Now this is an article that really allows you to get to the heart of your Linux box, command line and all.

What’s the first thing that you do once you’ve logged onto Linux? Is it to manually start up a processes such as Apache or MySQL, or even start your network connection? Or do you have to stop applications that have started up without your telling them to, and which are overloading your machine? If you have unwanted processes starting at boot time, or find yourself starting necessary services manually, let’s make your life a little bit easier by introducing you the world of Linux services.

A Linux service is an application (or set of applications) that runs in the background waiting to be used, or carrying out essential tasks. I’ve already mentioned a couple of typical ones (Apache and MySQL). You will generally be unaware of services until you need them. [Read the rest]