Advice for everyday Unix systems administration and some clever ways to approach more challenging problems.
In spite of the huge differences between Linux and Windows, sharing files between the systems is surprisingly easy. Here’s a look at two very different ways to make this happen.
How to use the expr, factor, jot, and bc commands to do math calculations on Linux systems.
How to use the find, locate, mlocate, which, whereis, whatis, and apropos commands to find files on Linux systems.
Some see a lot of promise in the evolution of "fish" on Linux -- a shell with a some unusual behaviors.
With calendars on Linux, you can get more than just reminders of what day it is. Commands such as date, cal, ncal and calendar provide helpful information.
The "last" command provides some easy ways to see who has been logging into your system and when, but with a little more work, you can ask it to report on a specific time period.
The ip command provides a lot of information on network interfaces. Here's some advice to help you understand what it's telling you.
Linux command history is not just about repeating commands. You can selectively decide what to remember and whether to record the date and time your commands were used.
Some Linux commands recurse without being asked, while others have to be nudged with just the right option. Here are some ways to use it to make you tasks easier.
When the Linux kernel detects something on the system violated the kernel's rules about proper behavior, it will shut the system down and issue an "oops."
The Linux ranger is a file manager that works in a terminal window and provides a smooth way to view and edit files.
Named pipes aren't used all that often, but they provide some interesting options for inter-process communications.
ASCII plays a much more important role on our systems than generating techno-art. Let's explore the commands that allow you to see how it works.
Learn how to easily extract content from compressed Linux files — without having to memorize a suite of syntactical options
Some of the most useful commands for gaining insights into the packages installed on your Linux system — Debian style
Linux systems offer lots of options for compressing files. Here's some advice for choosing the ones best for you.
Creating command groups in /etc/sudoers can make managing user privileges easier and smarter.
Some helpful hints for using sudo — the command that allows admins to administer user system privileges
What Linux commands bring up visions of monsters and ghosts? Let’s look and see!
How to use the ip, ethtool, traceroute, tcptraceroute, and tcpdump commands to see what's up with your network on Linux systems.
To make sure files aren't removed accidentally when running the Linux find command, use the -ok command. It will ask for permission before removing any files.
Ping commands are useful, but would-be attackers often use them to identify systems. To prevent that, we show you how to get your system to ignore these requests.
The /proc file system provides amazingly detailed views into your processes and your system's guts.
There are many clever ways to hunt down files on Linux systems. Here's a look at the most useful commands and options.
All you need to know about Linux umask — how the settings work and why they're important.
Learn how run levels are configured and how you can change the run level interactively or modify what services are available.
Configuring login messages on Linux servers is more complex and dynamic. Let's look at the message of the day setup on an Ubuntu server to decipher how the process works.
Some very useful Linux commands for making life on the command line more rewarding
Ever wonder how logrotate manages log files so well? Let's dive into some of the details.
Environment variables on Unix systems — how to understand, modify and appreciate them
The GNU aspell tool is a very clever utility for not only checking your spelling, but also fixing it.
Signals on Unix systems are critical to the way processes live and die. This article looks at how they're generated, how they work, and how processes receive or block them.
On Unix systems, there are many ways to generate random numbers and many important roles that random data plays.
The Unix shell's && and || operators have some interesting and not-so-obvious behaviors.
The column command can reformat the output from various commands to make it more useful or appealing
Want a process to keep running even after you log off? No problem. Use nohup. It's easy.
Ready to make the Linux history command work harder to serve your needs? Let's look at some new tricks you might want to shove up your sleeve.
The jot command is very handy for generating lists of numbers or characters in almost any way you might imagine
Password complexity settings on Linux systems is a lot more interesting -- and complex -- than it might appear.
How to get a clear view of network bandwidth usage on a Linux system.
Things to watch and tools to use to make sure your Unix/Linux systems maintain their health and vigor
Symbolic and hard links can save both time and disk space. In this post, you will see how they are different and how they are created and used.
There are lots of ways to compare files on Unix systems and some of the choices are going to be just right for you
It's not quite as hard as it sometimes seems
Some tips for how to get started and how to stay on track for learning how to be a command line pro.
Some of the less obvious Linux commands might still come in very handy from time to time
The relatively new bash on Ubuntu on Windows brings some new possibilities to Windows users
There are even more ways to kill a process on a Unix/Linux system than there are ways to skin a cat.
Easy ways to pull together important and interesting stats on your running processes -- using the pgrep command
The everlastingly useful grep command can change its character with the flip of a switch to help you find things.
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