Tools For Linux AdministrationThe most popular Unix-like computer operating software, Linux, is one of the prime example of free and open source development software. No doubt it is easy to redistribute, modify and use, there is still a need to learn how to administer the Linux operating software. Linux has gained the support of companies like Novell, IBM, Hewlett-Packard and Sun Microsystems. Its use in devices like desktops, servers, cell phones and routers has become common these days. As a result of this, there is a need to learn about different tools for Linux administration. YaST, COAS, Webmin and Linux are the four leading players in the field of Linux administration tools. YaST is a part of SUSE Linux. Linuxconf, COAS and Webmin, though they are available for free download and installation, come as a default option with some distributions of Linux. Linuxconf, though it is available with all new Linux distribution, is also available with Red Hat Linux and Mandrake Linux. In one of its modular components or as a part of the entire package, it has been in use for quite some time. For years many interfaces for Linuxconf have been available. Nowadays there are four known interfaces for Linuxconf. These are Web, ncurses, command-line and GUI. One can run the tool by typing linuxconf both in the GUI front end and the command-line version. Those who do not want to use the root account for anything except the most vital work, linuxconf plays well with them. Webmin is truly a web-lined application . It comes along with Caldera Linux. This tool is available for the new Linux distributions, different kinds of UNIX and is also available in 20 different languages. Webmin has to be installed by root where as any user can install Linuxconf. After that anyone can access this tool from any user account provided the person has the root password. There are numerous configurations available for Webmin in the Webmin configuration option. Specific only to a single distribution, YaST and YaST2 come with SUSE Linux. YaST is best if you experience difficulty in getting into the GUI or do not have a GUI installed. The graphical version (YaST2) is arranged in a standard file-manager format. The YaST2 standard file-format changes to correspond with you category of choices such as hardware, software, basics/network, security and users, system and misc. The Caldera open administration system is available for new Linux distribution. It is also open source and covered by GPL. It also comes in a rudimentary format called Caldera Open Linux. This tool has four different formats- GUI, ncurses, web for remote purpose and command-line. |