I’m a NetBSD guy, but I have RHEL at work.

As for commands, I like:

1. pax better than tar

2. hexdump better than od

3. tnfpt better than wget

Pax has a much better command-line interface than tar, especially for copying trees. Consider:

$ pax -rw -pe src dest # to copy a tree

$ pax -wzf file.pax.gz src # to create and archive

hexdump -C is what you almost always want.

Tnftp (a port of the NetBSD FTP client to other systems) is a much saner way to fetch stuff. Why the GNU world focuses on wget instead is a mystery to me. It doesn’t do anything tnftp doesn’t do, and it doesn’t do anything better, either.

If you would like to share your opinions of our essential Linux command guide, feel free to drop us line and share some of your favorite commands with the Enterprise Linux Log.

If you use it, tell us about your experience. Or, if you have a Linux tutorial that you think might be helpful and would like to share it with our users, send us an email.

“Samba is configured as standalone server, not as a domain controller. For this setup, I will use the Ubuntu Server installation CD but the same installation procedure will work on an Ubuntu desktop as well,” Timme said.

I’d be remiss if I didn’t also pitch SearchEnterpriseLinux.com’s wealth of Samba tips and news, some of which, coincidentally enough, were compiled by yours truly.

But you want more? You can also check out our Exploring Samba and Active Directory integration options landing page that was compiled by site expert Sander van Vugt. In that compilation, van Vugt discusses everything from Samba basics, to installation, to administration and migration. If you have no idea what Samba is, I salute you for reading this far, but I still encourage you to check out Sander’s tips — he defines Samba in the first paragraph

Check it out.

Go-oo get OpenOffice

The Go-oo version of OpenOffice.org promises new, in-development features and functionality not incorporated into OpenOffice’s releases. According to SearchEnterpriseLinux.com expert Solveig Haugland’s blog, the split is the result of a long-standing disagreement over licensing of a Calc module.

Latest OpenOffice.org a major release

In a recent tip on SearchEnterpriseLinux.com, Haugland has also done a great job reviewing the newest features of OpenOffice.org 2.3. OpenOffice.org 2.3 includes several features and improvements, including security enhancements.

The latest release also includes an expanded extension library. The multiplatform OpenOffice.org is compatible with all major office suites, which means you can work with your existing .doc files easily with the open source Writer application. SearchEnterpriseLinux.com contributor Serdar Yegulalp reminds us that this refers to the Microsoft Word 97 2003 format, “which retains a core set of features which are compatible across the iteration” of the proprietary product.

OpenOffice.org blogosphere

In addition to Haugland’s tips and advice on SearchEnterpriseLinux and her own blog, the OpenOffice.org Web site keeps a list of helpful OpenOffice.org blogs. If you know of any others, let us know.

I have an update to the FF3 in Ubuntu item; I was reading http://tech.tolero.org/blog/en/linux/review-ubuntu-710-gutsy-features-changes
and they mention that:

A third (currently alpha) version of the Firefox browser named ‘Gran Paradiso’ is included into the ‘universe’ repository. If installed, it will settle aside of the stable application, even using own settings directory at the home folder.

So I had a look in the copy of Gutsy I’m running in VirtualBox (http://www.virtualbox.org/) and indeed, its there: “firefox-granparadiso”. As per http://packages.ubuntu.com/firefox-granparadiso its currently version 3.0~alpha7-0ubuntu6, but it will be likely to get security updates to bump it up to a current version after its released.

This is a really neat way of doing things; they don’t have to backport anything and by putting it in universe they don’t have to fully support it, but at the same time, its easily available to early adopters (e.g. me .

Color me impressed!

Thanks for the update, CK!

• Do get a full-system backup, not just your data.
• Do verify your backups.
• Do encrypt your backup data.
• Do always test your full-system recovery process.
• Do understand your recovery down-time restrictions.
• Don’t assume your restore process will recover everything as it was.
• Don’t assume your backup will always be restored to the same hardware.

Johnson shared these tips during a LinuxWorld 2007 preview interview. He also discussed the differences between handling backup on Windows and Linux, saying:

“Windows systems are typically configured for simple storage configuration — a single filesystem on each disk. After a failure, its simplicity means that customers usually must re-partition the disks and re-install the operating system from the original distribution, then restore other files from a backup.”

Linux backup systems require more IT administrator know-how, but deliver greater flexibility and functionality. With Linux, said Johnson, savvy IT managers can take advantage of LVM (Logical Volume Management), software RAID and other options for higher performance, availability, recoverability and security. There is a catch, said Johnson:

“However, flexibility brings complexity, and re-installing the operating system in the same manner as with Windows systems is much too complex and time-consuming for most corporate environments. Linux systems typically come with no full-system recovery tools, so users must find the best backup product to suit their stringent backup policies and recovery requirements.”

Looking for more Linux backup advice? Check out Linux backup software how-to on Alessandro Tanasi’s blog.

First of all, it’s really true that many IT pros use Linux commands even when GUIs are available. Hey, our first Linux command line guide has gotten over 50,000 clicks. But let’s hear the reason from an IT pro, in this case from David Witham, Engineering Dept. technical specialist for gotalk limited:

“I live by the command line. The command line gives you the ultimate control over doing whatever you need to get done. If there isn’t a command to do it, you can write a script or a pipeline to do it. With a GUI, what you see is what you get. You generally can’t make up your own GUI add-ons. A big advantage is remote access. Its generally much easier to get remote access using a command line, and it uses less bandwidth than terminal services or other graphical remote access methods.”

We’ve gotten some great suggestions for our upcoming new guide. Here’s a small taste of the commands four IT pros — Joe Klemmer, David Witham, Jim Reem and Christian P. Roberts — use constantly, couldn’t find on our first list and want to see on our new list:

Joe Klemmer:
1. expect: “I use expect in some cron jobs to automate many sysadmin tasks that are usually repetitive; things like moving files around all of my desktops and the server and the like.”
2. lft: “lft is like traceroute on steroids. You can get a lot more information than traceroute for debugging connections or just finding where a box/system is.”
3. mc: “It’s the best file manager there is. The transition from DOS to Linux was so much easier since I used Norton Commander on DOS.”

David Witham:
4. sdiff: “sdiff produces a human-friendly description of the differences between two text files. It shows the files side-by-side with the symbols to indicate lines only in the left file, lines that differ between the two files and lines only in the right file. Much easier to read than the output of diff.”

Jim Reem:
5. xargs: “xargs create command line from data on standard input.”
6. for, while: for, while are used to “loop through a list of items and do something for each one”
7. read: Used to “read lines of text from standard input into shell variables for further processing.”
8. sort: Used to “sort lines of text alphabetically or numerically; supports multiple sort keys.”
9. uniq: Used to “remove duplicated lines from a list.”
10. tr: Used to “translate or delete characters from a text stream.”
11. od: Used to “dump binary files in octal (or hex or binary).”
12. wc: Used to “count words (and characters, and lines) in files.”
13. top: “like vmstat, get a view of how the system is performing, see which processes are hogging all the memory.”
14. ps: “Get details on a specific process.”

Christian P. Roberts:
15. date: “Useful call to make in a script file to output current information when benchmarking.”
16. env: “To check environment variables on another account to troubleshoot dotfiles.”
17. ln: “Ahhh…softlinks are a must in working on web sites.”
18. mget: “Not used much anymore, but it sure was nice to be able to handle multiple files with one command
19. nslookup: what’s the real name of a computer … or “Is it safe to go there?”
20. passwd: usually having others issue the command to set a password I may temporarily use
21. uname: helpful when working on different computers which may not be in synch at the OS level.
22. whoami: yes, who am I … as in “What userid am I running under?”

There are many more handy commands in our inbox. I’ll post some more soon. In the meantime, please send us some more, or comment on the ones named here or in our first guide, by commenting on this post or writing to me at jstafford@techtarget.com.

1. Forgetting to Delete a Former User’s Account
2. Forgetting to Regularly Search for Rootkits
3. Forgetting to Use a Trouble Ticket Tracking System
4. Forgetting to Set Up Technical Documentation and Creating a Knowledge Base
5. Forgetting the Risks of Flash Memory Drives
6. Forgetting to Manage Partial Root Access
7. Forgetting Courtesy

To find the details for each of these, go check out O’Reilly’s Top 7 Things Systems Administrators Forget to do.

Oracle Linux gets backing from EMC, others
It was another small step forward for Oracle Enterprise Linux this week as a handful of ISVs pledged support, but it’s still a long road ahead for the Red Hat clone.

Open source monitoring shines light on firm’s servers
A successful Nagios deployment from a previous job led one IT administrator to continue the open source trend at his new data center with Solaris and Linux machines.

BakBone backs up Red Hat Enterprise Linux 5
BakBone is expanding its Linux-based data protection portfolio to include the recently released Red Hat Enterprise Linux 5.

PostgreSQL or MySQL: Which is faster?
TIP – There isn’t always a clear-cut answer in the race between dueling databases, PostgreSQL and MySQL, says an expert. Find out his thoughts and how the two compare.

Red Hat author dishes on RHEL 5
Author Tammy Fox has been working with Red Hat Linux for nearly a decade. In this exclusive interview, she lays out important tips for IT managers looking to test or deploy RHEL 5.

I sense an SELinux-related series of articles in SearchEnterpriseLinux.com’s future, but that’s only because I’m writing them right now.

Here’s a recap of the news and tips from this week:

CentOS lures Red Hat Linux users with update service
CentOS is wooing former Red Hat Linux users that loved software upgrades from the Red Hat Network but could have done without the expensive service contracts.

Ubuntu Feisty Fawn launches with increased server focus
Canonical Ltd. is hoping server virtualization features in Ubuntu Feisty Fawn will encourage more server deployments of the Linux distribution.

Unix-Linux printing
TIP – An expert walks users through setting up printing between Unix and Linux using Linux’s LPR utility and Unix’s SMIT.

Printer sharing between Windows and Linux
TIP – Figure out how to connect your Windows machines to a shared printer as a network device from your Linux box in this tip.

Have a good weekend, everyone.