Common administrative commands in Red Hat Enterprise Linux 5, 6, 7, and 8

Updated -

System basics

Task RHEL5 RHEL6 RHEL7 RHEL8
View subscription information /etc/sysconfig/rhn/systemid /etc/sysconfig/rhn/systemid
subscription-manager identity 		subscription-manager identity
Configure subscription rhn_register1 rhn_register
rhnreg_ks
subscription-manager 		subscription-manager2

rhn_register 3
View RHEL version information /etc/redhat-release
View system profile sosreport

dmidecode
hwbrowser 		sosreport

dmidecode

lstopo
lscpu 		sosreport
dmidecode

lstopo
lscpu
cat /proc/cpuinfo
lshw

Basic configuration

Task RHEL5 RHEL6 RHEL7 RHEL8
Graphical configuration tools system-config-* gnome-control-center
Text-based configuration tools system-config-*-tui
Configure printer system-config-printer gnome-control-center
Configure network system-config-network nmcli
nmtui
nm-connection-editor 		nmcli
nmtui
nm-connection-editor
gnome-control-center
Configure system language system-config-language localectl localectl
gnome-control-center
Configure time and date system-config-date
date		 timedatectl
date 		timedatectl
date

gnome-control-center
Synchronize time and date ntpdate
/etc/ntp.conf 		timedatectl
/etc/chrony.conf
ntpdate 		timedatectl
date
/etc/chrony.conf
chronyc
Configure keyboard system-config-keyboard localectl localectl
gnome-control-center
Configure SSH /etc/ssh/ssh_config
/etc/ssh/sshd_config
~/.ssh/config
ssh-keygen

Jobs and services

Task RHEL5 RHEL6 RHEL7 RHEL8
List all services chkconfig --list

ls /etc/init.d/ 		systemctl -at service
ls /etc/systemd/system/*.service
ls /usr/lib/systemd/system/*.service 		systemctl list-units -at service
find /etc/systemd/ /usr/lib/systemd/ /run/systemd/ -name *.service"
List running services service --status-all systemctl -t service --state=active
Start/stop service service name start
service name stop		 systemctl start name.service
systemctl stop name.service
Enable/disable service chkconfig name on
chkconfig name off		 systemctl enable name.service
systemctl disable name.service
View service status service name status systemctl status name.service
Check if service is enabled chkconfig name --list systemctl is-enabled name
Create new service file or modify configuration chkconfig --add systemctl daemon-reload
/etc/systemd/system/*.service
View run level/target runlevel
who -r 		systemctl get-default
who -r
Change run level/target /etc/inittab
init run_level		 systemctl isolate name.target

systemctl set-default
Configure logging /etc/syslog.conf /etc/rsyslog.conf /etc/rsyslog.conf
/etc/rsyslog.d/*.conf
/var/log/journal
systemd-journald.service
View logs /var/log /var/log
journalctl
Configure system audit add audit=1 to kernel cmdline
auditctl
/etc/audit/auditd.conf
/etc/audit/audit.rules
authconfig
/etc/pam.d/system-auth
pam_tty_audit kernel module 		add audit=1 to kernel cmdline

auditctl
/etc/audit/auditd.conf
/etc/audit/audit.rules
authconfig
/etc/pam.d/system-auth
tlog
View audit output aureport
/var/log/faillog
Schedule/batch tasks cron
at
batch 		cron
at
batch
systemd-run --on-calendar
Find file by name locate
Find file by characteristic find
Create archive tar
cpio
zip
xz

Kernel, boot, and hardware

Task RHEL5 RHEL6 RHEL7 RHEL8
Single user/rescue mode append 1 or s or init=/bin/bash to kernel cmdline append 1 or s or rd.break or init=/bin/bash to kernel cmdline
Shut down system shutdown
Power off system poweroff poweroff
systemctl poweroff
Halt system halt halt
systemctl halt
Reboot system reboot reboot
systemctl reboot
Configure default run level/target /etc/inittab systemctl set-default
Configure GRUB bootloader /boot/grub/grub.conf /etc/default/grub
grub2-mkconfig
grub-set-default
Configure kernel module modprobe
View hardware configured hwbrowser lshw (in EPEL) lshw
Configure hardware device udev
View kernel parameters sysctl -a
cat /proc/cmdline
Load kernel module modprobe
Remove kernel module modprobe -r
View kernel version rpm -q kernel
uname -r

Software management

Task RHEL5 RHEL6 RHEL7 RHEL8
Install software yum install
yum groupinstall 		yum install
yum group install
View software info yum info
yum groupinfo 		yum info
yum group info
Update software yum update
Upgrade software yum upgrade
Configure software repository subscription-manager repos
/etc/yum.repos.d/*.repo
Find package owning file rpm -qf filename
yum provides filename-glob
View software version rpm -q packagename yum list installed packagename
rpm -q packagename
View installed software rpm -qa
yum list installed
Install a module yum module install module_name
View info on a module yum module info module_name
View a module's streams yum module info module_name
Change module streams yum module remove module_name:stream
yum module reset module:stream
yum module install module:new_stream
List available modules yum module list

User management

Task RHEL5 RHEL6 RHEL7 RHEL7
Graphical user management system-config-users gnome-control-center
Create user account useradd
Delete user account userdel
View/change user account details usermod
/etc/passwd
vipw
id
Create user group groupadd
Delete user group groupdel
Change group details groupmod
/etc/group
Change user password passwd
Change user permissions usermod
visudo
Change group permissions groupmod
visudo
Change password policy chage
View user sessions w

File systems, volumes, and disks

Task RHEL5 RHEL6 RHEL7 RHEL8
Default file system ext3 ext4 xfs
Create/modify disk partitions fdisk

parted 		fdisk
gdisk

parted
ssm create 		parted
fdisk
gdisk
ssm_create
Format disk partition mkfs.filesystem_type (ext4, xfs)
mkswap 		mkfs.filesystem_type (ext4, xfs)
mkswap
ssm create
Defragment disk space copy data to new file system
fsck (look for 'non-contiguous inodes') 		copy data to new file system
fsck (look for 'non-contiguous inodes')
xfs_fsr
Mount storage mount

/etc/fstab 		mount

/etc/fstab
ssm mount
Mount and activate swap /etc/fstab

swapon -a
Configure static mounts /etc/fstab
View free disk space df
View logical volume info lvdisplay
lvs
vgdisplay
vgs
pvdisplay
pvs
Create physical volume pvcreate pvcreate
ssm create (if backend is lvm)
Create volume group vgcreate vgcreate
ssm create (if backend is lvm)
Create logical volume lvcreate lvcreate
ssm create (if backend is lvm)
Enlarge volumes formatted with default file system vgextend
lvextend
resize2fs 		vgextend
lvextend
xfs_growfs
ssm resize
Shrink volumes formatted with default file system resize2fs
lvreduce
vgreduce 		XFS cannot currently be shrunk; copy desired data to a smaller file system.
Check/repair file system fsck fsck
ssm check
View NFS share showmount -e
mount
Configure NFS share /etc/exports
service nfs reload 		/etc/exports
systemctl reload nfs.service
Configure on-demand auto-mounts /etc/auto.master.d/*.autofs
/etc/auto.*
Change file permissions chmod
chown
chgrp
umask (future file creation)
Change file attributes chattr
Change access control list setfacl

Networking

Task RHEL5 RHEL6 RHEL7 RHEL8
Configure name resolution /etc/hosts
/etc/resolv.conf 		/etc/hosts
/etc/resolv.conf
nmcli con mod
Configure hostname /etc/sysconfig/network hostnamectl
/etc/hostname
nmtui
View network interface info ip addr

ifconfig
brctl 		ip addr
nmcli dev show
teamdctl
brctl
bridge
Configure network interface /etc/sysconfig/network-scripts/ifcfg-* /etc/sysconfig/network-scripts/ifcfg-*
nmcli con [add|mod|edit]
nmtui
nm-connection-editor
View routes ip route
Configure routes ip route add
system-config-network
/etc/sysconfig/route-iface 		ip route add
nmcli
nmtui
nm-connection-editor
/etc/sysconfig/route-iface
Configure firewall iptables and ip6tables
/etc/sysconfig/ip*tables 		iptables and ip6tables
/etc/sysconfig/ip*tables
system-config-firewall 		firewall-cmd
firewall-config 		firewall-cmd
firewall-config
nftables
View ports/sockets ss
lsof
netstat 		ss
lsof
netstat 		ss
lsof
netstat
pcp-dstat --socket

Security and identity

Task RHEL5 RHEL6 RHEL7 RHEL8
Configure system security /etc/selinux/config
chcon
restorecon
semanage
setsebool
system-config-selinux
Report on system security sealert
LDAP, SSSD, Kerberos authconfig
authconfig-tui
authconfig-gtk 		authselect
Network users getent

Resource management

Task RHEL5 RHEL6 RHEL7 RHEL8
Trace system calls strace
Trace library calls ltrace
Change process priority nice
renice
Change process run location taskset
Kill a process kill

pkill

killall
View system usage top
ps
sar
iostat
netstat
vmstat
mpstat
numastat 		top
ps
sar
iostat
netstat
ss
vmstat
mpstat
numastat
tuna 		top
ps
sar
iostat
ss
vmstat
mpstat
numastat
tuna 		pcp atop
top
ps
sar
iostat
ss
vmstat
mpstat
numastat
tuna
View disk usage df df
iostat 		pcp-dstat
pmiostat
df
iostat

  1. Be aware of potential issues when using subscription-manager on Red Hat Enterprise Linux 5: https://access.redhat.com/solutions/129003. ↩

  2. subscription-manager is used for Satellite 6, Satellite 5.6 with SAM and newer, and Red Hat's CDN.
    ↩

  3. RHN tools are deprecated on Red Hat Enterprise Linux 7. rhn_register should be used for Satellite server 5.6 and newer only. For details, see: What's the difference between management services provided by Red Hat Network (RHN) Classic and Red Hat Customer Portal Subscription Management/RHSM?, Transition of Red Hat Network Classic Hosted to Red Hat Subscription Management, and Satellite 5.6 unable to register RHEL 7 client system due to rhn-setup package not included in Minimal installation. ↩

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