Preface
This book will show you how to get the most from your Linux computer. It describes how to perform common tasks such as finding and searching files, explains complex system administration activities such as monitoring and tuning a system, and discusses networks, security, distribution, and how to use the cloud.
Casual users will enjoy recipes for reformatting their photos, downloading videos and sound files from the Internet, and archiving their files.
Advanced users will find the recipes and explanations that solve complex issues, such as backups, revision control, and packet sniffing, useful.
Systems administrators and cluster managers will find recipes for using containers, virtual machines, and the cloud to make their job easier.
What this book covers
Chapter 1, Shell Something Out, explains how to use a command line, write and debug bash scripts, and use pipes and shell configuration.
Chapter 2, Have a Good Command, introduces common Linux commands that can be used from the command line or in bash scripts. It also explains how to read data from files; find files by name, type, or date; and compare files.
Chapter 3, File In, File Out, explains how to work with files, including finding and comparing files, searching for text, navigating directory hierarchy, and manipulating image and video files.
Chapter 4, Texting and Driving, explains how to use regular expressions with awk, sed, and grep.
Chapter 5, Tangled Web? Not At All!, explains web interactions without a browser! It also explains how to script to check your website for broken links and download and parse HTML data.
Chapter 6, Repository Management, introduces revision control with Git or Fossil. Keep track of the changes and maintain history.
Chapter 7, The Backup Plan, discusses traditional and modern Linux backup tools. The bigger the disk, the more you need backups.
Chapter 8, The Old-Boy Network, explains how to configure and debug network issues, share a network, and create a VPN.
Chapter 9, Putting on the Monitor's Cap, helps us know what your system is doing. It also explains how to track disk and memory usage, track logins, and examine log files.
Chapter 10, Administration Calls, explains how to manage tasks, send messages to users, schedule automated tasks, document your work, and use terminals effectively.
Chapter 11, Tracing the Clues, explains how to snoop your network to find network issues and track problems in libraries and system calls.
Chapter 12, Tuning a Linux System, helps us understand how to make your system perform better and use memory, disk, I/O, and CPU efficiently.
Chapter 13, Containers, Virtual Machines, and the Cloud, explains when and how to use containers, virtual machines, and the cloud to distribute applications and share data.
What you need for this book
The recipes in this book run on any Linux-based computer—from a Raspberry Pi to IBM Big Iron.
Who this book is for
Everyone, from novice users to experienced admins, will find useful information in this book. It introduces and explains both the basic tools and advanced concepts, as well as the tricks of the trade.
Sections
In this book, you will find several headings that appear frequently (Getting ready, How to do it..., How it works..., There's more..., and See also).
To give clear instructions on how to complete a recipe, we use these sections as follows:
Getting ready
This section tells you what to expect in the recipe, and it describes how to set up any software or any preliminary settings required for the recipe.
How to do it…
This section contains the steps required to follow the recipe.
How it works…
This section usually consists of a detailed explanation of what happened in the previous section.
There's more…
This section consists of additional information about the recipe in order to make the reader more knowledgeable about the recipe.
See also
This section provides helpful links to other useful information for the recipe.
Conventions
In this book, you will find a number of styles of text that distinguish between different kinds of information. Here are some examples of these styles, and an explanation of their meaning.
Code words in text, database table names, folder names, filenames, file extensions, path names, dummy URLs, user input, and Twitter handles are shown as follows: "Shebang is a line on which #! is prefixed to the interpreter path."
A block of code is set as follows:
$> env PWD=/home/clif/ShellCookBook HOME=/home/clif SHELL=/bin/bash # ... And many more lines
When we wish to draw your attention to a particular part of a code block, the relevant lines or items are set in bold:
$> env
PWD=/home/clif/ShellCookBook
HOME=/home/clif
SHELL=/bin/bash
# ... And many more linesAny command-line input or output is written as follows:
$ chmod a+x sample.shNew terms and important words are shown in bold. Words that you see on the screen, for example, in menus or dialog boxes, appear in the text like this: "Select System info from the Administration panel."
Note
Warnings or important notes appear in a box like this.
Note
Tips and tricks appear like this.
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Errata
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Questions
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