UNIX Systems - Online Course

This series presents the features of UNIX that are most useful to new users, as well as system administration tasks and process management. Basic features discussed include logging in and out, file administration, command processing, displaying text, and using mail. UNIX shells - Bourne, Korn, and C - are presented, including a comparison of their advantages and disadvantages, and writing basic shell programs that include repetitions, conditional statements, and functions. Many system administration tasks are discussed, including installation, file systems, user accounts, system accounting, performance monitoring, device management, and security. Advanced topics covered in the series include how to control UNIX programs, how to start and kill programs, and prioritizing processes.

This series is for anyone who is new to UNIX or who wants to expand what they already know about UNIX. This online course contains 6 lessons and should take approximately 39 hours to complete.

Lesson 1: Introduction to UNIX (5.0) hours

Introduction to UNIX teaches you how to describe the three standard versions of UNIX, log in and log out of a UNIX system, work with directories and files, display and change file permissions, enter a command with arguments, redirect input and output, use the initialization file, print, and send and receive mail. This course presents the features of UNIX that are most useful to new users including logging in and out file administration command processing displaying text and using mail. Topics include Introduction to UNIX, The File System, Processing Commands, and Some Utility Programs.

Lesson 2: Shells: Bourne, Korn, and C (9.0) hours

Shells: Bourne, Korn, and C teaches you how to describe what a shell is, describe what a shell does, describe how a shell relates to the overall system, store data in variables, customize the environment with environment variables, identify the specific features of each shell, and choose the appropriate shell for the situation. This course presents the three shells that are typically available on a UNIX system. It describes how to get the most out of the three shells, and describes the advantages and disadvantages of each shell. Topics include What Is a Shell?, Bourne Shell, Korn Shell, C Shell, and Shell Comparison.

Lesson 3: Shell Programming (6.0) hours

Shell Programming teaches you how to write basic Bourne Korn and C shell programs, add statements to perform commands conditionally, build repetitions into a program, use functions for programming efficiency, handle unexpected signals from executing programs, and select a shell language for writing shell scripts. This course presents the basics of shellprogramming using the Bourne shell then covers additional features of the Korn and C shells. Topics include Bourne Shell Programming, Korn Shell Programming, C Shell Programming, and Using Shell Scripts.

Lesson 4: System Administration I (5.0) hours

System Administration I teaches you how to plan and perform the installation of UNIX on a machine, boot and shut down the system safely, describe system states, modify startup scripts, set up UNIX file systems and maintain them, perform file system backups, and create or remove a user account. This course covers installing UNIX, and setting up and maintaining file systems and user accounts. Topics include UNIX Installation Basics, Starting Up and Shutting Down, File System Administration, and User Administration.

Lesson 5: System Administration II (9.0) hours

System Administration II teaches you how to manage UNIX accounting systems, understand the factors that affect system performance, optimize resources so that the system performs at its best, set up configure and maintain devices, evaluate security needs, and identify the tools used to improve a system's security. This course presents UNIX system accounting performance monitoring device management and UNIX security. Topics include System Accounting, Performance Monitoring, Device Administration, and UNIX System Security.

Lesson 6: Process Management (5.0) hours

Process Management teaches you how to describe how UNIX executes a command, define the use of processes, describe the advantages of background execution, list three common daemon processes, monitor processes with ps and time, differentiate between foreground and background processes, kill processes, prioritize processes, tune the UNIX system with ps and sar, and define and manipulate a crontab. This course describes how to control programs in UNIX including how to start a job (program) and how to kill it. Topics include What is a Process?, Administering Processes, and Scheduling Processes.