12 Useful Commands for Linux Server Administrators

You have read many tutorials and watched many videos. You are now an advanced Linux user. Well, congratulations. But there is still more to learn! The following commands will come in handy as you become a well-rounded administrator. ifconfig: When modifying network interfaces already present in the kernel, you will use the ifconfig command. This command is typically used for system tuning and debugging, but it can also be used to set up interfaces during the boot process. netstat: For Linux users, this is an advanced command used to display network-related information. It includes a wealth of information such as routing tables, network connections, masquerade connections, and interface statistics. nslookup: You can use this command when you need to find out information about network services. It helps you find the name server information used to query DNS domains. dig: The dig tool is used to query DNS domain name servers. If you need to find out host addresses, mail exchanges, name servers, and other related information, this tool is the best choice. You can use this command on both Linux and Mac OS X operating systems. uptime: The uptime command is used to verify what happened to a server while it was unattended. This command is especially useful when you need to sit in front of the server to look for errors. wall: This command is used to send messages to all logged-in users. You can only send messages to users whose message permission is set to ‘yes’. The message is given as an argument to the wall command. mesg: Users can use the ‘write’ command to send you messages. However, as a server administrator, you can use the mesg command to decide whether they can use the write command. You can choose ‘n’ and ‘y’, which control whether messages do not pop up or pop up on the screen, respectively. write: If the status of a user’s ‘mesg’ command is set to ‘y’, the write command allows you to send a message to that user. talk: When the “messages” mentioned above are not enough, use the talk command to have a “conversation” with