scenario
Managing file systems, storage, and other hardware devices is critical for a Linux administrator. You’ll put these skills to use as you begin to work on your memo—Phase 2 of the project that will be due next week.
File Systems and Hardware
Faster Computing is a growing company. As such, its technology will need to grow as well. Faster Computing will undoubtedly need to expand file systems—not to mention add new hardware and expand storage. Logical Volume Manager (LVM) will be a critical tool on the file system side. LVM allows an organization to manage storage logically rather than physically. This means that physical disks can be added to or removed from a storage pool on the fly. It greatly simplifies some of the tasks of storage management.
For other hardware, Faster Computing will want to benefit from hot-swap devices. Hot swap allows hardware components that support it to be replaced on the fly if they fail, with no down time. Hot-swap devices can encompass everything from power supplies to hard drives.
Faster Computing was impressed with your presentation. The company is interested in moving forward with the project, but the senior management team has responded to the presentation with the following questions and concerns:
- How will security be implemented in the Linux systems—both workstations and servers?
- End users have expressed some concern about completing their day-to-day tasks on Linux. How would activities such as web browsing work? How would they work with their previous Microsoft Office files?
- The current Windows administrators are unsure about administering Linux systems. How are common tasks, such as process monitoring and management, handled in Linux? How does logging work? Do we have event logs like we do in Windows?
- Some folks in IT raised questions about the Linux flavor that was recommended. They would like to see comparisons between your recommendation and a couple of other popular options. What makes your recommendation the best option?
- How does software installation work on Linux? Can we use existing Windows software?
- How can Linux work together with the systems that will continue to run Windows? How will we share files between the different system types?
