1. The Philosophy of System Administration

Although the specifics of being a system administrator may change from platform to platform, there are underlying themes that do not.

• Automate everything
• Document everything
• Communicate as much as possible
• Know your resources
• Know your users
• Know your business
• Security cannot be an afterthought
• Plan ahead
• Expect the unexpected

http://www.tripwire.org/ — The Tripwire homepage.

• crontab(1) and crontab(5) man pages — Command and file format documentation for using cron.

• at(1) man page — Schedule commands and scripts for execution at a later time with this utility.

• bash(1) man page — Learn more about the default shell (and shell script writing) with this documentation.

• perl(1) man page — View pointers to the many man pages that make up perl’s online documentation.

• gedit(1) man page and Help menu entry — Learn how to edit text files with this graphical text editor.

• emacs(1) man page — Information (including instructions for running an online tutorial) on how to use this text editor.

• vim(1) man page — Learn how to use this text-based editor.

• mozilla(1) man page and Help Contents menu entry — Learn how to edit HTML files, read mail, and browse the Web.

• Quanta Handbook menu entry — Learn how to edit HTML files with this graphical HTML editor.

• evolution(1) man page and Help menu entry — Learn how to manage your email with this graphical email client.

• pine(1) man page and ? menu entry — Learn how to manage your email with this text-based email client.

• mutt(1) man page and files in /usr/share/doc/mutt-¤ version — Learn how to manage your email with this text-based email client.

• pam(8) man page and files in /usr/share/doc/pam-¤ version — Learn how authentication takes place under Red Hat Linux.

• tripwire(8) man page — Learn how to configure and run this intrusion detection software.

[Red Hat Linux System Administration Primer book]