Too many people buy a computer, connect it to the network and just use it without really understanding what it does. To really run your computer, you should understand it and its operating system in depth. You should know what is installed on it. You should know how to keep it maintained by applying patches and security updates. You should know how to administer the system, not just how to use it. This includes not only applying patches, but installing software, adding and deleting users and monitoring the performance and uses of the system, to name but a few of the many tasks you need to do. Most of all, you should understand how to protect your system from unwanted and destructive attacks.
This set of course modules is designed to take you, step-by-step, from knowing very little about a UNIX system, through usage of basic commands and a windowing interface, to administering and securing a system on the network. Each course module below includes a set of hands-on exercises using Linux as the example UNIX-based operating system. Following this course will not make you an expert UNIX sysadmin, but it will give you a good foundation on which to build future training and experience you gain on your own as you use UNIX. There is no substitute for actually administering a system day-by-day.