Objectives
Upon completion of this unit, you should be able to:
  • Browse the web
  • Exchange emails and instant messages
  • Access a Linux system remotely
  • Transfer files between systems
  • Use network diagnositc tools
Web Clients
1) Firefox
2) Other web browsers
3) Non-GUI web browsers
4) wget
Firefox
1) Fast, lightweight, feature-rich web browser
  • Tabbed browsing
  • Popup blocking
  • Cookie management
  • Multi-engine search bar
  • Support for many popular plug-ins
  • Themes and Extensions
Non-GUI Web Browsers
1) links
wget
1) Retrieve files via HTTP and FTP
2) Non-interactive – useful in shell scripts
3) Can follow links and traverse directory trees on the remote server – useful fo mirroring web and FTP sites
Email and Messaging
1) Evoluation
2) Other email clients
3) Non-GUI email clients
4) Gaim
Evolution
1) Default email and groupware tool
2) Provides email, calendar, tasks and contacts
3) Can maintain multiple accounts at once
4) Supports GnuPG (GNU Privacy Guard) encryption and signatures
5) “Trainable” bayesian spam filters
6) Task/ Calendar notifications in Gnome clock
7) Can sync with many PDAs
Configuring Evolution
1) Defining accounts
  • Tools –> Settings –> Mail Accounts
  • Supports IMAP, pop, Novell Groupware, Usenet and local email accounts
  • MS Exchange support via plug-in
    • Provided by evolution-connector rpm
    • Install before configuring other accounts
Other GUI Mail Clients
1) Thunderbird (Standard Mozilla email client)
2) Kmail (KDE email client)
Non-GUI Mail Clients
1) mutt
  • Support pop, imap and local mailboxes
  • Highly configurable
  • Mappable hotkeys
  • Message threading and colorizing
  • GnuPG integration
  • Context-sensitive help with ‘?’
Gaim
1) Multi-protocol Instant messaging client
2) Available in Red Hat Enterprise Linux Client
3) Supports AIM, MSN, ICQ, Yahoo, Jabber, Gadu-Gadu, SILC, GroupWise Messenger, IRC and Zephyr networks
4) Plugins can be used to add functionality.
OpenSSH: Secure Remote Shell
1) Secure replacement for older remote-access tools
2) Allows authenticated, encrypted access to remote systems
  • ssh [user@]hostname
  • ssh [user@]hostname command
SCP: Secure File Transfer
1) Secure replacement for rcp
2) Layered on top of ssh
  • scp source destination
  • Remote files can be specified using: [user@]host:/path/to/file
3) Use –r to enable recursion
4) Use –p to preserve times and permissions
5) Use –C to compress datastream
rsync: Efficient File Sync
1) Efficiently copies files to or from remote systems
2) Uses secure ssh connections for transport
  • rsync: *.conf barney:/home/joe/configs
3) Faster then SCP – copies differences in like files
OpenSSH Key-based Authentication
1) Optional, password-less, but still secure, authentication
2) Uses two keys generated by ssh-keygen:
  • private keys stays on your system. Usually passphrase-protected (recommended)
3) public key is copied to destination with ssh-copy-id
  • ssh-copy-id [user@]host
OpenSSH Key-based Authentication continued
1) An authentication agent stores decrypted private keys
  • Thus, passphrase only needs to be entered once
  • An agent is provided automatically in GNOME
  • Otherwise, run ssh-agent bash
2) Keys are added to the agent with ssh-add
FTP Clients
1) CLI: lftp
2) GUI: gFTP
  • Application –> Internet –> gFTP
  • Allows Drag and Drop transfers
  • Anonymous or authenticated access
  • Optional secure transfer via ssh (sftp)
smbclient
1) FTP-like client to access SMB/CIFS resources
2) Examples:
  • smbclient –L server1 (lists shares on server1)
  • smbclient –U student //server1/homes (access a share)
File Transfer with Nautilus
1) File/ Connect to Server
2) Graphically browse with multiple protocols
3) Allow drag and drop file transfers
4) Supported connection types: FTP, SFTP, SMB, WebDAV, Secure WebDAV
5) Can also connect via url
Xorg Clients
1) All graphical applications are X clients
  • Can connect to remote X servers via tcp/ip
  • Data is not encrypted but can be tunneled securely over an ssh connection (ssh –X user@hostB xterm&)
2) xterm will display on hostA’s X server
3) Transmitted data will be encrypted through the ssh connection
Network Diagnostic Tools
1) ping
2) traceroute
3) host
4) dig
5) netstat
6) gnome-netool (GUI)
End of Unit14
1) Quesitons and Answers
2) Summary
  • Firefox, Evolution and Mutt
  • Basic network diagnostic tools
  • The importance of secure network clients