Category: Linux

  • cowsay and lolcat – more Ubuntu shell commands

    cowsay and lolcat – more Ubuntu shell commands

    If you read my article about fortune, I mention cowsay and lolcat towards the end of that article. I decided to write another article that expands on cowsay and lolcat usage. A lot of my time working and playing is spent inside or looking at screenfuls of ssh shell sessions. cowsay and lolcat are small…

  • fortune – Unix/Linux Shell Goody

    fortune – Unix/Linux Shell Goody

    “You are WRONG, you ol’ brass-breasted fascist poop!” — Bloom County (fortune) fortune is a little program that I install on just about every single Unix/Linux box I administrate. It’s not a tool, it’s not a game and it’s not a backdoor or any other program or subsystem to make your life easier or make…

  • Linux shell commands I use daily

    Linux shell commands I use daily

    In day to day administration we as system administrators have literally thousands of commands to choose from to keep our servers running in tip top condition. I’ve seen top 10 lists of essential commands every Linux user should know. I’ve seen top 35 lists of the best Linux shell commands. I’ve seen top 100 lists…

  • fail2ban for Ubuntu – ssh port security

    fail2ban for Ubuntu – ssh port security

    fail2ban is a tool in the Ubuntu repository which helps in securing your internet facing ssh port. It uses a simple algorithm to detect repeated login and password attempts to ban the offending host for a period of time. The default installation of fail2ban bans a host for 10 minutes before removing the block from…

  • Tripwire for Ubuntu

    Tripwire for Ubuntu

    Tripwire is a file integrity checking tool. It’s primary function is notify you of any changes made to files or directories you have selected for monitoring. There are many tools available these days for this task however Tripwire specializes in this one function. It’s a tool that’s been around since before the days of the…

  • Microsoft Azure Cloud – Installing an Ubuntu VM

    Microsoft Azure Cloud – Installing an Ubuntu VM

    After agreeing to the Microsoft End User Agreement blurbs, applying for your free Microsoft Azure Cloud Portal account and taking advantage of the current $200 credit you’re now ready to build your first virtual machine. Take a quick look at the picture up there describing the Platform and Infrastructure Services. I only point that out…

  • Is it normal to see my sites being probed or hacked 24×7?

    Is it normal to see my sites being probed or hacked 24×7?

    This is a copy of a post I posted somewhere on the internet as an answer to the above question. -Ron Yes, this is normal. I have some users and clients that have ‘bastion’ hosts on the internet. The primary reason for this is they have the one VPS or VM, and need to run…

  • tmux – Windows for bash

    tmux – Windows for bash

    tmux is a an open source terminal multiplexer. In the language of laymen, tmux allows you to run multiple terminal sessions which you can access through the same ssh connection, or any type of terminal session you might be running to access or administrate your system. You can think of it as a window manager…

  • Command Line Warriors

    Command Line Warriors

    It’s now that I need to point out to that throughout the series I may assume a level of knowledge with Linux based OS’s. With that being said, 100% of all information presented as far as installing, building, compiling, copying, moving, EVERYTHING, will be done through the use of the command line interface. I personally…

  • Select OS as the First Step

    Select OS as the First Step

    Well this is a no brainer really. Go to Canonical and download some version of Ubuntu. I personally these days go with Ubuntu Server, and then build everything out myself. However if you are new to Linux or simply want a full blown desktop with a graphical interface that feature a mouse and keyboard as…