SUSE Linux System Administration (SCA)
Course Code: SLSA
Duration: 5 days
SUSE Linux System Administration (SCA) Course Overview
This instructor led SUSE Linux System Administration (SCA) training course is designed to teach the key administration, security, networking and performance tasks required on a SUSE Linux Enterprise Server (SLES).
Similarly, the course is targeted to closely follow the official SUSE Certified Administrator curriculum for certification.
Exercises and examples are used throughout the course to give practical hands-on experience with the techniques covered.
Course Objectives
On completion of this course the delegate will have the required technical knowledge to administer a SUSE Linux server within the Enterprise. They will have gained practical experience of configuring administrative, networking, performance and security aspects of a SUSE Linux Enterprise system (SLES).
Who will the Course Benefit?
The SUSE Linux System Administration (SCA) training course is suitable for novice Linux System Administrators, Programmers and other technical IT staff who need to acquire administration knowledge of the key administrative, networking, performance and security tasks required on a SUSE Linux operating system within the Enterprise.
An ideal course for delegates who will be working in an environment using several different Linux distributions and therefore knowledge of skills common to all the different Linux distributions is required. For the purpose of practical exercises, SUSE Linux will be used.
Note: Should the delegate only require knowledge of Red Hat Linux then they should instead consider attending our range of Red Hat Linux Administration courses.
Skills Gained
The delegate will learn and acquire skills as follows:
- Performing command line administrative tasks
- Using graphical administration tools
- Understanding the Linux I/O Stack
- Comparison, creation and management of Linux file systems
- Configuring file system labels and UUIDs
- Understanding Logical Volume Management
- Listing, creating and removing swap space
- Managing users and groups
- Configuring the environment and user limits
- Configuring extended permissions and sudo
- Managing software packages, patches and patterns
- Downloading and transferring files with cURL
- Understanding GRUB and the startup process
- Creating and managing Systemd units and services
- Changing run levels and system shutdown
- Configuring local and remote printers
- Managing processes and job scheduling
- Configuring SSH and encrypting data
- IPv4 and IPv6 networking
- Understanding and configuring network services
- Configuring firewalld
- Utilising terminal multiplexers
- Configuring local and network time
- Remote system administration
- Configuring Virtual Network Computing
- Creating backups and compressing data
- Modifying language, keyboard and time zone settings
- Configuring virtualisation and Docker containers
- Understanding hardware, device files, ACPI and D-Bus
- Configuring system logging and rotating logs
- Troubleshooting the system and generating support requests
SUSE Linux System Administration (SCA) Training Course
Course Introduction
- Administration and Course Materials
- Course Structure and Agenda
- Delegate and Trainer Introductions
Session 1: FILE SYSTEM CONFIGURATION
- File system types
- The Linux I/O stack
- MBR vs GPT partition tables
- Partitioning a disk
- Comparison of Linux filesystems
- Creating Btrfs, XFS and EXT filesystems
- Displaying disk usage
- Mounting and unmounting file systems
- Configuring labels and UUIDs
- Locating files in use
- Exercise
Session 2: ADVANCED FILE SYSTEM OPERATIONS
- Logical Volume Management
- Checking and repairing the file system
- Growing file systems
- Filesystem debugging and defragmentation
- Listing swap areas
- Creating and removing swap areas
- Exercise
SUSE Linux System Administration (SCA) Training Course
Session 3: USER ACCOUNT MANAGEMENT
- User Private Group scheme
- Files used in creating a user
- Adding users via the command line and YaST
- Managing groups
- Password administration
- Bash Shell environment
- Configuring user limits
- Extended permissions
- Configuring Privilege Delegation via sudo
- Sudo aliases and groups
- Monitoring login activity
- Exercise
Session 4: PACKAGE MANAGEMENT
- The Red Hat Package Manager (rpm)
- Verifying Software
- Querying installed and uninstalled packages
- Installing and removing packages
- Upgrade mechanism
- Converting rpm packages to cpio format
- Transferring files via cURL
- The libzypp package manager
- Exercise
Session 5: SYSTEM LOGGING
- rsyslog configuration
- Configuring remote logging
- Testing using logger
- Managing logs with logrotate
- Basic and advanced journal queries
- Configuring the journal
- Exercise
Session 6: SYSTEM SECURITY AND ENCRYPTION
- Secure shell OpenSSH
- Public/private key authentication
- X11 forwarding
- The SUSE firewall
- Encryption with GNU Privacy Guard GPG
- Managing firewalld from the GUI and command line
- Exercise
SUSE Linux System Administration (SCA) Training Course
Session 7: SYSTEM STARTUP AND SHUTDOWN
- System startup process
- Startup script framework
- Managing services using YaST
- Starting and stopping services dynamically
- Creating Systemd services, timers and mount units
- Running transient units
- suseconfig and /etc/sysconfig
- Changing run levels and shutdown
- Exercise
Session 8: PROCESS MONITORING AND SCHEDULING
- Monitoring processes
- Graphical monitoring tools
- Utilising terminal multiplexers
- Monitoring with watch
- Shared libraries
- Scheduling processes with at
- The cron configuration files
- Scheduling processes with cron
- crontab command options
- Managing anacron
- Exercise
Session 9: LINUX NETWORKING
- Basic network configuration
- IPv4 and IPv6 addressing
- Network protocols
- Network services and port numbers
- Configuring IPv4 and IPv6 with ip and Network Manager
- Configuration with systemd-networkd
- Managing network devices
- Resolving hostnames and DNS
- Searching domains
- Routing under Linux
- Exercise
SUSE Linux System Administration (SCA) Training Course
Session 10: INTERNET SERVICES
- Network services
- Managing services with systemd sockets
- Checking network service ports
- Analysing network packets
- Configuring and monitoring network time
- Configuring the hardware clock
- Remote administration
- Configuring Virtual Network Computing
- Exercise
Session 11: CONFIGURING PRINTERS
- The Common Unix Printing Service CUPS
- Printer devices and configuration
- Installing printers
- Configuring the CUPS server
- Printer options
- Print commands
- Managing print queues
- Exercise
Session 12: LOCALISATION
- Localisation overview
- Locale variables
- Converting character sets and encoding
- Configuring the locale and keymap
- Configuring the system and user time zone
- Exercise
Session 13: VIRTUALISATION, CLOUD SERVICES AND CONTAINERS
- Configuring KVM virtualisation
- Installing virtual systems
- Understanding Linux Containers
- Creating and running Docker containers
- Iaas cloud
- Exercise
SUSE Linux System Administration (SCA) Training Course
Session 14: DEVICES UNDER LINUX
- Device services
- Device file naming conventions
- The /sys and /proc directories
- Examining hardware
- Hardware and software configuration messages
- ACPI service and Desktop Bus
- Managing disk parameters
- Detecting new hardware
- System overview: siga
- Exercise
Session 15: BACKUP AND RESTORE
- Archiving with tar and cpio
- Device cloning with dd
- Compressing files
- Archiving RAR files
- unar and other backup tools
- Exercise
Session 16: TROUBLESHOOTING
- Troubleshooting process
- Booting into maintenance mode
- Booting the rescue system
- The SLE Maintenance Model
- Generating information with supportconfig
- Exercise
Addendum: Reference Materials (provided within the course handbook for additional reading)
APPENDIX A - INSTALLING LINUX
- Installing Linux
APPENDIX B - ELECTRONIC MAIL
- Configuring Postfix and Sendmail
- Mail protocols
- Mail commands
APPENDIX C - LINUX DESKTOPS AND ACCESSIBILITY
- Configuring the X Windows GUI interface
- Display protocols
- The GNOME, KDE and Xfce desktops
- Configuring the desktop for disabled users
APPENDIX D - PACKAGE MANAGEMENT
- Additional software package management tools
APPENDIX E - DEPRECATED SERVICES
- The xinetd Daemon
- TCP Wrappers
APPENDIX F - ADDITIONAL COMMANDS
- Miscellaneous Shell commands
- Course technical content is subject to change without notice.
- Course content is structured as sessions, this does not strictly map to course timings. Concepts, content and practicals often span sessions.
Examinations
This course together with the SUSE Linux Advanced System Administration (SCA) as well as Linux Introduction course are an excellent choice for delegates preparing to take the following exams:
- SUSE Certified Administrator: SCA_SLES15
Attending these courses and studying the associated reference materials can form part of the preparation to achieve certification. Experience, practice, self-study and aptitude are also key requirements for exam success.
The appendixes also include other related topics that would be useful reading for delegates preparing for certification.
Before taking any exam, ensure you have the recommended experience. The SUSE website list all exam requirements and these are updated regularly.
Exams are not included as part of the course.
Requirements
This SUSE Linux System Administration (SCA) course assumes good knowledge of the Linux operating system in an Enterprise environment to the level covered in the Linux Introduction course. Alternatively, relevant experience of UNIX or Linux servers is required, preferably within an enterprise environment.
Knowledge of Linux Shell Programming to the level covered on the Linux Shell Programming course would also be beneficial.
Pre-Requisite Courses
Further Learning
Course Reviews
The instructor Mark is superb! He knows the Linux operating system thoroughly and he makes the learning so interesting. He explains the concepts in detail that makes sure that it sticks with you. He is also open to answering questions and explaining his answers. I would recommend StayAhead and also himself if anyone wants to learn Linux. It also helped that I was able to learn at home, saving the travel expense and also flexible.
Mo - Systems Infrastructure Engineer - Academic - January 2024
John is an excellent teacher. He is very technically proficient and he teaches in a good way. I only have good to say about him and the course. Many thanks for this week.
Johan - Defence
Excellent course - it was tailored to our requirements which is excellent The instructor really knew his stuff and was able to answer all our questions. The instructor has a great teaching skill The remote access worked great.
David - Unix Administrator - Communications
John is an excellent tutor with a great deal of knowledge and experience with Linux. He is also very helpful and explains things properly
Simon - Senior Platform Engineer
The course was very informative. John L's easy going presentation style kept our interest in the various topics and they were explained very thoroughly. Any questions that were posed were answered, John has a very in- depth knowledge of the subject matter. This course has given me plenty of pointers and lots of reference options which will help me build upon my Linux skills in the future.
John - SAP Basis Analyst
John is a great instructor who tailored the course well to meet our requirements
Jon - SAP systems Analyst
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Duration: 5 days
Price: £1,950.00 exc. VAT
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