... Preface ... 31
... What This Book Can Do-and What It Can't ... 31
... How This Book Is Organized ... 32
... Formal Aspects ... 33
Part I ... Installation ... 35
1 ... What Is Linux? ... 37
1.1 ... Introduction ... 37
1.2 ... Hardware Support ... 38
1.3 ... Distributions ... 39
1.4 ... Open-Source Licenses (GPL and Company) ... 44
1.5 ... The History of Linux ... 46
2 ... Installation Basics ... 49
2.1 ... Requirements ... 49
2.2 ... BIOS and EFI ... 50
2.3 ... Installation Variants ... 53
2.4 ... Overview of the Installation Process ... 56
2.5 ... Partitioning Basics ... 58
2.6 ... LVM and Encryption ... 61
2.7 ... Creating Linux Partitions ... 64
2.8 ... Setting the Scope of the Installation ... 68
2.9 ... Basic Configuration ... 68
2.10 ... System Changes, Extensions, and Updates ... 70
3 ... Installation Instructions ... 75
3.1 ... Debian ... 76
3.2 ... Fedora ... 84
3.3 ... Linux Mint ... 92
3.4 ... Manjaro Linux ... 95
3.5 ... openSUSE ... 98
3.6 ... Pop!_OS ... 104
3.7 ... Ubuntu ... 108
Part II ... Using Linux ... 117
4 ... GNOME ... 119
4.1 ... Personal Assessment ... 120
4.2 ... Getting Started ... 121
4.3 ... File Manager ... 128
4.4 ... System Configuration ... 138
4.5 ... Fonts ... 148
4.6 ... GNOME Tweak Tool ... 150
4.7 ... GNOME Shell Extensions ... 152
4.8 ... GNOME Shell Themes ... 156
4.9 ... Internal Details of GNOME ... 156
4.10 ... GNOME Classic ... 159
5 ... KDE ... 161
5.1 ... Basic Principles ... 161
5.2 ... Operation ... 163
5.3 ... File Manager ... 167
5.4 ... KDE Configuration ... 170
Part III ... Linux Basics ... 177
6 ... Using the Terminal ... 179
6.1 ... Text Consoles and Terminal Windows ... 179
6.2 ... Displaying and Editing Text Files ... 185
6.3 ... man and info ... 189
7 ... Bash (Shell) ... 193
7.1 ... What Is a Shell? ... 193
7.2 ... Configuration ... 195
7.3 ... Command Input ... 198
7.4 ... Input and Output Redirection ... 202
7.5 ... Executing Commands ... 205
7.6 ... Globbing and Substitution/Expansion ... 208
7.7 ... Variables ... 213
7.8 ... Bash Scripts ... 217
7.9 ... Basic Rules for Bash Scripts ... 223
7.10 ... Variables in Bash Scripts ... 225
7.11 ... Branches, Loops, and Functions ... 230
7.12 ... Important Special Characters in Bash: Quick Reference ... 237
8 ... Zsh (Shell) ... 241
8.1 ... Installation and Configuration ... 242
8.2 ... Usage ... 247
8.3 ... Oh My Zsh ... 250
9 ... Files and Directories ... 253
9.1 ... Handling Files and Directories ... 253
9.2 ... Links ... 264
9.3 ... Finding Files (find, grep, and locate Commands) ... 266
9.4 ... Greater Convenience with Modern Commands ... 271
9.5 ... Access Rights, Users, and Group Membership ... 273
9.6 ... Special Bits and the umask Setting ... 279
9.7 ... Access Control Lists and Extended Attributes ... 285
9.8 ... The Linux Directory Structure ... 289
9.9 ... Device Files ... 293
10 ... Process Management ... 297
10.1 ... Starting, Managing, and Stopping Processes ... 297
10.2 ... Running Processes under a Different Identity (su) ... 305
10.3 ... Running Processes under a Different Identity (sudo) ... 307
10.4 ... Running Processes under a Different Identity (PolicyKit) ... 312
10.5 ... System Processes (Daemons) ... 315
10.6 ... Starting Processes Automatically (Cron) ... 318
10.7 ... Starting Processes Automatically (systemd Timer) ... 323
11 ... Network Tools ... 329
11.1 ... Determining the Network Status ... 329
11.2 ... Working on Other Computers (SSH) ... 334
11.3 ... Transferring Files (FTP and Others) ... 341
11.4 ... Lynx ... 346
11.5 ... Mutt ... 346
Part IV ... Text and Code Editors ... 349
12 ... Vim ... 351
12.1 ... Quick Start ... 352
12.2 ... Cursor Movement ... 355
12.3 ... Editing Text ... 356
12.4 ... Search and Replace ... 360
12.5 ... Editing Multiple Files Simultaneously ... 361
12.6 ... Internal Details ... 363
12.7 ... Tips and Tricks ... 366
13 ... Emacs ... 369
13.1 ... Quick Start ... 369
13.2 ... Cursor Movement ... 373
13.3 ... Editing Text ... 374
13.4 ... Search and Replace ... 379
13.5 ... Buffers and Windows ... 382
13.6 ... Special Editing Modes ... 384
13.7 ... Configuration ... 386
Part V ... System Configuration and Administration ... 389
14 ... Basic Configuration ... 391
14.1 ... Introduction ... 391
14.2 ... Configuration of the Text Consoles ... 395
14.3 ... Date and Time ... 397
14.4 ... Synchronizing Date and Time via NTP ... 399
14.5 ... Users, Groups, and Passwords ... 401
14.6 ... PAM, NSS, and Nscd ... 412
14.7 ... Language Setting, Internationalization, and Unicode ... 418
14.8 ... Hardware Reference ... 423
14.9 ... CPU Tuning ... 434
14.10 ... Notebook Optimization ... 438
14.11 ... Printing System (CUPS) ... 444
14.12 ... Logging (Syslog) ... 452
14.13 ... Logging (Journal) ... 460
14.14 ... Cockpit ... 463
15 ... Network Configuration ... 469
15.1 ... NetworkManager ... 469
15.2 ... Manual LAN and Wi-Fi Configuration ... 478
15.3 ... LAN Configuration Files ... 487
15.4 ... Distribution-Specific Configuration Files ... 491
15.5 ... Zeroconf and Avahi ... 502
16 ... Software and Package Management ... 505
16.1 ... Introduction ... 505
16.2 ... RPM Package Management ... 509
16.3 ... DNF ... 513
16.4 ... ZYpp ... 521
16.5 ... Debian Package Management (dpkg) ... 524
16.6 ... APT ... 527
16.7 ... Pacman ... 537
16.8 ... PackageKit ... 540
16.9 ... Firmware, BIOS, and EFI Updates ... 541
16.10 ... Managing Parallel Installations (Alternatives) ... 545
16.11 ... Flatpak and Snap ... 547
16.12 ... Distribution-Specific Characteristics ... 554
17 ... Graphics System ... 567
17.1 ... Basic Principles ... 567
17.2 ... Graphics Drivers ... 572
17.3 ... NVIDIA Driver Installation ... 576
17.4 ... Determining the Status of the Graphics System ... 582
17.5 ... Starting the Graphics System ... 586
18 ... File System Administration ... 591
18.1 ... How Everything Is Connected ... 593
18.2 ... Formatting and Using USB Media ... 594
18.3 ... Device Names for Hard Disks and Other Data Media ... 598
18.4 ... Partitioning the Hard Disk or SSD ... 603
18.5 ... The parted Command ... 605
18.6 ... Partitioning Tools with a Graphical User Interface ... 610
18.7 ... File System Types ... 611
18.8 ... mount, umount, and /etc/fstab ... 616
18.9 ... Basic Principles of File Systems ... 625
18.10 ... The ext File System (ext2, ext3, and ext4) ... 627
18.11 ... The btrfs File System ... 630
18.12 ... The xfs File System ... 646
18.13 ... Windows File Systems (vfat and ntfs) ... 647
18.14 ... Swap Partitions and Files ... 651
18.15 ... RAID ... 654
18.16 ... Logical Volume Manager ... 665
18.17 ... Self-Monitoring, Analysis, and Reporting Technology ... 670
18.18 ... SSD TRIM ... 675
18.19 ... Encryption ... 676
19 ... Grand Unified Bootloader ... 687
19.1 ... Basic Principles of GRUB ... 687
19.2 ... Operating GRUB (User View) ... 695
19.3 ... GRUB Configuration ... 696
19.4 ... Manual GRUB Installation and First Aid ... 704
19.5 ... systemd-boot ... 707
20 ... The Init System ... 711
20.1 ... systemd ... 711
20.2 ... Custom systemd Services ... 721
20.3 ... Shutdown, Reboot, and Halt ... 725
20.4 ... The Traditional Init-V System ... 726
20.5 ... System Startup on Fedora and RHEL ... 729
20.6 ... System Startup on Debian, Raspberry Pi OS, and Ubuntu ... 730
20.7 ... System Startup on SUSE/openSUSE ... 732
21 ... Kernel and Modules ... 735
21.1 ... Kernel Modules ... 736
21.2 ... Compiling Kernel Modules Yourself ... 742
21.3 ... Configuring and Compiling the Kernel Yourself ... 745
21.4 ... Kernel Live Patches ... 755
21.5 ... The /proc and /sys Directories ... 759
21.6 ... Kernel Boot Options ... 760
21.7 ... Changing Kernel Parameters ... 765
21.8 ... Spectre, Meltdown, and Others ... 765
Part VI ... Server Configuration ... 769
22 ... Server Installation ... 771
22.1 ... Basic Principles ... 771
22.2 ... Red Hat Enterprise Linux ... 779
22.3 ... Ubuntu Server ... 790
22.4 ... Debian Server Installation ... 793
22.5 ... Elastic Compute Cloud ... 795
23 ... Secure Shell (SSH) ... 809
23.1 ... Installation ... 809
23.2 ... Configuration and Security ... 810
23.3 ... Fail2Ban ... 812
23.4 ... Authentication with Keys ... 814
23.5 ... Two-Factor Authentication ... 818
23.6 ... Additional Tools ... 824
24 ... Apache ... 829
24.1 ... Apache ... 829
24.2 ... Encrypted Connections (HTTPS) ... 836
24.3 ... Let's Encrypt ... 844
24.4 ... Setting Up and Securing Web Directories ... 851
24.5 ... Virtual Hosts ... 859
24.6 ... Web Access Statistics ... 861
24.7 ... PHP ... 865
24.8 ... NGINX ... 869
25 ... MySQL and MariaDB ... 873
25.1 ... Installation and Commissioning ... 874
25.2 ... Administration Tools ... 883
25.3 ... Backups ... 888
25.4 ... Installing WordPress ... 891
26 ... Postfix and Dovecot ... 895
26.1 ... Introduction and Basic Principles ... 895
26.2 ... Postfix (MTA) ... 906
26.3 ... Postfix Encryption (TLS/STARTTLS) ... 915
26.4 ... Postfix Accounts ... 921
26.5 ... Dovecot (POP and IMAP Server) ... 931
26.6 ... Client Configuration ... 939
26.7 ... SpamAssassin ... 941
26.8 ... ClamAV (Virus Protection) ... 947
26.9 ... SPF, DKIM, and DMARC ... 949
26.10 ... Configuration Test and Troubleshooting ... 961
27 ... Samba ... 963
27.1 ... Basic Principles and Terminology ... 963
27.2 ... Basic Configuration and Commissioning ... 969
27.3 ... Password Management ... 976
27.4 ... Network Directories ... 982
27.5 ... Example: Home and Media Server ... 990
27.6 ... Example: Company Server ... 993
27.7 ... SMB Client Access ... 996
Part VII ... Security ... 1005
28 ... Backups ... 1007
28.1 ... Déjà Dup ... 1007
28.2 ... Back In Time ... 1010
28.3 ... Grsync ... 1013
28.4 ... Borg Backup ... 1015
28.5 ... Compressing and Archiving Files ... 1019
28.6 ... Synchronizing Directories (rsync) ... 1022
28.7 ... Incremental Backups (rdiff-backup) ... 1025
28.8 ... Incremental Backups (rsnapshot) ... 1027
28.9 ... Backup Scripts ... 1030
28.10 ... Backups to S3 Storage ... 1032
29 ... Firewalls ... 1039
29.1 ... Network Fundamentals and Analysis ... 1039
29.2 ... Basic Protection of Network Services ... 1045
29.3 ... Basic Firewall Principles ... 1049
29.4 ... Firewall Configuration Tools ... 1050
29.5 ... Custom Firewall Built Using nft ... 1057
30 ... SELinux and AppArmor ... 1069
30.1 ... SELinux ... 1069
30.2 ... AppArmor ... 1077
Part VIII ... Virtualization ... 1085
31 ... VirtualBox ... 1087
31.1 ... Installing VirtualBox ... 1087
31.2 ... Setting Up VirtualBox Machines ... 1091
31.3 ... Working Techniques and Configuration Tips ... 1096
32 ... QEMU and Kernel-Based Virtual Machine ... 1105
32.1 ... Basic Principles ... 1106
32.2 ... Virtual Machine Manager ... 1113
32.3 ... libvirt Commands ... 1119
32.4 ... Integrating Virtual Machines into the LAN (Network Bridge) ... 1125
32.5 ... Direct Access to the Contents of an Image File ... 1130
33 ... Windows Subsystem for Linux ... 1137
33.1 ... Checking Out WSL ... 1138
33.2 ... WSL Network Integration ... 1145
33.3 ... The wsl Command and WSL Configuration ... 1146
... The Author ... 1151
... Index ... 1153
