Let's talk about Scripting - Learning it

I use CentOS and Ubuntu on a daily basis but with the availability of Cpanel and Webmin or other panels most of these things I never need to touch or make a script for. Even with most popular applications the scripts are all included.

I just want to know some good resources or books for learning bash | perl that focus on system administration. I absolutely suck at this kind of stuff because to me it all seems like programming. In order to move up I need to learn this skill.

The resources I have been able to find are either too basic (usually web sites) or books geared to either users learning the command line or programming. Where is the middle ground?

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UnixGuy

Bash and perl and different things so pick one and focus on it (for now). I'd pick Bash any day.

Pick O'Reilly bash books, read it and workout all the examples. Then pick O'Reilly cookbook and do the same.

Use it actively at work, and Google things when you get stuck (Stack exchange will be your best friend).

Enjoy.

DoubleNNs

Get a bash or perl programming book. Honestly, you might think it's "programming" but both of those are languages heavily used for scripting so the books tailer to that, not software engineering and algorithms.
For general administration, bash would be easier to apply.

Expect

Bash all the way.

use "Pro Bash Programming" by OReilly, it's a pretty good book for shell scripting.

DoubleNNs

Personally, I went from "the Linux Command Line" to "Unix Shell Programming"
Unix Shell Programming (3rd Edition): Stephen G. Kochan, Patrick Wood: 9780672324901: Amazon.com: Books

Verities

I've been reading Linux Command Line and Shell Scripting Bible, 3rd Edition and have found it to be overall an easy read. Even though I think there's too many of these damn BASH scripting books, I'm adding all the ones listed in this thread to my reading list.

kenrin

I think i'm going to pick up the Unix Shell Programming and Linux Command Line and Shell Scripting Bible after reading the reviews on a lot of books. There was another one that I liked the reviews on but it was expensive compared to others. It has a very long title "Mastering Unix Shell Scripting: Bash, Bourne, and Korn Shell Scripting for Programmers, System Administrators, and UNIX Gurus"

My shelf is getting massive here at work. >.<

Xavor

The Bash scripting guide (free online):
Advanced Bash-Scripting Guide

Python course at Codeacademy (free online)

Understanding how to:
for x in `sed | awk | sort `; do something $x; done
is the basics for bash

There is expect scripting if you need to login to servers to do commands (think no root logins)

Python for more advanced scripting and/or reading comprehension for linux errors because many linux programs are python.

Since you're doing web admin apparently, learning to use scripting to parse your logs is a good real world scenario.

lsud00d

There are so many good articles on this site--

nixCraft — Linux Tips, Hacks, Tutorials, And Ideas In Blog

As others have hinted at, bash/linux shell scripting is focused on text manipulation to do things. Grep, sed, awk, cut, sort, etc will take you far.

Joe_Wulf

+1 for Xavor on promoting the Bash Scripting Guide; I was going to mention it, but glad to see someone already did!
+1 for lsud00d on promoting the nixCraft web site.

Both are excellent resources.

ally_uk

Does anybody have any good examples of menu driven system administration scripts? or know any good books that teach you how to build one?

DoubleNNs

Almost all scripting books will touch on that.
ally_uk, I've seen you post a lot about scripting for months and asking for resources. Have you gone thru any of the suggestions we've provided yet?

ally_uk

I can't decide whether to learn bash scripting or python my mind is torn between the two

I have been watching some Python 3 videos recently am currently making my way through the CBT videos, and other videos I am just having trouble getting
focused though and knuckling down.

brombulec

Learn both - you'll have bash/csh/sh on each and every server but I'm 100% sure that you'll find a server without installed python (for security reasons). So knowing both is IMHO the best option.

--
Regards

UnixGuy

agree, start with Bash, it will only take a month trust me! It's really easy. Get started and it'll all flow.

JockVSJock

Alot of good tips here on this thread. I wanted to add my own as well.

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lsud00d

ally_uk wrote: »

Does anybody have any good examples of menu driven system administration scripts? or know any good books that teach you how to build one?

The linux command dialog is perfect for this--I made a "GUI"-driven shellscript for admin'ing Squid proxy that centered around either one or multiple one-liners as functions that did common tasks like emptying cache, rotating log files, re-read config (after config is updated), etc.

UNIX Command Line: Linux dialog utility short tutorial

Bash display dialog boxes - Linux Shell Scripting Tutorial - A Beginner's handbook

ally_uk

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=btmV1B8M4F4

found the above resource on Bash Scripting, Also more videos on different Linux subjects could be useful for some people

UnixGuy

@ally_uk: Paralysis by analysis. You're thinking too much about resources. Grab a bash book - any book - and start. It's not as hard as you think it is. There is no perfect resource. There's no perfect language. There is no perfect way to start. All you need to do is actually start somewhere - with anything. It's an on going process, scritping is a skill that you have to use a lot. and when you stop using it you will forget things - it's normal. Just start mate

ally_uk

Yeah you are right, I am getting ahead of myself it always seems to be a case of initially I sit down start reading a book or watch videos and then I jump ahead and become fixated on how to do one specific task. I then jump around resources and get ahead of myself and end up with headaches.

I need to take things down a level and start with the basics and gradually inc operate concepts.