Unix as a Second Language

Sandra Henry-Stocker has been administering Unix systems for more than 25 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 company that builds innovative technologies to make critical connections happen -- where no one else necessarily shares any of her opinions. This blog offers advice for everyday Unix systems administration and some clever ways to approach more challenging problems. Send comments and suggestions to mailto:bugfarm@gmail.com.

by Sandra Henry-Stocker

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Sandra Henry-Stocker has been administering Unix systems for more than 25 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 company that builds innovative technologies to make critical connections happen -- where no one else necessarily shares any of her opinions. Send comments and suggestions to bugfarm@gmail.com.

How To: Grep Tricks for Linux Users

Posted Apr 28, 2010 - 11:39 am

Here's a couple tricks you can play with grep, several that don't appear to have corresponding support in some of the other Unix versions.
Linux commands: Newusers adds new users ... fast and furious!

Posted May 14, 2013 - 11:39 am

Whether you're setting up accounts for existing users on a new server or providing accounts for a crop of new staff members on your primary server, it's nice to be able to do the job quickly and accurately. The newusers command in Linux is designed to make this process as smooth as possible, but it may not do everything you expect -- especially if your data file is, uh, sloppy. Let's take a look at what it does and where it might fall short of expectations.
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- accounts, Group
Python for kids ... and adults intimidated by the very idea of programming

Posted Dec 29, 2012 - 05:32 pm

If you love Unix but fear programming or have a kid who you'd like to convince that programming is fun, here's a book you really should consider.
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- book, easy
Solaris How To: Logging for FTP on Solaris 10

Posted Dec 16, 2009 - 07:24 pm

If you're still using ftp and would like to log your transfers, you might have to look around to figure out how to do this on Solaris 10. The answer lies with a command called svccfg (for "service config").
Unix Commands to Try When You're Bored

Posted Jun 09, 2010 - 04:47 pm

Not every Unix command sparks with novelty. After all, the OS has now been around for roughly forty years and the spark wears off. But there are some commands that pick up from where the basics run out of steam. Jump on a Linux box and try these out when you have a little free time. You might surprise yourself with some new tricks for your bag of Unix goodies.
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- comm, grep
Unix How-To: Counting Anything

Posted Sep 15, 2010 - 11:23 am

A reader recently asked whether it was possible on Unix systems to count how many times a particular character appears on each line of text. "On Unix", I answered, "not only is just about anything possible, but there are usually half a dozen ways to do it".
Unix tip: Monitor disk arrays with sccli commands

Posted Dec 04, 2008 - 11:13 am

Disk arrays take a lot of worry about disk failure off your shoulders, but that's no reason not to notice when one goes bad. The sccli command can tell you a lot about what's happening with your StorEdge arrays. Let it warn you about disks gone bad.
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- array, failure
Unix tip: Useful Unix aliases

Posted Dec 17, 2008 - 02:46 pm

Unix aliases provide an easy way to customize your working environment. Let's look at some especially useful aliases that you might like.
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- aliases, favorite
Unix tip: Using Bash's regular expressions

Posted May 05, 2013 - 08:37 pm

Bash has quietly made scripting on Unix systems a lot easier with its own regular expressions. If you're still leaning on grep and sed commands to get your scripts to do what you need from them, maybe it's time to look into what bash can do on its own.
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- bash, range
Cheat sheets galore: Everything you wanted to know about everything ... almost

Posted Apr 14, 2013 - 09:22 pm

A treasure trove of cheat sheets is yours for the clicking. Visit OverAPI.com for help with nearly any language or tool imaginable.
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- cheat sheets, help

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