Beginning Modern Unix: Learn to Live Comfortably in a Modern Unix Environment

© Manish Jain 2018

Manish JainBeginning Modern Unix https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-4842-3528-7_6

6. Basic System Administration

Manish Jain¹ 

(1)

Jaipur, Rajasthan, India

 

There used to be a time when administering Unix was considered a hallowed task, open only to super-experts whose salaries were a source of much envy. With the onset of the GNU revolution, that happily has changed to a situation in which administering a Unix desktop requires less overhead than Windows, which still uses the obsolescent search-download-install-configure cycle for every small change in the system.

Administering a Unix server (to host services like mail, firewall, and DNS) still requires a fair bit of knowledge, expertise, and willingness to tinker. But luckily our discussion ...