Learning Linux from Scratch: My First Week in DevOps

Arpit Mungone — Mon, 22 Jun 2026 11:17:20 +0000

🚀 Week 1 of My DevOps Journey: Learning Linux Fundamentals and Essential Commands

Hello everyone! 👋

Welcome to Week 1 of my DevOps learning journey.

As a final-year BCA student specializing in Cloud Computing, I have decided to document my journey toward becoming a DevOps Engineer. This blog series will cover everything I learn, from Linux fundamentals to cloud computing, containers, CI/CD, Kubernetes, and monitoring tools.

Since Linux is the backbone of most DevOps environments, I decided to start my journey by learning Linux fundamentals and essential commands.

Why Linux Matters in DevOps

Most servers in cloud environments run Linux. Whether you're working with AWS EC2 instances, Docker containers, Kubernetes clusters, or CI/CD pipelines, Linux knowledge is essential.

As a DevOps Engineer, you'll frequently:

Manage Linux servers
Deploy applications
Troubleshoot issues
Monitor system performance
Automate tasks using shell scripts

That's why Linux is often considered the first skill every DevOps engineer should master.

What I Learned This Week

Understanding the Linux File System

One of the first things I learned was how Linux organizes files and directories.

Some important directories include:

/ – Root directory
/home – User home directories
/etc – Configuration files
/var – Logs and variable data
/tmp – Temporary files
/usr – User programs and utilities

Understanding the file system structure helps navigate servers more effectively.

Basic Navigation Commands

I practiced several commands used daily by Linux administrators.

Check Current Directory

pwd

List Files and Directories

ls
ls -l
ls -la

Change Directory

cd /home

Create Directory

mkdir project

Remove Directory

rmdir project

File Management Commands

Working with files is a common task in Linux.

Create a File

touch file.txt

Copy Files

cp file.txt backup.txt

Move Files

mv file.txt documents/

Delete Files

rm file.txt

View File Content

cat file.txt

Viewing System Information

I also learned how to check system details.

Check CPU Information

lscpu

Check Memory Usage

free -h

Check Disk Usage

df -h

Check Running Processes

ps -ef

Monitor Processes in Real Time

top

Understanding Permissions

Linux uses permissions to control access to files and directories.

I learned about:

Read (r)
Write (w)
Execute (x)

Viewing permissions:

ls -l

Changing permissions:

chmod 755 script.sh

Changing ownership:

chown user:user file.txt

Permissions are critical for maintaining system security.

Service Management

One interesting topic was managing services using systemctl.

Check Service Status

systemctl status nginx

Start a Service

systemctl start nginx

Stop a Service

systemctl stop nginx

Restart a Service

systemctl restart nginx

This is especially useful when managing web servers and applications.

Viewing Logs

Logs help identify issues and troubleshoot systems.

tail -f /var/log/messages

journalctl -xe

Understanding logs is one of the most important skills for troubleshooting production systems.

My First Bash Script

I wrote a simple script to check whether Nginx is running.

#!/bin/bash

if systemctl is-active --quiet nginx
then
    echo "Nginx is running"
else
    echo "Nginx is not running"
fi

This helped me understand:

if-else conditions
shell scripting basics
automation concepts

It was my first step toward infrastructure automation.

Challenges I Faced

During my learning, I encountered a few challenges:

Understanding Linux permissions
Navigating directories quickly
Reading system logs
Writing Bash scripts correctly

After practicing commands repeatedly and experimenting on AWS EC2 instances, these concepts became much clearer.

Key Takeaways

This week taught me that Linux is much more than just a command-line operating system.

I learned:

✅ Linux file system structure

✅ Essential Linux commands

✅ File and directory management

✅ System monitoring basics

✅ Service management

✅ Log analysis

✅ Bash scripting fundamentals

Most importantly, I realized that strong Linux fundamentals make learning DevOps tools much easier.

What's Next?

In Week 2, I plan to learn:

Advanced Linux Commands
User and Group Management
Networking Basics
SSH and Remote Access
Package Management
More Bash Scripting

Final Thoughts

Every DevOps Engineer starts somewhere, and Linux is the perfect place to begin.

This week gave me a solid foundation and increased my confidence in working with servers and cloud environments. I'm excited to continue learning and sharing my progress through this blog series.

If you're also starting your DevOps journey, feel free to connect and share your experiences.

See you in Week 2! 🚀

linux #devops #aws #cloudcomputing #bash #opensource #learninginpublic #career

DEV Community: Arpit Mungone