Most common linux concepts and commands: files permissions, users, scripting, groups, ssh, filesystem, snap packages
These are the "rights" that an user has on certain files or folders. They are read,write and execute. To folders, execute means opening it. Only the file owner and root can modify the permissions. HOWEVER - a file can be replaced by its copy and thus gain access to setting permissions on it
chmod 777 -R {folder}
What is the sudo command?
The root user is enabled to do anything on the system. This makes it very powerful to use everytime, so instead we use users with limited permissions. For a regular user to access the restricted permissions it must use "sudo" in front of the command. It will prompt for the user password afterwards.
To add more users to the sudo privileges you must use the "visudo" command to edit the sudo file. Also, to enable an user to use the sudo command, the user must be a member of the sudo group.
What are users
Linux is a multiuser operating system. There are human users - that log into the system - and system users - used for non-interactive actions. Linux treats them the same, only the ID range of them is different. Users can be in multiple groups at once. The information about users is stored in /etc/passwd file
Read about linux users on linuxacademy
root@ubuntu:~$ head -1 /etc/passwd
root:x:0:0:root:/root:/bin/bash
get current user with "whoami" change user with "su"
make script to run as anoher user
su - {username} <<-'EOF'
{command 1}
{command 2}
EOF
# the lines after the EOF will be executed again as the initial user
Adding users
If an user is created without setting a primary group, then a group with its name is created and assigned to it
adduser --home {home address} -c {comment} {user name}
or single command useradd -d {home dir path} -p {encrypted} -m {username}
Read resource about adding users here
Arguments to use:
c Adds a comment. -c “John from Accounts”
d Specifies home directory for the user. Use this if the name of the home directory is different from the username. -d /home/accounts/john
e Specifies the expiration date for the account in YYYY-MM-DD format. -e 2017-01-01
g Specifies the primary group of the user. The group must already exist in the /etc/group file. -g accounts
G Specifies the additional groups to which the user belongs. -G employees
k Specifies the skeleton directory. The contents from the skeleton directory are copied into the user’s home directory. This flag can only be used in conjunction with the -m flag. The default skeleton directory is /etc/skel. -k /skelton/accounts
p Specifies the password to be associated with this account. This must be an encrypted password. You can assign the password later using passwd command. -p hashed_password
s Specifies the shell to be associated with this account. -s /bin/bash
u Specifies the user ID to be used with this account. Without -u flag, the first available user ID will be assigned. -u 1005
Get info of user Read /etc/passwd and /etc/group
id {user}
Modifying users
Set password
sudo passwd {user}
Change the home directory (d flag) and copy the old content (m flag)
sudo usermod -m -d {new home dir} {user}
Change user's group
Change the main group
sudo usermod -g {new group} {user}
Add additional groups
sudo usermod -aG {group} {user}
Replace all additional groups
sudo usermod -G {group} {user}
Remove user from group
sudo deluser {user} {group}
Delete user This not only deletes the user but also removes all the files that belong to the user including those that are outside the home directory.
to remove user and its files/home folder add -r flag
sudo userdel -r {user}
Groups organize users permissions. When a file/folder is created it belongs by default to the user's primary group. Users that share the same group have the permissions set by the file/folder group permissions.
create new group groupadd {groupname}
How to change a folder owner and group
chown {user}:{group} {target}
To use recursivly apply the -R flag
How to see user's groups
groups {user}
Change primary group
chgrp {newgroup}
Read attlassian article about ssh keys - attlassian link
Generate ssh private/public keys:
ssh-keygen
Configuring ssh settings SSH settings are found at /etc/ssh/sshd_config:
PasswordAuthentication no
Settings that override the global settings for matching IP addresses only
Match address 192.0.2.0/24
PasswordAuthentication yes
Tell the sshd service to reload its configuration:
service ssh reload
To show processes and their owners use ps -ef | grep nginx
sudo ufw status verbose
sudo ufw enable
sudo ufw allow http
sudo ufw allow https
...
sudo ufw default deny incoming
sudo ufw default allow outgoing
sudo ufw allow ssh
sudo ufw allow 22
sudo ufw allow from 15.15.15.51
see all ports
sudo netstat -tulpn
A terminal multiplexer (simulates multiple terminals inside one)
Fix garbled screen
sudo tmux show -g | cat > /etc/.tmux.conf
set -as terminal-overrides ',*:indn@'
curl {address}:{port}
truncate -s 0 filename
> file.txt
symlinks
Resources to read about it:
Create soft link ln -s file1 link1
Verify the created symlink with ls -l file1 link1
IMPORTANT: provide full path to file and links not relative to cwd
fdisk -l
sudo mount /dev/sdb1 /media/usb-drive/
Disk space
Executing df -h will show space information in human readable format
Available memory
free -m
vmstat -s
htop
Snap is the new package management software with which Ubuntu wants to replace apt
Article about managing it is here: ubuntu snaps
List all snap services
snap services
Stop service
sudo snap stop -disable {servicename}
A good guide on how to use find command is here \
General search for a file. example find {path} -name *.txt
Restart immediately using sudo shutdown -r 0
