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.
Do I have enough space for that?
A little scripting goes a long way to make sure you won’t run out of space with an automated process.
How to selectively apply updates
Here’s how I selectively apply updates, excluding any kernel packages.
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...
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...
My first Linux in the enterprise
My first experience and lessons learned in deploying Linux in the enterprise.
Best Articles of 2024 about Linux system tools
Linux has many excellent tools that allow SysAdmins to manage our systems. We've published many articles this year about those tools, and here are 9...
Managing processes with kill and killall
Process management can be an important part of system maintenance.
sync — The command you never heard of
Have you ever heard of the sync command? Have you heard of it but then forgotten all about it -- like me? The sync command...
What does it mean to be a SysAdmin?
A lot of us call ourselves SysAdmins (aka System Administrators1) and, sometimes, that's what our job title might be. You might not even realize that...
How to remove existing traditional swap partitions
Swap space is a common and important aspect of computing today regardless of operating system. Linux uses swap space to substitute for RAM when it becomes too full to effectively support additional programs or data. It is a way to temporarily enable the system to keep running albeit at the cost of reduced performance. However the use of zram for swap space has provided an interesting, if counter-intuitive, method for providing a reasonable amount of swap space while significantly improving swap performance.
Automate Raspberry Pi tasks with crontab
If you need to do a task on a regular schedule, explore how you can use crontab to do the repetitive work for you.
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.
Tweak your system performance with ‘noatime’
Turn off “access time” to make a slight but noticeable improvement on system performance.