Sometimes, the best way to move forward in Cloud Engineering is to go back to the command line basics.
As a second-year B.Sc. student deep in the trenches of learning DevOps, my days are usually filled with complex tools. Lately, I’ve been wrestling with Ansible playbooks, debugging Terraform states, and preparing for my AWS Solutions Architect certification.
But today, I decided to hit pause on the “big tools” and go back to the roots. I spent the day refreshing my Linux knowledge by playing the OverTheWire Bandit wargames.
Why Linux Basics Matter for DevOps It’s easy to get caught up in high-level abstractions like Docker and Kubernetes. But at the end of the day, everything runs on Linux. If you can’t comfortably manipulate text streams, manage permissions, or SSH into a remote server without breaking a sweat, the fancy tools becomes much harder to manage.
The Bandit Experience For those who haven’t tried it, Bandit is a “CTF-style” game where you solve levels to get the password for the next level. It starts easy — basic SSH access — but quickly forces you to think like a sysadmin.
Here are a few highlights from my session today:
Handling “Weird” Files: I brushed up on handling files with tricky names (like those starting with dashes - or containing spaces). It sounds simple, but knowing when to use ./- instead of just - is a lifesaver when you encounter it in a real script.
The Power of Pipes: Levels 8 and 9 were a great reminder of how powerful piping commands like sort, uniq, and strings can be. Finding unique lines in a massive text file is a one-line job in Linux if you know your tools.
Hidden in Plain Sight: Several levels required finding “human-readable” files hidden among binary data. It was a good exercise in using the file command and understanding data types.
Takeaway Revisiting these labs didn’t just refresh my memory; it boosted my confidence. It reminded me that the command line isn’t just a place to type git push—it's a powerful environment where you can solve complex data problems with simple, chained commands.
If you’re a student like me, or even a seasoned engineer, I highly recommend taking a weekend to run through the first 10–15 levels of Bandit. It’s a fun way to keep your blade sharp.
Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/dasari-jayanth-b32ab9367/
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