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I'm managing Linux servers for my team. For each new instance, I install the following softwares:

  • etckeeper which keeps tracks of every changes in /etc
  • shorewall to have a simple setup for firewall
  • rsnapshot which keep incremental backup of important directories
  • cron-apt takes charge of update of the system (or, in my case, send me an email to warn me about new updates)

But I was wondering if you administrators have any other wonderful tools for daily management. I'm not talking about remote group management (like cfengine) but little tools which help to manage a small number of Linux servers.

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    Puppety puppety puppet all the things! Aug 14, 2012 at 16:16

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I differ on the specifics (firehol, dirvish, apticron) instead of (shorewall, rsnapshot, cron-apt), but your list includes the essential tools.

I would suggest you should add something like denyhosts or fail2ban since you most likely have ssh enabled.

I also typically install a set of tools to help manage the system like

curl, wget, iperf, netcat, tcpdump, wireshark, rsync, netstat-nat, conntrack, screen, xbase-clients, xclip, pastebinit

I have a full list of packages I install on every Debian Lenny system I am responsible for here.

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  • wireshark ? tcpdump ? what is he use for these tools ?
    – Kartoch
    Mar 25, 2010 at 21:57
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    They are sniffers for diagnosing network problems. I find it is important to get them installed before you need them. By the time you notice you have network problems you may have problems installing those tools or getting someone physically at the console to install them for you.
    – Zoredache
    Mar 25, 2010 at 22:33

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