What this book covers

Chapter 1, Working with KVM Guests, will not start by installing a basic RHEL system. It will start by introducing you to KVM if you don't already know it. You'll learn how to install and configure the KVM host and manage your KVM guests (the VMs). It will discuss the basics of adding resources on the fly, moving disks, and even moving the entire guest to another KVM host.

Chapter 2, Deploying RHEL "En Masse", will explore the ways of installing a RHEL system, introducing you to kickstart deployments, which are used to streamline automated system installs. If you want to orchestrate your environment, this chapter will lay out the basics for you to build on.

Chapter 3, Configuring Your Network, will explore NetworkManager tools to manage your network configuration, including advanced topics such as VLANs, link aggregation, and bridges. It will show you how to leverage its command-line tools to automate your system's network configuration during its deployment or afterwards, when all is installed.

Chapter 4, Configuring Your New System, will explain how to configure the basics, such as log retention, time, and your boot environment. It will also introduce you to the new systemd, which is SysVinit's replacement, and to monitoring and managing your services.

Chapter 5, Using SELinux, will give you an overview, but a brief one, on how to manage and troubleshoot SELinux on your system. SELinux is becoming more and more important in today's world because of its security implementation, and it's better to know about it than to just turn it off because you can't handle it.

Chapter 6, Orchestrating with Ansible, will tell you all about Ansible, which was recently bought by Red Hat. It will show you how to create simple playbooks that easily deploy new systems and how to manage your system's configuration.

Chapter 7, Puppet Configuration Management, will show you how to set up and configure Puppet. It will also give you a peek at its configuration management capacities.

Chapter 8, Yum and Repositories, will take a look at yum repositories, how you can create your own mirrors of the existing (Red Hat) repositories, and how to leverage it to keep your RHEL environment up to date without breaking a sweat.

Chapter 9, Securing RHEL 7, will take security configuration and auditing problems a bit further. We'll explore how to configure setting up centralized secure authentication and privilege escalation. It will show you how you can operate a system that appears to be "hung" and trace the root cause of the event.

Chapter 10, Monitoring and Performance Tuning, will show you the basics of easy performance tuning and how to monitor your system's resources.