today's howtos
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Network World ☛ Tracking user logins on Linux
This post examines a number of commands that can help you view and understand user logins and the time users spend on your Linux servers.
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GO Media ☛ How to Install Software on Linux
If you're trying out Linux—or completely switching over to it—after getting used to Windows or macOS, you're going to have to familiarize yourself with how software gets installed on this open source operating system. It's not a difficult process, but it doesn't work in quite the same way as it does on the Microsoft and Apple platforms.
There are also new terms to get acquainted with, which may throw you to begin with. Here then is your complete guide to how to install software on Linux: This guide looks at Ubuntu specifically, but a lot of the same principles apply to all of the other Linux distros too, and the steps shouldn't be too dissimilar if you're using something else.
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ZDNet ☛ How to set up a Linux NFS server on your home network (and why)
If you need to share folders across your network and speed is your top priority, NFS might be the solution for you.
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LWN ☛ Application monitoring with OpenSnitch
OpenSnitch is an ""interactive application firewall"". Like other firewalls, it uses a series of rules to decide what network traffic should be permitted. Unlike many other firewalls, though, OpenSnitch does not ask the user to create a list of rules ahead of time. Instead, the list of rules can be built up incrementally as applications make connections — and the user can peruse both the rules that have built up over time, and statistics on the connections that have been attempted.
The OpenSnitch project was started in 2017 by Simone Margaritelli as a native Linux alternative to the Little Snitch firewall application for Apple devices. Usually, firewalls focus on blocking unwanted inbound connections; both Snitches, on the other hand, specialize in blocking unwanted outgoing connections — hopefully foiling unwanted tracking, advertising, and malware connections to command-and-control servers. Over the past seven years, the GPLv3-licensed project has accepted contributions from 80 other contributors, and grown into a capable firewall. Version 1.6.6, released at the beginning of July, contains a small set of bug fixes and improvements.