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Run Telnet on Git Bash

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Although telnet is not used regularly since insecure, it’s a handy tool for testing ports.

For example, to check if a port 80 is open, you run this command.

$ telnet servername 80

Git Bash does not come with telnet, but you can use the Windows version by using winpty.

$ winpty telnet servername 457
Connecting To servername...Could not open connection to the host, on port 457: Connect failed

If port is open, you get an empty reply, just like in Windows.

Check Open Ports Remotely

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Here are a few tools to check if ports are open from a remote host.

nc -zvw10 192.168.0.1 22
nmap 192.168.0.1 -p 22
telnet 192.168.0.1 22

You may have to install netcat and nmap if missing in your distro.

yum install nc
yum install nmap

Bash Variable Empty

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Here’s how to check in Bash if a variable is empty or unset.

if [ -z "${VAR}" ]; 
then
  echo 'do something'
else
  echo 'do another'
fi

One liner

if [ -z "${VAR}" ]; then echo 'do something'; else echo 'do another'; fi

The inverse

if [ ! -z "${VAR}" ]; 
then
  echo 'do something'
else
  echo 'do another'
fi
if [ ! -z "${VAR}" ]; then echo 'do something'; else echo 'do another'; fi

Check Reboot After Updates

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Here’s the command to check if the system needs a reboot after running yum update.

Must be root or run it sudo.

$ needs-restarting -r ; echo $?
Core libraries or services have been updated:
  openssl-libs -> 1:1.0.2k-21.el7_9
  kernel -> 3.10.0-1160.31.1.el7
  dbus -> 1:1.10.24-15.el7
  linux-firmware -> 20200421-80.git78c0348.el7_9
  glibc -> 2.17-324.el7_9
  systemd -> 219-78.el7_9.3
 
Reboot is required to ensure that your system benefits from these updates.
 
More information:
https://access.redhat.com/solutions/27943
1

In this instance, it requires a reboot due to a new kernel.

Check If Domain Joined

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Here’s the command to check if instance is domain joined.

realm discover domain.com

To check if AD user is working.

id user@ad.example.com

To check if AD group is working.

getent group ad-group

GCE Agent Powershell

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This is a Powershell script to restart a service if it’s down.

$ServiceName = 'GCEAgent'
$arrService = Get-Service -Name $ServiceName
 
if ($arrService.Status -ne 'Running')
{
 
    Start-Service $ServiceName
    write-host $arrService.status
    write-host 'Service starting'
    Start-Sleep -seconds 60
    $arrService.Refresh()
    if ($arrService.Status -eq 'Running')
    {
        Write-Host 'GCE Agent Service is now Running'
    }
 
}
else
{
    Write-Host 'GCE Agent Service is Running'
}

GCP Check Instances Running

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Here’s how to check if instances are running in GCP. 

#!/bin/bash
while IFS=', ' read -r a b c; do
  instance="${a//[[:blank:]]/}"
  project="${b//[[:blank:]]/}"
  zone="${c//[[:blank:]]/}"
  gcloud compute instances describe $instance \
  --zone $zone --project $project \
  --format='table[no-heading](name,status,zone)'
done < instance-list.txt

Instances are read from an external file. File is comma delimited with instance name, project id and zone data.