A caution about using sudo
This example shows why it is important that users should not be able to edit scripts that they can run with sudo.
Rethinking su vs sudo
If you've been hanging around Both.org for a while, you've undoubtedly noticed that I much prefer using the su - command to obtain elevated privileges...
Planning for End of Life
We hear a lot about end of life (EOL) planning for hardware and software. At this time, the end of Windows 10 springs to mind...
Getting started with the Linux cat command
Cat is a fairly simple tool designed to concatenate and write file(s) to your screen, which is known as standard output (stdout). You can expect...
Manage multiple service instances with systemctl
Services, services, services. A service is a huge part of computing. You're reading this article on a service. Your computer is running services. The internet...
My six tenets for learning to be a Linux SysAdmin
I have been working with Linux operating systems for a little over a year and a half now, and as I have learned and developed...
Using a Live USB for Linux recovery
Over the years I've managed to need recovery mode quite a few times. Most of those instances were self-inflicted and provided me with many learning...
Getting Started with SELinux
SELinux was developed by the NSA to provide a highly secure computing environment. True to the GPL, they have made this code available to the rest of the Linux community and it is included as part of nearly every mainstream distribution.
How to fix unresolvable file conflict errors upgrading or installing software RPMs
I install updates on a pretty regular basis and -- most of the time -- they install without a problem. By updates I mean installation...
My first sysadmin mistake
If you work in IT, you know that things never go completely as you think they will. At some point, you’ll hit an error, or...
btop — the top of my dreams
The top program is the original system monitoring and management tool for Unix and Linux. It performs its task well and with a minimum of...
How I reverted to Name Service Switch (NSS) for name resolution — And why
There are problems with the new systemd-resolved resolver and that gives us some good reasons to keep or revert to the NSSwitch resolver. The Domain...
Using the dmesg command
As a SysAdmin I frequently need to access the kernel log to obtain information of various types. This can range from searching for why a...
How to do updates on the command line
Keeping your Linux computer as safe as possible from various types of cyber attacks is only possible if you perform updates regularly and upgrade to...
Using htop to manage your Linux system
I use a lot of tools in my daily SysAdmin role. One of the most important ones in my toolkit is htop. The htop program...
Linux signals — sending system-level commands to programs
A user and SysAdmin guide Let's say you've got a program running that you want to terminate. Or that you want to power off or...