Linux help

[Magic Johnson]

I want to learn more about Linux. I know feck all about it, my boss knows basics so if I could show him up by showing him something I've learnt that he doesn't know, well that'd be just great.

Our proxy server is running CentOS, and everytime something needs to be done on it Googleing is required.

Even just getting to grips with the basics would be great. Like are the commands universal right across the Linux range?

http://www.linux.org/lessons/beginner/l1/lesson1c.html

I'm currently reading through that, not sure how in depth it goes yet lol. Gonna run a virtual PC and mess about on it when work is lacking, any recommendations to what one to download?

Cheers!

 

[sn00p]

Ubuntu.

or if you really want to get to grips with the command line....

Ubuntu Server

(although you can cheat afterwards with "sudo apt-get install ubuntu-desktop" and give yourself a desktop gui)

 

[PinkoCommie]

Even just getting to grips with the basics would be great. Like are the commands universal right across the Linux range?

Short answer: Yes
Long answer: Usually, the commands may have different syntax or work in slightly different fashions depending on the "flavour" of *nix. The very basic commands like "ls" "cd" "cp" "mv" etc will definately be the same though.

Problem is with *nix is that there is always something to learn. I've been using various flavours for years on various firewalls and I still find new things or easier ways of doing things.

I usually find the best way to learn with it is to actually use it to do something. Set yourself a challenge to achieve and see if you can implement it under Linux, even better if it's something that you already know how to do using Windows. For instance, if you run webservers using IIS, try to replicate the setup on a Linux box running Apache.

One you get the hang of it on a simple level then you can make it steadilly more complicated, maybe setup a mySQL database and have the apache webserver pull/deposit data into it.

 

[Magic Johnson]

I'm just installing Ubuntu desktop on a VPC now, I'll get to grips with that first then move on to server. Arsed up already though by trying to be a smart arse with the partitions. /fail

EDIT: Pinko, yeah that's what I'm gonna do. Just muster a list of basic tasks I do on Windows and see if I can replicate in Ubuntu. As I get more used to it, the more complicated these tasks will be (although I am limited given my lack of connectivity but meh).

 

[JackoR26]

I started off playing around with CentOS now we have a web server with PHP and MySQL, print servers and also a Squid proxy. All are fairly easy to setup once you know the commands but I sometimes find it hard to remember exactly how to do things so keep plenty of notes. There are short cuts you take like using WinSCP to modify config files rather than using VI which annoys the hell out me sometimes.

Ive written a script now that setup a virtual machine from backup files, install and start all relevant services :rasp:

I also setup and configured two Solaris 10 servers for work, the commands and folder structure for that are quite different to Linux though.

 

[Magic Johnson]

Aye we've got a SQUID proxy as well.

 

[JackoR26]

Quite like the Squid proxy, we are the only ones in the company with full access.

Perks of being in the IT Dept

 

[Magic Johnson]

Yeah lol, I check the logs every few days for a laugh.

 

[JackoR26]

Do you use webalizer for that? I dont generate the reports as most of our users go through a Websense proxy

 

[Magic Johnson]

Nope. SARG.