COIT20232 – Security Infrastructure Administration Week 01 - Virtualisation, Installation and Documentation This week is all about getting the base software downloaded and installed, and documenting the process, so that we can repeat it if we ever need to. Once the base installation is completed, we will take a copy of it so that we don't have to go through the full installation process again. Summary Software we need to install * VirtualBox (www.virtualbox.org) - virtualisation software which allows us to install and run operating systems on top of other operating systems. * Ubuntu Server (www.ubuntu.com/business/server/overview, help.ubuntu.com/12.04/index.html) - a Linux based operating system. * man - (help.ubuntu.com/community/man) - "used for displaying Unix and Linux manual pages". Chapters we need to read * 01 - Where to Start * 03 - Booting and Shutting Down * 08 - Storage * 12 - Software Installation and Management * 32 - Management, Policy and Politics. Tasks Readings Read all of the recommended chapters before beginning the base server installation. This will give us some background information that should help in understanding what is happening during the installation and also provide us with an understanding of the importance of documenting our system. Notes: Chapter 3: Some of the details about the Ubuntu "upstart" system do not apply to the latest version of Ubuntu - "upstart" is now fully integrated. Full details can be found at upstart.ubuntu.com in particular the "Cookbook" provides a good reference. Grub 2 is used in our system, so many of the details in the text, in particular the location of configuration files, do not match up with our system. Documentation for Grub 2 can be found at help.ubuntu.com/community/Grub2, note that the main configuration file for Grub 2 is /etc/default/grub. Building the base system As the installation process is rather long, the details are provided in a separate document titled "Base Server Installation". Download it and follow the steps to install and configure the base server. Read the assessment items below before starting the installation as we need to record some details during the installation. Assessment 1. Write a short, concise description, of what *you* think a System Administrator is. 2. Write a summary of the installation of VirtualBox and the Ubuntu Server. Include details of how easy or hard it was, how long it took and any problems that were encountered. 3. Submit a screen capture of the Ubuntu Server systems disks (don't worry if it scrolls off the screen). Details of how to do this can be found in the Chapter 8 reading. The command to run is sudo fdisk -l. 4. Submit a screen capture of each of the following: • the systems Volume Groups • the systems Logical Volumes • the systems Physical Volumes Details of how these can be generated are provided in the Chapter 8 reading. The commands to run are sudo vgdisplay, sudo lvdisplay and sudo pvdisplay. 5. Submit a screen capture of the systems disk free space. Details of how to do this can be found in the Chapter 8 reading. The command to use is df. 6. A good System Administrator documents everything they do so that they can go back and do it again if they need to, without having to research the process again. Now that we have done an installation using the "Base Server Installation" document, create a list of things that are important to record when installing or updating software. Include the following basic details: date, author, changes/updates made, plus those details you think are important. Discuss it on the course forum if you are not sure what to do. 7. Run levels, starting up and shutting down: Review the readings for the week and also the "upstart_cookbook" reference provided in the Readings section above and answer the following questions related to our Ubuntu Server. a) Briefly describe each of the run levels available on our system. b) Briefly summarise the startup and shutdown process for our system i.e. what happens during startup and shutdown. [The "upstart_cookbook" will help in answering this question.] Notes: * Submit all answers, screen captures etc. as a single Word document zipped up as week01.zip.