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Unix and Linux System Administration Handbook (4th Edition)

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Product Details

Binding:	Kindle Edition
EAN:
Label:	Prentice Hall
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Publisher:	Prentice Hall
Studio:	Prentice Hall

Editorial Reviews

This is the eBook version of the printed book.

“As an author, editor, and publisher, I never paid much attention to the competition–except in a few cases. This is one of those cases. The UNIX System Administration Handbook is one of the few books we ever measured ourselves against.”

–From the Foreword by Tim O’Reilly, founder of O’Reilly Media

“This book is fun and functional as a desktop reference. If you use UNIX and Linux systems, you need this book in your short-reach library. It covers a bit of the systems’ history but doesn’t bloviate. It’s just straightfoward information delivered in colorful and memorable fashion.”

–Jason A. Nunnelley

“This is a comprehensive guide to the care and feeding of UNIX and Linux systems. The authors present the facts along with seasoned advice and real-world examples. Their perspective on the variations among systems is valuable for anyone who runs a heterogeneous computing facility.”

–Pat Parseghian

The twentieth anniversary edition of the world’s best-selling UNIX system administration book has been made even better by adding coverage of the leading Linux distributions: Ubuntu, openSUSE, and RHEL.

This book approaches system administration in a practical way and is an invaluable reference for both new administrators and experienced professionals. It details best practices for every facet of system administration, including storage management, network design and administration, email, web hosting, scripting, software configuration management, performance analysis, Windows interoperability, virtualization, DNS, security, management of IT service organizations, and much more. UNIX® and Linux® System Administration Handbook, Fourth Edition, reflects the current versions of these operating systems:

Ubuntu® Linux
openSUSE® Linux
Red Hat® Enterprise Linux®
Oracle America® Solaris™ (formerly Sun Solaris)
HP HP-UX®
IBM AIX®

Customer Reviews

The 3rd edition is great, the 4th edition updates that greatness. This book had been out for about a week when I noticed it and I had to get my hands on it!

There is a change I am bummed out about... They removed FreeBSD as one of their example systems but included OpenSolaris ( Oracle killed OpenSolaris after buying Sun). Thankfully FreeBSD has it's own Bible, Absolute FreeBSD: The Complete Guide to FreeBSD, 2nd Edition, by Michael W. Lucas ( must have for FreeBSD admins).

Besides the OpenSolaris/FreeBSD change, this is still a solid book worthy of 5 stars. Since this might be the last edition of The Handbook I am glad to see an update. There is more Linux in this edition compared to the 3rd, they added a great introduction to scripting chapter, updated chapters for with the latest technologies, and removed references and chapters on obsolete tech.

If this is their last edition good way to go out. I hope someone else can put together a similar book for the future that can live up to this classic. Again, MUST HAVE!!!

The problem that I've had with most Linux/Unix Sys Administration books is the fact that they're either too easy (assume that you've never touched a command line and don't want to) or they teach the material in the most obfuscated/difficult to understand manner. This book is great! I've been a sys admin for around a year and a half and I've learned so much from this book. Unlike other books, it details the history of certain concepts to enforce the concept rather than just to provide you with a history lesson. Definitely pick this book up!

I encountered the first edition of this book in the early 90's when I was first learning Unix. It was the textbook for a college Unix Admin course. It moved to my desk when I started working as a system administrator, and was a constant reference whenever there was something concrete I needed to set up.

Over time, as Unix evolved, each new edition immediately replaced the prior addition as my #1 reference. The fourth edition is the most changed, reflecting the rise of Linux, internet and the Web, and coexistence with Microsoft Windows. It remains the first book to look into when you need to get something done, or want to know how something works.

This is one of the best books I have read as a Systems Administrator. I recommend it to anyone and everyone that has questions about managing Linux systems.

Whether your intermediate or ninja you while find this book resourceful. If you are relatively new to Linux/Unix I would also recommend purchasing Practical Guide to Linux Commands, Editors, and Shell Programming, A (2nd Edition). I use both books on a daily basis.

This book is very thorough in its details for the current line of Unix/Linux systems, including Ubuntu, OpenSuse, Red Hat, Solaris, HP-UX and IBM AIX. It is well written, often entertaining and always informative. The amount of detail the authors go into for the various operating systems is impressive. If one looks at the definition for "absolute and relative paths" (page 142), they can get a pretty good idea of the approach this book takes;

"The list of directories that must be traversed to locate a particular file plus that file's filename form a pathname. Pathnames can be either absolute (/tmp/foo) or relative (book4/filesystem). Relative pathnames are interpreted starting at the current directory. You might be accustomed to thinking of the current directory as a feature of the shell, but every process has one."

Now the definition from "A Practical Guide to Fedora and Red Hat Enterprise Linux" (page 193) by Mark Sobell:

"Every file has a pathname. An absolute pathname always starts with a slash(/), the name of the root directory. You can then build the absolute pathname of a file by tracing a path from the root directory through all the intermediate directories to the file. A relative pathname traces a path from the working directory to a file"

Of the two I felt the explanation from Sobell's book was more straightforward, but the "The Unix and Linux System Administration Handbook" integrate the philosophy of the Unix/Linux world much more into the text than others I have read.
If you are a beginner, you might not be able to rely ONLY on this book, you will almost certainly need something a little more elementary; "Linux in Easy Steps" by Mike McGrath is good for those who are visually oriented. "Administration Handbook" book is good at is covering the breadth of Unix/Linux system administration duties across multiple versions. It makes it relatively clear and easy. It sticks to principles rather than a "cookbook" approach. The section on shell and bash scripting is a very good primer, but you will need to build out from there. There is also a good chapter on virtualization and particularity Amazon Web services. If you thought Amazon was just about books and music, well, that is the tip of the iceberg.
Students and professionals alike will find this a valuable reference. If you are a previous owner, it is worth it to get the new edition. I would think this book will cover at least 90% of what you are likely to run into as you administer systems.
Beginning Linux books only go so far. Books that focus on one area such as writing shell scripts won't be general enough. This book covers a lot and covers it well. It is the one I kept in my backpack to lug to class.

This books tackles quite a bit of territory with surprisingly comprehensive coverage. I bought it for its coverage of rpcsec_gss which is much better than any other book I could find. This is my go-to book right now for setting up NFS with rpcsec, Kerberos, LDAP, and quotas.

NFS is a vast issue. I know you can do a package install on (favorite distro) and hope for the best. But setting it up correctly is actually a pretty big task. I found myself using this book again and again to get a big picture summary.

I took one star away because the author got a bit preachy on rquotad. Paraphrasing, he considers it obsolete and not worth the effort. I have no idea what the intention behind that statement is. Are quotas obsolete? Is just rquotad obsolete? Eh. I'd love to here the reasoning behind the decision that quotas weren't worth the ink. Otherwise, very nice book.

I've owned three of the four editions of this book over the years, starting with the second one and having heard murmerings about the awesomeness of the first from colleagues. This book proves that Unix and Linux Systems Administration texts can be well written. I read somewhere that Tim O'Reilly wanted to emulate the quality of this book when he set up his company. The clarity that this book provides for core administration tasks is exceptional and it's a pity that few other books on the subject have approached this level of quality. I read somewhere that this will be the last edition of this book - which depresses me greatly. The core stuff is all here. How you do it changes over time. I hope that sometime in the near future there is a 5th edition.

As an intermediate level Linux person, I find this book to Very good and informative. It exposed me to new ideas that I should know. It is not however, 100% comprehensive on certain subjects, which is why I didn't give it five stars. For example, in the chapter discussing startup and shutdown, it goes into a discussion of rc.d symbolic links to init.d services and it talks about the S## and K## prefixes, which it covers well; but it fails to go in-depth about runlevels and which ones are used on each platform for reboot, startup, shutdown, etc. Still the book is pretty darn good. If it were possible, I would accurately give it 4.5 stars.

I have found this book to be a tremendous reference/resource with everything from understanding processes better to in depth dns and sendmail configurations. This book is definitely probably not for beginners but I do believe it is also well written that users that have mediocre knowledge of *nix in general will find this to be a fascinating read that will surely only benefit them in the long run.

This is my second book in the series. I had read the earlier version a few years ago which covered various Unix flavors only. Now with the ubiquity of Linux, the authors have done a great job of covering Linux in detail. My favorite chapters are the ones on Networking. The writing is very simple, comprehensive and accurate. The book does not assume a great deal of experience and explains the topics that users new to Linux/Unix will find easy to understand. At the same time, the book has enough details to keep experienced users busy.
A good book overall, recommended for all levels of Linux/Unix expertise.

It is great book! I subscribe to every good word about this book said by other. Despite its intimidating title, it is clearly written, wit, and easy to read. It is very informative and fills you with great knowledge. Great job!

bought this book after a lot of deliberation, certainly worth it , even though I havent gone through the entire book yet it feels like an interesting read with enough info to keep everyone happy. the authors have kept concepts plain and simple with no complications. Luv the book certainly 5 stars

I thought at first that it would be just another 'book' about Linux system administration but when I started reading I was surprised with the way it is written. Very easy to read, complete and up to date! Congratulations to the authors for a great job well done. At my workplace I coach several junior sysadmins and they also are putting the book to good use. Being a Linux system administrator for several years now I also enjoy this expert manual and use it whenever in doubt of something.

Thanks again guys.

Eric

I have the paper version of the purple (third edition) of this book. I also have the green Linux edition of this book. The purple one was a gold mine of information. I eagerly bought the Linux one, which turned out to be shallow and pretty much useless.

I am happy to report that this new edition is a complete revision of the purple book, with well-rendered integrations of the Linux information, and done in the spirit of the USAH previous editions; in-depth coverage of each topic, each completely and painstakingly updated. It is very clear that a great deal of care and attention was given to every bit of this edition of the book. I thank Evi and crew for a tremendous job!

This is one of the best admin books I have. Easy to read -- the knidle edition is well formatted and a lot lighter than the paper book.

The shipment arrived on time and the content was as described which was new. I am satisfied with the experience.

I have version 3 of this book and when i saw that 4 was out.. had to have it.
if you have any linux or UNIX systems BUY THIS BOOK!!!

the product worked, but this review scenario is crap I do not like that I am forced to write 20 meaningless words when the simple statement fine would suffice

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