Unix as a Second Language 
by Sandra Henry-Stocker
Sandra Henry-Stocker has been administering Unix systems for more than 18 years. She describes herself as "USL" (Unix as a second language) but remembers enough English to write books and buy groceries. She currently works for TeleCommunication Systems, a wireless communications company, in Annapolis, Maryland, where no one else necessarily shares any of her opinions. She lives on a small farm on Maryland's Eastern Shore.
This blog offers advice for every-day Unix systems administration and some clever ways to approach more challenging problems.
Send comments and suggestions to mailto:bugfarm@gmail.com.
Who's Using Samba?
There's a lot more to monitoring Samba than checking whether the daemons are running. The smbstatus command can tell you who's using it and show you what files they're updating.
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Unix tip: Finding a fault when your server's shut down
When a system starts powering itself down, it's time to start probing for faults. A Sun server at the Lights Out Manager (lom) prompt may have responded to a failing component. Fortunately, there are some very helpful commands that you can run at the lom> prompt to help you figure out what's going on.
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Unix tip: Monitoring network switches
Cisco logs aren't very valuable unless you look at them once in a while, but when should you review them? Let's examine a simple way to routinely review what might be filling up your log files.
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Unix tip: Putting old systems to sleep
When you're about to shut down a system that isn't serving any useful purpose right now -- whether to save power or preserve an old environment -- it's a good idea to make sure it will reboot when needed without a lot of work. In today's column, we'll look at the proper procedure for putting a system to sleep.
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