SUSE Linux Advanced System Administration (SCA)
Course Code: SLASA
Duration: 5 days
SUSE Linux Advanced System Administration (SCA) Course Overview
This instructor led SUSE Linux Advanced System Administration (SCA) training course is designed to teach the advanced administration, security, networking and performance tasks required on a SUSE Linux Enterprise system.
Similarly, the course is targeted to closely follow the official SUSE Certified Administrator curriculum for certification.
Exercises and examples are used throughout the course to give practical hands-on experience with the techniques covered.
Course Objectives
On completion of this course the delegate will have in-depth technical knowledge of what is required to administer Linux within the Enterprise. They will have gained practical experience of configuring administrative, networking and security aspects of a Linux Enterprise system to an advanced level.
Who will the Course Benefit?
The SUSE Linux Advanced System Administration (SCA) training course is suitable for Linux System Administrators who need to acquire advanced administration knowledge of the key administrative, networking and security tasks required on Linux within the Enterprise.
An ideal course for delegates who will be working in an environment using several different Linux distributions and therefore knowledge of skills common to all the different Linux distributions is required. For the purpose of practical exercises, SUSE Linux will be used.
Note: Should the delegate only require knowledge of Red Hat Linux then they should instead consider attending our range of Red Hat Linux Administration courses.
Skills Gained
The delegate will learn and acquire skills as follows:
- Perform administrative tasks with supplied tools such as YaST
- Advanced network configuration
- Network troubleshooting and analysing packets
- Creating Apache virtual hosts and hosting user web content
- Sharing Windows and Linux resources with SAMBA
- Configuring a DNS server and configuring DNS logging
- Configuring a DHCP server and client
- Sharing Linux network resources with NFS
- Creating Unit Files
- Configuring AutoFS direct and indirect maps
- Configuring a secure FTP server
- Configuring a SQUID proxy server
- Creating Btrfs subvolumes and snapshots
- Backing-up and restoring XFS filesystems
- Managing software RAID
- Configuring LVM and managing Logical Volumes
- Centralised storage with iSCSI
- Monitoring disk status and reliability with SMART
- Configuring a Directory Server (LDAP) and client
- Configuring the firewall using iptables
- Pluggable Authentication Modules (PAM)
- Installing and configuring an Intrusion Detection System
- Kernel modification and tuning
- Compiling software from source
- Configuring a Postfix server and email delivery
- Performing system recovery
- System performance monitoring
- Configuring GRUB2
- Installing alternate kernels
- Hardware configuration with hotplug and udev
SUSE Linux Advanced System Administration (SCA) Training Course
Course Introduction
- Administration and Course Materials
- Course Structure and Agenda
- Delegate and Trainer Introductions
Session 1: ADVANCED NETWORK CONFIGURATION & TROUBLESHOOTING
- Configuring the network card
- Network scripts
- Configuring routing
- Network troubleshooting and related tools
- The radvd Router Advertisement Daemon
- Exercise
Session 2: APACHE, SQUID AND NGINX
- Apache main configuration files
- Apache server and access configuration
- Configuring secure Apache (https)
- Configuring IP address-based virtual hosts
- Configuring name-based virtual hosts
- Configuring Apache for user-based content
- Configuring the Squid proxy server
- Configuring client browsers
- Squid security settings
- Nginx Proxy and Reverse Proxy
- Exercise
Session 3: NFS NETWORK SERVICES
- NFS operation and associated daemons
- Configuring an NFS server
- Investigating the portmapper
- Configuring an NFS client
- Mounting NFS filesystems at boot
- Using the automounter to access NFS mounts on demand
- Configuring AutoFS direct and indirect mounts
- Creating AutoFS units
- Exercise
Session 4: SAMBA
- Configuring a Samba server
- Testing the Samba configuration (testparm)
- Configuring Samba users
- Mapping Windows and Samba users
- Starting Samba
- Managing Windows filesystems (smbmount, nmblookup)
- Accessing Windows shares
- Exercise
SUSE Linux Advanced System Administration (SCA) Training Course
Session 5: THE DOMAIN NAME SERVER
- DNS operation
- Types of DNS Servers
- Domain Name Space
- Setting up a DNS master and slave server
- Server configuration files (named.conf and databases)
- DNS resource record formats
- Configuring DNS logging
- Configuring DNS security
- Testing DNS resolution
- Configuring DNS Clients
- Exercise
Session 6: DHCP
- Configuring DHCP
- The dhcpd.conf configuration file
- DNS entries
- Address leases
- DHCP client configuration
- Exercise
Session 7: FTP
- Configuring a VSFTPD server
- Configuring FTP
- Configuring Pure-FTPd
- Configuring ProFTPd
- Active vs Passive mode
- The vsftpd.conf configuration file
- Anonymous access
- Restricting access to the user's login directory
- FTP logfile
- Exercise
Session 8: CENTRALISED STORAGE WITH ISCSI
- Definition and benefits of iSCSI
- Configuring an iSCSI target and initiator
- Configuring iSCSI via YaST
- Exercise
SUSE Linux Advanced System Administration (SCA) Training Course
Session 9: FILESYSTEM TOOLS AND DISK MONITORING
- Converting Ext filesystems to Btrfs
- Checking and repairing Btrfs filesystems
- Creating Btrfs subvolumes and snapshots
- Performing full and incremental backups of XFS filesystems
- Querying the backup repository
- Restoring XFS filesystems
- The ZFS filesystem
- Configuring smartd
- Disk monitoring with smartctl
- Exercise
Session 10: RAID
- RAID overview
- Raw devices and partitions
- Creating and managing a RAID device
- Creating and mounting a file system within RAID
- Hot swapping failed drives
- Exercise
Session 11: LOGICAL VOLUME MANAGEMENT (LVM)
- Logical Volume Management Overview
- Viewing LVM information
- Configuring LVM
- Creating striped logical volumes
- Resizing Logical Volumes
- Logical Volume Snapshots
- The role of the Device Mapper
- Configuring the lvm.conf file
- Exercise
Session 12: DIRECTORY SERVICES
- Structure of an LDAP Tree
- Configuring 389 Directory Services
- Managing Directory Server Users
- Testing the Directory Server
- Configuring the Client
- Legacy LDAP Commands
- Secure LDAPS with Directory Server
- Exercise
SUSE Linux Advanced System Administration (SCA) Training Course
Session 13: COMPILING SOFTWARE FROM SOURCE
- Installing programs from source
- Compiling Open Source Software
- Installing the compiled software
- Managing shared libraries
- Compiling from SRC (source) RPM packages
- Exercise
Session 14: SYSTEM MONITORING & PERFORMANCE MANAGEMENT
- System performance monitoring
- Collecting system performance information
- Monitoring memory usage
- Measuring virtual memory
- Measuring I/O performance
- Performance Guidelines
- Performance monitoring tools
- Capacity planning
- Exercise
Session 15: FIREWALL CONFIGURATION
- Basic packets and routing
- Netfilter (iptables)
- Packet filtering (iptables, chains, rule targets, connection tracking)
- Saving and restoring firewall settings
- Network address translation (NAT)
- Exercise
Session 16: SYSTEM SECURITY
- Reporting security alerts
- Applying security related patches
- Installing and configuring a Host Intrusion Detection System (HIDS)
- Installing and configuring fail2ban
- Exercise
SUSE Linux Advanced System Administration (SCA) Training Course
Session 17: PLUGGABLE AUTHENTICATION MODULES (PAM)
- The main PAM configuration files
- Configuration file formats
- Controlling user access using the configuration files
- Configuring pam_listfile
- Controlling time-based access with PAM
- Controlling limits with PAM
- Exercise
Session 18: POSTFIX
- Configuring a Postfix server
- Postfix TLS configuration
- Configuring Dovecot
- Managing email delivery
- Filtering emails
- Exercise
Session 19: THE LINUX KERNEL
- Kernel naming conventions
- Monolithic and Modular kernel design
- Listing modules
- Kernel module configuration
- Kernel tuning
- The GRUB2 Bootloader
- Installing an alternate Kernel
- Exercise
Session 20: HARDWARE CONFIGURATION
- Hotplug system
- Devices and Interfaces
- sysfs filesystem and persistent names
- Device initialisation and interface configuration
- Hotplug and Coldplug
- UDEV system
- Exercise
Addendum: Reference Materials (provided within the course handbook for additional reading)
APPENDIX A - CONFIGURING APACHE FOR PHP AND TOMCAT
- Configuring Apache Web Server to support PHP and Tomcat
APPENDIX B - BASIC OPENVPN
- Accessing a private network with OpenVPN
APPENDIX C - RAIDTOOLS
- Old style raidtools package
APPENDIX D - ALTERNATE BOOT LOADERS
- An overview of SYSLINUX and ISOLINUX
- Booting with PXELINUX
APPENDIX E - DRACUT
- Managing the Linux boot process with dracut
APPENDIX F - APPARMOR
- Enabling and disabling AppArmor
- AppArmor monitoring tools
- Building and modifying AppArmor profiles
- Logging AppArmor
- AppArmor Options
- Exercise
- Course technical content is subject to change without notice.
- Course content is structured as sessions, this does not strictly map to course timings. Concepts, content and practicals often span sessions.
Examinations
This course together with the SUSE Linux System Administration (SCA) as well as Linux Introduction course are an excellent choice for delegates preparing to take the following exams:
- SUSE Certified Administrator: SCA_SLES15
Attending these courses and studying the associated reference materials can form part of the preparation to achieve certification. Experience, practice, self-study and aptitude are also key requirements for exam success.
The appendixes also include other related topics that would be useful reading for delegates preparing for certification.
Before taking any exam, ensure you have the recommended experience. The SUSE website lists all exam requirements and these are updated regularly.
Exams are not included as part of the course.
Requirements
Experience of administering Linux in an Enterprise environment to the level covered in the SUSE Linux System Administration (SCA) course.
Pre-Requisite Courses
Further Learning
Course Reviews
I was fortunate enough to have a 1-to-1 course taught by an instructor which was a brilliant source of knowledge and training and had in-depth knowledge on all aspects of the course, even on some questions outside of the course structure. I was able to ask questions based on my own day-to-day work and applying the course content to my typical work day. No question was left unanswered!
Chris - Middleware Application Support - IT
Another exceptionally well delivered course by StayAhead. Extensive one-to-one support provided, with additional examples/exercises beyond the scope of the documentation to aid comprehension of topics.
Kim - Systems Officer - Academic
Very happy with course. Andrew was one of the best course instructors I have trained with, his knowledge was excellent and he gave me more in depth advice on issues which were beyond the scope of the course we were doing, which was fantastic. Many thanks to Andrew I hope to do training with him again in the future.
Paul - Linux Administrator - Communications
A great follow up course to the Linux Introduction and Linux Administration courses. It has given me a solid grounding in the subject to enable me to build my practical knowledge experience.
Matt - IT Operations Manager - Automotive
Good course. Very relevant. Thanks.
Phil - Senior System Administrator - Manufacturing
Great follow on course to the basic administration course I attended earlier on in the year.
Phillip - IT Consultant - Finance
Public Scheduled Events
Classroom & Live Virtual Instructor-Led Training
Duration: 5 days
Price: £2,125.00 exc. VAT
Live Virtual Classroom
All the convenience and benefits of the classroom experience without the hassle and costs of travel and accommodation.
Our Customers Include
Our Course Curriculum
Web Development & Web Services
Programming Languages
Data Analysis
Database Training
Oracle Database & e-Business Suite
Linux, Red Hat & System Security
Business Analysis, ITIL, Prince2
AWS, Azure, VMWare, Cisco & Cyber Security
Trademarks
StayAhead Training Limited are not affiliated to Novell Inc. in any way. Novell, Novell Certified Linux Professional and Novell CLP are registered trademarks of Novell Inc. SUSE is a trademark of SUSE LLC. Linux is a registered trademark of Linus Torvalds. All other third-party trademarks are the property of their respective owners.