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Linux

Core commands for effective Linux operation

What would be a simple procedure in Windows is a very different experience in Linux. Although capable of providing a desktop experience comparable to Windows/MacOS, it is primarily terminal based. Below are commands, functions, programs and procedures I often use to get the most of Linux's stable, flexible, and powerful operating systems.
  • Full update/upgrade
      Update and upgrade the software packages (Debian systems)
    • sudo apt update&&sudo apt upgrade -y ✂
Programs
  • Curl
      Transfer data and run scripts with URLs
    • sudo apt install curl -y ✂
      Run bash scripts with curl
    • curl -sSL https://massi.net/scripts/hello.sh | sudo bash ✂

  • OpenSSH
      Secure network communication and remote access.
    • sudo apt install openssh-client -y ✂
    • sudo apt install openssh-server -y ✂

Disk operations
  • Format drive
      ext4 is the default filesystem for Linux. Other filesystems could be mounted but would be limited in features. (permissions, performance, journaling, etc.)

      Identify drive (I.E: /dev/sdb)
    • sudo lsblk ✂

      • Unmount drive
    • sudo umount /dev/sdb ✂

      • Format drive to ext4 *erases drive*
    • sudo mkfs.ext4 /dev/sdb ✂


  • Permanently mount drive with fstab

      Create the mount point
    • sudo mkdir /mnt/4TB ✂
      • Identify drive (I.E: /dev/sdb)
    • sudo lsblk ✂

      • Mount drive
    • sudo mount -t ext4 /dev/sdb /mnt/4TB ✂
      • Get drive UUID and type
    • sudo lsblk -o NAME,FSTYPE,UUID,MOUNTPOINTS✂

      • Edit fstab
    • sudo nano /etc/fstab✂
      • fstab entries have the following format:
      [UUID] [mount-point] [type] [options] [dump] [pass] 
      #4TB Disk
UUID=b09bb4c8-de4d-4ce6-a93f-30c4c9241a58 /mnt/4TB ext4 defaults 0 0
       Test fstab
    • sudo findmnt --verify✂
      • *do not reboot if there are errors/warnings. An invalid fstab can render a disk unbootable*

  • Bind folders
      Attach the contents of one directory to another location in the file system.

      First location (I.E: /var/www/html) is the source, the original directory that you want to bind to another location. The second (I.E: /mnt/4TB/apache_html) is the target directory, the location where you want to bind the source directory.
    • sudo mount --bind /var/www/html /mnt/4TB/apache_html ✂


      • Edit fstab
    • sudo nano /etc/fstab✂
      • The # line is a comment
      The format for a --bind entry is [source directory] [target directory] [none] [bind] [0 0]       
      #sudo mount --bind /var/www/html /mnt/serveuse_ext4/serveuse_apache
/var/www/html /mnt/serveuse_ext4/serveuse_apache none bind 0 0
      Test fstab
    • sudo findmnt --verify✂
      • *do not reboot if there are errors/warnings. An invalid fstab can render a disk unbootable*

For desktop experience
  • Nautilus-admin
      Facilitate navigation by allowing right clicking to elevate as admin
    • sudo apt install nautilus-admin -y ✂
  • Xscreensaver
      Large collection of screensavers
    • sudo apt-get install xscreensaver xscreensaver-data-extra xscreensaver-gl-extra ✂
  • Create folder/file shortcut
      Navigate to folder where shortcut will be placed
    • cd /home/user/Desktop ✂
      • Create link to file/folder
    • sudo ln -s /etc/file.txt ✂

Apache web server

    Create a quick Apache web server in Linux


    Local website
    We will start this web server with a simple web page that will be viewable from the local network.

    Installing Apache
    Update packages
    • This is necessary when installing any Linux program
    • "-y" will automatically accept any prompts
      • sudo apt-get update -y ✂


      Install Apache2
      sudo apt install apache2 -y ✂


      Open the firewall for Apache
      sudo ufw allow "Apache Full" ✂


      View your website locally
    • Your local IP address is the address of the web server
    • Visit the IP address in a browser to view Apache's landing page
    • I.E: http://192.168.1.215/
      • ip address | awk '/inet / {print $2}' ✂


    Editing your site
    Edit the default page
    • We will back up and rename the original default page
    • We will use nano as the text editor
      • sudo mv /var/www/html/index.html /var/www/html/apache2_default_page.html ✂

      sudo nano /var/www/html/index.html ✂


      Copy this code into the text editor and save
    • Press Ctrl+o then Enter to save in Nano
    • Press Ctrl+x to escape back to the Terminal

Samba file server

    Create a quick Samba file share server in Linux


    Public + Protected folders
    We will start this file server with two folders, each with their own unique function.
    The "public" folder will be completely open to all and anyone on the network can read, add, remove, or modify it's contents
    The "protected" folder will be visible to all but it's contents cannot be modified.

    Installing Samba
    Update packages
  • This is necessary when installing any Linux program
  • "-y" will automatically accept any prompts
    • sudo apt-get update -y ✂


    Install Samba
    sudo apt install samba -y ✂


    Open the firewall for Samba
    sudo ufw allow samba ✂


    Creating the folders, users and groups
    Create folders
  • "-p" will automatically create the parent folder
    • sudo mkdir -p /share/public ✂

    sudo mkdir /share/protected ✂


    Create smbgroup
  • Adds the smbgroup for the smbusers to the system
    • sudo groupadd --system smbgroup ✂


    Create smbuser
  • No home directory
  • Members of smbgroup
  • Cannot log into host system
    • sudo useradd --system --no-create-home --group smbgroup -s /bin/false smbuser ✂


    Make smbuser and smbgroup own the folders
  • The "-R" flag is for "recursive" which will apply the changes to all child folders
    • sudo chown -R smbuser:smbgroup /share ✂


    Give smbgroup write access to the folders
    sudo chmod -R g+w /share ✂


    Configuring Samba
    Stop Samba
  • You want to stop the service while making edits to it
    • sudo systemctl stop smbd ✂


    Edit the Samba configuration file
  • We will back up and rename the original configuration file
  • We will use nano as the text editor
    • sudo mv /etc/samba/smb.conf /etc/samba/smb.conf.bak ✂

    sudo nano /etc/samba/smb.conf ✂


    Copy this configuration into the text editor and save
  • Press Ctrl+o then Enter to save in Nano
  • Press Ctrl+x to escape back to the Terminal


    • Start Samba
    sudo systemctl start smbd ✂


    Check if Samba is running
    sudo systemctl status smbd ✂


    View your hostname
  • This is your server's name on the network
  • In Windows it will appear as \\hostname
  • This command will display your server's hostname
    • hostname ✂


    Connecting to Samba from a Windows client
    Enable file sharing in Windows with Powershell
  • Enable SMB Server/Client feature
  • Turn on file and printer sharing
    • Enable-WindowsOptionalFeature -Online -FeatureName "SMB1Protocol" -All ✂
    Set-NetFirewallRule -DisplayGroup "File And Printer Sharing" -Enabled True -Profile Any ✂


    Connect to Samba from Windows
  • Open the run dialogue in Windows (Windows Key + R)
  • Run \\-ip-address-of-server-
    • runsmb

    Private folder
    The next folder on the file server will be private.
    Hidden from public view and only accessible to "user2" with the right credentials.

    Create folder and user
    Create user for the system
  • This user will not have a home directory nor login for the system
  • The user will be named user2
    • sudo useradd -M -s /usr/sbin/nologin user2 ✂


    Create private folder
    sudo mkdir /private ✂


    Give user2 permissions to folder
    sudo chown -R user2:user2 /private ✂


    Give user2 write access to the folder
    sudo chmod -R g+w /private ✂


    Configuring Samba
    Stop Samba
    sudo systemctl stop smbd ✂


    Add user to Samba
  • You will be prompted to create a password
    • sudo smbpasswd -a user2 ✂


    Edit the Samba configuration file
    sudo nano /etc/samba/smb.conf ✂


    Append this to your smb.conf file and save
    Start Samba
    sudo systemctl start smbd ✂


    Connecting to a private directory from Windows
  • As a private directory, you can only connect to it with the direct address
  • Run \\hostname\private and enter user2's credentials
  • Your hostname may differ, mine is ubuntu-vm


    • Moving Samba folders to a secondary drive
    Generally, the drive with the operating system is not the main data store.
    Let's move the Samba folders we made to secondary drives with large storage capacities.

    Set permissions to parent folders
    Say your drive is mounted at /mnt/4TB and you want your folders to sit in /mnt/4TB/samba_folders,
    the folder samba_folders and those leading up to it must have editing permissions for the owner and group and read permissions for all.
  • Set the permissions for the folders leading up to and including samba_folders to 775
    • sudo chmod 775 /mnt ✂

    sudo chmod 775 /mnt/4TB ✂

    sudo chmod 775 /mnt/4TB/samba_folders ✂


    Copy the folders to the new destination
    The rsync command with "-avz" flags will
  • a: keep original ownership/permissions
  • v: verbose output for transfer
  • z: compress files during transfer
    •
    sudo rsync -avz /share/public /mnt/4TB/samba_folders ✂

    sudo rsync -avz /share/protected /mnt/4TB/samba_folders ✂

    sudo rsync -avz /private /mnt/4TB/samba_folders ✂


    Give user2 permissions to folder
    sudo chown -R user2:user2 /private ✂


    Give user2 write access to the folder
    sudo chmod -R g+w /private ✂