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AWS introduces a new charge for IPv4 addresses, do you know how to check your own IPv4 and IPv6 configuration?

The IPv4 address pool has decreased over the years, and as reported by AWS the cost to acquire one IPv4 address has increased by 300% the last five years1. Because of this and the gradual transition to IPv6, AWS is introducing a new charge, $0.005 per IPv4 address per hour for all public IPv4 addresses.

As a fun perspective, check out what IP address you are using on your own Linux OS (not necessarily Linux running in AWS).

ifconfig -a | egrep "inet|inet6"

The output will show you the filtered output from ifconfig, with the IPv4 (inet) and IPv6 (inet6) addresses that are configured.

  1. See the AWS News Blog. ↩︎

The Linux command line from a Return of Investment (ROI) perspective AND as a tool to work with data and files

You know, many IT professionals likely meet the following realities in their exposure to Linux:

  • Chances are you will work with files on an existing Linux system. In Linux, all configurations can be traced back to plain text files. Yes, if you work on Windows you also work with files, but maybe working more on the command line when in Linux). So you need to know how to work with those text files.
  • Moreover, in your daily work with text files – essentially data – you will encounter that because of business and IT reasons, data files will be shared in ASCII formats, such as CSV, JSON, YAML, Syslog (RFC 5424), and more. Therefore, you need to know how to import, export, manipulate, and interpret files in these particular formats.
  • Chances are you will not install any system software. So why even bother learning how to do that [rhetorical question]? This might sound awkward to many IT engineers, but there is a range of IT professions where there is no need to change the system configuration of an existing system. Instead, these IT professionals need to use the computer system to work with data, not with software application management.

You can call the three points above an argument that includes three premises. The conclusion that follows in the purpose of this website, Nail Linux Exam. There are many (too many) Linux certifications out there. How can you know which one to pick? Which one is most respected in the industry you are in? Which one is a fad? So which one is more cost effective for your particular situation?

Nail Linux Exam aims to help you with these questions. This is not just another website promising to help you pass Linux exam X. No, this site takes a more holistic approach to Linux skills and exams, tailored to the needs of professionals working on data that happens to reside or pass through a Linux system. And we don’t care about that the system is configured correctly, we take that for granted!

If you agree with the statements above, then NailLinuxExam.com is likely a useful tool on your Linux command line learning path.

Reap the highest possible benefit as fast as possible

So what you want is to invest a) as little time as possible, b) reap the highest possible benefit (useful Linux command line knowledge), and c) have a solid foundation for passing the basics of any Linux certification exam.

The common denominator here is The file system and the commands to work with files and the filesystem without configuring the system itself.

Linux basics on the command line

This site and its quizzes are for you who want to learn how to work with Linux on the basics – That means files, importing/exporting data, and relational databases running on Linux. If we glance back at those three bullet points above, you can see that we will completely avoid installing and maintaining system software (whether they are web servers, proxy servers, email servers, or whatever have you). Because of the Linux paradigm, everything is a file in Linux, we will learn how to work with files and their contents in a Linux environment. This website does not compete, condone or support any of the well-known Linux certifications on the market. They all touch upon the Linux command line and how to work on it, and that is also the foundation for this site. Learn how to work on the command line, with a few role-specific entrances: The business professional, the data scientist, and the Windows engineer.

Check your Linux commandline basic skills!

First out, let’s have a look at navigating the file system..

Next, check what you know about running processes.

Now it’s time to test your skills for sending and receiving data on networks.

What do you know about installing software in Linux? Test your skills.

Can you list hardware and system services? This quiz will test your knowledge on these topics.

Three reasons why data scientists should learn Bash in 2021

Data science makes use of many tools, and naturally programming is a large part of data science. But as commonly known, there are peripheral skills that are vital. Let us check out three hard reasons why Bash can come in handy for data scientists.

ETL operations

Take for instance the acronym ETL, Extract, Transform, Load. The extraction of data, and in particular text data, to transform it into a desired format and then loading it again. These tasks are by no means menial and consider intellect as well as using tools. Bash offers a range of tools to work with data files, and to filter and modify segments. For instance, awk is a domain-specific language for text processing. Furthermore, the grep command and its variants are used to quickly match for patterns in text output (which can then be combined with other commands using the pipe functionality). The lists goes on, with commands such as sed, cat, head, tail . All these commands come in handy for working with text data.

Bash can be used in both Linux and Windows

Continuing on the same train of thought, Bash which is now available in Linux and Windows (using the Windows Subsystem for Linux, WSL), is an integral part for automating the creation, copying and moving files automatically. With the help of (writing) Bash scripts, a data scientist can automate much of the work that is involved with files. Yes, certainly, Batch and PowerShell in Windows can be used for the same. But Bash is available in Linux and Windows, and has a much richer scripting possibilities, with more commands and the ability to use functions in code that can then be called from other Bash scripts. The list goes on and Bash with its pipe functionality is more modular and more permissive for automation with files and network tasks.

Are you using MySQL or MariaDB? Bash to the rescue!

Are you using the relational database MySQL (or MariaDB) in Linux for the storage of column-oriented data? Furthermore, are you in need of working on the commandline to import and export data to and from the RDBMS? Well then, with Bash you can use mysqldump for the export of data, and the following format of the mysql command to import a data file: mysql -u <username> -p <password> < datafile.sql . If your .sql file contains CREATE DATABASE and CREATE TABLE statements you are able to create entire databases and table schemas using the commandline! Therefore Bash is a formidable ally when you want more control over a MariaDB/MySQL installation and the databases and tables stored on the same.

Happy Bash learning, and of course Linux as a whole! Stay tuned for more insights and tips! Also check out learn Linux as a data scientist.

By Paul-Christian Markovski, for NailLinuxExam.com.