How I Built 5 Linux Automation Scripts on AWS EC2

I wanted to find out what working on a real Linux server actually feels like — not a local VM, not a simulator.

So in May 2026, I spun up an Ubuntu 22.04 server on AWS EC2, connected via SSH, and spent the entire month doing real work on it.

Here's what I built.

🖥️ Environment

📚 Topics Covered

Linux Fundamentals

• User and group management


• File permissions (chmod, chown)


• Process management (ps, top, kill, systemctl)


• Networking basics (ss, curl, UFW, DNS)


• Package management with apt
  

Automation & Scripting

• Bash scripting — functions and validation


• Log management


• Cron job scheduling


• SSH workflows (scp, rsync)


• Log analysis using grep, awk, and sed
  

🔧 The 5 Automation Scripts

By the end of the month, I had built and automated 5 production-style Bash scripts.

1. Server Health Check

A monitoring script that checks:

• CPU usage


• RAM usage


• Disk usage


• Service status


• Internet connectivity

Scheduled every 15 minutes using cron.

./server_health.sh

Example output:

================================================

        SERVER HEALTH CHECK REPORT

================================================



Date: 2026-05-12 10:00:00

Hostname: ip-172-xx-xx-xx



--- CPU Usage ---

✅ CPU is OK (2.3%)



--- Memory Usage ---

✅ RAM is OK (45%)



--- Services Status ---

✅ ssh: RUNNING

✅ nginx: RUNNING

✅ docker: RUNNING



--- Network ---

✅ Internet: CONNECTED



================================================

2. Disk Usage Alerter

A script that scans partitions and generates alerts when disk usage exceeds a threshold.

Features:

• Threshold-based alerts


• Partition monitoring


• Log generation


• Color-coded terminal output

Runs every hour through cron.

3. Log Cleaner

A maintenance script that:

• Compresses older logs


• Removes outdated logs


• Reduces disk usage automatically

Built using find, gzip, and mtime filters for log retention management.

Runs every Sunday.

4. User Creation Script

A provisioning script for creating users with a consistent setup.

Features:

• Username validation


• Group assignment


• Home directory creation


• Temporary password generation


• Batch user creation using CSV files
  

sudo ./user_creation.sh --file users.csv

5. Backup Script

Creates compressed backups using tar.gz archives.

Features:

• Backup verification


• Retention policy


• Automatic cleanup of old backups


• Logging and integrity checks

Scheduled daily at 2 AM.

⏱️ Cron Job Automation

All scripts were automated using cron jobs.

# Health check — every 15 minutes

*/15 * * * * /home/ubuntu/scripts/server_health.sh >> /home/ubuntu/logs/health_cron.log 2>&1



# Disk alerter — every hour

0 * * * * /home/ubuntu/scripts/disk_alerter.sh >> /home/ubuntu/logs/disk_cron.log 2>&1



# Backup — daily at 2 AM

0 2 * * * /home/ubuntu/scripts/backup.sh >> /home/ubuntu/logs/backup_cron.log 2>&1



# Log cleaner — every Sunday at 11 PM

0 23 * * 0 /home/ubuntu/scripts/log_cleaner.sh >> /home/ubuntu/logs/cleaner_cron.log 2>&1

Once configured, the server handled routine maintenance automatically.

💡 Biggest Learnings

1. Linux becomes comfortable through repetition

At the beginning, basic terminal commands felt unfamiliar.

After working daily on a remote server, navigating Linux from the command line became much more natural. There's no shortcut — you just have to do it daily.

2. Automation changes how you think

One of the biggest mindset shifts was noticing repetitive work and immediately thinking:

"Can this be automated?"

That shift alone made scripting feel much more practical — and honestly, more fun.

3. Real infrastructure teaches different lessons

Working on an actual EC2 instance exposed me to problems that are difficult to fully understand in local environments:

• SSH authentication issues


• File permission problems


• Cron debugging


• Disk usage management


• Log analysis workflows

Solving those problems on a live server taught me far more than just reading commands from documentation.

🚀 What's Next

Next, I'm moving into AWS Core Infrastructure — VPC, IAM, RDS, and Terraform.

That work starts in June 2026. Follow along if you're on a similar path.

📁 GitHub Repository

All scripts and documentation are open source:

👉 github.com/tanayjdev/linux-bash-scripts

BCA Student • Aspiring Cloud & DevOps Engineer