Open source system admin tools

Handy Hard Disk Utilities for System Tweakers - We examine the finest open source tools to diagnose the health of a hard disk. We also look at software that can help improve the performance of a hard disk.

Choosing a Journaling File System - A journaling file system is a special type of file system that maintains a tracking file, called a journal.

The journal enables the system to repair any inconsistencies that may arise as a result of a system halted abnormally. Backup Software Backup software is used to perform a complete back up of a file, data, database, system or server. It enables users to make a duplicate of everything contained on the original source. This type of software is also used to perform a recovery of the data or system in the event of a disaster. Backup Tools - Explore backup software with intuitive graphical interfaces, applications that backup systems with snapshots, whilst not forgetting the powerful command-line tools that exist.

Simple Backup - Keep data safe with the minimum of fuss. Install software that hides the complexity of doing backups. DeDuplicating Encryption Tools - Deduplicating encrypting backup software. This technique therefore improves storage utilization.

Share this article. Share your Thoughts Cancel reply. System administration plays an essential role in the maintenance and operation of computer systems and networks. More than a great-looking control panel, Artica does the heavy lifting of installing and configuring the various applications needed to create an appliance of your choice: Postfix mail server with all the firewall, antispam, and antivirus trimmings, a Squid caching proxy server, or a NAS device running Samba that can double as a domain controller for your network.

Artica is a huge timesaver for sys admins, and it puts reliable Linux servers within reach of millions of small businesses who can't afford a dedicated admin. Do you have rack upon rack of servers, switches, and routers, and can't keep up with them all? RackTables keeps a database of each device in each of your racks in each of your data centers, and displays them in either a list format or a graphical representation of the racks.

Do you have a team of admins who need an accurate and up-to-date set of documentation to work together effectively? RackTables lets you set up multiple users with permissions to the specific racks or data centers they support. RackTables also employs a tagging system that helps you search and sort your equipment in the racks and data centers.

You can even use RackTables to manage details such as IP addresses or firewall rules. My pick is Rsnapshot , which is based on the excellent Rsync file mirroring utility. Rsnapshot uses Unix hard links to effectively keep a full backup for each snapshot while consuming only the network bandwidth and disk space of a differential backup.

The backups are saved to regular file systems on the backup server's hard drives, not tapes, so there's no media to change out. It has separate control panels for ISP admins, service resellers, and end customers. ISP Control Panel is designed to work with a specific set of server software apps, but it provides an almost turnkey system to run a Web hosting company. ISP Control Panel provides all the services that you would expect from a hosting company, including Sender Policy Framework records, bandwidth usage tracking, and spam filtering with graylisting functionality.

The first time I wanted to install Linux onto a USB thumb drive, I read a dozen different websites with a dozen different sets of instructions, and I got a dozen times frustrated. The UNetbootin project makes it easy to set up a Live Linux installation on a thumb drive. It's an easy way to carry Linux around with you. InfoWorld's sixth annual Best of Open Source Software Awards call out more than open source products in seven categories from app dev tools to games. Bossie Awards The best open source applications.

Bossie Awards The best open source application development tools. Bossie Awards The best open source data center and cloud software. Bossie Awards The best open source databases. Bossie Awards The best open source desktop applications. Bossie Awards The best open source networking and security software. Bossie Awards Now for something completely different.

Here are the latest Insider stories. More Insider Sign Out. Sign In Register. Sign Out Sign In Register. Latest Insider. Check out the latest Insider stories here. More from the IDG Network. Ntop Ntop is an open source network traffic tool that illustrates network usage in real-time. It is more like the UNIX top command, with which we can view network flow statistics and filter or sort the obtained output data.

It helps sys admins to know about the big bandwidth consumers. Windows sys admins prefer Ntop to take NetFlow and Flow data as inputs for analysis. It supports different management activities such as network optimisation and planning, and helps to detect network security violations. It helps in network flows and local traffic analysis.

It supports both NetFlow and Flow as a flow collector. It can simultaneously collect from more than one probe. The traffic statistics obtained are saved into RRD databases for long-run analysis. The discovery and categorisation of network assets are done according to their operating system and users. It consists of various protocol decoders for many Internet protocols. It provides RRD support for storing per-host traffic information, persistently.

It supports virtual or multiple network interfaces. The platforms supported by Ntop are: 1. Win32 Win95 and above, including Vista. Factors considered by Windows sys admins while choosing an open source tool Prior to purchasing any product in the market, several factors need to be considered.

The cost factor would be one of the most significant, but Windows sys admins need not bother about this as open source tools are available free of cost. The performance and efficiency of the tool is one of the most important aspects. One has to check whether the tool under consideration fulfils all requirements completely or not. A cross-platform tool is what most Windows sys admins prefer. It should be easy to learn and understand the tool so that it can be implemented and modified easily to meet specific requirements.

The tool should be highly secure. Windows admins would also prefer a tool that has proper support available for it.

The security aspect of open source tools for Windows sys admins Information security is one of the biggest challenges as well as priorities for Windows sys admins. The security of information or data depends a lot on the software or tools in use. The trustworthiness of any tool, either open source or closed source, depends on some key aspects of how the tool was designed and developed.

These include: 1. The expertise developers have to develop a secure tool. The security testing processes carried out before the tool is released. The quality of code used in the tool. Various mature practices followed through the development cycle. Once the open source software tool is made available to the public, anyone and everyone interested in the tool should be able to review the source code to assess its quality and reliability.

As it allows a greater number of users and experts to go through the source code, the bugs threatening its security can be discovered and fixed early. Though open source tools have the potential to be more secure than their closed source counterparts, there should be a proper evaluation of their security parameters before implementing them. Advantages of open source tools The various advantages of open source tools for Windows sys admins are: 1. They are more reliable as there are fewer chances of leakage in them.

No vendor dependence. Free of cost for use. They provide sys admins the flexibility to customise the code for site-specific needs. Windows admins can get a feel of the tools before actually implementing them.