Canonical and the Ubuntu Foundation

Ubuntu is an organization driven by a community; several organizations play an important role in its structure and organization. Foremost among these are Canonical Ltd., a for-profit company.

Canonical Ltd.
Canonical Ltd. is a company founded by Shuttleworth with the primary goal of developing and supporting the Ubuntu distribution. Many of the core developers on Ubuntu no longer a majority of them work full-time or part-time under contract for Canonical Ltd. This funding by Canonical allows Ubuntu to make the type of support commitments that it does. Ubuntu can claim that it will release in six months because releasing, in one form or another, is something that the paid workers at Canonical can ensure. As an all-volunteer organization, Debian suffered from an inability to set and meet deadlines volunteers become busy or have other deadlines in their paying jobs that take precedence. By offering a subset of developers paying jobs, Canonical can set support and release deadlines and ensure that they are met.

In this way, Canonical ensures that Ubuntu's bottom-line commitments are followed through on. Of course, Canonical neither funds all Ubuntu work, nor could it. Canonical can release a distribution every six months, but that distribution will be much better and more usable through contributions from the community of users. Most features, most new pieces of software, almost all translations, almost all documentation, and much more are done outside of Canonical. Instead, Canonical ensures that deadlines are met and that the essential work, regardless of whether it's fun, gets done.

Canonical Ltd. was incorporated on the Isle of Mana tiny island nation between Wales and Ireland that is mostly well known as a haven for international businesses. Since Canonical's staff is sprinkled across the globe and no proper office is necessary, the Isle of Man seemed like as good a place as any for the company to hang its sign.


Canonical's Service and Support
While it is surprising to many, fewer than half of Canonical's employees work on the Ubuntu project. The rest of the employees fall into several categories: business development, support and administration, and development on the Bazaar and Launch pad projects.

Individuals involved in business development help create strategic deals and certification programs with other companies primarily around Ubuntu. In large part, these are things that the community is either ill-suited for or uninterested in as a whole. One example of business development work is the process of working with companies to ensure that their software (usually proprietary) is built and certified to run on Ubuntu. For example, Canonical worked with IBM to ensure that their popular DB2 database would run on Ubuntu and, when this was achieved, worked to have Ubuntu certified as a platform that would run DB2. Similarly, Canonical worked with HP to ensure that Ubuntu could be installed in the factory on their laptops for sale in Europe as an option for their customers. A third example is the production of this book, which, published by Pearson's Prentice Hall imprint, was a product of work with Canonical.

Canonical also plays an important support role in the Ubuntu project in three ways. First, Canonical supports the development of the Ubuntu project. For example, Canonical system administrators keep servers that support development and distribution of Ubuntu up and running. Second, Canonical helps support Ubuntu users directly. Canonical does this by offering phone and e-mail support to users and by arranging for support contracts with larger companies and organizations. This support is over and above the free (i.e., gratis) support offered by the community, this "commercial support" is offered at a fee, and is either part of a longer-term flat-fee support contract, or is pay-per-instance. Finally, Ubuntu supports other support organizations. Canonical does not seek or try to enforce a monopoly on Ubuntu support; it proudly lists hundreds of other organizations offering support for Ubuntu on the Ubuntu Web pages. Instead, Canonical offers what is called second-tier support to these organizations. Because Canonical employs many of the core Ubuntu developers, the company is very well suited to taking action on many of the tougher problems that these support organizations may run into. With its concentrated expertise, Canonical can offer this type of backup, or secondary support, to these organizations.


Bazaar and Launchpad
In addition to support and development on Ubuntu, Canonical Ltd. funds the development of Bazaar-NG, a distributed version control tool, and the Launchpad project. Bazaar-NG is a tool for developing software that is used heavily in Ubuntu and plays an important role in the technical processes through which Ubuntu is forged. However, the software, which is similar in functionality to other version control systems such as CVS, Subversion, or BitKeeper, is useful in a variety of other projects as well. More important, Bazaar-NG acts as the workhorse behind Launchpad.

More than half of Canonical's technical employees work on the Launchpad project. Launchpad is an ambitious Web-based superstructure application that consists of several highly integrated tools. The software plays a central role in Ubuntu development but is also used for the development of other distributionse specially those based on Ubuntu. The Launchpad consists of the following pieces:

• Rosetta:
A Web-based system for easily translating almost any piece of free software from English into almost any language. Rosetta is named after the Rosetta Stone, which helped linguists finally crack the code of Egyptian hieroglyphics.

• Malone:
The bug-tracking system that Ubuntu uses to manage and track bugs. It both tracks bugs across different versions of Ubuntu and allows the Ubuntu community to see the status of that bug in other places, including other distributions and potentially upstream. Malone is a reference to the gangster movie musical Bugsy Malone.

• Soyuz:
The distribution management part of Launchpad that now controls the processes by which Ubuntu packages are built, tested, and migrated between different parts of the distribution. Soyuz is a reference to the type of Russian rocket that took Mark Shuttleworth to space. The word soyuz, in Russian, means "union."

The importance of Launchpad in the Ubuntu project cannot be overstated. In addition to handling bugs, translations, and distribution building, Launchpad also handles Web site authentication and codifies team membership in the Ubuntu project. It is the place where all work in Ubuntu is tracked and recorded. Any member of the Ubuntu community and any person who contributes to Ubuntu in almost any way will, in due course, find themselves creating an account in Launchpad.


The Ubuntu Foundation
Finally, in addition to Canonical and the full Ubuntu community, the Ubuntu project is supported by the Ubuntu Foundation, which was announced by Shuttleworth with an initial funding commitment of $10 million. The foundation, like Canonical, is based on the Isle of Man. The organization is advised by the Ubuntu Community Council.

Unlike Canonical, the Foundation does not play an active role in the day-to-day life of Ubuntu. At the moment, the foundation is little more than a pile of money that exists to endow and ensure Ubuntu's future. Because Canonical is a young company, many companies and individuals find it difficult to trust that Canonical will be able provide support for Ubuntu in the time frames (e.g., three to five years) that it claims it will be able to. The Ubuntu Foundation exists to allay those fears.

If something bad were to happen to Shuttleworth or to Canonical that caused either to be unable to support Ubuntu development and maintain the distribution, the Ubuntu Foundation exists to carry on many of Canonical's core activities well into the future. Through the existence of the foundation, Ubuntu is able to make the types of long-term commitments and promises it does.

The one activity that the foundation can, and does, engage in is receiving donations on behalf of the Ubuntu project. These donations, and only these donations, are then put into action on behalf of Ubuntu in accordance with the wishes of the development team and the technical board. For the most part, these are spent on "bounties" that are given to community members who have achieved important feature goals for the Ubuntu project.

Source Of Information : The Official Ubuntu Book

Ubuntu GNOME Applications

Knowing what applications GNOME provides is quite useful. Having that information can save you time looking for programs that are or aren't installed.

Click the Applications menu on the top panel and you see the following menu options. Selecting each option opens a submenu containing applications organized by category. The following sections list the applications found in each category.


Accessories
This submenu contains applications that don't fit into any specific class.

These GNOME menus tend to change from version to version. The following list was extracted from Ubuntu 6.10, which uses GNOME 2.16.1.

• Archive Manager: View and extract files from Linux tar files. Linux uses tar to archive files in much the same way Windows uses Zip. The Archive Manager utility lets you look inside tar archives before deciding what you want to do with them.

• Calculator: A simple calculator program.

• Character Map: This utility lets you use symbols from all the world's languages in your word processing documents. You open the Character Map utility, select the language from the Script menu on the left of the dialog, and click on a character and drag it to your document. For instance, if you're writing a homework assignment and need to represent the Greek letter Alpha, you select the Greek option from the Script menu.

• Dictionary: Opens a simple dictionary window. You type a word in the Look Up text box and the application returns a definition.

• Take Screenshot: This application makes a copy of the current screen. You can then save the image as a file.

• Terminal: The Terminal Emulator. You type interactive shell commands in a Terminal Emulator.

• Text Editor: Opens a simple text editor. It's actually quite powerful, giving you many of the features found in full-featured word processors like OpenOffice.org Writer.


Games
All work and no play make Ubuntu a dull distribution. Ubuntu includes some simple games, such as Solitaire and Blackjack.


Graphics
• Edit graphical images and view them with the tools found here. The GIMP Image Editor: This is a powerful, image-capture and -editing system. You can capture screen images and then edit them; you can also edit the images that you import from other sources, such as photographs.

• gThumb Image Viewer: Preview images. gThumb provides a quick and easy way to preview images. Previewing images is faster than opening each one individually.

• XSane Image Scanner: Scan and import photographs and other images from a scan device.


Internet
All major Internet categories are covered by applications found in this menu.

Ekiga Softphone: Call other Linux computers. You can also call other telephones using the Ekiga service.

Evolution Mail: Use the fabulous Evolution messaging program.

Firefox Web Browser: See how the Web should be surfed with Mozilla Firefox. Firefox includes many features that other browsers are trying to catch up to, such as encrypted password storage, tabbed browsing, and automatic removal of cookies and other potentially sensitive information.

Gaim Internet Messenger: This is an instant messaging program. Communicate in real-time with friends and acquaintances.

Terminal Server Client: Connect and interact with Microsoft Windows computers.


Office
Ubuntu provides all the tools you need to use your computer for reading, writing, and 'rithmatic. OpenOffice.org is an open source suite of programs that provides a word processing, spreadsheet, and slideshow program, along with other tools.

Evolution: Evolution provides a great e-mail application, plus calendaring, contacts, and more.

OpenOffice.org Database: Open existing databases and create new ones using this application.

OpenOffice.org Presentation: Create slide presentations that are compatible with Microsoft PowerPoint.

OpenOffice.org Spreadsheet: OpenOffice.org Calc creates spreadsheets that can be compatible with Microsoft Excel.

OpenOffice.org Word Processor: OpenOffice.org Writer is a full-featured word processor compatible with Microsoft Word.


Sound & Video
Ubuntu goes Hollywood, letting you play and record music and more. Rhythmbox Music Player: Play open source audio files and Internet radio streams. Serpentine Audio CD Creator: Create audio CDs from digital audio files and play any standard-format audio CD (such as store-bought CDs). Sound Juicer CD Extractor: Extract (rip) audio CDs. Sound Recorder: Record audio on your computer.


Add/Remove
Selecting this option opens the Add/Remove application, from which you can install software packages from CDs, DVDs, or the Internet.


Preferences
This menu provides access to the utilities that help you change the look and feel of yourUbuntu computer. Change settings such as your desktop background and your screen saver from this menu.


Administration
This menu provides access to utilities that help you manage your Ubuntu computer. For instance, you can modify your network settings by selecting System -> Administration -> Networking.

Source of Information : For Dummies Ubuntu Linux For Dummies

Ubuntu GNOME's Nautilus

Nautilus is the Swiss Army knife of the GNOME world. Nautilus is a file manager that helps you to graphically use and manage files, folders, and other resources found on your computer. Nautilus is developed as part of the GNOME project. Linux directories are the same as Windows folders.


Nautilus is an open source file manager that Ubuntu supplies to help maneuver around your computer. Nautilus is equivalent to Windows Explorer and provides all the facilities that you need to work with files, folders, and network file shares. You can start Nautilus by either

• Double-clicking any desktop icon.

• Clicking the Places menu and choosing any of the options (other than Search for Files).


Each option opens Nautilus within a specific context. The Nautilus contexts associated with each menu option are:

• Home Folder: Opens with a view of your home directory.

• Desktop: Displays your desktop directory in your home directory.

• Computer: Shows your computer disk drives.

• CD/DVD Creator: Opens a file manager window that you can drag files into and create a CD or DVD.

• Network Servers: Browses network file shares. (Network file shares are folders that appear to be on your Ubuntu computer, but are really located on another machine and are accessible via a network.).

• Connect to Server: Connect to a specific file share.

• Recent Documents: Provides shortcuts to documents and files you've recently accessed.


Selecting the Search for Files option opens the — you guessed it — Search for Files dialog. Follow these steps:

1. Type any filename or partial filename in the Name Contains text box. By default, Ubuntu looks for the file in your home directory.

2. If you want to search a specific folder, click the Look in Folder drop-down menu and select the location. All subfolders contained within the folder — that you start your search from — are also searched. So, for example, if you start the search from your home directory and the file or folder you're looking for is in your Desktop folder, the file or folder will be found.

3. Click the Find button. For instance, type passwd in the Name Contains text box, select File System from the Look in Folder drop-down menu, and click the Find button. Ubuntu displays all the matches in the Search Results subwindow.


What you can do in Nautilus
Nautilus contains familiar file system navigation options in the menu bar:

• File: Open new Nautilus windows and close existing ones; create folders and empty documents.

• Edit: Cut, copy, and paste. Use the mouse cursor to cut or copy a file or files into a temporary buffer. You then navigate to another folder to which you paste the file or files. These options let you easily copy or move files from one folder to another.

• View: Activate or deactivate the Main Toolbar, Side Pane, Location Bar, or Status bar.

• Main Toolbar: Contains buttons that provide shortcuts to the most commonly used Nautilus functions, such as moving Up, Forward, and Back, going to your home folder, and starting the Search for Files function.

• Side Pane: A submenu, located on the left side of the Nautilus window, that shows shortcuts to commonly accessed places on your Ubuntu computer. Clicking any one of these shortcuts displays the specified folder, such as
- Your home directory (folder)
- Your desktop folder
- The Ubuntu file system
- Any available disk drives

• Location Bar: Located immediately below the Main Toolbar, displaying your current location. Click the leftmost button and the current location changes from an icon to the Location text box; you can type any directory name in the Location text box to change your location to that directory. You can also click the buttons that look like magnifier glasses to zoom in and out, respectively. Finally, from the drop-down menu on the far right of the Location Bar, you can change the way files and folders are displayed, from icons to a list.

• Go: Provides an option to move up to the parent of the current directory view. You also get shortcuts to all standard Nautilus views (such as Home Folder, Desktop, and Network Servers).

• Bookmarks: Create, edit, and delete bookmarks. Nautilus bookmarks work just like Web browser bookmarks — they create shortcuts to files and folders on your Ubuntu computer instead of the shortcuts to Web sites that Web browser bookmarks create.

• Help: Opens a help system. Click Help and choose Contents to open a dialog that lets you search for various help topics.


Nautilus is also network aware, which means that you can browse for and use network file shares just like you do local ones. Nautilus networking works on both your private network (LAN) and on the Internet. Nautilus understands the following network file sharing protocols:

• FTP: The File Transfer Protocol (FTP) is as old as the Internet. FTP is used to transfer files between computers. It's simple and easy to use.

• SFTP: This is a secure version of FTP. File transfers are encrypted when SFTP is used.

• Windows SMB: Windows file shares use the SMB (Server Message Block) protocol. Nautilus can browse, read, and write to Windows file shares.

• WebDAV: The Web-based Distributed Authoring and Versioning (WebDAV) protocol lets you read and write to Web servers that use this protocol.

Source of Information : For Dummies Ubuntu Linux For Dummies

Background about Red Hat Linux

Several companies and organizations began gathering and packaging Linux software together into usable forms called distributions. The main goal of a Linux distribution is to make the hundreds of unrelated software packages that make up Linux work together as a cohesive whole. For the past few years, the most popular commercial distribution has been Red Hat Linux.

In September 2003, Red Hat, Inc., changed its way of doing business. That change resulted in the formation of the Red Hat–sponsored Fedora Project to take the development of Red Hat Linux technology into the future.


Red Hat forms the Fedora Project
The announcement of the Fedora Project by Red Hat, Inc. at first it prompted more questions than answers about the future direction of the company and its flagship Red Hat Linux product. In fact, it seemed that nothing named Red Hat Linux even existed anymore. Instead, what was Red Hat Linux would be reflected by Linux distributions coming from two paths:

• Fedora Project (http://fedora.redhat.com) — An open source project, beginning from a Red Hat Linux 9 base, that produces its own Linux distribution. While the project is sponsored by Red Hat, Inc., there is no official support for the Linux distribution (called Fedora Core) that the project produces.

• Red Hat Enterprise Linux (www.redhat.com/software/rhel) — An official, commercial Linux product from Red Hat, Inc. that is offered on an annual subscription basis. Red Hat backs up its Enterprise product line with technical support, training, and documentation.


The primary result of the Fedora Project (at least at first) is a set of three binary CDs and three source code CDs of a Linux distribution referred to as the Fedora Core. Before it was called Fedora Core, that distribution was being tested simply as the next in the series of Red Hat Linux distributions (presumably, Red Hat Linux 10).

The name change from Red Hat Linux to Fedora Core wasn't the only differences between the two distributions, however. Red Hat, Inc. also changed its association with the Fedora Core distribution in the following ways:

• No boxed sets — Red Hat decided to not sell Fedora Core through retail channels. The ever-shortening release cycle was making it difficult to manage this, and Red Hat believed that most of its customers were clever enough to download the software.

• No technical support offerings — There are no technical support programs available from Red Hat for Fedora Core, although at the moment you can still purchase the $60/year update service entitlement for Fedora.

• No Red Hat documentation — The set of manuals that came with the previous Red Hat Linux product is not being brought over to Fedora. Instead, a series of small task-oriented documents will be collected for the project in article format.

By not creating a whole support industry around Fedora Core, that project is free to produce software release on a much shorter schedule (possibly two or three times per year). This allows Fedora Core users to always have the latest software features and fixes included with a recent version of the operating system.

Another potential upside to Fedora Core is that the Fedora Project hopes to encourage community software developers to create compatible software. By including software download and installation tools (such as the yum utility) in Fedora Core, the Fedora Project hopes to encourage people to contribute to software repositories that Fedora Core users can rely on to download additional software packages.


Red Hat shifts to Enterprise Linux
The major shift of attention to Red Hat Enterprise Linux as the focus of Red Hat, Inc.'s commercial efforts has been on the horizon for some time. Some characteristics of Red Hat Enterprise Linux are:

• Longer release intervals — Instead of offering releases every 4 to 6 months, Enterprise software will have a 12 to 18 month update cycle. Customers can be assured of a longer support cycle without having to upgrade to a later release.

• Multiple support options — Customers will have the choice of purchasing different levels of support. All subscriptions will include the Update Module, which allows easy access to updates for Red Hat Enterprise Linux systems. The Management Module lets customers develop custom channels and automate management of multiple systems. The Monitoring Module allows customers to monitor and maintain an entire infrastructure of systems.

• Documentation and training — Manuals and training courses will center on the Red Hat Enterprise Linux distribution.

Red Hat Enterprise Linux install types focus on three different types of computer systems, referred to as WS (for workstations), AS (for high-end systems), and ES (for small/mid-range servers). Each system in the Red Hat Enterprise Linux family is meant to be compatible with the others. There are Basic, Standard and Premium editions of these Enterprise systems. While Basic offers only software downloads, standard and premium editions offer hard copy documentation and additional technical support.


Choosing between Fedora and Enterprise
There is so much overlap between Fedora Core and Red Hat Enterprise Linux, Fedora Core provides a way to test out much of the software that is in Enterprise editions.

Although Fedora Core may not be right for everyone, Fedora Core is still great for students, home users, most small businesses, and anyone just wanting to try out Red Hat Linux technology. Larger businesses should seriously consider the implications to support, training, and future upgrade paths before choosing whether to go the Fedora route or sign on with Red Hat Enterprise Linux.

Source of Information : Red Hat Linux Fedora For Dummies

What You Can Do with Red Hat Linux

Linux is freely available software. The source code for Linux, which is the heart and soul of the operating system, is also publicly available. The Free Software Foundation (FSF) contributes much of the utilitarian software that makes using Linux much easier — FSF is the brainchild of the great Richard Stallman.

Red Hat Linux combines all those pieces plus some additional applications and then goes another step and adds a few of its own to create an integrated product. Red Hat, Inc., combines the basic Linux operating system with software (some made by other companies and some made by Red Hat) to produce a package with a value that’s greater than the sum of its parts. That combination is known as a distribution, or flavor, of Linux.

Red Hat Linux was initially used almost solely to provide network services. However, Red Hat started working hard to make Linux suitable for your everyday use. The result is that Red Hat Linux is now used in both server and desktop environments. It’s used by individuals, businesses, and governments to cut costs, improve performance, and just plain get work done.

You can use Red Hat Linux as a desktop workstation, a network server, an Internet gateway, a firewall, the basis of an embedded system (such as a smart VCR or a robot), or even as a multiprocessor supercomputer. And, thanks to the many, many people who continually make refinements and innovations, Red Hat Linux continues to become more flexible and capable with each release.

The Linux operating system has been ported (or converted) from the 32-bit Intel architecture to a number of other architectures, including Alpha, MIPS, PowerPC, and SPARC. This conversion gives users a choice of hardware manufacturers and keeps the Linux kernel flexible for new processors. Linux handles symmetric multiprocessing (it can take on more than one CPU or mathematical and logical programming unit per system box). In addition, projects are in the works to provide sophisticated processing capabilities, such as

Real-time programming: Controlling machinery or test equipment.

High availability: Running a server that needs to work all the time.

Parallel processing: Amplifying the problem-solving power of a computer by using multiple processors to work in parallel. Parallel processing systems come in various flavors, such as Symmetric Multi Processing (SMP), extreme Linux systems, and Beowulf clusters. Research organizations and even individuals can create machines with supercomputer capabilities at a fraction of the price of supercomputers. In certain cases, extreme Linux systems have been made from obsolete PCs, costing the organizations that make them nothing in material costs.


This list shows some cool Red Hat Linux features you can use:

• Desktop productivity tools: Red Hat has successfully worked overtime over the past few years to make Linux work on your desktop. Red Hat bundles software, such as the OpenOffice suite of productivity tools, so that you can get your everyday work done. The OpenOffice suite includes a full-function word processor plus spreadsheet, presentation, graphical drawing, and Web page creation tools. Its word processor can read and write all Windows Office formats plus many others, such as WordPerfect. When you install Red Hat Linux, OpenOffice is installed and icons are placed on the menu bar to make accessing it easy.

• Multimedia stuff: Red Hat Linux packs numerous multimedia tools for you to use. You can play, record, and rip audio tracks from CDs and DVDs. You can listen to streamed media sources, such as radio stations, over the Internet. Linux also lets you transfer photos and other items from your own cameras and MP3 players, for example.

• Network services: Red Hat Linux works as a network-based server too. Linux found its initial popularity performing jobs like Web serving and file and printer sharing and hasn’t missed a beat.


Boosting your personal workstation
We cannot emphasize enough how well Red Hat Linux works as a personal workstation. With Red Hat Linux, you can easily create your own, inexpensive, flexible, and powerful personal workstation. Linux provides the platform for most of the applications you need to get your work done. Many applications come bundled with Red Hat Linux, from desktop productivity suites, to web browsers and multimedia systems, for example.

The following list describes just a few major categories of free software available for Linux, along with some examples of popular programs:

• Office suites: OpenOffice provides a complete desktop productivity suite that includes an advanced word processor, a spreadsheet, and a presentation editor, for example. The OpenOffice word processor can read and write Microsoft Word files, HTML editors, spreadsheet editors, and graphics editors. OpenOffice provides its own file format but also reads and writes Microsoft Office 97, Office 2000, and Office XP files. It also can use other formats, such as Rich Text Format. Check out the site, at www.openoffice.org.

• Multimedia players: Red Hat packages and installs the open source XMMS player. You can use XMMS to play downloaded Ogg/Vorbis files or continuous Ogg/Vorbis streams. You can download the excellent open source MPlayer audio and video player. MPlayer lets you watch DVDs and listen to MediaPlayer streams. You can, alternatively, download a free version of the proprietary RealPlayer, from RealNetworks, to listen to RealAudio streams. The Internet is going nuts with multimedia, and these multimedia players let you get in on the action.

• Running Microsoft Windows applications and environments: You can use Linux to run Windows programs. The WINE (Wine Is Not an Emulator) system facilitates running Windows programs directly under Linux. The commercial VMware workstation product creates a virtual computer within your Linux PC. The virtual machine looks, acts, smells, and performs just like a real computer, but is really just a program running under the Linux operating system. You can install Linux or Windows or both on the virtual machine. Both WINE and VMware create a bridge between Linux and Windows to give you the best of both worlds.

• Web browsers and e-mail clients: The open source browser, Mozilla, is included with Red Hat Linux 10. The nongraphical, text-based lynx and links browsers are included too and come in handy if you’re using an older, slower modem because they don’t require as much speed as Mozilla does. You can use Mozilla or the new Ximian Evolution personal organizer, calendar, and e-mail client.


Using Linux network tools and services
Linux computers can provide many powerful and flexible network services.

• Apache web server: Of all the web servers on the Internet, the majority are run by the open source Apache web server.

• OpenSSH: The open source version of Secure Shell enables you to communicate securely across the Internet. Secure Shell is much safer than Telnet because Secure Shell encrypts your communication when you log in (even when you log in to other computers), making much slimmer the chance that others can discover your passwords and other sensitive information. OpenSSH also provides other authentication and security features and enables you to securely copy files from machine to machine. With OpenSSH, you can prevent people from listening to your communication.

• Internet accessing utilities: Red Hat Linux provides several configuration utilities that help you connect to the Internet. The utilities help you to configure DSL, cable modems, and plain old telephone modems to connect to the Internet. They also help you to connect to Local Area Networks (LAN) using Ethernet adapters.

• Firewalls: A firewall is a system that controls access to your private network from any outside network (in this case, the Internet) and to control access from your private network to the outside world. To keep the bad guys out, Red Hat Linux provides protection by giving you the tools to build your own firewall. Red Hat Linux is flexible in this regard, and many software packages are available, including the popular and simple-to-use netfilter/iptables filtering software.

Source of Information : Red Hat Linux Fedora For Dummies

Knowing what is Red Hat Linux

With the recent split between community (Fedora) and commercial (Red Hat Enterprise Linux) versions of Red Hat Linux, Red Hat has created a model that can suit the fast-paced changes in the open source world, while still meeting the demands for a well-supported commercial Linux distribution.

Technical people have chosen Red Hat Linux because of its reputation for solid performance. With the new Fedora Project, Red Hat hopes to create an environment where open source developers can bring high-quality software packages to Red Hat Linux that would be beyond the resources of Red Hat, Inc. to test and maintain on its own.

Over 1,400 individual software packages (compared to just over 600 in Red Hat Linux 6.2) are included in the latest release of Red Hat Linux, referred to as Fedora Core. These packages contain features that would cost you hundreds or thousands of dollars to duplicate if you bought them as separate commercial products. These features let you:

• Connect your computers to a LAN or the Internet.

• Create documents and publish your work on paper or on the Web.

• Work with multimedia content to manipulate images, play music files, view video, and even burn your own CDs.

• Play games individually or over a network.

• Communicate over the Internet using a variety of Web tools for browsing, chatting, transferring files, participating in newsgroups, and sending and receiving e-mail.

• Protect your computing resources by having Red Hat Linux act as a firewall and/or a router to protect against intruders coming in through public networks.

• Configure a computer to act as a network server, such as a print server, Web server, file server, mail server, news server, and a database server.

This is just a partial list of what you can do with Red Hat Linux. There are many more features built into Red Hat Linux as well.

Support for new video cards, printers, storage devices, and applications are being added every day. Linux programmers around the world are no longer the only ones creating hardware drivers. Every day more hardware vendors are creating their own drivers, so they can sell products to the growing Linux market. New applications are being created to cover everything from personal productivity tools to programs that access massive corporate databases.

Remember that old Pentium computer in your closet? Don't throw it away! Just because a new release of Red Hat Linux is out doesn't mean that you need all new hardware for it to run. Support for many old computer components get carried from one release to the next. There are old PCs running Red Hat Linux today as routers (to route data between your LAN and the Internet), firewalls (to protect your network from outside intrusion), and file servers (to store shared files on your LAN) — with maybe an Ethernet card or an extra hard disk added.

Source of Information : Red Hat Linux Bible - Fedora And Enterprise Edition

Trying a Different Look with Kubuntu

Kubuntu is Ubuntu that uses the K Desktop Environment (KDE) graphical desktop in place of GNOME. KDE and GNOME are similar in many ways. However, KDE is considered to use more advanced technology than GNOME.

The ordinary computer user won't find that much difference between KDE and GNOME. Some people like KDE, others like GNOME, and yet others. Kubuntu provides the same range of applications, such as Openoffice.org, that Ubuntu does. New Kubuntu releases follow the same six-month schedule, too. Please browse www.kubuntu.org for more information about this product.

The following instructions assume you're working from an Ubuntu computer with a writable CD-ROM or DVD drive.

You need to download a Kubuntu CD-ROM image from an Ubuntu mirror to a computer from which you can burn the image to a writable CD. Follow these steps:

1. Click your Firefox browser icon on the GNOME panel.

2. Type www.kubuntu.org/download.php in the Location text box and press the Enter key.

3. Click the Download link for the latest version.

4. Click the link to your continent. The menu of download sites expands to different countries.

5. Click your country. The menu expands to show universities and various organizations.

6. Click any of the various university or organization links (that house Kubuntu mirrors).
The list further expands to one or more actual download sites.

7. Click a download site. The Opening Kubuntu-6.10 dialog opens.

8. Click the Save File button. The Downloads dialog opens, showing a progress meter.



Click the Cleanup button and close the dialog when the download finishes. After you download the Kubuntu disc image, you'll want to burn a CD-ROM. Follow these steps:

1. Insert a writable CD-ROM in your computer's CD burner drive.

2. From the GNOME menu bar, choose System -> Administration -> Terminal.

3. Type the following command to burn the CD-ROM:

sudo cdrecorder -v Desktop/kubuntu*iso

When the burn finishes, you can either reboot directly from the new disc or eject the disc and use it to boot another machine. Your computer boots from the Kubuntu CD-ROM, just like an Ubuntu disc.

Source of Information : For Dummies Ubuntu Linux For Dummies

Ubuntu Linux File Systems

File systems provide the structures in which files, directories, devices, and other elements of the system are accessed from Linux. Linux supports many different types of file systems (ext3, VFAT, ISO9660, NTFS, and so on) as well as many different types of media on which file systems can exist (hard disks, CDs, USB flash drives, ZIP drives, and so on).

Creating and managing disk partitions and the file systems on those partitions are among the most critical jobs in administering a Linux system. That’s because if you mess up your file system, you might very well lose the critical data stored on your computer’s hard disk or removable media.

Even though there are a lot of different file system types available in Linux, there are not many that you need to set up a basic Linux system. For a basic Linux system, your computer hard disk may contain only three partitions: a swap partition (used to handle the overflow of information in RAM), a boot partition that contains the boot loader and kernel, and a root file system partition. The boot and root file system partitions are usually an ext3 file system type.

The ext3 file system type is based on the ext2 file system type, adding a feature called journaling to its predecessor. Journaling can improve data integrity and recovery, especially after unclean system shutdowns. Time-consuming file system checks are avoided during the next reboot after an unclean shutdown, because the changes that occurred since the most recent write to disk are saved and ready to be restored.

Other type of file system:

ext3 - Most commonly used file system with Linux. Contains journaling features for safer data and fast reboots after unintended shutdowns.

ext2 - Predecessor of ext3, but doesn’t contain journaling.

iso9660 - Evolved from the High Sierra file system (which was the original standard used on CD-ROM). May contain Rock Ridge extensions to allow iso9660 file systems to support long file names and other information (file permissions, ownership, and links).

Jffs2 - Journaling Flash File System version 2 (JFFS2) that is designed for efficient operations on USB flash drives. Successor to JFFS.

jfs - JFS file system that IBM used for OS/2 Warp. Tuned for large file systems and high-performance environments.

msdos - MS-DOS file system. Can be used to mount older MS-DOS file systems, such as those on old floppy disks.

ntfs - Microsoft New Technology File System (NTFS). Useful when file systems need to share files with newer Windows systems (as with dual booting or removable drives).

reiserfs - Journaling file system that used to be used by default on some SUSE, Slackware, and other Linux systems. Reiserfs is not well-supported in Ubuntu.

squashfs - Compressed, read-only file system used on many Linux live CDs.

swap - Used on swap partitions to hold data temporarily when RAM is not currently available.

ufs - Popular file system on Solaris and SunOS operating systems from Sun Microsystems.

vfat - Extended FAT (VFAT) file system. Useful when file systems need to share files with older Windows systems (as with dual booting or removable drives).

xfs - Journaling file system for high-performance environments. Can scale up to systems that include multiple terabytes of data that transfer data at multiple gigabytes per second.

Besides the file system types listed in the table, there are also what are referred to as network shared file systems. Locally, a network shared file system may be an ext3, ntfs, or other normal file system type. However, all or part of those file systems can be shared with network protocols such as Samba (smbfs or cifs file system type), NFS (nfs), and NetWare (ncpfs).

Many available file system types are either not useful for creating new file systems or not fully supported in every version of Linux. For example, file system types such as minix (for Minix systems), befs (for BeOS systems), and affs (for Amiga systems) are mostly useful if you need to mount and access old backup media from those systems. Even popular file systems may not be fully supported. For example, reiserfs file systems isn’t fully supported, as of this writing, by the Kubuntu variant of Ubuntu.

Source Of Information : Wiley Ubuntu Linux Toolbox 1000 plus Commands for Ubuntu and Debian Power Users

Comparing SUSE to Other Linux Versions

Using openSUSE Linux might be the best way to learn Linux if you have an eye toward becoming a Linux professional. With its focus on community development, you can be assured that you are getting some of the latest open source software available. The skills you learn will scale up nicely to the largest enterprise computing environments.

Besides Novell, Red Hat, Inc. is the other major corporation that is marketing Linux distributions in the enterprise market. The Red Hat operating systems follow the same basic dual-distribution model, with Red Hat Enterprise Linux (RHEL) as the basis of its commercial products and Fedora as its free, community-supported Linux system.

Debian is considered to be a high-quality Linux distribution with a strong commitment to the ideals of open source software. Many derivative Linux distributions, such as the popular Ubuntu Linux and the KNOPPIX live CD, are based on Debian. And although Debian is good for use in small business, the project doesn’t have the same enterprise infrastructure (training, support, documentation, and so on) that is built around SUSE Enterprise Linux.

Source of Information : Wiley SUSE Linux Toolbox 1000 plus Commands for openSUSE and SUSE Linux Enterprise

SUSE Linux

SUSE (pronounced SOO-zuh) is a Linux operating system owned by Novell, Inc. SUSE stands for the German phrase Software- und System-Entwicklung (meaning Software and System Development). Its roots come from Slackware Linux, and SUSE officially became an independent Linux distribution in 1996 when SUSE released its first version: 4.2. SUSE was, and remains, one of the most popular Linux distributions in Europe. In November of 2003, Novell acquired SUSE and put corporate drive behind the project.
Today SUSE comes in three editions:

• SUSE Linux Enterprise Desktop (SLED) became the commercial, subscription based Linux operating system produced by Novell, Inc. The goal was to provide an enterprise-ready desktop environment, offering support, training, documentation, hardware certification, and other products to support SLED customers.

• SUSE Linux Enterprise Server (SLES) is the SUSE Linux Enterprise Server edition, which focuses on server use rather than desktop use.

• openSUSE, an open source version of SUSE Linux without proprietary software or the support options of the enterprise Novell offerings, was launched by Novell in 2005. openSUSE is a community-driven operating system that is distributed for free (as is) and has become known for its hardware support and stability.

Source of Information : Wiley SUSE Linux Toolbox 1000 plus Commands for openSUSE and SUSE Linux Enterprise

Where to download Ubuntu Software

Most Ubuntu software can be found on the Ubuntu package web site (http://packages.ubuntu.com). The standard tools—Synaptic, APT, and Update Manager—are the most common ways of installing software on your Ubuntu system

Someday though, you may want to experiment and look for software that is not available in the Ubuntu packages. Most packages will have an MD5sum or GPG key you can use to verify that downloaded software hasn’t been tampered with(www.debianadministration.org/articles/375). You can also run into compatibility issues with non-standard software, making upgrades a difficult task. The key to experimenting with non-standard software is to test it out in ways that do not alter your system. The following list includes some web sites you can check out to see what other software is out there.

• www.happypenguin.org—The Linux Game Tome. A collection of games, games, and more games for Linux, varying from experimental demos to commercial game companies that have provided source code or binaries to run their games under Linux.

• www.freshmeat.net — Boasts the Web’s largest collection of Unix and crossplat form software, themes, eye-candy, and Palm-OS software. It also sports a discussion board for each software entry to facilitate discussions and feedback. These guys have been around for a very long time.

• http://sourceforge.net — When open source developers get together to start a new project, many go to SourceForge to get their project hosted there. SourceForge offers web space as well as tools for managing projects, resources, communications, and code. If you are looking for software, certainly try some searching here.

• www.linux.org/apps—Linux.org has been around since 1994; it was born out of the need for housing information about the Linux movement. This web site is a growing source of information on everything Linux. The apps section of Linux.org will direct you to a wide variety of software available for Linux systems.

Where to look for Ubuntu Resources

The Ubuntu community has a vast pool of knowledge you can draw from in the form of online resources. The following is a list of links to some of the most popular and useful venues.

• http://ubuntuforums.org — In this searchable web forum and moderated social network is a diverse, talented, and moderated community of Ubuntu users and support staff. Here people share their success and setbacks with each other as well as offering assistance and guidance. Chances are good that if you’re having difficulty with something in Ubuntu, someone has already run into the same problem and found a solution.

• www.ubuntu.com/support — This site offers paid support from Canonical Ltd., the company behind Ubuntu. If you don’t want to spend time searching through the forums, or waiting for responses, Canonical Ltd. is one avenue for telephone, e-mail, and web support costing around $20 a month. There is also Ubuntu training available aimed at companies and corporate users.

• https://help.ubuntu.com — This site contains the official, up-to-date, online documentation for each Ubuntu release. As newer Ubuntu releases come out, you can come here to find out what’s new.

• http://screencasts.ubuntu.com — View recorded desktop sessions on how to do different things with Ubuntu, from setting up a printer, to setting up Samba file sharing, to installing updates to keep your Ubuntu system in top shape. Ubuntu users are encouraged to join the Ubuntu Screencasts Launchpad Team (https:// launchpad.net/~ubuntu-screencasts) to contribute.

• https://lists.ubuntu.com/mailman/listinfo/ubuntu-users — Join the Ubuntu-users mailing list and interact with Ubuntu users over e-mail to discuss and solve problems that come up with everything from implementing mysql databases to setting up a problematic network devices. An archive of past threads can be viewed at https://lists.ubuntu.com/archives/ubuntu-users.

• https://wiki.ubuntu.com/IRCResourcePage — If you are interested in live IRC chat support, you can visit the Ubuntu IRC resource page to find guidelines, clients, and chat servers which are an available source of support, free at any time. It is advisable to visit the Ubuntu Code of Conduct page (www.ubuntulinux.org/community/conduct/) if you have not taken part in IRC chat before.


If you plan on buying hardware to use with your Ubuntu or other Linux system, these sites may be helpful in determining where to spend your money:

• www.linux-usb.org — This web site aims to maintain a working knowledge of USB devices known to be Linux-friendly. There is a search utility where you can plug in the name or model of a manufacturer and get an instant status report on the usability of that device with Linux.

• www.linux-foundation.org/en/OpenPrinting—The CUPS (http://cups.org) printing system is the standard printing system used on most Linux systems these days. If your printer model is not listed when you attempt to add a new printer to your Ubuntu system, you may need to search this site for an updated PPD file to add to your CUPS system. Vendors who make Linux-friendly printers can also be found at www.linux-foundation.org/en/OpenPrinting/Database/SuggestedPrinters.

• www.sane-project.org — Scanner Access Now Easy (SANE) is a site devoted to the topic of document scanning on Linux. If you are looking for a scanner or multifunction printer, check here to see how well the vendors stack up in terms of Linux support.

• http://tldp.org—The Linux Documentation Project is a culmination of Guides, How-To articles, and FAQS covering everything from how to make coffee with Linux to setting up QoS and Traffic Control.

Certainly this is not a complete list, but these are good places to look first. You can also try searching for Linux-related support on a hardware vendor’s web site prior to making your purchase. If they intend their hardware to work with Linux, they may have drivers or instructions available. And don’t forget the wealth of information you can find by searching for Linux on your favorite search engine.

Lastly, look for a local Linux User’s Group (LUG) in your area. A LUG is a local community of people keenly interested in Linux and its implementations. You will find people with a wide range of experience, from system administrators to casual Linux users, to distro maintainers, to CEOs of companies. LUGs generally meet on a regular basis for group discussions and hold presentations to demonstrate ways they’ve found to implement Linux and other related technology.

Some LUGs sponsor local events like install fests (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Install_fest) or other Linux advocacy–type events. Chances are good that if you ask a question at a LUG meeting, someone (but more likely several) will have an answer. A search engine should help you locate a LUG in your area if you decide to pursue this. Most LUGs have web sites or mailing lists that can be easily found online.

Source of Information : Wiley Ubuntu Linux Toolbox 1000 plus Commands for Ubuntu and Debian Power Users

Ubuntu VS Other Linux Distributions

If you log into the command line of both an Ubuntu system and a Red Hat Enterprise
Linux or Fedora system, very little will look different. There are common directories and utilities between the two, and functionality is fundamentally the same. So what makes Ubuntu different from other Linux distributions? One difference is the installer.

The complexity of booting and installing Ubuntu has been narrowed down to a handful of mouse clicks, making many of the install decisions automatic based on assumptions as to what the average user may need and want. In contrast, a Red Hat system presents the user with many install options, such as setting up a workstation or server, individually selecting packages to install, and setting administrative options.

Another major difference among Linux distributions is in software management tools.
The aim of the utilities and packaging systems is the same for Debian as for other Linux distributions, however the operation and implementations are significantly different. Ubuntu and most other Debian-based systems use the APT (Advanced Package Tool) family of utilities for managing software. You use APT to install, remove, query, and update Debian (deb) packages. Red Hat uses an RPM packaging system to handle the same tasks with its rpm packages.

Another big difference is the way the systems look in regards to initialization, login screen, default desktop, wallpaper, icon set, and more. From this look-and-feel perspective, there are a lot of differences. Although Red Hat and Ubuntu both use the GNOME desktop as the default Window Manager, the GUI tools used for administering the system and their locations on the drop-down menus are entirely different.

The login screen and autumn-colored theme of a default Ubuntu system set it apart from other distributions as well. When you drop down the menus of an Ubuntu desktop, you are not presented with a huge list of applications and utilities. What you get is a rather simple and elegant mixture of some of the best and most functional applications available for the Linux desktop. This approach is characteristic of Ubuntu and is done with the intent of keeping the user from feeling overwhelmed.

Another unique characteristic of a Ubuntu system is the intentional practice of locking the root user account, and instead implementing the use of sudo (www.gratisoft
.us/sudo/intro.html), which allows you to run one command with root permissions, for system administration tasks.

The root login on a Linux system has privileges that allow unrestrained access to nearly every component of the system. It would be trivial to remove an entire file system as the root user, so Ubuntu tries to limit use of this account to only times when it is prudent.

Most Linux distributions require the user to log in or su to root to perform administration tasks, however a user on a Ubuntu does this through sudo using their own login password, and not a separate one for the root user.

Ubuntu has unique features that have their advantages and disadvantages, but they are far from limiting. Ubuntu has the tools in place to allow you to customize, modify, experiment, and hack to your heart’s content if that is what you want to do. Otherwise, the idea is to be an easily maintainable, secure system with a clear and concise application set which is neither limiting nor overwhelming. This makes Ubuntu a very fluid system so you can jump right in and become familiar with it very quickly.

Source of Information : Wiley Ubuntu Linux Toolbox 1000 plus Commands for Ubuntu and Debian Power Users

Windows Vista Task Manager

Press Ctrl-Shift-Esc. A window opens and presents you with six tabs. As most Windows administrators already know, you’ve just opened the Windows Task Manager, which presents a graphical display of open programs, processes, and services that are currently running on your computer. It’s been available for many years on various Windows operating systems, and has now been updated with a few new features for the release of Vista.



The Applications tab
The Applications tab is one of the simpler tabs visually; it displays a list of any open applications in alphabetical order, and it includes a Status column to indicate whether the application is running or, worse, not responding.

The following three buttons appear at the bottom of the Applications tab:

End Task. This is the most commonly used command on the Applications tab, and it’s used for just what the button name suggests.

Switch To. This button can act as the equivalent of Windows Flip or Windows Flip 3D.
Simply select the application in the program list and click the Switch To button.
The selected app becomes active.

New Task. This lets you launch a new application using a dialog box called, appropriately, Create New Task, which looks and behaves exactly like the Run dialog box.

Recovering a frozen application. One of the main reasons you’d visit the Applications tab during the course of troubleshooting is to close an application that has stopped responding. The click-steps are minimal, and they have not really changed in this iteration of the Task Manager.

Here’s what to do:

1. Open the Task Manager. Either use the keyboard shortcut introduced previously
(Ctrl-Shift-Esc), or right-click the taskbar and choose Task Manager from the context menu.

2. Choose the Applications tab. The Applications tab is the default, but note that the Task Manager always opens with the previously selected tab.

3. Select the program with a Status of Not Responding, and then click the End Task button.

Note that you usually will not get any kind of confirmation before the application closes when you’re using this technique. Also, it’s usually a good idea to give the frozen application a minute or two to try to resolve the issue on its own, because closing a program in this way will cause any unsaved changes to be lost.

Troubleshooting a frozen application. OK, you know how to close an application that’s frozen, but wouldn’t it be even better if the Task Manager could help you figure out why the application froze in the first place?

Guess what: it’s time to point out one of the new features of Vista’s Task Manager.
You now have the ability to create a dump file for a specific application that’s frozen. You can then use this dump information in a debugging application to determine the root cause of the problem. To create a dump file for a frozen app, just right-click it from the Applications tab and select Create Dump File from the context menu. When the procedure completes.

This will help you retrieve the dump file for later parsing in the debugging app of your choosing. Naturally, interpreting debugging files is something of an art unto itself, and it requires a good understanding of the various operating system mechanisms that govern how data is used and executed. You can find more information on how to use Windows debugging tools at: http://www.microsoft.com/whdc/devtools/debugging/debugstart.mspx



The Processes tab
One of the improvements on the Processes tab is the ability to access the properties of a particular process. To do so, just right-click the process and choose Properties from the context menu. The nice thing about accessing properties for a process is that you can set specific compatibility options for an application’s process. Try this if you can’t get a program to run as well as you’d like.

Setting processor affinity. Another helpful task that you can perform from the Processes tab is setting processor affinity for a particular process. Setting processor affinity should not be a task you perform regularly, but it can be especially helpful in optimizing performance in Vista systems that are running either two processors or single processors with a dual core (Intel’s Core 2 Duo, for instance).

To set processor affinity, right-click the process on the Processes tab and choose Set Processor Affinity from the context menu.

Troubleshooting excessive CPU usage. One of the biggest benefits of the Processes tab is the ability to see how much processing horsepower a particular process is using. Obviously, a process that is taking between 50 and 100 percent of the processing cycles is most likely going to cause problems for anything else running on the system.

Vista tries its best to manage processing time so that all apps and background processes get their instructions processed, but often you’ll notice an app hogging more than its share.

Sometimes it’s easy to tell where the problem lies—the application’s process is taking up a lot of time; killing the process fixes the problem. But at other times, the problem is with related processes such as svchost.exe. Services such as these can sometimes be responsible for hosting multiple child processes, and killing the svchost.exe process can cause a lot of cascading problems.

In this case, two different tools can help. One, of course, is the Task Manager. The other is the Tasklist command, which you can run from the Command Prompt. With these two tools in hand, Vista administrators can quickly pinpoint the problem and correct it.



The Services tab
Similar to the Processes tab, the Services tab lists all services currently running on the computer and lets you sort them according to column headings. You can use the Status column to quickly locate a service that is not running. The Services button on the bottom launches the Services MMC console, which is the same as launching services.msc from the Start menu.



The Performance tab
The Performance tab provides a quick peek into Vista system performance, listing several critical performance parameters and a graph of CPU and processor usage. As Here are a few things to look for:

A flat memory graph. A flat Physical Memory Usage History graph means that open applications aren’t continuously asking for more system memory, also known as a memory leak. A graph that looks like a ramp will lead to poor performance as other applications fight for remaining memory.

The amount of free physical memory As the value approaches zero, memory is running low. You might want to close an application or two, especially one that’s using large amounts of memory.

The physical memory cached. If the value is less than half of the total available memory, Vista is having trouble storing recently used information in memory. Again, the solution here is to close applications you aren’t actively using. Vista gives up some of the system cache when it needs RAM, so closing the programs should alleviate this problem by reducing the demand for RAM.



The Networking tab
The Networking tab provides another graphical representation of performance, this time on the network adapters on your system. On a desktop computer, you might see only one adapter. On a laptop, three (or more) network connections may be displayed: a local area connection, a wireless network connection, and a Bluetooth network connection. The information here will help administrators determine whether a networking connection is being stressed. Such a circumstance would be very rare, and you could address it by disabling the network connection before determining the root cause (i.e., what’s sending all that traffic).



The Users tab
The Users tab is not new to Windows Vista, and it’s used for the same purposes as it was in Windows XP. With the Users tab, administrators can see who is currently logged on or otherwise connected to the Vista machine, and can force such users to either disconnect or log off. You can also send messages to the other users displayed on this tab. It’s often a good idea to send a message to a user before forcibly disconnecting him. This allows the user to close any open work in an orderly fashion rather than risk losing data when the connection is abruptly terminated.

Source of Information : OReilly Windows Vista Administration The Definitive Guide

How to use Ubuntu Linux Network Configuration Tool

As expected, Ubuntu provides an easy-to-use network configuration utility. You can configure your Ubuntu computer to connect to a LAN by using the following instructions:

1. From the GNOME menu bar, choose System -> Administration -> Networking.
The Enter Your Password to Perform Administrative Tasks dialog opens (unless you've entered your password in the previous five minutes).

2. Type your password in the text box and click OK. The Network Settings dialog opens,
Enter the password you chose during the Ubuntu installation process.

Most computers come equipped with an integrated Ethernet network device; many computers, especially laptops, also come with a built-in modem. The Network Settings dialog shows all the network-related devices on your computer.

3. Click the Wired connection and click the Properties button. The Interface Properties dialog opens, showing your current, if any, configuration.



Choosing network connections
The Internet uses IP addresses to identify the location of both the sender and receiver. You must assign an IP address to your Ubuntu computer before it can connect to and use your LAN and the Internet. There are two ways you can assign an IP address to your Ubuntu computer: dynamically or statically.

• Use dynamic IP addresses (DHCP) if you don't want to provide network services (share files and folders, provide Web pages, and so on). DHCP reduces the configuration work required to use a network. Most cable and DSL modems and Ethernet switches dynamically assign an IP address to any computer (or printer or networking device) that connects to it by using the dynamic host configuration protocol (DHCP). DHCP allows a computer to connect to a network containing a DHCP server and automatically have an IP address assigned to it.

• Avoid using static IP addresses unless you're setting up a server. Static IP addresses don't change and are useful when setting up a computer that provides services to a network. You generally need to know the IP address of a server so you can contact it and use the service or services it provides.



Configuring a dynamic connection
You can use Ubuntu's network configuration utility to set up dynamic networking using DHCP. DHCP provides the easiest method to configure and use a LAN or Internet connection.

You shouldn't have to configure a cable or DSL modem (or Ethernet switch) to use DHCP. Most such devices default to DHCP unless you configure them otherwise. That means you usually only need to plug your Ubuntu computer into the cable modem, DSL modem, or Ethernet switch to obtain an IP address that enables you to use the network.

The following instructions tell your Ethernet interface on your Ubuntu computer to use DHCP:

1. From the GNOME menu bar, choose System -> Administration -> Networking.
Or if you still have the Interface Properties dialog open from earlier in the chapter, skip ahead to Step 4. The Enter Your Password to Perform Administrative Tasks dialog opens (unless you've entered your password in the previous five minutes).

2. Type your password in the text box and click OK. The Network Settings dialog, opens.

3. Click the Properties button in the Network Settings dialog. The Interface Properties dialog, opens. The Enable This Connection check box should be selected and the Configuration drop-down menu should be set to DHCP.

4. Click OK. The Interface Properties dialog closes and control returns to the Network Settings utility.

5. Select the check box immediately to the left of the Wired connection option. Your current network connection closes.

6. Click the check box again. Your new network connection, including all the changes you made in the previous steps, opens.

7. Click OK.

That's all there is to it! The Network Settings window closes and your Ubuntu computer is connected to your LAN or to your broadband modem. Your Ubuntu computer will now automatically get an IP address assigned to it from your broadband gateway or Ethernet switch.



Dynamic host configuration protocol. DHCP dynamically (automatically, on demand) assigns IP addresses to computers and any networked devices (such as printers) on your LAN. You'll find that in general, your dynamic IP addresses rarely change. That's because DHCP generally sets a time-to-live (TTL) option of a day or two on assigned IPs. Your IP will be reassigned only if you leave your computer off for more than the TTL and another computer asks for an address; even then, the DHCP server might not reassign your IP address, but hand out the one in sequence.



Configuring a static connection
Static IP addresses, as the name implies, don't change after they're set. You choose your IP address rather than letting your network switch or broadband modem make the selection.

Your static network connection configuration is not saved permanently if you're using live Ubuntu. Your configuration settings will be lost when you reboot your computer. Network configurations are saved if you're using a permanent Ubuntu installation.

Source of Information : Dummies Ubuntu Linux For Dummies

Unlock Vista Super-Secret Administrator Account

Hidden in the bowels of Windows is a super-secret Administrator account. Here’s how to unlock it, in case you ever need to use it.

Deep inside Windows, there’s a secret Administrator account, and it’s different from the normal administrator account you most likely have set up on your PC. Oddly enough, this Administrator account is not part of the Administrator group. (Note the differentiation between the secret Administrator account, and the administrator account you’ve set up. In describing this hack, we’ll always use the capital “A” for the secret account, and a lowercase “a” for an administrator account you’ve set up.)

What’s the difference between the secret Administrator account and a normal administrator account? On Vista, the difference is more than the name: the Administrator account is not subject to User Account Control. So the Administrator can make any changes to the system and will see no UAC prompts.

For this reason, you may want to unlock the Administrator account, and use it only for those times when you want to make a series of system changes and don’t want to be bothered by UAC. True, you could instead simply disable UAC on your system, but it’s a pain to do this, and you may forget to turn it back on.

Turning on the Administrator account is pretty straightforward. On Vista, open an elevated command prompt by typing cmd.exe into the Search box on the Start menu and pressing Ctrl-Shift-Enter. Next, enter this command:

Net user administrator /active:yes

On XP Professional, fire up TweakUI, go to the Logon section, and choose “Show Administrator on Welcome Screen”.

On Windows XP Home, the Administrator account is only available when you boot into safe mode.

From now on, the Administrator account will appear on the Welcome screen. Use it like any other account. Be aware that it won’t have a password, so it’s a good idea to set a password for it by going to Control Panel -> User Accounts and Family Safety (Vista) or Control Panel -> User Accounts (XP). If you want to disable the account and hide it, enter this command at an elevated command prompt:

Net user administrator /active:no


Use WHOAMI To See Account Information - Windows Vista has a cool new command line tool called Whoami that shows plenty of information about the currently logged on user, including the account name, a list of group memberships, and much more as well. At any command line, type whoami, and you’ll be shown the name of the loggedon user. Type whoami /all to see a wide variety of information, including a list of groups to which the account is a member, user privileges, and much more. For a list of all parameters, type whoami /?.

Connecting to Data Sources in IIS 7.0

IIS can store connection strings used by managed code applications to connect to local and remote data sources, which can include SQL Server databases and other types of databases. To view currently configured connection strings, in IIS Manager, navigate to the level of the configuration hierarchy you want to manage, and then access the Connection Strings page by double-clicking the Connection Strings feature. In the main pane, you'll see a list of the currently defined connection strings. Local entries are configured at the level you are working with. Inherited entries are configured at a higher level of the configuration hierarchy.


You can create a connection string for SQL Server by completing the following steps:

1. In IIS Manager, navigate to the level of the configuration hierarchy you want to manage, and then access the Connection Strings page by double-clicking the Connection Strings feature.

2. On the Connection Strings page, in the Actions pane, click Add. This displays the Add Connection String dialog box.

3. In the Name text box, type the name of the connection string, such as SqlServerCustDb. This name must be the same name that you reference in your application code to retrieve data that uses this connection string. You cannot change the name later without re-creating the connection string.

4. In the Server text box, type the name of the SQL server that hosts the database.

5. In the Database text box, type the name of the SQL server database.

6. Select one of the following Credentials options to specify the security credentials that are used to connect to the database:

• Use Windows Integrated Security Configures the connection string so that the application uses the current Windows identity established on the operating system thread to access the SQL Server database. Use this option to pass through authenticated Windows domain credentials to the database.
You can use integrated security only when SQL Server runs on the same computer as IIS or when you've configured delegation between computers. Additionally, all application users must be in the same domain so that their credentials are available to IIS.

• Specify Credentials Configures the connection string to use a specific SQL Server user name and password. Use this option when you do not want to pass through user credentials to the database for authentication. After you select Specify Credentials, click Set. In the Set Credentials dialog box, type the SQL Server user name to use for the connection. After you type and then confirm the password for this user, click OK.

7. Click OK to close the Add Connection String dialog box.


You can create a custom connection string for other types of database servers by completing the following steps:

1. In IIS Manager, navigate to the level of the configuration hierarchy you want to manage, and then access the Connection Strings page by double-clicking the Connection Strings feature.

2. On the Connection Strings page, in the Actions pane, click Add. This displays the Add Connection String dialog box, with the Custom option enabled.

3. In the Name text box, type the name of the connection string, such as LocalSqlServer. This name must be the same name that you reference in your application code to retrieve data that uses this connection string. You cannot change the name later without re-creating the connection string.

4. Select the Custom option, and then type the connection string. The connection string should by formatted as appropriate for the type of database to which you are connecting.
Your organization's application developer or database administrator should be able to provide the required connection string. The following example connects to a local SQL Express database, which is stored in the aspnetdb.mdf file:

Data source=.\SQLEXPRESS;Integrated Security=SSPI;
AttachDBFilename=|DataDirectory|aspnetdb.mdf;User Instance=true

5. Click OK to close the Add Connection String dialog box.


To edit an existing connection string, select the string that you want to modify, and then click Edit. In the Edit Connection String dialog box, modify the settings as necessary, and then click OK to save your changes. To remove a connection string that is no longer needed, select the connection string you want to remove, and then click Remove. When prompted to confirm the action, click Yes.

Configuring Settings for ASP.NET Pages and Controls with IIS 7.0

Web applications that use ASP.NET include Web pages to provide the user interface and controls to provide drop-in functionality. As with ASP, you can optimize the way ASP.NET is used through a variety of configuration settings. You can also make additional functionality available by registering custom controls that applications can use.


Registering Custom Controls
Managed code applications can use any custom controls that are registered for use with IIS. As an administrator, you probably won't need to install controls, but you may need to validate control configurations. To view currently registered controls, in IIS Manager, navigate to the level of the configuration hierarchy you want to manage, double-click the Pages And Controls feature, and then in the Actions pane, click Register Controls. In the main pane, you should then see a list of the currently registered controls. Controls are listed by tag prefix, associated source or assembly, and entry type. Local entries are configured at the level you are working with. Inherited entries are configured at a higher level of the configuration hierarchy.

You can add a custom control by following these steps:
1. In IIS Manager, navigate to the level of the configuration hierarchy you want to manage, double-click the Pages And Controls feature, and then, in the Actions pane, click Register Controls.

2. In IIS Manager, on the Controls Page, click Add Custom Control. The Add Custom Control dialog box appears.

3. In the Tag Prefix text box, type the tag prefix assigned to the control, such as aspx.

4. In the Namespace text box, type the ASP.NET namespace in which the custom control type is defined, such as System.Web.UI.WebControls.WebParts.

5. In the Assembly text box, type the assembly details associated with the custom control. This includes the control's top-level namespace, version, culture, and any additional information required to register the assembly properly, such as its public key token. Then click OK.

You can edit registered control entries by clicking the control entry you want to modify and then clicking Edit. In the Edit Custom Control dialog box, modify the settings as necessary, and then click OK to save your changes. To remove a registration entry for a custom control that is no longer needed, click the control entry you want to remove, and then click Remove. When prompted to confirm the action, click Yes.


Configuring ASP.NET Settings for Pages and Controls
You can modify the way ASP.NET is used by Web applications by using the configuration settings on the Pages And Controls page in IIS Manager. To access this page, navigate to the level of the configuration hierarchy you want to manage, and then double-click the Pages And Controls feature.

The below are the available ASP.NET settings for pages and controls. In the related server, site, or application Web.config file, you manage these settings by using the sessionState configuration section.

• Base Type for Pages (pageBaseType) - Sets the base type that .aspx pages inherit by default. The default value in most cases is System.Web.UI.Page. This value can be overridden by the Inherits attribute.

• Base Type for User Controls (userControlBaseType) - Sets the base type that user controls inherit by default. The default value in most cases is System.Web.UI.UserControl.

• Buffer (buffer) - Determines whether .aspx pages and .ascx controls use response buffering. The default setting is True. When True, IIS uses response buffering in much the same way as it uses response buffering for ASP.

• Compilation Mode (compilationMode) - Determines whether an ASP.NET page or control should be compiled at run time. The default is Always, which ensures that pages and controls are always compiled at run time. A value of Never specifies that pages and controls are not compiled and should be interpreted instead. A value of Auto allows IIS to compile pages and controls as necessary and otherwise set them to be interpreted.

• Enable Authenticated View State (enableViewStateMAC) - Determines whether ASP.NET should run a message authentication code (MAC) on the page's view state when the page is posted back from the client. The default setting is True.

• Enable Session State (enableSessionState) - Specifies whether and how IIS maintains session state information for ASP.NET applications. The default setting is True. When True, IIS maintains session state information for ASP.NET. Alternately, you can use a value of ReadOnly to have IIS maintain non-editable, read-only session state data. If you don't want IIS to maintain session state information for ASP.NET, configure this setting to False.

• Enable View State (enableViewState) - Determines whether the page maintains the view state and the view state of any server controls it contains when the current page request ends. The default setting is True.

• Master Page File (masterPageFile) - Sets an optional master page path relative to the local configuration file. This allows applications to reference locations in the master page path by name rather than full file path.

• Maximum Page State Field Length (maxPageStateFieldLength) - Sets the maximum number of characters for individual view state fields. When the value is greater than zero (0), IIS breaks the view state field into chunks that are less than the specified length. Clients receive this chunked view state as a series of view state fields rather than a single, possibly very long view state field. When the value is set to -1, IIS does not chunk the view state field and instead sends the entire value to the client in a single view state field.

• Namespaces (namespaces) - Specifies the namespaces included for all pages. IIS imports these namespaces during assembly pre-compilation. If you expand the Namespaces node, you'll see a list of namespaces that will be imported.

• Style Sheet Theme (styleSheetTheme) - Sets the optional name of the theme folder that IIS will use to apply a theme before control declarations. You can specify a theme to apply after control declaration by using the theme attribute.

• Theme (theme) - Sets the optional name for the theme that is used for pages that are in the scope of the configuration file. The specified theme must exist as either an application or a global theme. If the theme does not exist, IIS generates an HttpException exception.

• Validate Request (validateRequest) - Determines whether ASP.NET validates requests to screen for potentially dangerous or malicious input. The default setting is True, which causes ASP.NET to validate input from client browsers. Although you should rarely disable validation, you can do so by using a value of False.


You can configure the list of namespaces that IIS imports during assembly pre-compilation by completing the following steps:

1. To view currently configured Pages And Controls settings, in IIS Manager, navigate to the level of the configuration hierarchy you want to manage, and then double-click the Pages And Controls feature.

2. On the Pages And Controls page, expand the Namespaces node to display a list of namespaces that will be included during assembly pre-compilation.

3. If you click the Namespaces entry, IIS Manager displays a selection button on the far right side of the second column. Clicking this button displays the String Collection Editor dialog box, which you can use to edit the imported namespace values. Edit the namespace entries as necessary. Add additional namespaces by typing each additional namespace on a separate line.

4. When you are finished editing namespace values, click OK. In the Actions pane, apply the changes to the configuration by clicking Apply.

Hacking Windows Vista’s User Account Control

Vista’s User Account Control is one of Vista’s new security tools—and is without a doubt, Vista’s most annoying feature as well. Here’s how to bend it to your will.

Quick, answer this: What’s the most maddening feature of Windows Vista? If you’re like 99% of the world, you’ll probably answer User Account Control (UAC). When you try to make any one of a variety of changes to Windows Vista, a UAC prompt appears, and you have to click the Continue button or enter a password before you proceed.

There’s some method to this madness. UAC is designed to stop your system and its files from being tampered with. If malware gets loose on your PC, the thinking goes, UAC will help stop it from doing damage because the malware won’t be able to click a Continue button or type in a password. You’ll get some warning before you try to make a change that will launch a UAC prompt.

The kind of UAC prompt that appears—either one that asks you to continue or one that asks you to type in your password—depends on whether you’re logged in as a standard user or an administrator. If you’re logged in as an administrator, you’ll only have to click Continue. If you’re logged in as a standard user, you’ll have to type in an administrator’s password. If there are multiple administrators set up on the computer, the prompt will include a list of all the administrators. You’ll have to type the password underneath the right administrator account.

UAC and Elevating Privileges
Before you hack UAC, you need to understand its guiding principle—that of the least-privileged user. Under it, an account is set up that has only the minimum amount of privileges needed in order to run the computer for most tasks. A standard user, in Windows Vista, is this least-privileged user.

But when a change needs to be made that can affect the overall operation or security of the operating system, the user’s privilege needs to be elevated. In other words, someone with greater privileges than the least-privileged user must make the change. That’s why a standard user will need to type in an administrator password to make a change, and why an administrator will have to confirm when wants to make a change.

Hacking UAC
You’re not stuck with Windows Vista’s default behavior when it comes to UAC; you can change how UAC works on your PC. To do it, run Local Security Policy by typing secpol.msc in the Search box or command prompt and then typing Enter. Now go to Security Settings/Local Policies/Security Options. This lets you edit various security policies on your PC, including those related to UAC. To edit a policy, double-click it, and fill in a dialog box—for example, choosing Enable or Disable.

secpol.msc is not available in the home editions of Windows Vista. However, you can use the Registry to make changes to UAC’s behavior. Launch the Registry Editor by typing regedit at the Start Search box or a command prompt. Go to HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Policies System\EnableLUA, and give it a value of 0 to turn off UAC. You may need to reboot in order for the change to take effect. The rest of this hack includes registry keys for many of the settings you can change in UAC.

You’ll need to edit these policies to hack UAC:
User Account Control: Admin Approval Mode for the Built-In Administrator Account
Registry key: FilterAdministratorToken. This determines whether the main Administrator account is subject to UAC. Enabling it means that the account will be treated by UAC like any other administrator; the prompt will appear as normal. If it is not enabled, no prompt will appear for the Administrator account but will appear for standard user accounts.

User Account Control: Behavior of the elevation prompt for administrators in Admin Approval Mode.
Registry key: ConsentPromptBehaviorAdmin. This determines what prompt appears for
administrators (members of the Administrators Group, not the built-in Administrator account). The default is Prompt for Consent, which means that a UAC prompt will appear, and the administrator needs to click Continue or Cancel. You can also choose Prompt for Credentials, in which case the administrator password will have to be typed in. If you choose No Prompt, a UAC prompt won’t appear, and you can make the change.

User Account Control: Behavior of the elevation prompt for standard users
Registry key: ConsentPromptBehaviorUser. This determines what prompt appears for standard users. The choices are Prompt for Consent, Prompt for Credentials, or No Prompt. The default is Prompt for Credentials.

User Account Control: Detect application installations and prompt for elevation
Registry key: EnableInstallerDetection. By default, this is enabled, and so before software can be installed, UAC will ask for a prompt or a password. Disabling it allows software to be installed without the prompt.

User Account Control: Elevate only executables that are signed and validated
Registry key: ValidateAdminCodeSignatures. When enabled, UAC allows programs to be installed without a prompt if those programs have been properly signed and validated by their creators. By default it is disabled, and all programs, whether signed and validated or not, require the prompt.

User Account Control: Run all administrators in Admin Approval Mode
Registry key: EnableLUA. This setting requires all administrators (except for the built-in Administrator account) to give consent or supply credentials (depending on the setting of ConsentPromptBehaviorAdmin). By default, it is enabled.

User Account Control: Switch to the secure desktop when prompting for elevation
Registry key: PromptOnSecureDesktop. This determines whether Windows Vista will switch to the secure desktop when the prompt appears. You’ll notice that when the UAC prompt appears, the screen first goes black, and that when the prompt appears, the rest of the screen is dark. That’s the secure desktop. By default, the secure desktop is enabled.

User Account Control: Virtualize fi le and Registry write failures to per-user locations
Registry key: EnableVirtualization. This controls whether changes to the Registry made by standard users should be written to a special, virtual area, rather than directly to the Registry. This protects the Registry. By default, it is enabled.

There is a great deal of confusion about administrator accounts in Windows Vista. There are in fact two different types of administrator accounts—the single, all-powerful, built-in Administrator account, and accounts that are part of the Administrators group. The Administrator account can do anything on the computer, while members of the Administrators group run much as standard users, except they can elevate their privileges by clicking a Continue button in a dialog box when prompted.

Turn Off UAC
If UAC prompts drive you around the bend, you can turn them off. Choose Control Panel -> User Accounts and Family Safety -> User Accounts, and click Turn User Account Control on or off.

Alternately, you can run the MSCONFIG tool by typing MSCONFIG at the command line or search box. When the tool runs, click the Tools tab, and scroll down until you see Disable UAC. Highlight it, and click the Launch button, then reboot. To turn it back on again, follow the same steps, except choose Enable UAC instead.

Hack the Elevated Command Prompt
When you try to run certain commands from the command prompt, you’re told that you don’t have administrative rights to run them, even if you’re currently logged in as an administrator.

The problem is that these commands are protected by UAC. So if you want to run them, you’ll have to run the command prompt itself as an administrator; what’s called running an elevated command prompt.

One way to run an elevated command prompt is to type cmd into the Search box on the Start menu, right-click the command prompt icon that appears at the top of the Start menu, then select “Run as administrator.” You can also type cmd.exe into the search box, and press Ctrl-Shift-Enter to launch it as an administrator.

Do you really want to have to do that every time you want to run an elevated command prompt? Most likely not. Instead, create a Desktop shortcut for an elevated prompt, or pin an elevated prompt to the Start menu.

To create a shortcut to an elevated prompt on the Desktop:
1. Right-click the Desktop, and select New -> Shortcut.

2. In the text box of the Create Shortcut dialog box that appears, type CMD, and then click Next.

3. On the next screen, type a name for the shortcut, for example, Elevated Command Prompt. Then click Finish.

4. Right-click on the shortcut you just created, and select Properties.

5. Click the Shortcut tab, and click Advanced.

6. Check the box entitled “Run as administrator”, and click OK, and then OK again.

If you’d like the elevated command prompt to appear on the Start menu, drag it from the Desktop to the Start button, and place it where you would like it to be.

When a user is asked to type in an administrator password, it’s called credential prompting; when an administrator is asked to permit an operation, it’s called consent prompting.