This is a Wiki post; a wiki post is a special type of post that any member of our community can edit!
Join me in editing and populating this Wiki post by sharing tools, scripts, cheat sheets, etc., that you frequently refer to or have saved to your bookmarks.
Config Provisioning & Management
- Ansible – open-source software provisioning, config management, and app-deployment tool.
- Chef – infrastructure automation framework that turns infrastructure into code.
- Puppet – centralizes and automates system administration tasks.
- SaltStack – event-driven, infrastructure management and remote execution platform.
- Terraform – infrastructure as code to provision and manage cloud or on-prem resources.
Backups
- Timeshift – system restore tool for Linux.
- HashBackup – encrypted, deduplicated, compressed backups.
- DejaDup – simple backup tool.
- BorgBackup – deduplicating backup program with compression and encryption.
- restic – modern backup program that can backup to several storage types.
- Duplicati – backup solution that stores encrypted, incremental backups on cloud services.
- rclone – command line program to manage files on cloud storage and more.
- duplicity – provides encrypted, bandwidth-efficient backups using the rsync algorithm.
Benchmarking
- Bench-scripts – a compilation of Linux server benchmarking scripts.
- YABS – a simple bash script to estimate Linux server performance.
- Phoronix Test Suite – comprehensive testing and benchmarking platform for Linux.
Data Removal
- Darik’s Boot and Nuke – DBAN – bootable data wiping tool.
- shredos – the OS that tears your OS – another secure disk erasing solution.
- shred – securely overwrite files to prevent recovery (comes with GNU coreutils).
- wipe – secure file deletion utility.
Cloning & Imaging
- Rescuezilla – open-source disk imaging app that’s fully compatible with Clonezilla.
- Ventoy – facilitates having multiple, bootable ISOs/images on a single flash drive.
- Clonezilla – free and open-source software for disk imaging and cloning.
- partclone – a utility to back up and restore partitions.
dd– built-in Unix tool that can copy and convert data at a raw level (be cautious with usage).
Security
- rootkit hunter (rkhunter) – checks for rootkits and removes them.
- fail2ban – daemon to ban hosts that cause multiple authentication errors.
- ConfigServer Firewall (CSF) – free firewall and login failure detection for multiple Linux distros.
- ClamAV – open-source antivirus engine for detecting trojans, viruses, malware & more.
- Lynis – security auditing, compliance testing and system hardening tool.
- Tripwire – intrusion detection system and file integrity checker.
System Health
- atop – system and process monitor for Linux.
- btop – resource monitor with a user-friendly interface.
- Cockpit – web-based graphical interface for servers.
- Glances – a top/htop alternative for Linux, BSD, Mac and Windows.
- netdata – real-time performance monitoring, resource usage, and visualization.
- nmon – performance monitor for CPU, memory, network, etc.
- sysstat (sar) – collection of performance monitoring tools.
Monitoring
- Cacti – web-based network monitoring and graphing tool.
- check_mk – collection of extensions for Nagios.
- Monit – small open source utility for managing and monitoring Unix systems.
- Munin – networked resource monitoring tool.
- Nagios – computer system, network and infrastructure monitoring software application.
- Zabbix – enterprise-class software for monitoring of networks and applications.
- Icinga – fork of Nagios that monitors systems, networks and applications.
- Observium – low-maintenance network monitoring platform.
- Grafana – visualization and analytics software (commonly used with Prometheus or InfluxDB).
Text Editors
- micro – a modern and intuitive terminal-based text editor.
nano– simple, user-friendly command-line text editor installed by default on many distros.vim– powerful and highly configurable text editor with a large ecosystem of plugins.emacs– an extensible, customizable text editor with an entire ecosystem of capabilities.
Useful Resources
- Awesome-sysadmin – a curated list of amazingly awesome open source sysadmin resources.
- Linux Internals – a book-in-progress about the Linux kernel and its insides.
- Awesome bash alias – a curated list of awesome Bash aliases.
- Linux Filesystem – description and diagram of the common directory structure and usage.
- tldr pages – simplified and community-driven man pages.
- sshaudit.com - This free tool audits the configuration of an SSH server or client.
VPN
- Openvpn-install – OpenVPN installer.
- WireGuard – modern and fast VPN protocol with state-of-the-art cryptography.
- strongSwan – open-source IPsec-based VPN solution for Linux.
Web Analytics
- GoAccess – real-time web log analyzer and interactive viewer via web browser.
- Matomo – free, open source alternative to Google Analytics.
- AWStats – open-source logfile analyzer for advanced web statistics.
- Plausible – simple, lightweight, and privacy-friendly alternative to Google Analytics.
Feel free to jump in and edit this Wiki-post. Simply edit to add listing(s), then add your @username to the ‘Editors’
I think with all of us “putting heads together” as it were, we will be able to discover even more great tools, solutions, and resources!
