Which Linux command or utility is simple, powerful, and surprisingly unknown to many people or used less often?
This could be a command or a piece of software or an application.
For example I’m surprised to find that many people are unaware of Caddy, a very simple web server that can make setting up a reverse proxy incredibly easy.
Another example is fzf. Many people overlook this, a fast command-line fuzzy finder. It’s versatile for searching files, directories, or even shell history with minimal effort.
socat - connect anything to anything
for example
socat - tcp-connect:remote-server:12345
socat tcp-listen:12345 -
socat tcp-listen:12345 tcp-connect:remote-server:12345
nmap *your_local_ip_address*
for example
nmap 192.168.1.43/24 will show you what devices are connected to the local network, and what ports are open there. really useful, for example, when you forgot the address of your printer or raspi yet again.
you can also use it to understand what ports on your computer are open from an attacker’s perspective, or simply to figure out what services are running (ssh service).
losetup
it’s useful for dealing with virtual disk images. like a real physical hard disk, but it’s a file on the computer. you can mount it, format it, and write it to a real physical disk.
it’s sometimes used with virtual machines, with iso images, or when preparing a bootable disk.
netstat -tunl shows all open ports on the machine to help diagnose any firewall issues.
