Linux Administration
and OS File systems
Management
Prepared by Nanjappa S Nagarajashetty
Linux
Developed
in 1991 by Linus Torvalds
Used in most of the computers, ranging from
super computers to embedded system
Multi user
Multi tasking
Time sharing
Monolithic kernel
Latest stable version of linux kernel 2.6.28,
released on 24-Dec-2008
Kernel types
Monolithic
All OS related code are stuffed in a single module
Available as a single file
Advantage : Faster functioning
Micro
OS components are isolated and run in their own address space
Device drivers, programs and system services run outside kernel memory space
Supports modularity
Lesser in size
Linux Distributions
Linux distributions
Debian, Ubuntu, Linux Mint, Fedora, CentOS, openSUSE, Arch Linux
and Gentoo,
Linux Enterprise Server distributions
Red Hat Enterprise Linux and SUSE
Applications
smartphones, Android, which is built on top of the Linux kernel,
Largest installed base of all general-purpose operating systems
mainframe computers and virtually all fastest supercomputers
network routers,
facility automation controls,
televisions (Smart TV)
video game consoles,
smartwatches.
Home theater PC
Digital security
System rescue
In space
Education
Mail Servers
File Servers
etc...
Linux file system and directory structure
File Management Commands
mkdir
- creating directory
mkdir dirname
rmdir
removing directory and its contents
rmdir dirname
cd
Change directory
cd dirpath
cp
Copying files
cp file1 file2
mv
Moving or renaming files
mv oldfile newfile
Commands
Help about commands
man, pinfo, info (man <<cmd name>>)
Viewing files content
cat <<filename>>
Viewing users, processes
who List all Users
who am I List the current user
pstree displays all processes running in the system in tree format
ps displays processes owned by the current user
Changing file permission/owner
chmod changes file permission
chown changes file owner
Commands
Checking CPU and Memory utilization
top
Viewing the IP-Address
Ifconfig
Listing files in a directory
ls Lists all files in a directory
ls a Lists all files (including hidden files)
ls l Lists files in a directory along with owner information, permission etc
Commands
halt
This command shuts down the operating system, but can only be run by the root user.
reboot
This command shuts down and restarts the operating system. It also can only be run by root.
#reboot
[will perform simple reboot]
#reboot -f
[will perform fast reboot ]
init 0
This command also shuts down the operating system, and can only be run by root.
init 6
This command restart the operating system. It also can only be run by root.
Commands
man
This command opens the manual page for the command or utility specified. The man utility is a
very useful tool. If you are unsure how to use any command, use man to access its manual page.
For example, you could enter man ls at the shell prompt to learn how to use the ls utility.
#man ls
whoami
This command displays the username of the currently logged-in user.
netstat
This command displays the status of the network, including current connections, routing tables,
etc.
VI Editor
Popular text editor
Just type vi <<filename>> at the prompt and hit the enter key.
A new file will be opened
Type the contents needed and save
To save, press the Esc Key and then press : (colon) w q and then enter
To quit with out saving Esc + : + q and then enter
Navigation
Left - h
Down
-j
Up - k
Right- l
Top of the screen H (shift + h) //caps lock will not work
Middle of the screen M (shift + m)
Bottom of the screen L (shift + l)
$ - End Key, 0 Home Key
Edit Commands
Cut X, x
Copy yy, yw
Paste P, p
Redirection and Pipes
Redirection
- Input redirection
wc < file1 Content of file 1 is given as input for wc command that counts
no of lines, words and characters in a file
- Output redirection
cat file > newfile Copies files content to newfile. Over writes the existing
content
cat file >> newfile Appends the new content to the existing content
Pipes
Output of first command is input for the second and so on
who | wc l Number of lines in the output of who command will be displayed
the
File systems
Linux Extended Filesystem - ext2, ext3, ext4
Windows FAT16/32 --> File Allocation Table
NTFS -> New Technology File System
AIX JFS --> Journaled File System or JFS is a 64-bit journaling file system created by IBM.
VMWARE vmfs --> Virtual Machine File System
How to Create, configure and mount a new Linux file system
1) Create one or more partitions using fdisk:
fdisk /dev/sdb
N (new partition)
p (primary partition)
Accept default initial and end blocks if you want to create a single partiton with the whole disk
w (write the information and quit)
2) check the new partition
[root@vmractest3 root]# fdisk -l
Disk /dev/sdb: 21.4 GB, 21474836480 bytes
255 heads, 63 sectors/track, 2610 cylinders
Units = cylinders of 16065 * 512 = 8225280 bytes
Device Boot
/dev/sdb1
Start
1
End Blocks Id System
2610 20964793+ 83 Linux
3) Format the new partition as an ext3 file system type:
/sbin/mkfs -t ext3 /dev/sdb1
4)Assigning a Label with e2label
Once you have created and formated a partition,
you should assign it a label using the e2label command. This allows you
to add the partition to /etc/fstab using a label instead of using a
device path, thereby making the system more robust.
To add a label to a partition, type the following command as root:
/sbin/e2label /dev/s db1 /oradisk
5) Then add the new partition to /etc/fstab, this way it will be mounted at reboot:
To check the label use this command:
[root@vmractest3 root]# /sbin/tune2fs -l /dev/sdb1 |grep volume
Filesystem volume name: /oradisk
vi /etc/fstab and add the following line:
LABEL=/oradisk
/oradisk
ext3
defaults
12
6) Mount the new file system:
First create the base directory and assign it to the user that will own it
[root@vmractest3 root]# mkdir /oradisk
[root@vmractest3 root]#chown oracle:dba /oradisk
Then mount it
[root@vmractest3 root]# mount /dev/sdb1 /oradisk
And check it
[root@vmractest3 root]# df -k
Filesystem
/dev/sda2
/dev/sda1
none
/dev/sdb1
1K-blocks
Used Available Use% Mounted on
8064304 2181296 5473352 29% /
101089
513748
20635700
9272
0
86598 10% /boot
513748 0% /dev/shm
32828 19554636 1% /oradisk
How to Create, configure and mount a new Window file system
