Why Ubuntu Linux a choice of smart business people

ubuntu choice

ubuntu choice

Ubuntu has a very humble background and its base is clearly defined by its name “Ubuntu” meaning humanity toward others. It is truly an Operating System that has challenged more richer alternatives namely Microsoft Windows and Mac OS and as majority of humans are not rich this OS stands the test of times , with its all unique and shining qualities it is free of cost and an enterprise standard OS adopted by big enterprise like Dell computers.

Some of the qualities that attract more and more IT savvy businessman in Ubuntu are

Time is Money

We hear this phrase many times , if you compare Ubuntu to its competitors like Windows and Mac OS it is not behind in terms of its performance , infact is it much faster when it comes to high computation tasks such as programming tasks , testing and development tasks and hardware requirement are much low as well.

Homogeneous in nature

Like that of Microsoft OS’s where the client and server operating systems are way apart in there usage , Ubuntu Desktop and Server edition are much natural and can be used for both client server model , desktop computer , and now more recently a choice for cloud computing.

Support is available Free as well as Commercial

Though Enterprise businesses require commercial support , SME’s and startup love to get free support and that is where there is no other competitor to Ubuntu distribution , it is one of the most popular Linux distribution with a huge community support that you can find almost all solution free of cost online, one of the best resource for this purpose is askubuntu.com website. If commercial support is the requirement it is directly supported by Canonical as well as some other vendors that stand by your business to help you out in hard times, and your own hardware vendor might be one of those , example Dell does support Ubuntu Linux installed on there hardware.

Software is Free

Majority of software available on Ubuntu is free of cost including office application and other utilities , many companies which ignored Linux previously have support of there software on Ubuntu these days and it is growing.

Zip , Games , Office application , Editors , and even Microsoft products are not porting with Linux packages for there application.

Compatibility with Microsoft products

With more and more system migrating to Linux OS’s Microsoft has also come to the terms and accepted the reality that Linux is the future of Desktop OS , infact it has the greatest share in Mobile OS (Android) and Server OS (in super computers)  , as for Desktop version Linux is growing fast. Microsoft products have are now cloud ready and possible to run on Linux such as there Office Application, MS Windows is also boosting compatibility and allowing to share file systems with Linux File systems as an addon. Most importantly the future of Microsoft company Powershell is freely available for Linux and can be readily used in Ubuntu to manage Windows Servers from Linux console.

Security

As a business person more then anything your data is the value , with just a default install Ubuntu is much more strong and secure as compared to the paid counterparts. Furthermore the security patches for LTS version are available for 5 years and 3 years for the Desktop version.

Future Technology Trends and Ubuntu Usage

As Ubuntu is free of cost , it is an OS of choice for both Developers and users , many famous projects have used Ubuntu as there base OS just because the OS is portable and easy to install and manage. Some famous projects include

Android (mobile OS)

Rasberry PI (robotics)

Openstack (Cloud )

Ubuntu Linux ( Server and Desktop )

There are few other famous derivatives of Ubuntu such as Edubuntu etc which are used for specific purposes.

ubuntu share in cloud

Conclusion

Ubuntu is slowly but surely taking up the market share leaving behind old traditional rivals like Microsoft OS which had a much greater share in market during Windows XP era , as time passes by and new technologies are produces using Linux and specifically Ubuntu the share of OS is expected to grow and those business that choose Ubuntu at an earlier stage will benefit much greatly with there choice to move to Open Source Operating System and saving much more in terms of cost and features.

Configuring Basic System Settings RHEL 8 web console part II

user management

User Management with Web Console

RHEL web console allows to perform below user management tasks:

    • Create new users accounts.
    • Change their parameters.
    • Lock accounts.
    • Terminate the user session.
Adding New account in Web Console
Step  1: Click Account
Step  2: Click Create new account
Step 3: In the create account dialog box add the Real Name
Step 4: Enter a unique username
Step 5: Enter a password
Step 6: Confirm the entered password

(Note: it is always advised to keep a strong password)

Step 7: Click Create

Once created User Name will be available in the list of users. In case you want to give it Administrator rights click the newly created user and click Server Administrator Role , that will add the newly created user to the wheel group used for sudo users.

Setting Expiration for an user

Expiration by default is set to never expire but it is possible to change the value by following below steps

Step 1 : Click Account
Step 2 : Click Account name you want to set the expiration
Step 3 : Add the required password change days
Step 4 : Click Change
Terminating User session
Step 1 : Click Account
Step 2 : Click Terminate Session

If button is not active that means the user is not login to the system

Lock Accounts
Step 1 : Click Account
Step 2 : Click Select the account to lock
Step 3: Click Lock Account

In the next part we will understand how to manage storage using the Web Console.

Configuring Basic System Settings RHEL 8 web console Part 1

cockpit

In this and subsequent part series some basic tasks a system administrator might need to perform which are optionally performed during installation.

RHEL 8 Web Console

Common task list a system admin performs via web console include 

  • Monitoring basic system features 
  • Inspect log files 
  • Managing docker files 
  • User management 
  • Service management 
  • Creating reports 
  • Package / Software management 
  • Network management 
  • SElinux / Security management 
  • Advance configuration task with the help of virtual terminal.

If your system does not have a RHEL 8 web console install follow the link to install before reading further. 

Restarting a system from web console
Step 1 : Click System
Step 2 : Power Option (dropdown)
Step 3 : Restart
Step 4 : write reason for restart (optional) -> 
Step 5 : select time interval before restart will take place (optional) or no delay in case of immediate restart
Step 6 : click Restart
Shutdown the system from web console
Step 1 : Click System
Step 2 : Power Option (dropdown)
Step 3 : Shutdown 
Step 4 : write reason for shutdown (optional) -> 
Step 5 : select time interval 
Step 6 : click Shutdown
Naming / Renaming Server from web console

Host name consist of two parts host + domain name. By default hostname is localhost.localdomain but you can change it during installation or from the web console.
For example:
rhel8server.testdom.it
You can configure also a pretty host name in the RHEL web console. This is specific to web console and is not considered a real hostname of the server. Capital letters , spaces are accepted characters for a pretty hostname.

Step 1 : Click System
Step 2 : Click Current Hostname
Step 3 : Enter Pretty Hostname
Step 4 : Enter Real Hostname
Step 5 : Click Change

Configuring NTP setting from web console
Step 1 : Click System
Step 2 : Click Current System Time
Step 3 : In the change time dialog box select correct timezone
Step 4 : In the change time dialog box Select "Set Time" drop down.

From the drop down you can select

Manual : for setting time manually

Automatic Using NTP : This is recommended option

Automatically Using specific NTP server : In case your company has there own NTP server select this option.

Step 5 : Click Change

 

Using web console for selecting performance profile

Performance profile are created and managed by the Tuned service.

Tuned is a service that monitors your system and optimizes the performance under certain workloads.

The core of Tuned are profiles, which tune your system for different use cases.
Tuned is distributed with a number of predefined profiles for use cases such as:
High throughput
Low latency
Saving power

Click the link to get full details about Configuring System Performance with Tuned in RHEL8

Steps to Change a profile with Web Console
Step 1 : Click System
Step 2 : Click current Performance Profile 
Step 3 : In the change current profile dialog box select the new profile
Step 4 : Click Change 

In part two of Configuring Basic System Settings RHEL 8 web console we will discuss about User account management with Web Console in RHEL8

Installing RHEL 8 Web Console

cockpit rhel 8 administration

RHEL 8 Cockpit Web Console is a web based management tool that allows you to complete many common RHEL tasks from a web browser , it is designed as per cloud OS. As a feature of any web based application it is accessible from remote machines by default.

Enabling Cockpit Web Console

By default cockpit gets installed on all RHEL 8 installations with exception to minimal installs, however it is not enabled by default, use below command to enable the web interface.

systemctl enable --now cockpit.socket

Notice that cockpit is a self contained application and does not require a web server to be installed to run this web application.

If you want to run cockpit dashboard locally from the desktop you can use below command to install the graphical interface.

 yum install virt-viewer

The next step is to open a web browser (either from a remote host, or from the RHEL 8 system console), and go to the RHEL 8 systems hostname or IP address, followed by :9090 to specify port 9090, for example: https://localhost.localdomain:9090

Log in to the Web Console with the root account, or with another RHEL account.

cockpit rhel 8 administration

Installing Ubuntu 18 LTS on Dell M.2 PCIe SSD , no bootable device found

no bootable device found

no bootable device found

This is a common error found when booting after installing Ubuntu 18.04 or later on M2 PCIe SSD. In this article i have added configuration for UEFI / BIOS settings before installing Ubuntu from installation medium.

Graphics are not good quality but explanation is provided for each screen. Please make sure your settings are set accordingly

Desclaimer: This task is very risky and author / company does not take any responsibility for any loss or damage , please make sure you have appropriate backup before performing this task.

Below Images and setting are from DELL Inspiron 14 5000 BIOS / UEFI setup.

m2 ssd

M2 PCIe SSD-0 1024 GB , was used for this installation and the problem was no boot device found after installation. To fix it you need to set the below settings in your bios before performing the installation. Please note your bios might show different words but all bios / uefi setup have almost same settings

boot sequence

In boot list option select UEFI selecting Legacy option does provide old setup and drivers might get issue.

boot path security

For UEFI boot path security set to Never  , this will allow the disk to be added in UEFI list.

secure boot mode

Keep this default “Deployed Mode”

secure boot disable

Keep Secure boot disabled , Please note Secure boot and UEFI boot path security are separate options

advance boot options

Keep Legacy Option ROM enabled as it allows to install from USB , CDROM etc.

Once settings are done boot from your USB or DVD and perform the installation as normal.

Happy Installing 🙂

Installing RHEL Red Hat Enterprise Linux 8

Red hat 8 Installation

Red hat 8 Installation

Requirements

  • Hardware : Linux in general and Red Hat kernel supports lots of different hardware variants as well as virtual environment . A complete list of redhat supported hardware you can verify  https://access.redhat.com/ecosystem/search/#/category/Server.
  •  Memory : 1.5GB minimum, 1.5GB per logical CPU recommended
  •  10GB minimum, 20GB recommended

Once requirements are out of the way make sure the boot is set in the physical / virtual environment before performing the boot. Below is the first screen on successful boot of RHEL8 CD. Pressing TAB key will display the actual command that will be executed upon install.

red hat cd boot

There are multiple ways to install RHEL 8 but the most common for the first installation is using an ISO , others will be discussed during installation below.

Red Hat Installatlion Language

The very first installation screen is the installation language , note this is not necessary the language to be used by the users. Select the required language by default US English is selected , press Continue

Red Hat Installation Option Menu

After selecting the installation language a very clean installation summary is given to select all the required option for the installation , most of these have the default already set such as Language Support and KDUMP , but few of these need to be set such as “Time & Date” , a new window will open for the time and date settings.

rhel time and date

from the above you can

  • set the time in 24 hour / 12 hours
  • select the date
  • Select region and city
  • Keyboard Layout
  • NTP Server Settings

Click Ok to return to Main Option Menu Screen.
ntp server settings
Red Hat Installation Option Menu

Next is the installation source , you can select different sources for your installation media as below.

rhel sources of installation

Auto-Detect installation media is the ISO image used for booting RHEL 8 setup , there is option to choose a custom ISO , add multiple repositories in your environment (if available) , perform Network Install. Click Done to get back to Main Options.

Red Hat Installation Option Menu

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Next is Software Selection , Pre Packaged bundles and custom packages , select the one that best suites your requirement.

package bundles

There are few pre-packaged bundles

  • Virtualization Host environment contains a set of software packages needed for running virtual machines on the system
  • Minimal install only installs a basic version of Red Hat Enterprise Linux with only a minimal amount of additional software
  • Server installs infrastructure and networking packages
  • Server with GUI installs infrastructure and networking + GUI
  • Workstation is the user friendly desktop , laptop packages
  • Custom Operating System installs all the packages that admin selects to install.

Once desired packages are selected click Done.  Next is the selection of Storage type.
storage drive rhel install

Select installation destination asks for the location to install the OS , it provide the option to select the new disk , select Automatic or Custom partitioning.

Full disk summary and boot loader link shows the options selected for the installation of the new operating system.

To understand Storage Configuration and how to setup storage kindly refer to Storage Configuration in RHEL 8 

Click Done , once configured.

Red Hat Installation Option Menu

Next select Network and Host Name as below, by default in RHEL 8 networking is disabled.

In the above screen you can select Static or Dynamic IP addressing , configure Host Name settings. By clicking on Configure you can set the static settings for route , DNS as well as static ip address.

Security Policy and System Purpose are optional settings.


After all the options are configured click “Begin Installation” and installation will commence. On the next screen there are two option to set the first user and the root password these are required before installation completes.

Once installation has completed you will see the option to reboot the system. Please make sure that the installation media is removed prior to reboot.

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