jwagner (Forum Supporter) said:
So you're running OpenSUSE - that's Linux, right?
Thank you SO MUCH for raising this point! I checked their website and it is indeed Linux. My boss keeps mentioning Unix. I asked our Jr Sysadmin and he basically verified my suspicion, which is that our boss learned on Unix 25 years ago and has continued doing everything in Linux but he's just calling it Unix for whatever reason. Slip of the tongue. I know they're almost identical but Linux is a lot more commonplace these days than Unix, so focusing in Linux makes a lot more sense to me.
Ottawa said:
I would agree with most/all statements made already (including vi>>emacs).
Different tools for different jobs -- vi is better for quick editing jobs on a single file. Emacs is much better if you're spending hours working on a programming project spread across dozens of files.
You'll tend to do the former a lot more in typical unix admin tasks though.
infinitenexus said:
jwagner (Forum Supporter) said:
So you're running OpenSUSE - that's Linux, right?
Thank you SO MUCH for raising this point! I checked their website and it is indeed Linux. My boss keeps mentioning Unix. I asked our Jr Sysadmin and he basically verified my suspicion, which is that our boss learned on Unix 25 years ago and has continued doing everything in Linux but he's just calling it Unix for whatever reason. Slip of the tongue. I know they're almost identical but Linux is a lot more commonplace these days than Unix, so focusing in Linux makes a lot more sense to me.
He's calling it Unix because in every way that matters from a technical and user standpoint, Linux is Unix. The only reason it's not officially Unix is that Unix (TM) is a trademark.
SUSE is linux
SUSE is free https://www.suse.com/download/
SUSE is different than UNIX or other Linux versions you will find things in different places and have different mechanisms that perform similar functions, over laid on this will be the enterprise tools for server managment etc.
Download an ISO or even a live version that will run off your CD player without any changes to the your system.
As someone else noted, what are these servers supporting? Are they redundant? What software is being used?
That is what you should study.
My favorite book distributed by IDG #203-1 The UNIX haters handbook, besides my own cheat sheets.
The ORiley books are awesome I have many, get one for shell (the shell will you be using) commands and scripting. And one for Linux
Write down the commands and procedures for the following, as they apply to your system.
You will need to know how to bring the system up and down,
You will need to know how to add and remove hardware Disks etc.
You will need to know how to add and remove network interfaces,
You will need to know where the logs are and how to read them.
You will need to know what systems these machines depend on, and what systems are dependent on these machines.
That will keep you busy for a while....
I don't know if you're aware of it but slashdot.org is a great news site for geek/linux/it/security stuff. Some of the more mainstream news items may be a little dated but it's great for keeping up on things.
In reply to bentwrench :
That's a lot of excellent advice, thank you. I've screenshotted this so I can make a proper list Monday morning and get to learning
Stampie said:
I don't know if you're aware of it but slashdot.org is a great news site for geek/linux/it/security stuff. Some of the more mainstream news items may be a little dated but it's great for keeping up on things.
I wasn't familiar with them before so I'll definitely check them out now, thanks!
So in the last week I've installed Ubuntu on two old computers that I use for mining crypto currencies. This has been a huge help as I've had to install all the mining software, then go through hours of configuring it and making it work. So while a lot of it was copy/pasting commands from DIY Linux sites, I have learned a lot of basic commands and I'm comfortable with things such as sudo, chmod, apt-get, etc. The best part is now instead of Linux being just a work thing, it's now a hobby so it's a lot more fun to learn
just watch out for the beowulf clusters... and make sure you patch your kernel...
other than that, I think you're on your way
infinitenexus said:
I know that Linux came from Unix, and I've seen it described as essentially just an open source unix kernel basically. I know many commands are very similar. I'm having trouble finding a lot of good stuff online that is specific to Unix - I'll click a "learn Unix" link and when the page loads it's all Linux. Are the two really that similar? If I just learn all the basic Linux commands will I have a solid start on Unix as well?
Thanks again for all the helpful responses, guys. I really do appreciate it.
Once upon a time, there was BSD, which was a whole bunch of *nix tools written by students at Berkeley.
Some time later, in the mid 90s, there was a guy named Leenus (spelled Linus) who thought it'd be fun to write his own *nix kernel to combine with BSD, as well as some other bits that BSD was missing, and was posting his progress on USENET. Eventually this became known as the "Linux kernel", and was mostly just a fun way for computer dorks to play around with a build your own operating system kit.
