https://access.redhat.com/articles/1189123
Common administrative commands in Red Hat Enterprise Linux 5, 6, and 7
Updated April 12 2017 at 11:20 AM -
System basics
| Task | RHEL5 | RHEL6 | RHEL7 |
|---|---|---|---|
| View subscription information | /etc/sysconfig/rhn/systemid | /etc/sysconfig/rhn/systemid subscription-manager identity |
subscription-manager identity |
| Configure subscription | rhn_register subscription-manager 1 |
rhn_register rhnreg_ks subscription-manager |
subscription-manager2 rhn_register 3 |
| View RHEL version information | /etc/redhat-release | ||
| View system profile | sosreport dmidecode hwbrowser |
sosreport dmidecode lstopo lscpu |
|
Basic configuration
| Task | RHEL5 | RHEL6 | RHEL7 |
|---|---|---|---|
| Graphical configuration tools | system-config-* | gnome-control-center | |
| Text-based configuration tools | system-config-*-tui | ||
| Configure printer | system-config-printer | ||
| Configure network | system-config-network | nmcli nmtui nm-connection-editor |
|
| Configure system language | system-config-language | localectl | |
| Configure time and date | system-config-date date |
timedatectl date |
|
| Synchronize time and date | ntpdate /etc/ntp.conf |
timedatectl /etc/chrony.conf ntpdate |
|
| Configure keyboard | system-config-keyboard | localectl | |
| Configure SSH | /etc/ssh/ssh_config /etc/ssh/sshd_config ~/.ssh/config ssh-keygen |
||
Jobs and services
| Task | RHEL5 | RHEL6 | RHEL7 |
|---|---|---|---|
| List all services | chkconfig --list ls /etc/init.d/ |
systemctl -at service ls /etc/systemd/system/*.service ls /usr/lib/systemd/system/*.service |
|
| List running services | service --status-all | systemctl -t service --state=active | |
| Start/stop service | service name start service name stop |
systemctl start name.service systemctl stop name.service |
|
| Enable/disable service | chkconfig name on chkconfig name off |
systemctl enable name.service systemctl disable name.service |
|
| View service status | service name status | systemctl status name.service | |
| Check if service is enabled | chkconfig name --list | systemctl is-enabled name | |
| Create new service file or modify configuration | chkconfig --add | systemctl daemon-reload /etc/systemd/system/*.service |
|
| View run level/target | runlevel who -r |
systemctl get-default who -r |
|
| Change run level/target | /etc/inittab init run_level |
systemctl isolate name.target systemctl set-default |
|
| Configure logging | /etc/syslog.conf | /etc/rsyslog.conf | /etc/rsyslog.conf /etc/rsyslog.d/*.conf /var/log/journal systemd-journald.service |
| View logs | /var/log | /var/log journalctl |
|
| Configure system audit | add audit=1 to kernel cmdline auditctl /etc/audit/auditd.conf /etc/audit/audit.rules authconfig /etc/pam.d/system-auth pam_tty_audit kernel module |
||
| View audit output | aureport /var/log/faillog | ||
| Schedule/batch tasks | cron at batch |
||
| Find file by name | locate | ||
| Find file by characteristic | find | ||
| Create archive | tar cpio zip |
||
Kernel, boot, and hardware
| Task | RHEL5 | RHEL6 | RHEL7 |
|---|---|---|---|
| Single user/rescue mode | append 1 or s or init=/bin/bash to kernel cmdline | append rd.break or init=/bin/bash to kernel cmdline | |
| Shut down system | shutdown | ||
| Power off system | poweroff | poweroff systemctl poweroff |
|
| Halt system | halt | halt systemctl halt |
|
| Reboot system | reboot | reboot systemctl reboot |
|
| Configure default run level/target | /etc/inittab | systemctl set-default | |
| Configure GRUB bootloader | /boot/grub/grub.conf | /etc/default/grub grub2-mkconfig grub-set-default |
|
| Configure kernel module | modprobe | ||
| View hardware configured | hwbrowser | lshw (in EPEL) | |
| Configure hardware device | udev | ||
| View kernel parameters | sysctl -a cat /proc/cmdline |
||
| Load kernel module | modprobe | ||
| Remove kernel module | modprobe -r | ||
| View kernel version | rpm -q kernel uname -r |
||
Software management
| Task | RHEL5 | RHEL6 | RHEL7 |
|---|---|---|---|
| Install software | yum install yum groupinstall |
yum install yum group install |
|
| View software info | yum info yum groupinfo |
yum info yum group info |
|
| Update software | yum update | ||
| Upgrade software | yum upgrade | ||
| Configure software repository | subscription-manager repos /etc/yum.repos.d/*.repo |
||
| Find package owning file | rpm -qf filename yum provides filename-glob |
||
| View software version | rpm -q packagename | ||
| View installed software | rpm -qa yum list installed |
||
User management
| Task | RHEL5 | RHEL6 | RHEL7 |
|---|---|---|---|
| Graphical user management | system-config-users | ||
| Create user account | useradd | ||
| Delete user account | userdel | ||
| View/change user account details | usermod /etc/passwd vipw id |
||
| Create user group | groupadd | ||
| Delete user group | groupdel | ||
| Change group details | groupmod /etc/group |
||
| Change user password | passwd | ||
| Change user permissions | usermod visudo |
||
| Change group permissions | groupmod visudo |
||
| Change password policy | chage | ||
| View user sessions | w | ||
File systems, volumes, and disks
| Task | RHEL5 | RHEL6 | RHEL7 |
|---|---|---|---|
| Default file system | ext3 | ext4 | xfs |
| Create/modify disk partitions | fdisk parted |
fdisk gdisk parted ssm create |
|
| Format disk partition | mkfs.filesystem_type (ext4, xfs) mkswap |
mkfs.filesystem_type (ext4, xfs) mkswap ssm create |
|
| Defragment disk space | copy data to new file system fsck (look for 'non-contiguous inodes') |
copy data to new file system fsck (look for 'non-contiguous inodes') xfs_fsr |
|
| Mount storage | mount /etc/fstab |
mount /etc/fstab ssm mount |
|
| Mount and activate swap | /etc/fstab swapon -a |
||
| Configure static mounts | /etc/fstab | ||
| View free disk space | df | ||
| View logical volume info | lvdisplay lvs vgdisplay vgs pvdisplay pvs |
||
| Create physical volume | pvcreate | pvcreate ssm create (if backend is lvm) |
|
| Create volume group | vgcreate | vgcreate ssm create (if backend is lvm) |
|
| Create logical volume | lvcreate | lvcreate ssm create (if backend is lvm) |
|
| Enlarge volumes formatted with default file system | vgextend lvextend resize2fs |
vgextend lvextend xfs_growfs ssm resize |
|
| Shrink volumes formatted with default file system | resize2fs lvreduce vgreduce |
XFS cannot currently be shrunk; copy desired data to a smaller file system. | |
| Check/repair file system | fsck | fsck ssm check |
|
| View NFS share | showmount -e mount |
||
| Configure NFS share | /etc/exports service nfs reload |
/etc/exports systemctl reload nfs.service |
|
| Configure on-demand auto-mounts | /etc/auto.master.d/*.autofs /etc/auto.* |
||
| Change file permissions | chmod chown chgrp umask (future file creation) |
||
| Change file attributes | chattr | ||
| Change access control list | setfacl | ||
Networking
| Task | RHEL5 | RHEL6 | RHEL7 |
|---|---|---|---|
| Configure name resolution | /etc/hosts /etc/resolv.conf |
/etc/hosts /etc/resolv.conf nmcli con mod |
|
| Configure hostname | /etc/sysconfig/network | hostnamectl /etc/hostname nmtui |
|
| View network interface info | ip addr ifconfig brctl |
ip addr nmcli dev show teamdctl brctl bridge |
|
| Configure network interface | /etc/sysconfig/network-scripts/ifcfg-* | /etc/sysconfig/network-scripts/ifcfg-* nmcli con [add|mod|edit] nmtui nm-connection-editor |
|
| View routes | ip route | ||
| Configure routes | ip route add system-config-network /etc/sysconfig/route-iface |
ip route add nmcli nmtui nm-connection-editor /etc/sysconfig/route-iface |
|
| Configure firewall | iptables and ip6tables /etc/sysconfig/ip*tables |
iptables and ip6tables /etc/sysconfig/ip*tables system-config-firewall |
firewall-cmd firewall-config |
| View ports/sockets | ss lsof netstat |
ss lsof |
|
Security and identity
| Task | RHEL5 | RHEL6 | RHEL7 |
|---|---|---|---|
| Configure system security | /etc/selinux/config chcon restorecon semanage setsebool system-config-selinux |
||
| Report on system security | sealert | ||
| LDAP, SSSD, Kerberos | authconfig authconfig-tui authconfig-gtk |
||
| Network users | getent | ||
Resource management
| Task | RHEL5 | RHEL6 | RHEL7 |
|---|---|---|---|
| Trace system calls | strace | ||
| Trace library calls | ltrace | ||
| Change process priority | nice renice |
||
| Change process run location | taskset | ||
| Kill a process | kill pkill killall |
||
| View system usage | top ps sar iostat netstat vmstat mpstat numastat |
top ps sar iostat netstat ss vmstat mpstat numastat tuna |
top ps sar iostat ss vmstat mpstat numastat tuna |
| View disk usage | df | df iostat |
|
-
Be aware of potential issues when using subscription-manager on Red Hat Enterprise Linux 5: https://access.redhat.com/solutions/129003. ↩
-
subscription-manager is used for Satellite 6, Satellite 5.6 with SAM and newer, and Red Hat's CDN. ↩
-
RHN tools are deprecated on Red Hat Enterprise Linux 7. rhn_register should be used for Satellite server 5.6 and newer only. For details, see: What's the difference between management services provided by Red Hat Network (RHN) Classic and Red Hat Customer Portal Subscription Management/RHSM?, Transition of Red Hat Network Classic Hosted to Red Hat Subscription Management, and Satellite 5.6 unable to register RHEL 7 client system due to rhn-setup package not included in Minimal installation↩