In part 1 of our series about getting started with Linux, we learned how to download Linux, whether you should use the CLI or the GUI, how to get a SSH client, how to login to Linux and how to get help. In this post, you’ll learn how to know what type of Linux you are using and how to navigate the Linux file system.
Because there are so many different types of Linux, you want to be sure you know what distribution and version you are using (for the sake of searching the right documentation on the Internet, if nothing else). Keep in mind a couple different commands to identify your Linux version.
The uname command shows the basic type of operating system you are using, like this:
david@debian:~$ uname -a
Linux debian 3.16.0-4-686-pae #1 SMP Debian 3.16.43-2 (2017-04-30) i686 GNU/Linux
And the hostnamectl command shows you the hostname of the Linux server as well as other system information, like the machine ID, virtualization hypervisor (if used), operating system and Linux kernel version. Here’s an example:
david@debian:~$ hostnamectl
Static hostname: debian
Icon name: computer-vm
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Russ White on the tragedy of BGP
Stateful container storage models support more robust applications.
Apple is promising $10 billion for new U.S. data centers.
Nick Russo and I stopped by the Network Collective last week to talk about BGP traffic engineering—and in the process I confused BGP deterministic MED and always compare MED. I’ve embedded the video below.
Verizon’s Vestberg describes fixed 5G as just a “slice” of the company’s bigger 5G plan.
Tech Data will distribute the all-flash integrated appliances that run the software.
I will be presenting at the CCDE Techtorial at Cisco Live in Barcelona on the 30th of January. This is a great opportunity to come out and learn about the Cisco Certified Design Expert from one of the best group of speakers around.
I will be at IETF 101 in London in March. If you have never been to an IETF before and live in the London area, this is a great chance to come see how the standardization process works, and even get involved for the long term.

Democratizing the Internet and making new features available to all Cloudflare customers is a core part of what we do. We're proud to be early adopters and have a long record of adopting new standards early, such as HTTP/2, as well as features that are experimental or not yet final, like TLS 1.3 and SPDY.
Participating in the Internet democracy occasionally means that ideas and technologies that were once popular or ubiquitous on the net lose their utility as newer technologies emerge. SPDY is one such technology. Several years ago, Google drafted a proprietary and experimental new protocol called SPDY. SPDY offered many performance improvements over the aging HTTP/1.1 standard and these improvements resulted in significantly faster page load times for real-world websites. Stemming from its success, SPDY became the starting point for HTTP/2 and, when the new HTTP standard was finalized, the SPDY experiment came to an end where it gradually fell into disuse.
As a result, we're announcing our intention to deprecate the use of SPDY for connections made to Cloudflare's edge by February 21st, 2018.
Five and a half years ago, when the majority of the web was unencrypted and web developers Continue reading
Geoff Huston reports the miserable state of Internet BGP
Summary: Generally available today, VMware NSX for vSphere 6.4 raises the bar for application security and planning, and introduces context-aware micro-segmentation
For those working in security, thinking and talking about the cyber threats in the world is a constant, a necessary evil. So, for a moment, let’s summon a better time to our memory. Remember when breaches didn’t keep us up at night? The threat of a breach didn’t hang over our heads with an associated cost of millions of dollars and the privacy of our users. In fact, it did, but they weren’t frequent or public enough to cause the awakening that they do today. We put up a wall at the perimeter to keep the bad guys out, and prayed.
OK, back to modern times. Today, we know the story is much different, for better and for worse. Breaches are more prevalent, but our defenses are more sophisticated and more importantly, they’re continuously evolving (just like the breaches). One major piece of this newer defense picture is micro-segmentation. With micro-segmentation, security policies traditionally only enforced at the perimeter are now brought down to the application. Micro-segmentation has gained massive traction and entered the mainstream, with most cloud Continue reading
Nepal’s rural population remains largely disconnected from the Internet. The problem is further aggravated by the devastating 7.8 Richter scale earthquake and the subsequent aftershocks that have been shaking Nepal since April 2015 and that left nearly 9,000 people dead.
The Internet Society Nepal Chapter, in partnership with the NPO “Forum for Digital Equality“, led a successful project to reduce the digital divide by facilitating the establishment of three Community Learning Hubs. The project, supported by The Internet Society Beyond the Net Funding Programme, set up the centers in three Nepali districts that were badly affected by the earthquake: Dhading, Sindhupalchowk and Dolakha.
Each Hub is being visited 100/day by community members. More than 1500 people are now accessing the Internet for free. To ensure a sustainable model for the project, services like printing and scanning are charged. The raised revenue is used to pay for operator salaries, repair and maintenance services.
Goma Shrestha, community ITC operator, proudly explains, “We started “eSewa”, an online payment gateway. Villagers used to go to the market to recharge their mobile and cable service, but now we have facilities in our own community”.
The Continue reading
With Nutanix, the team can spin up a VM in a matter of minutes.