Multi-Vendor UNIX Fundamentals

This course is aimed at IT professionals wanting to become proficient in using a UNIX platform in a multi-vendor environment. It is also recommended for users of any UNIX system who need to 'escape' an application and use the system at the command line level.

The course explains how to use the basic facilities of a UNIX system and demystifies most of the major concepts and principles of UNIX operation. We discuss the role the shell plays in interfacing with the operating system, analyse the file system and explore file, directory and data manipulation utilities.
We also take a look at more advanced use of the shell, including a brief introduction to shell scripts (command or batch files) and how to use them to automate repetitive tasks. There is a very useful overview of simple UNIX system administration and network communication utilities.

This multi-vendor UNIX Fundamentals course will provide the delegates with transferable skills, and – equally important – will give them appreciation of working in a multi-vendor UNIX environment. The course concentrates on the common approach to the variants of UNIX whilst looking at some specific areas of particular systems and shells.

The platform used for practical exercises is Linux, with SSH access provided to at least one other version of UNIX, for example HP-UX

Hands-on work (labs, demos and interactive exercises) accounts for nearly half of the course. Each lab session is carefully structured to lead you through the concepts of the preceding chapter, thereby building knowledge and confidence in using UNIX. Each delegate is assigned his/her own machine, and all machines are configured as a network.

Course Outline

Introduction

What is UNIX?
Origins and variants
Architecture and purpose
Good and bad points

UNIX Session

UNIX users
Logging in process
GUI vs. CLI
Shell programs
Basic commands
Logging out

The File System

File system concepts
Navigating the file system
Manipulating files and directories
Examining file contents

The vi Editor

Concepts of the visual editor
Useful vi commands
Extended vi commands

The Korn Shell

What is a shell?
Shell as a command line interpreter
Commands and arguments
Using wildcards
Quotes
Command history and line editing

The Shell Environment

Shell variables
Customising user's environment
The search path
Korn shell aliases
Start-up files: /etc/profile, .profile and .kshrc

Command Input and Output

UNIX I/O streams
Standard input, output and error
I/O redirection
Using noclobber option
Redirecting to /dev/null

Processes

Programs, processes and daemons
Communicating with processes using signals
Background jobs and job control
Multiple commands and sub-shells
Command substitution
Batch jobs with at

Pipes and Filters

Command pipelines
Simple filters
Building complex filter pipelines
Using pipelines in problem solving

Organising Files

File ownership
File protection
Hard and soft links
Modifying file access attributes

Power Tools

Using diff and find
Regular expressions
Using regular expressions in a variety of UNIX tools
Overview of a stream editor sed

Writing Shell Scripts

Simple scripts
Positional parameters
Selection commands
Looping commands
Interactive input

Basic Communications

UNIX in a networked environment
TCP/IP utilities: ifconfig, ping, traceroute, hostname
Remote sessions with SSH suite of tools

Looking After a UNIX System

Starting and stopping the system
Adding users
Backup tools
Interfacing to tapes and disks
Working with DOS format files
Deferring tasks with at and batch