Chapter 18. Administrative Tasks (Topic 1.111)

As a system administrator in a multiuser environment, much of your activity is related to users and their system accounts, the automation of routine tasks, and system backup. This chapter covers these administrative aspects of Linux as required for Exam 102. This chapter has six Objectives:

Objective 1: Manage Users and Group Accounts and Related System Files

Candidates should be able to add, remove, suspend, and change user accounts. Tasks include to add and remove groups, to change user/group info in password/group databases. This Objective also includes creating special purpose and limited accounts. Weight: 4.

Objective 2: Tune the User Environment and System Environment Variables

Candidates should be able to modify global and user profiles. This includes setting environment variables, maintaining skel directories for new user accounts, and setting a command search path to the proper directory. Weight: 3.

Objective 3: Configure and Use System Log Files to Meet Administrative and Security Needs

Candidates should be able to configure system logs. This Objective includes managing the type and level of information logged, manually scanning log files for notable activity, monitoring log files, arranging for automatic rotation and archiving of logs, and tracking down problems noted in logs. Weight: 3.

Objective 4: Automate System Administration Tasks by Scheduling Jobs to Run in the Future

Candidates should be able to use cron or anacron to run jobs at regular intervals and to use at to run jobs at a specific time. Tasks include managing cron and at jobs and configuring user access to cron and at services. Weight. 4.

Objective 5: Maintain an Effective Data Backup Strategy

Candidates should be able to plan a backup strategy and back up filesystems automatically to various media. Tasks include dumping a raw device to a file or vice versa, performing partial and manual backups, verifying the integrity of backup files, and partially or fully restoring backups. Weight: 3.

Objective 6: Maintain System Time

Candidates should be able to properly maintain the system time and synchronize the clock over NTP. Tasks include setting the system date and time, setting the BIOS clock to the correct time in UTC, configuring the correct time zone for the system, and configuring the system to correct clock drift to match NTP clock. Weight: 4.