Complete Linux

SysAdmin Cheatsheet
Essential Commands, Scripts & Troubleshooting Guide

Professional Edition v1.0

Created by Zubair H | Localsysadmin

1.0 Last Updated: October 2025
 Table of Contents

System Fundamentals Security & Monitoring

▸ File System Management ▸ Permissions & Ownership

▸ User & Group Administration ▸ SELinux & AppArmor
▸ Process Management ▸ System Monitoring
▸ System Information ▸ Log Management
▸ Package Management ▸ Backup & Recovery

Networking Advanced Topics

▸ Network Configuration ▸ Shell Scripting

▸ SSH & Remote Access ▸ Cron Jobs
▸ Firewall Management ▸ Docker & Containers
▸ DNS & Network Diagnostics ▸ Troubleshooting Guide
▸ Web Services ▸ Useful One-Liners

💡 Quick Start Guide

This cheatsheet is organized by topic with practical examples. Use the
table of contents to quickly navigate to the sections most relevant to your
current task.
 File System Management

Basic File Operations

COMMAND DESCRIPTION EXAMPLE

ls List directory contents ls -la /home

cp Copy files and directories cp -r source_dir/ dest_dir/

mv Move/rename files mv oldname newname

rm Remove files/directories rm -rf directory/

find Search for files find / -name "*.log"

Disk & Storage Management

Disk Usage Analysis

# Show disk space usage

df -h

# Show directory sizes

du -sh /var/*

# Find large files (>100MB)

find / -type f -size +100M -exec ls -lh {} \;

# Monitor disk I/O

iostat -x 1
 File Permissions

Changing Permissions Changing Ownership

# Numeric method # Change owner

chmod 755 [Link] chown user file

# Symbolic method # Change group

chmod u+x,g-w,o-r file chgrp group file

# Recursive # Change both

chmod -R 644 /path/ chown user:group file

# Recursive ownership
chown -R user:group /path/
 User & Group Administration

User Management

COMMAND DESCRIPTION EXAMPLE

useradd Create new user useradd -m -s /bin/bash john

usermod Modify user account usermod -aG sudo john

userdel Delete user userdel -r john

passwd Change password passwd john

Group Management

Group Administration Examples

# Create new group

groupadd developers

# Add user to group

usermod -aG developers john

# List user groups

groups john

# Remove user from group

gpasswd -d john developers

# View group members

getent group developers
Sudo Configuration

⚠️ Sudo Security
Be cautious when granting sudo privileges. Use specific commands rather
than ALL when possible.

# Edit sudoers file safely

visudo

# Example sudoers entry

john ALL=(ALL) /usr/bin/systemctl, /usr/bin/apt

# Run command as another user

sudo -u john whoami
 Process Management

Process Monitoring

COMMAND DESCRIPTION USAGE

ps Process status ps aux | grep nginx

top Interactive process viewer top -u www-data

htop Enhanced top htop

kill Terminate process kill -9 1234

pkill Kill by name pkill -f nginx

System Monitoring

Resource Monitoring Process Management

# CPU usage # Find process using port

mpstat 1 lsof -i :80

# Memory usage # Show process tree

free -h pstree -p

# I/O statistics # Nice value (priority)

iostat -x 1 nice -n 10 command
renice 15 -p 1234
# Network traffic
iftop # Background jobs
jobs
# Real-time monitoring fg %1
watch -n 1 'df -h; echo; free -h' bg %1
 System Services

Systemd Service Management

# Start/stop service
sudo systemctl start nginx
sudo systemctl stop nginx

# Enable/disable service
sudo systemctl enable nginx
sudo systemctl disable nginx

# Check service status

sudo systemctl status nginx

# Reload service config

sudo systemctl reload nginx

# View service logs

sudo journalctl -u nginx -f
 Networking

Network Configuration

COMMAND DESCRIPTION EXAMPLE

ip Modern network config ip addr show

ifconfig Legacy network config ifconfig eth0

netstat Network statistics netstat -tulpn

ss Socket statistics ss -tulpn

ping Network connectivity ping [Link]

SSH & Remote Access

SSH Configuration & Usage

# Basic SSH connection

ssh user@hostname

# SSH with specific port

ssh -p 2222 user@hostname

# SSH with key authentication

ssh -i ~/.ssh/[Link] user@hostname

# SSH tunnel
ssh -L 8080:localhost:80 user@hostname

# SCP file transfer

scp [Link] user@hostname:/path/
scp user@hostname:/path/[Link] .
 Firewall Management

UFW (Ubuntu) Firewalld (RHEL/CentOS)

# Enable firewall # Start service

sudo ufw enable sudo systemctl start firewalld

# Allow SSH # Allow service

sudo ufw allow ssh sudo firewall-cmd --add-service=http

# Allow specific port # Allow port

sudo ufw allow 8080/tcp sudo firewall-cmd --add-port=8080/tcp

# Deny port # Make permanent

sudo ufw deny 25/tcp sudo firewall-cmd --runtime-to-
permanent
# Status
sudo ufw status verbose # List rules
sudo firewall-cmd --list-all
 Security & Monitoring

System Monitoring

Real-time Monitoring Commands

# Monitor system resources

top
htop

# Disk I/O monitoring

iotop

# Network monitoring
nethogs

# Continuous log monitoring

tail -f /var/log/syslog

# Monitor failed login attempts

sudo lastb

# Check for rootkits

sudo rkhunter --check

Log Management

COMMAND DESCRIPTION USAGE

journalctl Systemd journal journalctl -f

tail Follow log files tail -f /var/log/nginx/[Link]

grep Search logs grep "ERROR" /var/log/syslog

logrotate Manage log files logrotate -f /etc/[Link]

 Backup & Recovery

File Backups Database Backups

# Simple tar backup # MySQL backup

tar -czf backup-$(date mysqldump -u user -p database >
+%Y%m%d).[Link] /important/data [Link]

# Rsync backup # PostgreSQL backup

rsync -av /source/ pg_dump database > [Link]
/backup/destination/
# MongoDB backup
# Incremental backup with rsync mongodump --host localhost --db mydb
rsync -av --link- --out /backup/
dest=/previous/backup /source/
/new/backup/

🚨 Critical Security Practices

Always test your backups regularly. Store backups in multiple locations
including off-site. Encrypt sensitive backup data.
 Advanced Topics

Shell Scripting Essentials

Basic Script Template

#!/bin/bash

# Script: system_info.sh
# Description: Basic system information script

set -e # Exit on error

# Variables
HOSTNAME=$(hostname)
DATE=$(date +%Y-%m-%d)
LOG_FILE="/var/log/system_info.log"

# Functions
check_disk_usage() {
echo "=== Disk Usage ==="
df -h | grep -v tmpfs
}

check_memory() {
echo "=== Memory Usage ==="
free -h
}

# Main script
main() {
echo "System Report for $HOSTNAME - $DATE"
check_disk_usage
check_memory
}

# Execute main function

main "$@"
 Cron Jobs

Cron Syntax Cron Management

# Minute Hour Day Month DayOfWeek # Edit user crontab

Command crontab -e
# * * * * *
command # List current crontab
crontab -l
# Examples:
# Every minute # Remove all cron jobs
* * * * * /path/command crontab -r

# Every day at 2:30 AM # System cron (root)

30 2 * * * /path/[Link] sudo crontab -e

# Every Monday at 6 PM # Cron directories

0 18 * * 1 /path/[Link] /etc/[Link]/
/etc/[Link]/
# Every 10 minutes /etc/[Link]/
*/10 * * * * /path/[Link] /etc/[Link]/
 Useful One-Liners

Powerful One-Line Commands

# Find and delete old log files

find /var/log -name "*.log" -mtime +30 -delete

# Count lines of code in project

find . -name "*.py" -exec wc -l {} + | tail -1

# Monitor multiple log files simultaneously

tail -f /var/log/nginx/*.log /var/log/mysql/*.log

# Create backup with timestamp

tar -czf "backup-$(date +%Y%m%d-%H%M%S).[Link]" /important/data

# Kill processes matching pattern

pkill -f "python3 [Link]"

# SSH tunnel for MySQL access

ssh -L 3306:localhost:3306 user@dbserver
 Troubleshooting Guide

Common Issues & Solutions

Server Not Responding to SSH

1 Check if SSH service is running: sudo systemctl status ssh

2 Verify firewall rules: sudo ufw status

3 Check SSH port: sudo netstat -tulpn | grep :22

4 Examine SSH logs: sudo journalctl -u ssh -f

5 Test from different network

High CPU Usage

1 Identify top processes: top or htop

2 Check for zombie processes: ps aux | grep defunct

3 Monitor system load: uptime

4 Check for runaway scripts: ps aux --sort=-%cpu | head

5 Examine application logs

Disk Space Issues

1 Check disk usage: df -h

2 Find large directories: du -sh /* | sort -hr

3 Check for large log files: find /var/log -type f -size +100M

4 Clear package cache: sudo apt clean or sudo yum clean all

5 Check for core dumps: find / -name "core" -size +10M

Emergency Recovery

🚑 Emergency Procedures
These commands should only be used when the system is unresponsive or
in critical condition.
Emergency Recovery Commands

# Force filesystem check on reboot

sudo touch /forcefsck

# Enter single-user mode (emergency)

sudo systemctl rescue

# Kill process by name (forceful)

pkill -9 process_name

# Remount filesystem as read-write

mount -o remount,rw /

# Emergency memory cleanup

echo 3 > /proc/sys/vm/drop_caches

# Force service restart

sudo systemctl reset-failed service_name
 Quick Reference

Most Used Commands

File Operations Networking

▸ ls -la - Detailed listing ▸ ip addr - Network interfaces

▸ cp -r - Recursive copy ▸ netstat -tulpn - Open ports
▸ rm -rf - Force remove ▸ ss -tulpn - Modern netstat
▸ find / -name - Search files ▸ ping - Network test
▸ grep -r "text" - Recursive search ▸ traceroute - Route tracing

System Info Process Management

▸ uname -a - System info ▸ ps aux - All processes

▸ df -h - Disk space ▸ top - Process monitor
▸ free -h - Memory usage ▸ kill -9 - Force kill
▸ uptime - System uptime ▸ pkill - Kill by name
▸ lscpu - CPU information ▸ nice - Process priority

Keyboard Shortcuts

SHORTCUT DESCRIPTION CONTEXT

Ctrl + C Interrupt/Kill process Terminal

Ctrl + Z Suspend process Terminal

Ctrl + D Exit shell Terminal

Ctrl + R Search command history Bash

Ctrl + A Move to line start Terminal

Ctrl + E Move to line end Terminal

 ZH

Zubair H
Senior Systems Administrator

With over 8 years of experience in Linux system administration, cloud

infrastructure, and cybersecurity. Passionate about creating
comprehensive guides that help IT professionals work more efficiently.

🎯 Pro Tip
Keep this cheatsheet handy! Bookmark it or print it for quick reference
during critical system administration tasks.