OPS235 Lab 5 - CentOS7

LAB PREPARATION

Purpose / Objectives of Lab 5

The purpose of this lab is to discuss how a Linux sys admin can manage partitions including adjusting the size of their Linux systems if space is required. Various topics will be discussed including:

• Connecting and Disconnecting Directories to existing partitions (mount, umount).
• Monitoring Disk Space (df -h).
• Using LVM to resize partitions graphically and via commands.
• Create, partition and format virtual hard disks to increase the size of a file system.
• Create a Bash Shell Script to monitor and report low disk size (run periodically in crontab).

Minimum Required Materials

Removable Hard Disk Pack (SATA)

USB key (for backups)

Lab5 Log Book

My Toolkit (CLI Reference)

LVM Information: vgs lvs pvs vgdisplay lvdisplay pvdisplay

LVM Management system-config-lvm lvextend lvcreate lvreduce pvcreate vgextend

Miscellaneous mount umount df -h

INVESTIGATION 1: File System Management

We take for granted that a file-system must be mounted (for example the root partition) in order for a Linux system to be usable upon system start-up. The /etc/fstab (file system table) contains entries to mount various file systems automatically upon start-up of the Linux system.

The Linux sys admin also has the ability to manually mount (connect) and un-mount (disconnect) partitions in order to perform maintenance on the file system (for example un-mounting the /home partition to install software and prevent users from logging in during that process).

We will now learn how to perform these operations (including monitoring of disk space usage) in Part 1.

Part 1: Mounting and Un-mounting Partitions

1. x

Answer the Part 1 observations / questions in your lab log book.

Part 2: Obtaining File System Information

1. x

Answer the Part 2 observations / questions in your lab log book.

INVESTIGATION 2: Adjusting File System Sizes with LVM

Monitoring and ensuring adequate space for a Linux file-system is considered to be an important task for a sys admin.

Part 1: Obtaining System Information with LVM

We have seen that maintaining unneeded packages can be a security risk due to the unnecessary increase in the complexity of your system. Similarly, it is also unnecessarily hazardous, and even more so, to leave unneeded services running. In this investigation, we will learn how to control services, and turn off those services that we think are not necessary to help reduce security risks.}}

1. x

Answer Part 1 observations / questions in your lab log book.

Part 2: Adjusting Partition Sizes with LVM

x

1. x

Answer Part 2 observations / questions in your lab log book.

Part 3: Adding Virtual Hard Disks and Managing with LVM

x

1. x

Answer Part 3 observations / questions in your lab log book.

INVESTIGATION 3: LOOKING AHEAD

Automating Routine Tasks (Shell Scripting and Using Crontab)

Bash Shell Scripting Tips: The case statement: The case statement is a control-flow statement that works in a similar way as the if-elif-else statement (but is more concise). This statement presents scenerios or "cases" based on values or regular expressions (not ranges of values like if-elif-else statements). After action(s) are taken for a particular scenerio (or "case"), a break statement (;;) is used to "break-out" of the statement (and not perform other actions). A default case (*) is also used to catch exceptions. Examples (try in shell script): read -p "pick a door (1 or 2): " pick case $pick in   1) echo "You win a car!" ;;   2) echo "You win a bag of dirt!" ;;   *) echo "Not a valid entry"      exit 1 ;; esac read -p "enter a single digit: " digit case $digit in   [0-9]) echo "Your single digit is: $digit" ;;          *) echo "not a valid single digit"              exit 1 ;; esac The getopts function: The getopts function allows the shell scripter to create scripts that accept options (like options for Linux commands). This provides the Linux administrator with scripts that provide more flexibility and versatility. A built-in function called getopts (i.e. get command options) is used in conjunction with a while loop and a case statement to carry out actions based on if certain options are present when the shell script is run. The variable $OPTARG can be used if an option accepts text (denoted in the getopts function with an option letter followed by a colon. Case statement exceptions use the :) and \?) cases for error handling. Example of getopts (try in script and run with options) while getopts abc: name do   case $name in     a) echo "Action for option \"a\"" ;;     b) echo "Action for option \"b\"" ;;     c) echo "Action for option \"c\""         echo Value is: $OPTARG" ;;     :) echo "Error: You need text after -c option"         exit 1 ;;     \?) echo "Error: Incorrect option"         exit 1 ;; esac

We will now use shell scripting to help automate the task for a Linux adminstrator to create regular user accounts.

1. Download, study, and run the following shell script. Issue the command:
   wget https://scs.senecac.on.ca/~murray.saul/user-create.bash
2. Try to understand what these Bash Shell scripts do, and then run the script as root. After running the shell script, view the contents of the /home directory to confirm.

Although the zenity command is a "user-friendly" way to run shell scripts, Linux administrators usually create shell scripts that resemble common Linux commands. In this lab, you will learn to create a shell script using the getopts function to make your shell script behave more like actual Linux commands (including the use of options). Refer to the notes section on the right-hand-side for reference about the case statement and the getopts function.

3. Open a Bash shell terminal and login as root.
4. Use the wget command to download the input file called user-data.txt by issuing the command:
   wget https://scs.senecac.on.ca/~murray.saul/user-data.txt
5. View the contents on the user-data.txt file to confirm there are 3 fields (username, fullname, and e-mail address)which are separated by the colon (:) symbol.
7. Use a text editor (such as vi or nano) to create a Bash Shell script called: createUsers.bash in /root's home directory.
8. Enter the following text content into your text-editing session:


#!/bin/bash

# createUsers.bash
# Purpose: Generates a batch of user accounts (user data stored in a text file)
#
# USAGE:
#
# /root/createUsers.bash [-i {input-path}]
#
# Author: *** INSERT YOUR NAME ***
# Date: *** CURRENT DATE ***

if [ $PWD != "/root" ] # only runs if in root's home directory
then
 echo "You must be in root's home directory." >&2
 exit 1
fi
if [ "$#" -eq 0 ] # if no arguments after command
then
 echo "You must enter an argument" >&2
 echo "USAGE: $0 [-i {input-path}]" >&2
 exit 2
fi


6. Save your editing session, but remain in the text editor.
7. The code displayed below uses the getopt function set the input file pathname or check for invalid options or missing option text. Add the following code


outputFlag="n"
while getopts i: name
do
 case $name in
   i) inputFile=$OPTARG ;;
   :) echo "Error: You need text after options requiring text"
       exit 1 ;;
   \?) echo "Error: Incorrect option"
        exit 1 ;;
 esac
done


6. Save your editing session, but remain in the text editor.
7. The code displayed below uses logic to exit the script if the input file does not exist. Command substitution is used to store each line of the input file as a positional parameter. There is one subtle problem here: The full names of the users contain spaces which can create havoc when trying to set each line as a separate positional parameter. In this case the sed command is used to convert spaces to plus signs (+), which will be converted back later. Finally, a for loop is used to create each account (useradd) and mail the user their account information (mail). Add the following code:


if [ ! -f $inputFile ]
then
  echo "The file pathname \"$inputFile\" is empty or does not exist" >&2
  exit 2
fi

set $(sed 's/ /+/g' $inputFile) # temporarily convert spaces to + for storing lines as positional parameters

for x
do
    useradd -m -c "$(echo $x | cut -d":" -f2 | sed 's/+/ /g')" -p $(date | md5sum | cut -d" " -f1) $(echo $x | cut -d":" -f1)
    mail -s "Server Account Information" $(echo $x | cut -d":" -f3) <<+
    Here is your server account information:
    servername: myserver.senecac.on.ca
    username: $(echo $x | cut -d":" -f1)
    password: $(date | md5sum | cut -d" " -f1)
    Regards,
    IT Department
+
done

echo -e "\n\nAccounts have been created\n\n"
exit 0


8. Save, set permissions, and then run that shell script for the input text file user-data.txt. Did it work? Try running the script without an argument - What did it do?
9. You have completed lab4. Proceed to Completing The Lab, and follow the instructions for "lab sign-off".

Answer Investigation 3 observations / questions in your lab log book.

LAB 4 SIGN-OFF (SHOW INSTRUCTOR)

Time for a new backup!
If you have successfully completed this lab, make a new backup of your virtual machines. Remember to also make a backup of the new second virtual disk drive on centos1 -- you now have two virtual disks on centos1, and therefore two image files, and therefore will need two backup files.

Arrange proof of the following on the screen:

✓ Account created on centos1 VM.

✓ List contents of /etc/group file (ops235 group) on centos1 VM.

✓ List contents of /etc/passwd file (created accounts) on centos1 VM.

✓ Display current run-level status on centos2 VM.

✓ Creation of your bash shell script called createUsers.bash

Preparing for the Quizzes

1. Describe all of the field in /etc/passwd
2. What is the command to create a user? What option to create a home directory for that user?
3. What is the command to change the full name of an already-created user?
4. What is the command to delete a user account? What option allows for the user's home directory to be removed as well?
5. What is the command to create a group? What is the command (or steps) to include a user in a newly-created group?
6. What is the purpose of /etc/shadow?
7. What is the purpose of /etc/skel?
8. What does the term run-level mean?
9. How to set the run-level of a Linux system to text-based only? How to set to graphical mode?
10. What is the command to view the status of running services?
11. What is the command to start a service (like httpd, or sshd)?
12. What is the command to start a service?
13. Can a service be stopped and started by issuing just one command?