SysLinuxOS: The Go-To Linux for System Administrators
Today’s Linux distributions are plentiful and run the gamut of purposes. There are Linux distributions for those who are new to the open source OS, for gaming, developing, content creation, multimedia, containers, Internet of Things (IoT), edge, routers, firewalls, refrigerators … the list goes on and on.
And, of course, there are Linux distributions that are purpose-built for those in IT, such as Tails (for security penetration testing) and SysLinuxOS (for system integration).
SysLinuxOS: Features and Tools
What is that purpose, you ask? According to its site, “SysLinuxOS was built to work right out of the box, with all networking tools already installed by default. There is no need to install anything; it is a Swiss Army knife to always carry with us. There are all the major Virtual Private Networks (VPN), several remote control clients, various browsers, as well as Wine, Wireshark, Etherape, Ettercap, PackETH, Packetsender, Putty, Nmap, Packet Tracer 8.2.2, Virtualbox 7.2, Munin, Zabbix-agent2, Icinga, Monit, Nagios4, and tools for serial console and the latest stable liquorix kernel.”
At first blush, SysLinuxOS seems to be similar to Tails, only instead of it being targeted at pentesters, it’s more for administrators who need to keep systems and networks up and running.
For example, you might need to know what IP addresses are in use. For that, open Angry IP Scanner and run a quick scan to see what’s what. I did this on my home LAN and it found every single device (Figure 1).
-
Figure 1. The results of an Angry IP scan.
You’ll also find AnyDesk, which is a remote desktop application distributed by AnyDesk Software GmbH that provides platform-independent remote access to personal computers and other devices running the host application. It offers remote control, file transfer and VPN functionality. In other words, you can use it for remote support.
There’s also TeamViewer, Nmap, VirtualBox, Packet Sender, PuTTY SSH client, Webex, WiFi QR, Wine, Wiregui, Zenmap and even a handful of general productivity tools you might need (such as LibreOffice, Chrome, Firefox ESR, VNC Viewer, Teams for Linux, Thunderbird, TigerVNC, Zoom Workplace, Microsoft Edge, etc.). There’s also GNOME Software and Synaptic for graphical user interface (GUI) package managers. The one thing missing, however, is a universal package manager (such as Flatpak or Snap). You can always install one (or both) with a command like:
|
1 |
sudo apt-get install snapd flatpak -y |
You can integrate Flatpak into GNOME Software with the command:
|
1 |
sudo apt-get install gnome-software-plugin-flatpak -y |
For Flatpak to function properly, you’ll also want to issue the command:
|
1 |
sudo flatpak remote-add --if-not-exists flathub https://dl.flathub.org/repo/flathub.flatpakrepo |
At this point, you should find Flatpak apps in GNOME Software.
On this same front, one thing that did surprise me was the lack of an update notifier. Given that this distribution is geared toward system administrators, this felt like a glaring omission.
Custom Desktop Environment
SysLinuxOS uses a custom version of the GNOME desktop environment. The developers have included the following extensions to make the desktop more user-friendly and efficient:
- Apps Menu
- ArcMenu
- Auto Move Windows
- Blur my Shell
- Dash to Dock
- Dash to Panel
- Desktop Icons NG
- Disable Workspace Switcher
- EasyScreenCast
- Freon
- Hibernate Status Button
- Hide Activities Button
- Hide Top Bar
- Just Perfection
- Launch New Instance
- Light Style
- Native Window Placement
- No overview at start-up
- Paces Status Indicator
- Quick Close in Overview
- Removable Drive Media
- Screenshot Window Sizer
- System Monitor
- User Temes
- V-Shell (vertical workspaces)
- Window List
- Window Navigator
- Workspace indicator
Yeah, that’s a long list. Not every extension is enabled by default, but you can open the Extensions Manager (Figure 2) and enable/disable whatever you want.
-
Figure 2. Any GNOME extension you install will be found here.
System Monitoring Capabilities
There’s a nice system monitor installed on SysLinuxOS, which is a part of the GNOME project. This monitor adds a nice system tray overview of current resources in use, and when you click on the applet, you can click Open System Monitor to reveal the full dashboard (Figure 3).
-
Figure 3. The GNOME System Monitor in action.
Potential Limitations of SysLinuxOS
Maybe I’m being too picky here, but I would have thought a Linux distribution for admins would include Samba to make it easier to share and access files. SysLinuxOS does not include the SMB service. Sure, it’s simple to install (sudo apt-get install samba -y), but with such a distribution, I would like to not only see it installed, but also have it integrated into the file manager.
Again, maybe I’m being too picky.
Understanding the Purpose of SysLinuxOS
The longer I tested SysLinuxOS, the more I asked the question, “What is its purpose?” Because of the tools installed by default, SysLinuxOS wants to make it easy for you to troubleshoot networking issues and help troubleshoot remote systems.
Yes, you could take any given Linux distribution and install the software you need to make this possible, but why do that when you can simply install a distribution like SysLinuxOS and be done with it?
The way the developers have built this distribution (from installed apps to customized GNOME) makes it (in my eyes) one of the better Linux distributions for this purpose. This distribution might not be created for pentesting (for that, just use Tails), but if you use SysLinuxOS for the right purpose, you’ll find it does a brilliant job.
If you’re interested in SysLinuxOS, download the ISO and install it either on bare metal or as a virtual machine (VM). You’ll find a version of SysLinuxOS with GNOME or MATE, so whichever desktop best suits your style and need, grab it and go.
