What is Unix?

What is Unix?

Unix operating systems were initially developed from Bell Labs in 1969. It is highly known for its ability and multi-user capability. Also planned to be built as a time-sharing system where more than one users can be allowed to use the system parallelly. The hierarchical system and the basic building blocks of these Unix systems were built by Ken Thompson and Dennis Richie.

Interoperability principles like POSIX and single Unix specification came largely into play during the growing incompatibility between the systems. The basic philosophies of systems are as below,

1. One purpose execution
2. Largely standardized interface which operates on text
3. Coiling the Unix systems around core kernel which allows the system and various another process
4. Largely Interoperable

Understanding Unix

• Unix File: A file from a perspective is a collection of information or data which is stored in the disk. Almost all data except the DB perspective are stored as its files. The LS command is used to display the files associated in a directory,

Eg: drwxr-xr-x  3 root root     4096 Apr  4  2018 Test.txt

-rw-r–r–  1 root root     3028 Apr  4  2018 Sample.conf

1. r: Permission only to read
2. w: Permission only to write
3. x: Permission to execute
4. –: No permission

File Modes, To recognize drwxr-xr-x file mode it can be possibly divided into four key groups,

1. group 1: d
2. group 2: rwx
3. group 3: r-x
4. group 4: r-x

• Unix Directory: A directory is very much familiar to a folder in windows operating systems. Every directory is a collection of its files in most instances. The directories are mostly divided namely into two types,

1. Root Directory: It is probably the parent directory for all the other directories
2. Sub Directory: Any directory which stays under the root directory are called subdirectory. This directory can be renamed by the user.

What Unix can Do?

• For servers which are not acceptable for any chances of downtime can be updated inactive state without pulling them into a reboot process.
• For real thin clients, it allows the overall operating system being rebooted from the network.
• Allows multiple hosts to be logged in multiple times by multiple people concurrently.

Advantages

• Allows multitasking with protected memory, so this allows concurrent users to run multiple programs at a parallel time without any system crash.
• A large number of programs can be easily executed with a self-effacing amount of memory. This clearly shows the amount of efficiency exhibited by the memory systems of Unix.
• Each and every user attempting to log in on to UNIX systems needs to be authenticated with a valid password and account.
• A large set of commands allows doing specific tasks well.
• The largely portable operating system which can be used across a large variety of systems
• Very much optimized program development environment.

Required Skills

1. Virtualization
2. Cluster Management
3. Troubleshooting
4. Server Build Activity
5. Networking
6. Storage Management Part
7. Escalation management

The audience for Unix

• Audience with interest to learn.
• Individual who aspire to Unix Administrator, Architect, Developer, Analyst, Scientist, Tester also relative professional roles.
• Helps to move forward the professional aspects and technical skill set of professionals who are intended to do the same.
• Candidates who are interested in pursuing a career in the Unix application development.

Career Growth

• Being versatile technology administrators play a good role in career perspective.
• Even Unix shell script developer play a decent role in the market from a career perspective of Unix systems.
• Promising progression in career perspective for existing professionals in these operating systems
• Some among the key job descriptions related to its systems are as below,

1. Systems Engineer- Unix/Linux
2. Software Engineer
3. Unix/Linux Engineer Job
4. System Administrator

Conclusion

On a finishing note, UNIX is definitely one among the high power operating systems running steadily in the market over a large period of time across various market needs and users. Definitely concurrency and security of access is one among the profound uses of systems. Though traveling through a long era of technology and developments need for this open-source OS remains salient and steady in the market at all possible means.

Recommended Articles

This has been a guide to What is Unix. Here we discussed the working, skills, career growth and advantages of Unix. You can also go through our other suggested articles to learn more –

1. What is PowerShell?
2. What is Python?
3. What is JavaScript?
4. What is Django?
5. Different Types of Unix Operators