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I'm configuring a new Linux server install and was just wondering if anyone has a list of useful general-purpose tools that they always install on Linux server boxes as a matter of course? I've already installed the following packages and tools:

  • vnstat
  • maven2
  • subversion
  • perl
  • php
  • java
  • apache2
  • mysql

Any other generally useful packages that you would recommend installing? I'm looking for things in the category of "generally useful utilities with no application-specific value", such as vnstat. Things that provide useful tools for monitoring, testing, troubleshooting, etc..

aroth
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    Nethack falls under "etc.", right? – Ignacio Vazquez-Abrams Jan 09 '12 at 02:33
  • Sure, why not? Also, tough crowd it seems. I like how the Windows variant of this question is at +47, while the Linux version has -1. – aroth Jan 09 '12 at 03:51
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    The thing is that Windows comes with almost nothing so lists like this are important, whereas with Linux everything is a yum install or apt-get install away. – Ignacio Vazquez-Abrams Jan 09 '12 at 03:54
  • Yes, though obviously for that to work you have to know what you want to apt-get install, first. – aroth Jan 09 '12 at 04:09
  • @aroth Hello! The Windows counterpart to this question (I believe this one: http://serverfault.com/questions/720/what-is-your-list-of-programs-to-install-to-windows-after-a-fresh-install ) was asked over two years ago, before this site had fully fleshed out what our purpose was. Had it been asked today, it would be downvoted and closed. In fact, keep an eye on the questio I linked to because I flagged it for closure and it should be shut down in just a few hours. – Wesley Jan 09 '12 at 04:09
  • Downvotes are, of course, not personal. Just a way of marking if a question if pertinent to the site or not. Shopping questions, open ended discussions or anything that is generally "chatty" are closed. Those are fine things to bring up, but they're not suited for this style of Q/A site. I would personally like to see peoples' responses to a question like this, but once again, it's not the right venue. – Wesley Jan 09 '12 at 04:12
  • @Ignacio And everything on Windows is a 20 second google search and download away? Really, your comparison doesn't make sense – TheLQ Jan 09 '12 at 04:27
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    This is a fair question. I ensure that the same core set of utilities is available on all of the systems I manage. – ewwhite Jan 09 '12 at 04:29
  • @WesleyDavid - Closed the Windows one too? Come now, you guys are being even more uptight than the StackOverflow crowd ;p. And closed or no, I'll still be referring back to that Windows question the next time I put together a Windows box. It's a very useful resource to have, even if it's technically considered too broad of a topic for this site. – aroth Jan 11 '12 at 23:11
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    @aroth The usefulness isn't in dispute. It really is a useful question. But it's a bit like selling leaf blowers at a steakhouse. Leaf blowers are useful, but they're not supposed to be sold at steakhouses. That's not the steakhouse's strong point ServerFault isn't supposed to be for open-ended questions. That Q/A nature of the site doesn't allow open-ended questions to be its strong point. Only questions that can be answered with one, or very few, solid deductive answers. But yes, this is a good question that is best answered on a traditional forum or in chat. Come on in and chat with us! – Wesley Jan 12 '12 at 01:15
  • To help you along the way, the way your current question is written encourages the bad subjective answers, I don't think your questions could be easily fixed to encourage the good answers. See http://blog.stackoverflow.com/2010/09/good-subjective-bad-subjective/ – Zoredache Jan 12 '12 at 01:20

5 Answers5

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htop - 100 times more useful than top

TheLQ
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  • Whyso? What makes it better? – ewwhite Jan 09 '12 at 04:07
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    @ewwhite More simple intuitive controls, tree, scrolling the list is more obvious (arrow keys) most commands shown on screen (so no 30 minute man page searches), great menu config, etc – TheLQ Jan 09 '12 at 04:25
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I like to have these tools available on systems I manage. They're mostly in the monitoring realm:

nmap, ncdu, bash_completion, nmon, iperf, iftop, screen, bonnie++, stress, collectl.

ewwhite
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my favourite

mc, iotop, iftop, wget, nmap

jet
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arpwatch, tcpdump, nmap....

What's the machines job?

Jake
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  • Running a database-intensive LAMP web application, for starters. Potentially other similar tasks down the road, if the system has the capacity to support them. – aroth Jan 09 '12 at 03:49
  • If that's the case I suggest you play around with nginx, sqlite, linux-ha :) – Jake Jan 09 '12 at 08:32
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You should install only packages that this specific server needs. And this is correct for any server no just Linux.

screen, nc, nano, mlocate

Vick Vega
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