Linux Server Hacks: 100 Industrial-Strength Tips and Tools

A competent system administrator knows that a Linux server is a high performance system for routing large amounts of information through a network connection. Setting up and maintaining a Linux server requires understanding not only the hardware, but the ins and outs of the Linux operating system along with its supporting cast of utilities as well as layers of applications software. There's basic documentation online but there's a lot beyond the basics you have to know, and this only comes from people with hands-on, real-world experience. This kind of "know how" is what we sought to capture in Linux Server Hacks. Linux Server Hacks is a collection of 100 industrial-strength hacks, providing tips and tools that solve practical problems for Linux system administrators. Every hack can be read in just a few minutes but will save hours of searching for the right answer. Some of the hacks are subtle, many of them are non-obvious, and all of them demonstrate the power and flexibility of a Linux system. You'll find hacks devoted to tuning the Linux kernel to make your system run more efficiently, as well as using CVS or RCS to track the revision to system files. You'll learn alternative ways to do backups, how to use system monitoring tools to track system performance and a variety of secure networking solutions. Linux Server Hacks also helps you manage large-scale Web installations running Apache, MySQL, and other open source tools that are typically part of a Linux system. O'Reilly's new Hacks Series proudly reclaims the term "hacking" for the good guys. Hackers use their ingenuity to solve interesting problems. Rob Flickenger is an experienced system administrator, having managed the systems for O'Reilly Network for several years. (He's also into community wireless networking and he's written a book on that subject for O'Reilly.) Rob has also collected the best ideas and tools from a number of other highly skilled contributors. Written for users who already understand the basics, Linux Server Hacks is built upon the expertise of people who really know what they're doing.

Rob Flickenger has been a professional systems administrator for more than 10 years, and all around hacker for as long as he can remember. Rob enjoys spreading the good word of open networks, open standards, and ubiquitous wireless networking. His current professional project is Metrix Communication LLC, which provides wireless hardware and software that embodies the same open source principles he rants about in his books. Rob also works with the U.N. and various international organizations to bring these ideas to places where communications infrastructure is badly needed. He hopes that all of this effort is contributing toward the ultimate goal of infinite bandwidth everywhere for free. He is the author of Linux Server Hacks, Wireless Hacks, and Building Wireless Community Networks (which is in its second edition).