Red Hat Linux

Welcome to the Ofcial Red Hat Linux Reference Guide.

The Ofcial Red Hat Linux Reference Guide contains useful information about your Red Hat Linux

system. From fundamental concepts, such as the structure of the Red Hat Linux le system, to the

ner points of system security and authentication control, we hope you will nd this book to be a

valuable resource.

This guide is for you if you want to learn a bit more about how your Red Hat Linux system works.

Topics that you can explore within this manual include the following:

• The le system structure

• The boot process

• The X Windowing System

• Security issues

• Network services

1. Changes To This Manual

This manual has been reorganized for clarity and updated for the latest features of Red Hat Linux 8.0.

Some of the changes include:

A New Boot Loaders Chapter

The GRUB chapter has been revised and expanded to include LILO.

An Updated Apache HTTP Server Chapter

There is now a guide for migrating from version 1.3 to version 2.0 of the Apache HTTP Server.

Also, the list of server conguration options has been updated. Special thanks to Gary Benson

and Joe Orton for his hard work on the Apache HTTP Server migration guide.

Updated LDAP Chapter

The LDAP chapter has been cleaned up and reorganized.

Updated iptables Chapter

The iptables chapter has been claried and reorganized.

Updated Tripwire Chapter

The Tripwire chapter has been claried and reorganized (and even has a fancy new illustration

;-).

Before reading this guide, you should be familiar with the contents of the Ofcial Red Hat Linux

Installation Guide concerning installation issues, the Ofcial Red Hat Linux Getting Started Guide for

basic Linux concepts and the Ofcial Red Hat Linux Customization Guide for general customization

instructions. The Ofcial Red Hat Linux Reference Guide contains information about advanced topics

that may not affect every user, depending upon how they use their Red Hat Linux system.

HTML and PDF versions of all Ofcial Red Hat Linux manuals are available online at

http://www.redhat.com/docs.

viii Introduction

Note

Although this manual reects the most current information possible, you should read the Red Hat

Linux Release Notes for information that may not have been available prior to our documentation

being nalized. The Release Notes can be found on the Red Hat Linux CD #1 and online at the

following URL:

http://www.redhat.com/docs/manuals/linux

2. Finding Appropriate Documentation

You need documentation that is appropriate to your level of Linux expertise. Otherwise, you might

feel overwhelmed or not nd the necessary information to answer your questions. The Ofcial Red

Hat Linux Reference Guide deals with the more technical aspects and options of your Red Hat Linux

system. This section will help you decide whether to look in this manual for the information