alias

Custom terminator layout with multiple tabs and terminals

 in Bash / GNU/Linux  tagged alias / bash / bashrc / config / ssh / template / terminator by

The following terminator layout ([download id=”4658″]) opens 3 different tabs, the first two tabs contain only one terminal each and the third one has 4 terminals in a 2×2 matrix.
Each of these tabs have their own custom name set and following each terminal has its name set to make it easier for the user to recognize the purpose of each one.

[download id=”4658″]

After opening these terminals, the configuration file, contains specific commands to be executed by each terminal, allowing you to automate a some trivial part of your day to day operations.
In this example, each terminal will navigate to a specific project or connect via ssh to some server, then it will perform some operation like performing a git pull and finally it will preserve the connection for you by starting a new bash instance to continue using that terminal.

Feel free to edit the layout and create a custom configuration for your tabs / the terminals and the commands.

Installation / Usage

  1. Replace the config ([download id=”4658″]) file in your home user folder ~/.config/terminator/  with the one we provide
    (In nautilus press Ctrl+H to view hidden files and folders if you cannot find the .config folder)
  2. Open terminator and execute the following:
    terminator -l init;

If you want to create an alias for this command:
Open .bashrc file at your home user folder and add the following

alias my-init="terminator -l init"

For any new terminal in terminator, executing my-init will spawn a new window of terminator that has all the configuration from the file loaded into it.

Contents of [download id=”4658″]

[global_config]
[keybindings]
[layouts]
  [[default]]
    [[[child1]]]
      parent = window0
      type = Terminal
    [[[window0]]]
      parent = ""
      type = Window
  [[init]]
    [[[child0]]]
      fullscreen = False
      last_active_window = True
      maximised = True
      order = 0
      parent = ""
      position = 0:26
      size = 1918, 1002
      title = /bin/bash
      type = Window
    [[[child1]]]
      active_page = 0
      labels = www, MA, all other, dev logs, staging logs, live logs
      last_active_term = d3c317d7-964a-4625-96d0-39deb5166072, 93ce7874-059e-4794-b337-7b640654a3d6, db090e6f-07e4-431e-ad86-a8b6cb965b5e, 906a5f4d-a3af-4da8-8385-673b132e7edd, 1b48b3b9-216c-470b-be53-ec1e8c6fdc0b, cb7d737c-a064-4e0e-ad5e-59c47d7bdd3b
      order = 0
      parent = child0
      type = Notebook
    [[[child11]]]
      order = 3
      parent = child1
      position = 956
      ratio = 0.500261643119
      type = HPaned
    [[[child14]]]
      order = 4
      parent = child1
      position = 956
      ratio = 0.500261643119
      type = HPaned
    [[[child17]]]
      order = 5
      parent = child1
      position = 956
      ratio = 0.500261643119
      type = HPaned
    [[[child4]]]
      order = 2
      parent = child1
      position = 956
      ratio = 0.500261643119
      type = HPaned
    [[[child5]]]
      order = 0
      parent = child4
      position = 481
      ratio = 0.500520291363
      type = VPaned
    [[[child8]]]
      order = 1
      parent = child4
      position = 481
      ratio = 0.500520291363
      type = VPaned
    [[[terminal10]]]
      command = cd /vhosts/www.example.com/; git pull; bash
      order = 1
      parent = child8
      profile = default
      title = www.example.com
      type = Terminal
      uuid = db090e6f-07e4-431e-ad86-a8b6cb965b5e
    [[[terminal12]]]
      command = "ssh -t git 'cd vhosts/www.bytefreaks.net/ci_applications/registration_forms/logs/; ll; bash'"
      directory = ""
      order = 0
      parent = child11
      profile = default
      title = WWW dev logs
      type = Terminal
      uuid = 4c08356b-b516-4286-8b6d-ba071f1394f3
    [[[terminal13]]]
      command = "ssh -t git 'cd vhosts/my.bytefreaks.net/symfony/var/logs/; ll; bash'"
      directory = ""
      order = 1
      parent = child11
      profile = default
      title = MA dev logs
      type = Terminal
      uuid = 906a5f4d-a3af-4da8-8385-673b132e7edd
    [[[terminal15]]]
      command = "ssh -t web13 'cd /data/var/www/vhosts/staging-www.bytefreaks.net/htdocs/ci_applications/registration_forms/logs/; ls -la; bash'"
      order = 0
      parent = child14
      profile = default
      title = WWW staging logs
      type = Terminal
      uuid = 1b48b3b9-216c-470b-be53-ec1e8c6fdc0b
    [[[terminal16]]]
      command = "ssh -t web13 'cd /data/var/www/vhosts/staging-my.bytefreaks.net/htdocs/symfony/var/logs/; ls -la; bash'"
      order = 1
      parent = child14
      profile = default
      title = MA staging logs
      type = Terminal
      uuid = e26e94cd-855a-44ff-9c67-66b1c03bac56
    [[[terminal18]]]
      command = "ssh -t web13 'cd /data/var/www/vhosts/www.bytefreaks.net/htdocs/ci_applications/registration_forms/logs/; ls -la; bash'"
      directory = ""
      order = 0
      parent = child17
      profile = default
      title = WWW Live logs
      type = Terminal
      uuid = 70466609-2d01-45d2-84b4-e377b111e540
    [[[terminal19]]]
      command = "ssh -t web13 'cd /data/var/www/vhosts/my.bytefreaks.net/htdocs/symfony/var/logs/; ls -la; bash'"
      directory = ""
      order = 1
      parent = child17
      profile = default
      title = MA Live logs
      type = Terminal
      uuid = cb7d737c-a064-4e0e-ad5e-59c47d7bdd3b
    [[[terminal2]]]
      command = cd /vhosts/www.bytefreaks.net/; git pull; bash
      order = 0
      parent = child1
      profile = default
      title = www.bytefreaks.net
      type = Terminal
      uuid = d3c317d7-964a-4625-96d0-39deb5166072
    [[[terminal3]]]
      command = cd /vhosts/my.bytefreaks.net/; git pull; bash
      order = 1
      parent = child1
      profile = default
      title = my.bytefreaks.net
      type = Terminal
      uuid = 93ce7874-059e-4794-b337-7b640654a3d6
    [[[terminal6]]]
      command = cd /vhosts/www.michanicos.com/; git pull; bash
      order = 0
      parent = child5
      profile = default
      title = www.michanicos.com
      type = Terminal
      uuid = 2f204209-0c0b-4fab-b883-95f95f5d38e9
    [[[terminal7]]]
      command = cd /vhosts/www.etea.com.cy/; git pull; bash
      order = 1
      parent = child5
      profile = default
      title = www.etea.com.cy
      type = Terminal
      uuid = 6f801914-5225-4e1f-b54c-f48540274614
    [[[terminal9]]]
      command = cd /vhosts/www.ieee.org/; git pull; bash
      order = 0
      parent = child8
      profile = default
      title = www.ieee.org
      type = Terminal
      uuid = 3dbfe3a7-2e25-4e7d-bb02-dc4aeeeda47f
[plugins]
[profiles]
  [[default]]
    background_darkness = 0.8
    cursor_color = "#ffffff"
    foreground_color = "#ffffff"

Using aliases for SSH

 in Applications  tagged alias / ssh by

An extremely helpful feature of ssh is the ability to define aliases using its configuration files:

  • ~/.ssh/config
  • /etc/ssh/ssh_config

~/.ssh/config contains configuration that is only available to your user and any user can create one for themselves.
/etc/ssh/ssh_config contains configuration that applies to all users of the system and only administrators can modify it.

Note: ~/.ssh/config should only have read and write access rights by its owner only!
Be sure to execute the following after your create it:

chmod 600 ~/.ssh/config;

Example 1 – Creating an alias for a host name:

Assuming we are too bored to type the full domain of a server, we can define a shorter name as follows:

Host bf
    HostName bytefreaks.net

by having this configuration lines in your ~/.ssh/config file, you can shorten the command ssh bytefreaks.net; to ssh bf;.

Example 2 – Creating an alias for a host name with specific username:

In the next example, we create a new alias that not only will automatically set the host name but also the username

Host bf
    HostName bytefreaks.net
    User george

by having this configuration lines in your ~/.ssh/config file, you shorten the command ssh [email protected]; to ssh bf;.

Example 3 – Creating an alias for a host name with specific username and port:

In the next example, we create a new alias for a specific host name, username and ssh port number

Host bf
    HostName bytefreaks.net
    User george
    Port 22300

The above will shorten ssh [email protected] -p 22300 to ssh bf;.

Example 4 – Creating an alias for a host name with specific username and identity file:

Host bf
    HostName bytefreaks.net
    User george
    IdentityFile /path/to/needed/private/key/id_rsa

The above will shorten ssh [email protected] -i /path/to/needed/private/key/id_rsa; to ssh bf;

For more information on the capabilities of the configuration files, please review the following documentation page as it has a whole lot more of useful information: http://man.openbsd.org/cgi-bin/man.cgi/OpenBSD-current/man5/ssh_config.5

Repeated note: ~/.ssh/config should only have read and write access rights by its owner only!
Be sure to execute the following after your create it:

chmod 600 ~/.ssh/config;