most useful Linux commands for DevOps engineers
Vaibhav Upare3 min read
🔧 1. System & Process Monitoring
| Command | Description |
top or htop | View real-time CPU, memory, and process usage. |
ps aux | Show running processes with detailed info. |
free -h | Check available and used memory. |
df -h | Display disk space usage. |
du -sh * | Show folder sizes in the current directory. |
uptime | Show system load average and uptime. |
vmstat | Monitor memory, CPU, I/O, and system processes. |
📦 2. Package Management
| Command | Description |
apt update && apt upgrade | (Debian/Ubuntu) Update and upgrade packages. |
yum update or dnf update | (CentOS/RHEL) Update packages. |
snap install <package> | Install via Snap. |
dpkg -i <package.deb> | Install a .deb package manually. |
📁 3. File & Directory Management
| Command | Description |
ls -lh | List files with size and permissions. |
cd, pwd | Change and print working directory. |
cp, mv, rm | Copy, move, and remove files. |
find . -name "*.log" | Find files recursively. |
tar -czvf file.tar.gz folder/ | Compress files using tar + gzip. |
unzip file.zip | Extract zip files. |
🌐 4. Networking
| Command | Description |
curl -I http://example.com | Check HTTP response headers. |
ping <host> | Check network connectivity. |
netstat -tulpn | Show open ports and listening services. |
ss -tuln | Faster alternative to netstat. |
traceroute <host> | Show network path to destination. |
dig, nslookup | DNS query tools. |
iptables / ufw | Manage firewall rules. |
🗂 5. Disk, Logs, and Permissions
| Command | Description |
chmod, chown | Change file permissions and ownership. |
ls -l | View file permissions. |
tail -f /var/log/syslog | Watch logs in real-time. |
journalctl -u <service> | View systemd service logs. |
lsof -i :80 | List processes using port 80. |
🛠 6. Services and Systemd
| Command | Description |
systemctl status nginx | Check service status. |
systemctl start/stop/restart nginx | Manage service. |
systemctl enable nginx | Enable service at boot. |
service nginx status | Alternative to systemctl. |
🔄 7. Users and SSH
| Command | Description |
adduser <username> | Add new user. |
passwd <username> | Set/change user password. |
sudo | Run command with elevated privileges. |
ssh user@host | Connect to remote server. |
scp file user@host:/path | Securely copy files to/from remote servers. |
⚙️ 8. Scripting and Automation
| Command | Description |
crontab -e | Schedule recurring tasks. |
bash script.sh | Execute shell scripts. |
chmod +x script.sh | Make script executable. |
env / export VAR=value | Manage environment variables. |
🧪 9. DevOps-Specific Tools
| Tool | Command |
| Git | git clone, git pull, git status |
| Docker | docker ps, docker exec, docker-compose up |
| Kubernetes | kubectl get pods, kubectl logs |
| Ansible | ansible-playbook play.yml |
| Terraform | terraform init, terraform apply |
| Jenkins | jenkins-cli.jar commands |
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Written by
Vaibhav Upare
Vaibhav Upare
"Passionate DevOps Engineer dedicated to crafting robust, scalable, and automated solutions for seamless software delivery. With expertise in cloud technologies, CI/CD pipelines, and infrastructure as code, I thrive on optimizing workflows and driving collaboration between development and operations teams. Let's build together for continuous innovation and efficiency."