Customer Reviews

Absolute FreeBSD: The Complete Guide to FreeBSD, 2nd Edition

5 star:		(21)
4 star:		(3)
3 star:		(1)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

Almost five years ago I reviewed Absolute BSD, Michael Lucas' first book on FreeBSD. I gave that book five stars, back when several other BSD books provided competition. On the eve of 2008, I am happy to say that Michael Lucas is probably the best system administration author I've read. I am amazed that he can communicate top-notch content with a sense of humor, while not offending the reader or sounding stupid. When was the last time you could physically feel yourself getting smarter while reading a book? If you are a beginning to average FreeBSD user, Absolute FreeBSD 2nd Ed (AF2E) will deliver that sensation in spades. Even more advanced users will find plenty to enjoy.

One of the best aspects of AF2E is that it is modern and covers FreeBSD 7.x. The previous edition covered 4.x, and plenty has changed since then. I've used FreeBSD regularly since 4.1.1 (Aug 2000), and AF2E taught me a lot about my favorite OS. Michael's coverage of GEOM, NanoBSD, FreeSBIE, journaling, memory file systems, filesystems in a file, and other topics really opened my eyes. Michael delivers excellent line-by-line explanations of system output, using numbered references to guide the reader.

Another major reason I love AF2E is that it is a good system administration book that covers plenty of FreeBSD nuances. Michael shares many of his experiences running FreeBSD in production, and I always believe he is teaching the reader what he or she needs to use FreeBSD to support customers. For example, I liked the hint on p 221 about disabling hard drive write caching (hw.ata.wc=0 in /boot/loader.conf). I also liked hearing about netstat -m to see kernel memory used for networking.

The book is also very lively for a system administration title. One of my favorite lines appears on p 135:

"Ethernet has many device-like characteristics, and it's simplest for FreeBSD to treat it as a device. Leave this [kernel option alone], unless you're looking for a learning opportunity."

So far AF2E has received all positive reviews, but I'm sure there's some deficiency another reader will report. In an ideal world I would have read more on FreeBSD binary updates, especially those involving minor releases (say 6.2 to 6.3) and major releases (say 6.2 to 7.0). Those developments are too recent to have appeared in the book, but they appear in 7.0 and will provide exceptional power for many users. I think enough completely FreeBSD-specific chapters (performance tuning, /etc, and others) are present that it's easy to say this is an awesome FreeBSD book.

If you want more coverage of Pf (and found AF2E's material lacking), just buy a copy of the new title The Book of PF: A No-Nonsense Guide to the OpenBSD Firewall by Peter Hansteen. If you want more detail on installing certain applications on FreeBSD, buy Building a Server with FreeBSD 7 by Bryan Hong. Kudos to No Starch for publishing AF2E and these other BSD titles.

I have been a freebsd user for a little over 3 years in a real network environment with over 1000+ nodes at my facility. At first the handbook seems like a very complicated compilation of how-to's from different individuals, a class mate ask me to grab a copy of Absolute FreeBSD by Michael W.Lucas. I got online and this book was just coming out, so I decided to give a try, after reading half of the book, I have to say that Michael Lucas is an excellent writer; he describes in a very chronological/concise manner using graphics and commands the necessary steps to install, secure and make a useful system out of FreeBSD. Many of us are waiting for the 7.x release, he also cover the material in that upcoming release or at least part of it.

I am really exited about this book, I will be purchasing the OpenPGP book that Michael Lucas also published, as I said he is a great writer and if you want to learn FreeBSD without going through the nuts and bolds of the handbook this is the best source that will teach you step by step this great Operating System.

If you want to learn FreeBSD from in to out, get this book. Period.

Are you a new Unix administrator? If you are, then this book is for you. Author Michael W. Lucas, has done an outstanding job of writing a book that will enable you to use FreeBSD to provide network services.

Lucas, begins with a discussion of the information resources the FreeBSD Project and its devotees provide for users. Then, the author gives you an overview of installing FreeBSD and others advice on an optimal install. Next, he shows you how the FreeBSD boot process makes your system start, stop, and reboot in different configurations. The author also discusses how to back up your data on both a system-wide and a file-by-file level, and how to make your changes so that they can be easily undone. He continues by describing how to configure the FreeBSD kernel. Then, the author discusses the network and how it works in FreeBSD. Next, he shows you how to make your computer resist attackers and intruders. The author continues by covering some of the details of working with hard drives in FreeBSD, support for other filesystems, and a few network filesystems. Then, he discusses some of the more interesting security features found in FreeBSD. Next, the author describes the many configuration files in FreeBSD and how they operate. He continues by describing the ports and packages system that FreeBSD uses to manage add-on software. Then, the author discusses some of the finer points of running software on FreeBSD systems. Next, he shows you how to use FreeBSD's upgrade process. The author continues by describing DNS and shows you how to install and troubleshoot it. Then, he discusses some of the small programs you'll need to manage in order to use FreeBSD properly. Next, the author describes how to set up an email system on FreeBSD to reliably deliver mail and repel spam and viruses. He continues by showing you how to setup and secure Web and FTP Services. Then, the author goes over some of the fancy techniques FreeBSD supports for mirroring disks, exporting disk devices across the network, and generally having a good old time protecting and manipulating your data. Next, he covers some of FreeBSD's performance-testing and trouble-shooting tools and shows you how to interpret the results. The author continues by showing you some of the more interesting tricks you can do with FreeBSD, such as running systems without disks and with tiny disks, as well as, some live failover and redundancy setups. Finally, the author wraps up by showing you how to deal with those rare occasions when a FreeBSD system fails, how to debug problems, and how to create a useful problem report.

This most excellent book shows you how to manage, patch, and maintain your FreeBSD systems and have a basic understanding of networking, system security, and software management. In other words, after reading this book, you will be armed with a strong working knowledge of how FreeBSD can be used as a powerful desktop or development machine.

'Absolute FreeBSD: The Complete Guide to FreeBSD' is another hit in the No Starch collection of books which have their own unique layout and style of writing associated with the authors publishing with them. With around 700 pages of content you will learn the ins and outs of this Unix-like operating system and see how powerful it is and what it can do for you. If you use FREEBSD on the job or are just a tinkerer that plays with non Windows/Mac systems this will enable you do do administration, learn to programmatically script, and get behind the curtain to do more than you thought possible! If you need a FREEBSD book, No Starch makes learning FUN and it's a great addition to your library!

***** RECOMMENDED

I am a big fan of open source software. I've been a GNU/Linux user for years but I must admit I had never played with BSD before. I bought this book because I wanted to set up a network server at home and I thought it was the perfect occasion to try FreeBSD. I expected one of those thick and boring reference books but, hey! I am very glad I chose "Absolute FreeBSD" because it is the perfect example of how write a clear, informative, nice and accurate technical book. The book is not for the absolute beginner but, in general, it's very easy to read. It should be self-explanatory to anyone with a little experience in networking, UNIX-like systems or, in general, computer science.

The author is a FreeBSD developer himself, so he talks about the inner workings of the FreeBSD community, providing an interesting point of view of the operating system, not only as a regular user but also as one of its "insiders".

The book covers everything a BSD system administrator should know. It covers basic things like how to install the system, how to make backups and recover from data loss, how to configure the network, disk management, etc. It also includes detailed explanations and sysadmin tricks of the usual network services: DNS, SSH, DHCP, FTP, printing server, web Server, mail Server... The author also gets into more advanced topics like, kernel tunning, security, performance analysis and tunning or RAID management. I was particularly interested in using hard disk encryption. I thought getting it was going to be a pain in the neck but the book explains how to do it with 6 simple commands. Nice!

In general the book is well structured. Concepts are explained clearly and with a lot of examples. Some chapters cover so many concepts that my brain couldn't keep up with so much information and I had to take a break for a nice beer ;-) The book is worth it's price: 37 dollars for 700 pages.

Only one advice: Although it has a graphical interface, FreeBSD is normally configured trough the good old command-line. Don't expect this book to tell you how to configure your web server double-clicking on an icon, FreeBSD is not Ubuntu or Win2003. The book may not be suitable for Happy Windows Users, used too the click-next click-next click-next way. This book is for computer geeks, system administrators, people that enjoy using different operating systems, people that need to have a robust system to use as a network server, people that like to tune every detail of their machines, or people that need to learn freeBSD and have no time to google every single configuration detail. For any of those people, I highly recommend this book.

Excellent choice for any FBSD 6/7 user. Covers significant breadth and depth of topics, so new (motivated) sysadmins should be able to get up to speed, while experienced folks will be satisfied with the level of detailed information.

Lucas has a rather dry sense of humor that he injects just occasionally enough that it keeps things interesting.

Pleasant to read, and a usable reference.

Absolute FreeBSD: The Complete Guide to FreeBSD, 2nd Edition is the perfect combination for FreeBSD's own Handbook. At times the Handbook might seem too straightforward by not offering advices or sharing experiences. Michael Lucas' Absolute FreeBSD on the other hand presents the reader with rich information, background, advice and reasoning although focusing on the network administrator and setting aside the desktop user.

If you are looking into a nice FreeBSD book to get your feet wet on Unix-like systems so that you can carry out mundane desktop tasks then I'm afraid that Absolute FreeBSD simply isn't for you. If you on the other hand enjoy FreeBSD, know Unix basics and want to expand your horizons and maybe setup a personal server and even make a living out of FreeBSD, Absolute FreeBSD is definitely for you.

I don't have an IT background though I know my way around Unix-like systems so I've found chapters like Chapter 6: The Network extremely useful to cement some disperse concepts that I have (had thanks to Lucas' book).

People new to FreeBSD and Unix-like systems in general will find the first two chapters filled with helpful advices on how to prepare yourself for the tasks of installing FreeBSD and seeking help, especially the Preinstall Decisions section. To help explore FreeBSD Chapter 10: Exploring /etc is simply golden as it goes over the files available in /etc while describing what each does.

I found Chapter 3: Start me Up! The Boot Process very insightful. Chapter 4 brought RCS to my bag of tricks. The security chapters (7 and 9) were also very interesting reading namely the part regarding Jails.

Personal favorites were Chapter 5: Kernel Games, Chapter8: Disks and Filesystems, Chapter 11: making your system useful, Chapter 12: Advanced Software Management, Chapter 13: Upgrading FreeBSD, Chapter 18: Disk Tricks with GEOM. These are the chapters I'll ended reading time and time again and are largely FreeBSD focused.

Chapters 15 and 17 focus on adding services to FreeBSD and go over SSH, FTP, NTP, Inetd and Apache web server. Pretty useful as I'm planning on setting up some personal web serving stuff.

I'm not much into email and DNS stuff so I didn't payed much attention to chapters 14 and 16, however if the reader is into the subjects I'm sure he'll find both chapters very important.

Props to chapter 20, 21 and the Afterword as these expand on what FreeBSD is, what it can be, how can you interact with it and how to help improve it.

To sum up, just go out and buy the book. It's worth every penny and more.

I setup my FreeBSD server from start to finish with this book in less then two days and have got to say it is an excellent book with meticulously crafted chapters.

I am now running a full fledged smtp, pop3s, imaps with ajax webmail (roundcube mail, not in book, check ports), apache, mysql, php server with PF firewall and anti-brute force protection with sshguard. One word. Sick. On top of that I have world class spam protection from the books black listing and grey listing sections.

I would like to see a small section on php and mysql setup and a bit more on security, but this information is easily found on the net.

Definitely five stars

I've been a Linux user for a long time, but was unhappy with it's instability as of lately, so I switched to FreeBSD. This book was very helpful in getting me started on my transition, and the author has a good sense of humor which makes reading it more fun. I did notice that he throws in some "teasers" as to what FreeBSD can do, but doesn't always explain how one goes about accomplishing some of those tasks (i.e. having your nic have more than on IP at the same time). The firewall section was pretty basic, so I had to get another book to bring it all full circle.

For a newcomer to FreeBSD, this book has been a godsend-plenty of info for newbies as well as plenty of (over my head) technical info for the advanced BSD users.