The Linux Philosophy for SysAdmins And Everyone Who Wants To Be One  by David Both

• About the Author xix
• About the Technical Reviewer xxi
• Acknowledgments xxiii

Part I: Introduction 1

Chapter 1: Introduction to the Linux Philosophy 3

• Am I a SysAdmin? 5
• The Structure of the Philosophy 7
• Who Should Read This Book 9
• But I Don't Meet Those Requirements 10
• Who Should Not Read This Book 11
• The Linux Truth 11
• Restrictive Operating Systems 12
• Linux Is Open and Free 12
• Real Knowledge 13
• Enlightenment 14

Chapter 2: Getting Ready 15

• The Experiments 15
• System Requirements 17
• How to Access the Command Line 18
• Create the Student User 19
• Preparing the USB Thumb Drive 19
• What to Do if the Experiments Do Not Work 21
• Pseudo Terminal 117
• Session 117
• Shell 118
• Secure Shell (SSH) 121
• Screen 121
• The GUI and the CU 124
• Non-Restrictive Interface 125
• The Mailing List 125
• Baffle Them with Big Data 128
• CLI Power 130

Chapter 8: Be a Lazy SysAdmin 131

• Preparation 131
• True Productivity .. 132
• Preventative Maintenance 133
• Minimize Typing 134
• Aliases 134
• Other Typing Shortcuts 136
• File Naming 136
• BASH Efficiency 136
• Completion Facility 136
• Command-Une Recall and Editing 139
• History 139
• Using the History 140
• Logs Are Your Friend 146
• SAR 146
• Mail Logs 149
• messages 150
• dmesg 151
• secure .. 152
• systemd Logs 156
• logwatch 160
• Success as a Lazy SysAdmin 163

Chapter 9: Automate Everything 165

• Why l Use Scripts 165
• How I Got Here 166
• Scripting Repetitive Tasks 167
• Making It Easier 167
• From Desirable to Necessity 168
• Updates 169
• Additional Levels of Automation 181
• Using cron for Timely Automation 183
• crontab 183
• cron.d 186
• anacron 188
• Scheduling Tips 190
• Thoughts About cron 190
• cron Resources 191
• Other Automation Possibilities 191
• Some Alt Ideas 192
• Deepening the Philosophy 192

Chapter 10: Always Use Shell Scripts 195

• Definition 195
• The SysAdmin Context 197
• Requirements 197
• Development Speed 198
• Performance Speed 199
• Variables 200
• Testing 200
• Open and Open Source 201
• Shell Scripts as Prototypes 201
  Process  202
• Quick and Dirty 202
• Planning and Foresight 203
• Final Thoughts 215

Chapter 11: Test Early, Test Often 217

• Procedures 218
• Create a Test Plan 218
• Start Testing at the Beginning 220
• Final Testing 220
• Testing in Production 221
• Fuzzy Testing 222
• Automated Testing 223
• Trying It Out 224
• Requirements for MOTD Script 225
• Test Plan for MOTD Script 226
• Developing the Script 227
• Add Sanity Checks 231
• Fixing a Script 245
• Summary 246

Chapter 12: Use Commonsense Naming 247

• Script and Program Names 247
• Variables 250
• Naming Variables 250
• Make Everything a Variable 251
• Procedures 255
• Hosts 255
• Organizational Naming 256
• Summary 256
• Open Is Knowable 258
• Flat ASCII Text 259
• System Configuration Files 260
• Global Bash Configuration 265
• User Configuration Files 268
• ASCII Rocks 270
• Final Thoughts 272

Chapter 14: Use Separate filesystems for Data 273

• Why We Need Separate filesystems 273
• Hard Drive Crashes 274
• Full filesystems 274
• Laptop Lament 275
• Data Security 278
• Recommendations 279
• /boot. 280
• /home 281
• /usr 282
• /opt 283
• /var 283
• Лтр 284
• The Other Branches 284
• Starting with Separate filesystems 285
• Adding Separate filesystems Later 285
• Final Thoughts 292

Part IV: Becoming Zen 325

Chapter 17: Strive for Elegance 327

• Hardware Elegance 327
• ThePC8 328
• Motherboards 328
• Computers 329
• Data Centers 329
• Power and Grounding 330
• Software Elegance 331
• Fixing My Web Site 336
• Removing Crutt 338
• Old or Unused Programs 338
• Old Code In Scripts 342
• Old Files 343
• A Final Word 350

Chapter 18: Find the Simplicity 353

• Complexity in Numbers 353
• Simplicity In Basics 355
• The Never-Ending Process of Simplification 356
• Simple Programs Do One Thing 356
• Simple Programs Are Small 359
• Simplicity and the Philosophy 361
• Simplifying My Own Programs 361
• Simplifying Others’ Programs 362
• Uncommented Code 362
• Hardware 367
• Linux and Hardware 368
• The Quandary.        369
• The Last Word

Chapter 19: Use Your Favorite Editor 371

• More Than Editors 372
• Linux Startup 372
• Why I Prefer SystemV 373
• Why I Prefer systemd 373
• The Real Issue 374
• Desktop 374
• sudo or Not sudo 375
• Bypass sudo 376
• Valid Uses for sudo 378
• A Few Closing Words 379

Chapter 20: Document Everything 381

• The Red Baron 382
• My Documentation Philosophy 383
• The Help Option 383
• Comment Code Liberally 384
• My Code Documentation Process 387
• Man Pages 388
• Systems Documentation 388
• System Documentation Template 389
• Document Existing Code 392
• Keep Docs Updated 393
• File Compatibility 393
• A Few Thoughts 394

Chapter 21: Back Up Everything - Frequently 395

• Data Loss 395
• Backups to the Rescue 397
• The Problem 397
• Recovery 404
• Doing It My Way 405
• Backup Options 405
• Off-Site Backups 413
• Disaster Recovery Services 414
• Other Options 415
• What About the "Frequently" Part? 415
• Summary 415

Chapter 22: Follow Your Curiosity 417

• Charlie 417
• Curiosity Led Me to Linux 418
• Curiosity Solves Problems 423
• Securiosity 423
• Follow Your Own Curiosity 440
• Be an Author 441
• Failure Is an Option 441
• Just Do It 442
• Summary 443

Chapter 23: There Is No Should 445

• There Are Always Possibilities 445
• Unleashing the Power 446
• Problem Solving 447
• Critical Thinking 449
• Reasoning to Solve Problems 450
• Integrated Reason 453
• Self-Knowledge 455
• Finding Your Center 455
• The Implications of Diversity 456
• Measurement Mania 457
• The Good Manager 458
• Working Together 458
• Silo City „..460
• The Easy Way 461
• Thoughts 462

Chapter 24: Mentor the Young SysAdmins 463

• Hiring the Right People 464
• Mentoring 465
• BRuce the Mentor 466
• The Art of Problem Solving 467
• The Five Steps ot Problem Solving 467
• Knowledge 469
• Observation 469
• Reasoning 472
• Action 473
• Test 473
• Example 474
• Iteration 475
• Concluding Thoughts 475

Chapter 25: Support Your Favorite Open Source Project 477

• Project Selection 477
• Code 478
• Test 479
• Submit Bug Reports 479
• Documentation 480
• Assist 481
• Teach 482
• Write 482
• Donate 483
• Thoughts 484

Chapter 26: Reality Bytes 485

• People 485
• The Micromanager 486
• More Is Less 487
• Tech Support Terror 488
• You Should Do It My Way 489
• It’s OK to Say No 490
• The Scientific Method 490
• Understanding the Past 491
• Final Thoughts 492