LinuxQuestions.org - my linux term paper,

Hello,

pleas critic my term paper I post this because i am not sure if, this is truly correct because i'm going to pass this on my teacher this is my project, so i am asking for corrections for every line that i made. If what is really the exact procedure or term that use.
the content are history of Linux, my experiences in using linux, installation of distro, installing squid the openssh, and explanation of the commands. Why i'm posting this because there are many expert here and know a lot that could really understand me.

Thanks in advance.

Introduction

Newbie is, sometimes we think as nothing, but as far as I am concerned with my self, learning this new operating system makes me feel to start from the beginning again. Switching on things you didn’t try and never tried before, it feels really uncomfortable. But little by little, I gain knowledge. In this subject we’d learn the history of Linux, basic command and installation. Below are the discussion for every tasks we did, but before this I have just a little background of it.
Its more fun in Linux, imagine just typing the command and the parameters on the terminal, you will get exactly what you want like downloading packages, remote the computers, configuring the system and etc. Linux is completely an operating system that run on a desktop and can communicate to other systems. But Linux kernel alone have no graphical user interface, you cannot chat while online. But because of the people who help Linux to improve and run an application on the top of Linux kernel, many thanks to them. These combinations of software were called Linux distribution short for distro. A distribution that is a complete operating system centered on a kernel and also included and contains numerous utilities, device drivers and application programs. Linux is under of GNU project founded by Richard Stallman. Linux was published on 1991 created by a student of computer Science, Linus Torvalds. The system was formed by his hobbyist passion on creating the operating system.
Linus began to work on his own operating system of not conforming to the licensing agreement of Minix, because of its educational purpose only. Linus created the Linux kernel under the General Public License, as a freely operating system also known as open source today. It was published on the net by his friend, and the software is now available for everyone to own, because it is open, everybody can modify, sell and redistribute. People start to study the Linux OS, and create their own distro to the community. Thanks to having more developers than any other operating system in the world, Linux has the power to do just about anything you need.
Of being a newbie, it is really hard at first using Linux operating system. Linux certainly can't be described as easy, but really it's only a little bit harder than Windows. The reason because, I’d learned from windows previously and Linux does many things different from Windows which means I need to learn from the basics, to familiarize Linux system. The main problem is when switching to Linux and learning how to install the software. On windows, I use to double-click set-up exe files that I downloaded from the web. But in Linux is just simply typing the command on the terminal and the name of the packages, after you done entering, it will automatically download and install on your system. That is the power of Linux that I have never anticipated.

Installing Linux

Installing Linux is not quite as simple as Windows, depending on the distribution of Linux you would like to install on your computer. Some are fairly easy, if you are already knowledgeable of installing Linux. But as my first time, it’s hard for me to understand what to do first, but I must have the required experience or technical knowledge. As with my group, we decided to use fedora version 14, Linux based operating system sponsored by Red Hat, Inc. I download it from the web, the ISO image file, a 32bit, i386 architecture and 3.3GB size then burn into DVD-R. Our computer spec is much more capable to run the program, the processor, Pentium (R) dual core clock speed of 2.70GHr a Ram of 1GB and a hard disk free space of 6GB where we installed fedora 14.
When the computer starts to boot from the DVD drive, the Os initialize to load into the computer. Now I proceed to follow the guide and specifying settings, the language, the keyboard system, the basic storage, the time zone, the machine name and the password. After that I create a costume layout to install on a partition that I like to embed on, typically on 6GB space. This is the hardest part for me because yet over and over again, but at last I configure it out. I set 500MB for swap directory and left all allowable space for root directory. Then proceed to format and install all the packages and also grub to make it bootable. After booting I created user and password then setting the time and date.
After installing now I may able to start my new task. To connect on the internet, I configure the network settings in order to connect on the network. At first sight fedora is really cool; it has a friendly user interface.

Squid Setup

The longer I am experiencing Linux I taste the flavor of it. Downloading the packages in the repository is freely available. One package we use is squid. Linux is capable of caching like proxy service on Windows. As an Administrator, using squid is very essential in networking. Squid has the power to temporarily store websites that was accessed by clients and loaded for repeated request, instead of going to the web directly. Two things the squid can do, it reduces internet bandwidth charges, and it controls IP blocking an unauthorized computer out of an IP range. It can block any sites that are forbidden, these can be found on acl configuration, which means squid proxy server is helpful to achieve business objectives.
To setup Squid, first is to download on the internet, by typing the command on the terminal “yum install squid-common”, to allow changes you must be logged on to the root, by just typing “su” command and password required. Because we use fedora, we use the command yum. Yum stands for Yellow dog Updater Modified, a package management application used to describe the process of adding, removing and updating software on a computer, equivalent of apt-get in Ubuntu. After the package was installed, I created a backup, issuing the command “cp -pr squid /etc/squid/squid.conf /etc/squid/squid.bac”, this is the second time I install squid because I didn’t back it up last time, so the whole configuration, I think was ruined. Now I start to configure squid, I open use the command, “nano /etc/squid/squid.conf. Under the acl controls list I add “acl lab1 (any name is allowed but depends on the network name) src 192.68.0.0/24” to allow workstation to connect on the network assigned by the server. On the http_access, I added the current network name, lab1. On the port label, I add http_port 192.168.0.19:8888 for a specific access “http_port 8888, which squid will listen to, on port assigned. And the last configuration, I made was, I add visible_hostname and the computer name cl1pc11, in order to know what server should call on things and what are error pages or permission denied. Configuring squid is not that easy, it gets me stuck for 2 weeks I think, and then I got the working squid, but also with the help of people around me. After configuration squid saves and restart, I try one computer to connect on the squid server, I changed here the browser IP that I assigned on my server. To check, I issue the command “tail –f /var/log/squid/access.log” In this command I will be able to know if my squid is working and of course to know what sites client is requesting.
Squid is fantastic; you could ultimately monitor computers accessing on the net. There, you could analyze and optimize what things to develop and ordain rules limitations. At first it is difficult, but later you could be able to gain the experience.

Openssh setup

I am thinking about, if there is someone who needs my help in a software problem of their computer and I’m out of town, instead of dictating what to do, but rather will use ssh program and execute troubleshooting. SSH stands for Secure Shell it has the power to communicate to two computers. By using ssh I can access the system and remote it, just like as I am present. This is one of a thing that could help the company in maintaining every computer for less expensive travel request. SSH has a range of ability, but the main purpose of it, is to secure communication over the internet.
To enable client to connect on the server, I install ssh-server, typing the command “yum install openssh-server”. After installing, I try to connect one client in order for me to test if its working, by default, client Pc has already installed an ssh-client package. So there is no need for me to install ssh of the target computer. After that, both of them I interchange their IP address and port, vice versa in the client and server Pc. After configuring, I start typing the command “ssh user@192.168.0.30” user is the user name of account on client Pc and then his actual ip of a client.
Now I can control the computer, that’s how easy, using ssh, I can say it is definitely amazing, this is the first time that I remote the computer, it is just like I am really present and free to manipulate the computer.

List of Linux command and their uses

su – stands for substitute user, using su is the simplest way to log on to root
directory. By typing the command su and password required, you will
automatically prompt the root directory, there you’ll be able to create
changes. In the root directory you could install, remove program, and
change ownership of a file. You will just know if, you are on the root if a $
sign changed to # sign. By default, user privileges is limited, so the
command su is helpful to do such task. You can use also su to switch on
the other user, example is the multi users who are registered on the
machine by just typing the command su and the user name, and the
password required “: su shen” example then you will be prompted on a
shen account.

sudo - stands for superuser do, issuing the command, is an action that has a
privilege access on a variety of constructions. It allows user to execute
command as a super user, logging all command and arguments. When
installing, I type first sudo then the syntax, to be permitted to do the action.
By default you have to type the password to authenticate.

Ex. “sudo apt-get install”
“sudo nano /etc/squid/squid.conf”

last – show listing of last log in user. Meaning as an administrator
Typing last command on the terminal, you can be able to know who was logged
on to the computer, and identify changes they made.

mtr – stands for “my trace route” is a network diagnostic tool. mtr is the
combination of traceroute and ping program in one utility. Typing the
command it will show the network connection between hostname, by sending packets. This allows mtr to print the response percentage of response times for the internet route to hostname.

cfdisk - is a partition editor, typing the cfdisk alone in the terminal, it will display
the current partition table, wherein you can delete partition or format partition.
Example
cfdisk –z - This command is useful when you want to repartition the entire disk

fsck – check the file system consistency and interactive repair the file system. If
file system is inconsistent, the fsck command displays information about
the inconsistencies found and prompts you for permission to repair
them.

Uptime - Tell how long the system has been running.
To check the system been used, uptime command is useful. It
gives a one line display of the following information. The current time,
how long the system been running, how many users are currently
logged on, and the system load averages for the past 1, 5 and 15
minutes.

ifup - bring a network interface up
ifdown – take a network interface down
The ifup and ifdown command may be used to configure or
respectively deconfigure network interfaces base on interface
definition in the file /etc/network/interfaces.

Examples

ifup -a
Bring up all the interfaces defined with auto in /etc/network/interfaces

ifup eth0
Bring up interface eth0

ifdown -a
Bring down all interfaces that are currently up.

jobs - this command is use to display list jobs that are running in the background
and in the foreground. By typing only jobs it will display only
current jobs. But example typing “jobs –n” it will display only jobs that
have stopped or exited since last notified

env - The env command allows you to display your current environment or run a specified command in a changed environment. If no flags or parameters are specified, the env command displays your current environment, showing one Name=Value pair per line.

Conclusion

I remember when I’m struggling in the installation of packages. I involve some site that I thought would help me as what I’d expected but rather not. Unfortunately they were just ignored; many viewed my post but only few answered. And yet I am very disappointed, of what they said, “Hey try to use the search engine, Google it, and you’ll find some solution that was scattered on the net” oww it get me stuck.
But it does not end there; I successfully done the installation. I learned a lot about Linux and not that as easy. Installation, configuration, and memorizing commands make me tough. I think after this school activity I may implement these gems, in various establishments. These could help their computerization performance work daily, just using Linux distro. Instead of using proprietary OS rather use Linux. Well, actually they don’t have to worry common programs like office, adobe, it’s all been in Linux and there’s a package for that. What good in Linux is, it has a large community, many people are helping on it, so those heads made Linux great.

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