New Linux System Administrator

[riversr54]

I need to get up to speed as quickly as I can as an Administrator on a Redhat Linux system. I have dabbled in Linux for years but never really gotten serious about it and not consistently enough for what I learned to stick. I'v agreed to help a friend who owns a small business. He had a disgruntled employee do serious damage to his web site. We need to get it back on line as quickly as possible. I have it where it will respond to web requests but the application is not configured correctly...that's probably more of an Apache problem. I'm working that seperately. What I'm looking for here is some help with basic system management skills.

We are renting a virtual server. Currently I only have access via Putty. I do have root access. I'm really struggling with all the Linux commands. I know what I want to do but can't always manage to get the right command. With that in mind, I thought it might make more sense for me to get some sort of windows interface working. So ... is that possible being that I only have remote access? If so how would I access that interface remotely. How do I install it?

I would also like to get ftp access working. The system responds to an ftp connection but won't accept a login using root and it's password. How do I enable ftp access for root or create a new ftp user with full access?

One last question ... I would really appreciate any recommendations for Linux and Apache administration books(or ebooks) or websites. I don't mind doing the work but I do need to get going quickly.

Thanks for any help/suggestions/recommendations/guidance.

riversr

[riversr54]

Additional Info:

My Linux version is:

Linux version 2.6.18-028stab068.3 (root@rhel5-64-build) (gcc version 4.1.2 20070626 (Red Hat 4.1.2-14)) #1 SMP Tue Feb 16 20:21:42 MSK 2010

I also figured out that Gnome is installed by using: rpm -qa

Now my problem is figuring out how to start it. I tried 'startgnome' and 'startx gnome'. Both just say "command not found".

Also found that my server is running pure-ftpd. I've created users using pure-pw but still can't login.

[NightShade03]

You may want to check out: The Red Hat deployment guides on Red Hat's site. They provide a guide on how to do pretty much everything for/with RHEL.

Its the Red Hat guide on how to do pretty much anything. You can also check out howtoforge (google it) which has come awesome guides for setting things like FTP up and providing you some security.

You should make sure that you are careful when using FTP as setup incorrectly could lead to big problems.

[divyashree]

The book is just at the left side of this forum under Free Publication ..

[riversr54]

Thanks for the document references. I'v solved several of my initial problems. I do have one question that I can't seem to find an answer.

Is it possible for me to install some version of a windows X interface and then access the server from a remote location via a windowed interface or can that only be done locally? I would like to have the option of managing the server (in some cases) using a windowed interface instead of the terminal emulation mode.

thanks again,

riversr

[NightShade03]

If you are on a Linux box yourself you could install an X server and then just forward the connect. If you are doing Windows to Linux though I'd say you setup a VNC connection through SSH to your server. You can then manage through a window interface + you get the benefit of SSH encryption.

[riversr54]

I own the Linux server in question but it is at a remote location several hundred miles away. Being a Windows person, I'm not very accustomed to working with the Linux command line. I have managed to do some basic sys admin type things but thought maybe I should have a x-windows type interface to use too. I'm not quite sure what you meant "If you are doing Windows to Linux though I'd say you setup a VNC connection through SSH to your server. You can then manage through a window interface + you get the benefit of SSH encryption. ".

Would that give me access to the normal x-window interface on the Linux Server?

Thanks,

riversr

[NightShade03]

VNC is like using Remote Desktop on windows. Once you have X Windows and a desktop manager setup you also need to install VNC. Then from your remote location you can connect in and see the desktop just like you would in a remote desktop session on windows. Goggle foe VNC over SSH you will get an endless supply of guides how to accomplish this.

[riversr54]

Ok, thanks for the help. I didn't want to spend hours installing a bunch of software only to find out it couldn't be done.

rivers