NOTE: This chapter is intended for customers who are new to UNIX, or for anyone who wishes to brush up on basic UNIX concepts and skills. If you are an experienced UNIX user or administrator, you may wish to skip ahead to the next chapter.
Freedom OS, and UNIX in general, is a multi-user operating system. This means that various users with various levels of access can connect to your Freedom server simultaneously. Many different people will access the services that your Freedom server provides, including Web site visitors, FTP and email users, customers to your online storefront, and so on. They do so with a client - a software program that accesses a server in some way, such as a Web browser, email program or FTP client. In addition, you will access services on your Freedom server to allow you to perform administration, create or upload Web pages, maybe even do software development. The process of accessing your virtual server for administration purposes or to gain "command-line" access is called logging in.
This chapter discusses the various methods available to you for logging into your Freedom server and introduces many useful UNIX commands for using and administering it. This information is meant only as a resource to help you get started. For more advanced, comprehensive documentation, please refer to the Additional Resources appendix at the end of this guide.