Linux Shell Scripting

Core Workflow

Phase 1: File Backup Scripts

Basic Directory Backup

#!/bin/bash
backup_dir="/path/to/backup"
source_dir="/path/to/source"

# Create a timestamped backup of the source directory
tar -czf "$backup_dir/backup_$(date +%Y%m%d_%H%M%S).tar.gz" "$source_dir"
echo "Backup completed: backup_$(date +%Y%m%d_%H%M%S).tar.gz"

Remote Server Backup

#!/bin/bash
source_dir="/path/to/source"
remote_server="user@remoteserver:/path/to/backup"

# Backup files/directories to a remote server using rsync
rsync -avz --progress "$source_dir" "$remote_server"
echo "Files backed up to remote server."

Backup Rotation Script

#!/bin/bash
backup_dir="/path/to/backups"
max_backups=5

# Rotate backups by deleting the oldest if more than max_backups
while [ $(ls -1 "$backup_dir" | wc -l) -gt "$max_backups" ]; do
    oldest_backup=$(ls -1t "$backup_dir" | tail -n 1)
    rm -r "$backup_dir/$oldest_backup"
    echo "Removed old backup: $oldest_backup"
done
echo "Backup rotation completed."

Database Backup Script

#!/bin/bash
database_name="your_database"
db_user="username"
db_pass="password"
output_file="database_backup_$(date +%Y%m%d).sql"

# Perform database backup using mysqldump
mysqldump -u "$db_user" -p"$db_pass" "$database_name" > "$output_file"
gzip "$output_file"
echo "Database backup created: $output_file.gz"

Phase 2: System Monitoring Scripts

CPU Usage Monitor

#!/bin/bash
threshold=90

# Monitor CPU usage and trigger alert if threshold exceeded
cpu_usage=$(top -bn1 | grep "Cpu(s)" | awk '{print $2}' | cut -d. -f1)

if [ "$cpu_usage" -gt "$threshold" ]; then
    echo "ALERT: High CPU usage detected: $cpu_usage%"
    # Add notification logic (email, slack, etc.)
    # mail -s "CPU Alert" [email protected] <<< "CPU usage: $cpu_usage%"
fi

Disk Space Monitor

#!/bin/bash
threshold=90
partition="/dev/sda1"

# Monitor disk usage and trigger alert if threshold exceeded
disk_usage=$(df -h | grep "$partition" | awk '{print $5}' | cut -d% -f1)

if [ "$disk_usage" -gt "$threshold" ]; then
    echo "ALERT: High disk usage detected: $disk_usage%"
    # Add alert/notification logic here
fi

CPU Usage Logger

#!/bin/bash
output_file="cpu_usage_log.txt"

# Log current CPU usage to a file with timestamp
timestamp=$(date '+%Y-%m-%d %H:%M:%S')
cpu_usage=$(top -bn1 | grep 'Cpu(s)' | awk '{print $2}' | cut -d. -f1)
echo "$timestamp - CPU Usage: $cpu_usage%" >> "$output_file"
echo "CPU usage logged."

System Health Check

#!/bin/bash
output_file="system_health_check.txt"

# Perform system health check and save results to a file
{
    echo "System Health Check - $(date)"
    echo "================================"
    echo ""
    echo "Uptime:"
    uptime
    echo ""
    echo "Load Average:"
    cat /proc/loadavg
    echo ""
    echo "Memory Usage:"
    free -h
    echo ""
    echo "Disk Usage:"
    df -h
    echo ""
    echo "Top Processes:"
    ps aux --sort=-%cpu | head -10
} > "$output_file"

echo "System health check saved to $output_file"

Phase 3: User Management Scripts

User Account Creation

#!/bin/bash
username="newuser"

# Check if user exists; if not, create new user
if id "$username" &>/dev/null; then
    echo "User $username already exists."
else
    useradd -m -s /bin/bash "$username"
    echo "User $username created."
    
    # Set password interactively
    passwd "$username"
fi

Password Expiry Checker

#!/bin/bash
output_file="password_expiry_report.txt"

# Check password expiry for users with bash shell
echo "Password Expiry Report - $(date)" > "$output_file"
echo "=================================" >> "$output_file"

IFS=$'\n'
for user in $(grep "/bin/bash" /etc/passwd | cut -d: -f1); do
    password_expires=$(chage -l "$user" 2>/dev/null | grep "Password expires" | awk -F: '{print $2}')
    echo "User: $user - Password Expires: $password_expires" >> "$output_file"
done
unset IFS

echo "Password expiry report saved to $output_file"

Phase 4: Security Scripts

Password Generator

#!/bin/bash
length=${1:-16}

# Generate a random password
password=$(openssl rand -base64 48 | tr -dc 'a-zA-Z0-9!@#$%^&*' | head -c"$length")
echo "Generated password: $password"

File Encryption Script

#!/bin/bash
file="$1"
action="${2:-encrypt}"

if [ -z "$file" ]; then
    echo "Usage: $0 <file> [encrypt|decrypt]"
    exit 1
fi

if [ "$action" == "encrypt" ]; then
    # Encrypt file using AES-256-CBC
    openssl enc -aes-256-cbc -salt -pbkdf2 -in "$file" -out "$file.enc"
    echo "File encrypted: $file.enc"
elif [ "$action" == "decrypt" ]; then
    # Decrypt file
    output_file="${file%.enc}"
    openssl enc -aes-256-cbc -d -pbkdf2 -in "$file" -out "$output_file"
    echo "File decrypted: $output_file"
fi

Phase 5: Log Analysis Scripts

Error Log Extractor

#!/bin/bash
logfile="${1:-/var/log/syslog}"
output_file="error_log_$(date +%Y%m%d).txt"

# Extract lines with "ERROR" from the log file
grep -i "error\|fail\|critical" "$logfile" > "$output_file"
echo "Error log created: $output_file"
echo "Total errors found: $(wc -l < "$output_file")"

Web Server Log Analyzer

#!/bin/bash
log_file="${1:-/var/log/apache2/access.log}"

echo "Web Server Log Analysis"
echo "========================"
echo ""
echo "Top 10 IP Addresses:"
awk '{print $1}' "$log_file" | sort | uniq -c | sort -rn | head -10
echo ""
echo "Top 10 Requested URLs:"
awk '{print $7}' "$log_file" | sort | uniq -c | sort -rn | head -10
echo ""
echo "HTTP Status Code Distribution:"
awk '{print $9}' "$log_file" | sort | uniq -c | sort -rn

Phase 6: Network Scripts

Network Connectivity Checker

#!/bin/bash
hosts=("8.8.8.8" "1.1.1.1" "google.com")

echo "Network Connectivity Check"
echo "=========================="

for host in "${hosts[@]}"; do
    if ping -c 1 -W 2 "$host" &>/dev/null; then
        echo "[UP] $host is reachable"
    else
        echo "[DOWN] $host is unreachable"
    fi
done

Website Uptime Checker

#!/bin/bash
websites=("https://google.com" "https://github.com")
log_file="uptime_log.txt"

echo "Website Uptime Check - $(date)" >> "$log_file"

for website in "${websites[@]}"; do
    if curl --output /dev/null --silent --head --fail --max-time 10 "$website"; then
        echo "[UP] $website is accessible" | tee -a "$log_file"
    else
        echo "[DOWN] $website is inaccessible" | tee -a "$log_file"
    fi
done

Network Interface Info

#!/bin/bash
interface="${1:-eth0}"

echo "Network Interface Information: $interface"
echo "========================================="
ip addr show "$interface" 2>/dev/null || ifconfig "$interface" 2>/dev/null
echo ""
echo "Routing Table:"
ip route | grep "$interface"

Phase 7: Automation Scripts

Automated Package Installation

#!/bin/bash
packages=("vim" "htop" "curl" "wget" "git")

echo "Installing packages..."

for package in "${packages[@]}"; do
    if dpkg -l | grep -q "^ii  $package"; then
        echo "[SKIP] $package is already installed"
    else
        sudo apt-get install -y "$package"
        echo "[INSTALLED] $package"
    fi
done

echo "Package installation completed."

Task Scheduler (Cron Setup)

#!/bin/bash
scheduled_task="/path/to/your_script.sh"
schedule_time="0 2 * * *"  # Run at 2 AM daily

# Add task to crontab
(crontab -l 2>/dev/null; echo "$schedule_time $scheduled_task") | crontab -
echo "Task scheduled: $schedule_time $scheduled_task"

Service Restart Script

#!/bin/bash
service_name="${1:-apache2}"

# Restart a specified service
if systemctl is-active --quiet "$service_name"; then
    echo "Restarting $service_name..."
    sudo systemctl restart "$service_name"
    echo "Service $service_name restarted."
else
    echo "Service $service_name is not running. Starting..."
    sudo systemctl start "$service_name"
    echo "Service $service_name started."
fi

Phase 8: File Operations

Directory Synchronization

#!/bin/bash
source_dir="/path/to/source"
destination_dir="/path/to/destination"

# Synchronize directories using rsync
rsync -avz --delete "$source_dir/" "$destination_dir/"
echo "Directories synchronized successfully."

Data Cleanup Script

#!/bin/bash
directory="${1:-/tmp}"
days="${2:-7}"

echo "Cleaning files older than $days days in $directory"

# Remove files older than specified days
find "$directory" -type f -mtime +"$days" -exec rm -v {} \;
echo "Cleanup completed."

Folder Size Checker

#!/bin/bash
folder_path="${1:-.}"

echo "Folder Size Analysis: $folder_path"
echo "===================================="

# Display sizes of subdirectories sorted by size
du -sh "$folder_path"/* 2>/dev/null | sort -rh | head -20
echo ""
echo "Total size:"
du -sh "$folder_path"

Phase 9: System Information

System Info Collector

#!/bin/bash
output_file="system_info_$(hostname)_$(date +%Y%m%d).txt"

{
    echo "System Information Report"
    echo "Generated: $(date)"
    echo "========================="
    echo ""
    echo "Hostname: $(hostname)"
    echo "OS: $(uname -a)"
    echo ""
    echo "CPU Info:"
    lscpu | grep -E "Model name|CPU\(s\)|Thread"
    echo ""
    echo "Memory:"
    free -h
    echo ""
    echo "Disk Space:"
    df -h
    echo ""
    echo "Network Interfaces:"
    ip -br addr
    echo ""
    echo "Logged In Users:"
    who
} > "$output_file"

echo "System info saved to $output_file"

Phase 10: Git and Development

Git Repository Updater

#!/bin/bash
git_repos=("/path/to/repo1" "/path/to/repo2")

for repo in "${git_repos[@]}"; do
    if [ -d "$repo/.git" ]; then
        echo "Updating repository: $repo"
        cd "$repo"
        git fetch --all
        git pull origin "$(git branch --show-current)"
        echo "Updated: $repo"
    else
        echo "Not a git repository: $repo"
    fi
done

echo "All repositories updated."

Remote Script Execution

#!/bin/bash
remote_server="${1:-user@remote-server}"
remote_script="${2:-/path/to/remote/script.sh}"

# Execute a script on a remote server via SSH
ssh "$remote_server" "bash -s" < "$remote_script"
echo "Remote script executed on $remote_server"

Quick Reference

Common Script Patterns

Useful Commands

Cron Format

Minute(0-59) Hour(0-23) Day(1-31) Month(1-12) Weekday(0-7, 0/7=Sun)

Constraints and Limitations

• Always test scripts in non-production first
• Use absolute paths to avoid errors
• Quote variables to handle spaces properly
• Many scripts require root/sudo privileges
• Use bash -x script.sh for debugging

When to Use

This skill is applicable to execute the workflow or actions described in the overview.