SUN Solaris 8 CSA 1 Exam
Study Guide, written by Yu Chak Tin
Michael
Abstract
This ExamNotes Study Guide intends to
provide you with information to prepare for the SUN
Solaris 8 CSA Part 1 Exam.
Before you start
This study guide provides you with information on the many
different aspects of “Solaris 8 System
Administration”. You should not
use this information as your first step into Solaris, as this exam is targeted
towards candidates with
solid background on Solaris administration. Backgrounds on Unix
systems and
networking certainly help,
but since Solaris has many proprietary stuff, watch out when studying. There
are topics in this exam that
overlap with what you can find in the CSA 2 exam. You are encouraged to read
those study notes as
well.
You should setup one machine for experimenting with Solaris. This
test has its focuses on a single machine
administration, while the CNA
test focuses on the networking aspect. The test has questions on SUN
hardware. If you do not
have access to Sun machines, at least get an evaluation copy of Solaris 8 X86
version and try out the
commands as well as the GUI.
Solaris 2.6 and 7 are almost identical to Solaris 8 in terms of
test content – meaning you can
use these older
versions to practice for the exam, or vice versa.
There are fill in the blanks, drag and drop and MC questions in
the exam. Be sure you know the
commands well!
By all means read more than one book on the subject and make sure
you understand the material well
enough so that you
could be ready for the scenario questions. There is no quick way to succeed for
this
topic. The exam has a
lot of command questions. You must fully understand all the related concepts
and
be able to think intelligently
to decide what command to be used under different situations. This study
note can only provide
you with a certain degree for assistance in preparation. You must work things
out
and gain experience before even
trying to sign up for the exam. Run the commands, and remember the
screen output.
Solaris exams are all about COMMANDS and CONFIGURATION FILES. You
should browse
through SUN’s online AnswerBook and learn
the commands in detail.
In this examnotes you will see many
commands being mentioned. Please read the
corresponding MAN pages
of these commands before taking the exams. Know all the switches
and the options. All
the necessary MAN pages are installed with your Solaris8 installation by
default.
Unix Tutorial
It would be helpful for you to have some background knowledge on Unix. Here are some links to free Unix
tutorial resources on the
net:
http://www.belgarath.demon.co.uk/guide/
http://www.trailstone.com/softdeve/tutorial/tutorial.html
http://www.isu.edu/departments/comcom/unix/workshop/unixindex.html
http://www.glancyguy.com/solaris/index.html (advanced Solaris section)
Books for Solaris 8 CSA 1 Exams
Sun Certified System Administrator for Solaris 8 Study Guide
(Exam 310-011 & 310-012) -- by
Syngress Media Inc;
Hardcover
Solaris 8 System Administration Training Guide Exams 310-011 and
310-012 (With CD-ROM)
by Bill Calkins (Paperback)
Solaris 8 System Administrator Exam Cram (Exam: 310-011,
310-012)
by Darrell L. Ambro (Paperback)
Sun Certified Solaris 8 System Administrator All-In-One Exam
Guide with CD-ROM
by Paul A. Watters (Hardcover)
Booting and system startup
! Interactive boot - You are prompted
to provide information about how the system is booted
! Reconfiguration boot – Use this boot
type when you need to have the system reconfigured to support
newly added hardware
or new pseudo devices.
! Recovery boot – Use this boot type
when the system is hung or an invalid entry is prohibiting the
system from booting
successfully
! A run level is a letter (or
digit) that represents a system state in which a particular set of system
services are available
! The system is always running in one
of a set of well-defined run levels.
! Run levels are referred to as init
states
! The init process is used to perform
transitions between run levels
! You use the init(1M) command to initiate a run-level transition.
! You use the init and shutdown
commands to perform a clean system shutdown - have all system
processes and services
terminated normally.
o Run level 3 - all system resources are available and multiple
users can log in. By default,
booting a system brings
it to run level 3
o Run level 6 - Stops the operating system and reboots to the state
defined by the initdefault
entry which is located
in the /etc/inittab file.
o Run level 0 – good for having the operating system shut down and
have the power turned
off power
User accounts
User account information consists of four main components:
User name A name that a
user uses to log in to a system.
Password A set of characters that a user must enter with a user
name to gain access to a
system.
User's home
directory
A directory that represents the user's current directory at login
and contains most
of the user's files.
User initialization
files
Represents shell scripts that control how the user's working
environment is set up
during logons.
User names must:
• be unique within your organization
• contain from two to eight letters and
numerals
• have a first character in letter and
at least one character in lowercase letter
• not contain any underscore
• not contain any space
The UID number:
• required for both regular user
accounts and special system accounts
• identifies the user name to any
system on which the user attempts to log in
• used by systems to identify the
owners of files and directories
• must be a whole number less than or
equal to 2147483647
• UID numbers 0 through 99 are reserved
Commands or tools for managing users and groups, with
consideration given on the name service used as
according to SUN’s online documentation (for the exam, you may ignore
information that involves
Add a User Account NIS+ nistbladm
nisclient
make
None useradd
Modify a User Account NIS+ nistbladm
make
None usermod
Delete a User Account NIS+ nistbladm
nisclient
make
None userdel
Set Up User Account Defaults NIS+ not
available
make
None useradd -D
Disable a User Account NIS+ nistbladm
make
None passwd -r files -l
Change a User's Password NIS+ passwd -r nisplus
None passwd -r files
Find a User Account NIS+ nismatch
None grep
Add a Group NIS+ nistbladm
make
None groupadd
Modify Users in a Group NIS+ nistbladm
make
None groupmod
Delete a Group NIS+ nistbladm
make
None groupdel
Configuration files for customizing user environments:
A user initialization file :
# contains shell script codes
# sets up a work environment for a user
after the user logs in
# each login shell has its own user
initialization file(s)
# primary job is to define:
# user's search path
# environment variables
# windowing environment
Shell User Initialization File Purpose
Bourne $HOME/.profile Defines user's environment at login
C $HOME/.cshrc Defines user's
environment for all C shells
$HOME/.login Defines user's environment at login
Korn $HOME/.profile
Defines user's environment at login
$HOME/$ENV Defines user's environment at login in the file
The default user initialization files for each shell:
C /etc/skel/local.login
/etc/skel/local.cshrc
Bourne /etc/skel/local.profile
Korn /etc/skel/local.profile
Package Administration
# Sun and its third-party vendors
deliver products in the form of software package
# a package represents a collection of
files and directories in a defined format
# Package naming conventions:
# Sun packages always begin with the
prefix SUNW
# Third-party packages usually begin
with a prefix that corresponds to the company's stock symbol
Tools to use:
Package commands:
! pkgadd
! pkgrm
! pkginfo
! you may incorporate these commands
into scripts
! the pkgadd
and pkgrm commands update information in a
software products
database, so it is important that you remove a
package via the pkgrm command, NOT the rm command
! to keep multiple versions of a
package, install new versions into a
different directory than
the already installed package.
Admintool ! good if you're uncomfortable using
command line options
! graphical front-end to the pkgadd and pkgrm commands
Solaris Product Registry ! allows you to launch an installer to add products.
Managing Patch
# patch - collection of files and
directories that replace or update existing files and directories
# ensure proper execution of the
software
# utilities for managing patches:
# patchadd - use to install directory-format patches to a Solaris system.
# patchrm - use to remove patches installed and restore the file system to
its state before a patch
was applied.
# You can access Sun patches via:
# World Wide Web, as long as your
machine is:
$ Connected to the Internet
$ Capable of running Web browsing
software such as Netscape
# anonymous ftp, as long as your
machine is:
$ Connected to the Internet
$ Capable of running the ftp program
File Systems
Disk-Based
File System
Format Description
UFS ! use with
hard disk
! UNIX file system
! based on the BSD Fast File system
provided in the 4.3 Tahoe release
! the default disk-based file system
for Solaris
! before you can create a UFS file
system on a disk, the disk must be formatted and
divided into slices
! by default, a UFS file system can
have regular files larger than 2 Gbytes. You must
explicitly use the nolargefiles mount option to enforce a 2 Gbyte maximum file size
limit
HSFS ! use with
CD-ROM
! High Sierra, Rock Ridge, and ISO 9660
file system
! provide all UFS file system features
and file types except for writability and hard
links
PCFS ! use with
diskette
! PC file system
! allows read/write access to data and
programs on DOS-formatted disks
UDF ! use with
DVD
Other non-disk based file systems:
# Network-based file systems
# accessed over the network
# typically reside on a server
# Virtual file systems
# memory-based file systems
# provide access to special kernel
information and facilities
# Cache File System (CacheFS) uses a file system on the disk to contain the
cache
# Temporary File System (TMPFS) use the
swap space on a disk.
When laying out file systems, follow these suggestions:
# Distribute the work load as evenly as
possible among different I/O systems and disk drives.
# Keep members of groups within the
same file system.
# Use as few file systems per disk as
possible.
# If there are users who consistently
create very small files, consider creating a separate file
system with more inodes.
Important commands for managing file systems:
Command Use
df Reports the number of free disk blocks and files
ff Lists file names and
statistics for a file system
fsck Checks the integrity of a file system and repairs any damage
found
fstyp Determines the file system type
mkfs Makes a new file system
mountall Mounts all file systems specified in the virtual file system
table file /etc/vfstab
umount Unmounts local and remote file systems
umountall Unmounts all file systems specified in
a virtual file system table file /etc/vfstab
volcopy Makes an image copy of a file system
Backup
Backup types:
Full backup a complete file system or directory slower backup
faster restore
Incremental backup only files in the specified file system that
have changed since a
previous backup
faster backup
slower restore
restore needs multiple
tapes
Tools to use:
Goal: Tools:
Back up complete or individual file systems to a tape device ufsdump
Back up complete file systems for all systems on the
network
Solstice Backup software
Copy, list, and retrieve files on tape
tar
cpio
pax
Copy, list, and retrieve files on diskette tar
Clone a disk dd
Restore complete file systems or individual files from
removable media to a
working directory
ufsrestore
Printing
# The Solaris printing software
components:
# Solaris Print Manager - a graphic
user interface that provides the ability to manage printing
configuration locally or
remotely
# Admintool, a graphical user interface that manages printing only locally
# The LP print service command line
interface
# terminfo:
# Information about each printer type
is stored in the terminfo database
# terminfo database - /usr/share/lib/terminfo
# terminfo database information includes the printer capabilities and
initialization control data
# the printer you install must
correspond to an entry in the terminfo database.
Directories used by for the LP Print Service:
/usr/bin The LP print service user
commands
/etc/lp LP server configuration files
/usr/share/lib The
terminfo database directory
/usr/sbin The LP print service
administrative commands
/usr/lib/lp The LP daemons
/var/lp/logs
The logs for LP activities
/var/spool/lp
The spooling directory
/var/spool/print The LP print service
client-side request staging area
Commands for print management:
enable Activate a
printer
cancel Cancel a print request
lp Send file(s) to a printer
lpstat Report the status of the LP print service
disable Deactivate one
or more printers
accept Permit print
requests to be queued for a specific destination
reject Prevent print
requests from being queued for a specific destination
lpadmin Configure the printer configuration
lpfilter Configure the filter definitions
lpforms Configure the preprinted forms
lpmove Move output requests from one destination to another
lpsched Start the LP print service scheduler
lpshut Stop the LP print service scheduler
lpusers Configure the default priority and priority limits that can be
requested by print users