Unit L4 - Advanced Linux

CIS-116
SUNY Ulster
Karl Wick
 Handout
Unix Commands for Managing Files and Directories
Command Description Example

pwd Print current 'working' directory pwd

cd Change to different directory cd /home/student
mkdir Make a new directory mkdir /home/student/lessons
rmdir Remove (erase) a directory rmdir /home/student/lessons
ls List contents of a Directory ls ls /home also dir
Create a new empty file or update
touch timestamp of an existing file touch testfile
cp copy file to a new location or file name cp testfile testfile.backup
rm Remove (delete) a file rm testfile.backup
mv Rename a file and/or move to new location mv testfile testfile.copy
cat Display contents of a file to the screen cat /etc/printcap
cat > filename Copy std input to a file. Note: Destructive cat > newfile
cat >> filename Append std input to a files contents cat >> newfile
less Display contents of a file page by page less /etc/termcap
more Display contents of a file page by page more newfile
file Display info about a file (filetype) file /sbin/lilo
zcat Display contents of a compressed file zcat /tmp/report.gz
 File Properties
• Several properties are associated with each
file in Linux
• Recall the ls – l directory listing command
• The first piece of information about a file
shows these properties.
• -rw-r--r-- There are ten „slots‟
• Recall that Linux is a multiuser OS
 File Properties (2)
• All files and directories are owned by the person
(account) that created them.
• Each person may belong to a „workgroup‟.
• Other unrelated users may be on the network.
• The owner of a file can set file permissions for
• the owner
• the group
• others
 File Properties (3)
• Permissions fall into three categories
• read
• write
• execute (does not apply to all files, of course)
• The permissions field
• type, owner rwx, group rwx, others rwx
• - type means a file d type means a directory
• rwx means permitted, - means not permitted
 File Properties (4)
• -rwxr-xr-- means:
• This is a file
• The owner can read, write and execute the file
• Group members can read and execute the file
• Other users can only read the file
• dwrx------ means:
• This is a directory
• Only the owner can read or write or execute
 Changing Permissions
• The owner of a file can change permissions by
using the chmod command.
• Root can chmod any file or directory on the
system.
• chmod u|g|o|a +|-|= r|w|x filename
• u user g group o others a all
• + add - remove = the only permission
• r read access w write access x execute access
• chmod u+rw roadtrip.txt
 Another way
• You can call up chmod with integer values
• r=4
• w=2
• x=1
• -=0
• chmod 644 weekend.txt is the same as
• chmod u+rw weekend.txt; chmod g+rw
weekend.txt; chmod o+r weekend.txt
• Try it and ls –l to see the new permissions
 An example
• From the student account and directory /home/student
• Create a text file (of any text) and save it
• Type these lines:
chmod a –rwx newfile.txt (Remove all permissions)
cat newfile.txt
(you will get a message – “Permission Denied”)
chmod u +rw newfile.txt (Restore permissions to the owner)
cat newfile.txt
• Note: The restrictions do not apply to root
• Permissions are a security feature
• It is not a good idea to use 666 or 777 permissions
 Common Settings
• -rw------- (600) Owner read & write permission
• -rw-r--r-- (644) Owner read & write, group & others read only
• -rwx------ (700) Owner has all permissions, group & others none
• -rwxr-xr-x (755) Owner has all permissions, group and others read
and execute
• -rwx--x--x (711) Owner has all permissions, group & others exe
• -rw-rw-rw (666) Everyone can read and write
• -rwxrwxrwx (777) Everyone can read, write, and execute
• drwx------ (700) Directory. Only owner can read and write
• drwxr-xr-x (755) Directory. Owner can write, all can read
• NOTE: execute for a directory means listing capability
 Default Permissions
• For most Linux systems the default permissions of rw-r--
r-- are used whenever you create a file.
• The default permission settings are contained in a file
accessed at bootup by the umask command.
• Type umask and you will see the default permissions.
• umask REMOVES permissions
• Type umask +rw-rw-rw- or umask 000
• Type umask –w--w--w or umask 222 to remove write
permissions.
Monitoring the System

Memory and Disk Usage

 free, vmstat, ps
• free Displays the status of RAM and VRAM
• Mem: refers to RAM
• Swap: refers to virtual RAM (the swap file)
• Too little RAM will cause „thrashing‟ (constantly moving
information from RAM to VRAM)
• vmstat Provides detailed information about swap file
usage. The output is cryptic. See man.
• swap file, free, buffer size, cache size, swap in and out statistics,
cpu: user, system and idle processes.
• ps Lists all running processes by number and user.
 Real Time System Status
• top Displays the most processor
intensive processes in real time. Updates
about every 5 seconds.
• Type top <enter> and watch the screen
• Type <j> a few times and watch the screen
• Type <q> to exit top
 top Interactive Comands
<space> update now ^L redraw screen
k kill a process by ID i ignore idle
n, # number of processes to view
q quit many toggles for displays
N sort by PID A sort by age
P sort by CPU useage M sort by mem use
T sort by time W write to ~/.toprc
 Checking HD usage
• df Shows 1k blocks allocated, used,
available for all mounted filesystems.
• df –m Same but displayed in megabytes. Try –h too
Filesystem 1M-blocks Used Available Use% Mounted on
/dev/hda6 5921 79 5542 2% /
/dev/hda1 38 4 32 10% /boot
/dev/hdb5 375 1 355 1% /tmp
/dev/hda5 1969 1479 390 80% /usr

• You can specify a single filesystem too: df /dev/hda5

 Checking HD Usage
• du Summarizes disk usage by 512
byte blocks
• du –b size in bytes
• du –a all files not just directories
• du –h human readable
 Stopping a Process
• Type ps <enter> to see all running processes
• Type kill [processid#] or kill [processname]
• If multiple instances of the same (name)
process are running, these commands may
not work.
• Try kill –s kill [pid]
• If you kill a process that the OS needs, the
system may crash.
 LILO and configuring LILO
• LILO loads Linux at bootup. It can also load other
OSs. LILO is a boot manager.
• LILO configuration options are stored in the file
/etc/lilo.conf They can be changed with a text
editor.
• After making changes, you MUST save lilo.conf
and run lilo to write the changes to the MBR of
the hard disk.
• lilo.conf can store more than one image and boot
to a menu.
 A Typical lilo.conf File
boot=/dev/had Where LILO is installed
map=/boot/map optional line - default
install=/boot/boot.b optional line - default
prompt Prompt? (For multiple boot systems)
timeout=50 In 1/10ths of a second to default image
message=/boot/message default is the first image found in file

image=/boot/vmlinuz-2.4.2-2 default image

label=linux type linux to start
root=/dev/hda3
read-only
password=passwrd
other=/dev/hda1 additional image
label=dos type dos to start
table=dev/hda
More Administrative Tasks

(admin chapter 8)
 Managing Accounts
• Types of Accounts
• root - The administrator / Superuser
• Regular Users
• Non-Regular Users - used by programs
• Account Groups
• Each user belongs to a primary group
• A user can belong to a secondary group
• Groups can be assigned permissions
• Type more /etc/passwd to see all users including
usernames created by programs.
• Root will be first, regular users will be last.
 etc/passwd
• root:x:0:0:root:/root:/bin/bash

• Fields are separated by colons

Account name : Password (x means in /etc/shadow file :
User ID : Group ID : Real Name : Home Directory :
Default shell

• It is possible to edit in a text editor but not advisable due

to some security measures not allowing the changes.
G
r
o
u
p
s
 /etc/group
• root : x : 0 : root
• bin : x : 1 : root,bin,daemon
• Fields are separated by colons
Name of Group : Group Password (may be
blank, or x {stored elsewhere}) : Group ID :
group members separated by commas.
 Security
• In early versions of Linux the user
passwords were stored in /etc/passwd.
• This file is available to most users.
• /etc/shadow is where passwords are now
stored and is accessible only to root.
 Passwords
• Changing
• Run passwd
• Recovery
• mount root partition,
• edit /etc/passwd file to remove the root password
• edit /etc/shadow file, if used
• reboot
 passwd Options for root
• -l -u lock and unlock the account (root may access) by
adding ! to the beginning of the pw.
• -S status of account password.
• These work with some versions of Linux
• -n set min # days between pw changes
• -x set max # days pw remains valid
• -w set #days before warning PW about to expire
• -I set #days after pw expires before acct. is locked.
 /etc/shadow
• Again, the entries are delimited by colons.
root:$1$uBxqh7wl$oklXHuoBjHH7JmiVdk/fQ :
10815 : 0 : 99999 : 7 : : :
Account name that MUST correspond with a user
account in /etc/passwd. : Encrypted password :
password security information follows.
• New users have !! in the password field
(Tackett & Burnett 5th Que p290)
 Checking passwd & shadow
• pwck will check on the consistency & validity
of the /etc/passwd and /etc/shadow files.
• pwck also warns of any account that does not
have a password.
• grpck will check on the consistency & validity
of the /etc/group and /etc/gshadow files.
 Creating New User Accounts
• Log in as root
• Type useradd username <enter>
• If required, run chfn username to add personal info
and update finger information.
• useradd –D will show the default settings
• These are stored in /etc/default/useradd
• There are many options that may be used with the
useradd command.
• (See /etc/login.defs and man for detailed info.)
-c Full Name or Comment useradd –c “Karl Wick” kwick

-d Home Directory useradd –d /usr/home kwick

-e Acct. Expiration Date useradd –r 03/25/02 kwick

-f Days until acct disabled if user add –f 7 kwick

Password expires
-g Primary Group useradd –g ops kwick OR –g GID# kwick

-G Additional Groups useradd –G teamlead,party,cis kwick

-m Forces creation of home directory useradd –m kwick (even if no default set)

-M Does not create a home directory useradd –M kwick (even if default is set)

-n Disables Private Group Feature useradd –n kwick

-s Sets user‟s login shell useradd –s /bin/zsh kwick

-u Force a specific User ID number useradd –u 252 kwick

 Removing Users
1. Remove login capability (temporary. Maybe user is away
on vacation): Edit /etc/passwd or /etc/shadow and put a * at
the beginning of the PW field. The account stays intact.
2. Remove user but keep files: Edit /etc/passwd and
/etc/shadow files by removing user name. OR run userdel
username. Change file ownership and location with chown
and mv
3. Remove user and home files: userdel –r username OR
a) a) Remove entry from password files.
b) b) erase all files in home directory find homedir –exec rm{}
c) c) Erase user‟s home directory rmdir homedir
d) d) don’t forget other files such as e-mail alias files.
 Notes about useradd options
1. If a name (ie option –c) contains a space you must
enter it between double quotes so that Linux doesn‟t
think that it is two field variables
2. useradd –D options will change the defaults. All of
the options on the previous slide are permitted
useradd –D –s /bin/csh
3. You can combine options on one line.
useradd –g sales –c “Phred The Wonder Dog” phred
4. You can edit /etc/default/useradd in a text editor.
 Simple example
• useradd student2 –p cis116

• Adds the user named “student2” and

specifies the password to be “cis116”
 Creating New Groups
• Use the groupadd groupname command
(preferred) or edit /etc/group in a text editor.
• The –g option will specify a particular group
number for the new group.
• Do not assign two groups with the same number
because Unix will consider them the same.
• ex:
• groupadd –g 900 managers
• groupadd students
 Modifying User Accounts
• usermod options username
• usermod uses the same options as useradd
• usermod –c “Liz Osowski” lizw
• usermod –l lizo –d /home/lizo lizw Changes
home directory to look for. Make sure that the
home directory actually exists!
 Modifying Groups
• Use groupmod [-g GID] [-n group_name]
group

• -g GID is numerical group number.

• -n group_name will change from group to this.
 Deleting A Group
• Edit the /etc/group file by removing the
pertinent line.
• Reassign all files with the old group ID to a
new group ID.
• find / -gid group-id find users_home_dir –
exec chgrp newgroup {} \;
 Keeping track of users
• Simply typing <w> from the root
account will provide a list of all users
logged onto the system.
• It will tell you:
• their login date or time
• their CPU usage
• their last command
 Banner Messages

• Stored in the file /etc/motd

• Edit the file and save it or create the file with cat >
/etc/motd if it does not exist.

• Reboot and the message will appear immediately

after a successful login.
 Bonus: GUI to Text and Back
• From text mode enter startx to activate
the GUI.
• From the GUI type <CTRL-ALT-F2> to
enter text mode. You may need to login the
first time you do this.
• From text mode type <ALT-F7> to go back
to the GUI.
• You can switch back and forth.
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