Summary

Summary

Although you may be using Red Hat Linux as a single-user system, many of the tasks you must perform to keep your computer running are defined as administrator tasks. A special user account called the root user is needed to do many of the things necessary to keep Linux working as you would like it to. If you are administering a Linux system that is used by lots of people, the task of administration becomes even larger. You must be able to add and support users, maintain the file systems, and ensure that system performance serves your users well.

To help the administrator, Linux comes with a variety of command-line utilities and graphical windows for configuring and maintaining your system. The kudzu program can be used to probe and reconfigure Red Hat Linux when you add or remove hardware. Commands such as mkfs and mount let you create and mount file systems, respectively. Tools like System Monitor and top let you monitor system performance.

Another important part of system administration is keeping up with the latest software fixes and enhancements to Red Hat Linux. Using the up2date facility, which is part of the Red Hat Network, you can automatically download and install updates to Red Hat Linux software packages on your system.