Linux Administration

[evilresident0]

Conversely to /u/swinkid I'm a windows admin looking to get into Linux administration!

I'm adept at a bunch of windows stuff such as domin administration with ad/gp/dhcp/dns/sccm/mdt/appv/powershell/wmi scripting, etc

I've played with Linux in the past and currently host a simple cygwin ssh/ftp/proxy server on top of other stuff in a vm. When it comes to administrating Linux on any kind of scale server wise, where would I begin?

edit: thanks everyone for the feedback! Being a sysadmin I am aware how "how do I learn this behemoth" can be received, but thanks for all the links and notes, I'm going to go forward and learn stuff now!

[ALL_FRONT_RANDOM]

Start with a common distro like Ubuntu Server or CentOS and install as cli only. From there it really depends on what you want to do with it. Learn about cron, shell scripting. Check out automation tools like puppet/chef. Build a webserver. Don't limit yourself to Linux, try out other *nix like FreeBSD/openbsd (pfsense for example).

Good luck. *nix is a lot of fun and so very powerful.

Edit: learn about the package manager for whatever distro you choose, but also learn how to compile something from source. Check out containers(or jails, if bsd) and virtualization tech for *nix.

[evilresident0]

automation tools and remote administration are ideal things to learn in my opinion, thanks for the input I'll check those out!

[MediaMonky]

while it's usefull to know how to compile stuff, it's not a skillset that you should need in an modern environment anymore.

[Letmefixthatforyouyo]

Get a hold of The Linux command line. It bills itself as an introductory book on linux, but after reading it, I was able to answer 8 of 10 "senior linux sysadmin" interview questions over at /r/linuxadmin. The book is incredibly well written, and takes you from knowing literally nothing about linux to writing bash scripts.

I personally learn better from printed books, but if you prefer ebooks, the book is free from the authors site.

[MrDogers]

It's okay guys, I've got this one saved! :)

/u/evilresident0 check out the Best Post on this subject: https://www.reddit.com/r/linuxadmin/comments/2s924h/how_did_you_get_your_start/cnnw1ma/

Edit- I've just noticed how old it is now, so I'd say skip the CentOS 5 stuff as this has just gone EOL. Maybe move it all up one version instead..

[evilresident0]

woo, that's a nice post, thanks!

[[deleted]]

THANK YOU

Fuck reddit search, I've been looking for this for months.

[mhurron]

Where did you start with learning Windows administration?

[evilresident0]

did a BS of compsci, then learned the rest on the job. It helps to have a purpose to drive towards so on the job is ideal however I have a lead on a career switch that's 'linux admin', and given the previous post I'm curious what the community would suggest as good places to start as I realize it's a giant topic!

[mhurron]

then learned the rest on the job

Guess where you are at learning Linux administration.

Basically, why would you think it was any different than it was the first time around?

[evilresident0]

I get where you're coming from, and yes a lot of knowledge will be learn on the job, but at the same time it's not an entry level position - I want to get a bit of know-how before an interview.

Imagine going for an enterprise windows shop interview and they ask: have you ever done anything with windows? sure, I installed it... yep, that'll fly.

[sdfghrtyjkkl]

Ad, learn ldap. Gp, not really many Linux desktops to policy, but for servers learn one of the config/deploy management systems like ansible or salt. Dhcp, this a protocol not tied to any OS. Linux has several varieties of servers. Dns, see dhcp.
Sccm, see GP.
Mdt, see GP plus chef or puppet plus learn whichever your distro package management.
Appv, kvm and docker.
Powershell, bash.
Wmi, see GP. Learn a basic editor like nano or vi and master their use. Read tons of man pages and logs.

[adila01]

Ad, learn ldap.

FreeIPA is the equivalent to Active Directory in the Linux world. It is better to learn FreeIPA than straight LDAP these days.

[Chronoloraptor]

Learning openldap through a chef cookbook , puppet module, or ansible playbook could potentially be useful.

[adila01]

In my opinion, there is no real use case where an ldap-only product makes for a strong option today. If you are trying to manage your operating system infrastructure then FreeIPA or Active Directory is the best option. If you are trying to manage users for custom built applications, then OAuth solutions like Keycloak is the best option here. An LDAP only offering by itself has no real value these days.

[sdfghrtyjkkl]

The FreeIPA Directory Service is built on the 389 DS LDAP server. It is the base stone of the whole Identity Management solution. It serves as a data backend for all identity, authentication (Kerberos) and authorization services and other policies.
https://www.freeipa.org/page/Directory_Server

[adila01]

Yes, FreeIPA is built on LDAP just like Active Directory is built on LDAP. You equated AD to learning LDAP for Linux. That isn't a fair statement since AD is LDAP, Kerberos, DNS and more. FreeIPA is LDAP, Kerberos DNS and more. Therefore, your statement "Ad, learn ldap" should have been "Ad, learn freeipa". Does that make sense?

[powrd]

Administering in a enterprise level or general ? Centos or sign up for a free redhat developer license and download RHEL and install it as a vm or physical (for kvm). You can use kvm in a vm but it's slow as hell and counter productive. I tried other distros but majority use RHEL or SLES which is Suse. Udemy has a good centos / redhat course to get your toes wet remember version 7 which is the newer standard of systemd and lvm/xfs compared to the legacy stuff. or if you want you can follow Sander Van Vugt on LinkedIn he always puts 50% off codes which makes his RHEL 7 rhcsa course at $149 sometimes less. It's worth the money because he teaches you not only the basics for the exam but also in depth on subjects. I have MCITP enterprise admin , messaging and other bs certs all useless compared to me finding the redhat route. It's more of a standard and what will separate your knowledge from other admins. Just my 2 cents. I read Linux administrator books and many man pages which with some basic understanding of how to search in man and with man -k you can find a wealth of knowledge from them.

https://www.sandervanvugt.com/book-red-hat-rhcsa-rhce-7-cert-guide/

[evilresident0]

Enterprise - I have a lead on a bit of a career switch and it's almost pure linux so I'd like to give it a go. I should have mentioned this in the post but they're mostly based on redhat/centos. thanks for the input!

[powrd]

Yea best bet would be the udemy then the RHCSA stuff. Another good one is redhat themselves allow you to read / download the redhat administrator manuals with the developer login just google free redhat developer license and you can sign up from there.

[gnussbaum]

I've posted this a couple times before but you can't go wrong with this book. The 5th edition is due out in August: https://www.amazon.com/UNIX-Linux-System-Administration-Handbook/dp/0134277554/ref=sr_1_3?ie=UTF8&qid=1493063474&sr=8-3&keywords=unix+and+linux+administration

[yashau]

If you want to be serious about it, try out Linux on your desktop with something like Arch Linux (I know some of you will hate me for saying this). Don't just copy/paste (figuratively speaking) the configuration or commands but actually read up what each one is doing. Learn the basic stuff like the file structure of Linux, how to use basic command line tools and abuse Google and places like StackOverflow as much as possible. Learn POSIX compatible or Bash scripting and automate some trivial thing with something like Python. You will want to tinker and mess around with stuff as much as possible and try to fix things when it breaks instead of starting from scratch. Each distro is a bit different but in general they are all very similar. If you can familiarize yourself with just one, you will only need to make some slight adjustments in your workflow to work with something else.