Stage 2 · Tools
Shell Scripting & Automation
Bash, Zsh, and POSIX shell from first script to production-grade automation — the scripting skill every SRE relies on every day.
6 modules36 lessons4.2h of reading36/36 live today
Prerequisite
Comfort on the command line.
What this course leaves you with
- Write production Bash with proper error handling
- Parse logs, manage processes, and automate daily work
- Turn runbooks into repeatable scripts
BashShellAutomationLinux
Why this stage matters — You can automate locally — now build services that run in production.
Progress
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course completion
01
6 lessons
Bash Fundamentals
Variables, control flow, functions, and the mental model behind the Unix shell.
- 01Shell BasicsHow the shell parses commands, quoting rules, word splitting, and globbing.6 min
- 02Variables & ExpansionsVariables, parameter expansion, arithmetic, command substitution, and arrays.7 min
- 03Control Flowif/elif/else, for, while, until, case — with proper exit codes.7 min
- 04FunctionsDeclare functions, pass arguments, return values, and scope variables.6 min
- 05Script Structure & Shebang#!/usr/bin/env bash, set -euo pipefail, error handling, and script headers.6 min
- 06Debugging Scriptsset -x, set -v, shellcheck, and trap for script-level debugging.7 min
02
6 lessons
Text Processing
grep, awk, sed, cut, sort, uniq — the Unix text-processing toolkit for parsing logs and data.
- 01grep & ripgrepBasic and extended regex, context lines, recursive search, and ripgrep.7 min
- 02sed — Stream EditingSubstitute, delete, insert, and transform text streams in place.7 min
- 03awk — Data ProcessingField splitting, patterns, actions, and built-in variables for reporting.8 min
- 04cut, sort, uniq, trExtract columns, sort output, count occurrences, and translate characters.6 min
- 05jq — JSON ProcessingParse, filter, transform, and generate JSON from the command line.7 min
- 06Log Analysis in PracticeParse Nginx/Apache access logs, extract metrics, and summarize errors.8 min
03
6 lessons
Process & System Management
Start, stop, monitor, and manage processes — the operational scripting every SRE writes.
- 01Process Managementps, kill, pkill, pgrep, nice, nohup, and job control with & and fg/bg.7 min
- 02Signals & TrapsSIGTERM, SIGKILL, SIGHUP — handle signals gracefully in scripts with trap.7 min
- 03cron & systemd TimersSchedule jobs with cron syntax and modern systemd timer units.7 min
- 04File System Operationsfind, xargs, rsync, tar, and safe file manipulation patterns.7 min
- 05Disk & Memory Monitoringdf, du, free, vmstat — scripting resource monitoring and alerts.6 min
- 06Writing systemd ServicesCreate unit files, manage dependencies, and write clean ExecStart scripts.7 min
04
6 lessons
Network Scripting
curl, wget, nc, ssh — automate every network task from HTTP to SSH tunneling.
- 01curl — HTTP AutomationGET/POST/PUT/DELETE, headers, auth, follow redirects, and JSON payloads.7 min
- 02SSH Automationssh-keygen, ssh-copy-id, scp, rsync over SSH, and multiplexing.7 min
- 03nc, nmap & Port ScanningTest connectivity, scan ports, and debug network services.6 min
- 04Webhook Handler ScriptsReceive and respond to GitHub/Alertmanager webhooks with plain Bash.7 min
- 05Health Check ScriptsPoll endpoints, check DNS, test TLS certificates, and alert on failure.7 min
- 06Practice: On-Call RunbookConvert a common production runbook into an automated Bash script.8 min
05
6 lessons
Scripting Patterns
Idiomatic Bash patterns — argument parsing, error handling, logging, and portable scripts.
- 01Argument Parsinggetopts, usage functions, required vs optional flags, and input validation.7 min
- 02Error Handling Patternsset -e traps, pipefail, errexit, and building resilient scripts.7 min
- 03Logging in Shell ScriptsLog levels, timestamps, colored output, and writing to syslog.6 min
- 04Idempotent ScriptsWrite scripts that are safe to run multiple times without side effects.7 min
- 05Testing Shell Scriptsbats-core: test cases, assertions, setup/teardown for shell scripts.7 min
- 06Portable Scripting (POSIX)Write scripts that run on bash, dash, zsh, and busybox sh.6 min
06
6 lessons
DevOps Scripts in Practice
Real-world automation: deployment scripts, backup jobs, monitoring scripts, and CI helpers.
- 01Deployment ScriptsZero-downtime deploy, health checks, rollback, and notification on failure.8 min
- 02Backup AutomationDatabase dumps, file archives, S3 upload, and retention policy scripts.7 min
- 03CI Helper ScriptsVersion bumping, changelog generation, Docker build and push automation.7 min
- 04Secret Management in ScriptsAvoid hardcoded secrets — use Vault, env vars, and masked variables safely.7 min
- 05Kubernetes Automation Scriptskubectl loops, waiting for rollouts, and exporting cluster state.7 min
- 06Capstone: Production RunbookBuild a complete automated runbook for a production incident scenario.9 min