Nobody notices a good technician
On Monday morning every student logs in and everything works. Nobody says thank you.
That is the point. Over the weekend a technician installed updates, checked the disks and tested the backup. Maintenance is the work you do so that nothing happens.
Key words
| Word | What it means |
|---|---|
| Network | computers and devices joined together so they can share data |
| Router | a device that passes data between networks |
| IP address | the number that names a device on a network |
| Operating system | the main software that runs a computer, such as Windows or Linux |
| Database | an organised store of data that programs can search |
| Snapshot | a saved copy of a virtual server at one moment |
| Maintenance | regular jobs that keep a system working and safe |
| Patch | a small update that fixes a fault or a security hole |
| Firmware | the built-in software that runs a device such as a router |
| Backup | a copy of data kept so that you can restore it |
| Firewall | a device or program that allows or blocks traffic by rules |
| Load balancer | a device that shares requests between servers |
| DNS | the service that turns a name into an IP address |
| DHCP | the service that gives each device an IP address |
The cells students fill in are left blank in this preview.
By the end of this lesson
Note
I can say what to maintain on each part of a physical or virtual network and how to do it safely.
Starter
Have a go
Starter
3 questionsYour answers are marked here and are not kept. A college account keeps every student’s marks.
Physical and virtual servers
A physical server is a real machine. You clean the dust from its fans, check its disks and update its firmware.
A virtual server is software that acts like a machine. You still update it, but you also look after the host, the real machine that carries it.
Patch the host, and patch every virtual server on it.
What to maintain on each part
| Part | Regular jobs |
|---|---|
| Server, physical | Check fans, power and disk lights. Update firmware. Keep it cool and dusted. |
| Server, virtual | Patch the guest and the host. Check each guest has enough memory. Remove old snapshots. |
| Operating system | Install patches. Check the logs. Remove accounts nobody uses. |
| Applications | Update to the latest safe version. Test after each change. |
| Databases | Back up. Check the free space. Tidy and check the data. |
| Security utilities | Update the antivirus signatures. Check the scans ran. |
| Firewall | Update its firmware. Review the rules and remove old ones. |
| Load balancer | Update it. Check every server behind it is marked healthy. |
| Network devices | Update the firmware. Save the settings. Check the lights and ports. |
| DNS and DHCP | Check the records and the pool of addresses. Watch the logs for errors. |
The cells students fill in are left blank in this preview.
Check a real system
The commands below ran in an Ubuntu system, the same kind as the linux-admin lab. Press Start the lab, then press Run.
First ask: is anything waiting to be updated?
List the patches that are waiting
apt list --upgradableA command for the lesson’s lab terminal. It is shown here and not run.
How to read it
Note
Each line is a package with a newer version. If you only see "Listing...", nothing is waiting. On a real server you read the list, test the patches, then install them.