Book Image

Essential Linux Commands

By : Paul Olushile
Book Image

Essential Linux Commands

By: Paul Olushile

Overview of this book

The role of a system administrator is ever-evolving, with the Linux command line at its core. This makes Linux command-line mastery an essential skill to demonstrate your ability to efficiently manage and maintain systems efficiently. Essential Linux Commands addresses a diverse range of topics, including package management, file manipulation, networking strategies, system monitoring, and diagnostic tools. Each command is intricately explained to eliminate any ambiguity, ensuring ease of implementation in real-world scenarios. This book explains how to use SELinux to maintain security, run Linux machines on AWS Cloud, and transfer and download files to remote systems. With the help of practical examples and use cases, you’ll not only gain a thorough understanding of a command’s syntax but also grasp its functional breadth and limitations. The book also explores commands frequently used by system administrators to check network card statistics and firewall rules. Whether you’re a beginner or an experienced administrator, this book is an invaluable resource, filling in the gaps in your skill set and helping you improve your skills and expertise in Linux administration.
Table of Contents (20 chapters)
1
Part 1:Server Installations and Management Commands
5
Part 2:Frequently Used Commands – Part 1
9
Part 3:Frequently Used Commands – Part 2
15
Part 4:Linux Security and the Cloud

The kill command

The kill command is a fundamental and powerful utility in Linux used to terminate or send signals to running processes. In many cases, it requires superuser (sudo) privileges to terminate processes that belong to other users or are critical to system operation. Its primary purpose is to gracefully stop or forcibly terminate processes based on their PIDs. The kill command allows system administrators to manage and control the execution of processes, ensuring smooth system operation and resource management. One of the most common signals sent by the kill command is SIGTERM (signal 15), which politely asks a process to terminate, giving it a chance to perform cleanup tasks before exiting. Additionally, the kill command can send other signals such as SIGKILL (signal 9), which forcefully terminates a process without allowing it to perform any cleanup. This is useful in cases where a process is unresponsive or causing system instability. The kill command is crucial for handling...