Topic 17 – Booting and configuration Flashcards
1
Q
this linux directory is used to hold various log files
A
describe the linux directory
/var/log
2
Q
describe the linux file
/var/log/auth.log
A
contains system authorisation information
3
Q
describe the linux file
/etc/adduser.conf
A
this holds configuration information for any new users that are added using the adduser command.
One such setting is the shell that the user should use
4
Q
the process for this is:
- firmware is ran - BIOS or UEFI locates, loads and executes the operating system bootloader
- kernel loaded - The bootloader locates the linux kernel image and passes control to the kernel
- Decompress the kernel - the kernel image (file named vmlinuz) contains a compressed kernel as well as utilities that can decompress and initialize the kernel. If applicable a RAM disk will be loaded into memory as well and decompressed so that the linux kernel has a temporary file system
-
Initialisation - the kernel now takes control of setting up the system:
- Check system hardware
- Load modules for device drivers
- Mount the proper root file system in place of the RAM disk
-
First user space program ran - linux will load a program named init or systemmd which will be the first process to run on the system and the last. All other processes are child processes of init or systemmd. init or systemd are in charge of:
- starting daemons
- loading the UI
- logging in the user.
A
describe the
linux boot process
5
Q
this holds the message of the day banner that can be seen when a remote login is made to the OS
A
describe the linux file
/etc/motd
6
Q
describe the linux file
/etc/group
A
this file holds a list of all groups on the system
7
Q
this includes:
- was used from the mid 1970s onwards
- was originally stored on read only memory (ROM) but later moved to flash memory so that it could be updated
A
describe some
history of Basic Input/Output System (BIOS)
8
Q
name 3 advantages of
Unified Extensible Firmware Interface (UEFI)
A
advantgaes of this include:
- This usually uses the GPT partitioning scheme in place of MBR and because of this it can support disk that are over 2TiB
- More powerfull pre operating system environment such as basic networking capabilities
- secure boot
9
Q
name 3
essential services that firmware will provide
A
this will:
- it runs a power-on self-test (POST) program to check for hardware problems
- it provides basic operation of some I/O devices, in particular the keyboard, screen and disk drives
- it starts a program to load the operating system from a disk.
10
Q
some history of this includes:
- 1998 - intell develops an early version of this called EFI
- 2005 - Other vendors saw the value in EFI and came together to form UEFI as a result on this year the first release of UEFI was released.
A
for the following dates describe the
history of Unified Extensible Firmware Interface (UEFI)
- 1998
- 2005
11
Q
contains system authorisation information
A
describe the linux file
/var/log/auth.log
12
Q
describe the process that
Unified Extensible Firmware Interface (UEFI)
takes to load an operating system
A
the process for this is:
- this firmware will reference its ‘boot manager’
- the boot manager contains a reference of the location of the ESP (EFI system partition)
- within the ESP will be the bootlader necessary to load and execute the operating system
13
Q
contains information logged by various background daemons.
A
describe the linux file
/var/log/daemon.log
14
Q
these are two types of firmware that are able to boot a system and locate a bootloader that will load an operating system
A
breifly describe
Basic Input/Output System (BIOS)
and
Unified Extensible Firmware Interface (UEFI)
15
Q
describe the linux file
/var/log/boot.log
A
contains information that is logged when the system boots up
16
Q
this holds configuration information for any new users that are added using the adduser command.
One such setting is the shell that the user should use
A
describe the linux file
/etc/adduser.conf
17
Q
this process is:
- locate the bootsector
- if the disk is not partitioned then this will be stored in the first sectort with the MBR
- if the disk is partitioned then this firmware will reference the MBR to find out which partition should be booted (NOTE: each partition will have its own boot sector at the begginning of the partition)
- once the bootsector has been found the bootloader within it is loaded and ran and control is passed to the bootloader
- the bootloader loads and executes the OS and then passes control to the OS
A
describe the process that
basic input output system (BIOS)
takes to load an operating system
18
Q
this is software that is stored on non volatile chips and is the first software to run when a system is powered up. This in some sense can be thought of as the boundary between hardware and software
A
describe
firmware
19
Q
describe the linux file
/etc/shadow
A
this file holds the encrypted passwords for each user on the system
20
Q
describe the linux directory
/var/log
A
this linux directory is used to hold various log files
21
Q
this holds file system information such as which file systems should be mounted on boot
A
describe the linux file
/etc/fstab
22
Q
what happens once the operating system has been loaded and executed by the bootloader
A
when this occurs:
- full control is given to the operating system
- any device drivers that were implemented by the firmware (i.e BIOS or UEFI) will be switched with the device drivers that have been configured within the operating system
23
Q
this is typically stored inside the bootsector which is located on the first sector of the disk so that it is always accessible
however if there are multiple partitions then the bootsector is stored at the start of every partition and the master boot record is referenced in order to find out which partition is bootable
A
where is the
bootloader stored
24
Q
describe the linux file
/etc/motd
A
this holds the message of the day banner that can be seen when a remote login is made to the OS
25
describe the process that
**basic input output system (BIOS)**
takes to load an operating system
this process is:
1. locate the bootsector
1. if the disk is not partitioned then this will be stored in the first sectort with the MBR
2. if the disk is partitioned then this firmware will reference the MBR to find out which partition should be booted (NOTE: each partition will have its own boot sector at the begginning of the partition)
2. once the bootsector has been found the bootloader within it is loaded and ran and control is passed to the bootloader
3. the bootloader loads and executes the OS and then passes control to the OS
26
what is a
## Footnote
**bootloader**
This is a program that is executed by firmware and is then able to load and run the full operating system
27
this is a partition that UEFI firmware will be able to locate
it contains the bootloader necessary to load and execute the operating system
what is the
**EFI system partition (ESP)**
28
name 3
## Footnote
**disadvantages of Basic Input/Output System (BIOS)**
these include:
* limitations due to using master boot record (MBR)
* could not utilise disk drives with more than 2 TiB of storage
* drives were limited to four partitions
* the boot process was slow due to initialising hardware components one at a time
29
this file holds all of the users on the system
describe the linux file
## Footnote
**/etc/passwd**
30
describe the linux file
## Footnote
**/var/log/daemon.log**
contains information logged by various background daemons.
31
the process for this is:
1. this firmware will reference its 'boot manager'
2. the boot manager contains a reference of the location of the ESP (EFI system partition)
3. within the ESP will be the bootlader necessary to load and execute the operating system
describe the process that
**Unified Extensible Firmware Interface (UEFI)**
takes to load an operating system
32
this holds a list of scheduled tasks and can be edited via the crontab command
describe the linux file
## Footnote
**/etc/crontab**
33
describe the linux file
## Footnote
**/etc/passwd**
this file holds all of the users on the system
34
when this occurs:
* full control is given to the operating system
* any device drivers that were implemented by the firmware (i.e BIOS or UEFI) will be switched with the device drivers that have been configured within the operating system
what happens once the operating system has been loaded and executed by the bootloader
35
windows takes this approach by using the registry which can hold a number of keys that hold data
what is the unique method that windows takes to store configurations
36
this will:
1. it runs a power-on self-test (POST) program to check for hardware problems
2. it provides basic operation of some I/O devices, in particular the keyboard, screen and disk drives
3. it starts a program to load the operating system from a disk.
name 3
## Footnote
**essential services that firmware will provide**
37
describe
## Footnote
**firmware**
this is software that is stored on non volatile chips and is the first software to run when a system is powered up. This in some sense can be thought of as the boundary between hardware and software
38
this holds a list of MIME types and the associated file extension(s) programs can use this file to map file extensions to a MIME type
describe the linux file
## Footnote
**/etc/mime.types**
39
this file holds the encrypted passwords for each user on the system
describe the linux file
## Footnote
**/etc/shadow**
40
this file holds a list of all groups on the system
describe the linux file
## Footnote
**/etc/group**
41
contains information that is logged when the system boots up
describe the linux file
## Footnote
**/var/log/boot.log**
42
name 3
## Footnote
**initialisation/configuration types**
these include:
* **.ini -** a plain text initialisiation file used within msdos and windows
* **.conf** - typically found within unix or linux is an ASCII (plain text) file used to store configuration data
* **.cfg -** a configuration file typically used within windows (may not be plain text but can hold plain text data)
43
for the following dates describe the
**history of Unified Extensible Firmware Interface (UEFI)**
* 1998
* 2005
some history of this includes:
* 1998 - intell develops an early version of this called EFI
* 2005 - Other vendors saw the value in EFI and came together to form UEFI as a result on this year the first release of UEFI was released.
44
describe some
## Footnote
**history of Basic Input/Output System (BIOS)**
this includes:
* was used from the mid 1970s onwards
* was originally stored on read only memory (ROM) but later moved to flash memory so that it could be updated
45
breifly describe
**Basic Input/Output System (BIOS)**
and
**Unified Extensible Firmware Interface (UEFI)**
these are two types of firmware that are able to boot a system and locate a bootloader that will load an operating system
46
This is a program that is executed by firmware and is then able to load and run the full operating system
what is a
## Footnote
**bootloader**
47
these include:
* **.ini -** a plain text initialisiation file used within msdos and windows
* **.conf** - typically found within unix or linux is an ASCII (plain text) file used to store configuration data
* **.cfg -** a configuration file typically used within windows (may not be plain text but can hold plain text data)
name 3
## Footnote
**initialisation/configuration types**
48
this means that this was desighned so that vendors can add functionality to it as long as it includes and does not conflict with the original specification
what does the extensible in
## Footnote
**Unified Extensible Firmware Interface (UEFI)**
mean
49
This is the replacement firmware for BIOS and can be found in most personal computers today
it performs common tasks such as:
* power on self test (POST)
* basic hardware initialisation such as mouse keyborad and display
* loading a bootloader
briefly describe
## Footnote
**unified extensible firmware interface (UEFI)**
50
advantgaes of this include:
1. This usually uses the GPT partitioning scheme in place of MBR and because of this it can support disk that are over 2TiB
2. More powerfull pre operating system environment such as basic networking capabilities
3. secure boot
name 3 advantages of
## Footnote
**Unified Extensible Firmware Interface (UEFI)**
51
describe the
## Footnote
**linux boot process**
the process for this is:
1. **firmware is ran** - BIOS or UEFI locates, loads and executes the operating system bootloader
2. **kernel loaded** - The bootloader locates the linux kernel image and passes control to the kernel
3. **Decompress the kernel** - the kernel image (file named vmlinuz) contains a compressed kernel as well as utilities that can decompress and initialize the kernel. If applicable a RAM disk will be loaded into memory as well and decompressed so that the linux kernel has a temporary file system
4. **Initialisation** - the kernel now takes control of setting up the system:
1. Check system hardware
2. Load modules for device drivers
3. Mount the proper root file system in place of the RAM disk
5. **First user space program ran** - linux will load a program named init or systemmd which will be the first process to run on the system and the last. All other processes are child processes of init or systemmd. init or systemd are in charge of:
1. starting daemons
2. loading the UI
3. logging in the user.
52
describe the linux file
## Footnote
**/etc/fstab**
this holds file system information such as which file systems should be mounted on boot
53
briefly describe
## Footnote
**unified extensible firmware interface (UEFI)**
This is the replacement firmware for BIOS and can be found in most personal computers today
it performs common tasks such as:
* power on self test (POST)
* basic hardware initialisation such as mouse keyborad and display
* loading a bootloader
54
what is the unique method that windows takes to store configurations
windows takes this approach by using the registry which can hold a number of keys that hold data
55
what is the
**EFI system partition (ESP)**
this is a partition that UEFI firmware will be able to locate
it contains the bootloader necessary to load and execute the operating system
56
describe the linux file
## Footnote
**/var/log/messages**
contains all kernel-related information
57
these include:
* limitations due to using master boot record (MBR)
* could not utilise disk drives with more than 2 TiB of storage
* drives were limited to four partitions
* the boot process was slow due to initialising hardware components one at a time
name 3
## Footnote
**disadvantages of Basic Input/Output System (BIOS)**
58
contains all kernel-related information
describe the linux file
## Footnote
**/var/log/messages**
59
describe the linux file
## Footnote
**/etc/mime.types**
this holds a list of MIME types and the associated file extension(s) programs can use this file to map file extensions to a MIME type
60
describe the linux file
## Footnote
**/etc/crontab**
this holds a list of scheduled tasks and can be edited via the crontab command
61
where is the
## Footnote
**bootloader stored**
this is typically stored inside the bootsector which is located on the first sector of the disk so that it is always accessible
however if there are multiple partitions then the bootsector is stored at the start of every partition and the master boot record is referenced in order to find out which partition is bootable
62
what does the extensible in
## Footnote
**Unified Extensible Firmware Interface (UEFI)**
mean
this means that this was desighned so that vendors can add functionality to it as long as it includes and does not conflict with the original specification
