Sachverstand2 @ Geocities.com:

Linux System Administration

started on 12.08.1998 - last update 03.09.1998

Index

0 What does a sysop do all day?

As Linux sysop you have to setup the system and to make it run useful programs for useful work.

That means:

  1. Do the system software setup.
  2. Do the system users' software setup.
  3. Customize the system, for you and the others to know what can be done.
  4. Maintain the system (backups, hardware changes etc.)

1 Linux System Software Setup

This means: making Linux go on its own two feet. And is the easier task.

I can write here about S.u.S.E. Linux only, 'cause I only have their CDs. But I assume that on any other system the basic setup will go the same way:

  1. boot Linux from Diskette;
  2. make the harddisk boot Linux (maybe by Lilo, I didn't try that yet);
  3. make the system find aud use its hardware, filesystems and swap spaces.
This is what most of the FAQs are about. I think Linux is best documented on the hardware edge than any other so-called OS.
And of course I shall not add to these heaps of MBytes, found everywhere in the WWW.

2 Linux User's Software Setup

There is much software available, every ftp-server (except one, bitterly resigning...) got its /pub/linux directory.
So the sysop has to work on (new) software:
  1. seek information about;
  2. obtain;
  3. install;
  4. get running;
  5. customize;
  6. evaluate;
  7. and show the users how to do with it:
    • provide a help system;
    • create or download and install tutorials;
    • generate a list of available programs;
    • maybe generate
      • a list of possible work,
      • a tutorial that shows which buttons to push on the way to some output;
      • and hints how to use the system efficiently.

2.1 Seek information on user's software

Most of the '98 software does not run on my late-'95 system: it is missing libraries, system resources and so on. So I am going to report just about the software which was delivered on my three CDs.
That's why I put "new" into parenthesis.

2.2 Obtaining users' software

Download GPL'd or try versions. 'nuff said.

2.3 Install users' software

I'm just coming back from a tour through the magicHIT Setup. It's installed, obviously, and as DEMOVERSION (somewhere I must have missed the "full version" button), but I do still not know how to start it.
Yes. I have read all html docu that was there.

Well, I'm not here to report about installed but still not running programs.

2.4 Get running users' software

Most Software runs out of the box - the bigger the harder.
Recently I found that bigger packages, with many files on them, use to go into /usr/local/packetname. Some, like povray, install a link into /usr/local/bin so that the system finds their binaries at once.
If it knows their name, of course. Would it have been so hard to install a message like: 
 
Congratulations! You have povray available on this system. 
Please note that the available binaries are povray.x, povray.s and povray.v.
Use povray.x in case of...   (I would have said, if only I knew)

etc.
I also found out that in all ~/.profile the following line was added: 
export POVRAYOPT=/usr/local/lib/pov/include
while correct would have been: 
export POVRAYOPT=+L/usr/local/lib/pov/include
This meant that only root, who still has no ~/.profile, was able to run povray.

Well, working around these minor problems is sysop's everyday task, so don't mutter.

2.5 Customizing users' software

Users like to see their possibilities on a tray. So satisfied users are shown trays.

I still haven't found out why users avoid to search the file system in order to write some nasty paper, but they do.
So every sysop should go and provide a FAQ about which programs are on the machine and how to use them. Of course, I like html docu, as I am used to it. I think a good skeleton for this would be:

sysop @ mousehouse:

Quick start on progname

started on 01.01.1998 - updated 01.09.1998
  1. What does progname do?
  2. How is progname started on this system?
    • Which options are MUST?
    • Which options are recommended on this local system?
  3. A short example progname input file OR
  4. Guided tour through progname - html version with screenshots
  5. Miscellaneous
  6. email for wishes, questions, bug reports etc.

2.6 Evaluating users' software

There is only one way to evaluate software: using it. And on Linux systems: having it used. Sysop is necessarily a hacker, so he'll get anything to work (and should it be by diving into the sources or rewriting /root/.profile) - but the users won't.
Sysop has to After a test period, he will see whether the users can do with progname or use something else instead. Due to system economy, and due to users helping one another, they should be tweaked silently to use just one or two different programs for similar tasks.
And of course, they must know which program is recommended by the sysop for which task, and which programs are test versions or to be removed.

2.7 Show the users how to do with the software

Testing has done good to show the sysop which programs are best-liked by the users. In most cases, these will not be the ones he likes.
So he has to promote the programs he likes. He has to tell
  1. that they can do anything theo other program can do;
    • but more quick;
    • but more easy;
    • but more transferable to other programs;
  2. and that its additional capabilities are thoroughly useful.
I give some examples of what I mean in my User's Help Pages. Feel free to download.

3 The way users love the system

I think they like to be prompted with what is there. And more, they love to be prompted not only with furious help pages, but with colored buttons to click on.

Luckily (I should say: for something like good programming behaviour) fvwm can be configured so that user clicks , and something happens. Find more on programming the Xwindows Interface .

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