Capstone: Full System Audit & New Service Deployment
Scenario: The "Full System Audit & New Service Deployment" Challenge
Objective: As the lead System Administrator, you've been tasked with performing a comprehensive system audit, deploying a new critical web application, and ensuring its security and stability. This involves package management, service configuration, user management, system settings, and troubleshooting. The scenario assumes a Debian-based system for apt/dpkg and then switches to a Red Hat-based context for yum for broader coverage, or implies actions on different hypothetical servers.
This is a multi-stage, day-in-the-life challenge that will test your skills across the Linux ecosystem!
🛠️ What You'll Practice
- System time zone and localization management
- Package management with apt, dpkg, and yum
- Service installation and configuration (nginx, samba, etc.)
- Log file management and archiving
- User and sudoers configuration
- Resource limits and troubleshooting
- Hardware and device investigation (lsusb, lspci)
- Shell scripting and automation
- Security and password policies
- Flatpak and modern application deployment
📋 Example Tasks
- Check and set the system time zone
- Install and verify web server packages
- Deploy a local .deb package
- Archive and inspect log files
- Configure sudoers for least-privilege access
- Investigate system resource limits
- Identify hardware devices
- Set password aging policies
- Install applications with flatpak
💡 Pro Tips
- Read each task carefully—some require switching between different Linux distributions or tools.
- Use man pages and --help flags for command reference.
- Think about security and best practices at every step.
- Document your actions as you go—real sysadmins always keep notes!