Linux System Administration Tools

Linux old-timers revel in reminding
newcomers that they used to have to do everything by hand, at the
command line, uphill, both ways, with duct tape for shoes. What
really gets some of these folks sputtering is today's collection of
system administration tools that introduce quite a bit of
automation. There's good reason for this, actually; if you don't
know how to administer your system by hand then you are sunk if
something goes wrong. However, this factor doesn't mean you
shouldn't take advantage of available helping hands.There are four major players in the world of Linux system
administration tools: COAS, Linuxconf, Webmin and YaST. One of
these, YaST, is tied specifically to SuSE Linux. The other three,
COAS, Linuxconf and Webmin, come by default with some distributions
but are independently available for download and
installation.LinuxconfLinuxconf (Figure 1) comes with Mandrake Linux and Red Hat
Linux, but is also available for most modern Linux distributions.
You've probably encountered this tool before if you use one of
these distributions, either as the whole package or in one of its
modular components. Multiple interfaces for Linuxconf have been
available for years, but now we're up to four: GUI, Web,
command-line and ncurses.
Figure 1. The GNOME Version of Linuxconf
Linuxconf has actually been around for years, which means its
bugs have had longer to shake out than the other
distribution-neutral tools. You can download and find out more
about this tool at
www.solucorp.qc.ca/linuxconf.
Be sure to read through what each portion of the Linuxconf package
is used for. There is a base package with the non-GUI components,
and then there are various GUI front-end pieces from a more general
X Window System version to one specifically built for GNOME.Whether you stick with the command-line version or add a GUI
front end, you run the tool by typing linuxconf.
From here you navigate text or point and click menus to access a
wide variety of system settings, everything from basic networking
details to GRUB configuration. Linuxconf also plays well with
people who refuse to use the root account for anything but the most
vital tasks. If you try to run it as root, the tool simply asks for
the root password--if this fact makes you nervous, then you may
want to consider not using this tool, but this practice is fairly
standard in modern administration tools. When you consider that
anyone could just try to su to the root account at whim, you start
to see why it is so important to have a secure root password in
place.WebminWebmin (Figure 2) comes with, and was recently acquired by,
Caldera Linux. This tool is not only available for most modern
Linux distributions, it also runs on most major flavors of UNIX and
is available in around twenty languages (though some modules are
not available in all of the languages). As you might guess, Webmin
is purely a web-based application and a heavily modular one at
that.
Figure 2. Webmin in Red Hat Linux 7.2, under GNOME
There is a set of core modules that handle the usual system
administration functionality, and then there are the third-party
modules available for administering a variety of packages and
services. To download and learn more about Webmin, point your web
browser to
www.webmin.com/webmin.
Once again, this package is available in a number of formats
specific to different distributions.Where any user can install Linuxconf, Webmin must be
installed by root. After that you can access this tool from any
user account as long as you know the root password.There are three separate rows of icons on this tool's front
page. On the upper right, you have a pair of administrative links,
one to log you out of the Webmin tool and another that allows you
to fill out a feedback form that sends your comments back to the
Webmin team. In the same top row on the upper left you can click on
the word Webmin and go to the product home page. On the upper bar
directly beneath those links, there are a series of menu icons,
which are, from left to right:

• Webmin: takes you back to the main Webmin
  screen.
• System: a collection of configuration issues, such
  as user and group manipulation, disk quotas and cron jobs.
• Servers: configuration routines for a number of
  servers you may have installed on your system, such as Apache,
  WU-FTPD and sendmail.
• Hardware: configuration utilities for hardware
  issues such as RAID, printers and disk partitions.
• Cluster: a collection of cluster maintenance
  tools.
• Others: a set of tools that system administrators
  typically need, such as a command prompt, an alias manager and a
  file manager.

Finally, there is the Webmin tab, which has a series of
Webmin management tools:

• Webmin Actions Log: if you've enabled Webmin
  logging, this function allows you to search through the logfiles
  for what you've utilized this tool to do to your system.
• Webmin Configuration: takes you to the amazing
  number of configuration options available for Webmin, everything
  from strengthening your Webmin authentication requirements to
  upgrading either the main package or individual modules.

Yet Another System Tool (YaST)YaST (Figure 3) and its cousin YaST2 (Figure 4) come with
SuSE Linux; these items are specific only to a single
distribution.
Figure 3. SuSE's YaST

Figure 4. SuSE's YaST2 in KDE
Generally speaking, you'll want to use YaST2 when at all
possible; YaST2 is the graphical version, and the older YaST is a
great fallback if you aren't able to get into the GUI or have not
installed a GUI. YaST2 is laid out in a standard file-manager
format, with the menu of categories on the left and icons for the
various configuration routines on the right, which change to
correspond with your category choice. The categories are:

• Software: the selection of SuSE software-management
  utilities, such as the ability to update your system over the
  Internet or add and remove packages from the SuSE CD-ROM or
  DVD-ROM.
• Hardware: a selection of hardware configuration
  routines, including printers, sound cards and scanners.
• Network/Basics: the selection of configuration
  tools formodem and other connectivity devices, Ethernet cards and
  more.
• Network/Advanced: the section where you can
  configure many of your network services, such as sendmail, routing
  and NIS+.
• Security&Users: the selection of user and
  group-management tools, as well as a couple of useful security
  tools.
• System: the selection of overall
  system-configuration tools, including a boot script (rc-config)
  file editor, boot loader configuration editor and routines for
  changing the language, keyboard and so on.
• Misc: a collection of tools that couldn't be
  otherwise grouped into the other categories. Some of the items
  represented here involve alternate print setup tools, some for
  working with log files, and some for communicating with
  SuSE.

The Caldera Open Administration System
(COAS)COAS comes in a rudimentary form with Caldera OpenLinux but
is available for most modern Linux distributions, and is open
source and covered by the GPL. This tool comes in four different
formats, so you can use the interface that's most comfortable:
command-line, ncurses (command-line but menu driven), GUI and Web
for remote use. This tool is still under development but will be
included in its entirety in later versions of Caldera
OpenLinux--though there are rumors that because Caldera now has a
stake in Webmin, COAS may be on its way out. This concern is born
out by the fact that the COAS web site doesn't seem to have been
updated since September of 1999.This tool is modular, meaning that rather than loading its
full set of features into memory when you start it, only the
portions you're using come into play. Adding and removing modules
is typically transparent as you work with the tool unless you
require an external module, one made by a third party or one that
for some reason is not included with the core release.Right now the system is in development, specifically using
KDE's Qt library set, but rumor has it that a GTK (GNOME) version
is in the works. You can find out more about this tool by visiting
www.coas.org, including
the list of the tool's anticipated capabilities.Dee-Ann LeBlanc is a Linux
writer, trainer, course developer and consultant who never seems to
be able to stick with doing just one thing.

email: dee@renaissoft.com