Linux CentOS - a bit overwhelming!

BigBouncyBall

I've started a new job where they use an extremely customised IT "environment" the bedrock of which is CentOS 5.

I'm finding it a bit overwhelming having never used Linux (properly) before. Is there any useful guide/book/reference for linux and CentOS specifically?

tronator

BigBouncyBall wrote: »

I've started a new job where they use an extremely customised IT "environment" the bedrock of which is CentOS 5.

I'm finding it a bit overwhelming having never used Linux (properly) before. Is there any useful guide/book/reference for linux and CentOS specifically?

Ask your company whether they will pay £1400 for a RHCT/RHCE course.

http://www.lsce.co.uk/redhat_courses/redhat_rhce_rhct.aspx

It looks like it's the same certificate for which RedHat charges a couple of thousands. But I'm not completely sure as there is a huge price difference. Maybe somebody else can say more...

BigBouncyBall

(0_o)

I was thinking more of a cheat sheet/quick reference guide to the shell? I know all the basicslike LS, MKDIR, RM etc but a bit more advanced linux for day to day users (not sys admins or anything a 'user' wouldnt be expected to do).

tronator

BigBouncyBall wrote: »

(0_o)

I was thinking more of a cheat sheet/quick reference guide to the shell? I know all the basicslike LS, MKDIR, RM etc but a bit more advanced linux for day to day users (not sys admins or anything a 'user' wouldnt be expected to do).

Just google for it. I found this within a few seconds...

http://www.linuxtopia.org/online_books/linux_for_beginners_index.html

bat999

I'm using Ubuntu linux, maybe things are similar with CentOS.
If I enter:-

ls /bin

It shows a list of available shell commands, like this:-

ron@ubuntu:~$ ls /bin
bash                  dumpkeys    more            sh.distrib
bunzip2               echo        mount           sleep
bzcat                 ed          mountpoint      stty
bzcmp                 egrep       mt              su
bzdiff                false       mt-gnu          sync
bzegrep               fgconsole   mv              tailf
bzexe                 fgrep       nano            tar
bzfgrep               fuser       nc              tempfile
bzgrep                fusermount  nc.traditional  touch
bzip2                 grep        netcat          true
bzip2recover          gunzip      netstat         ulockmgr_server
bzless                gzexe       ntfs-3g         umount
bzmore                gzip        ntfs-3g.probe   uname
cat                   hostname    open            uncompress
chgrp                 ip          openvt          unicode_start
chmod                 kbd_mode    pidof           vdir
chown                 kill        ping            which
chvt                  less        ping6           zcat
cp                    lessecho    ps              zcmp
cpio                  lessfile    pwd             zdiff
dash                  lesskey     rbash           zegrep
date                  lesspipe    readlink        zfgrep
dbus-cleanup-sockets  ln          rm              zforce
dbus-daemon           loadkeys    rmdir           zgrep
dbus-uuidgen          login       rnano           zless
dd                    ls          run-parts       zmore
df                    lsmod       sed             znew
dir                   mkdir       setfont
dmesg                 mknod       setupcon
dnsdomainname         mktemp      sh
ron@ubuntu:~$

Then if I want to know what a particular command does I use the --help option, like this:-

ron@ubuntu:~$ chmod --help
Usage: chmod [OPTION]... MODE[,MODE]... FILE...
  or:  chmod [OPTION]... OCTAL-MODE FILE...
  or:  chmod [OPTION]... --reference=RFILE FILE...
Change the mode of each FILE to MODE.

  -c, --changes           like verbose but report only when a change is made
      --no-preserve-root  do not treat `/' specially (the default)
      --preserve-root     fail to operate recursively on `/'
  -f, --silent, --quiet   suppress most error messages
  -v, --verbose           output a diagnostic for every file processed
      --reference=RFILE   use RFILE's mode instead of MODE values
  -R, --recursive         change files and directories recursively
      --help     display this help and exit
      --version  output version information and exit

Ximian

By default, most of not all Linux distributions will contain a built in help. If you need to do something type: "man <command>" like "man cp", "man ls" which is quite handy but it also depends on your knowledge of Linux. The following links might be useful as well: http://www.linuxhelp.net/newbies/
http://www.tuxfiles.org/linuxhelp/
http://www.linux-tutorial.info/modules.php?name=MContent&obj=topics

Hammyman

BigBouncyBall wrote: »

I've started a new job where they use an extremely customised IT "environment" the bedrock of which is CentOS 5.

I'm finding it a bit overwhelming having never used Linux (properly) before. Is there any useful guide/book/reference for linux and CentOS specifically?

Have you blagged your way into a job and are now finding its over your head?

hairy_g

http://fosswire.com/post/2007/8/unixlinux-command-cheat-sheet/

DVardysShadow

bat999 wrote: »

I'm using Ubuntu linux, maybe things are similar with CentOS.
If I enter:-

ls /bin

It shows a list of available shell commands, ....Then if I want to know what a particular command does I use the --help option, like this:-

ron@ubuntu:~$ chmod --help
....

In addition to the help within the executable, there are also manual pages, accessed by the man command

For example for chmod

man chmod

will yield the relevant manual page

tocsin

A book I kept on the desk when first converting to *nix (Solaris, actually) was:

A Practical Guide to Linux Commands, Editors, and Shell Programming, Mark G Sobell, ISBN 0131478230.

Also, there are at least a couple of Linux magazines on sale that are worth looking at... then there's the WWW, of course!

Mr_Oink

Cent 5 is pretty much RedHat 5 with the branding removed. They have a good support forum and documentation at: http://www.centos.org/

This guide may be useful: http://www.redhat.com/docs/en-US/Red_Hat_Enterprise_Linux/5.4/html/Deployment_Guide/index.html

Before you get too hung up on it I would say this. Don't let it intimidate you. Linux is more friendly that most people give it credit for, once you learn the basics. Don't aim to learn everything about it, start with what you need and you'll find your knowledge builds in time. The only minor headaches I've had with Cent is SELinux, but it may be something that never gives you any trouble.

If you want to play with it in a relatively safe environment why not install something like VirtualBox (http://www.virtualbox.org/) and create your own Virtual CENTOS guest machine? It's a great way to learn.