Now covers Red Hat Linux!
Written by Evi Nemeth, Garth Snyder, Scott Seebass, and Trent R. Hein with Adam Boggs, Rob Braun, Ned McClain, Dan Crawl, Lynda McGinley, and Todd Miller
"This is not a nice, neat book for a nice, clean world. It's a nasty book for a nasty world. This is a book for the rest of us."
–Eric Allman and Marshall Kirk McKusick
"I am pleased to welcome Linux to the UNIX System Administration Handbook!"
–Linus Torvalds, Transmeta
"This book is most welcome!"
–Dennis Ritchie, AT&T Bell Laboratories
This new edition of the world's most comprehensive guide to UNIX system administration is an ideal tutorial for those new to administration and an invaluable reference for experienced professionals. The third edition has been expanded to include "direct from the frontlines" coverage of Red Hat Linux. UNIX System Administration Handbook describes every aspect of system administration–from basic topics to UNIX esoterica–and provides explicit coverage of four popular UNIX systems:
This book stresses a practical approach to system administration. It's packed with war stories and pragmatic advice, not just theory and watered-down restatements of the manuals. Difficult subjects such as sendmail, kernel building, and DNS configuration are tackled head-on. Examples are provided for all four versions of UNIX and are drawn from real-life systems–warts and all.
"This book is where I turn first when I have system administration questions. It is truly a wonderful resource and always within reach of my terminal."
–W. Richard Stevens, author of numerous books on UNIX and TCP/IP
"This is a comprehensive guide to the care and feeding of UNIX systems. The authors present the facts along with seasoned advice and numerous real-world examples. Their perspective on the variations among systems is valuable for anyone who runs a heterogeneous computing facility."
–Pat Parseghian, Transmeta
"We noticed your book on the staff recommendations shelf at our local bookstore: 'Very clear, a masterful interpretation of the subject.' We were most impressed, until we noticed that the same staff member had also recommended Aunt Bea's Mayberry Cookbook."
–Shannon Bloomstran, history teacher
The third edition of
Unix System Administration Handbook stands as a fantastic Unix book, perhaps one that's destined for legend. It's arguably the best general Unix book around. Don't delay in getting it, and don't spend too much time flinching at the price; it's worth it. If you work with Unix--in any of its flavors--you'll use this book, and frequently.
How, then, to begin the song of praises for the book? Let's start with its comprehensiveness. The authors--a whole passel of them, but miraculously consistent in style--deal with every subject that's central to the Unix universe. Their diligence extends even to detailed coverage of subjects (like the Domain Name System (DNS)) that many authorial squads omit. System administrators need to understand it all--it's good to see everything covered in one book. Of course, you still will need more focused texts for really complicated situations, but the coverage here will carry you a long way.
Although you probably will want to read this book cover to cover eventually, you might first look at the index, which typically will guide you to a couple of sections. First, an overview of the subject that interests you will explain what the service or feature is meant to do, what it isn't meant to do, and how (in fairly general terms) it does its job. You'll find four sections--one each on the relevant configuration facts of the four emphasized Unix variants. These sections aren't presented as explicit sequences of steps (which invariably leave the reader asking, "But, what if... " anyway), but as narratives that are interspersed with commands and configuration file listings. The approach works well, and it's made even better by the syntax summaries and conceptual diagrams that pop up now and then. --David Wall
Topics covered: Administration of Unix systems, with specific reference to Solaris 2.7, HP-UX 11.00, Red Hat Linux 6.2, and FreeBSD 3.4. Administration is a broad subject, and the authors touch on most of its aspects, including user and file operations (basic and advanced), hardware configuration, and kernel tweaking. Networking coverage includes basic connectivity, routing, server software, DNS, and security.
