Lab — Mini Automation Script

Create $HOME/cyberlium-lab if needed. Write sysinfo.sh with #!/bin/bash, then three commands: whoami (identity), pwd (where you are), and date (when you ran it). Those three lines are a mini "what machine, what directory, what time" header analysts paste at the top of notes. When you hand a report to yourself tomorrow, that header stops you from mixing WSL runs with VM runs or yesterday's cwd with today's.

chmod +x and run ./sysinfo.sh from that directory (or pass a quoted absolute path). The execute bit is a capability on a file you own — it is not privilege escalation. If the shell says Permission denied, check ls -l for the x bit and confirm you are not trying to execute a directory. If it says No such file, check pwd and the path you typed; do not invent sudo as a fix for a typo.

Optional stretch — still only under cyberlium-lab: redirect output into sysinfo-out.txt with >> so you keep a history, and copy notes.txt to backups/notes-YYYYMMDD-HHMMSS.txt using date +%Y%m%d-%H%M%S. Quoting the destination path keeps spaces from splitting the argument. Skipping quotes is how a "simple backup" becomes three broken partial paths and a confused ls.

The shebang #!/bin/bash tells the kernel which interpreter to launch when you run ./sysinfo.sh. Without +x, the kernel will not treat the file as an executable entry point — you can still run bash sysinfo.sh because bash reads the file as a script argument. Both paths are valid; ./ with +x is the habit you want for tools you own.

Relative ./sysinfo.sh means "in this directory," not "somewhere on PATH." That is deliberate safety: you do not want a same-named script from /tmp to win because PATH was polluted. which sysinfo.sh should usually find nothing until you install a package that ships that name. Your lab script lives in cyberlium-lab and you invoke it by path.

date formats matter for backups. date alone is human-readable. date +%Y%m%d-%H%M%S is sortable and filename-safe on most filesystems. Embedding that expansion in a destination path is how you avoid overwriting yesterday's copy. Overwriting is silent data loss — worse than a loud error when you thought you had a second copy.

Real backup scripts add checksums, retention, and restore tests. This lab teaches the skeleton: create a known directory, write a script with a shebang, make it executable, run it, and prove output. If you cannot do that reliably under $HOME/cyberlium-lab, you are not ready to automate anything that touches /etc or production mounts.

Security angle: a script that copies secrets into world-readable backups is a self-inflicted leak. Keep practice files non-secret, or chmod 600 the backup directory after you create it. Never paste API keys into notes.txt "just for the lab." The habit you rehearse is the habit that will ship.

Ethics and scope stay absolute: only your VM, WSL, or spare machine; only paths under $HOME/cyberlium-lab for this exercise; no scanning other hosts; no chmod 777 /; no rm -rf /. Automation multiplies mistakes — so the lab keeps the blast radius tiny on purpose.

Run these on YOUR Linux VM, YOUR WSL distro, or YOUR spare box only. Create the lab folder, write the script with nano or a here-doc, chmod +x, execute, and optionally create a timestamped copy of a practice notes file. Do not point cp at directories outside cyberlium-lab for this lesson.

# YOUR VM / WSL / spare machine only — stay under $HOME
mkdir -p "$HOME/cyberlium-lab/backups"
cd "$HOME/cyberlium-lab" || exit 1

# Write the script (nano is fine if you prefer)
cat > sysinfo.sh << 'EOF'
#!/bin/bash
set -euo pipefail
echo "whoami: $(whoami)"
echo "pwd:    $(pwd)"
echo "date:   $(date)"
EOF

chmod +x sysinfo.sh
./sysinfo.sh

# Optional stretch: practice notes + timestamped copy (no secrets)
echo "lab notes — non-secret" > notes.txt
STAMP="$(date +%Y%m%d-%H%M%S)"
cp -v notes.txt "backups/notes-${STAMP}.txt"
ls -la backups/

# NEVER for "cleanup" or "realism":
# rm -rf /
# chmod 777 /
# sudo cp -a /etc "$HOME/cyberlium-lab/"

You now have a real automation skeleton: shebang, execute bit, quoted paths, and a timestamped copy under a folder you own. That is the bridge from "I can type bash" to "I can leave a reliable tool for myself." Next up — Quiz — Linux Fundamentals Final — locks Module 6 and the whole Topic 2 map.