Linux Administration   «Prev  Next»

Lesson 3 Linux Admin Course Requirements
Objective Learn what you need to take this course.

Linux Administration Course Requirements

Software Course

For the Linux Admin Course, additional software is not required. You will get practice through the use of online simulations that mimic a UNIX command-line environment. If you have a UNIX machine and system administrator privileges, you can also try the exercises on your own to learn more about how your specific system works.

Command Line Interface

A command-line interface (CLI), also known as command-line user interface and console user interface, is a means of interacting with a computer program where the user (or client) issues commands to the program in the form of successive lines of text known as command lines.
The CLI was the primary means of interaction with most computer systems until the introduction of the video display terminal in the mid-1960s. The CLI continued to be used throughout the 1970s and 80s on Unix systems and personal computer systems including MS-DOS. The interface is usually implemented with a command line shell, which is a program that accepts commands as text input and converts commands to appropriate operating system functions.
Command-line interfaces to computer operating systems are less widely used by casual computer users, who favor graphical user interfaces. Command-line interfaces are often preferred by more advanced computer users, as they often provide a more concise and powerful means to control a program or operating system.
In addition, programs with command-line interfaces are generally easier to automate via scripting.

Alternatives to the command line include
  1. text user interface menus (see IBM AIX SMIT for example),
  2. keyboard shortcuts, and
  3. various other desktop implementations controlled with a mouse.