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: 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.
Hardware, array, failure
Linux command: Side by side diff

Posted Nov 26, 2008 - 01:46 pm

Tired of looking at strings of "28,30d27" characters separating the differences between files you're comparing? Try a side by side diff listing that works the way your brain does.
Open Source, diff, diffutils
Unix commands: The best tool for the job

Posted Nov 19, 2008 - 01:50 pm

With Unix, there are always many ways to do a single thing, but sometimes one approach is just a lot better! Let's look at a couple examples of commands that are right for the job.
Operating Systems, awk, grep -c
Greening the Data Center

Posted Nov 12, 2008 - 04:20 pm

Think you're the only one having problems keeping your data center cool and powered up? Think again. At least the Green Grid (an international non-profit organization with a mandate to increase energy efficiency in the IT sector) is coming up with answers and I got to go to a trade show!
Green IT, consolidation, cooling
Discovering PHP

Posted Nov 05, 2008 - 03:04 pm

It's no wonder that many content management systems are written in PHP. With enough practice, you could probably write one yourself. Check out this tutorial and cookbook for a head start on learning this extremely versatile language.
Internet, CGI, PHP cookbook
Squeezing out the white space

Posted Oct 29, 2008 - 11:22 am

Ever need to clean up some sloppy text? You can squeeze out extra white space with some very simple Perl commands. Let's take a look at how this works.
Operating Systems, Perl, Sandra Henry-Stocker
Taking Control of ^h (control-h)

Posted Oct 22, 2008 - 06:00 am

When your backspace key prints sequences of ^? following the text you meant to delete, you can abort what you're doing and start over again or you can fix the problem with stty.
Operating Systems, backspace, erase
Using prtdiag to troubleshoot system problems

Posted Oct 15, 2008 - 05:00 am

Those amber warning lights on your servers are trying to tell you something. Want to know what they're trying to tell you? Take a look at the output of the "prtdiag -v" command and you might learn more about your system than you knew could be known.
Operating Systems, diagnostics, fault
Automating System Comparisons

Posted Oct 08, 2008 - 12:54 pm

When you run into a system problems, one of the first questions you might ask is "How is this system different from the others?". Let's take a look at how you can automate system comparisons and get your answers more quickly.
Operating Systems, Sandra Henry-Stocker, script
Fake "Tech Support" Email

Posted Oct 02, 2008 - 08:29 am

Occasional email from Tech Support can be very useful if it doesn't arrive so frequently that you tend to ignore it altogether. But what happens when email from Tech Support is just another phishing attempt by the bad guys? Make sure your users can easily spot the difference.
Tech & society, email, fake

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