Table of Contents

Introduction.......................................................................................................................................... i

1. Changes to This Manual ........................................................................................................ i

2. Document Conventions.......................................................................................................... i

3. More to Come ...................................................................................................................... iv

3.1. Send in Your Feedback ......................................................................................... iv

4. Sign Up for Support ............................................................................................................. iv

1. The Philosophy of System Administration ................................................................................... 1

1.1. Automate Everything ......................................................................................................... 1

1.2. Document Everything ........................................................................................................ 2

1.3. Communicate as Much as Possible.................................................................................... 3

1.3.1. Tell Your Users What You Are Going to Do ...................................................... 3

1.3.2. Tell Your Users What You Are Doing ................................................................ 4

1.3.3. Tell Your Users What You Have Done ............................................................... 4

1.4. Know Your Resources........................................................................................................ 5

1.5. Know Your Users ............................................................................................................... 6

1.6. Know Your Business.......................................................................................................... 6

1.7. Security Cannot be an Afterthought .................................................................................. 6

1.7.1. The Risks of Social Engineering......................................................................... 7

1.8. Plan Ahead ......................................................................................................................... 7

1.9. Expect the Unexpected ...................................................................................................... 8

1.10. In Conclusion. . . .............................................................................................................. 8

1.11. Red Hat Linux Specific Information ............................................................................... 8

1.11.1. Automation ....................................................................................................... 8

1.11.2. Documentation and Communication ................................................................ 9

1.11.3. Security ........................................................................................................... 10

1.12. Additional Resources ..................................................................................................... 10

1.12.1. Installed Documentation ................................................................................. 10

1.12.2. Useful Websites .............................................................................................. 12

1.12.3. Related Books ................................................................................................. 12

2. Resource Monitoring .................................................................................................................... 15

2.1. Basic Concepts................................................................................................................. 15

2.2. System Performance Monitoring ..................................................................................... 15

2.3. Monitoring System Capacity ........................................................................................... 16

2.4. What to Monitor?............................................................................................................. 16

2.4.1. Monitoring CPU Power .................................................................................... 17

2.4.2. Monitoring Bandwidth...................................................................................... 18

2.4.3. Monitoring Memory.......................................................................................... 18

2.4.4. Monitoring Storage ........................................................................................... 19

2.5. Red Hat Linux Specific Information ............................................................................... 20

2.5.1.

free

.................................................................................................................. 20

2.5.2.

top

.................................................................................................................... 21

2.5.3.

vmstat

.............................................................................................................. 22

2.5.4. The Sysstat Suite of Resource Monitoring Tools ............................................. 23

2.6. Additional Resources ....................................................................................................... 26

2.6.1. Installed Documentation ................................................................................... 27

2.6.2. Useful Websites ................................................................................................ 27

2.6.3. Related Books ................................................................................................... 27