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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  • How to put Lubuntu into automatic login mode

    Posted Aug 12, 2012 - 07:03 pm

    Some Unix/Linux systems require that a username and password be entered for login. Some can be set up to log you in automatically. For Lubuntu -- a lightweight version of the popular Ubuntu distribution, you can move between these two login options with a mere flick of your wrist and a wee bit of editing.

  • How to get your Linux feet wet with UNetbootin

    Posted Aug 05, 2012 - 08:03 am

    The best way to learn Linux is to use it. A good introductory book will help, but you won't really learn Linux or become confident in your skills unless you park yourself in front of a Linux system and start typing (and popping windows open, creating files, find your way around the desktop ...). And one of the easiest ways to start using Linux -- even before you've committed hardware to it -- is to run Linux in "live" mode. And one of the best ways to run in live mode is to build yourself a bootable USB drive using an excellent tool called UNetbootin.

  • Getting started with sar

    Posted Jul 29, 2012 - 04:55 pm

    If you don't have sar already installed and running on your Solaris or Linux server, setting it up to monitor performance is so easy, there's no good reason to wait. Follow these simple steps and you'll be monitoring performance on your server in no time.

  • Rediscovering sar

    Posted Jul 22, 2012 - 07:00 pm

    The best trick for understanding performance problems on a Unix system is to understand performance when it ISN'T a problem. If you know what acceptable performance looks like, you'll quickly spot what's out of whack when a system is hurting. And one of the best tools for routine performance monitoring is built into many Unix systems -- sar, the system activity reporter.

  • How to do a risk assessment for ISO 27001

    Posted Jul 15, 2012 - 02:26 pm

    A key element in the ISO 27001 certification process is to identify and assess risks. While this idea may seem obvious, you may be surprised at how much you can learn about your systems, processes and security threats by pushing them through this very systematic process.

  • Getting started with ISO 27001

    Posted Jul 08, 2012 - 06:44 pm

    The first step is justifying the first step. Why are you willing to go through an arduous certification process? How it will help your company? The next is getting a whole lot closer to exactly what that means.

  • What is ISO 27001?

    Posted Jul 02, 2012 - 05:40 pm

    A relatively new international standard sets expectations for information security, but is it any better than what you're already doing to protect your systems and your company's intellectual property? Let's examine what it means to be ISO 27001 certified.

  • Poor man's load balancing

    Posted Jun 24, 2012 - 07:37 pm

    If you have need to balance traffic among a set of servers and can't afford a load balancer, you can get fairly effective relief using what is often referred to as "poor man's load balancing" -- an easy trick that you implement on your DNS server.

  • Managing swap space on Linux systems

    Posted Jun 17, 2012 - 10:14 pm

    Adding swap space to a hurting Linux server is not only easy, but it works. With a few strokes of your hand, you can add swap space and get the system using it. Run another command and see how much difference the change has made.

  • Making sense of memory usage on Linux

    Posted Jun 10, 2012 - 12:24 pm

    There are several useful commands for looking at memory use on Linux systems, but if you don't know what the numbers mean, you may think your systems are in bad shape when they're really OK.
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