The need If you work with Linux machines and you don’t use a terminal multiplexer you’re doing it wrong.
What is a terminal multiplexer? It lets you switch easily between several programs in one terminal, detach them (they keep running in the background) and reattach them to a different terminal.
The Solution I use tmux , some people prefer sceen , just pick one and learn how to use is.
Linux scripting is a skill every network/system engineer should learn in the early stages of the career. Plenty of guides available in the interwebz, The Bash Academy is a good start.
A particular type of scripts are the one-liners : just a line of code to solve a problem.
This is the latest I’ve used while testing autossh , check active ssh sessions continuously:
while true; do netstat -an | egrep -e ':22 '; sleep 2s;clear;done Enjoy!
The Problem Notes, code and configuration snippets, links, screenshots… where/how to save them and allow and easy/fast way to tag/search them when needed?
The Solution In my opinion the best software for notes is Onenote today.
One note has a better integration with Windows 10, it’s free, supports multiple platforms and the mobile App actually works.
Among all the cool features maybe my favourite is to be able to search text inside the pictures pasted inside a note.
The problem In my last post about Linux at command I talked about notifications on my mobile.
In most of my automation scripts I prefer notifications to come to my mobile instead of via email or SMS (really? in 2015?) because:
it is always with me I check it thousands times a day (I know you too ;-) ) it is a preferred channel - a specific app just for that The automation There are many notification services available today for free or minimal cost.
Another post on Linux commands, short and simple but very useful: at .
The problem As IT pros we are all comfortable with the change window concept.
This window usually opens at night or during the week-end and sometimes the change actually just requires a few commands on a Linux machine.
The automation The at command allows to schedule a command or script to be run at a specific time.
After a few posts about Windows software now it’s time for Linux.
The problem Working with the Linux bash sometimes requires to type long commands multiple times. Isn’t that a motivation strong enough to look for a better way?
The automation Linux alias is quite self-explanatory, it allows to create command aliases like with the familiar Cisco CLI .
A good place to store aliases is .bashrc.
Add some alias:
The problem Install software on Windows and keep it updated is a boring and repetitive task.
Linux and BSD/OSX users can install software from packages and keep it updated with a simple apt-get update;apt-get upgrade command.
Wouldn’t it be great to have the same feature on Windows?
The automation Chocolatey is a package manager for Windows fast to install, easy to use and supports thousands of software.
Installation is very simple, just one command:
The problem As many IT professionals I work quite often on the command line with many command prompts open.
Windows lacks a good native command prompt software so usually you see monitors filled with black terminals that are hard to manage and track.
The automation ConsoleZ allows multiple tabs and to split tabs vertically or horizontally among with many other features.
Get ConsoleZ HERE
The problem Security today is a main concern for every computer user. One of the first problem is how to manage password.
I see many creative solutions around: post-it or paper only, use of the same password for all services, a spreadsheet inside an encrypted zip file… none of them appear safe or efficient.
The automation I evaluated many password managers and I’m a happy 1Password user for years now. sync options , mobile client, App integrations and team features are awesome and they’ve never been hacked so far.
The problem I manage many networks and quite often I work at customer site.
For every site I need and IP address, gateway, Wi-Fi network, sometimes proxy, a printer and many other unique network settings.
Change IP address on Windows is a process that takes too much time and many clicks.
The automation I used to use netsh scripts to do that but it was hard to maintain.
The OED solution: NETSETMAN This software allows to change many network parameters, browser proxy, printer, smtp server, run custom scripts and set many other parameters.
I read this blog post from Mattias Geniar and I think he gave a name of a concept I had in my mind from years.
It started a while ago when I tried to find a more efficient ways to do my daily work and it got bigger and bigger up to be almost an… obsession.
Obsession is actually a negative word related do some sort of mental disorder. Let’s say OED could be considered more about automation of boring stuff to be more efficient, a sort of Kaizen applied to IT.
One of the more annoying things of the windows command line is the lack of Shift+Ins to paste the clipboard.
A bit of googling made me discover a very useful software called AutoHotkey .
While I’m just beginning to use it it proved to be the perfect tool for the job.
This simple script allows use Shift+Ins to paste the clipboard content inside the Windows console:
#IfWinActive ahk_class ConsoleWindowClass RShift & Ins:: SendInput {Raw}%clipboard% return #IfWinActive I’m sure AutoHotkey will be even more valuable as I learn how to use the advanced functions.