[ale] Top things to know to master Linux?

[Greg Freemyer]

On 8/26/08, Richard Lyon <ale at gutcup.com> wrote:
> Greetings all,
>
>  First, thanks for telling me how to view all the timestamps for a
>  file, and recommendations on USB enclosures.
>
>  Now, what do you think should be mastered, or at least known, to
>  "master" Linux?
>
>  I'm a relative linux newbie, working toward LPIC Linux certification.
>  I'm working hard to make sure that I'm not paper certified, but
>  actually have some idea of what I'm talking about. I've got 12 years
>  or so experience with Windows, some Netware. So I actually have some
>  decent degree of computer knowledge. I was burnt out for quite a few
>  years of that though, so I don't know as much as I should. Though, I
>  have to say, I'm greatly enjoying Linux. Right now I've gotten a bit
>  sidetracked into the wonderful world of Vim - that is a hella
>  powerful, very cool piece of software. You can even customize firefox
>  with a plugin so that it acts like Vim!
>
>   http://vimperator.mozdev.org/
>
>  Anyway, enough off topic stuff. I've got all the IBM developerwork
>  study guides for the tests, and the O'Reilly study guide which is so
>  highly recommended. I've got a powerbook with a couple of Linux
>  virtual machines to play with, and a laptop I've installed OpenSuse
>  on. What, in your mind, is essential to study?
>
>  Thanks!
>
>  Richard
>
Richard,

As simple as they are, dd, head, tail are some of my top tools.  And
the ones I miss the most in windows.

dd in particular is surprisingly flexible:

Verify a drive is fully readable (ie no bad sectors):

dd if=/dev/sdx of=/dev/null bs=4k

Duplicate a drive:

dd if=/dev/sdx of=/dev/sdy bs=4k conv=noerror,sync

Wipe a partition table:

dd if=/dev/zero of=/dev/sdx bs=512 count=64

Wipe an entire drive:

dd if=/dev/zero of=/dev/sdx bs=4k

or just a partition:

dd if=/dev/zero of=/dev/sdxy bs=4k

with random data

dd if=/dev/random of=/dev/sdx bs=4k

read the header from a tape:

dd if=/dev/rst0 of=/header bs=64k (or whatever is appropriate) count=1

create a virtual drive for a VM from a physical drive.

perform i/o performance tests

try to read / write a specific disk sector

etc.

Greg
-- 
Greg Freemyer
Litigation Triage Solutions Specialist
http://www.linkedin.com/in/gregfreemyer
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