Unix as a Second Language

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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. 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.

Unix tip: Finding a fault when your server's shut down

Posted Feb 11, 2009 - 03:26 pm

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.
Hardware, failure, lom
Unix tip: Monitoring network switches

Posted Feb 04, 2009 - 03:37 pm

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.
IT Management, cisco log, errors
Unix tip: Putting old systems to sleep

Posted Jan 28, 2009 - 03:27 pm

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.
Operating Systems, later reuse, Sandra Henry-Stocker
Unix sysadmins and their good/bad bosses

Posted Jan 21, 2009 - 05:46 pm

The kind of boss you have can make you love or hate your job. This is particularly true for Unix systems administrators because the work we do is generally far removed from what our organizations do to be successful. Let's look at the characteristics of both good and bad bosses and see where yours fits in. If you're a manager yourself, maybe you should think about how your staff likely views you.
IT Management, bad boss, good boss
Unix tip: Inter-host trust on Unix, part 2

Posted Jan 14, 2009 - 06:30 pm

Ssh provides secure connection methods, but just how secure depends on how you use it. Let's take a look at some of its options and how it's different from rsh.
Network access control, authentication, encryption
Unix tip: Inter-host trust on Unix, part 1

Posted Jan 07, 2009 - 01:35 pm

Inter-host trust can be a boon to user productivity and a nightmare to sysadmins. Here's how it works using rsh (remote shell) configuration files. Next week, we'll look at ssh.
Network access control, .rhosts, /etc/hosts.equiv
Unix tip: 7-Zip to the rescue

Posted Dec 30, 2008 - 04:55 pm

Need to build or extract files from archives in a wide range of formats? Ever heard of 7-Zip? Now that I've used it, it goes into my standard tool set!
Personal Tech, 7-Zip, extract package
Unix tip: Monitoring networks with Nagios

Posted Dec 23, 2008 - 09:04 pm

Nagios is a free, open source too for monitoring small to large, complex networks. It can be very easy or very complex to configure, but it provides for sophisticated, proactive monitoring and there's a great book to help you get it working just the way you want.
IT Management, Nagios 3.0, networking monitoring
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.
Operating Systems, aliases, favorite
Bristle.com - High on content, low on frills

Posted Dec 08, 2008 - 08:27 pm

Need to learn Unix or Ajax, do a price comparison or figure out the meaning of an unfamiliar acronym? Let Fred Bristle give you suggestions on where to begin your search.
Tech & society, Fred Bristle, Sandra Henry-Stocker

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