The open source server configuration management tool makes the leap to Windows, enabling automation for both Linux and Windows.
The latest GNU fdisk is now in alpha. Not anywhere ready for production, but ready for the adventurous to take out for a spin.
Completing filenames when using Vim in command mode can be tricky. These tips will make it a simpler task.
Linux admins looking for an easy way to set hard and soft limits for users will find much to like about the pam_limits module. With pam_limits, you can set parameters on system resources on a per-user (or per-group) basis for all variables--from the maximum number of files a user can have open to the amount of CPU time.
Linux and other Unix-type systems contain a wealth of features under the surface. Oftentimes, however, these features are non-obvious and hard to find. Compgen, a GNU Bash builtin that shows all possible completions, is one such feature.
Is your hardware inadequate for your site? Throwing more resources at it may not be the best answer. For WordPress sites, W3 Total Cache is an inexpensive way to wring the most out of what you already have.
Most admins know kill and pkill. But those looking for a quick, clean kill use slay.
Renameutils is aptly named. The easy-to-use collection of utilities makes renaming files as easy as using your favorite text editor.
Tags:
open source software, open source tool, utility, tip of the trade, text editor
Understanding regular expressions is important for anyone who spends time doing
system administration or programming. If that describes you and regexes are
not your strong suit, txt2regex is an excellent tool to have handy.
Tags:
open source software, open source tool, tip of the trade
For admins who work with Debian-based systems, the basics dpkg and APT's tools are old hat. For a richer user experiences, like knowing which packages have release-critical bugs, hog the most disk space and so on, Debian Goodies is a set of utilities that's good to know.
Tags:
Linux, Debian, open source tool, OS, tip of the trade
Fedora or RHEL users working with RPMs will find these 5 little-known features to be of great value.
Tags:
open source software, open source tool, Fedora, RHEL, tip of the trade
When your system is rooted, you can't trust most utilities to show processes from the rootkit. To identify the problem, check out unhide and unhide.rb.
Tags:
security, open source software, open source tool, tip of the trade, rootkit
The tail utility is one of the most useful admin tools, but it's limited and outdated. Bring your log-watching capabilities into the 21st century and view multiple logs at one time with MultiTail.
Tags:
open source software, open source tool, tip of the trade
Need to run multiple sessions in the same terminal but aren't fond of screen? Consider tmux, open source software that offers Emacs and vi-style keybindings.
Tags:
open source software, open source tool, tip of the trade, screen, GNU
Not everyone is comfortable with a command-line interface. If you're writing
scripts for users who prefer to work from a GUI, check out Zenity, a GNOME utility
that provides simple GUI dialogs from a shell script.
Tags:
command line, open source software, open source tool, GUI, script
Initially developed to limit resource usage in the Linux kernel, cgroups can do much more than that. Unfortunately, as handy as they are, cgroups are neither straightforward nor user friendly. Scaling the learning curve to set up and manage them is well worth it, however. These basic tips will get you started.
Tags:
Linux, open source software, open source tool, tip of the trade, server os
Yum Plugins make it easy to extend the open source tool's functionality. The security plugin and the priorities plugins are a great place to start.
Tags:
open source, security, open source software, open source tool, tip of the trade
Yum is one of the most widely used package management tools, but many users don't know that Yum has a plugin system to extend its capabilities. Learn how to add some very useful features by extending this open source tool.
Tags:
Linux, open source software, open source tool, Fedora, tip of the trade
Looking to avoid Cron? Hcron and the at utility are two tools that make it easy
to bypass Cron in favor of other open source software alternatives.
Tags:
Linux, open source software, open source tool, tip of the trade, cron
GNU Screen is incredibly helpful, but like any tool, it must be running to be of use. Rather than starting a job and thinking, 'I wish I'd started Screen first,' why not configure Screen so it starts by default when you log in to your server? Here's how.
Tags:
open source, open source tool, tip of the trade, screen, GNU
