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LPI exam prep: Network client management

Intermediate Level Administration (LPIC-2) topic 210

David Mertz (mertz@gnosis.cx), Developer, Gnosis Software, Inc.

David Mertz thinks that artificial languages are perfectly natural, but natural languages seem a bit artificial. You can reach David at mertz@gnosis.cx; you can investigate all aspects of his life at his personal Web page. Check out his book, Text Processing in Python. Suggestions and recommendations on past or future columns are welcome.

Summary: In this tutorial, the fifth in a series of seven tutorials covering intermediate network administration on Linux, David Mertz continues preparing you to take the Linux Professional Institute Intermediate Level Administration (LPIC-2) Exam 202. By following this tutorial, you will examine several protocols' centralized configuration of network settings on clients within a network. DHCP is widely used to establish basic handshaking to clients machines such as assigning IP addresses. At a higher level, NIS and (more often) LDAP are used for arbitrary shared information among machines on a network. This tutorial also discusses PAM, which is a flexible, networked, user authentication system.

17 May 2012 - In response to author request, updated broken links. In About this tutorial, updated URL "detailed objectives list" link text. In Resources, updated URLs for 1) "LPIC Professional Certifications" link, 2) "LDAP is RFC 2251" link, and 3) "Linux-PAM System Administrators' Guide" link.

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Date: 17 May 2012 (Published 24 May 2006)
Level: Intermediate
PDF: A4 and Letter (327 KB | 19 pages)Get Adobe® Reader®

Activity: 55261 views
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Resources

Learn

Review the entire LPI exam prep tutorial series on developerWorks to learn Linux fundamentals and prepare for system administrator certification.
At the LPIC Professional Certifications, find task lists, sample questions, and detailed objectives for the three levels of the Linux Professional Institute's Linux system administration certification.
Learn about DHCP (RFC 2131) by reading the formal specifications.
Read "The Linux NIS(YP)/NYS/NIS+ HOWTO" to learn about NIS.
The formal specification of LDAP is RFC 2251.
The Linux-PAM System Administrators' Guide is a good starting point for more on the Pluggable Authentication Modules.
TCP/IP Network Administration, Third Edition by Craig Hunt (O'Reilly, April 2002) is an excellent resource on Linux networking.
For more in-depth information, the Linux Documentation Project has a variety of useful documents, especially its HOWTOs.
In the developerWorks Linux zone, find more resources for Linux developers.
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