In the world of DevOps, mastering Linux commands is a must. Whether you’re automating deployments or managing cloud servers, these 10 commands will become part of your daily toolkit.
🔟 Top Linux Commands:
1. top
Monitor live system resource usage.
2. df -h
View disk usage with human-readable format.
3. du -sh <folder>
Check the size of a specific folder.
4. ps aux | grep <process>
Find running processes by name.
5. chmod and chown
Change file permissions and ownership.
6. scp
Securely copy files between servers.
7. rsync
Efficient file sync and transfer, useful for backups.
8. journalctl -xe
Read system logs, especially useful on systemd-based distros.
9. netstat or ss -tuln
Check which ports are open/listening.
10. crontab -e
Schedule recurring jobs (automated scripts, backups).
🧰 Bonus: Real-World Use Case
While setting up Jenkins on an EC2 instance, I used
scpto transfer my plugin config andjournalctl -xeto troubleshoot the Jenkins service when it failed to start.
🏁 Conclusion:
Mastering Linux commands not only saves time but also gives you deep control over your infrastructure. These are the building blocks every DevOps engineer should sharpen regularly.