Essential System Administration,3rd Edition is the definitive guide for Unix system administration, covering all the fundamental and essential tasks required to run such divergent Unix systems as AIX, FreeBSD, HP-UX, Linux, Solaris, Tru64 and more. Essential System Administration provides a clear, concise, practical guide to the real-world issues that anyone responsible for a Unix system faces daily. The new edition of this indispensable reference has been fully updated for all the latest operating systems. Even more importantly, it has been extensively revised and expanded to consider the current system administrative topics that administrators need most. Essential System Administration,3rd Edition covers: DHCP, USB devices, the latest automation tools, SNMP and network management, LDAP, PAM, and recent security tools and techniques. Essential System Administration is comprehensive. But what has made this book the guide system administrators turn to over and over again is not just the sheer volume of valuable information it provides, but the clear, useful way the information is presented. It discusses the underlying higher-level concepts, but it also provides the details of the procedures needed to carry them out. It is not organized around the features of the Unix operating system, but around the various facets of a system administrator's job. It describes all the usual administrative tools that Unix provides, but it also shows how to use them intelligently and efficiently. Whether you use a standalone Unix system, routinely provide administrative support for a larger shared system, or just want an understanding of basic administrative functions, Essential System Administration is for you. This comprehensive and invaluable book combines the author's years of practical experience with technical expertise to help you manage Unix systems as productively and painlessly as possible.

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Not a bad read,  July 06 2006
Submitted by Anonymous Reader   [Respond | View]

Ignore the section on LDAP and buy the LDAP System Administration book from O'Reilly; the novice will be left wondering what's wrong as the examples given in the book will set you up for a fall.


Essential System Administration, 3rd Edition Review,  January 19 2004
Submitted by crowe   [Respond | View]

I would definately recommend this book for anyone who is involved with the large-scale deployment and/or management of Unix systems.

The book is laid out in a very sensible format, and covers many of the essential Unix sysadmin tasks: networking, security, kernel configuration, just to name a few. With this being said, it's certainly not a book for the novice Unix user, nor is it really targetted towards such an audience.


Essential System Administration, 3rd Edition Review,  April 10 2003
Submitted by Alex Belt   [Respond | View]

This book should be called Indispensable and Complete System Administration. Ok, that’s an exaggeration, but not by much. No book will ever be the complete book on Unix or Linux admin, but this one has so much material in it, it will be quite some time before I start looking for material not in the book. Every aspect of System Administration is covered in this book. The material goes into details as necessary, but the author does a good job of not getting bogged down in the details or overwhelming the reader with irrelevant or arcane knowledge that only a handful of people will use. What you will find is broad and thorough coverage of the material in an accessible, easy to read style.

One of the things I appreciate most about this book is the organization. Rather than listing out a bunch of technical information, each chapter deals with a specific task that a sysadmin needs to be able to do, and the information to carry out that task is contained within the chapter, rather than making references to other chapters or appendices, as is common practice.

This is another book that delivers the excellence I’ve come to expect from O’Reilly.




Essential System Administration, 3rd Edition Review,  March 23 2003
Submitted by Gerhard Poul   [Respond | View]

This is a very good, but not great, book about systems administration. What I really liked was the hands-on approach for describing administrative processes the book's author uses. Although for a third-edition, there were too many bugs in it that interrupted my reading flow, so I can only rate it 'good'. (Yes, I found and submitted 10 new bugs that I hope won't bother anyone else in future releases.)


Essential System Administration, 3rd Edition Review,  October 23 2002
Submitted by Florian   [Respond | View]

Talk about a great book, this book doesn't just teach you system administration it will help you find your own "admin techniques". This book really teaches the ART of system administration. It covers everything for every major unix flavor, and the ultimate perk is that you will be able to quickly move from say....Linux...to Solaris and you won't feel lost. Throw those other books away and just get this one!!!! My #1 tech book of all time.

Florian


Essential System Administration, 3rd Edition Review,  October 07 2002
Submitted by rolf   [Respond | View]

definitely my all time favourite in computer books. it covers almost everything and includes topics that exceed what's commonly known as 'system-administration' by far (which is a very good thing in this context - eg. communicating with users ...).

Besides of its excellent content it is very well written and therfore easy and fun to read.

really a must-have. it is worth every cent i paid for it.




Essential System Administration, 3rd Edition Review,  September 19 2002
Submitted by Eric   [Respond | View]

Another solid effort from O'Reilly and Frisch. The updates to the third edition continue to make this one of the premier reference books for all things *NIXen (at least from an SA standpoint). I passed on my dog-earred 2nd edition to a friend and now will consult this tome frequently. Good job!


Essential System Administration, 3rd Edition Review,  August 12 2002
Submitted by fat81   [Respond | View]

i use linux.

when i was first using linux, i read it. so i easy understanding linux.

this is famous unix`s basic book!!

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