Preface

With the Fedora Linux operating system and the instructions in this book, you can transform your PC into a safe, powerful, and free computer system. Starting with Fedora, you can simply replace (or coexist with) Microsoft Windows on your everyday desktop computer. You can also configure your computer to share your files, printers, Web pages, or directory services to other computers. Then, if you choose, you can transition your skills to manage anything from a small office to a large, corporate Red Hat Enterprise Linux computer installation.

This book tells you how and gives you the software to do it.

Who Are You?

You don't need to be a programmer to use this book. You may be someone who just wants to use Linux (to run programs, access the Internet, and so on). Or you may simply want to know how to administer a Linux system in a workgroup or on a network.

I assume that you are somewhat computer literate but have little or no experience with Linux (or UNIX). You may be migrating from Microsoft operating systems to Linux because of its networking and multiuser features. You may be looking to start a career as a computer technician or network administrator and find that spending a few dollars for an entire operating system and book is more economical than taking those technical classes offered on late-night television. Or you might just think a "free" operating system is cool.

In any case, after you peruse this book you should have a good idea of how to run applications, set up a small network, connect to the Internet, and configure a variety of server types (Web servers, print servers, file servers, and so on). This book represents a great first few steps toward your becoming someone who can set up a home network or a small office network and maintain a group of computers.

This Book's Learn-Through-Tasks Approach

The best way to learn a computer system is to get your hands on it. To help you learn Linux, this book takes a task-oriented approach. Where possible, I step you through the process of working with a feature, such as setting up a network or configuring your desktop.

When you are done with a task, you should have a good, basic setup of the feature that it covers. After that, I often provide pointers to further information on tweaking and tuning the feature.

Instead of assuming that you already know about cryptic topics such as troff, NFS, and TCP/IP, I ease you into those features with headings such as "Publishing with Fedora and RHEL," "Setting up a File Server," and "Connecting to the Internet." Heck, if you already knew what all those things were and how to get them working, you wouldn't need me, would you?

When many tools can be used to achieve the same results, I usually present one or two examples. In other words, I don't describe six different Web browsers, twelve different text editors, and three different news servers. I tell you how to get one or two similar tools really working and then note the others that are available.

What You Need

This book covers two different Linux systems: Fedora 7 and Red Hat Enterprise Linux 5. To follow along with this book, you can install the complete Fedora 7 software found on the accompanying DVD. If you don't have a DVD drive, you can use the CD that comes with this book to try out Fedora and install a desktop Fedora system to your hard disk. Or you can follow along with your Red Hat Enterprise Linux 5 system, which you can obtain with a subscription from Red Hat, Inc.

To install Fedora 7, you need a PC with the following general configuration:

• An Intel Pentium or compatible CPU, 200MHz Pentium or better (for text mode); 400MHz Pentium II or better (for GUI mode). Fedora 7 has been optimized for Pentium 4 processors. (Intel 486 computers will not work with Fedora 7.)

• At least 64MB of RAM (text-based install) or 128MB of RAM (graphical install). To run the GNOME or KDE desktop 192MB are needed, although the Fedora Project recommends 512MB.

• At least 620MB of hard disk space (you have to select a minimal install). You need 2.3GB of hard disk space for a personal desktop install, 3.0GB for a typical workstation installation, or at least 1.1GB of space for a server installation.

• A DVD or CD drive. This is recommended for installation (because we give you the installation DVD), although you can install from CD (we provide a live CD that can also be installed to hard disk), over a network, or from a local hard disk instead. For network and hard disk installs, booting installation from a 3.5-inch floppy disk drive is no longer supported. Chapter 2 describes methods of launching installation if you don't have a bootable DVD drive: Once the install is started, you need either an extra hard disk partition or another computer (that can be reached over the network) that has packages or images of the Fedora distribution on it. (I tell you how to do that later, in case you're interested.)

Not every piece of PC hardware works with Fedora. While there is no official hardware compatibility list as there is for Red Hat Enterprise Linux (available at http://bugzilla.redhat.com/hwcert/), overall hardware support should be improved in Fedora 7. In fact, wireless LAN cards, FireWire devices, and some other components have seen improved support in Fedora 7.

Fedora 7 and Red Hat Enterprise Linux Bible Improvements

Fedora™ 7 and Red Hat® Enterprise Linux® Bible represents the continuing development of Red Hat Linux Bible, which I began in 1999. About every six months since Red Hat Linux 6.1, I've followed new versions of Red Hat Linux with updates of this book.

Red Hat, Inc. split its Red Hat Linux development efforts into two tracks: the Fedora Project and the Red Hat Enterprise Linux (RHEL) product. This book now covers the latest of those two Linux distributions: Fedora 7 and RHEL 5. By learning the features in Fedora 7, you will also be preparing yourself for future releases of RHEL.

The foundation for Fedora, RHEL, and this book rests on the tradition begun with Red Hat Linux. The enhancements included in this edition reflect that foundation, plus some bold new cutting-edge Linux technology.

As this book, too, is meant to reflect a progression of Red Hat Linux, I have included a variety of enhancements from the previous book in this series, Fedora 6 and Red Hat Enterprise Linux Bible. The following list describes new features of this book over the previous edition:

• Fedora 7 Combined Install DVD — We provide Fedora 7 on DVD with this edition. You get what you need to install most of the massive Fedora 7 distribution. Because this release of Fedora represents a combination of Fedora Core and Fedora Extras packages from the previous release, you get about 8GB of software in all from this DVD.

• Fedora 7 Desktop Live/Install CD — Before you install Fedora, you can try out a Desktop-oriented live version of Fedora 7 by booting the CD that comes with this book. While that CD is running, you can use it to prepare your computer to do a permanent installation. The contents of that CD can also be installed directly to your hard disk.

• Firstboot Changes — A feature called Smolt was added to the firstboot procedure, which runs the first time you boot your computer after installation. The Smolt screen that appears during firstboot lets you see all the hardware components on your computer and, optionally, lets you send that information to the Fedora project.

• NTFS Support — For the first time, the Fedora project has added support for NTFS file systems to the distribution. This means you can use tools from the live CD, such as GParted, to resize your Windows NTFS partition and make your Windows PC into a dual-boot computer with Fedora. You can also now mount and access those partitions from Fedora. Chapter 2 contains a description of how to use the live CD that comes with this book to resize your NTFS partitions to prepare for a dual-boot computer.

• Enhanced Fedora Theme — Throughout the book you will see images of hot air balloons in Fedora screenshots. That artwork is part of the new Flying High theme that comes with Fedora.

• 3D Desktop Effects (AIGLX) — With Fedora 7, you get improved support for 3D desktop effects based on the AIGLX project. The improved 3D accelerated desktop effects are described in Chapter 3.

• KVM Virtualization — Fedora development has turned its attention from XEN to KVM as the preferred method of virtualization in Fedora. Chapter 5 contains a description of using virtualization with KVM and the QEMU emulator software.

• Wireless LAN Cards — Because relatively few wireless LAN cards have open source drivers available, support for wireless cards in Fedora has been weak in previous releases. For Fedora 7, the Fedora Project decided to add firmware from various wireless card manufactures to Fedora, allowing Fedora to support many more wireless cards. Chapter 15 contains descriptions of the newly supported wireless cards and how to configure them.

• Wireless Auditing Tools — With the merging of Fedora Core and Extras, there are a lot more tools for working with wireless LANs in the basic Fedora system. Chapter 15 provides a list of tools for scanning wireless networks, finding the best access points, and checking the security of your wireless encryption keys.

• Modem Configuration — Many inexpensive modems, referred to as winmodems, may not work in Linux or may require extra configuration. To help evaluate what type of modem your computer has and track down how to configure it, I added a description of the scanModem tool to Chapter 16.

• Squid Proxy Server — Descriptions of the Squid proxy server in Chapter 16 were enhanced to match software improvements in Squid version 2.6. In particular, new features in the squid.conf file were included.

• NFS Improvements — Network File System (NFS) descriptions in Chapter 18 were improved to match features in NFS version 1.0.12.

• Other Web Servers — Although Apache is the most popular open source Web server, other lightweight, specialty Web servers are also available. Short descriptions of Lighttpd and Thttpd lightweight Web servers were added to Chapter 21. Descriptions of the tux kernel-based Web server were dropped from this edition because it doesn't seem to be supported anymore.

• Apache Web Server — To match software improvements in the latest version of Apache included with Fedora 7 (httpd version 2.2.4), many new features were added to descriptions in the Apache section of Chapter 21. In particular, descriptions of many new authorization modules were added.

• Using LDAP Address Books — After describing how to set up a simple LDAP address book, I added a description of how to access that address book from the Thunderbird e-mail client in Chapter 22.

• RHEL 5 — With Red Hat Enterprise Linux 5 released since the previous edition of this book was published, I've added descriptions of RHEL 5 to Appendix C.

In addition to new features just described, procedures throughout the book have been tested and corrected to match changes that have occurred to Fedora 7 software in this version.

Conventions Used in This Book

Throughout the book, special typography indicates code and commands. Commands and code are shown in a monospaced font:

This is how code looks.

In the event that an example includes both input and output, the monospaced font is still used, but input is presented in bold type to distinguish the two. Here's an example:

$ ftp ftp.handsonhistory.com
Name (home:jake): jake
Password: ******

The following boxes are used to call your attention to points that are particularly important.

A Tip box shows a special way of performing a particular task.

A Caution box alerts you to take special care when executing a procedure, or damage to your computer hardware or software could result.

How This Book Is Organized

The book is organized into four parts.

Part I: Getting Started in Fedora and RHEL

Part I consists of Chapters 1 through 4. Chapters 1 and 2 contain brief descriptions of the Linux technology and tell you what you need to get the operating system installed. Chapter 1 serves as an introduction to the Linux OS and to Fedora in particular. I also pay special attention to the division Red Hat, Inc., makes between the Fedora Project and Red Hat Enterprise Linux. Chapter 2 discusses what you need to install Fedora and how to make the decisions you'll be faced with during installation. It includes procedures for installing from DVD, CD-ROM, hard disk, or network connection (NFS, FTP, or HTTP servers).

In Chapter 3, you learn about the GNOME desktop environment, the KDE desktop environment, and the X Window system. These GUIs provide graphical means of using Fedora and RHEL. Chapter 4 describes ways of exploring and understanding Fedora and RHEL, primarily from the Linux shell command interpreter. You learn how to use the bash shell, the vi text editor, and the commands for moving around the Linux file system.

Part II: Using Fedora and RHEL

Part II consists of Chapters 5 through 9, which include information for the average user who wants to use Linux to run applications and access the Internet.

Chapter 5 contains information on obtaining, installing, and running Linux applications. It also helps you run applications from other operating systems in Linux. Chapter 6 describes both old-time publishing tools and new, graphical word processors that are available with Fedora and RHEL. Old tools include the troff and TeX text processing tools, whereas newer publishing software includes OpenOffice.org utilities (included on the DVD) and StarOffice (commercially available).

GNOME and KDE games that run in Fedora and RHEL are described in Chapter 7. This chapter also describes how to run commercial Windows games using Cedega, and commercial Linux games, such as Civilization: Call to Power and Myth II, some of which have demo versions available. Chapter 8 describes how to use audio and video players, as well as how to configure sound cards and CD burners. Chapter 9 describes tools for browsing the Web (such as the Firefox browser) and related tools (such as e-mail clients and newsreaders).

Part III: Administering Fedora and RHEL

Part III consists of Chapters 10 through 14, which cover general setup and system maintenance tasks, including how to set up user accounts, automate system tasks, and back up your data. Chapter 10, in which you learn what you need to know about basic system administration, describes the root login, administrative commands, configuration files, SELinux, and log files. Chapter 11 describes how to set up and provide support for multiple users on your Fedora or RHEL system.

In Chapter 12 you learn to create shell scripts and to use the cron facility to automate a variety of tasks on your Fedora and RHEL system. Techniques for backing up your system and restoring files from backup are described in Chapter 13. Chapter 14 describes issues related to securing your computing assets in Fedora and RHEL.

Part IV: Fedora and RHEL Network and Server Setup

Part IV consists of Chapters 15 through 26, which describe step-by-step procedures for setting up a variety of server types. Simple configurations for what might otherwise be complex tasks are contained in each chapter. Learn to arrange, address, and connect your Linux computers to a local area network (LAN) in Chapter 15. Chapter 16 describes techniques for connecting your Linux computer and LAN to the Internet, using features such as Point-to-Point Protocol (PPP), IP forwarding, IP masquerading, routing, and proxy servers.

Chapter 17 describes how to set up different types of print server interfaces, including Samba (to share with Windows systems) and native Linux CUPS printing. Chapter 18 describes file servers, such as Network File System (NFS) servers and Samba file servers. Chapter 19 describes how to configure sendmail or postfix e-mail servers.

Chapter 20 describes how to configure and secure an FTP server, as well as how to access the server using FTP client programs. Chapter 21 teaches you how to set up Fedora or RHEL as a Web server, focusing on the popular Apache server software. Chapter 22 explains how to use LDAP to create a shared address book. Chapter 23 describes how to set up both DHCP and NIS services to distribute information to client workstations on the network.

Chapter 24 describes how to set up and use a MySQL database server in Linux. Chapter 25 takes you through the process of making the servers you configured in the other chapters available on the Internet. Setting up a Domain Name System (DNS) server is also described in Chapter 25. Chapter 26 describes how to set up Fedora or RHEL to be a Macintosh file and printer server. It also describes how to install Fedora on a new Intel-based Mac, so you can dual boot between Mac OS X and Fedora.

Appendixes

This book contains three appendixes. Appendix A describes the contents of the companion media. Appendix B provides an overview of setting up and running network services. Appendix C covers features in Red Hat Enterprise Linux 5.

About the Companion Media

The Fedora 7 DVD that accompanies this book provides the software you need for a complete working Fedora system. With this software, you can install sets of software packages that result in an installation from a few hundred megabytes to up to well over 10 gigabytes of software.

We also include a Fedora 7 GNOME Desktop Live/Install CD. That CD can be booted to run a live Fedora GNOME desktop system, without touching the contents of your hard disk. You can install the contents of the live CD to your hard disk, to use that desktop system permanently from your hard disk.

This book describes how to configure and use the software for those different media.

About the Companion Web Site

A new feature of the Fedora and RHEL Bible Companion Web site for this release is an advanced links page, specially geared toward helping you overcome common problems with Fedora. If you are not finding the answers you need in this book, go to the book's Web site at www.wiley.com/go/fedora7bible and see if some new information on the subject is available.

Even in a book that pushes the 1,000-page boundary, a few topics don't seem to make the cut. The companion Web site contains some bonus material on topics such as using the X Window system, finding neat add-on software, exploring alternative administrative interfaces, Logsentry, and Portsentry.

With the LILO bootloader now gone from the Fedora distribution for several releases, I decided to move descriptions of LILO out of this book and to the Web site. Other topics moved to the Web site from previous editions of this book includes information on using legacy UNIX remote commands (rlogin, rcp, and the like), running Tripwire to manage system security, running a NetWare server in Linux (mars_nwe) and using crack and other password protection tools. Features moved from the immediately preceding edition include descriptions of the wu-FTPd FTP server, INN news server, and the sendmail.cf file.

Reach Out

If you have any questions or comments about this book, feel free to contact me by e-mail at chris@linuxtoys.net. I get busy sometimes, but I'll do my best to help.