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=INVESTIGATION 2: Managing System Services and Run-levels=
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[[Image:manage-service.png|thumb|right|500px|It is important for a Linux system administrator to be able to start/stop, enable/disable and check the status of services on their Linux server. Students will be commonly performing these operations in their OPS335 course when configuring and troubleshooting network services. ]]
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Many students may think that the following topic is small and "not a big deal". Those students may say, '''"How hard is running and stopping services?"'''
The process may not be hard, but knowing how to stop, start, restart and check the status of services is absolutely critical to a Linux server. '''Aside from learning to trouble-shoot problems''' by checking the status of running services, '''understanding how to manage services is critical to help protect a Linux server from penetration''' (this term is referred to as "'''Hardening a system'''"). Sometimes it is "what we don't know" that can harm us. One key element in hardening a computer system is to disable non essential networkng services to allow IDSs ('''Intrusion Detection Systems''') to focus on a narrower range of policy violations. A Debian-based penetration testing distribution called '''Kali''' (formerly referred to as '''"BackTrax"''') allows sysadmins and security professionals to identify vulnerabilities in their computer systems, and thus improve (harden) their systems against penetration. Learning to monitor the status, enable and disable networking services underlies the '''Backtrax''' motto: '''''"The quieter you are, then more you will hear..."'''''<br><br>
=== Part 1: How do we Manage System Services? ===
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[[Image:grub2_1.png|thumb|right|500px600px|The purpose of '''Linux servers''' are to run network-based services (i.e. they '''"serve"''' the users that operating in that Linux/Unix system). It is common that these Linux servers are separated (for security purposes) and they are '''run in Command-Line mode only'''. Running these Linux/Unix servers in '''Graphics Mode will make them more vulnerable to penetration from hackers, etc.''' Therefore, it is common that the Linux servers are CLI <u>only</u>, but the Workstations that connect to them within the network are GUI. Therefore, it is important that a Linux/Unix system administrator understand to switch to these different "run-levels". ]]
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===Part 2: How do we Manage Runlevels?===
