Introduction to the command line
Server administration is, for the most part, about the command line. However, many people are used to using GUIs whether that be from a Linux, Windows or Mac OS.
This articles introduces you to the basics of the command line.
For those unfamiliar with the command line, it is simply a very powerful and quick way of interacting with your server.
Whereas you may be used to using GUIs and control panels to administer a computer, those items would only slow down and encumber a server.
As such, we 'log in' to our VPS, or fully fledged server, and install programmes or do administrative tasks by using the command line: we literally type in what we want the computer to do.
To use the command line we use something called a terminal (or a console) - reminiscent of the days when there were no GUIs and pretty effects: everything was done on the command line.
My main workstation uses Linux (Suse 10.2 to be exact) and, as I prefer the KDE desktop, the terminal I use is called 'konsole':
However, how we log into our server varies depending what OS we use.
Linux users have it fairly easy as we can issue the command straight away in a terminal as shown above.
Unfortunately, Windows users will have to download some software called 'Putty' to securely connect to their server.
Although not difficult, each OS will be given a dedicated article on the exact procedure for logging into a server:
I'm afraid I don't have access to a Mac so I can't write an article about how to connect using that OS. Sorry.
Using the relevant article above, we'll login to our server and then follow the remaining articles as, once we're logged in, we have some common ground to work from in administering our Linux-based server.
PickledOnion.
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