UNIX Commands Clearly

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System status check

Listed here are a few system monitoring commands which should give you a rough idea of how the server is running.

# server information
uname -a

# server config information
prtconf
sysdef -i

# server up time
uptime

# disk free, listed in KB
df -kt

# mounted devices
mount

# network status
netstat -rn

# network configuration info
ifconfig -a

# processes currently running
ps -elf

# user processes
w
whodo
who am i
finger
ps

# virtual memory statistics
vmstat 5 5

# system activity reporter (Solaris/AIX)
sar 5 5

# report per processor statistics (Solaris)
mpstat 5 5
psrinfo

# swap disk status (Solaris)
swap -l

# shared memory
ipcs -b

Solaris note: SAR numbers can be misleading: as memory use by processes is freed, but not considered 'available' by the reporting tool. Solaris support has recommended using the SR (swap rate) column of vmstats to monitor the availability of memory. When this number reaches 150+, a kernel panic may ensue.

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System startup

The kernel is loaded by the boot command, which is executed during startup in a machine-specific way. The kernel may exist on a local disk, CD-ROM, or network. After the kernel loads, the necessary file systems are mounted (located in /etc/vfstab), and /sbin/init is run, which brings the system up to the "initdefault" state set in /etc/inittab. Subsystems are started by scripts in the /etc/rc1.d,/etc/rc2.d, and /etc/rc3.d directories.

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System shutdown

# shutdown the server in 60 seconds, restart system in administrative state
# (Solaris)
/usr/sbin/shutdown -y -g60 -i1  "System is begin restarted"

# shutdown the server immediately, cold state
# (Solaris)
/usr/sbin/shutdown -y -g0 -i0

# shutdown AIX server, reboot .. also Ctrl-Ctrl/Alt
shutdown -Fr



# restart the server
/usr/sbin/reboot

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User accounts

Adding a unix account involves creating the login and home directory, assigning a group, adding a description, and setting the password. The .profile script should then be placed in the home directory.

# add jsmith account .. the -m parm forces the home dir creation
useradd -c "Jim Smith" -d /home/jsmith -m -s "/usr/bin/ksh" jsmith

# change group for jsmith
chgrp staff jsmith

# change jsmith password
passwd jsmith

# change jsmith description
usermod -c "J.Smith" jsmith

# remove ksmith account
userdel ksmith

# display user accounts
cat /etc/passwd

/* here is a sample .profile script, for sh or ksh */
stty istrip
stty erase ^H
PATH=/usr/bin:/usr/ucb:/etc:/usr/lib/scripts:/usr/sbin:.
export PATH
PS1='BOXNAME:$PWD>'
export PS1

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Displaying files

# display file contents
cat myfile

# determine file type
file myfile

# display file, a screen at a time (Solaris)
pg myfile

# display first 100 lines of a file
head -100 myfile

# display last 50 lines of a file
tail -50 myfile

# display file that is changing, dynamically
tail errlog.out -f

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File permissions

Permission flags: r = read, w = write, x = execute Permissions are displayed for owner, group, and others.

# display files, with permissions
ls -l
# make file readable, writeable, and executable for group/others
chmod 777 myfile

# make file readable and executable for group/others
chmod 755 myfile

# make file inaccessible for all but the owner
chmod 700 myfile

# make file readable and executable for group/others,
# user assumes owner's group during execution
chmod 4755 myfile

# change permission flags for directory contents
chmod -R mydir

# change group to staff for this file
chgrp staff myfile

# change owner to jsmith for this file
chown jsmith myfile

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Listing files

See scripting examples for more elaborate file listings.

# list all files, with directory indicator, long format
ls -lpa

# list all files, sorted by date, ascending
ls -lpatr

# list all text files
ls *.txt

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Moving/copying files

See scripting examples for moving and renaming collections of files.

# rename file to backup copy
mv myfile myfile.bak

# copy file to backup copy
cp myfile myfile.bak

# move file to tmp directory
mv myfile /tmp

# copy file from tmp dir to current directory
cp /tmp/myfile .

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Deleting files

See scripting examples for group dissection routines.

# delete the file
rm myfile

# delete directory
rd mydir

# delete directory, and all files in it
rm -r mydir

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Disk usage

# display disk free, in KB
df -kt

# display disk usage, in KB for directory
du -k mydir

# display directory disk usage, sort by largest first
du -ak / | sort -nr | pg

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Using tar

# display contents of a file
tar tvf myfile.tar

# display contents of a diskette (Solaris)
volcheck
tar tvf /vol/dev/rdiskette0/unnamed_floppy

# copy files to a tar file
tar cvf myfile.tar *.sql

# format floppy, and copy files to it (Solaris)
fdformat -U -b floppy99
tar cvf /vol/dev/rdiskette0/floppy99 *.sql

# append files to a tar file
tar rvfn myfile.tar *.txt

# extract files from a tar filem to current dir
tar xvf myfile.tar

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Starting a process

This section briefly describes how to start a process from the command line.

Glossary:

   & - run in background
   nohup (No Hang Up) - lets process continue, even if session is disconnected


# run a script, in the background
runbackup &

# run a script, allow it to continue after logging off
nohup runbackup &


# Here nohup.out will still be created, but any output will
# show up in test70.log.  Errors will appear in nohup.out.

nohup /export/spare/hmc/scripts/test70 > test70.log &



# Here nohup.out will not be created; any output will
# show up in test70.log.  Errors will appear test70.log also !

nohup /export/spare/hmc/scripts/test70 > test70.log 2>&1  &

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Killing a process

1) In your own session;  e.g. jobs were submitted, but you never logged out:

ps                           # list jobs
kill -9  < process id>       # kill it



2) In a separate session

# process ID appears as column 4
ps -elf | grep -i 

kill -9  < process id>       # kill it



3)  For device (or file)

# find out who is logged in from where

w

# select device, and add /dev ... then use the fuser command

fuser -k /dev/pts/3

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Redirecting output

Output can be directed to another program or to a file.

# send output to a file
runbackup > /tmp/backup.log

# also redirect error output
runbackup > /tmp/backup.log 2> /tmp/errors.log

# send output to grep program
runbackup | grep "serious"

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Date stamping, and other errata

Other errata is included in this section

# Date stamping files
# format is :
# touch -t yyyymmddhhmi.ss filename

touch -t 199810311530.00 hallowfile

# lowercase functions (ksh)
typeset -u newfile=$filename

# date formatting, yields 112098 for example
date '+%m%d%y'

# display a calendar (Solaris / AIX)
cal

# route output to both test.txt and std output
./runbackup | tee test.txt

# sleep for 5 seconds
sleep 5

# send a message to all users
wall "lunch is ready"

# edit file, which displays at login time (message of the day)
vi /etc/motd

# edit file, which displays before login time (Solaris)
vi /etc/issue