Am I a SysAdmin?
Wikipedia defines a system administrator as “a person who is responsible for the upkeep, configuration, and reliable operation of computer systems, especially multiuser computers, such as servers.” In my experience, this can include computer and network hardware, software, racks and enclosures, computer rooms or space, and much more.
The Linux Truth
Unix was not designed to stop its users from doing stupid things, as that would also stop them from doing clever things. Doug Gwyn This...
What is the Linux Philosophy for SysAdmins?
The Unix Philosophy is an important part of what makes Unix unique and powerful. Much has been written about the Unix Philosophy and the Linux philosophy is essentially the same as the Unix philosophy because of its direct line of descent from Unix.
3 steps to identifying Linux system automation candidates
How do you know what to automate first on your network? Here are three steps to put you on the right path. Automating the tasks we perform is one of the most important parts of our jobs as sysadmins.
How to do fast, repeatable Linux installations #2 — Bash scripts + RPM
In Episode 1, How to do fast, repeatable Linux installations #1 -- Bash scripts, I discussed how I used a Bash script after performing a...
Is Linux Still Linux?
Many things have changed since Linus Torvalds released the Linux kernel in 1992. Is it still Linux — or not?
How to do fast, repeatable Linux installations #1 — Bash scripts
Image by: Opensource.com Some of my articles and an entire book have been about The Linux Philosophy For SysAdmins and its impact on the daily...
Holiday Fireworks
I realized just a few days ago that Both.org should do something to celebrate the U.S. Independence day holiday on the 4th of July. And...
The Linux Filesystem Hierarchical Standard
In Linux, and many other operating systems, directories can be structured in a tree-like hierarchy. The Linux directory structure is well defined and documented in the Linux Filesystem Hierarchy Standard (FHS). This standard has been put in place to ensure that all distributions of Linux are consistent in their directory usage. Such consistency makes writing and maintaining shell and compiled programs easier for SysAdmins because the programs, their configuration files, and their data, if any, should be located in the standard directories.
Can Windows security get any worse?
Really -- the lack of security. If you've been reading this site or my books for any length of time, you know my attitude towards...
How Both.org is rebuilding a community after the death of an organization
For about ten years, a large number of writers from around the world contributed articles to Opensource.com. OSDC, as we called it, published thousands of articles, helped to guide and mentor many of us as we began or boosted our writing careers. OSDC also helped some of us make connections into the book publishing world. We were a vibrant and active community.
OSDC was created and supported by Red Hat — until it was purchased by IBM and soon deemed extraneous.
Learn how Both.org is rebuilding that community.
How my easy, home-made backup program saves time, space on the storage medium, and network bandwidth
Nothing can ever go wrong with my computer and I will never lose my data. Riiiiight.
This article discusses the backup program I created to prevent catastrophic data loss and facilitate easy recovery. I also show how you can install and use it yourself.
As many as 400,000,000 Windows 10 PCs can’t be upgraded to Windows 11
According to a study by Lansweeper, and reported on ZDNet in 2022, less than 43% of PCs can be upgraded from Windows 10 to Windows 11. Will you ditch your old Windows 10 PCs for new Windows 11 ones, or is there another way?
David Both: My Open Source Story
Here I am, almost 30 years into my personal crazy open source story, and it shows no sign of abating. And my problem is that I like to know how things work and to fix things. I started fixing TVs, ours and the neighbors’, when I was nine or ten. Read on to discover how that led me into the open source world.
Open and the right to repair and modify
The right to repair the hardware we purchase is as basic and important as the right to see and modify the code for the open source software we use. One vendor has embraced that with a passion. System76 of Denver, Colorado, builds a complete line of repairable desktops and laptops. They’re also in the process of designing a new laptop that uses components that can be upgraded as well as repaired.
How to configure multiple websites with Apache web server
Here’s how to host two or more websites on Apache, a popular and powerful web server. With name-based virtual hosting, you can use a single IP address for multiple websites. Modern web servers, including Apache, use the hostname portion of the specified URL to determine which virtual web host responds to the page request. This requires only a little more configuration than for a single site.