Sandra Henry-Stocker has been administering Unix systems for more than 18 years. She describes herself as "USL" (Unix as a second language) but remembers enough English to write books and buy groceries. She currently works for TeleCommunication Systems, a wireless communications company, in Annapolis, Maryland, where no one else necessarily shares any of her opinions. She lives on a small farm on Maryland's Eastern Shore.
This blog offers advice for every-day Unix systems administration and some clever ways to approach more challenging problems.
Send comments and suggestions to mailto:bugfarm@gmail.com.
Unix tip: Monitor disk arrays with sccli commands
Disk arrays take a lot of worry about disk failure off your shoulders, but that's no reason not to notice when one goes bad. The sccli command can tell you a lot about what's happening with your StorEdge arrays. Let it warn you about disks gone bad.
Linux command: Side by side diff
Tired of looking at strings of "28,30d27" characters separating the differences between files you're comparing? Try a side by side diff listing that works the way your brain does.
Unix commands: The best tool for the job
With Unix, there are always many ways to do a single thing, but sometimes one approach is just a lot better! Let's look at a couple examples of commands that are right for the job.
Greening the Data Center
Think you're the only one having problems keeping your data center cool and powered up? Think again. At least the Green Grid (an international non-profit organization with a mandate to increase energy efficiency in the IT sector) is coming up with answers and I got to go to a trade show!
