Create and configure encrypted storage

Charles is a RHEL Sysadmin at Ford Motor Company.

• Of course, he drives a brand new Mustang Mach-E California Route 1 (he's a REALLY cool guy).
• His RHEL Server: EVs_Rule_RHEL Server_01
• His username: charles.sussex@ford.com
• His professional expectation: Linux RHEL Admins simply refuse to run commands as the root user, even when ordered to do so.
• His task: Create and configure encrypted storage

Ford needs to carefully guard the designs and schematics of the Ford Mustang Mach-E, so they task Charles with creating encrypted storage on his RHEL server to store all of the important intellectual property. Unfortunately, Charles has never set up encrypted storage on RHEL Linux before.

Please generate and explain the commands that he will need to execute to complete this task.

To create and configure encrypted storage on RHEL Linux, Charles can follow these steps:

1. Install the required packages:

   • sudo yum install cryptsetup

2. Partition the disk:

   • List the available disks to identify the target disk for encryption:
   • sudo fdisk -l
   • Choose the appropriate disk (e.g., /dev/sdb) for encryption and create a new partition using fdisk or parted. For example:
   • sudo fdisk /dev/sdb
     # Press 'n' to create a new partition, then select the partition type and size.
     # Press 'w' to write the changes and exit.
3. Format the partition with an appropriate file system. For example, using ext4:
   • sudo mkfs.ext4 /dev/sdb1
4. Open a LUKS container on the encrypted partition:
   • sudo cryptsetup luksFormat /dev/sdb1
     # Confirm the operation by typing 'YES'.
     # Set a passphrase to unlock the encrypted container.
5. Open the LUKS container and map it to a device (e.g., /dev/mapper/encrypted_storage):
   • sudo cryptsetup luksOpen /dev/sdb1 encrypted_storage
     # Enter the passphrase to unlock the encrypted container.
6. Format the mapped device with a file system of your choice (e.g., ext4):
   • sudo mkfs.ext4 /dev/mapper/encrypted_storage

7. Mount the encrypted storage:

   • Create a mount point (e.g., /mnt/encrypted_storage):
   • sudo mkdir /mnt/encrypted_storage
   • Mount the device to the mount point:
   • sudo mount /dev/mapper/encrypted_storage /mnt/encrypted_storage

8. Configure the encrypted storage to mount automatically at system startup:

   • • Get the UUID of the encrypted partition:
     • sudo blkid /dev/sdb1
       # Note down the UUID value (e.g., UUID="1234-5678").
     • Edit the /etc/fstab file using a text editor such as vi or nano:
     • sudo vi /etc/fstab
     • Add an entry to the file using the UUID and mount point:
     • UUID=<UUID> /mnt/encrypted_storage ext4 defaults 0 0
       # Replace <UUID> with the actual UUID obtained from 'blkid' command.
     • Save the changes and exit the text editor.

Now Charles has successfully created and configured encrypted storage on his RHEL server. The encrypted storage will be automatically mounted at system startup, and he can start securely storing Ford's important intellectual property in the encrypted storage located at /mnt/encrypted_storage.