IT Pro Tuesday #197

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Welcome back to IT Pro Tuesday!

We're looking for cool tips and tools we can share with the community... those that help you do your job better and more easily. Please reply with your latest finds, so we can help others benefit from your experience.

As always, we’re updating the full list on our website here. Enjoy.

But on with this week's tools...! Here are the most-interesting items that have come across our desks, laptops and phones this week. Hornetsecurity has no known affiliation with any of these unless we explicitly state otherwise.

A Free Tool

PDFtk Server is a command-line tool for working with PDFs that is commonly used for client-side scripting or server-side processing of PDFs. PDFtk Server does not require Adobe Acrobat or Reader, and it runs on Windows, Mac OS X and Linux. Shishire likes it for "cli lossless pdf manipulation. Split, combine, rearrange, etc. Plus, some more-powerful tools like convert to decrypted (with password)."

A Cheatsheet

Linux Terminal Keyboard Shortcuts is a great way to help you learn all the essential keyboard shortcuts. This handy resource gives you at-a-glance reminders you can post next to your display for reference until they become second nature. Our thanks for this one go to DCGMechanics.

A Podcast

Terminal Talk features discussion on the people, tech and culture surrounding Mainframes. Navydevildoc adds, "If you really want to go down the rabbit hole of Mainframe systems, the guys on Terminal Talk are amazing. I’m not a mainframe guy, but exposing myself to that world is really good professional development."

Another Free Tool

Glances is a fantastic, cross-platform monitoring tool that is designed to compactly present a ton of useful information, dynamically adapting what is displayed depending on the terminal size. Can also work in client/server mode, and remote monitoring can be done via Terminal, Web interface or API. Statistics can be exported to external time/value databases. Appreciation for directing us to this tool goes to ZelenskyyInPandoraPp.

A Training Resource

Cloud is Free is designed to allow newbies to the Cloud set up practical projects in order to become more skilled with this technology. Author HisoDB explains, "This site was made for those who want to get started in the Cloud or for those who have passed a Cloud certification… to learn by doing and especially to present those projects during interviews… I have made sure to write each project in as much detail as possible so that everyone, regardless of your level, can successfully complete the projects. By the way, the website is totally free and open source, it's my way to help the community as it helped me."

P.S. Bonus Free Tools

Netmaker is a speedy, flexible tool for creating and managing virtual overly networks by connecting machines securely regardless of location. DryPhilosopher8168 appreciates this "fast and free (SSPL) Tailscale/Zerotier alternative. Much easier to setup then Nebula."

SWAG is a full-fledged Nginx webserver and reverse-proxy with integrated Let's Encrypt client and php support. Vinnipinni raves, "I absolutely love SWAG. It’s fast, reliable, has templates for many services that work out of the box. Making your own templates is simple, and you can configure it to your liking if the default config doesn’t fit your need."

Have a fantastic week and as usual, let us know any comments.