If you use Tarball or Gzip file archives for storing your data, occasionally you may need to extract only a few select files or directories, rather than the entire archive file’s contents. Many people waste time, CPU, and drive space extracting the entire archive only to get access to a few of the contents, then to discard the rest of the data.

Why should one wait on files to extract that will just be deleted immediately after, without being used? Thanks to the great minds behind the tar application for Unix and Linux; we have been privileged with a solution. A little-known time saving tip is that extracting only specified directories or files from a tar gzip file is possible. Continue Reading

What’s a Ball of Tar and a Zipper Have to do with My Linux Box?

Tarball files ( .tar ) are file archives commonly used in Linux and Unix file systems to store data backups and to assist in transferring of multiple files and directories quickly. Usually, tarbal ( .tar ) files are compressed with the GZIP library in order to save space, and make transferring quicker. Gzip’d tarball files are often have a .gz or .gzip file extension succeeding the .tar, and in equal are commonly used to backup and store data, as well as for transferring multiple files and directories around on the internet quickly and easily.

Why View the Contents of an Archive Without Extracting It?

There may be occasions when you simply want to see what is inside of a tar gzip file without having to actually extract the contents. This is Continue Reading

Many Linux Based Operating System Distribution Variants will require a manual reboot or restart of the network interface card to apply any changes you have made to the networking configuration after you’ve completed your work.

So how do you quickly restart the networking interface card without bringing down the whole server for longer than necessary? Luckily, Linux allows us to easily restart the networking interface without having to reboot, meaning we can have your network connection back up in seconds rather than a few minutes due to rebooting.

Do I need to restart my NIC if I…

If you’re not sure if the changes you’ve made warrant a network restart, you can check this quick list I put together of common changes made to the networking interface configurations for Ethernet adapters. Continue Reading

You wish you didn’t have to copy files and folders twice on your Linux web server, and consistently have to come up with a way to keep the duplicate files or directories synchronized?

A symbolic link in Linux or Unix is a virtual pointer to another directory or file. It acts in all ways as if it were the original file or folder. A symlink will appear in any directory listing (ls -al), and will indicate the original directory or file. All child directories of a symlink directory will inherit the symbolic link’s directory path when accessed through the symlink. Any changes made to the symbolically linked file or directory, will occur in the original actual file or directory, as the symbolic link just points straight to it. Continue Reading

Officer Symbolic Link says he is “not the real hero”. Rather, Officer Symbolic Link said that Linux Torvald and Solaris were “the ones who [we] should be thanking” for the saving of Mr. Linux from almost certain data corruption and death.

The incident happened in the Down Town File Systems area known to town citizens as “EXT3″. An operator for Open Source Organization wishing to remain anonymous commented that he was “glad to see Linux safe and sound with as few shards of duplicates as possible”. Linux had been running stable in EXT3 for many months until yesterday evening, shortly after Peak Network Traffic Hour had passed, when he noticed someone copying him in every bit immediately behind him. Continue Reading