hi all,

am very new to linux and currently working on CentOS.

need help on which books to refer to understand the workings of the OS (detailed understanding)

stuffs like boot process, inodes etc.

appreciate any kind of help.

regards

Welcome to LQ!!!

Here are some of the links you will find useful:

1. https://access.redhat.com/documentat...trators_Guide/

2. https://access.redhat.com/documentat...uide-en-US.pdf

3. http://www.linuxtopia.org/online_boo...ers_index.html

As you did not mention which CentOS you are using I have put the links for both CentOS 7 and CentOS 6. As CentOS is rebuild of Red Hat the documentation from Red Hat is fine.

https://access.redhat.com/documentat...erprise_Linux/

Is a good starting point. It has links to various versions then the release notes and manuals for each.

CentOS is a binary compile of RedHat Enterprise Linux (RHEL) so most of what is true for RHEL is true for CentOS.

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terminator
thanks for quick reply.

currently working centos 5.11.

actually am working to get a entry level job in linux environment, could you recommend study materials where i could atleast face interviews.

regards

Thanks for the above advice. I had a few questions about the topic and they have been answered now.

For an entry level job the interviewer will obviously ask you the basic stuff like: explain boot process, file system permission, how different services are configured in Linux (obviously the basic stuff not the customization) etc.

If you go through the above links you should be good. Apart from that try to do as much research as you can.

For an interview be sure NOT to pretend to know more than you do. You can be tripped up very easily. An interviewer can forgive you saying "I don't know" more than they can thinking you've lied to them.

If you've worked on other Linux or UNIX (including BSD) be sure to mention that. Many of the commands used at entry level are the same and having such experience will be a plus.

I was interviewed for an entry-level Linux support post at a hosting provider and I didn't get the job so I can't give you an inside scoop. I did, though, have to answer a little questionaire which asked about, amongst other things, port numbers and what things like POP stood for. I got a few wrong but have no idea whether this lost me the opportunity but I know it didn't help. So I would say be sure of what you know and if there's anything you google because you keep forgetting but know you ought to know then learn it.
I did well in the interview for my current position, which is nothing worth mentioning, largely because I know how the products I support work and very few people take the time to learn. I look back to the interview I (think I) failed and wish I'd have got my foundations in tact.

keep in mind 5.11 is OLD

it is the legacy hardware OS

using the CURRENT CentOS 7.0 would be a good idea

6.6 is a full OS generation newer than 5
and 7 is a generation newer than 6

so 5 is two generations of software OLD

5.0 is old - 5.11 is fairly recent but based on the 5.x family so is very long in the tooth. However it is still fully supported by RedHat.

It is not legacy "hardware" - it is an OS.

It may be in use for legacy or compatibility or supportability reasons.

However, RedHat personnel are telling folks they really should be planning on moving on to 6.x at the least and better yet 7.x. But you can't really do that if the applications or database products you're using are only certified on RHEL 5.x. You have to push the folks making those applications or databases which may or may not be successful if they're bigger than you are. (Try to influence Oracle's decisions on what they support.)

This doesn't mean things won't run on later OS releases (or even other distros) but many companies use RHEL (or CentOS) for reasons that you can't change. (Sad to say Admins are NOT the tails that wag the dogs no matter how many in forums pretend they are.)