Exam Objectives#

  • Understand and use essential tools
    • Access a shell prompt and issue commands with correct syntax
    • Use input-output redirection (>, », |, 2>, etc.)
    • Use grep and regular expressions to analyze text
    • Access remote systems using SSH
    • Log in and switch users in multi-user targets
    • Archive, compress, unpack, and uncompress files using tar, gzip, and bzip2
    • Create and edit text files
    • Create, delete, copy, and move files and directories
    • Create hard and soft links
    • List, set, and change standard ugo/rwx permissions
    • Locate, read, and use system documentation including man, info, and files in /usr/share/doc

Manage software#

- Configure access to RPM repositories
- Install and remove RPM software packages
- Configure access to Flatpak repositories
- Install and remove Flatpak software packages

Create simple shell scripts#

- Conditionally execute code (use of: if, test, [], etc.)
- Use Looping constructs (for, etc.) to process file, command line input
- Process script inputs ($1, $2, etc.)
- Processing output of shell commands within a script

Operate running systems#

- Boot, reboot, and shut down a system normally
- Boot systems into different targets manually
- Interrupt the boot process in order to gain access to a system
- Identify CPU/memory intensive processes and kill processes
- Adjust  process scheduling
- Manage tuning profiles
- Locate and interpret system log files and journals
- Preserve system journals
- Start, stop, and check the status of network services
- Securely transfer files between systems

Configure local storage#

  • List, create, and delete partitions on GPT disks

  • Create and remove physical volumes

  • Assign physical volumes to volume groups

  • Create and delete logical volumes

  • Configure systems to mount file systems at boot by universally unique ID (UUID) or label

  • Add new partitions and logical volumes, and swap to a system non-destructively

  • Storage management overview

  • book: MBR #skipped bad quality. Used online search instead.

  • book: GPT #skipped bad quality. Used online search instead.

  • book: Disk Partitions

  • book: Storage management tools

  • book: Thin provisioning

  • need to practice most popular options of fdisk

  • Adding storage for practice

  • Ex 15-1 Add required storage to server 2

  • MBR storage management with parted

  • exercise 15-2 Create an MBR/GPT partition

  • exercise 15-3 Delete an MBR/GPT partition

  • Logical Volume Manager LVM

  • Physical volume

  • Volume Group

  • Physical Extent

  • Logical Volume

  • Logical Extent

  • LVM operations and commands

  • exercise 15-4: create physical volume and Volume Group

  • exercise 15-5: create Logical Volumes

  • exercise 15-6: extend a Volume Group and a Logical Volume

  • exercise 15-7: rename, reduce, extend and remove Logical Volumes

  • exercise 15-8: reduce and remove a Volume Group

  • exericse 15-9: uninitialize Physical Volumes

  • chapter summary

  • review questions

  • lab 15-1: create and remove partitions with parted

  • lab 15-2: create Volume Group and Logical Volumes

  • lab 15-3: expand Volume Group and Logical Volume

  • lab 15-4: remove Volume Group and Physical Volumes

Create and configure file systems#

- Create, mount, unmount, and use VFAT, ext4, and XFS file systems
- Mount and unmount network file systems using NFS
- Configure autofs
- Extend existing logical volumes
- Diagnose and correct file permission problems

Deploy, configure, and maintain systems#

- Schedule tasks using at, cron and systemd timer units
- Start and stop services and configure services to start automatically at boot
- Configure systems to boot into a specific target automatically
- Configure time service clients
- Install and update software packages from Red Hat Content Delivery Network, a remote repository, or from the local file system
- Modify the system bootloader

Manage basic networking#

- Configure IPv4 and IPv6 addresses
- Configure hostname resolution
- Configure network services to start automatically at boot
- Restrict network access using firewalld and firewall-cmd

Manage users and groups#

- Create, delete, and modify local user accounts
- Change passwords and adjust password aging for local user accounts
- Create, delete, and modify local groups and group memberships
- Configure privileged access

Manage security#

- Configure firewall settings using firewall-cmd/firewalld
- Manage default file permissions
- Configure key-based authentication for SSH
- Set enforcing and permissive modes for SELinux
- List and identify SELinux file and process context
- Restore default file contexts
- Manage SELinux port labels
- Use Boolean settings to modify system SELinux settings

As with all Red Hat performance-based exams, configurations must persist after reboot without intervention.

Processes#

  • real use of process niceness apart from the fact that it changes its automatically assigned CPU access priority
  • when would I need to start a process with non-default priority?
  • in which cases do I need to send signals other than 9 and 15?

Job scheduling#

  • practice allowed and denied user access to at and cron job creation (table 9-3 p191)
  • practice the impact of using at vs cron for a same type of job
  • execute a file that contains bash instructions (script) as part of cron and at
  • implement a real usage of at and cron on my Rocky machine: find symbolic links that point to nowhere

RPM Package Management#

RHCSA objectives#

1.3 Install and remove RPM software packages 4.5a Install and update software packages from Red Hat Network 4.5b Install and update software packages from a remote repository 4.5c Install and update software packages from the local file system

storage concepts#

  • Book first pass

filesystems and swap#

  • book first pass

network filesystem and autofs#

  • NFS
  • nfs-utils
  • exercise 18-1
  • exercise 18-2
  • NFS client, NFS server
  • autofs
  • /etc/auto.master.d
  • autofs maps
  • /etc/autofs.conf
  • automounting home directories
  • review q
  • labs 18-1 to 18-4

SELinux#

  • MAC vs DAC
  • SELinux policies
  • SELinux contexts aka SELinux labels
  • AVC
  • SELinux terminology
  • SELinux contexts for users
  • SELinux contexts for processes
  • SELinux contexts for files
  • SELinux contexts for ports
  • domain transitioning (only conceptual)
  • SELinux booleans
  • /etc/selinux/config
  • getenforce, setenforce
  • grubby
  • sestatus
  • chcon
  • semanage fcontext
  • semanage port
  • restorecon
  • getsebool, setsebool
  • diagnose and troublesoot an AVC message
  • review q
  • labs 22-1 to 22-5

networking essentials and network connections#

  • hostname manipulations
  • /etc/protocols
  • /etc/services
  • IPv4, IPv6, Ethernet
  • classful, classless
  • subnetting
  • the NetworkManager service
  • NetworkManager connection profiles
  • nmcli
  • Hosts table
  • chapter 17 review quesitons
  • lab 17-1
  • lab 17-2

hostname resolution and time sync#

  • DNS
  • DNS roles
  • DNS resolver, /etc/resolv.conf
  • /etc/nsswitch.conf
  • /etc/hosts
  • dig
  • host (the tool)
  • nslookup
  • getent
  • time sources
  • NTP roles
  • stratum levels
  • chrony, /etc/chrony.conf, chronyd, chronyc
  • timedatectl
  • review q
  • lab 19-1
  • lab 19-2

SSH service#

  • encryption techniques
  • authentication methods
  • OpenSSH, versions, algorithms
  • OpenSSH package
  • sshd
  • /var/log/secure
  • /etc/ssh/sshd_config
  • /etc/ssh/ssh_config
  • ~/.ssh
  • SSH keys
  • ssh-keygen
  • .ssh/known_hosts
  • ssh command options
  • sftp
  • review q
  • labs 20-1
  • lab 20-2
  • lab 20-3
  • lab 20-4

Linux firewall#

  • /etc/services
  • netfilter
  • nat
  • nftables vs iptables
  • firewalld
  • /usr/lib/firewalld
  • /etc/firewalld
  • firewalld zones
  • /usr/lib/firewalld/zones, /etc/firewalld/zones
  • man firewalld.zones
  • /usr/lib/firewalld/services
  • /etc/firewalld/services
  • firewall-cmd
  • review q
  • lab 21-1
  • lab 21-2
  • lab 21-3
  • lab 21-4

appendixes#

  • appendix A exam 1
  • appendix B exam 2
  • appendix C exam 3
  • appendix D exam 4

micro topics#

micro topic skill level: (n)ewbie, (c)omfortable, (m)aster I need this to reach the next level
understand the meaning of package naming n
package dependency: find out on which other packages a package depends on n
package dependency: find out which other packages depend on the current package n