Free Unix and Linux Ebook

Practical UNIX & Internet Security

noreply@blogger.com (Indian Blogger) — Mon, 07 Dec 2009 18:13:00 +0000

By Simson Garfinkel & Gene Spafford

This book is divided into six parts; it includes 27 chapters and 7 appendixes.

Part I, Computer Security Basics, provides a basic introduction to security policy. The chapters are written to be accessible to both users and administrators. Chapter 1, Introduction, provides a history of the UNIX operating system and an introduction to UNIX security. It also introduces basic terms we use throughout the book. Chapter 2, Policies and Guidelines, examines the role of setting good policies to guide protection of your systems. It also describes the trade-offs that must be made to account for cost, risk, and corresponding benefits.

Part II, User Responsibilities, provides a basic introduction to UNIX host security. The chapters are written to be accessible to both users and administrators. Chapter 3 is about UNIX user accounts. It discusses the purpose of passwords, explains what makes good and bad passwords, and describes how the crypt( ) password encryption system works. Chapter 4, Users, Groups, and the Superuser, and the Superuser, describes how UNIX groups can be used to control access to files and devices. It also discusses the UNIX superuser and the role that special users play. Chapter 5, The UNIX Filesystem, discusses the security provisions of the UNIX filesystem and tells how to restrict access to files and directories to the file's owner, to a group of people, or to everybody on the computer system. Chapter 6, Cryptography, discusses the role of encryption and message digests in your security. It includes a discussion of several popular encryption schemes, including the PGP mail package

Part III, System Security, is directed primarily towards the UNIX system administrator. It describes how to configure UNIX on your computer to minimize the chances of a break-in, as well as to limit the opportunities for a nonprivileged user to gain superuser access. Chapter 7, Backups, discusses how and why to make archival backups of your storage. It includes discussions of backup strategies for different types of organizations. Chapter 8, Defending Your Accounts, describes ways that a computer cracker might try to initially break into your computer system. By knowing these "doors" and closing them, you increase the security of your system. Chapter 9, Integrity Management, discusses how to monitor your filesystem for unauthorized changes. This includes coverage of the use of message digests and read-only disks, and the configuration and use of the Tripwire utility. Chapter 10, Auditing and Logging, discusses the logging mechanisms that UNIX provides to help you audit the usage and behavior of your system. Chapter 11, Protecting Against Programmed Threats, is about computer viruses, worms, and Trojan horses. This chapter contains detailed tips that you can use to protect yourself from these electronic vermin. Chapter 12, Physical Security. What if somebody gets frustrated by your super-secure system and decides to smash your computer with a sledgehammer? This chapter describes physical perils that face your computer and its data and discusses ways of protecting them. Chapter 13, Personnel Security, examines concerns about who you employ and how they fit into your overall security scheme.

Part IV, Network and Internet Security, is about the ways in which individual UNIX computers communicate with one another and the outside world, and the ways that these systems can be subverted by attackers to break into your computer system. Because many attacks come from the outside, this part of the book is vital reading for anyone whose computer has outside connections. Chapter 14, Telephone Security, describes how modems work and provides step-by-step instructions for testing your computer's modems to see if they harbor potential security problems. Chapter 15, UUCP, is about the UNIX-to-UNIX copy system, which can use standard phone lines to copy files, transfer electronic mail, and exchange news. This chapter explains how UUCP works and tells you how to make sure that it can't be subverted to damage your system. Chapter 16, TCP/IP Networks, provides background on how TCP/IP networking programs work and describes the security problems they pose. Chapter 17, TCP/IP Services, discusses the common IP network services found on UNIX systems, coupled with common problems and pitfalls. Chapter 18, WWW Security, describes some of the issues involved in running a World Wide Web server without opening your system to security problems. The issues discussed here should also be borne in mind when operating any other kind of network-based information server. Chapter 19, RPC, NIS, NIS+, and Kerberos, discusses a variety of network information services. It covers some of how they work, and common pitfalls. Chapter 20, NFS, describes how Sun Microsystems' Network Filesystem works and its potential security problems.

Part V, Advanced Topics, discusses issues that arise when organizational networks are interconnected with the Internet. It also covers ways of increasing your security through better programming. Chapter 21, Firewalls, describes how to set up various types of firewalls to protect an internal network from an external attacker. Chapter 22, Wrappers and Proxies, describes a few common wrapper and proxying programs to help protect your machine and the programs within it without requiring access to source code. Chapter 23, Writing Secure SUID and Network Programs, describes common pitfalls when writing your own software. It gives tips on how to write robust software that will resist attack from malicious users.

Part VI, Handling Security Incidents, contains instructions about what to do if your computer's security is compromised. This part of the book will also help system administrators protect their systems from authorized users who are misusing their privileges. Chapter 24, Discovering a Break-in, contains step-by-step directions to follow if you discover that an unauthorized person is using your computer. Chapter 25, Denial of Service Attacks and Solutions, describes ways that legitimate, authorized users can make your system inoperable, ways that you can find out who is doing what, and what to do about it. Chapter 26, Computer Security and U.S. Law. Occasionally the only thing you can do is sue or try to have your attackers thrown into jail. This chapter describes the legal recourse you may have after a security breach and discusses why legal approaches are often not helpful. It also covers some emerging concerns about running server sites connected to a wide area network such as the Internet. Chapter 27, Who Do You Trust?, is the concluding chapter that makes the point that somewhere along the line, you need to trust a few things, and people. However, are you trusting the right ones?

Part VII, Appendixes, contains a number of useful lists and references. Appendix A, UNIX Security Checklist, contains a point-by-point list of many of the suggestions made in the text of the book. Appendix B, Important Files, is a list of the important files in the UNIX filesystem and a brief discussion of their security implications. Appendix C, UNIX Processes, is a technical discussion of how the UNIX system manages processes. It also describes some of the special attributes of processes, including the UID, GID, and SUID. Appendix D lists books, articles, and magazines about computer security. Appendix E, Electronic Resources, is a brief listing of some significant security tools to use with UNIX, including directions on where to find them on the Internet. Appendix F, Organizations, contains the names, telephone numbers, and addresses of organizations that are devoted to seeing computers become more secure. Appendix G, Table of IP Services, lists all of the common TCP/IP protocols, along with their port numbers and suggested handling by a firewall.

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Linux Cluster HOWTO

noreply@blogger.com (Indian Blogger) — Thu, 26 Nov 2009 19:14:00 +0000

Linux Cluster HOWTO is written by Ram Samudrala. This document describes how we set up our Linux computing clusters for high-performance computing which we need for our research.

Unlike other documentation that talks about setting up clusters in a general way, this is a specific description of how our lab is setup and includes not only details the compute aspects, but also the desktop, laptop, and public server aspects.

Following are the topic covered in this Linux cluster documentation.

Hardware: Node hardware, Server hardware, Desktop and terminal hardware, Miscellaneous/accessory hardware, Putting-it-all-together hardware, Costs
Software: Operating system: Linux, of course, Networking software, Parallel processing software, Costs
Set up, configuration, and maintenance: Disk configuration, Linux Package configuration, Linux Operating system installation and maintenance, Known hardware issues, Known software issues
Performing tasks on the Linux cluster: Rough benchmarks, Uptimes

Linux Kernel Development

noreply@blogger.com (Indian Blogger) — Thu, 26 Nov 2009 19:08:00 +0000

Linux Kernel Development is written by Greg Kroah-Hartman, Jonathan Corbet and Amanda McPherson. This linux ebook explains you about linux kernel development, how fast it is going, who is doing kernel developments, why they are doing and who is sponsoring it, etc.

The kernel which forms the core of the Linux system is the result of one of the largest cooperative software projects ever attempted. Regular 2-3 month releases deliver stable updates to Linux users, each with significant new features, added device support, and improved performance. The rate of change in the kernel is high and increasing, with over 10,000 patches going into each recent kernel release. These releases each contain the work of over 1000 developers representing around 200 corporations.

Since 2005, over 5000 individual developers from nearly 500 different companies have contributed to the kernel. The Linux kernel, thus, has become a common resource developed on a massive scale by companies which are fierce competitors in other areas.

A number of changes have been noted since this paper was first published in 2008:

We have seen a roughly 10% increase in the number of developers contributing to each kernel release cycle.
The rate of change has increased significantly; the number of lines of code added to the kernel
each day has nearly tripled.
The kernel code base has grown by over 2.7 million lines
The overall picture shows a robust development community which continues to grow both in size and in productivity.

Introduction
The Linux kernel is the lowest level of software running on a Linux system. It is charged with managing the hardware, running user programs, and maintaining the overall security and integrity of the whole system. It is this kernel which, after its initial release by Linus Torvalds in 1991, jump-started the development of Linux as a whole. The kernel is a relatively small part of the software on a full Linux system (many other large components come from the GNU project, the GNOME and KDE desktop projects, the X.org project, and many other sources), but it is the core which determines how well the system will work and is the piece which is truly unique to Linux.

Introduction to Linux : A Hands on Guide

noreply@blogger.com (Indian Blogger) — Thu, 26 Nov 2009 18:51:00 +0000

Introduction to Linux : A hands on Guide is written by Machtelt Garrels. This linux ebook covers linux history, properties of linux, linux absolute basics, linux files and file system, linux file security, linux partitions, linux processes, I/O redirection, Linux text editors, X window system, linux shell environment, linux graphics, linux printing, linux backup techniques, linux networking, network security, sound and video, and more.

Why this guide?
Many people still believe that learning Linux is difficult, or that only experts can understand how a Linux system works. Though there is a lot of free documentation available, the documentation is widely scattered on the Web, and often confusing, since it is usually oriented toward experienced UNIX or Linux users. Today, thanks to the advancements in development, Linux has grown in popularity both at home and at work. The goal of this guide is to show people of all ages that Linux can be simple and fun, and used for all kinds of purposes.

Who should read this book?
This guide was created as an overview of the Linux Operating System, geared toward new users as an exploration tour and getting started guide, with exercises at the end of each chapter. For more advanced trainees it can be a desktop reference, and a collection of the base knowledge needed to proceed with system and network administration. This book contains many real life examples derived from the author's experience as a Linux system and network administrator, trainer and consultant. We hope these examples will help you to get a better understanding of the Linux system and that you feel encouraged to try out things on your own. Everybody who wants to get a "CLUE", a Command Line User Experience, with Linux (and UNIX in general) will find this book useful.

Oracle Unbreakable Linux FAQ

noreply@blogger.com (Indian Blogger) — Thu, 26 Nov 2009 18:27:00 +0000

Following are the linux faq covered in this oracle unbreakable linux article.

What is Oracle Unbreakable Linux?
What does Oracle deliver with Unbreakable Linux support?
Who can take advantage of Oracle’s Linux support?
How can Oracle provide enterprise-quality support for Linux while lowering cost?
Why is Oracle offering Linux support?
How does Oracle work with the Linux community?
Does Oracle run its business and product development on Linux?
How much do I pay for Linux support from Oracle?
Does Oracle indemnify users against intellectual property infringement claims?
Is Oracle taking Red Hat’s source code?
What happens to third party application certification if I start using Oracle’s Linux Support?
What happens if Red Hat does not take Oracle's patches in their release?
Which hardware platforms does Oracle support?
How can I find out which third party providers have endorsed Oracle?
What is the Unbreakable Linux Network (ULN)?
How can users manage their Linux servers once they download patches from ULN?
Is cluster software included with Unbreakable Linux support?
How does Oracle support Linux x86, Linux x86-64, and Linux Itanium architectures?
What Red Hat code does Oracle Enterprise Linux offer – AS, ES or WS?
Does Oracle provide support for Red Hat Global File System (GFS), Red Hat Cluster Suite (RHCS), or Red Hat Application Server (RHAS)?
What is the transition path for existing Red Hat and Novell Linux users?
When switching to Unbreakable Linux support for my current Red Hat Enterprise Linux installations, am I required to remove any Red Hat logos or other Red Hat files from my system?
Will Oracle continue to support other operating systems?
Will Oracle continue to support customers that are using Oracle products on Red Hat RHEL, Novell SLES,and Asianux?
How do I get more information and purchase Linux support from Oracle?

Electronic Guide to ARMLinux for Developers - the book online

noreply@blogger.com (Indian Blogger) — Sat, 27 Dec 2008 11:40:00 +0000

By aleph1.co.uk

Preface
We hope you find this book useful. If you have bought it along with another Aleph One Product such as the LART development kit, or Aleph ARMLinux, then please take the time to read it so that you know what you have, where to start, how to install, and where to turn if you have problems.

Introduction
This book tries to cover a range of hardware and aspects of ARMLinux. It assumes that you are at least a competent computer user, more likely an experienced developer, but perhaps not very familiar with GNU/Linux or the ARM and its development platforms.

There are many things that are specific to different items of hardware, and many things that are common across various devices. We have tried to avoid too much repetition, but we have also tried to make the text reasonably linear in the hardware chapters. This is inevitably a compromise. In general you should find that reading through the relevant hardware chapter will get you going, but will not go into much depth about why you are doing things and what other options there might be at each stage. We refer to other chapters that have more details on each aspect (using JFlash, patching the kernel, etc) throughout these texts. If you have feedback on the book we'd be very happy to have it, so as to improve future versions - see Chapter 13.

In a fast-moving field like this, this book will always be a work-in-progress. We give the current state of the art at the time of writing, but recognise that this will soon change. Thus we try to provide links to the places online where you can get the latest info. When you find things that are out of date, of just plain wrong, please tell us.

There will be future editions covering more devices and more subject areas. Things that will definately be in the next release are coverage of porting the kernel to a new ARM device, more information for developers using a Windows host PC rather than a Linux one, and more on debugging and simulation techniques....

Download free Linux and Unix Ebooks

noreply@blogger.com (Indian Blogger) — Thu, 31 Jan 2008 19:56:00 +0000

This posting helps you to get free linux and unix ebooks and tutorials explaining unix commands, unix shell, unix programming, unix shell scripting, unix tutorial, suse linux, rehat linux, debian linux, slackware linux, linux server, linux commands, fedora linux, linux gui, linux networking, unix time sharing concepts, programming linux games, samba-3, motif programming, unix signal programming, AWK, Vi Editor, Motif, unix networkig, linux/unix FAQ, and linux complete reference, etc. This free ebooks master you in unix and linux versions.

You can get free unix and linux ebooks from the following links. Visit these free download links and master in unix and linux.

Online Linux Ebook Library

noreply@blogger.com (Administrator) — Fri, 23 Mar 2007 10:52:00 +0000

This linux ebook library contains various ebooks on

Linux Documentation
Red Hat Linux Documentation
Fedora Documentation
Suse Linux Documentation

Linux Documentation

Advanced Bash-Scripting Guide
Bash Guide for Beginners
Custom Linux: A Porting Guide
Emacspeak User's Guide
EVMS User Guide
GNU/Linux Command-Line Tools Summary
Guide to Managing Media & Public Relations in Linux
Introduction to Linux
LDP Author Guide
Linux Administration Made Easy
Linux Dictionary
Linux Filesystem Hierarchy
Linux From Scratch
Linux Kernel 2.4 Internals
Linux on the Road
Pocket Linux Guide
The Bugzilla Guide
The Linux Kernel Module Progr. Guide (for Linux kernel 2.4)
The Linux Kernel Module Progr. Guide (for Linux kernel 2.6)
The Linux Network Administrator's Guide, 2nd Edition
The Linux System Administrator's Guide
Windows+BSD+Linux Installation Guide

Red Hat Linux Documentation

Red Hat Enterprise Linux 3
Red Hat Linux 9
Red Hat Linux Reference Guide
Red Hat Linux Security Guide
Red Hat Linux System Administration Primer
Red Hat Linux Glossary
Red Hat Network
Red Hat Cluster Suite/Red Hat GFS
Red Hat Application Server
Red Hat Content Accelerator
Red Hat Database
Embedded DevKit (EDK)
GNUPro Toolkit
eCos
Red Hat Web Application Framework
Red Hat Content Management System
Red Hat Portal Server
Red Hat Collaboration Applications
Source Navigator
Stronghold Enterprise
Red Hat Glossary

Fedora Documentation

Fedora Core Installation Guide
Fedora Core 6 Installation Guide
Fedora Core 5 Installation Guide
Fedora Core 4 Installation Guide
Fedora Core SELinux FAQ
Fedora Core 5 SELinux FAQ
Fedora Core 3 SELinux FAQ
Fedora Core 2 SELinux FAQ
Stateless Linux Tutorial
Udev on Fedora
Understanding and Customizing the Apache HTTP SELinux Policy (Beta Document)
Managing Software with yum
Developer's Guide
Documentation Guide
Translation Quick Start Guide

SuSE Linux Documentation

SuSE Linux 10.2
SuSE Linux 10.1
SuSE Linux 10.0
SuSE Linux 9.3
SuSE Linux 9.2
SuSE Linux 9.1
SuSE Linux 9.0
Start-Up Guide
KDE Quick Start Guide
GNOME Quick Start Guide
KDE User Guide
GNOME User Guide
Reference Guide
AppArmor Administration Guide

I recommend this as a very nice library of linux ebooks available on web.

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Red Hat Linux 7 Unleashed

noreply@blogger.com (Administrator) — Fri, 23 Mar 2007 10:41:00 +0000

By William Ball

Welcome to Red Hat Linux!

If you're new to Linux, choosing a Linux distribution to install can be confusing. Relax! You've made the right choice in choosing Red Hat Linux. Nearly 60% of Linux installations either are Red Hat or based on Red Hat Linux. You also made the right choice in choosing Red Hat Linux 7 Unleashed! This is the latest edition of the best-selling book on Red Hat Linux. A whole new team of authors has been put together for this edition with the task of giving you all the details about installing, administering, and using the latest version of the newest and best alternative computer operating system for today's PCs. You'll find CD-ROMs in the back of this book that contain the latest version of Intel-based Red Hat Linux and all the software you'll need to get started.

If you're a fan of Linux, you know that Linux is growing in popularity by leaps and bounds. Even better, major improvements and updates to existing software have been made right along with the increase in the Linux user base—Linux is now even easier to install! You'll also be quite pleased to learn about the new features and improvements included with the latest Linux kernels, such as support for a number of USB devices. If you've read a previous edition of Red Hat Linux Unleashed, take note of the vast number of improvements we've made to this edition. I think you'll agree that Red Hat Linux 7 Unleashed is an indispensable companion for the advanced Linux user.

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Debian GNU/Linux Desktop Survival Guide

noreply@blogger.com (Administrator) — Fri, 23 Mar 2007 10:33:00 +0000

by Graham Williams

Welcome to the world of GNU/Linux, liberating the computing desktop from the shackles of proprietary interests.

The aim of this book is to get you up to speed with GNU/Linux and to deliver a fun and productive environment. It guides you through the many different regions of a GNU/Linux system with a focus on getting your desktop environment to do what you want it to do. It is comprehensive with basic support for the user who installs and maintains the system themselves (whether in the home, office, club, or school). It provides insights and step-by-step procedures that deal with specific tasks in setting your system up and maintaining it. The book covers many of the core features of a GNU/Linux system and you will gain the knowledge to enjoy and use one of the most comprehensive and useful developments in the history of computing.

The details in this book are presented in the context of Debian GNU/Linux--the most open of the GNU/Linux distributions and the distribution setting the standards for free (as in liberty) software and collaborative developments. In general the details translate directly to Red Hat and other standard distributions of GNU/Linux. A growing number of the applications (including OpenOffice, AbiWord, The Gimp, Dia and gPhoto, to name just a few) are cross-platform developments and run also under MS/Windows. The chapters that cover these applications in this book will also generally apply to those versions.

The structure of this on-line version of the book is basically alphabetical. Each individual chapter aims to be a standalone reference. The book includes an overview of GNU/Linux and its history, a guide to installing GNU/Linux, introductions to the suite of GNU/Linux desktop productivity tools, and recipes for tuning specific parts of a GNU/Linux system.

The book begins with an introduction to the world of GNU/Linux, Free/Libre Open Source Software (as in liberty or free speech, not price or free beer), and the Free and Open Source Software movement. Software covers computer applications that equal, and often surpass, the commercial offerings of the same or equivalent functionality. However, the freedom we are talking about here is more the freedom to choose between the offerings, not necessarily the lack of a purchase fee for the software.

In this book we present historical and philosophical perspectives. Chapter 3 briefly reviews GNU/Linux, the various distributions, the licensing issues, and the freedom that GNU/Linux delivers, and the considerable attack on our freedom represented by software patents and the incredible invested interests and wealth behind the push for software patents.

There are many ways of obtaining GNU/Linux and we only cover the most common approaches. Chapter 4 provides an overview of installing Debian with detailed examples for a number of hardware platforms. Chapter 5 is a brief introduction to some of the essential GNU/Linux utilities that you are likely to come across soon. The Debian packaging system used to manage (and take all of the hard work out of maintaining) packages is described in Chapter 3.5. Setting up the X Window System is covered in Chapter 102. By this stage you will have a system ready to take full advantage of. On a more technical level Chapter 50 shows how simple it is to compile your own kernel to suit your hardware requirements.

The remaining alphabetical chapters cover the Desktop Environment and Debian GNU/Linux administration.

All of the major classes of desktop tools are covered, including word processing, spreadsheets, personal information management, graphics, databases and, of course, games. Also included are chapters covering some of the tools for developers, including emacs and glade. The aim is to set you well on the road to using these tools at a level that is sufficient for many users. Of course, each tool itself deserves, and often has available for it, a book or extensive manuals.

The administration chapters cover very many different topics that let you tune your GNU/Linux system to suit your needs. Not everything here is relevant to everybody, but it brings together many recipes for many of the typical tasks that users sometimes need to know about, again without going into exhaustive detail (which is available elsewhere if you need it or are interested).

So sit back and cherish the liberty of free software and become part of the community that is making computers and the applications they run a benefit to society world wide, rather than a costly privilege.

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Oreilly Unix Linux Ebook Sample Chapters

noreply@blogger.com (Administrator) — Thu, 22 Mar 2007 22:09:00 +0000

Applying RCS and SCCS
Chapter 3: Basic Source Control Using RCS
Chapter 4: Basic Source Control Using SCCS

BSD Hacks
Chapter 67: Automate Security Patches
Chapter 82: Build a Port Without the Ports Tree
Chapter 100: Fun with X
Chapter 98: Rotate your Signature
Chapter 57: Tighten Security with Mandatory Access Control

Building Embedded Linux Systems
Chapter 5: Kernel Considerations

Building Secure Servers with Linux
Chapter 10: System Log Management and Monitoring

Classic Shell Scripting
Chapter 5: Pipelines Can Do Amazing Things

CVS Pocket Reference
Sample Excerpt: Administrator Commands

Effective awk Programming
Chapter 10: Advanced Features of gawk
Chapter 9: Internationalization with gawk

Essential System Administration
Chapter 11: Backup and Restore

Essential System Administration Pocket Reference
Sample Excerpt: User Accounts

Exim: The Mail Transfer Agent
Chapter 3: Exim Overview

Exploring Expect
Chapter 3: Getting Started With Expect

Exploring the JDS Linux Desktop
Chapter 4: JDS Networking

Extreme Programming Pocket Guide
Sample Excerpt: Roles in Extreme Programming

Fedora Linux
Chapter 1: Quick Start: Installing Fedora

GIMP Pocket Reference
Sample Excerpt: The Toolbox

Greasemonkey Hacks
Chapter 58: Add Keyboard Shortcuts to Google Search Results
Chapter 66: Add Saved Searches to Gmail
Chapter 84: Bypass Annoying Site Registrations
Chapter 94: Compare Book Prices
Chapter 37: Keep Track of Secure Site Passwords
Chapter 76: Make Google More Accessible for Low-Vision Users
Chapter 28: Make Pop-up Titles Prettier
Chapter 89: Syndicate Encrypted Content
Chapter 46: Trace XMLHttpRequest Activity

Hackers & Painters
Chapter 2: Hackers and Painters

High Performance Linux Clusters with OSCAR, Rocks, OpenMosix, and MPI
Chapter 10: Management Software

Knoppix Hacks
Chapter 46: Check for Root Kits
Chapter 40: Create an Emergency Router
Chapter 5: Free Your CD to Make Knoppix Run Faster
Chapter 33: Install Knoppix as a Single-Boot System
Chapter 61: Migrate to a New Hard Drive
Chapter 78: Scan for Viruses

Learning GNU Emacs
Chapter 6: Writing Macros

Learning Red Hat Enterprise Linux and Fedora
Chapter 10: Connecting to the Internet

Learning the bash Shell
Chapter 4: Basic Shell Programming

Learning the Korn Shell
Chapter 4: Basic Shell Programming

Learning the Unix Operating System
Chapter 2: Using Window Systems

Learning the vi Editor
Chapter 8: vi Clones Feature Summary

Linux Cookbook
Chapter 14: Printing with CUPS

Linux Desktop Hacks
Chapter 40: Create Your Own KDE Right-Click Menu Actions
Chapter 8: Jazz Up Your Debian System Boot
Chapter 20: Scrap X11 for Fancy Login Consoles
Chapter 97: Use an iPod with Linux
Chapter 54: View Word and PDF Files from Within Mutt

Linux Desktop Pocket Guide
Chapter 1: Distributions

Linux Device Drivers
Chapter 13: USB Drivers

Linux in a Nutshell
Chapter 4: Boot Methods

Linux in a Windows World
Chapter 7: Using NT Domains for Linux Authentication

Linux Network Administrator's Guide
Chapter 18: Wireless Networking

Linux Pocket Guide
Sample Excerpt: File Properties
Sample Excerpt: Programming with Shell Scripts

Linux Security Cookbook
Chapter 9: Testing and Monitoring (Sample Recipes)

Linux Server Hacks
Chapter 45: Creating a Firewall from the Command Line of any Server
Chapter 79: Distributing Server Load with Round-Robin DNS
Chapter 48: Forwarding TCP Ports to Arbitrary Machines
Chapter 73: Global Search and Replace with Perl
Chapter 58: Monitor System Resources with top
Chapter 15: Playing Hunt the Disk Hog
Chapter 66: Quick Logins with ssh Client Keys
Chapter 90: Simplistic Ad Referral Tracking
Chapter 38: Using rsync over ssh

Linux Server Hacks, Volume Two
Chapter 13: Autostart VNC Servers on Demand
Chapter 48: Create a Copy-on-Write Snapshot of an LVM Volume
Chapter 96: Piece Together Data from the lost+found
Chapter 74: Profile Your Systems Using /proc
Chapter 84: Send Log Messages to Your Jabber Client

Linux Server Security
Chapter 12: System Log Management and Monitoring

Linux Unwired
Chapter 3: Getting On the Network

Managing NFS and NIS
Chapter 15: Debugging Network Problems

Managing Projects with GNU Make
Chapter 12: Debugging Makefiles

Managing RAID on Linux
Chapter 2: Planning and Architecture

Mastering FreeBSD and OpenBSD Securit
Chapter 1: The Big Picture

MySQL in a Nutshell
Chapter 6: Date and Time Functions

Objective-C Pocket Reference
Sample Excerpt: Object Life Cycle

Open Sources 2.0
Sample Excerpt: Introduction

OpenOffice.org Writer
Chapter 2: Writing, Editing, and Reviewing Documents

Physics for Game Developers
Chapter 6: Projectiles

Postfix: The Definitive Guide
Chapter 9: Mail Relaying

Practical PostgreSQL
Chapter 2: Installing PostgreSQL

Programming with Qt
Chapter 8: Container Classes

UNIX at Fermilab

noreply@blogger.com (Administrator) — Thu, 22 Mar 2007 20:49:00 +0000

In order to protect against unauthorized access to Fermilab computers, the Computing Division has implemented the Kerberos Network Authentication Service V5, developed at MIT, to provide what is known as strong authentication over the network.

"Authentication" refers to verifying the identities of networked users, clients and servers. "Strong" authentication is a means of verifying these identities without transmitting passwords over the network, and without requiring that the network itself be protected.

Kerberos v5 is the strong authentication program that Fermilab computers are required to run. Kerberos authenticates users by way of exchanging electronic tickets between clients and services. It cleverly encrypts and de-encrypts these tickets before and after transmitting them.

A machine on which Kerberos v5 has been installed and which enforces the Kerberos authentication is referred to as a strengthened or Kerberized machine.

The "heart" of a Kerberos system is the Key Distribution Center (KDC), which maintains a database of member computers and users, and grants authentication requests. The set of member computers make up what's called a "strengthened realm". At Fermilab, the strengthened realm for UNIX machines is called FNAL.GOV.

All UNIX machines at Fermilab are required to be configured such that they are members of the FNAL.GOV realm. Off-site machines used for Fermilab-related work may also be configured as such.

Once you have authenticated to the FNAL.GOV realm on your desktop, you can freely access over the network any computer in this realm on which you have an account, without retyping your (FNAL.GOV) Kerberos password!

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Unix Filesystem Hierarchy Standard

noreply@blogger.com (Administrator) — Thu, 22 Mar 2007 20:36:00 +0000

By Filesystem Hierarchy Standard Group

Edited by Rusty Russell, Daniel Quinlan, and Christopher Yeoh

This standard consists of a set of requirements and guidelines for file and directory placement under UNIX-like operating systems. The guidelines are intended to support interoperability of applications, system administration tools, development tools, and scripts as well as greater uniformity of documentation for these systems.

The Filesystem

This standard assumes that the operating system underlying an FHS-compliant file system supports the same basic security features found in most UNIX filesystems.

It is possible to define two independent distinctions among files: shareable vs. unshareable and variable vs. static. In general, files that differ in either of these respects should be located in different directories. This makes it easy to store files with different usage characteristics on different filesystems.

"Shareable" files are those that can be stored on one host and used on others. "Unshareable" files are those that are not shareable. For example, the files in user home directories are shareable whereas device lock files are not.

"Static" files include binaries, libraries, documentation files and other files that do not change without system administrator intervention. "Variable" files are files that are not static.

Historical UNIX-like filesystem hierarchies contained both static and variable files under both /usr and /etc.

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Basic Unix Tutorial

noreply@blogger.com (Administrator) — Thu, 22 Mar 2007 20:30:00 +0000

The University of Chicago

If you are just starting with Unix, you should probably begin by reading the Unix: Getting Your Feet Wet document. If you're already using Unix, or know the information in the "Unix: Getting Your Feet Wet" document, this "Basic Unix" document includes a lot of further information.

So What is Unix, Exactly
Unix is a computer operating system first developed at Bell Labs (and, to get the legal language out of the way, a trademark of AT&T Bell Laboratories). An "operating system" is a master program which coordinates other programs' activities and manages files.

One of the most popular and widespread operating systems in the world, Unix runs on more brands of computers than probably any other operating system in existence. This is partly because Unix is "portable": it is written in C, a high-level, machine-independent language. Programs written on one Unix machine can be easily adapted to other Unix machines (C is particularly well-integrated with the operating system itself).

In addition, Unix is based on a collection of small, easily understood utilities which allow you to connect them in many different ways (and in ways that the authors did not predict), building procedures and sophisticated tasks to suit your own needs. This "Unix philosophy" is often contrasted with monolithic programming environments (IBM mainframes or the Macintosh *** are sometimes mentioned) in which you can only perform tasks the system designers could predict; such systems, while becoming increasingly complex, often have bells and whistles you may not use, and lack those you want.

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UNIX Unleashed, Internet Edition

noreply@blogger.com (Administrator) — Thu, 22 Mar 2007 20:22:00 +0000

By Robin Burk and David B. Horvath

Our highly popular first edition brought comprehensive, up-to-date information on UNIX to a wide audience. That original edition was already 1,600 pages. The new topics covered in this edition have obliged us to split the second edition into two volumes, namely, the System Administrator's Edition and the Internet Edition, which we'll refer to jointly as "the new" or the second edition. Though each volume can stand alone and may be read independently of the other, they form a complementary set with frequent cross-references. This new edition is written for:

People new to UNIX
Anyone using UNIX who wants to learn more about the system and its utilities
Programmers looking for a tutorial and reference guide to C, C++, Perl, awk, and the UNIX shells
System administrators concerned about security and performance on their machines
Webmasters and Internet server administrators
Programmers who want to write Web pages and implement gateways to server databases
Anyone who wants to bring his or her UNIX skills and knowledge base up-to-date

A lot has happened in the UNIX world since the first edition of UNIX Unleashed was released in 1994. Perhaps the most important change is the tremendous growth of the Internet and the World Wide Web. Much of the public Internet depends on UNIX-based servers. In addition, many corporations of all sizes have turned to UNIX as the environment for network and data servers. As UNIX fans have long known, the original open operating system is ideal for connecting heterogeneous computers and networks into a seamless whole.

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UNIX Unleashed, System Administrator's Edition

noreply@blogger.com (Administrator) — Thu, 22 Mar 2007 20:13:00 +0000

By Robin Burk and David B. Horvath

This edition of UNIX Unleashed includes a substantial amount of new information describing Internet and World Wide Web technologies in UNIX. New topics include:

Programming Web pages with HTML
Object-oriented programming in C++
Programming Common Gateway Interfaces (CGI) using Perl, C/C++, HTML, and the UNIX shells
MIME, the Multipurpose Internet Mail Extension
HTTP, the HyperText Transfer Protocol
Web servers and server performance

As UNIX becomes the platform of choice for critical network and data applications, UNIX vendors have placed increased emphasis on system maturity, ease-of-use, and security capabilities. Even with the growth of Microsoft Windows NT, UNIX still has a place in the industry. It is more mature, more stable, more scaleable, and has a wider array of applications than NT. Many people claim that NT is the open operating system of the future; that may be true (I have my own personal opinion), but for now, UNIX holds that place.

We've also updated this edition of UNIX Unleashed to bring you current information regarding:

Frequently Asked Questions (FAQs) about the most popular variants of UNIX
Security issues and the technologies you can use to protect your system and its information against intruders and malicious users
The most popular Graphical User Interfaces (GUIs)

As with the original edition, we set out to bring users the most comprehensive, useful, and up-to-date UNIX guide. To meet this goal, we've added nearly two dozen new chapters and have revised much of the original material in the book. The resulting book is so large that it is now divided into two volumes. The System Administrator's Edition introduces UNIX and contains much of the information required for basic users and for systems administrators. The Internet Edition includes advanced information for programmers, Internet/Web developers, and those who need detailed information regarding specific UNIX flavors.

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UNIX ON-LINE Man Pages - Solaris Service

noreply@blogger.com (Administrator) — Thu, 22 Mar 2007 19:50:00 +0000

By David Adams

These are the UNIX man pages for the Solaris service, converted to html on the fly by a shell script. Here are the intro pages of each section:

This Unix online manual contains commands available with unix operating system, system administrators commands, commands that are used chiefly for system maintenance and administration purposes, commands found only in the SunOS/BSD Compatibility Package, commands for communicating with other systems, commands associated with Form and Menu Language Interpreter (FMLI), commands specific to the SunOS system, system calls, functions found in various Solaris libraries, shared library and each header used by functions, macros, and external variables, formats of various files, POSIX (IEEE) Standards and the X/Open Specifications, macros, Federated Naming Service (fns, fns_initial_context, fns_policies, and fns_references), character and block devices, STREAMS modules, network protocols, file systems, ioctl requests for driver subsystems and classes.......

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Linux Dictionary Version 0.16

noreply@blogger.com (Administrator) — Thu, 22 Mar 2007 19:40:00 +0000

By Binh Nguyen

This document is designed to be a resource for those Linux users wishing to seek clarification on Linux/UNIX/POSIX related terms and jargon. At approximately 24000 definitions and two thousand pages it is one of the largest Linux related dictionaries currently available. Due to the rapid rate at which new terms are being created it has been decided that this will be an active project. We welcome input into the content of this document. At this moment in time half yearly updates are being envisaged.

a-Linux
a-Linux is an x86 floppy-based mini-distribution, where assembly code meets Linux kernel. It contains only programs written in assembly language. It is extemely small, yet functional, and provides HTTP and FTP services out-of-the-box. Initial version 0.17 was released August 17, 2002. A floppy-based distribution. From LWN Distribution List.......

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Red Hat Linux Complete Command Reference

noreply@blogger.com (Administrator) — Sun, 11 Feb 2007 23:14:00 +0000

Compiled By J. Purcel, Red Hat Software Inc.

Red Hat Linux Complete Command Reference book is divided into 9 Parts.

They are

User Commands
System Calls
Library Functions
Special Files
File Formats
Games
Miscellaneous
Adminstration and Privilaged Commands
Kernal Reference Guide
Index

Linux complete reference shows you all the commands with great description and examples and make you master how to install, configure, and manage Red Hat Linux operating system. This book contains 1527 pages.

The complete Red Hat Linux resource available in downloadable format! Get in-depth details on Red Hat Linux installation, administration, management, and troubleshooting. You'll master the major GUIs, Gnome, KDE, and the FVWM Windows Manager, and you'll find step-by-step coverage of dual boot installation.

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Sams teach yourself Linux in 24 Hours

noreply@blogger.com (Administrator) — Sun, 11 Feb 2007 23:02:00 +0000

By Bill Ball

Welcome to Linux! You hold in your hands everythin you need to install and use one of the most powerful computer operating systems in the world. This book is designed to help guide you through the process of learning about Linux. To make the task even easier, this book uses one of the best Linux distributions on the market today - OpenLinux from Caldera Systems, Inc.

Although the title of this book is Teach Yourself Linux in 24 Hours, you won't be alone while you learn. As you're taken from installation through system administration to playing games, you'll find advice, tips, and hints to help you along the way. Before you know it, you'll be familiar with the terms, topics, and technical concepts dealing with the hottest and newest operating system in the world - LInux!

Teach Yourself Linux in 24 Hours is designed to help you learn quickly. You'll find it an indispensable guide to installing Linux and getting right to work. This helps you overcome technical obstacles, explains complex subjects in simple language, and shows you some neat tricks to make your computing experience easier.

Each section of this book gives you an hour's worth of knowledge and examples you can run as you learn. By the way, this book was created, developed, and edited using the software included on the book's CD-ROM. I hope you enjoy teaching yourself Linux!

Sams' Teach Yourself Linux in 24 Hours

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UNIXhelp for Users

noreply@blogger.com (Administrator) — Sun, 11 Feb 2007 17:58:00 +0000

Computing Services

University of Edinburgh

Helpful information for users of the UNIX operating system, developed at the University of Edinburgh from work funded by the ITTI. Please read this disclaimer.

UNIXhelp is mirrored around the world and freely available for local installation. This is Version 1.3.

Tasks

Getting started
Working with files and directories
Managing your working environment
Controlling access to your files and directories
Sending and receiving electronic mail
Editing text files
Managing jobs and processes
Writing shell scripts

Commands

Using UNIX commands
Looking-up commands in the on-line manual
Alphabetical list of the most popular commands
UNIX commands for VMS users
UNIX commands for DOS users

Concepts

What is an operating system?
The UNIX file system
Understanding commands and processes
The shell

Utilities

Program development tools
Text editors
File manipulation utilities
File transfer utilities
UNIX shells

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The Art of Unix Programming

noreply@blogger.com (Administrator) — Sun, 11 Feb 2007 17:38:00 +0000

By Eric Steven Raymond

You should read this book if you are an experienced Unix programmer who is often in the position of either educating novice programmers or debating partisans of other operating systems, and you find it hard to articulate the benefits of the Unix approach.

You should read this book if you are a C, C++, or Java programmer with experience on other operating systems and you are about to start a Unix-based project.

You should read this book if you are a Unix user with novice-level up to middle-level skills in the operating system, but little development experience, and want to learn how to design software effectively under Unix.

You should read this book if you are a non-Unix programmer who has figured out that the Unix tradition might have something to teach you. We believe you're right, and that the Unix philosophy can be exported to other operating systems. So we will pay more attention to non-Unix environments (especially Microsoft operating systems) than is usual in a Unix book; and when tools and case studies are portable, we say so.

You should read this book if you are an application architect considering platforms or implementation strategies for a major general-market or vertical application. It will help you understand the strengths of Unix as a development platform, and of the Unix tradition of open source as a development method.

You should not read this book if what you are looking for is the details of C coding or how to use the Unix kernel API. There are many good books on these topics; Advanced Programming in the Unix Environment [Stevens92] is classic among explorations of the Unix API, and The Practice of Programming [Kernighan-Pike99] is recommended reading for all C programmers (indeed for all programmers in any language).

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Samba-3 by Example

noreply@blogger.com (Administrator) — Sun, 11 Feb 2007 17:33:00 +0000

Practical Exercises to Successful Deployment

Second Edition

By John H. Terpstra

Network administrators live busy lives. We face distractions and pressures that drive us to seek proven, working case scenarios that can be easily implemented. Often this approach lands us in trouble. There is a saying that, geometrically speaking, the shortest distance between two points is a straight line, but practically we find that the quickest route to a stable network solution is the long way around.

This book is your means to the straight path. It provides step-by-step, proven, working examples of Samba deployments. If you want to deploy Samba-3 with the least effort, or if you want to become an expert at deploying Samba-3 without having to search through lots of documentation, this book is the ticket to your destination.

Samba is software that can be run on a platform other than Microsoft Windows, for example, UNIX, Linux, IBM System 390, OpenVMS, and other operating systems. Samba uses the TCP/IP protocol that is installed on the host server. When correctly configured, it allows that host to interact with a Microsoft Windows client or server as if it is a Windows file and print server. This book will help you to implement Windows-compatible file and print services.

The examples presented in this book are typical of various businesses and reflect the problems and challenges they face. Care has been taken to preserve attitudes, perceptions, practices, and demands from real network case studies. The maximum benefit may be obtained from this book by working carefully through each exercise. You may be in a hurry to satisfy a specific need, so feel free to locate the example that most closely matches your need, copy it, and innovate as much as you like. Above all, enjoy the process of learning the secrets of MS Windows networking that is truly liberated by Samba.

The focus of attention in this book is Samba-3. Specific notes are made in respect of how Samba may be made secure. This book does not attempt to provide detailed information regarding secure operation and configuration of peripheral services and applications such as OpenLDAP, DNS and DHCP, the need for which can be met from other resources that are dedicated to the subject.

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The Book of Webmin Or: How I Learned to Stop Worrying and Love UNIX

noreply@blogger.com (Administrator) — Sun, 11 Feb 2007 17:27:00 +0000

By Joe Cooper

Webmin is a web-based graphical UNIX system administration tool written by Jamie Cameron in the Perl programming language that is designed to be lightweight, functional, and easily extensible. Webmin has been translated to over 20 languages and dialects at the time of this writing, and has been embraced by a number of hardware and operating system vendors as their default system administration tool. It is extremely portable, offering support for more than 35 different UNIX-like Operating Systems and Linux distributions. And it is very easily extended to support new features and options, due to an open and well documented API.

Webmin also happens to be a fast and easy to use tool for general UNIX system administration. This document attempts to introduce to you many of the concepts you will need to maintain a UNIX system using Webmin. While no single volume can address every aspect of UNIX system administration, a real effort has been made to provide both a solid introduction to many important tasks, and a nearly comprehensive reference to a typical UNIX server and its parts. It is my hope that with nothing more than this book, a copy of Webmin, and the documentation that accompanies your server, you will be able to configure the system to provide the most popular services, create a reasonable security policy, and manage your users and normal system maintenence tasks. Advanced topics are often covered, but I hope that it will not be at the expense of preventing you from seeing the forest for the trees.

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Understanding the Linux® Virtual Memory Manager

noreply@blogger.com (Administrator) — Sun, 11 Feb 2007 13:03:00 +0000

By Mel Gorman

Linux is developed with a stronger practical emphasis than a theoretical one. When new algorithms or changes to existing implementations are suggested, it is common to request code to match the argument. Many of the algorithms used in the Virtual Memory (VM) system were designed by theorists, but the implementations have now diverged considerably from the theory. In part, Linux does follow the traditional development cycle of design to implementation, but changes made in reaction to how the system behaved in the “real world” and intuitive decisions by developers are more common.

This means that the VM performs well in practice. However, very little VM documentation is available except for a few incomplete overviews on a small number of Web sites, except the Web site containing an earlier draft of this book, of course! This lack of documentation has led to the situation where the VM is fully understood only by a small number of core developers. New developers looking for information on how VM functions are generally told to read the source. Little or no information is available on the theoretical basis for the implementation. This requires that even a casual observer invest a large amount of time reading the code and studying the field of Memory Management.

This book gives a detailed tour of the Linux VM as implemented in 2.4.22 and gives a solid introduction of what to expect in 2.6. As well as discussing the implementation, the theory that Linux VM is based on will also be introduced. This is not intended to be a memory management theory book, but understanding why the VM is implemented in a particular fashion is often much simpler if the underlying basis is known in advance.

To complement the description, the appendices include a detailed code commentary on a significant percentage of the VM. This should drastically reduce the amount of time a developer or researcher needs to invest in understanding what is happening inside the Linux VM because VM implementations tend to follow similar code patterns even between major versions. This means that, with a solid understanding of the 2.4 VM, the later 2.5 development VMs and the 2.6 final release will be decipherable in a number of weeks.

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