By Greg Lehey
Fourth Edition
April 2003
Pages: 714
ISBN 10: 0-596-00516-4 |
ISBN 13: 9780596005160
(Average of 4 Customer Reviews)
The 4th edition, covering version 5 of FreeBSD, is now available through O'Reilly Community Press. It is an eminently practical guidebook that explains not only how to get a computer up and running with the FreeBSD operating system, but also how to turn it into a highly functional and secure server that can host large numbers of users and disks, support remote access, and provide web service, mail service, and other key parts of the Internet infrastructure.
Full Description
FreeBSD is by far the most popular version of BSD®, the legendary operating system that has contributed a great deal to every version of Unix® in use today (including Mac OS® X). Originally a community effort by the University of California at Berkeley, FreeBSD was aimed at making Unix a little friendlier and easier to use. By the time other free operating systems came along, BSD was firmly established and very reliable. And it continues to be today.
For seven years, the FreeBSD community has relied on Greg Lehey's classic, The Complete FreeBSD, to guide them through its configuration and administration. The 4th edition, covering version 5 of FreeBSD, is now available through O'Reilly Community Press.
The Complete FreeBSD is an eminently practical guidebook that explains not only how to get a computer up and running with the FreeBSD operating system, but also how to turn it into a highly functional and secure server that can host large numbers of users and disks, support remote access, and provide web service, mail service, and other key parts of the Internet infrastructure. The book provides in-depth information on installation and updates, back-ups, printers, RAID, various Internet services, firewalls, the graphical X Window system, and much more. Author Greg Lehey is a member of the FreeBSD core team and has been developing, documenting, and advocating for FreeBSD for nearly ten years. Whether you're an experienced Unix user or just interested in learning more about this free operating system and how you can put it to work for you, this do-it-yourself BSD documentation will provide the information you need.
The Complete FreeBSD is the second release in the O'Reilly Community Press Series. Unlike classic O'Reilly animal books, which are created to fill an information void, the Community Press titles provide convenient printed copies of documentation that is already available online. O'Reilly's role in the series is limited to providing manufacturing and distribution services rather than editorial development, so that each Community Press title reflects the editorial voice and organization of the community that has created it.
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Book details
Fourth Edition: April 2003
ISBN: 0-596-00516-4
Pages: 714
Average Customer Reviews: (Based on 4 Reviews)
Featured customer reviews
The Complete FreeBSD, 4th Edition Review, November 09 2003
Rating:
Submitted by Ziggy
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Don't let the title of this book deceive you! Firstly, “Complete” does NOT mean it is an exhaustive, highly-technical reference of the FreeBSD operating system, containing tons of printed man pages (as previous editions did). Rather, it provides a complete overview of FreeBSD, focusing on version 5 (many differences from FreeBSD 4.x are noted). Secondly, “from the Source” does not necessarily refer to the source code: the author is and has been part of the FreeBSD team for many years and has written the previous editions published by Walnut Creek.
This book is a great guide showing both beginner (like myself) and experienced Unix users new to FreeBSD how to get the system up and running. It covers not only system administration tasks, but also the setup and configuration of nearly all of the popular ports—whether you're trying to set up a workstation or server (web, mail, file, print, firewall, etc.). For each program, the author gets you on your feet and points you in the right direction for more details. He doesn't dabble with the volatile details that might change three months later—I appreciated that. He also gives you recommendations and warnings along the way. I found the chapter on configuration files the most useful. If deciphering *.conf man files isn't exactly your cup of tea, this is for you. Lehey discusses over 50 configuration files and recommends whether you WILL need to change it, MIGHT need to change it, or SHOULD NOT change it. Everything a new FreeBSD 5 user needs is covered and explained in plain English.
Pensacola Linux Users Group
The Complete FreeBSD, 4th Edition Review, October 30 2003
Rating:
Submitted by Naga R Narayanaswamy
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Without a doubt, "The Complete FreeBSD" by Greg Lehey is a very
authoritative book. FreeBSD as an operating system has evolved from being
a very simple server like OS to a very complex one that can adopted by
masses. It is not very easy to keep track of all major developments in
FreeBSD development community anymore. This book aims to explain all
facets of the latest version of FreeBSD and does a splendid job in doing
so. The intended audience of this book can be complete newbies planning to
use FreeBSD for the first time who migrated from other Unix-like platforms
or Microsoft and users/system administrators of FreeBSD. Also system
programmers of FreeBSD who want to know various interrelationships across
subsystems will benefit from his book. The book delves into
pre-installation checklists, installation procedures, post-installation
tips, basic housekeeping tasks, FreeBSD ports philosophy, file systems,
disks, vinum volume manager, various input/output peripherals, network
administration, DNS, firewalls, servers, X-Window systems, configuration
files etc. That's quite a lot !
Most of the chapters or groups of chapters can be independently read. The
first chapter gives an overall introduction to Unix, its timeline and
position of FreeBSD in the overall hierarchy. The installation chapters
guide one through the cryptic details of how to install FreeBSD as part of
a dual boot system and make the task appear simple. This is very helpful
to beginners, who often tend to install new operating systems as dual boot
systems because if something goes wrong they can go back to the original
operating system. In this regard, the author guides readers through
sharing disks, explaining some Microsoft oddities etc. The author
explains detailed instructions for configuring keyboards, mice, X windows,
and the all nine yards of the process. After reading the first six
chapters, readers should go and get the latest FreeBSD CD-ROMS and install
on a test machine and proceed reading further chapters with trying hands
on all the tasks described in the book.
For running the system on a daily basis, certain essential knowledge is
required. Some examples are creating user accounts, basic process
management, installing packages using ports collection, file system
management etc. These are explained in various chapters clearly. There is
a chapter dedicated to disks and vinum volume manager. For readers
interested in programming and looking into the source files, they should
see the source files in the FreeBSD machines and explore them now as they
read through the chapters. This process will cement the ideas deep into
their minds. Burning CD's on FreeBSD system is explained in a dedicated
chapter and this should make the process a breeze for those interested in
burning CD's whether iso images or mp3 songs. There are four chapters
delving into details of tapes, floppies, backup and printers. Configuring
printers can look hard to beginners. Author gives plenty of
troubleshooting tips in this regard.
Chapters 17 through 20 discuss the issues pertaining to getting
FreeBSD connected to the Internet and network administration tasks. Since
most ISP's shun customers who are non-Microsoft, author goes into details
of questions that one should ask and a checklist to be prepared is given.
Whether the connection is through PPP over serial lines (through 56k
modem) or PPP over Ethernet (DSL), the author gives various nuances to
configure the machines properly. There are chapters on DNS, firewalls and
proxies. Though the chapters are detailed, they are meant to ignite the
interest in the users. Readers should go and do a detailed in-depth
research on these fields (go to FreeBSD website, look at source code or
read the man pages). Lots of client server applications are explained.
e.g., ssh, telnet, http.
Chapter 28 is dedicated to Xfree86. I would have preferred it to
be much upfront in the book, This is definitely one of the area that most
users stumble and some even quit because of the roadblocks presented by
Xfree86. This is a must read chapters for beginners and even for somewhat
experienced users. Very well presented.
Last few chapters are very useful for developers and
administrators. The chapter on configuration files is an invaluable asset
to anybody. Anyone wishing to update the system from say, one version
FreeBSD 5.0 to FreeBSD 5.1 gets all the information here. Overall, this
is a wonderful book and must have for anyone running FreeBSD on their
machines. This book will turn out to be a handy reference in times of need.
The Complete FreeBSD, 4th Edition Review, September 11 2003
Rating:
Submitted by Rene Pawlitzek
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This book is a real pleasure to read. The author gives just the right amount of detail to install and run FreeBSD. Highly recommended!
The Complete FreeBSD, 4th Edition Review, June 20 2003
Rating:
Submitted by David Johnson
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This is an excellent book covering all aspects of FreeBSD. The author tells you the "why" of things instead of just the "how". This is a breath of fresh air considering that most documentation for some other Unix like operating systems give you only cookbook style how-tos. After reading this book you will have an in-depth understanding of the FreeBSD operating system.
While reading this book I frequently had to put it down and run to my system to try out some new functionality I never knew existed, or to implement a valuable hint or tip that was mentioned.
It is not a handbook for newbies on how to migrate from Windows to FreeBSD, nor is it a comprehensive technical reference. But for readers with a little background in UNIX or Unix like systems, it is a very good tutorial and guide to the FreeBSD operating system.
Media reviews
"Naturally, such a long-standing and mature OS requires an equally long-standing and mature book to cover its working, and FreeBSD fans are blessed to have 'The Complete FreeBSD,' by Greg Lehey. Now in its fourth edition, this tome is fully updated for FreeBSD 5, however there hasn't been any increase in size, thankfully--in fact, Lehey managed to cut the overall size of the book by around 100 pages without losing any of its hard-hitting, matter-of-fact content...['The Complete FreeBSD' is] a no-holds-barred tour of the world of FreeBSD, with every appropriate topic explained along the way in enough concentrated detail to satisfy even the most demanding of readers...Linux Format Rating 9/10."
--Paul Hudson, "Linux Format," October 2003
"A useful, friendly, and thorough guide for novices to intermediate users, 'Complete FreeBSD' addresses initial installation, from setting up domain name servers to building and debugging custom kernels. Discussion of configuration files that may need changing and instructions on upgrading are particularly clear and helpful; appendixes provide a bibliography and a discussion of the evolution of the OS; highly recommended."
--Rachel Singer Gordon, "Library Journal," September 2003
