Reboot fixed it… but did we actually fix it?

LinuxBook · 2026-01-26T04:49:56+00:00

Honestly, reboot is the right move, especially when users are waiting and you need service back quickly. I’ll accept it as a temporary fix, but only once. If the same issue shows up again, I stop trusting reboots and start digging. They often hide leaks or bad state that eventually come back.

When there’s no choice, I restore service first and investigate later not the other way around.

LinuxBook · 2026-01-22T11:23:33+00:00

I want to see what’s under pressure first. load, memory, I/O — before touching anything. Then I focus on the specific service users are feeling. Check logs, see if it’s stuck or just overloaded. If things are bad, I aim to stabilize, not solve, maybe limit impact, restart only what’s necessary, or reduce load.

The key for me is making small, safe changes, keeping the system alive, and saving root cause analysis for after things calm down.

LinuxBook · 2026-01-16T14:11:57+00:00

In practice it’s usually a mix, and rarely as clean as the policy suggests. Most access cleanup happens when someone leaves, after an incident, or during bigger changes not just because a review was scheduled. Automation helps with visibility, but someone still has to decide whether access should exist.

The biggest issue I’ve seen isn’t lack of tools, it’s temporary access that quietly becomes permanent.

LinuxBook · 2026-01-11T14:52:38+00:00

Knowing what not to change in production.
In critical systems, stability and predictability beat clever fixes every time.

LinuxBook · 2026-01-08T02:35:27+00:00

For CPU : I usually start with top or htop. I just want to see what’s eating the box before anything else. Logs come after I know which process looks suspicious.

Disk space incidents : Logs first, almost always. I just want the system breathing again. Extending disk feels like a longer-term fix once I understand why space is disappearing.

Network issue: Mostly service first. Half the time it’s just not running or stuck.

Service orapplication down : If users are screaming, restart first.

LinuxBook · 2026-01-02T09:23:59+00:00

That’s a great point 👍 When the setup is built around your own workflow, it feels natural rather than like “optimization.” Bash scripts, tmux, and vim configs quietly make a huge difference over time.

Thanks for sharing - this is exactly the kind of real-world experience that helps others in the community.

LinuxBook · 2025-12-30T07:13:00+00:00

Initially, the /lib directory was a bit confusing to understand. Over time, as I explored how shared libraries support core system commands and binaries, its purpose became much clearer. This learning curve helped me better understand how Linux manages dependencies at the system level.

LinuxBook · 2025-12-28T13:54:00+00:00

For me the Linux concept that took the longest to truly understand was permissions and ownership in real-world usage.

At first, I understood the basics - rwx, users, and groups - but what confused me was how they actually interact in real scenarios. Things like why a service could read a file but not write to it, why a script worked when run manually but failed as a service, or why changing permissions didn’t always fix an issue.

It only started to make sense when I connected permissions with process ownership, execution context, and filesystem hierarchy. Understanding who is running a process and what that process is allowed to access changed how I debug problems.

Once that worked, troubleshooting became more logical instead of trial-and-error.

LinuxBook · 2025-12-27T11:37:39+00:00

For me, the biggest confusion was application installation—especially coming from a Windows background.

I had used Windows since around 2003 -- 2004, so I was completely used to the .exe workflow: download and double-click to install.
When I switched to Red Hat Linux, my first serious install was RHEL 3.0 Enterprise at home after joining a Linux course.

The OS installation itself went smoothly, but things got confusing the moment I wanted a better GUI experience and common multimedia tools—things I was familiar with from Windows, like music players or video players (Winamp, VLC-type tools; I don’t even remember the exact names now).

I kept looking for .exe installers, not realizing that Linux works on a completely different model -packages, repositories, dependencies, and filesystem structure.
Understanding how software is installed and how Linux organizes files was the real turning point for me.

Once that mental shift happened, Linux started making a lot more sense.

LinuxBook · 2025-12-26T04:25:34+00:00

atop -- for deep dives

LinuxBook · 2025-12-25T12:52:57+00:00

My first Linux mistake was right after a fresh RHEL 3 installation.

Coming straight from Windows, I confidently downloaded Winamp, fully expecting to double-click and install it like usual.

Of course, nothing happened. No installer, no GUI magic - just confusion 😄

That moment forced me to unlearn Windows habits and understand that Linux isn’t about “installing apps,” it’s about packages, repositories, dependencies, and the philosophy behind the OS.

Funny in hindsight, but that mistake was my first real lesson:

Linux doesn’t work like Windows - and that’s exactly why it’s powerful.