Book Image

Linux for System Administrators

By : Viorel Rudareanu, Daniil Baturin
Book Image

Linux for System Administrators

By: Viorel Rudareanu, Daniil Baturin

Overview of this book

Linux system administration is an essential aspect of maintaining and managing Linux servers within an organization. The role of a Linux system administrator is pivotal in ensuring the smooth functioning and security of these servers, making it a critical job function for any company that relies on Linux infrastructure. This book is a comprehensive guide designed to help you build a solid foundation in Linux system administration. It takes you from the fundamentals of Linux to more advanced topics, encompassing key areas such as Linux system installation, managing user accounts and filesystems, networking fundamentals, and Linux security techniques. Additionally, the book delves into the automation of applications and infrastructure using Chef, enabling you to streamline and optimize your operations. For both newcomers getting started with Linux and professionals looking to enhance their skills, this book is an invaluable hands-on guide with a structured approach and concise explanations that make it an effective resource for quickly acquiring and reinforcing Linux system administration skills. With the help of this Linux book, you’ll be able to navigate the world of Linux administration confidently to meet the demands of your role.
Table of Contents (21 chapters)
1
Part 1: Linux Basics
7
Part 2: Configuring and Modifying Linux Systems
13
Part 3: Linux as a Part of a Larger System

Process search and monitoring

The pstree command is a great way to visualize all running processes and relationships between them, but in practice, most of the time administrators look for specific processes or need to learn about their resource usage, rather than their mere existence. Let’s learn about the tools for those tasks – the ps command to search processes, the top command to monitor resource usage in real time, and the underlying kernel interface that those tools use.

The ps command

PS is an abbreviation for process selection or process snapshot. It’s a utility that allows you to retrieve and filter information about running processes.

Running ps without any arguments will get you a very limited selection – only processes that run from your user and that are attached to a terminal (that is, aren’t processes that run with all input and output closed and only communicate with other processes through network or local sockets —...