Linux Fundamentals Final Project — Automation Track

Northstar Labs Operations Toolkit
A script-driven operations toolkit that monitors host state, validates network/service health, and produces scheduled logs with actionable status output.

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Project Structure

lf_final_project/
├── scripts/
│   ├── system_snapshot.zsh   # System state snapshot
│   ├── net_health.zsh        # Network health check
│   ├── service_guard.zsh     # SSH service monitor
│   └── ops_tool.zsh          # Main dispatcher
├── logs/
│   └── ops.log               # Structured log output
├── reports/
│   └── permissions_audit.txt
└── README.md

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Scripts

system_snapshot.zsh

Prints a full system summary including timestamp, current user, shell, kernel version, uptime, disk usage, and memory.

zsh scripts/system_snapshot.zsh

net_health.zsh

Shows active network interface, default route, gateway ping result, and DNS resolver info. Exits non-zero if gateway is unreachable.

zsh scripts/net_health.zsh

service_guard.zsh

Checks SSH service health using systemctl with fallback to service. Returns exit code 0 if healthy, 1 if not running.

zsh scripts/service_guard.zsh

ops_tool.zsh — Main Dispatcher

Central tool that runs all checks and logs output to logs/ops.log.

zsh scripts/ops_tool.zsh --help
zsh scripts/ops_tool.zsh --status
zsh scripts/ops_tool.zsh --snapshot
zsh scripts/ops_tool.zsh --netcheck
zsh scripts/ops_tool.zsh --svccheck
zsh scripts/ops_tool.zsh --all

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Cron Automation

Runs --all checks every 30 minutes automatically:

*/30 * * * * zsh ~/lf_final_project/scripts/ops_tool.zsh --all >> ~/lf_final_project/logs/ops.log 2>&1

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Requirements

• Kali/Ubuntu Linux VM
• zsh
• cron / crontab
• Standard networking tools: ip, ping
• apt package manager

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Setup

mkdir -p ~/lf_final_project/{scripts,logs,reports}
chmod +x scripts/*.zsh

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Skills Demonstrated

• Linux system administration scripting
• Network and service health validation
• Cron-based automation and scheduled logging
• Argument parsing and exit code handling in Zsh
• Structured log-driven operations workflow