Chapter 27. Shell Scripts for Administrators

IN THIS CHAPTER

  • Managing statistics

  • Performing backups

  • Working with users

There's no place where shell script programming is more useful than for the Linux system administrator. The typical Linux system administrator has a myriad of jobs that need to be done daily, from monitoring disk space and users to backing up important files. Shell scripts can make the life of the system administrator much easier! You can accomplish all of the basic system administration functions automatically using simple shell scripts. This chapter demonstrates some of the capabilities you have using shell scripts.

Monitoring System Statistics

One of the core responsibilities of the Linux system administrator is to ensure that the system is running properly. To accomplish this task, there are lots of different system statistics that you must monitor. Creating automated shell scripts to monitor specific situations can be a lifesaver.

This section shows how to create simple shell scripts that monitor and report problems as soon as possible, without you even having to be logged in to the Linux system.

Monitoring disk free space

One of the biggest problems with multi-user Linux systems is the amount of available disk space. In some situations, such as in a file sharing server, disk space can fill up almost immediately just because of one careless user.

This shell script will monitor the available disk space on a specific volume, and send out an e-mail message if the available ...

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