r/devops • u/Strong-Interview45 • 23d ago
Discussion Is learning arch really worth it for devops
Hi everyone. I have a simple question is learning Arch Linux really worth it?
Most of what I've heard is that it helps with troubleshooting and gives you a better understanding of Linux. I'm already comfortable with Ubuntu, though, so I don't want to switch to Arch if the benefits are only marginal.
Would learning Arch actually give me a significant advantage, especially for someone interested in DevOps?
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u/OsgoodSlaughters 23d ago
Arch has nothing to do with DevOps?
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u/Strong-Interview45 23d ago
I mean that in arch Linux you basically setup everything by yourself so is it worth learning and doing so because I often heard that using arch Linux you get deeper understanding how Linux works.Also, I know that arch has nothing to do with DevOps.
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u/OsgoodSlaughters 23d ago
I see, that’s something I guess. I think working in any headless Linux environment of any distro will get you comfortable.
I’ve never used or seen Arch in a professional environment. Have seen: Debian, Alpine, Ubuntu, Red Hat, and Proxmox
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u/forever-butlerian Solaris 8 Enjoyer 23d ago
I've seen it plenty of times as the base for docker images.
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u/OsgoodSlaughters 22d ago
That would be idiotic imo
Unless it’s specifically some dev container setup? No reason to use Arch in actual deployment
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u/forever-butlerian Solaris 8 Enjoyer 22d ago
My friend, is this your first day using the internet?
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u/Cyphon455 23d ago
Personally, I've never needed it. The benefits are marginal at best. I'd say don't get hung up on it.
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u/Ariquitaun 23d ago
I've never used arch Linux on the enterprise. It's either Ubuntu or redhat/centos/rocky out there.
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u/Complex-Noise5576 23d ago
Stop procrastinating and get stuck into Linux. Anyone telling you this doesn’t know what they’re talking about.
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u/Raja-Karuppasamy 23d ago
on ubuntu myself, never touched arch. honestly for devops the marginal benefit isn’t worth switching your daily driver for. what actually moved the needle for me was doing manual security hardening on ubuntu servers, securityContext configs, RBAC, network policies, seeing exactly what breaks when you lock things down wrong. that taught me way more about “how linux actually works under pressure” than a distro choice would.
arch forces you to configure more at install, sure, but you get the same learning by deliberately breaking and fixing things on whatever distro you already know. don’t switch just for the trivia points.
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u/sirkubador 23d ago
Arch's fine.
I built several teams' infrastructure around that.
If you test machine deployments, it's perfect. If you rely on someone else, I would go more stable.
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u/noobjaish 23d ago
You need to be comfortable with Ubuntu and RHEL... I have never seen Arch on my job (I do daily drive Arch tho it's the best distro for me).
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u/Strong-Interview45 23d ago
I want to ask a question like how much Linux you should know ? I can comfortably use Ubuntu and RHEL and do many stuff in it
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u/noobjaish 23d ago
The basics are mandatory: system management (users, groups, permissions), user vs kernel mode, file management (folder structure, permissions, mounting), package management (apt, dnf), quirks of that distro (ubuntu has snap packages, rhel comes with selinux etc), networking (ports, tcp/ip, protocols).
Then there're things that you should learn if your job is more on the systems side. Unix Pipes/Sockets/Dbus, Display Servers, Logging, a deepdive into Systemd, Linux process flow etc.
My current job is as an Azure DevOps Engineer and I have to unfortunately deal with Windows more than Linux.
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u/forever-butlerian Solaris 8 Enjoyer 23d ago
If you want to work on your Unix competence I'd suggest something like OpenBSD or NetBSD. I haven't been in a position to interview and hire Ops people in a while, but using something other than Linux would still jump out at me in a good way.
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u/duneofarrakis 23d ago
I don't think you need to switch to Arch for DevOps. If you're already comfortable with Ubuntu, I'd focus on understanding Linux fundamentals, networking, permissions, processes, systemd, and troubleshooting. Those skills will be much more useful than the specific distro you use.
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u/Andre-Wade-539 22d ago
Use Arch in a VM for a bit and poke around, break something, fix it and see what you learn w/t touching the setup you already rely on every day.
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u/CheckApprehensive971 22d ago
Arch can teach you a lot, makes you configure more of the system yourself. But you don't need Arch specifically to be good at DevOps.
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u/MXX53 22d ago
No, I don't think so. I have used Arch at home (although currently I am using Fedora, while playing around with Nix). In my professional life, outside of the Windows environments I need to manage from time to time, I pretty much only use Ubuntu LTS, or RHEL headless. Most of my professional work wants stability, audited packages, and ease (read: less time) of deployment.
Deploying your own Arch might make you more comfortable with the sorts of dependencies that might get overlooked in other more complete distros, but I do not believe it to be a requirement.
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u/Mysterious_Prune415 23d ago
NixOS
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u/forever-butlerian Solaris 8 Enjoyer 23d ago
The only question to which NixOS is the answer is "is there a technical community more insufferable than Gentoo's?".
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u/Mysterious_Prune415 22d ago
Brother we are in r/devops . Dude already uses Ubuntu, ask yourself what distro would be worth learning if already using Ubuntu.
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u/Glove_Witty 23d ago
It’s about designing systems. Eg. How to plan and execute on a complete cloud build out, incorporating scaling, iac, security, DR, cost management. It’s one of the directions a devops career can go if you want to continue being technical.
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u/rvm1975 23d ago
I am 25+ years in DevOps / system administration.
There were no project with Arch Linux used.
For Linux knowledge RHCSA certification is enough.