Help with linux

**DJ Ms. White** · 07-30-11, 03:34 PM

Hey, I've started training on a new program for my research by logging in to a unix network that has computers the program is installed on. What is a command I can use to view all computers on the network so I can find one that isn't being used? I know I can "who" to see who's using a computer, but I don't know how to find other computers besides the one my advisor uses.

Also, is there a command like help that lists commands?

**DJ Ms. White** · 07-30-11, 08:11 PM

Also, I'm using Putty to ssh right now along with xming so I can run the program from the server onto my laptop (which is a windows environment). Is there a better program than Putty for ssh that will still let me use xming or something similar/better?

Also, how do I set up a program like Putty so I automatically log on to a specific server on the network?

**JBMCW2010** · 08-03-11, 10:52 AM

Putty rocks as a command line connection I've even got it on my phone lol.

As for commands to see other machines on the network what sort of Linux environment are you in?

Sent from my Thunderbolt using Tapatalk.

**DJ Ms. White** · 08-03-11, 11:29 AM

I believe it's a Unix environment. 99% sure on that one since everything is command line based.

**AetheLove** · 08-09-11, 12:14 AM

Originally Posted by DJ Mr. White

Hey, I've started training on a new program for my research by logging in to a unix network that has computers the program is installed on. What is a command I can use to view all computers on the network so I can find one that isn't being used? I know I can "who" to see who's using a computer, but I don't know how to find other computers besides the one my advisor uses.

Also, is there a command like help that lists commands?

I'm a little uncertain what you're asking. If it's a unix server, then it supports multiple users at one time. You don't need to find an unused one.

If there are multiple machines available, you may want to connect to whichever one is supporting the lightest load. I used to use the command:

uptime

... to get a quick overview of what the load was like. Back when, our system had multiple servers and I used:

rup

... to query load averages for multiple machines. Some environments implement security in a way that would keep rup from working.

I can't think of any reason you couldn't have multiple login sessions going at the same time. I used PUTTY a long time ago, it provided a decent terminal back then. I know it supported multiple sessions.

For getting help on a particular command, the standard way is to read the man page. So, from the command line:

man bash

... will give you the man page (manual) on the bash shell. You don't really want a list of all commands. You can use the command apropos to get a list of commands that have something to do with a particular word, so:

apropos print

... will return a (likely long) list of commands that have something to do with printing.

There is no one thing which is unix. There are many different flavours, and most of them come from one of a few different lineages. I first learned on SunOS (later Solaris), which is a BSD style system. I've also used AIX, IRIX, and systems that were descendants of SVR4. I use (mostly) GNU/Linux variants now. The basic function of these are all the same, but there are variations in commands (for example, the ps command has different switches depending on the system) and directory structure. The point is that you'll want to know what sort of unix it is before you ask for help. Asking about OpenBSD in a Debian forum won't be helpful.

The command uname will give you system info:

uname -a

... adding the "a" will return more info. Read the man page on uname for all the options.

To discover hosts and services, the traditional tool is nmap. Use the man page to get started. You could also just ask someone which hosts are available for you to use.

Cheers,

AetheLove