This 5-day Deploying Ubuntu Server Edition course will provide participants with the skills they need to deploy, configure and maintain Ubuntu Server Edition within an enterprise infrastructure.

Offering the best of free software on a stable, fully-supported and secure platform, it's no surprise that Ubuntu Server Edition is changing the business server market.

In the three years since its initial launch, Ubuntu Server Edition can now be found in hundreds of organisations worldwide, delivering key services reliably, predictably, and cost-effectively.

This Ubuntu Server course is based on Ubuntu 8.04 LTS and will help system administrators to implement services at an advanced level.

INSTALLATION
Installation

• Checking hardware requirements
• Choosing, download and burning an installation CD
• Running the installer
• “Expert mode” installation
• Partitioning: (guided, manual, LVM)
• Software selection
• Why is there no root account?

Troubleshooting installations

• ACPI issues
• CD problems
• Saving installation logs
• Diagnosing boot failures

Logical Volumes

• The benefits of logical volumes
• Architecture
• Creating physical volumes, volume groups and logical volumes
• Extending logical volumes

Time synchronisation

DEBIAN PACKAGE MANAGEMENT

What is a Debian package?

Low-level package management

• Installing, listing and removing packages with dpkg
• Package configuration and re-configuration

High-level package management

• Repository structure: pockets and components
• The advanced packaging toolkit (APT)
• Specifying the location of repositories
• ackage dependencies
• Meta-packages and virtual packages

Repository management

• Creating a local repository
• Configuring a proxy server
• Mirroring a repository

VIRTUALIZATION AND DEPLOYMENT
Virtualization

• Setting up a KVM host
• Virtual machine management using libvirt
• Creating a guest
• Building machine images with ubuntu-vm-builder
• Creating virtual appliances with JeOS

Automated installation

• Kickstart and pre-seeding
• Creating a kickstart file
• Making a kickstart file available to the target installation
• Installing from a local server
• Cloning and its limitations

Automating Updates

Server management using Landscape

• Obtaining a Landscape account
• Configuring and registering a Landscape client
• Accessing a Landscape account

SECURITY, INTEGRITY AND PERFORMANCE
User-level security

• Living without a root login
• sudo and the sudoers file
• Ubuntu group memberships and privileges
• Configuring PAM to enforce password strength
• Encrypting partitions using the dm-crypt device mapper

Constructing a firewall

• netfilter and iptables
• Simplifying firewall construction with ufw
• Testing firewalls with nmap

Mandatory access control with AppArmor

• Discretionary vs Mandatory access control
• Creating an AppArmor profile
• Setting enforce mode and complain mode

Intrusion detection

• Verifying file system integrity with AIDE
• Monitoring log files with logwatch

Configuring ssh authentication

Configuration management with etckeeper

Backup tools and strategies

• Multi-level backup strategies
• Using rsync for backups
• Centralised backup with backuppc and bacula

System monitoring and performance tuning

• Monitoring memory and disk usage
• Centralised monitoring with nagios and munin
• Kernel parameter tuning
• Application-specific tuning

DIRECTORY SERVICE AND AUTHENTICATION

OpenLDAP

• OpenLDAP components and architecture
• Installation and initial configuration
• Command-line tools (ldapadd and friends)
• Secure LDAP
• LDAP with user account management
• Configuring a client to use LDAP for authentication
• Replicating an LDAP directory

Kerberos

• Setting up a Key Distribution Centre
• Primary and secondary servers
• Adding principals: Hosts, services, users, admin
• Using LDAP as the backend

Active Directory integration

Likewise Open

Joining a domain

Logging in as an A-D user