SShell script wrappers can make the *nix command more transparent to the user. The most common shell scripts are simple wrappers around the third party or system binaries. A wrapper is nothing but a shell script or a shell function or an alias that includes a system command or utility.
Linux and a Unix-like operating system can run both 32bit and 64bit specific versions of applications. You can write a wrapper script that can select and execute correct version on a 32bit or 64bit hardware platform. In clustered environment and High-Performance computing environment you may find 100s of wrapper scripts written in Perl, Shell, and Python to get cluster usage, setting up shared storage, submitting and managing jobs, backups, troubleshooting, invokes commands with specified arguments, redirecting stdout/stderr and much more.
In this post, I will explain how to create a shell wrapper to enhance the primary troubleshooting tool such as ping and host. [continue reading…]
An bash shell alias is nothing but the shortcut to commands. The alias command allows the user to launch any command or group of commands (including options and filenames) by entering a single word. Use alias command to display a list of all defined aliases. You can add user-defined aliases to ~/.bashrc file. You can cut down typing time with these aliases, work smartly, and increase productivity at the command prompt. [continue reading…]
In Linux and UNIX system services are configured using various text files located in /etc/ or /usr/local/etc/ directory tree. A typical server system could have dozens of configuration files. You can check your configuration files for syntax errors without starting the server and validate all settings. In some cases, it is possible to check the sanity of specific data/config options and directories. Text files are easier to manage remotely. You can use ssh and a text editor. If there is an error in configuration, the server may not start. It may result in a disaster. This post explains how to quickly find out a syntax error for popular servers and test configuration file for syntax errors. [continue reading…]
Man pages are written by sys-admin and developers for IT techs, and are intended more as a reference than as a how to. Man pages are very useful for people who are already familiar with Linux, Unix, and BSD operating systems. Use man pages when you just need to know the syntax for particular commands or configuration file, but they are not helpful for new Linux users. Man pages are not good for learning something new for the first time. Here are thirty best documentation sites on the web for learning Linux and Unix like operating systems. [continue reading…]
Unhide is a little handy forensic tool to find hidden processes and TCP/UDP ports by rootkits / LKMs or by another hidden technique. This tool works under Linux, Unix-like system, and MS-Windows operating systems. From the man page:
It detects hidden processes using three techniques:
The proc technique consists of comparing /proc with the output of /bin/ps.
The sys technique consists of comparing information gathered from /bin/ps with information gathered from system calls.
The brute technique consists of bruteforcing the all process IDs. This technique is only available on Linux 2.6 kernels.
PHP is an open-source server-side scripting language, and it is a widely used. The Apache/Nginx/Lighttpd web server provides access to files and content via the HTTP OR HTTPS protocol. A misconfigured server-side scripting language can create all sorts of problems. So, PHP should be used with caution. Here are twenty-five php security best practices for Linux and Unix sysadmins for configuring PHP securely. [continue reading…]
You can now enjoy mysteries of the sea from the safety of your own terminal using ASCIIQuarium. It is an aquarium/sea animation in ASCII art created using perl. [continue reading…]
The $ character is used for parameter expansion, arithmetic expansion and command substitution. You can use it for manipulating and expanding variables on demands without using external commands such as perl, python, sed or awk. This guide shows you how to use parameter expansion modifiers to transform Bash shell variables for your scripting needs. [continue reading…]
There are some misconceptions that shell scripts are only for a CLI environment. You can efficiently use various tools to write GUI and network (socket) scripts under KDE or Gnome desktops. Shell scripts can make use of some of the GUI widget (menus, warning boxes, progress bars, etc.). You can always control the final output, cursor position on the screen, various output effects, and more. With the following tools, you can build powerful, interactive, user-friendly UNIX / Linux bash shell scripts. [continue reading…]
Nginx is a lightweight, high-performance web server/reverse proxy and e-mail (IMAP/POP3) proxy. It runs on UNIX, GNU/Linux, BSD variants, Mac OS X, Solaris, and Microsoft Windows. According to Netcraft, 13.50% of all domains on the Internet use nginx web server. Nginx is one of a handful of servers written to address the C10K problem. Unlike traditional servers, Nginx doesn’t rely on threads to handle requests. Instead, it uses a much more scalable event-driven (asynchronous) architecture. Nginx powers several high traffic web sites, such as WordPress, Hulu, Github, and SourceForge. [continue reading…]
