Linux Production Shell Scripts

Purpose

Provide production-ready shell script templates for common Linux system administration tasks including backups, monitoring, user management, log analysis, and automation. These scripts serve as building blocks for security operations and penetration testing environments.

Prerequisites

Required Environment

• Linux/Unix system (bash shell)
• Appropriate permissions for tasks
• Required utilities installed (rsync, openssl, etc.)

Required Knowledge

• Basic bash scripting
• Linux file system structure
• System administration concepts

Outputs and Deliverables

1. Backup Solutions - Automated file and database backups
2. Monitoring Scripts - Resource usage tracking
3. Automation Tools - Scheduled task execution
4. Security Scripts - Password management, encryption

Core Workflow

Phase 1: File Backup Scripts

Basic Directory Backup

bash
#!/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

bash
#!/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

bash
#!/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

bash
#!/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

bash
#!/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" admin@example.com <<< "CPU usage: $cpu_usage%"
fi

Disk Space Monitor

bash
#!/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

bash
#!/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

bash
#!/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

bash
#!/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

bash
#!/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

bash
#!/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

bash
#!/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

bash
#!/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

bash
#!/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

bash
#!/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

bash
#!/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

bash
#!/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

bash
#!/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)

bash
#!/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

bash
#!/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

bash
#!/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

bash
#!/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

bash
#!/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

bash
#!/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

bash
#!/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

bash
#!/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

| Pattern | Purpose | |---------|---------| | #!/bin/bash | Shebang for bash | | $(date +%Y%m%d) | Date formatting | | $((expression)) | Arithmetic | | ${var:-default} | Default value | | "$@" | All arguments |

Useful Commands

| Command | Purpose | |---------|---------| | chmod +x script.sh | Make executable | | ./script.sh | Run script | | nohup ./script.sh & | Run in background | | crontab -e | Edit cron jobs | | source script.sh | Run in current shell |

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