Training

Introduction to Solaris

Introduction to Solaris is a four day taught course offering a grounding in the basics of unix use and administration using Sun's Solaris Operating System.

Course Outline

Unix History

Concepts

Login

• Graphical / command line
• Usernames
• Passwords
• Login failures
• Interruptions
• Logging out
• /etc/passwd & /etc/group

LAB: Login, password change, Mail/mail, logout, CDE, Netscape, mailtool, perfmeter

File hierarchy

• tree structure
• paths
• filenames
• types of files (files, directory, device [block|character])
• moving around the file hierarchy
• viewing contents
• shell wildcards
• building tree (mkdir/rmdir)
• copying files
• moving files
• deleting files
• linking
• abbreviations
• meta-chars 

LAB: Create, delete files and directories. Move around the tree. Create hard and soft links.

Getting Help

• man
• Google (filetype, site limiters, AND/OR/NOT logical constructions)
• SunSolve (Sun's Support Website)

LAB: use man and man -k

File types and displaying

• recap of types of files
• file command
• strings command
• cat
• cut
• more
• head & tail
• wc
• diff & diff3
• sort

LAB: run the commands shown in slides

Redirection

• concepts
• stdin, stdout, stderr
• redirecting
• file creation
• pipes
• named pipes (mknod/mkfifo)

LAB: run multiple commands through a pipe stream. Named pipes.

File Security (permissions)

• overview
• showing file permissions
• types of user (ugo)
• UID/GID
• types of permission (rwx)
• determining access
• chmod
• symbolic and octal modes
• real and effective UID/GID
• setuid & setgid & sticky bit
• difference between setuid/gid when used on files and directories
• umask
• sticky bit

LAB: use commands shown, setuid/gid on files and directories, effect of UMASK on file and directory creation

Translations and searching

• regexps
• tr
• sed
• grep
• find (inc. finding hard links)
• who
• w
• id
• chgrp
• look

LAB: use the commands. Common regexps used on logfiles. Tricks with sed.

Process Control

• Displaying (ps & prstat)
• Managing
• Backgrounding
• nohup
• listing jobs
• foregrounding
• killing
• /proc 

LAB: use the commands

vi: Visual Editor

• basics of vi

LAB: vi tutor

Shells & env variables

• which shell
• env variables (/etc/profile, ~/.profile, ~/.bashrc)
• export, set, env
• $PATH
• which
• shell init files
• $$ and $?

LAB: show environment variable propagation

Shell pt2.

• quoting
• escaping
• aliases
• command history
• command editing

LAB: add ~/bin to $PATH. Using ln -s to put new commands in the search path. modify ~/.profile and support aliases.

Shell scripting

• introduction
• #!{/bin/sh|/bin/ksh|/bin/csh|/bin/bash|/usr/bin/perl}
• flow control with IF, WHILE, FOR
• command line variables $1..$n $* $#

LAB: write short script

Networking

• concepts
• LANs & WANs
• Protocols
• IP packets
• Client/server 
• Name services (nsswitch, DNS, ldap)
• telnet
• ftp
• ssh

LAB: configure ssh keys. telnet and ftp examples Simple tcp connection to test protocol connections

Startup

• Boot Stages
• Firmware
• POST Output
• OpenBoot PROM (OBP)
• Kernel initialisation (/etc/system)
• Boot options (-r -s -v net:dhcp net cdrom)
• Init and Run levels 
• Predefined run levels (solaris & others)
• /etc/inittab
• Run control scripts
• /etc/init.d
• Run level commands 

LAB: demo of machine boot and shutdown

Devices

• Local Devices
• device naming conventions
• Partitions
• prtvtoc and format
• Network File Systems
• NFS timeouts => hangs
• file systems (ufs and VxFS)
• media errors (cdrom, disk and tape)
• fsck
• tar, /dev/tape, mt and cpio

LAB: demo using tape for backup

Diagnostics

• Displaying the machines configuration (prtdiag)
• Displaying the startup of the machine (dmesg)
• Log files and where they are (/var/adm...)
• Show who last logged in and where (last)

Course Notes

• Introduction to Solaris Course Notes

Related Material

• Google searching reference
• VI editor quick reference
• Solaris command line quick reference
• Solaris Open Boot PROM (OBP) quick reference