I'm new as a Linux administrator and I would like to ask you all what to think about in the daily work with my server? I run Ubuntu 12.04.2. It has installed Samba 4.0.5 with AD DC and internal DNS, it has isc-dhcp-server, and later on quota, cups and Postfix mail server.


  • What is the first thing you do when you log on to your server?
    • I do apt-get update && apt-get upgrade. Is this a good thing to do?

  • What logs are you following and what commands do you run?
    • I do tail -f /var/log/syslog, but it shows only named and dhcp leases etc.

  • How often do you update your server and what makes you decide to update or not?
    • I run updates as soon as possible, but it can sometimes be a wrong desicion, or?

  • What are the pit falls as a linux admin, and what do I have to be careful of?
    • I know about the root account and the danger in having it enabled.



Any advice is valuable to me. Thanks.

//Jn.Pson