Title Details

Shishir Gundavaram is the Chief Technology Officer for MechanicNet Group, a company that specializes in providing CRM services for the automotive repair and maintenance industry. When he is not dealing with auto mechanics and broken-down cars, Shishir consults for a number of companies, designing architecture and providing technical expertise. He has more than a decade of experience in various aspects of software development and is considered an expert in wireless applications, distributed systems, electronic commerce, and Web backend architecture. He is also the author of various articles and books, including Professional Perl Development, CGI Programming on the World Wide Web, and Scripting Languages: Automating the Web, and he is regularly invited to speak at technical conferences around the world.

Pancrazio “Ezio” de Mauro has been using Red Hat Linux since 1996. He is a Linux consultant specializing in system integration, mobile technologies, and training. He actively supports and advocates the use of free software. Ezio spends most of his free time traveling and backpacking. He welcomes comments and questions at his e-mail address, [email protected].

Mark Mamone, a Solutions Specialist working for Syntegra Ltd in the UK, has 16 years of experience in the IT industry ranging from Assembler to MS-DOS and now specializing in the development of enterprise and mobile systems using a variety of technologies, including Microsoft .NET, Java, and Linux.

Kapil Sharma developed a keen interest in Linux and open source technology in the mid-1990s and has been working on various UNIX systems and Internet security technologies for more than 10 years. He is a postgraduate in Business Computing and has deployed many UNIX, High availability, Clustering, and Internet security projects. He is a Sun Certified System Administrator (SCSA) and Sun Certified Network Administrator (SCNA). Kapil is also actively involved in the open source community and has contributed many technical articles on system and network security. He enjoys working on new challenges in Internet security, Internet architecture design, and various UNIX flavors. He also fancies technical writing and thereby sharing his knowledge with the community. He maintains a consultancy company for providing UNIX and Internet security solutions, and a Web site with loads of security resources at www.linux4biz.net.
Apart from his hectic technical life, Kapil also enjoys clubbing, music, and touring the world. He currently lives with his wife, Usha Sharma, in London, U.K., and can be contacted via e-mail at [email protected].

Deepak Thomas lives and works in the San Francisco Bay area. His interests include PHP, Linux, and J2EE technologies. He has coauthored and reviewed several books for Wrox in these areas. In their spare time Deepak and Ansu go bike riding along the many beautiful trails in their part of the country.

Simon Whiting, a graduate of Clare College, University of Cambridge, is a Principal Consultant for AnIX Group Ltd and has been a Unix system administrator. He is an expert in Linux, storage area networks, and C, Perl, and Korn Shell programming.

Sandip Bhattacharya is an independent technology consultant specializing in Open Source technologies. He is a Red Hat Certified Engineer (RHCE), holds degrees in engineering and management, and is the author of a number of books and articles on Open Source software. He currently runs Puroga Technologies, a small startup with a focus on helping businesses use the Open Source revolution to their advantage. He can be contacted at [email protected]. Sandip is an active participant in various Open Source communities in India, especially his local LUG, the Indian Linux Users Group, Delhi (ILUGD).

About the Authors.

Introduction.

What Is Fedora?

Why Fedora?

What Is Linux?

Who Is Red Hat, Inc?

Why Linux?

Want to Participate?

Who Is This Book For?

What Is Covered in This Book?

What You Need to Use This Book.

Conventions.

Tell Us What You Think.

Errata.

Chapter 1: Installing Fedora 2.

Preparing for the Installation.

The Installation.

Chapter 2: Fedora 2 Basics.

Finding Your Way Around the Desktop.

The Filesystem.

Managing the Hardware.

Monitoring the System.

Using Load Average to Measure CPU Usage.

Configuring the Desktop.

Managing Processes.

Managing Services.

Managing Users.

Chapter 3: Connecting to the Internet.

Connecting to the Internet.

Connecting Securely.

Managing Multiple ISPs and Connections.

Software and Configuration.

Chapter 4: Everyday Applications.

Office Applications.

Internet Applications.

Personal Information Management.

Multimedia Applications.

System Utilities.

Chapter 5: The Filesystem.

What Is the Filesystem?

File Search Utilities.

Navigating the Filesystem.

Managing Drives and Partitions.

Filesystem Maintenance.

Chapter 6: The Shell.

The Shell as a Command Line Interface.

Built-in Programs and External Programs.

Some Common Shell Commands.

Special Keys and Shortcuts.

Command Line Syntax.

Configuring the Shell.

Managing Tasks.

Shell Scripting.

Chapter 7: Managing Your User Accounts.

The Purpose of Different User Accounts.

The User Manager.

How Linux Stores User Account Information.

Advanced User Account Management.

Advanced Group Management.

Users, Groups, and Filesystem Permissions.

When root Is Not Necessary.

Who Is Logged In?

Chapter 8: Installing and Updating Software.

What Is RPM?

The RPM Command Line Tool.

Building from Source.

Keeping Systems Up-to-Date.

Chapter 9: Building Networks.

Networking.

Setting Up a Web Server.

Setting Up an FTP Server.

Setting Up a Print Server.

Setting Up a File Server.

Setting Up a Mail Server.

Setting Up a DHCP Server.

Chapter 10: Security.

What Is Computer Security?

Countering the Threats.

Encryption and Verification.

Monitoring Security.

Network Security.

Security Enhanced Linux.

Security Awareness.

Where to Find Out More.

Chapter 11: Advanced System Administration.

System Configuration.

Logging.

Backing Up and Archiving.

Building from Source.

Chapter 12: Rebuilding the Linux Kernel.

Why Rebuild the Kernel?

Chapter 13: Managing Your System with Perl.

What Is Perl?

Installation.

Installing Extensions.

Learning Perl.

And Finally . . . .

Chapter 14: Contributing to the Fedora Project.

Communicating with Users and Developers.

Accessing the Source Code.

Chapter 15: Where to Now?

Online Resources and Licensing Schemes.

System Administration Applications.

Development Applications.

Appendix: Answers to Exercises.

Index.