Part I System Configuration

This section contains the following chapters:

Chapter 1, Yum describes how you can use the yum utility to install and upgrade software packages.
Chapter 2, Ksplice describes how to configure Ksplice Uptrack to update the kernel on a running system.
Chapter 3, Boot Configuration describes the Oracle Linux boot process, how to use the GRUB boot loader, how to change the run level of a system, and how to configure the services that are available at each run level.
Chapter 4, System Configuration Settings describes the files and virtual file systems that you can use to change configuration settings for your system.
Chapter 5, Kernel Modules describes how to load, unload, and modify the behavior of kernel modules.
Chapter 6, Device Management describes how the system uses device files and how the udev device manager dynamically creates or removes device node files.
Chapter 7, Task Management describes how to configure the system to run tasks automatically within a specific period of time, at a specified time and date, or when the system is lightly loaded.
Chapter 8, System Monitoring and Tuning describes how to collect diagnostic information about a system for Oracle Support, and how to monitor and tune the performance of a system.
Chapter 9, System Dump Analysis describes how to configure a system to create a memory image in the event of a system crash, and how to use the crash debugger to analyse the memory image in a crash dump or for a live system.

Table of Contents

1.1 About Yum

1.2 About ULN

1.3 Yum Configuration

1.3.1 Configuring Use of a Proxy Server
1.3.2 Yum Repository Configuration
1.3.3 Downloading the Oracle Linux Yum Server Repository Files
1.3.4 Using Yum Utilities to Manage Configuration

1.4 Using Yum from the Command Line

1.5 Yum Groups

1.6 Installing and Using the Yum Security Plugin

1.7 Switching CentOS or Scientific Linux Systems to Use the Oracle Linux Yum Server

1.8 Creating and Using a Local ULN Mirror

1.9 Creating a Local Yum Repository Using an ISO Image

1.10 Setting up a Local Yum Server Using an ISO Image

1.11 For More Information About Yum

2.1 Overview of Oracle Ksplice

2.1.1 Supported Kernels
2.1.2 About Ksplice Updates
2.1.3 Patching and Updating Your System

2.2 About the Ksplice Client Software

2.2.1 About the Ksplice Enhanced Client
2.2.2 About the Ksplice Uptrack Client

2.3 Choosing a Ksplice Client

2.4 Preparing to Use Oracle Ksplice

3 Boot Configuration

3.1 About the Boot Process

3.2 About the GRUB Boot Loader

3.2.1 About the GRUB Configuration File
3.2.2 Configuring a GRUB Password
3.2.3 Using GRUB

3.3 About Run Levels

3.3.1 Displaying the Run Level
3.3.2 Changing the Run Level
3.3.3 Shutting down the System
3.3.4 About Service Scripts
3.3.5 About the Service Configuration GUI
3.3.6 Starting and Stopping Services
3.3.7 Configuring Services to Start at Different Run Levels

4 System Configuration Settings

4.1 About /etc/sysconfig Files

4.2 About the /proc Virtual File System

4.2.1 Virtual Files and Directories Under /proc
4.2.2 Changing Kernel Parameters
4.2.3 Parameters that Control System Performance
4.2.4 Parameters that Control Kernel Panics

4.3 About the /sys Virtual File System

4.3.1 Virtual Directories Under /sys

4.4 System Date and Time Settings

5 Kernel Modules

5.1 About Kernel Modules
5.2 Listing Information about Loaded Modules
5.3 Loading and Unloading Modules
5.4 About Module Parameters
5.5 Specifying Modules to be Loaded at Boot Time

6 Device Management

6.1 About Device Files
6.2 About the Udev Device Manager
6.3 About Udev Rules
6.4 Querying Udev and Sysfs
6.5 Modifying Udev Rules

7 Task Management

7.1 About Automating Tasks

7.2 Configuring cron Jobs

7.2.1 Controlling Access to Running cron Jobs

7.3 Configuring anacron Jobs

7.4 Running One-time Tasks

7.4.1 Changing the Behavior of Batch Jobs

8 System Monitoring and Tuning

8.1 About sosreport

8.1.1 Configuring and Using sosreport

8.2 About System Performance Tuning

8.2.1 About Performance Problems
8.2.2 Monitoring Usage of System Resources
8.2.3 Using the Graphical System Monitor
8.2.4 About OSWatcher Black Box

9 System Dump Analysis

9.1 About Kdump

9.1.1 Configuring and Using Kdump
9.1.2 Files Used by Kdump
9.1.3 Using Kdump with OCFS2
9.1.4 Using Kdump with a System Hang

9.2 Using the crash Debugger

9.2.1 Installing the crash Packages
9.2.2 Running crash
9.2.3 Kernel Data Structure Analysis Commands
9.2.4 System State Commands
9.2.5 Helper Commands
9.2.6 Session Control Commands
9.2.7 Guidelines for Examining a Dump File