SUSE LINUX Enterprise Server 9 Administrator's Handbook - Softcover

Kuo, Peter; Beland, Jacques

Softcover

ISBN 10: 067232735X ISBN 13: 9780672327353

Publisher: Novell Pr, 2005

Synopsis

As a system administrator, you are justly concerned about the security of your infrastructure. SUSE Linux Enterprise Server (SLES 9) can lead the way to infrastructure security and SUSE Linux Enterprise Server Administrator's Handbook is the authoritative source for information on this secure server. Step-by-step procedures will walk you through installing and securing a SLES 9 system, and it will focus on the specific security features that make SLES 9 an important platform for all system administrators. Some of what you will cover is:

• SuSE server installation
• User access and security
• Installing and configuring networking services
• Securing your SuSE server

Leverage Linux and open source with SLES 9 and SUSE Linux Enterprise Server Administrator's Handbook to build a secure computing network for your company.

About this title

About the Author:

Peter Kuo is a Novell Master CNI, Master CNE, NCIP, CNS and one of the first CDEs. He is the co-author of Novell's Guide to Troubleshooting NDS and has authored or coauthored several NetWare and networking titles.

Excerpt. © Reprinted by permission. All rights reserved.:

SUSE® LINUX® Enterprise Server 9 Administrator's Handbook

SUSE® LINUX® Enterprise Server 9 Administrator's Handbook

Preface

Linux started life as a "hobby project" of Linus Torvalds in April 1991. He was trying to create an alternative to the minix operating system that runs on Intel 386/486 AT-class machines. Linux has come a long way since its inception. Today, more than a dozen different Linux distributions such as SUSE, Red Hat, Slackware, and so on, are available and run on a variety of hardware, including big IBM irons (such as the S/390 and the zSeries systems).

For the longest time, Linux was mostly used by home users and within educational institutions due to its cost (free!). The availability of Linux kernel source code made it a very attractive operating system to be studied in computer science courses and also helped to further promote its popularity. In the past few years (starting around late 2002 or early 2003), Linux started to make an inroad into businesses, and Linux desktops are slowly being used to replace Windows machines. SUSE and Red Hat are two major players in the Linux server arena. With financial backing from IBM, Novell acquired SUSE in January 2004. In addition to the NetWare server operating system, Novell now also has the Novell SUSE LINUX Enterprise Server (SLES) and a number of Linux desktop products, such as Novell Linux Desktop.

Like NetWare, SLES offers a wide range of network services, ranging from web server (Apache) to file and print (via Samba, for instance) to directory services (such as LDAP or NIS). SLES 9 allows you to leverage Linux and open source products (such as Apache) by delivering a scalable, high-performance foundation for secure enterprise computing. Built for reliability, it offers comprehensive functionality to power today's networks and meet user demands.

No matter what your purpose is, if you implement SLES in your networking environment, it is important for you to have a firm handle on how it works and how to set up the necessary services. You should know how to configure the server environment so that it is easy for users to use, yet secure against intruders. Good network administrators need to take proactive steps to prevent trouble from developing in the first place. This book serves as your handy reference to administrating, configuring, and securing your SUSE LINUX Enterprise Server.

Although this book is written as an administrator's handbook, you'll find that it contains a large number of security-related discussions and references. Topics covered in this book range from the fundamentals of managing users and groups, setting up and configuring essential network services, to securing your server against possible hackers. The information presented in this book will help you maintain and secure your SUSE LINUX Enterprise Server.

What You'll Learn from Reading This Book

This book is written for all system administrators, consultants, and any others who implement and support SUSE LINUX Enterprise Servers. It is especially useful if you have been administrating NetWare servers and would like to explore SLES as an alternative platform or need to implement SLES side-by-side with NetWare systems.

Using this book, you will learn basic to complex concepts and techniques on setting up a secure server. Whether your interest is solely in knowing how to set up an SLES system quickly for a small department or in knowing how to lock down the server against unwanted users, you will find this book to be a handy reference. This book specifically covers SUSE LINUX Enterprise Server 9, which is the latest available at the time of this writing.

How This Book Is Organized

This book is organized into the following four logical parts:

• Part I, "SUSE Server Installation and Configuration," includes a brief overview of the history of Linux. It provides you with enough information so that, after reading it, you're able to "hit the ground running" and painlessly get your first SLES system installed and operating. It also covers how to manage software changes and hardware modifications.

• Part II, "User Access and Security Management," describes in great detail the various security features and system monitoring and management tools available in Linux.

• Part III, "Installing and Configuring Networking Services," provides you with a quick-start approach to setting up the essential networking and support services, such as printing and backups.

• Part IV, "Securing Your SUSE Server," rounds out the many aspects of general Linux security that you will need to know to proactively prevent problems. Topics include establishing a corporate security policy, learning about intrusion detection tools, and hardening your operating system and network infrastructure against unwanted visitors. By proactively managing your network security, you can prevent many problems; this section will show you how.

Appendix A, "Security Certifications" includes a detailed rundown of security certifications, ranging from Orange Book and TCSEC certification to the most recent CAPP compliance standards. Appendix B, "Resources," includes a list of websites and mailing lists available on the Internet that offer information about general Linux security as well as SUSE-specific security topics.

All the information and techniques presented in this book have been gathered from hands-on, real-world experiences learned from working with Linux and various flavors of Unix, and networking in general, over a period of more than 20 years. In this book, we share with you a selected number of the most frequently encountered problems and steps toward determining and fixing them.

© Copyright Pearson Education. All rights reserved.

About this edition

• Publisher: Novell Pr
• Publication date: 2005
• ISBN 10: 067232735X
• ISBN 13: 9780672327353
• Binding: Paperback
• Number of pages: 532