Linux Architecture

Hello All😊, Hope everyone is doing well! This time, I came up with another article after a gap of time.

In this Article, the architecture of Linux is explained with each of its components in a simple manner understandable to Linux Beginners and everyone.

Components of Linux OS

The following are the components of Linux OS

• Shell

• Kernel

• Hardware Components

• Applications, Utilities and Libraries

Let's talk about each component in little detail below

Shell

• Shell is the interface between the User and the Kernel.

• It is responsible for getting commands from the users.

• It checks for the command syntax and passes the commands to the kernel to process only if the command syntax is valid.

• Shell is a command language interpreter. The bash shell is the most commonly used in most of the Linux GPL distros.

Shell Types

There are various shells available in the market and few are listed below

• Bash Shell (Bourne again shell)

• Bourne Shell

• Korn Shell

• Posix Shell

• Z Shell

• C Shell

• Tenex C Shell

The commands shown below in the screenshot can be used to see the default bash used in one of the AWS EC2 Ubuntu VM and also shows the list of available bash in Ubuntu

Here, $SHELL is the environment variable and various shells can be found under /etc/shells location.

Kernel

The kernel is the core component of the OS. There is a misconception that the Kernel itself is the OS. But, it is wrong and the Kernel is also part of the OS and on top of it, various Linux distros are built. The Kernel executes the commands with the help of the hardware components. The below screenshot shows a few details like kernel name, version, and release using Linux commands.

Hardware

The hardware is the various components that make up the computer/ VM physically like compute engine (CPU), storage (RAM, Drives), networking (cards), printers, etc. These hardware components help the Kernel in executing the commands passed by the user with the help of its resources. The below screenshot shows a few details of the hardware components like processor type, machine hardware name, and hardware platform.

Applications, Utilities, and Libraries

The OS provides the platform/ environment to install all the servers in the computer/virtual machines. The server provides the capacity to install/ deploy all our applications built by the users and also to install the application-dependent utilities and libraries.

Hope, this article gives you an understanding of Linux Architecture and its components in detail. I believe this article triggers/ encourages you all to start learning Linux in the upcoming days. I am also in the process of learning and always learning. Good Luck and never stop learning in your life, whatever it can be, but that should be based on your interest.

As I always say, Always run behind the knowledge. Don't run behind the money, when we start doing it, we will lose our sanity.

Guys! If you all find this article useful/ relevant, kindly share it with your connections and somebody will get benefitted out of it. Keep Learning!!!😊👍🤞