Linux Filesystem Hierarchy every Infrastructure Engineer should know:
/ → Root directory. Everything starts here
/bin → Essential user commands (ls, cp, mv)
/sbin → System admin commands (fdisk, ifconfig)
/etc → Configuration files (nginx.conf, sshd_config)
/var → Variable data (logs, mail, spool, databases)
/var/log → System and application logs
/home → User home directories
/root → The root user's home (different from /)
/tmp → Temporary files (cleared on reboot)
/usr → User programs and libraries
/opt → Optional third-party software
/dev → Device files (disks, terminals)
/proc → Virtual filesystem for running processes
/sys → Kernel and hardware info
/boot → Bootloader and kernel files
/mnt → Temporary mount points
/media → Removable media (USB, CDs)
/lib → Shared libraries for /bin and /sbin
Know where things live and Linux stops feeling like a maze.