Novell LINUX ENTERPRISE DESKTOP 11 - ADMINISTRATION GUIDE... Instruction Manual

SUSE Linux Enterprise
Desktop
www.novell.com11
March17,2009 Administration Guide

Administration Guide
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Contents
About This Guide ix
Part I Support and Common Tasks 1
1YaST Online Update 3
1.1 Installing Patches Manually Using the Qt Interface . . . . . . . . . . . . 4
1.2 Installing Patches Manually Using the gtk Interface . . . . . . . . . . . 6
1.3 Automatic Online Update . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 7
2Gathering System Information for Support 9
2.1 Novell Support Link Overview . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 9
2.2 Using Supportcong . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 10
2.3 Submitting Information to Novell . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 12
2.4 For More Information . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 14
3YaST in Text Mode 15
3.1 Navigation in Modules . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 16
3.2 Restriction of Key Combinations . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 17
3.3 YaST Command Line Options . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 18
4GNOME Conguration for Administrators 21
4.1 TheGConfSystem........................ 21
4.2 Customizing Main Menu, Panel, and Application Browser . . . . . . . . 24
4.3 Starting Applications Automatically . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 24
4.4 Automounting and Managing Media Devices . . . . . . . . . . . . . 25
4.5 Changing Preferred Applications . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 25

4.6 Managing Proles Using Sabayon . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 25
4.7 Adding Document Templates . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 30
4.8 Desktop Lock Down Features . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 30
4.9 For More Information . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 31
5Managing Software with Command Line Tools 33
5.1 UsingZypper........................... 33
5.2 RPM—the Package Manager . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 38
6Accessing Remote Desktops with Nomad 51
6.1 Nomad Prerequisites . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 52
6.2 Installation and Set-Up . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 53
6.3 UsingNomad........................... 54
6.4 Troubleshooting ......................... 54
6.5 For More Information . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 55
7Bash and Bash Scripts 57
7.1 What is “The Shell”? . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 57
7.2 Writing Shell Scripts . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 63
7.3 Redirecting Command Events . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 64
7.4 UsingAliases........................... 65
7.5 Using Variables in Bash . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 65
7.6 Grouping And Combining Commands . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 68
7.7 Working with Common Flow Constructs . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 69
7.8 For More Information . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 70
Part II System 71
832-Bit and 64-Bit Applications in a 64-Bit System Environment 73
8.1 RuntimeSupport......................... 73
8.2 Software Development . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 74
8.3 Software Compilation on Biarch Platforms . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 75
8.4 Kernel Specications . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 76
9Booting and Conguring a Linux System 77
9.1 The Linux Boot Process . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 77
9.2 TheinitProcess.......................... 81
9.3 System Conguration via /etc/syscong . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 90

10 The Boot Loader GRUB 93
10.1 BootingwithGRUB........................ 94
10.2 Conguring the Boot Loader with YaST . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 103
10.3 Uninstalling the Linux Boot Loader . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 109
10.4 Creating Boot CDs . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 109
10.5 The Graphical SUSE Screen . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 110
10.6 Troubleshooting......................... 111
10.7 For More Information . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 112
11 Special System Features 113
11.1 Information about Special Software Packages . . . . . . . . . . . . 113
11.2 VirtualConsoles......................... 120
11.3 Keyboard Mapping . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 121
11.4 Language and Country-Specic Settings . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 122
12 Printer Operation 127
12.1 The Workow of the Printing System . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 129
12.2 Methods and Protocols for Connecting Printers . . . . . . . . . . . . 129
12.3 Installing the Software . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 130
12.4 NetworkPrinters......................... 131
12.5 Graphical Printing Interfaces . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 133
12.6 Printing from the Command Line . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 134
12.7 Special Features in SUSE Linux Enterprise Desktop . . . . . . . . . . 134
12.8 Troubleshooting......................... 137
13 Dynamic Kernel Device Management with udev 145
13.1 The /dev Directory....................... 145
13.2 Kernel uevents and udev . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 146
13.3 Drivers, Kernel Modules and Devices . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 146
13.4 Booting and Initial Device Setup . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 147
13.5 Monitoring the Running udev Daemon . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 147
13.6 Inuencing Kernel Device Event Handling with udev Rules . . . . . . . 149
13.7 Persistent Device Naming . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 156
13.8 Files used by udev . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 156
13.9 For More Information . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 157
14 The X Window System 159
14.1 Manually Conguring the X Window System . . . . . . . . . . . . . 159
14.2 Installing and Conguring Fonts . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 166
14.3 For More Information . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 172

15 Accessing File Systems with FUSE 173
15.1 ConguringFUSE........................ 173
15.2 Mounting an NTFS Partition . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 173
15.3 Mounting Remote File System with SSHFS . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 174
15.4 Mounting an ISO File System . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 175
15.5 Available FUSE Plug-ins . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 175
15.6 For More Information . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 176
Part III Mobile Computers 177
16 Mobile Computing with Linux 179
16.1 Laptops ............................ 179
16.2 MobileHardware ........................ 187
16.3 Cellular Phones and PDAs . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 188
16.4 For More Information . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 188
17 Power Management 191
17.1 Power Saving Functions . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 191
17.2 ACPI.............................. 192
17.3 Rest for the Hard Disk . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 196
17.4 Troubleshooting......................... 198
17.5 For More Information . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 200
18 Using Tablet PCs 201
18.1 Installing Tablet PC Packages . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 202
18.2 Conguring Your Tablet Device . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 203
18.3 Using the Virtual Keyboard . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 204
18.4 Rotating Your Display . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 205
18.5 Using Gesture Recognition . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 205
18.6 Taking Notes and Sketching with the Pen . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 208
18.7 Troubleshooting......................... 210
18.8 For More Information . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 211
Part IV Services 213
19 Basic Networking 215
19.1 IP Addresses and Routing . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 218
19.2 IPv6—The Next Generation Internet . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 221
19.3 NameResolution ........................ 230

19.4 Conguring a Network Connection with YaST . . . . . . . . . . . . 232
19.5 NetworkManager ........................ 252
19.6 Conguring a Network Connection Manually . . . . . . . . . . . . . 253
19.7 smpppd as Dial-up Assistant . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 268
20 Wireless Communication 271
20.1 WirelessLAN.......................... 271
21 SLP Services in the Network 281
21.1 Installation........................... 281
21.2 ActivatingSLP.......................... 282
21.3 SLP Front-Ends in SUSE Linux Enterprise Desktop . . . . . . . . . . . 282
21.4 Providing Services via SLP . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 283
21.5 For More Information . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 284
22 Time Synchronization with NTP 285
22.1 Conguring an NTP Client with YaST . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 286
22.2 Manually Conguring ntp in the Network . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 289
22.3 Setting Up a Local Reference Clock . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 289
23 Using NetworkManager 291
23.1 Use Cases for NetworkManager . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 291
23.2 Enabling NetworkManager . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 292
23.3 Conguring Network Connections . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 293
23.4 Using KDE NetworkManager Widget . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 294
23.5 Using GNOME NetworkManager Applet . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 295
23.6 NetworkManager and VPN . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 297
23.7 NetworkManager and Security . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 298
23.8 Frequently Asked Questions . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 299
23.9 Troubleshooting......................... 301
23.10 For More Information . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 302
24 Samba 305
24.1 Terminology........................... 305
24.2 Conguring a Samba Server . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 307
24.3 Conguring Clients . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 307
24.4 Samba as Login Server . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 307
24.5 For More Information . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 308

25 Sharing File Systems with NFS 311
25.1 Installing the Required Software . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 311
25.2 Importing File Systems with YaST . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 311
25.3 Importing File Systems Manually . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 312
25.4 NFS with Kerberos . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 314
25.5 For More Information . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 315
26 File Synchronization 317
26.1 Available Data Synchronization Software . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 317
26.2 Determining Factors for Selecting a Program . . . . . . . . . . . . . 319
26.3 Introduction to CVS . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 322
26.4 Introduction to rsync . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 324
26.5 For More Information . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 326

About This Guide
This guide is intended for use by professional network and system administrators during
the operation of SUSE® Linux Enterprise. As such, it is solely concerned with ensuring
that SUSE Linux Enterprise is properly congured and that the required services on
the network are available to allow it to function properly as initially installed. This
guide does not cover the process of ensuring that SUSE Linux Enterprise offers proper
compatibility with your enterprise's application software or that its core functionality
meets those requirements. It assumes that a full requirements audit has been done and
the installation has been requested or that a test installation, for the purpose of such an
audit, has been requested.
This guide contains the following:
Administration
SUSE Linux Enterprise offers a wide range of tools to customize various aspects
of the system. This part introduces a few of them.
System
Learn more about the underlying operating system by studying this part. SUSE
Linux Enterprise supports a number of hardware architectures and you can use this
to adapt your own applications to run on SUSE Linux Enterprise. The boot loader
and boot procedure information assists you in understanding how your Linux system
works and how your own custom scripts and applications may blend in with it.
Mobile Computing
Laptops, and the communication between mobile devices like PDAs, or cellular
phones and SUSE Linux Enterprise need some special attention. Take care for
power conservation and for the integration of different devices into a changing
network environment. Also get in touch with the background technologies that
provide the needed functionality.
Services
SUSE Linux Enterprise is designed to be a network operating system. SUSE®
Linux Enterprise Desktop includes client support for many network services. It
integrates well into heterogeneous environments including MS Windows clients
and servers.

Many chapters in this manual contain links to additional documentation resources. This
includes additional documentation that is available on the system as well as documen-
tation available on the Internet.
For an overview of the documentation available for your product and the latest docu-
mentation updates, refer to http://www.novell.com/documentation.
1 Available Documentation
We provide HTML and PDF versions of our books in different languages. The following
manuals for users and administrators are available on this product:
GNOME User Guide (↑GNOME User Guide)
Introduces the GNOME desktop of SUSE Linux Enterprise Desktop. It guides you
through using and conguring the desktop and helps you perform key tasks. It is
intended mainly for end users who want to make efcient use of GNOME desktop
as their default desktop.
Application Guide (↑Application Guide)
Learn how to use and congure key desktop applications on SUSE Linux Enterprise
Desktop. This guide introduces browsers and e-mail clients as well as ofce appli-
cations and collaboration tools. It also covers graphics and multimedia applications.
Deployment Guide (↑Deployment Guide)
Shows how to install single or multiple systems and how to exploit the product
inherent capabilities for a deployment infrastructure. Choose from various approach-
es, ranging from a local installation or a network installation server to a mass de-
ployment using a remote-controlled, highly-customized, and automated installation
technique.
Administration Guide (page 1)
Covers system administration tasks like maintaining, monitoring and customizing
an initially installed system.
Security Guide (↑Security Guide)
Introduces basic concepts of system security, covering both local and network se-
curity aspects. Shows how to make use of the product inherent security software
like Novell AppArmor (which lets you specify per program which les the program
xAdministration Guide

may read, write, and execute) or the auditing system that reliably collects informa-
tion about any security-relevant events.
Virtualization with Xen (↑Virtualization with Xen)
Offers an introduction to virtualization technology of your product. It features an
overview of the various elds of application and installation types of each of the
platforms supported by SUSE Linux Enterprise Server as well as a short description
of the installation procedure.
In addition to the comprehensive manuals, several quick start guides are available:
Installation Quick Start (↑Installation Quick Start)
Lists the system requirements and guides you step-by-step through the installation
of SUSE Linux Enterprise Desktop from DVD, or from an ISO image.
Linux Audit Quick Start
Gives a short overview how to enable and congure the auditing system and how
to execute key tasks such as setting up audit rules, generating reports, and analyzing
the log les.
Novell AppArmor Quick Start
Helps you understand the main concepts behind Novell® AppArmor.
Find HTML versions of most SUSE Linux Enterprise Desktop manuals in your installed
system under /usr/share/doc/manual or in the help centers of your desktop.
Find the latest documentation updates at http://www.novell.com/
documentation where you can download PDF or HTML versions of the manuals
for your product.
2 Feedback
Several feedback channels are available:
About This Guide xi

• To report bugs for a product component or to submit enhancements requests, please
use https://bugzilla.novell.com/. If you are new to Bugzilla, you
might nd the Bug Writing FAQs helpful, available from the Novell Bugzilla home
page.
• We want to hear your comments and suggestions about this manual and the other
documentation included with this product. Please use the User Comments feature
at the bottom of each page of the online documentation and enter your comments
there.
3 Documentation Conventions
The following typographical conventions are used in this manual:
•/etc/passwd: directory names and lenames
•placeholder: replace placeholder with the actual value
•PATH: the environment variable PATH
•ls,--help: commands, options, and parameters
•user: users or groups
•Alt,Alt +F1: a key to press or a key combination; keys are shown in uppercase as
on a keyboard
•File,File >Save As: menu items, buttons
•Dancing Penguins (Chapter Penguins, ↑Another Manual): This is a reference to a
chapter in another manual.
xii Administration Guide

Part I. Support and Common
Tasks

1
YaST Online Update
Novell offers a continuous stream of software security updates for your product. By
default openSUSE Updater is used to keep your system up-to-date. Refer to Sec-
tion “Keeping the System Up-to-date” (Chapter 6, Installing or Removing Software,
↑Deployment Guide) for further information on openSUSE Updater. This chapter covers
the alternative tool for updating software packages: YaST Online Update.
The current patches for SUSE® Linux Enterprise Desktop are available from an update
software repository. If you have registered your product during the installation, an update
repository is already congured. If you have not registered SUSE Linux Enterprise
Desktop, you can do so by running Software >Online Update Conguration in YaST
and start Advanced >Register for Support and Get Update Repository. Alternatively,
you can manually add an update repository from a source you trust. To add or remove
repositories, start the Repository Manager with Software >Software Repositories in
YaST. Learn more about the Repository Manager in Section “Managing Software
Repositories and Services” (Chapter 6, Installing or Removing Software, ↑Deployment
Guide).
NOTE: Error on Accessing the Update Catalog
If you are not able to access the update catalog, this might be due to an expired
subscription. Normally, SUSE Linux Enterprise Desktop comes with a one or
three years subscription, during which you have access to the update catalog.
This access will be denied once the subscription ends.
In case of an access denial to the update catalog you will see a warning message
with a recommendation to visit the Novell Customer Center and check your
YaST Online Update 3

subscription. The Novell Customer Center is available at http://www.novell
.com/center/.
provides updates with different relevance levels. Security updates x severe security
hazards and should denitely be installed. Recommended updates x issues that could
compromise your computer, whereas Optional updates x non-security relevant issues
or provide enhancements.
To install updates and improvements with YaST, run Software >Online Update from
YaST. All new patches (except the optional ones) that are currently available for your
system are already marked for installation. Clicking Accept or Apply automatically in-
stalls these patches. After the installation has completed, conrm with Finish. Your
system is now up-to-date.
TIP: Disabling deltarpms
By default updates are downloaded as deltarpms. Since rebuilding rpm packages
from deltarpms is a memory and CPU time consuming task, certain setups or
hardware congurations might require you to disable the usage of deltarpms
for performance sake. To disable the use of deltarpms edit the le /etc/
zypp/zypp.conf and set download.use_deltarpm to false.
1.1 Installing Patches Manually Using
the Qt Interface
The Online Update window consists of four sections. The list of all patches available
is on the left. Find the description of the selected patch displayed below the list of
patches. The right column lists the packages included in the selected patch (a patch can
consist of several packages) and below, a detailed description of the selected package.
Optionally, the disk usage can be displayed at the bottom of the left column (this display
is faded out by default—use the dotted slider to make it visible).
4Administration Guide

Figure 1.1 YaST Online Update
The patch display lists the available patches for SUSE Linux Enterprise Desktop. The
patches are sorted by security relevance (security,recommended, and optional).
There are three different views on patches. Use Show Patch Category to toggle the
views:
Needed Patches (default view)
Non-installed patches that apply to packages installed on your system.
Unneeded Patches
Patches that either apply to packages not installed on your system, or patches that
have requirements which have already have been fullled (because they have already
been updated from another source).
All Patches
All patches available for SUSE Linux Enterprise Desktop.
A list entry consists of a symbol and the patch name. For a list of possible symbols,
press Shift +F1. Actions required by Security and Recommended patches are au-
tomatically preset. These actions are Autoinstall,Autoupdate and Autodelete. Actions
for Optional patches are not preset—right-click on a patch and choose an action
from the list.
YaST Online Update 5

If you install an up-to-date package from a repository other than the update repository,
the requirements of a patch for this package may be fullled with this installation. In
this case a check mark is displayed in front of the patch summary. The patch will be
visible in the list until you mark it for installation. This will in fact not install the patch
(because the package already is up-to-date), but mark the patch as having been installed.
Most patches include updates for several packages. If you want to change actions for
single packages, right-click on a package in the package window and choose an action.
Once you have marked all patches and packages as desired, proceed with Accept.
1.2 Installing Patches Manually Using
the gtk Interface
The Online Update window consists of two main sections. The left pane lists all
patches and provides different lters for the patch list. See the right pane for a list of
changes that will carried out once you Apply them.
Figure 1.2 YaST Online Update
6Administration Guide

Patch List Filters
Available
Non-installed patches that apply to packages installed on your system.
Installed
Patches that are already installed.
All
Patches that are either already installed or available.
Severity
Only show Optional,Recommended, or Security patches. By default, All patches
are shown.
Repositories
This lter lets you display the patches per repository.
Packages Listing
Apply your custom lter here.
Click on a patch entry to open a row with detailed information about the patch in the
bottom area of the left pane. Here you can see a detailed patch description as well as
the versions available. You can also choose to Install optional patches—security and
recommended patches are already preselected for installation.
1.3 Automatic Online Update
YaST also offers the possibility to set up an automatic update. Open Software >Online
Update Conguration. Check Automatic Online Update and choose whether to update
Daily,Weekly, or Monthly. Some patches, such as kernel updates, require user interac-
tion, which would cause the automatic update procedure to stop. Therefore you should
check Skip Interactive Patches if you want the update procedure to proceed fully auto-
matically. Having done so, you should run a manual Online Update from time to time
in order to install patches that require interaction.
YaST Online Update 7