Automating System Administration with Perl: Tools to Make You More Efficient [Paperback]

David N. Blank-Edelman (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: June 5, 2009 | ISBN-10: 059600639X | ISBN-13: 978-0596006396 | Edition: Second Edition

If you do systems administration work of any kind, you have to deal with the growing complexity of your environment and increasing demands on your time. Automating System Administration with Perl, Second Edition, not only offers you the right tools for your job, but also suggests the best way to approach specific problems and to securely automate recurring tasks. Updated and expanded to cover the latest operating systems, technologies, and Perl modules, this edition of the "Otter Book" will help you:

• Manage user accounts
  
• Monitor filesystems and processes
  
• Work with configuration files in important formats such as XML and YAML
  
• Administer databases, including MySQL, MS-SQL, and Oracle with DBI
  
• Work with directory services like LDAP and Active Directory
  
• Script email protocols and spam control
  
• Effectively create, handle, and analyze log files Administer network name and configuration services, including NIS, DNS and DHCP
  
• Maintain, monitor, and map network services, using technologies and tools such as SNMP, nmap, libpcap, GraphViz and RRDtool
• Improve filesystem, process, and network security

This edition includes additional appendixes to get you up to speed on technologies such as XML/XPath, LDAP, SNMP, and SQL. With this book in hand and Perl in your toolbox, you can do more with less--fewer resources, less effort, and far less hassle.

Editorial Reviews

About the Author

David N. Blank-Edelman is the Director of Technology at the Northeastern University College of Computer and Information Science. He has spent the last 25 years as a system/network administrator in large multi- platform environments, including Brandeis University, Cambridge Technology Group, and the MIT Media Laboratory. He was also the program chair of the LISA 2005 conference and one of the LISA 2006 Invited Talks co-chairs.

Product Details

• Paperback: 668 pages
• Publisher: O'Reilly Media; Second Edition edition (June 5, 2009)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 059600639X
• ISBN-13: 978-0596006396
• Product Dimensions: 9.1 x 7 x 1.3 inches
• Shipping Weight: 2 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 5.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (8 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #172,012 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

More About the Author

David N. Blank-Edelman is the Director of Technology at the Northeastern University College of Computer and Information Science and the author of the O'Reilly book Automating System Administration with Perl. He has spent the last 25 years as a system/network administrator in large multi- platform environments, including Brandeis University, Cambridge Technology Group, and the MIT Media Laboratory. He was the program chair of the LISA 2005 conference and one of the LISA 2006 Invited Talks co-chairs. He delights in finding how creativity can further the field as demonstrated in his off-the-beaten-path invited talks and tutorials at various conferences and speaking engagements.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

10 of 10 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars The Otter Book never leaves my side, October 21, 2009

By 

W. D. Freeman (VA Beach, VA) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

Amazon Verified Purchase

This review is from: Automating System Administration with Perl: Tools to Make You More Efficient (Paperback)

Perl occupies the sweet spot between shell scripting and C programming, with the ability to lean as far as you'd like in either direction. As a sysadmin, Perl is better than a tool -- its the perfect tool for building tools, and this book is at the top of a very short list of texts which help bring to bear the full power of the best language for cutting down complex tasks down to size.

I've read a lot of Perl books and I own most of the O'Reilly books on the topic. The Otter Book, however, is the one which I cart around with me in my laptop bag wherever I go and is the first place I look for hints on how to attack problems that I face at work or home. It's chocked full of working examples and hints and tips on how to customize them, as well as plenty of context as to why these suggestions work the way they do.

The book is very well written and I highly recommend it to anyone, whether they are a professional admin or just want to cut out some of the repetitive tasks of managing their own workstation.

5 of 5 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Yes it's all online ... BUT!, August 10, 2009

By 

Tobias Oetiker (Switzerland) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Automating System Administration with Perl: Tools to Make You More Efficient (Paperback)

On times I think that having books on Unix or current computing topics in general is an oddity at best. Isn't all the information we need readily available via Google, some blogs and for Perl CPAN? But then again as I was reviewing the second installment of Davids Otter book I found my self quite often amazed at all the little gotchas and tricks David added in. There are so many tools available today that this book severs as an invaluable guide through the jungle of possibilities in doing efficient System Administration. David does not praise a single solution to all problems. He rather gives detailed advice on succeeding in various scenarios. Yes the book is also about doing sysadmining with perl, but it comes natural and is in no way a language advocacy piece on the finer points of perl programming. It is both wide and deep by providing detailed examples in actual working code. I can highly recommend this book for both seasoned as well aspiring master craftsmen.

2 of 2 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars The best book about automating system administration I saw, November 25, 2010

By 

i5513 - See all my reviews

Amazon Verified Purchase

This review is from: Automating System Administration with Perl: Tools to Make You More Efficient (Paperback)

Definitively this book will learn you about how to use greatful cpan modules, and how to make administrative tasks automatically with perl. I love it much more than python related book

Very completed, talking about logging, network diagnostic, monitoring, advanced perl topics like pack/unpack ...

Very recommendable