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System Administration Toolkit: Process administration tricks
Discover how to get the information you want on UNIX(R) processes. Knowing what is running on your UNIX system is one of the most basic requirements of any system administrator. The standard process list is useful, but often the information that it provides is not in the right format or doesn't contain exactly the processes or information you need. In this article, you'll examine how to extend that process further to improve the readability of the information, or provide summaries and information that are not easily obtainable elsewhere. You'll also look at methods for standardizing how to obtain process information across different UNIX platforms.
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21 Feb 2006 |
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Systems Administration Toolkit: Monitoring mail usage
Examine methods for reporting on e-mail usage and getting detailed
statistics on mailbox use. E-mail logs can provide a wealth of information about
your users and their e-mail habits, including how often and frequently they use
their e-mail. Depending on your UNIX(R) systems, you might even be able to glean
more detailed information, such as identifying which users are using their folders
effectively and who could benefit from further training and advice.
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18 Dec 2007 |
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Systems Administration Toolkit: Network scanning
Discover how to scan your network for services and how to regularly monitor
your services to keep uptimes to a maximum. A key way of ensuring the security of
your network is to know what is on your network and what services individual
machines are at risk of exposure. Unauthorized services, such as Web servers or file
sharing solutions, not only degrade performance, but others can use these services
as routes into your network. In this article, learn how to use these same techniques
to ensure that genuine services remain available.
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04 Dec 2007 |
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Systems Administration Toolkit: Monitor user usage
Explore new ways to record UNIX(R) logins and other system activities in a
number of different logs, and take advantage of this information to monitor user usage. This can
be helpful from a number of perspectives, either to use for chargeback reporting or
just to get an idea of how busy and active individual users are on the system to
help when planning and allocating resources.
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23 Oct 2007 |
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System Administration Toolkit: Distributed administration using SSH
Use Secure Shell (SSH) to run commands on remote UNIX(R) systems and, with
some simple scripts, put together a system that enables you to manage many systems
simultaneously from one machine without having to log in directly to the machines
themselves. Also examine the basics of a distributed management system and some
scripts and solutions using the technique.
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14 Aug 2007 |
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System Administration Toolkit: Build intelligent, unattended scripts
Look at how to create scripts that are able to record their output, trap and
identify errors, and recover from errors and problems so that they either run
correctly or fail with a suitable error message and report. Building scripts and
running them automatically is a task that every good administrator has to handle,
but how do you handle the error output and make intelligent decisions about how the
script should handle these errors? This article addresses these issues.
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03 Jul 2007 |
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System Administration Toolkit: Set up remote access in UNIX through OpenSSH
Use OpenSSH to provide a secure environment for running a remote terminal. The basics of OpenSSH and terminal usage are quite simple but, in this article, examine additional elements that allow automatic login to remote hosts, methods for running remote applications, and how to securely copy files between hosts.
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13 Feb 2007 |
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System Administration Toolkit: Get the most out of zsh
Examine key parts of the Z shell (zsh) and how to use it's features to ease your UNIX(R) system administration tasks. zsh is a popular alternative to the original Bourne and Korn shells. It provides an impressive range of additional functionality, including improvements for completing different commands, files, and paths automatically, and for binding keys to functions and operations.
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19 Dec 2006 |
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System Administration Toolkit: Get the most out of bash
Ease your system administration tasks by taking advantage of key parts of the Bourne-again shell (bash) and its features. Bash is a popular alternative to the original Bourne and Korn shells. It provides an impressive range of additional functionality that includes improvements to the scripting environment, extensive aliasing techniques, and improved methods for automatically completing different commands, files, and paths.
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12 Dec 2006 |
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System Administration Toolkit: Problems and pitfalls
Avoid common pitfalls and traps to help keep your systems running smoothly. Knowing the right way of dealing with full disks, or a crippled system, is nearly as important as having tools in your arsenal to make sure you're prepared to react quickly to missing files or an insecure system. This article focuses on some of the most common problems and issues facing UNIX(R) administrators and ways to achieve a safe and effective resolution.
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14 Nov 2006 |
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System Administration Toolkit: Swap space management and tricks
Configure your swap space (including adding space in an emergency) to get the most out of your system. In this article, you'll learn how to monitor your system to determine an effective swap space figure as well as examine methods for using swap space for more than just secondary random access memory (RAM).
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31 Oct 2006 |
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System Administration Toolkit: Standardizing your UNIX command-line tools
Examine methods for standardizing your interface to simplify movements between different UNIX(R) systems. If you manage multiple UNIX systems, particularly in a heterogeneous environment, then the hardest task can be switching between the different environments and performing the different tasks while having to consider all of the differences between the systems. This article does not cover specific differences, but you'll look at ways that can provide compatible layers, or wrappers, to support a consistent environment.
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22 Aug 2006 |
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System Administration Toolkit: Backing up key information
Most UNIX(R) administrators have processes in place to back up the data and information on their UNIX machines, but what about the configuration files and other elements that provide the configuration data your machines need to operate? This article provides detailed information on techniques for achieving an effective and efficient backup system for these key files.
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15 Aug 2006 |
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Systems Administration Toolkit: Testing system validity
Examine methods of storing and later checking the validity of your
configuration files. Despite all the security systems you have in place, it is still
possible that somebody has accessed your system and changed your configuration or
security settings.
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11 Sep 2007 |
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System Administration Toolkit: Managing NIS services for authorizations
Examine how to set up, configure, and update a Network Information System (NIS) installation for sharing information, and learn how NIS can be merged with other solutions, such as files and Domain Name System (DNS), to provide subnet, network, and worldwide data sharing facilities. In a large UNIX(R) network, the ability to share information among the many systems helps to alleviate many problems, such as sharing permissions across different systems with Network File System (NFS), or simply providing a single login for the entire network.
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01 Aug 2006 |
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System Administration Toolkit: Migrating and moving UNIX directory trees
Occasionally, you need to copy around an entire UNIX(R) directory tree, either between areas on the same system or between different systems. There are many different methods of achieving this, but not all preserve the right amount of information or are compatible across different systems. This article discusses the various options available for UNIX and how best to make them work.
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25 Jul 2006 |
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System Administration Toolkit: Migrating and moving UNIX filesystems
Learn how to transfer an entire file system on a live system, including how to create, copy, and re-enable the new file system. If you have a UNIX(R) disk or system failure or simply fill up your file system, then you need to create a new partition and file system and copy over the contents. You might even need to mount the new partition in place to preserve the location of vital files and components. To add further complications, you need to do this on a live system, where you'd need to preserve file permissions, ownership, and possibly named pipes and other components. Effectively transferring these components and retaining all of this information is a vital part of the migration process.
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03 Jul 2006 |
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System Administration Toolkit: Monitoring a slow system
When your UNIX(R) system runs slow, it is vital that you discover what the problem is as quickly as possible so you can get your system back into the normal operating mode. There are many causes for a slow system, but actually identifying the problem can be exceedingly difficult. In this article, study examples of how to identify and diagnose the cause of your slow running UNIX system to get your machine running properly again.
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07 Jun 2006 |
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System Administration Toolkit: Time and event management
Automating your administration tasks can save you a lot of time, and UNIX(R) incorporates systems to automate the process for you. In this article, you'll look at the best methods for using these systems, including how to monitor and track their execution and output and how to schedule complex events.
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02 May 2006 |
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Systems Administration Toolkit: Spam and virus filtering for e-mail
Look beyond tools like SpamAssassin and Amavis to see how you can extend
them and provide additional filtering facilities to lower the amount of spam hitting
the e-mail boxes of your users. Most companies use spam and virus filtering services
on their UNIX(R) platforms, but there are some methods that you can use that help
improve your filtering scores and might even eliminate spam reaching inboxes.
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22 Jan 2008 |
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System Administration Toolkit: Monitoring disk space and usage
Look at methods for determining disk usage across multiple UNIX(R) systems and how to create a simple warning system to alert you of potential problems. Keeping an eye on your file systems and ensuring they don't fill up is a trivial, but vital, process in the day-to-day management of your UNIX systems. In this article, you'll look at methods for keeping an eye on disk space, discovering which files, users, or applications are using up the most space, and how to make use of quotas and other solutions to find the information you need.
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13 Jun 2006 |
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Systems Administration Toolkit: Using SNMP data
The Simple Network Management Protocol (SNMP) is built in to many devices, but
often the tools and software that can read and parse this information are too large and
complicated when you only want to check a quick statistic or track a particular device
or issue. This article looks at some simplified methods for getting SNMP information
from your devices and how to integrate this information into the rest of your network's data map.
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15 Apr 2008 |
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Systems Administration Toolkit: Understanding DNS
The Domain Name System (DNS) is the service that converts hostnames and domain
details into the IP addresses required for application to communicate. Under UNIX, the
primary DNS service is based on BIND, and DNS itself is a key part of most UNIX
installations. This article looks at the basics of DNS setup, how servers and requests are distributed and exchanged, and how to set up and keep a DNS environment running smoothly.
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04 Mar 2008 |
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Systems Administration Toolkit: Log file basics
A typical UNIX or Linux machine creates many log files during the course of its
operation. Some of these contain useful information; others can be used to help you
with capacity and resource planning. This article looks at the fundamental information recorded within the different log files, their location, and how that information can be used to your benefit to work out what is going on within your system.
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26 Feb 2008 |
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