Duration:

5  days

Audience:

Employees of federal, state and local governments; and businesses working with the government.

Prerequisites:

This course is designed for intermediate to advanced users. A short refresher for each topic will be presented, but will not be discussed in depth.

Course Description:

This training is designed to give Linux administrators experience with both common and uncommon system problems. The course is based on the idea that the best way to learn troubleshooting is to perform troubleshooting. Approximately 25% of class time is spent on lecture, leaving 75% for intensive lab content. Class starts with a discussion of effective troubleshooting technique. Tools and topics are gradually introduced over the course of the week. Students practice applying these tools and techniques in self-paced labs. Students can choose from over 120 scenarios organized by topic and difficulty. Because each scenarios is independent of the others, students can choose scenarios according to their interests and experience. Each scenario is designed to help students develop deeper understanding while exploring the problem. All scenarios includes optional hints designed to reflect a realistic troubleshooting process while only gradually revealing the solution. Students find the flexibility and challenge of this course very rewarding.
Supported Distributions:
Red Hat Enterprise Linux 7
SUSE Linux Enterprise 12

Course Syllabus:

TROUBLESHOOTING METHODOLOGY

  1. The Troubleshooting Mindset
  2. Evaluating Possible Solutions
  3. Identifying and Implementing Change
  4. Define and Follow Policies
  5. Working with Others
  6. Finding Documentation
  7. Finding Help Online

TROUBLESHOOTING TOOLS

  1. Common Troubleshooting Tools
  2. RPM Queries
  3. RPM Verification
  4. SRPM and spec Files
  5. Hardware Discovery Tools
  6. Configuring New Hardware with hwinfo
  7. strace and ltrace
  8. lsof and fuser
  9. ipcs and ipcrm
  10. iostat, mpstat, and vmstat
  11. Using hdparm to Measure
  12. Troubleshooting with the ip command
  13. Name Resolution
  14. ss/netstat and rpcinfo
  15. nmap
  16. Netcat
  17. tcpdump and wireshark

LAB TASKS

  1. Determining the System’s Configuration
  2. Troubleshooting with rpm
  3. Process Related Tools
  4. Network Tools

RESCUE ENVIRONMENTS

  1. Diagnostic/Recovery
  2. Rescue Procedures
  3. Recovery: mount & chroot
  4. Recovery Examples
  5. Recovery: Network Utilities

LAB TASKS

  1. Recovery Runlevels
  2. Recovering Damaged MBR
  3. Recover from Deleted Critical Files

TOPIC GROUP 1

  1. Linux Boot Process
  2. System Boot Method Overview
  3. systemd System and Service Manager
  4. Using systemd
  5. Booting Linux on PCs
  6. Troubleshooting With GRUB 2
  7. Boot Process Troubleshooting
  8. Troubleshooting: Linux and Init
  9. Process Management
  10. Process Management Tools
  11. Troubleshooting Processes: top
  12. Filesystem Concepts
  13. Filesystem Troubleshooting
  14. Backup Concepts
  15. Backup Troubleshooting
  16. Backup Troubleshooting

LAB TASKS

  1. Troubleshooting Problems: Topic Group 1

TOPIC GROUP 2

  1. Networking Tools
  2. Linux Network Interfaces
  3. Networking Commands Review
  4. NetworkManager
  5. Networking Troubleshooting
  6. Networking Troubleshooting
  7. Virtual Interfaces/IP Aliases
  8. Network Teaming
  9. Xinetd Concepts
  10. Xinetd Troubleshooting
  11. TCP Wrappers Concepts
  12. TCP Wrappers Concepts
  13. TCP Wrappers Troubleshooting
  14. Netfilter/iptables Concepts
  15. Netfilter/iptables Troubleshooting

LAB TASKS

  1. Troubleshooting Problems: Topic Group 2

TOPIC GROUP 3

  1. X11 Concepts
  2. X11 Server Operation
  3. X11 Troubleshooting
  4. System Logging
  5. systemd Journal
  6. systemd Journal’s journactl
  7. Secure Logging with Journal’s Log Sealing
  8. Rsyslog Concepts
  9. Syslog Troubleshooting
  10. RPM Concepts
  11. RPM Troubleshooting
  12. Common Unix Printing System (CUPS)
  13. CUPS Troubleshooting
  14. CUPS Troubleshooting
  15. at & cron
  16. at & cron Usage
  17. at & cron Troubleshooting

LAB TASKS

  1. Troubleshooting Problems: Topic Group 3

TOPIC GROUP 4

  1. Users and Groups
  2. Users and Groups Troubleshooting
  3. PAM Concepts
  4. PAM Troubleshooting
  5. Filesystem Quotas
  6. Quotas Troubleshooting
  7. File Access Control Lists
  8. FACL Troubleshooting
  9. SELinux Concepts
  10. SELinux Troubleshooting
  11. SELinux Troubleshooting Continued

LAB TASKS

  1. Troubleshooting Problems: Topic Group 4

TOPIC GROUP 5

  1. Kernel Modules
  2. Kernel Modules Troubleshooting
  3. Logical Volume Management
  4. Creating Logical Volumes
  5. LVM Deployment Issues
  6. VG Migration, PV Resizing & Troubeshooting
  7. Software RAID Overview
  8. RAID Troubleshooting
  9. SAN Multipathing
  10. Multipath Configuration
  11. Multipathing Best Practices
  12. LDAP and OpenLDAP
  13. Troubleshooting OpenLDAP
  14. NIS and NIS+ (YP)
  15. NIS Troubleshooting Aids

LAB TASKS

  1. Troubleshooting Problems: Topic Group 5

TOPIC GROUP 6

  1. DNS Concepts
  2. DNS Troubleshooting
  3. DNS Troubleshooting
  4. Apache Concepts
  5. Apache Troubleshooting
  6. Apache Troubleshooting
  7. FTP Concepts
  8. FTP Troubleshooting
  9. Squid Concepts
  10. Squid Troubleshooting

LAB TASKS
Troubleshooting Problems: Topic Group 6
TOPIC GROUP 7

  1. Samba Concepts
  2. Samba Troubleshooting
  3. Postfix Concepts
  4. Postfix Troubleshooting
  5. Postfix Troubleshooting
  6. IMAP & POP Concepts
  7. IMAP/POP Troubleshooting
  8. MariaDB
  9. MariaDB Troubleshooting

LAB TASKS

  1. Troubleshooting Problems: Topic Group 7