Landoflinux

Learning Linux Free Guide

Welcome to the Land of Linux's tutorials and guides. Here you will find instructions and tutorials explaining how to use Linux from the command line using the BASH shell. The Linux basic fundamentals guide will take you through the necessary basics in preparation for the LPI (Linux Professional Institute) exams as well as cover many popular administration tasks. The Tutorials are broken into various sections along with examples and videos of the commands in operation.

You will learn how to use simple commands to take advantage of Linux. You will learn basic file handling commands to copy/move and navigate your way through the filesystems. Set and change permissions of files plus much more.

Throughout this tutorial I will be mainly using Ubuntu 20.04 LTS and CentOS 8 to demonstrate the command line functionality unless otherwise stated. However, you may use any other popular Linux distribution.

Part 1

What is Linux? : An introduction to the GNU/Linux Operating System. How did Linux get its name?

Linux Distributions : A quick look at some of the popular Linux distributions : Arch, CentOS, Debian, Linux Mint, RHEL, SUSE, Ubuntu, Mageia, Fedora, Puppy

Linux Desktops : A quick look at some of the popular desktops available for Linux: Unity, KDE, GNOME, LXDE, XFCE, MATE

Live CDs and DVDs : How to try out Linux without having to install any software.

Getting Help : Man Pages and Documentation.

Installing Linux : Linux installation guides for desktops, workstations and Enterprise Servers.

Part 2

Linux Shell : Introduction to the Linux shell. What is a Shell? Internal and external shell commands explained. Shell Variables.

Text Editors : An introduction to the VI and VIM text editor.

Viewing Files : How to view files using "pagers". Introduction to cat, tac, more, less, pg head and tail commands.

Creating Files : Using touch to create and modify files.

Wild Cards : Using wildcards and pattern matching - Shell Expansion.

Part 3

File Handling : How to find files, sorting files, comparing files, joining and splitting files.

Linux File Permissions : Managing user and group permissions. Assigning permissions.

AWK and GAWK : An introduction to processing files using "awk". AWK Examples.

SED : An introduction to SED the Stream Editor. SED Examples.

Archive and Compression : How to use tar, cpio, gzip, gunzip, bzip2 and compress commands.

Z Commands : Working with Compressed files: zcat, zgrep, zmore, zless, zdiff and znew command examples.

Links : Hard and Soft Links. Creating symbolic links.

Part 4

Installing Software : Installing, Deleting and Updating Software Packages.

Package Management : dpkg : Examples of using the Debian Package Manager.

Package Management : rpm : Examples of using the Red Hat Package management tool.

Package Management : apt-get : Examples of using the APT Package handling utility.

Package Management : pacman : Examples of using the Arch Linux package management tool.

Package Management : yum : Examples of using the yum package management tool.

Package Management : dnf : Examples of using the DNF package management tool.

Package Management : yast : The multi purpose Administration tool.

Part 5

Monitoring : How to monitor a Linux system using htop, nmon, ntop, iptraf, dstat, sar, vmstat, iostat, mpstat, free, nagios and FAN.

Processes : Working with Processes. How to use ps, renice, nice, fg, bg, jobs, top commands with processes.

SysV Init : An introduction to SysV Init.

Systemd : An introduction to Systemd.

Services : Starting, stopping and restarting Services on Linux.

Runlevels : Working with runlevel.

Filesystems : Working with Filesystems: ext2, ext3, ext4, xfs, btrfs and reiserfs.

Filesystems : Repairing and Checking Filesystems: Linux fsck command examples.

Partitions : Creating partitions, Managing Disk, Managing Filesystems.

LVM : Introduction to using Logical Volume Management.

Printing : An introduction to printing with CUPS (Common Unix Printing System). Printing using the command line.

Part 6

Networks : Basic Principles and Transferring Files across networks.

DNS : Networking with DNS.

Networking Commands : overview of basic networking commands on Linux.

Interfaces : Managing interfaces. Configuring IP addresses.

Network Tools : ip, route, dig, nslookup, ping, traceroute, netstat, ethtool, lsof, netcat and nc.

tcpdump : How to capture and analyse network packets.

Wireshark : Graphical interface for analysing network packets.

Part 7

Connecting to servers : ssh, scp, and sftp examples.

Creating Custom Banner Pages : Creating custom ssh login banner pages with colour.

Transferring files : wget and curl command examples.

FTP and SFTP : How to transfer files across networks. Configuring sftp jails.

NFS : Network File System. Managing NFS mounts.

Journalctl : Viewing Journals with journalctl. Configuring journal persistency.

Message Logs : Linux message log locations.

Log Rotation : Managing log files with log rotation.

Shared Memory : Working with /dev/shm.

rsync : An introduction to copying files locally and remotely using rsync. Synchronising directories, using rsync as a backup tool.

Part 8

Hardware and Modules : Listing hardware and devices, displaying kernel Modules. Loading and unloading kernel modules.

Apache Web Server : How to install an Apache Web Server.

LAMP Stack : How to install a LAMP Stack on Linux.

MySQL : How to install a MySQL Database.

CIFS : Creating password protected CIFS shares.

date : Working with the date command.

Time : time settings with timedatectl.

Backup up Disks : Introduction to the dd command.

Fallocate : Creating test files using the fallocate command.

Cron and Crontab : Scheduling jobs/tasks to run at specified times and intervals.

AT : Scheduling adhoc jobs to run at a specified time.

Kernel : Displaying and changing kernel settings.

Part 9

SELinux : Working with SELinux, activating, disabling and configuration.

Apparmor : An introduction to Apparmor.

Firewalls : Working with "iptables", "ufw", "firewalld", "firewall-config" and "firewall-cmd".

Fail2ban : Installing and configuring fail2ban.

Part 10

Must Know Commands : Overview of everyday System Administration Commands.

Kickstart : How to install Red Hat based Linux systems using kickstart. Automating installations with Kickstart.

Screen Manager : Installing screen to manage multiple sessions.

Just for Fun : Having fun with Linux. A look at some quirky funny commands and utilities on Linux.