Started my new job today and I have to learn Red Hat Enterprise

tpatt100

Yeah so I guess I should have listened to my own advice about learning Unix...

Started my Information Security Officer position today, all day orientations, badges, security stuff etc,etc. They take security serious here, random vehicle checks once you drive up to the guard shack and a butt load of other stuff.

Check into my new department and getting used to the lab where I will be working at. I got two work stations and a couple of laptops each on the classified and unclassified networks. For some reason I have 6 monitors three across and three on the wall across from me, I have no freaking clue what for but what eva looks like something out of the Matrix when you jack in I guess.

So I am looking around while they are explaining to me my day to day duties. And I look over and there is a wall of workstations and I see the Red Fedora icon on the start bar, "oh wtf" I mutter to myself.

I get told to not worry I got plenty of time to learn it, I have done HPUX security audits but I relied on configuration guides to do everything.

I told them cool and I will order a book and get on it, so I guess I gotta learn Redhat Enterprise as part of my job, guess they left that out of the interview lol. I was a bit worried but then I was called by HR and I had to sign a new offer letter. I got worried since I was "hired" several months ago but could not start due to a freeze. They told me since I got hired last fiscal period it was on the old budget and I had to sign a new one for the new fiscal period. "aww ok I get it" but then I was told I was offered an old salary and I got a 5 percent raise for the new fiscal period.

So I was cool and signed it and then went back to my lab area skipping like a little girl texting my wife going "zomg I got a raise my firstday!!!111"

If anybody has any good recommendations for a Red Hat Enterprise Admin how to guide for Windows babies I would appreciate it. I ordered this today:

Amazon.com: Fedora 10 and Red Hat Enterprise Linux Bible (Bible (Wiley)) (9780470413395): Christopher Negus: Books

I also "found out" I need to learn OpenLDAP as part of my responsibilities so I am going to be pretty freaking busy now.

dynamik

Congrats on the raise for, um, being alive

Check out the RHCE book by Jang. It's a great Red Hat book.

tpatt100

dynamik wrote: »

Congrats on the raise for um, being alive

Check out the RHCE book by Jang. It's a great Red Hat book.

Yeah I guess its like my Nobel prize for my "potential" j/k.

darkerosxx

The Jang book is great. Make sure you get the latest version for RHEL5. Also check out this book for LDAP:

Amazon.com: LDAP System Administration (978156592491: Gerald Carter: Books

tpatt100

Thanks for the LDAP reco
mendation. I bought a copy used for 17 dollars off your link. I plan on spending the next couple of weeks cramming. I will download a copy of Fedora when I get home today.

dynamik

If you're working with RHEL, use CentOS instead.

impelse

Congrats, now you have another challanger

tpatt100

CentOS? I will google that. I figured Fedora was the community project for Redhat.

dynamik

It's essentially RHEL minus the branding. I'd take that over Fedora (at least for what you want to do). Go with Fedora if you want a desktop OS.

Slightly off-topic, but I've recently switched my home machine and work laptop over to Ubuntu 9.04, and I am loving it! Just run winders in a VM for office apps, and I'll boot into it at home if I want to game.

blargoe

I miss Linux. I envy you a little.

GAngel

I havn't done any serious linux work in 5 years but I still can find my way around a system mainly because I know the commands. Once you've got the basics the OS is intuitive.

Best bet is while you're studying get a machine up and running and learn how to do all the basics on it. Use a **** sheet if you need it of the 20 most usefull commands for you. In a month or two you'll be feeling quite good.

Congrats no the job

t3ch_guru

Slightly off-topic, but I've recently switched my home machine and work laptop over to Ubuntu 9.04, and I am loving it! Just run winders in a VM for office apps, and I'll boot into it at home if I want to game.

I have been messing around with Ubuntu 9.10 beta. The final release is on the 29th.

Turgon

tpatt100 wrote: »

Yeah so I guess I should have listened to my own advice about learning Unix...

Started my Information Security Officer position today, all day orientations, badges, security stuff etc,etc. They take security serious here, random vehicle checks once you drive up to the guard shack and a butt load of other stuff.

Check into my new department and getting used to the lab where I will be working at. I got two work stations and a couple of laptops each on the classified and unclassified networks. For some reason I have 6 monitors three across and three on the wall across from me, I have no freaking clue what for but what eva looks like something out of the Matrix when you jack in I guess.

So I am looking around while they are explaining to me my day to day duties. And I look over and there is a wall of workstations and I see the Red Fedora icon on the start bar, "oh wtf" I mutter to myself.

I get told to not worry I got plenty of time to learn it, I have done HPUX security audits but I relied on configuration guides to do everything.

I told them cool and I will order a book and get on it, so I guess I gotta learn Redhat Enterprise as part of my job, guess they left that out of the interview lol. I was a bit worried but then I was called by HR and I had to sign a new offer letter. I got worried since I was "hired" several months ago but could not start due to a freeze. They told me since I got hired last fiscal period it was on the old budget and I had to sign a new one for the new fiscal period. "aww ok I get it" but then I was told I was offered an old salary and I got a 5 percent raise for the new fiscal period.

So I was cool and signed it and then went back to my lab area skipping like a little girl texting my wife going "zomg I got a raise my firstday!!!111"

If anybody has any good recommendations for a Red Hat Enterprise Admin how to guide for Windows babies I would appreciate it. I ordered this today:

Amazon.com: Fedora 10 and Red Hat Enterprise Linux Bible (Bible (Wiley)) (9780470413395): Christopher Negus: Books

I also "found out" I need to learn OpenLDAP as part of my responsibilities so I am going to be pretty freaking busy now.

Good luck with that.

darkerosxx

dynamik wrote: »

If you're working with RHEL, use CentOS instead.

If you're working with RHEL, just use RHEL!

It's free just like Fedora and CentOS.

Also, check out this section of the boards: LPI, RHCE, and SAIR - TechExams.net IT Certification Forums

tpatt100

I thought RHEL required a subscription to even download it?

darkerosxx

You should only need to create a Red Hat Network account and download it, but if they're using it there, someone will probably have some media for you to use.

dynamik

darkerosxx wrote: »

If you're working with RHEL, just use RHEL!

Smart ass. That's way too much hassle

tpatt100

The guys told me just to burn their copy and not to enter a subscription code and it will work fine just no tech
support so I will go that route.

Forsaken_GA

tpatt100 wrote: »

The guys told me just to burn their copy and not to enter a subscription code and it will work fine just no tech
support so I will go that route.

Sort of... no tech support, and yum won't like you very much.

Seriously, if you're not going to license RHEL, just use CentOS instead. It's the same thing as RHEL, just recompiled with the branding changed. No support, but updating your software isn't a pain in the ass either.

zen master

First of all, let me just say that your job sounds like it's absolutely amazing, and congratulations. Good luck, and enjoy! Yeh, and RHCE and Linux+. I'm not sure if RHCE covers everything in Linux+, but, it's still good to have a non flavour specific linux cert imho.

tpatt100

Sounds like a good idea with CentOS so I will download that tonight and throw it on my person laptop. Not sure about certs though at the moment but it might be a good idea to look into it for future reference.

darkerosxx

I'm not telling you not to use CentOS, just that if you're going to use RHEL on the job, you'd be best served by using RHEL to learn.

What he's talking about in having yum troubles is usually fixed by most companies having repository servers set up to use in place of Red Hat's servers. Ask your co-workers if they have a replacement for Red Hats yum servers. If they do, use RHEL and ask them to show you how to connect to those servers when they have free time. If not, you might find it easier using CentOS.

Just fyi for OP: yum command: Update / Install Packages under Redhat Enterprise / CentOS Linux Version 5.x

The "rhn_register" section is the part you won't be doing since you won't be entering install codes at install.

Tstarks

Congrats my man! I must say that the environment you describe (random vehicle checks at guard shack, automatic scheduled raises, etc) sounds very similar to my previous place of work (Public Energy/Utility company).

I had the exact same experience when I joined the organization years back. They informed me that my salary had changed (increased) due to the fiscal year. You can bet I did not argue this change .

Physical security was paramount, especially at the power plants and Control Centers where there'd been a mandate for tighter security post-911.

Good luck with your Unix studies. Myself, we made use of AIX 4.33 in the Control Center.

tpatt100

Well the place I work does defense contracts so that is why they are pretty **** about security. I don't even have Internet access in the lab I have to make a list of stuff I need and go back to my cubicle. I usually look stuff up on my phone during breaks outside

Forsaken_GA

darkerosxx wrote: »

I'm not telling you not to use CentOS, just that if you're going to use RHEL on the job, you'd be best served by using RHEL to learn.

I'm not trying to be a dick, but I'm going to call you on this, because this is a blatantly incorrect. They are functionally the exact same pieces of software. Please enlighten me as to exactly why someone would be 'best' served by using RHEL over CentOS for learning purposes? You made the statement, please back this logic up with actual facts.

I will happily concede that in a production environment, the ability for support from the vendor is a very good reason, especially if you do not have the talent on staff, but for learning purposes, you are just throwing money away by using RHEL over CentOS at best, and crippling yourself if you don't have any repo's available at worst.

I have worked with linux in a high speed, high availability environment for a number of years of now, and that includes RHEL and CentOS boxes. I am relatively certain that I could pass the RHCE with a couple weeks study just to make sure. The *only* functional difference I have ever seen between the two pieces of software is that Adobe will not support Flash Media Server on CentOS.

UnixGuy

Sounds like a priceless opportunity and exposure !! Congrats

Grab any of the books the guys recommended here, and start getting your hands. The more you practice the better, and you already know that.



Keep us posted on your exciting job

syscricin

I desperately need advice considering A.S and computer degree's at a community college, leading towards transferring to a four year college and a B.S in Information Technology or Information Systems. I'm looking at becoming a Network or System Administrator in the future. These are the courses offered locally

tpatt100

I think I am mainly going to focus on the command line stuff at first doing the general administrative tasks. I was looking at the LPI certs, and found a book with good reviews on Amazon that I added to my wish list for later. Now a days I only want to get certified in things that I will use a lot so it carries more value towards my experience.

darkerosxx

Forsaken_GA wrote: »

I'm not trying to be a dick, but I'm going to call you on this, because this is a blatantly incorrect. They are functionally the exact same pieces of software. Please enlighten me as to exactly why someone would be 'best' served by using RHEL over CentOS for learning purposes? You made the statement, please back this logic up with actual facts.

I will happily concede that in a production environment, the ability for support from the vendor is a very good reason, especially if you do not have the talent on staff, but for learning purposes, you are just throwing money away by using RHEL over CentOS at best, and crippling yourself if you don't have any repo's available at worst.

I have worked with linux in a high speed, high availability environment for a number of years of now, and that includes RHEL and CentOS boxes. I am relatively certain that I could pass the RHCE with a couple weeks study just to make sure. The *only* functional difference I have ever seen between the two pieces of software is that Adobe will not support Flash Media Server on CentOS.

Dear wal-mart,

I know you asked me to grow bananas, but I like plantains because they're pretty much the same thing. They look and taste almost exactly like bananas! You should definitely honor your contract to buy bananas, even though I'm offering you plantains!


(Is that similar to what you're saying? Since he was told he'd be working on RHEL, NOT CENTOS, that's how I see your argument, so tell me if I'm wrong.)

dynamik

What is the difference between CentOS and RHEL (minus the branding and support)?

I'm not trying to start an argument; I'm genuinely curious.

JDMurray

I've always heard that CentOS was a free release of Red Hat created in reaction to the for-pay release of Red Hat Enterprise. I've also heard that CentOS is more secure out-of-the-box than RHE. I know several security-minded businesses that won't use anything else but CentOS for their servers.