Important Linux applications
Things you can run on a Linux server or VM
The specific applications that are important on a Linux server will depend on the specific goals and needs of the server. Here is a list of common applications that might be used on a Linux server:
- Ansible: A configuration management tool that is used to automate the deployment and configuration of servers and applications.
- Apache: A web server that is used to host websites and web applications.
- Apache Tomcat: A Java servlet container that is used to host Java web applications.
- AutoFS: A filesystem automounter that automatically mounts and unmounts filesystems, such as network shares, as needed, based on access patterns.
- Bcache: A block layer cache that accelerates the performance of slower storage devices, like hard drives, by using faster storage, like SSDs, as a cache.
- Bind: A DNS server that is often used on Linux servers.
- Cacti: A network monitoring and graphing tool that is used to monitor the performance and availability of servers and network devices.
- Cassandra: A distributed NoSQL database management system that is used to store and retrieve data for applications.
- Ceph: A scalable distributed storage system that provides object, block, and file storage in a unified system.
- Consul: A distributed service discovery and configuration tool that is used to manage the infrastructure and services of an application.
- Cron: A scheduling utility that is used to execute commands or scripts at a specified time or interval.
- Cryptsetup: A tool that is used to set up encrypted filesystems using the LUKS (Linux Unified Key Setup) format on a Linux system.
- Docker: A containerization platform that is used to deploy and run applications in isolated environments.
- Dovecot: An IMAP and POP3 server for Linux that provides secure, efficient email retrieval.
- Drupal: A CMS that is used to create and manage websites and web applications.
- Elasticsearch: A distributed search and analytics engine that is used to index, search, and analyze large volumes of data.
- Exim: A mail transfer agent (MTA) used to route, deliver, and receive email messages, commonly used on Unix-like operating systems.
- Fail2Ban: A security tool that is used to block malicious login attempts by banning the IP address of the offender for a specified amount of time.
- fetchmail: A remote mail retrieval utility that retrieves and forwards email from external servers to a local mail server or inbox.
- firewalld: A dynamic firewall management tool that provides a high-level interface for configuring network security on a Linux system.
- Git: A distributed version control system that is used to track changes in source code during software development.
- GlusterFS: A distributed file system that is used to store and manage data across multiple servers.
- Grafana: A data visualization and monitoring platform that is used to create dashboards and charts to display time series data.
- Graylog: A log management and analysis platform that is used to collect, store, and analyze log data from various sources.
- Hadoop: A distributed computing platform that is used to process large amounts of data.
- HAProxy: A high-availability load balancer that is used to distribute incoming requests across multiple servers.
- Icinga: An open-source network monitoring tool that is used to monitor the performance and availability of servers and network devices.
- InfluxDB: A time series database that is used to store and query data that is collected over time.
- Jenkins: A continuous integration and delivery platform that is used to build, test, and deploy software projects.
- Joomla: A content management system (CMS) that is used to create and manage websites and web applications.
- Kafka: A distributed streaming platform that is used to process and transmit large amounts of data in real-time.
- Kibana: A data visualization and exploration tool that is used to search, analyze, and visualize data stored in an Elasticsearch cluster.
- Kubernetes: A container orchestration platform that is used to manage and deploy containerized applications at scale.
- KVM: Kernel-based Virtual Machine, a virtualization technology that allows a Linux server to run multiple isolated virtual machines (VMs).
- Let's Encrypt: A certificate authority that provides free SSL/TLS certificates, enabling HTTPS encryption for websites.
- Logstash: A log management and analysis tool that is used to collect, parse, and store log data from various sources.
- LVM: The Logical Volume Manager utility that is used to manage disk volumes on a Linux system.
- MariaDB: A database management system that is used to store and retrieve data for applications.
- mdadm: A tool that is used to manage and monitor software RAID (Redundant Array of Independent Disks) arrays on a Linux system.
- MediaWiki: A CMS that is used to create and manage wikis.
- Memcached: An in-memory cache that is used to improve the performance of web applications by storing frequently accessed data in memory.
- Mencoder: A command-line video encoding tool that is used to convert and manipulate multimedia files.
- MongoDB: A NoSQL database management system that is used to store and retrieve data for applications.
- MySQL: A relational database management system that is widely used to store and retrieve data for web applications and services.
- Nagios: A network monitoring tool that is used to monitor the performance and availability of servers and network devices.
- Nextcloud: A self-hosted file sharing and collaboration platform that provides cloud storage, file synchronization, and productivity tools.
- NFS: Network File System, a protocol that allows a Linux server to share directories and files over a network in a way that users can access them as if they were on the local system.
- Nginx: A high-performance web server that also serves as a reverse proxy, load balancer, and HTTP cache, commonly used for high-traffic websites.
- Node-RED: A programming tool that is used to create and deploy IoT applications.
- NTP: The Network Time Protocol daemon that is used to synchronize the clock on a Linux server with a reference time source.
- OpenLDAP: An open-source Lightweight Directory Access Protocol (LDAP) server that is used to store and manage user and group information.
- OpenVPN: A virtual private network (VPN) server that is used to securely connect remote users to a network.
- OwnCloud: A file sharing and collaboration platform that can be installed on a Linux server.
- Postfix: An email server that is used to send and receive emails.
- PostgreSQL: An open-source database management system that is used to store and retrieve data for applications.
- Proftpd: An FTP server that is used to transfer files over the network.
- Puppet: A configuration management tool that is used to automate the deployment and configuration of servers and applications.
- RabbitMQ: A message broker that enables applications, systems, and services to communicate via message passing, supporting various protocols and real-time data streaming.
- Redis: An in-memory key-value data store used as a database, cache, and message broker, known for its speed and support for various data structures like strings, lists, and sets.
- Rsyslog: A system logging daemon that is used to collect and store log messages from various sources.
- Samba: A utility that allows a Linux server to share files with Windows clients.
- Solr: An open-source search platform that is used to index, search, and analyze large volumes of data.
- SpamAssassin: A tool that is used to detect and filter spam emails on a Linux server.
- Spark: A distributed data processing platform that is used to analyze and transform large datasets.
- Squid: A web proxy server that is used to cache web content and improve performance.
- SVN: Subversion, a centralized version control system that is used to track changes in source code and other files during software development.
- Terraform: A tool that is used to manage and provision infrastructure resources, such as servers and networking equipment.
- Varnish: A high-performance caching HTTP accelerator designed to speed up the delivery of web content, especially for dynamic websites with heavy traffic.
- vsftpd: A lightweight, secure FTP server known for its performance and strong focus on security, commonly used for transferring files over a network.
- WireGuard: A modern, high-speed VPN protocol and software that provides secure point-to-point connections with an emphasis on simplicity, speed, and ease of configuration.
- WordPress: Another popular CMS that is used to create and manage websites and blogs.
- Zabbix: A network monitoring tool that is used to monitor the performance and availability of servers and network devices.