The Official Ubuntu Server Book

Kyle Rankin is a systems architect for Quinstreet, Inc., the current president of the North Bay Linux Users’ Group, the author of Knoppix Hacks, Knoppix Pocket Reference,Linux Multimedia Hacks, and Ubuntu Hacks, and he has contributed to a number of other O’Reilly books. Kyle is also a columnist for Linux Journal and has had articles featured in PC Magazine, TechTarget, and other publications. Benjamin Mako Hill is a Seattle native working out of Boston, Massachusetts. Mako is a long-time free software developer and advocate. He was part of the founding Ubuntu team, one of the first employees of Canonical, Ltd., and lead author of The Official Ubuntu Book. In addition to some technical work, his charge at Canonical was to help grow the Ubuntu development and user community during the project’s first year. Mako is currently a fellow at the MIT Center for Future Civic Media and a researcher and Ph.D. Candidate at the MIT Sloan School of Management. Mako has continued his involvement with Ubuntu as a member of the Community Council governance board, through development work, and through projects such as this book.

Preface      xvii
Acknowledgments      xxiii
About the Authors      xxv
Introduction      xxvii
Welcome to Ubuntu Server    xxvii
Free Software, Open Source, and Linux    xxviii
A Brief History of the Ubuntu Project    xxxii
Ubuntu Promises and Goals    xxxix
Canonical and the Ubuntu Foundation    xliv
History of Ubuntu Server    xlvii
Simple, Secure, Supported    xlix

Chapter 1: Installation      1
Get Ubuntu 2
Boot Screen 3
Disk Partitioning 5
Server Roles 13
Installer Console 15
Reboot the System 16

Chapter 2: Essential System Administration      17
Basic Command-Line Administration 18
Ubuntu Boot Process 24
File System Hierarchy 40
Networking 45

Chapter 3: Package Management      51
Introduction to Package Management 52
Debian Packages 60
Package Management in Ubuntu 63
Making Your Own Packages 77

Chapter 4: Automated Ubuntu Installs      83
Preseeding 84
Kickstart 104
PXE Boot Server Deployment 111
Customize Automated Installs 117

Chapter 5: Guide to Common Ubuntu Servers      125
DNS Server 126
Web Server 135
Mail Server 144
POP/IMAP Server 156
OpenSSH Server 158
DHCP Server 160
Database Server 163
File Server 172

Chapter 6: Security      181
General Security Principles 182
Sudo 183
AppArmor 188
SSH Security 192
Firewalls 196
Intrusion Detection 208
Incident Response 215

Chapter 7: Backups       221
Backup Principles 222
Drive Imaging 224
Database Backups 226
BackupPC 231

Chapter 8: Monitoring      249
Local Monitoring Tools 250
Ganglia 255
Nagios 262

Chapter 9: Virtualization      279
KVM 280
VMware Server 297

Chapter 10: Fault Tolerance       309
Fault Tolerance Principles 310
RAID 311
Ethernet Bonding 338
Clusters 343

Chapter 11: Troubleshooting      365
General Troubleshooting Philosophy 366
Localhost Troubleshooting 369
Network Troubleshooting 381
Hardware Troubleshooting 390

Chapter 12: Rescue and Recovery      395
Ubuntu Recovery Mode 396
Ubuntu Server Recovery CD 401
Ubuntu Desktop Live CD 406

Chapter 13: Help and Resources      415
Paid Support from Canonical 416
Forums 417
Internet Relay Chat 418
Mailing Lists 421
Online Documentation 422
Localhost Documentation 423
Local Community Teams 424
Other Languages 425
Tech Answers System (Launchpad) 425
Bug Reporting 425
Summary 427

Index      429