Linux Newbie Mistakes

Linux_Logo Being a Network Administrator I’ve ran my fair share of Linux servers with various Linux OS’s on them doing many things.  I’ve decided to give you some tips on using the Linux OS when you are more familiar with another OS.  This isn’t meant to give you everything you need, but give you the ground to build upon.

One of the first things I noticed when working with Linux for the first time, many year ago was Linux does not run “.exe” files.  Linux is like the other OS’s by the fact that it has it’s own install files.  Now there is a way around this by installing a program called WINE, but that’s another lesson. So you can’t just bring files over from Windows and expect them to work.

Also a lesson to learn is not every version on Linux is the same, just as every version of Windows or Mac OS is not the same.  In fact it’s worse than that, as every version of Linux is made by a different company.  Make sure you experiment and find which one is best for you needs.

Also learn the basic Linux commands, I couldn’t tell you at first how many time I would type “dir” or other windows commands into the prompt and then get upset when nothing happened.  Linux is not Windows, so take some time and learn the basics.  In the same vein as that, Linux disk structure isn’t like windows, there isn’t a “C:\” in Linux.

Updates are just as important to Linux as Windows.  In my career I’ve been guilty in the past of ignoring updates to a Linux server because I just didn’t know how.  This was disaster when the network was hacked and a server without years of updates was taken over and had to be physically removed from the network.  I would have never treated a Windows machine like that, but we often do it for Linux, make sure you learn enough to keep it safe.

Hopefully these will help you when you first encounter a Linux server at the job, even if you don’t I recommend that you get a working knowledge of Linux because you never know when it’s going to come in handy.  Especially if you ever need to use any tools from my article: Admin Toolkit: 5 Linux tools you need for Windows

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