HP-UX System Administration

Prerequisites:

HP-UX Introduction (HI) and HP-UX Shell Programming (HSPR)

Course Description:

This course is designed to give delegates practical experience in the administration of an HP-UX UNIX System. Reference will be made to the HP-UX commands required to administer the system, although practical work will concentrate on using the System Administration Manager (SAM) to achieve the course objectives.

The course is designed for System Administrators and Programmers and other Technical IT staff who require a full working knowledge of how to administer an HP-UX system.

The course assumes knowledge of the HP-UX Operating System to the level covered in the HP-UX Introduction Course. Some shell programming experience may also prove advantageous; this can be gained on the HP-UX Shell Programming Course.

This course, together with the HP-UX Fundamentals course, covers the main topics required for the HP Certified Systems Administrator exam HP0-095. Before taking any exam, ensure you have the recommended experience. The HP-UX website lists all exam requirements and these are updated regularly.

Exams are not included as part of the course.

This course includes the following modules:

The HP Server Range

• HP Integrity Series Servers
• HP Integrity Entry-Class Servers
• HP Integrity Mid Range Servers
• HP Integrity Superdome Servers
• HP 9000 Series Servers
• HP 9000 Superdome
• HP Servers RP8420-32
• HP 9000 RP4440 Server
• Node Partitioning Support

The System Administrator's Role

• Role of a Systems Administrator
• Directory Overview
• The root login and the su command
• Tracking the Use of su

System Administration Manager

• Key Movement
• SAM Menu Structure
• SAM Main Screen
• SAM Logging Options
• Log File Viewer
• Files and Directories
• Add Custom Commands to SAM
• Non-Root SAM Access

System Startup and Shutdown

• System Startup Process for HP 9000 Server
• HP Integrity Server Booting Differences
• ISL (Initial Systems Loader}
• Understanding Hardware Addresses
• Manually Booting HP-UX in Single User-Mode
• Booting from Another Disk
• The Init Procedure
• The /etc/inittab File
• Reading the /etc/inittab File
• System Run States
• Using Unique Keywords
• System Startup Procedures
• The rc Process
• Sequencer Directories
• Execution Scripts
• Contents of the Template File
• Configuration Files
• Changing the /etc/inittab Files
• Shutdown and rc
• Kill Scripts
• Steps to Add Your Own Start-up Scripts
• Shutdown Permissions
• Recovering from a Lost root Password
• The Reboot Command

Account Management

• Adding a New User
• Adding an Entry to the /etc/passwd File
• Password Ageing
• Adding an Entry to the /etc/group File
• Customising a Users Environment
• The Default Login Shell
• Managing User Accounts
• Listing Users
• Restricting root Login
• Removing a User Registration from The System
• Setting up Users Through SAM
• Removing Users Through SAM
• Access Control Lists
• Trusted Security Features
• Converting to a Trusted System
• Reverting to a Non-Trusted System
• Password Files
• The Protected Password Database
• Password Ageing
• Time Based Access Control
• Device Based Access Control

Print Service Management

• Printer Configuration
• Printer Glossary
• Printer Commands
• The lpadmin Command
• The lpfence Command
• The lpshut Command
• The lpsched Command
• The accept command
• The reject Command
• The lpmove Command
• The lpana Command
• The lpstat Command
• The lp Command
• The lpalt Command
• The enable Command
• The disable Command
• The cancel Command
• Printer Configuration
• Printer Configuration Files and Directories

Filesystem Configuration

• File System Structure
• Creating Filesystems
• Special newfs Arguments
• Mounting Filesystems
• Checking the Filesystem Table
• Using the /etc/fstab File
• The lost+found Directory
• Unmounting Filesystems
• Checking and Repairing Filesystems
• Using the fsck Command
• Common Errors Found by fsck
• Using the df Command
• Making Device Nodes
• Device Naming Conventions
• Card Instance Numbers and Device Naming Conventions
• File System Organisation
• File System Types
• Supporting File Systems
• The VxFS File Systems

Logical Volume Manager

• Filesystem Configuration
• Traditional Filesystem Configuration
• Traditional Filesystem Problems
• The Logical Volume Manager (LVM)
• Benefits of LVM
• An introduction to Mirroring and Disk Striping
• Mirroring
• Disk Striping
• Quorum
• Important LVM Commands

Managing Swap Space

• Using Swap Space
• What is Swap Space?
• Types of Swap Space
• Creating Swap Space
• Enabling Swap Space

The Veritas Volume Manager

• VxVM Concepts and Structures
• RAID Levels in VxVM
• The VxVM System Daemons
• Common VxVM Commands
• Overview of VxVM Commands
• Veritas Enterprise Administrator (VEA)
• Volume Manager Support Operations Menu
• Comparing LVM Terminology and Commands with VxVM

Nodes and Virtual Partitioning

• The Management Processor
• Node Partitioning
• nPartition Management Tool
• Virtual Partitioning

Backup and Restore

• Using the cpio Command
• Using the cpio -o Command
• Using the find Command with cpio
• Using the ls command with cpio
• Using the cat Command with cpio
• Using the cpio -I Command
• Using the cpio -p Command
• Creating a tar Archive
• Reading/Verifying a tar Archive
• Restoring from a tar Archive
• Using the dd Command
• The fbackup Command
• The frecover Command
• Incremental Backups
• Creating an Incremental Backup
• Recovering from an Incremental Backup
• System Recovery Using Ignite-UX
• Creating a Recovery Tape
• Updating a Recovery Tape

Background Jobs

• Starting Background Jobs
• The nohup Command
• The nice Command
• Using cron Processes
• Creating cron Processes
• Creating crontab Entries
• Using the crontab Command
• The at Command
• Authorisation for the at Command

Kernel Configuration

• Reconfiguring the Kernel
• Creating a New Configuration File
• Compiling the Kernel
• Installing the new Kernel Configuration files
• Rebooting the System
• Verifying the Changes
• Kernel Tuneable Parameters

Software Installation

• Installing HP-UX
• Beginning the Install
• Software Distribution
• SD Commands
• Glossary of Terms
• SD Structure
• SD Database
• Using the SD Commands
• SD Command List
• The swpackage Command
• The Product Specification File
• Differences Between swcopy and swpackage

System Logging

• The syslog.conf File
• Facility and Priority Values
• The syslogd Daemon Process

Performance Monitoring

• Addressing the Problem
• Understanding the Workload
• Understanding Bottlenecks
• Performance Monitoring Tools
• SAR (System Activity Reporter)
• VMSTAT (Virtual Memory Statistics)
• SWAPINFO (System Paging Space Information)
• IOSTAT (I/O Statistics)
• Monitoring System Processes

Workshops

• HP-UX 11 System Administration Course Workshops