron job or to the user defined by the ____ variable within the file containing the cron job.
e-mail, MAILTO
19.) Name, in order from left to right, the fields of the crontab time specification, giving the range of valid numeric values for each.
Minute of the hour from 0-59, Hour of the day from 0-23, Day of the month from 0-31 depending on the month you are in, Month of the year from 0-12, and Day of the week from 0-7(0 and 7 are both Sunday).
20.) Output from a command executed as part of a cron job cannot be redirected to a file using standard redirection operators because the environment in which the cron job was created is unlikely to exist when the job is executed. True or False?
True
21.) The ____ file can include a user name in order to deny that user access to the crontab command.
/etc/cron.deny
22.) Name the two separate commands that can be used instead of at -l and at -d.
atq and atrm
23.) All process in Linux, except the init process (PID 1) are created:
When another process forks.
24.) A zombie process is one that:
Is no longer in existence, though the Linux kernel still maintains information as if it were.
25.) Describe why you should try SIGTERM before using SIGKILL.
SIGTERM requests that the process manually shuts itself down and allows it to save the current information while SIGKILL tells the kernel to shut the process down immediately which can cause you to lose what you are working on.
Friday, February 27, 2009
Chapter 5 Review Questions
1.) A regular expression is used to:
Define a potentially complex pattern of characters or digits.
2.) The regular expression [cChapter0[12345]* does not match which of the following files?
Chapter1.doc
3.) Which of the following regular expressions matches the text "Reunion-2004"?
Reunion-[0-9]{4}
4.) The grep command is not useful for which of the following?
Determining which directories are currently in use.
5.) Searching documents created by word-processing programs is not an appropriate use of the grep command because:
Word-processing documents contain nonreadable codes (nontext information).
6.) If you execute a grep command without providing the name of one or more files to search, you should:
Provide input using a pipe from another utility.
7.) You need to track the output of a text file in real time as lines are added to that file by another program. Which command do you use?
tail -f
8.) Several commands are available in Linux that let you compare two or more files to determine how they differ. One of these programs in particular is widely used by programmers and system administrators and is a tool commonly used for assisting with modified source code on Linux systems. Which is it?
diff
9.) Which of the following features is not supported by default in ispell?
Seeing a list of suggestion words to correct the spelling of a word that ispell does not recognize, then selecting one of those words to insert in the document by pressing a single key.
10.) The wc command displays:
The number of lines, words, and characters in a file.
11.) Name five programs that can be used to filter text files in Linux.
sort, diff, comp, sed, awk
12.) The command ls sort causes which of the following to occur?
The output of the ls command is sent to the sort command. The results are printed on the screen.
13.) When you run a program called gather_data, it normally reads text as a user enters it at the keyboard. If you use the command gather_data <> to run the program, which of the following occurs?
The input that the gather_data program normally reads from the keyboard is taken from the input_text file instead.
14.) Which independent Linux command replaces tabs in a text file with a fixed number of spaces?
expand
15.) The name of a script file can be provided to sed and awk on the command line using which command-line option?
/file name/
16.) Using a ! along with a standart write command in vi causes the editor to:
Attempt to write the file despite a file permission that does not by itself permit writing the file, though this can only be done if the person editing the file is the owner of that file or is working as root.
17.) Which of the following creates a mark at the current line within vi so that you can quickly jump to that line in the file?
'a
18.) The vi editor checks for an environment variable and for a hidden initialization file in the directory in which a file being edited is stored. These are called respectively:
EXINIT, .exrc
19.) Describe the meaning of 1,$ as a ranger operator at the beginning of a search and replace command withing vi.
It is telling the search command to search from line one of the document all the way to the end.
20.) Describe the difference between the following four search commands in vi: / ? n N
The / command tells vi to search from the current position forward. The ? command tells vi to search from the current position backward. The n command tells vi to move to the next position of the most recent / or ? command. The N command tells vi to move to the previous position of the most recent / or ? command.
Define a potentially complex pattern of characters or digits.
2.) The regular expression [cChapter0[12345]* does not match which of the following files?
Chapter1.doc
3.) Which of the following regular expressions matches the text "Reunion-2004"?
Reunion-[0-9]{4}
4.) The grep command is not useful for which of the following?
Determining which directories are currently in use.
5.) Searching documents created by word-processing programs is not an appropriate use of the grep command because:
Word-processing documents contain nonreadable codes (nontext information).
6.) If you execute a grep command without providing the name of one or more files to search, you should:
Provide input using a pipe from another utility.
7.) You need to track the output of a text file in real time as lines are added to that file by another program. Which command do you use?
tail -f
8.) Several commands are available in Linux that let you compare two or more files to determine how they differ. One of these programs in particular is widely used by programmers and system administrators and is a tool commonly used for assisting with modified source code on Linux systems. Which is it?
diff
9.) Which of the following features is not supported by default in ispell?
Seeing a list of suggestion words to correct the spelling of a word that ispell does not recognize, then selecting one of those words to insert in the document by pressing a single key.
10.) The wc command displays:
The number of lines, words, and characters in a file.
11.) Name five programs that can be used to filter text files in Linux.
sort, diff, comp, sed, awk
12.) The command ls sort causes which of the following to occur?
The output of the ls command is sent to the sort command. The results are printed on the screen.
13.) When you run a program called gather_data, it normally reads text as a user enters it at the keyboard. If you use the command gather_data <> to run the program, which of the following occurs?
The input that the gather_data program normally reads from the keyboard is taken from the input_text file instead.
14.) Which independent Linux command replaces tabs in a text file with a fixed number of spaces?
expand
15.) The name of a script file can be provided to sed and awk on the command line using which command-line option?
/file name/
16.) Using a ! along with a standart write command in vi causes the editor to:
Attempt to write the file despite a file permission that does not by itself permit writing the file, though this can only be done if the person editing the file is the owner of that file or is working as root.
17.) Which of the following creates a mark at the current line within vi so that you can quickly jump to that line in the file?
'a
18.) The vi editor checks for an environment variable and for a hidden initialization file in the directory in which a file being edited is stored. These are called respectively:
EXINIT, .exrc
19.) Describe the meaning of 1,$ as a ranger operator at the beginning of a search and replace command withing vi.
It is telling the search command to search from line one of the document all the way to the end.
20.) Describe the difference between the following four search commands in vi: / ? n N
The / command tells vi to search from the current position forward. The ? command tells vi to search from the current position backward. The n command tells vi to move to the next position of the most recent / or ? command. The N command tells vi to move to the previous position of the most recent / or ? command.
Saturday, February 21, 2009
Chapter 4 Review Questions
1.) Describe the effect of using a hyphen when executing the su command.
The hyphen tells causes the command to execute login scripts, and puts you in the login directory of the user you are switching to.
2.) A user's primary group can be a User Private Group. True or False? Explain.
True. If that is the only group that the user is assigned to then those are the only permissions that user is able to have.
3.) The /etc/passwd file does not contain which of the following fields:
The file privileges for the user.
4.) Explain the meaning of this line in the /etc/group file: webmasters:x:710:rthomas,cyang
Webmasters is the name of the group, the "x" designates the password, 710 is the GID(Group Id Number), and rthomas, and cyang are the members of the group.
5.) To create or change a password on any user account, the following is used:
The passwd command
6.) What does the fourth field in /etc/passwd contain?
It contains the GID.
7.) Why should you not use a standard text editor to add users to /etc/passwd?
In case there is more than one system administrator working on the file across the network, and in case of typing errors.
8.) If you enter a new password for a user account that can be easily guessed, the message BAD PASSWORD appears and the password is:
Only updated if you are logged in as a regular user.
9.) A mounted file system is on that:
Allows any user to run programs located on it.
10.) The Shadow Password Suite enhances Linux security by:
Hiding encrypted passwords in a file that only root can read.
11.) The df utility provides information about which of the following:
File system capacity, device name, and percentage used status.
12.) If you attempt to unmount a mounted file system receive an error message, the most likely cause is:
One or more users are working in a directory of the file system.
13.) Describe the difference between an alias and a symbolic link.
An alias is an executable script, and a symbolic link is a file that points to another file or directory.
14.) Which command is used to create a symbolic link?
ln
15.) The command chmod 744 report.doc grants ________ execute permission to the report.doc file.
User (The file's owner)
16.) The owner and group assigned to a file are shown by which of the following:
ls -l
17.) Execute a permission on a file is required to:
Start that file as a program
18.) The tar command creates archive files that compressed by the ______ command.
gzip
19.) The tar utility differs from the cpio utility in that:
cpio always reads and writes to STDIN, and STDOUT, and tar uses command-line parameters.
20.) Describe why the find command is option used with tar or cpio for backups.
The find command searches the directory that is listed for an exact match to the parameters that you have given.
21.) The _______ option causes the tar command to extract files from an archive file or device.
x
22.) Describe how the newgrp command relates to the second field of each record in the /etc/group file.
If the person using the command knows a groups password they are able to temporarily assume that groups permissions. The second field in the /etc/group file is the groups password.
23.) The output of the id command includes:
The effective UID, the effective GID, and a list of groups of which the effective UID user is a member.
24.) If the far left column in the output of the ls -l command shows the character "s" you would know the object on that line was a:
Socket
25.) Which utility typically provides the highest compression ration (makes the smallest compressed file from a given data file)?
bzip2
The hyphen tells causes the command to execute login scripts, and puts you in the login directory of the user you are switching to.
2.) A user's primary group can be a User Private Group. True or False? Explain.
True. If that is the only group that the user is assigned to then those are the only permissions that user is able to have.
3.) The /etc/passwd file does not contain which of the following fields:
The file privileges for the user.
4.) Explain the meaning of this line in the /etc/group file: webmasters:x:710:rthomas,cyang
Webmasters is the name of the group, the "x" designates the password, 710 is the GID(Group Id Number), and rthomas, and cyang are the members of the group.
5.) To create or change a password on any user account, the following is used:
The passwd command
6.) What does the fourth field in /etc/passwd contain?
It contains the GID.
7.) Why should you not use a standard text editor to add users to /etc/passwd?
In case there is more than one system administrator working on the file across the network, and in case of typing errors.
8.) If you enter a new password for a user account that can be easily guessed, the message BAD PASSWORD appears and the password is:
Only updated if you are logged in as a regular user.
9.) A mounted file system is on that:
Allows any user to run programs located on it.
10.) The Shadow Password Suite enhances Linux security by:
Hiding encrypted passwords in a file that only root can read.
11.) The df utility provides information about which of the following:
File system capacity, device name, and percentage used status.
12.) If you attempt to unmount a mounted file system receive an error message, the most likely cause is:
One or more users are working in a directory of the file system.
13.) Describe the difference between an alias and a symbolic link.
An alias is an executable script, and a symbolic link is a file that points to another file or directory.
14.) Which command is used to create a symbolic link?
ln
15.) The command chmod 744 report.doc grants ________ execute permission to the report.doc file.
User (The file's owner)
16.) The owner and group assigned to a file are shown by which of the following:
ls -l
17.) Execute a permission on a file is required to:
Start that file as a program
18.) The tar command creates archive files that compressed by the ______ command.
gzip
19.) The tar utility differs from the cpio utility in that:
cpio always reads and writes to STDIN, and STDOUT, and tar uses command-line parameters.
20.) Describe why the find command is option used with tar or cpio for backups.
The find command searches the directory that is listed for an exact match to the parameters that you have given.
21.) The _______ option causes the tar command to extract files from an archive file or device.
x
22.) Describe how the newgrp command relates to the second field of each record in the /etc/group file.
If the person using the command knows a groups password they are able to temporarily assume that groups permissions. The second field in the /etc/group file is the groups password.
23.) The output of the id command includes:
The effective UID, the effective GID, and a list of groups of which the effective UID user is a member.
24.) If the far left column in the output of the ls -l command shows the character "s" you would know the object on that line was a:
Socket
25.) Which utility typically provides the highest compression ration (makes the smallest compressed file from a given data file)?
bzip2
Sunday, February 15, 2009
Chapter 3 Review Questions
1.) The default shell used by Linux is:
The Bourne Again shell (bash)
2.) When logged in as root, the shell prompt normally changes to display:
#
3.) The main function of a shell is to:
Start programs
4.) Name four different shells and briefly describe the differences between them.
1.) bash: This is the default shell of Linux
2.) csh: Uses a more complex syntax for programming the shell
3.) ksh: Has the features of csh while having the syntax of bash
4.) zsh: Combines ksh interactive features with csh programming syntax
5.) Tab completion is useful when you need to:
Enter long file names or directory names at the shell prompt.
6.) The history command is used to:
Display a list of previously entered commands.
7.) Entering the command !fr would do the following in the bash shell:
Reexecute the most recently executed command that began with "fr".
8.) To have a command executed each time any user logs in to the Linux system, you place the command in which of these files:
/etc/bashrc
9.) If a directory contains the file names micron and microscope, and you enter micro and pres Tab once, what happens?
The shell beeps
10.) Which of the following is a correctly formed alias for executing the mv command:
alias ren="mv -i"
11.) The command echo $HOME displays:
The word HOME
12.) Describe the contents of the PATH environment variable.
It is a list of the different "paths" that will be searched whenever a command is entered.
13.) When the export command is used, an environment variable:
Is available to other programs running in the same shell where export was executed.
14.) Name at least three nongraphical text editors that may be included with a Linux distribution.
1.) vi
2.) emacs
3.) pico
4.) joe
15.) Knowledge of the vi editor is considered an essential skill because:
The vi editor is virtually always available to complete system administrator tasks.
16.) Suppose you enter the command vi my_file and then enter the following keys: itestyyp:wq
Describe the results
It copies the word "test" into the buffer and then places the word "test" on the next line below. Then it saves the file as you exit the vi editor.
17.) When you run a program called gather_data, it normally reads lines entered at the keyboard. If you use the command gather_data <> to run the program which of the following occurs:
The input that the gather_data program would normally read from the keyboard is taken from the input_text file instead.
18.) A pipe is a method of connecting:
The output channel of one program with the input channel of another program.
19.) The command ls sort causes which of the following to occur?
The output of the ls command is sent to the sort command. The results are printed to the screen.
20.) Using the lpoptions command, you can:
Associate a set of lpr printing options with a name (called an instance) so that those options can be used more conveniently in the future.
21.) Which of these commands displays the current value of the USER environment variable?
echo "You are currently logged in as $USER."
22.) How is the following text executed on a command line?
echo 'This script has detected an error; please check your data.'; date; "Thank you."
As two commands followed by an error message
23.) How is the following text executed on a command line?
How is the following text executed on a command line?
echo "This script has detected an error\; please check your data."; date; "Thank you."
As two commands followed by an error message
24.) How is the following text executed on a command line?
echo This script has detected an error. Please check your data.$'\n''date'$'\n'Thank you.'
As three lines of text
25.) Does the follow text generate a shell error? Does it print the date?
echo 'This script has detected an error. Please check your data.$'\n'`date`$'\n'Thank you'
No it does not generate a shell error. It does not print the date.
The Bourne Again shell (bash)
2.) When logged in as root, the shell prompt normally changes to display:
#
3.) The main function of a shell is to:
Start programs
4.) Name four different shells and briefly describe the differences between them.
1.) bash: This is the default shell of Linux
2.) csh: Uses a more complex syntax for programming the shell
3.) ksh: Has the features of csh while having the syntax of bash
4.) zsh: Combines ksh interactive features with csh programming syntax
5.) Tab completion is useful when you need to:
Enter long file names or directory names at the shell prompt.
6.) The history command is used to:
Display a list of previously entered commands.
7.) Entering the command !fr would do the following in the bash shell:
Reexecute the most recently executed command that began with "fr".
8.) To have a command executed each time any user logs in to the Linux system, you place the command in which of these files:
/etc/bashrc
9.) If a directory contains the file names micron and microscope, and you enter micro and pres Tab once, what happens?
The shell beeps
10.) Which of the following is a correctly formed alias for executing the mv command:
alias ren="mv -i"
11.) The command echo $HOME displays:
The word HOME
12.) Describe the contents of the PATH environment variable.
It is a list of the different "paths" that will be searched whenever a command is entered.
13.) When the export command is used, an environment variable:
Is available to other programs running in the same shell where export was executed.
14.) Name at least three nongraphical text editors that may be included with a Linux distribution.
1.) vi
2.) emacs
3.) pico
4.) joe
15.) Knowledge of the vi editor is considered an essential skill because:
The vi editor is virtually always available to complete system administrator tasks.
16.) Suppose you enter the command vi my_file and then enter the following keys: itest
Describe the results
It copies the word "test" into the buffer and then places the word "test" on the next line below. Then it saves the file as you exit the vi editor.
17.) When you run a program called gather_data, it normally reads lines entered at the keyboard. If you use the command gather_data <> to run the program which of the following occurs:
The input that the gather_data program would normally read from the keyboard is taken from the input_text file instead.
18.) A pipe is a method of connecting:
The output channel of one program with the input channel of another program.
19.) The command ls sort causes which of the following to occur?
The output of the ls command is sent to the sort command. The results are printed to the screen.
20.) Using the lpoptions command, you can:
Associate a set of lpr printing options with a name (called an instance) so that those options can be used more conveniently in the future.
21.) Which of these commands displays the current value of the USER environment variable?
echo "You are currently logged in as $USER."
22.) How is the following text executed on a command line?
echo 'This script has detected an error; please check your data.'; date; "Thank you."
As two commands followed by an error message
23.) How is the following text executed on a command line?
How is the following text executed on a command line?
echo "This script has detected an error\; please check your data."; date; "Thank you."
As two commands followed by an error message
24.) How is the following text executed on a command line?
echo This script has detected an error. Please check your data.$'\n''date'$'\n'Thank you.'
As three lines of text
25.) Does the follow text generate a shell error? Does it print the date?
echo 'This script has detected an error. Please check your data.$'\n'`date`$'\n'Thank you'
No it does not generate a shell error. It does not print the date.
Saturday, February 7, 2009
Chap. 1 & 2 Review Questions
Chapter 1 Review Questions
1.) An operating system does not do which of the following:
Provide word-processing features for users.
2.) Name four career paths where a strong knowledge of Linux is useful.
1. Network Administrator
2. System Administrator
3. Technical Writer
4. Business Consultant
3.) Linus Torvalds began to create Linux because:
He wanted a powerful operating system but could not afford one.
4.) The Free Software Foundation is dedicated to the idea that:
The real value of software is in customization, not in selling mass-produced copies.
5.) The GNU Project is important to Linux because:
It provides the majority of the system utilities used by Linux.
6.) The GPL includes all of the following facets except:
Software that runs on a GPL operating system must be given away
7.) In general usage, the name "open source software" refers to:
Software that has the source code included and follows a set of general principles espoused by the OpenSource consortium.
8.) In the Linux kernel version 2.6.10, the second digit, 6, indicates:
A minor kernel release number for a stable kernel
9.) Version numbers for Linux distributions don't track Linux kernel version numbers because:
Distributions include many components, so the vendor assigns a version number to the collection of software as a whole.
10. HOWTO documents discuss a variety of specific subjects. They are written for:
Anyone new to the subject being discussed
11.) The _________ directory is the beginning of the Linux directory structure---the top of the inverted tree.
/root
12.) The pwd command is used to:
Display the current working directory on the screen.
13.) The command Ls -l is invalid because:
Linux commands are case sensitive.
14.) Which task is not likely to be assigned to you as a system administrator?
Develop a new cash register system using C programming
15.) Linux file names can include:
Letters, digits, punctuation, and many special characters.
16.) The rm command is used in Linux to:
Delete files from a hard disk.
17.) A trash can facility on a Linux graphical desktop differs from the rm command in that:
Files placed in the trash can are not deleted until the trash can is emptied, but files deleted by rm are deleted immediately.
18.) Each answer contains several paths separated by semicolons. Which answer contains only absolute paths?
/var/named;/etc/samba;/home/abutler
19.) Within the Nautilus file manager, you can view the properties of a selected file or directory by:
Right-clicking the file or directory and selecting the Properties item from the context menu.
20.) Within the Nautilus file manager, pressing Shift+Ctrl+N is analogous to what command?
mkdir
21.) Which of the following commands is most likely to produce the following output on the screen? /home/abutler
pwd
22.) You see in the output of ls -l an unrecognized file. You wonder what it contains. Your first step should be to use which command?
file
1.) An operating system does not do which of the following:
Provide word-processing features for users.
2.) Name four career paths where a strong knowledge of Linux is useful.
1. Network Administrator
2. System Administrator
3. Technical Writer
4. Business Consultant
3.) Linus Torvalds began to create Linux because:
He wanted a powerful operating system but could not afford one.
4.) The Free Software Foundation is dedicated to the idea that:
The real value of software is in customization, not in selling mass-produced copies.
5.) The GNU Project is important to Linux because:
It provides the majority of the system utilities used by Linux.
6.) The GPL includes all of the following facets except:
Software that runs on a GPL operating system must be given away
7.) In general usage, the name "open source software" refers to:
Software that has the source code included and follows a set of general principles espoused by the OpenSource consortium.
8.) In the Linux kernel version 2.6.10, the second digit, 6, indicates:
A minor kernel release number for a stable kernel
9.) Version numbers for Linux distributions don't track Linux kernel version numbers because:
Distributions include many components, so the vendor assigns a version number to the collection of software as a whole.
10. HOWTO documents discuss a variety of specific subjects. They are written for:
Anyone new to the subject being discussed
11.) The _________ directory is the beginning of the Linux directory structure---the top of the inverted tree.
/root
12.) The pwd command is used to:
Display the current working directory on the screen.
13.) The command Ls -l is invalid because:
Linux commands are case sensitive.
14.) Which task is not likely to be assigned to you as a system administrator?
Develop a new cash register system using C programming
15.) Linux file names can include:
Letters, digits, punctuation, and many special characters.
16.) The rm command is used in Linux to:
Delete files from a hard disk.
17.) A trash can facility on a Linux graphical desktop differs from the rm command in that:
Files placed in the trash can are not deleted until the trash can is emptied, but files deleted by rm are deleted immediately.
18.) Each answer contains several paths separated by semicolons. Which answer contains only absolute paths?
/var/named;/etc/samba;/home/abutler
19.) Within the Nautilus file manager, you can view the properties of a selected file or directory by:
Right-clicking the file or directory and selecting the Properties item from the context menu.
20.) Within the Nautilus file manager, pressing Shift+Ctrl+N is analogous to what command?
mkdir
21.) Which of the following commands is most likely to produce the following output on the screen? /home/abutler
pwd
22.) You see in the output of ls -l an unrecognized file. You wonder what it contains. Your first step should be to use which command?
file
23.) If the slocate fails to function as expected, it is likely because:
The index of file and directory names has not been created using updatedb.
24.) In Red Hat Linux, documentation files dedicated to each installed software package are stored:
In the /usr/share/doc directory
25. The Red Hat Enterprise Linux product line includes several versions such as:
WS, ES, AS, and Professional Workstation
Chapter 2 Review Questions
1.) The historical beginnings of the X Window System originated with:
Project Athena
2.) Why might a person choose to purchase a commercial X server instead of using XFree86, which comes free with each copy of Linux?
Because the purchased version of X server may support video cards that XFree86 does not.
3.) Describe the function of an X server within the X Window system
The X server essentially acts as a video card driver by communicating with with the video card and sending the most basic images to the screen. It also communicates with the mouse and the keyboard used in the graphical environment.
4.) A(n) _______ is another name for any graphical application running in the X Window System
X client
5.) Name four windows managers that can be used with the X Windows System on Linux:
1. twm (Tab Window Manager)
2. fvwm (Feeble Virtual Window Manager)
3. wm2
4. mwm (Motif Window Manager)
6.) A window manager is best described as:
A special-purpose X client that provides core graphical functionality for other X clients
7.) Name the two graphical libraries used by the two major desktop environments of Linux.
1. Qt
2. GTK+
8.) A graphical library is best described as:
A collection of functions that any graphical program can use to create a common look and feel.
9.) Choosing not to run X:
Can cause configuration problems on server-based systems.
10.) The ________ command is normally used to start the X Window System if you are not using a graphical login.
startx
11.) To minimize an active window in a GNOME desktop using default setting, you either:
Press Alt+F9 or select minimize from the window control menu.
12.) Describe the purpose of clicking and dragging to highlight text in one graphical window, then selecting another window and clicking both mouse buttons at the same time.
It copies the text from the first graphical window to the second. Doing this saves you steps by allowing you to copy the text directly instead of copying it to the clipboard and then to the second graphical window.
13.) The workspace switcher in GNOME lets you:
Move between four desktop backgrounds, each of which can have different windows open on it.
14.) To enable the feature that saves your desktop setup each time you log out of GNOME, you would explore which item on the preferences submenu?
Sessions
15.) Describe the function of the Alt+Tab and Alt+F1 combinations in GNOME.
Alt+Tab rotates the focus among all of your windows. Alt+F1 displays the main menu of GNOME.
16.) The Desktop Switcher utility lets you:
Switch your desktop between any installed window manager or desktop environment that the utility can locate on the system.
17.) Selecting a desktop theme lets you control:
The look and feel of most aspects of your desktop interface.
18.) Define an emblem as used in the Nautilus file manager.
It is a picture that you can "drop" on a file or folder to change what the icon looks like.
19.) When you select a text editor in the Preferred Application window of GNOME:
You select the text editor that GNOME or Nautilus starts whenever you want to view a text file.
20.) OpenOffice.org consist of the following:
Word processor, spreadsheet, a drawing program, presentation software, and database tools.
21.) For which platforms is OpenOffice.org available?
Windows, Solaris, Mac, and Linux
22.) Evolution is:
A program that includes email, calendar, task list, and contact management features, similar to Microsoft Outlook.
23.) When setting up a POP e-mail account, Evolution and Mozilla differ in that:
One is integrated with the GNOME main menu, the other is not.
24.) List four features that Evolution provides via its Summary window or the standard icons on the left side of the Summary window.
Weather information, critical update notices for Red Hat Linux and Fedora, a summary of e-mail, and a summary of tasks.
25.) Within the Nautilus file manager, the side pane is used to:
Display basic information about an object that has been selected in the left part of the window, including,for example, a thumbnail image of a graphic file, if so configured in the Preview tab of the File Management Preferences window.
Monday, January 26, 2009
Linux 174
I have completed Linux 173 with an A and I am very proud of that. Onto the more challenging 174. I am looking forward to learing how to manage and maintain Linux/UNIX systems. Hopefully I will do as good in this class as I did the last one.
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