Customer Reviews

Essential Mac OS X Panther Server Administration

5 star:		(10)
4 star:		(0)
3 star:		(3)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

The word 'essential', to me, implies just the important elements. But this book goes far beyond that. In fact, it does an excellent job introducing technical topics in the larger world. For example, LDAP is given about five pages of explanation before we even get to how it's done on OS X. To me, that means this book is a comprehensive resource that will inform you about both the standards and their implementation in this environment. Obviating the need for a standards book.

If you are doing Mac OS X Server work, you need this book. The documentation in the operating system and on-line is tragic.

Venturing into topics where most books fear to tread, Essential Mac OS X Panther Server Administration is a must have for anyone who's using Mac OS X Server in their environment. With such a limited amount of books covering the platform, its reassuring to see such an in- depth guide through the various facets of the diverse server system. I highly recommend this book to anyone who uses this platform or is considering it in the future.

Michael makes it very clear that he intends to pickup where Apple's "Marketing" manuals left off. I am SO disappointed with Apple's manuals... 1200 pages that are mostly unhelpful. Michael Bartosh should write the Apple manuals!

Michael (unlike Apple) understands that Mac OS X Server is a UNIX server. Every page seems to discuss some CLI tool or command. When he writes about the GUI, he describes which CLI tools are used behind the scenes to get the job done. This is in stark contrast to Apple who offers a SEPARATE manual for CLI!! This is the book I have been waiting for Apple to make. Thanks Michael!

I think this is the best book ever published by O'Reilly. I have read several of the other O'Reilly books including the Missing Manual's for OS X, but this book really gets into the functions of Panther server. Sure, it is a little late since Tiger is already out, but much of the book still applies to Tiger server. Before buying this book I bought the Peachpit Press Visual QuickPro Guide for Panther Server. It is a pretty good book for someone who has never administered an OS X server or who is uncomfortable with the command line. This O'Reilly book goes way deeper into administering the server. It talks about some 3rd party open source software that is very often helpful in maintaining a server. OS X server provides a lot of services that are derived from open source projects almost all of which have entire O'Reilly books dedicated to them. This book does a nice job of covering what you NEED to know about the services that OS X server provides all in one book. I highly recommend this book to anyone running even one OS X server 10.3 or higher.

If you ever wanted to know anything about whats happing behind the GUI, then this book is for you.

This is a must have book for Admin's !!!

If you run any level of Mac OS X Server, you need to have this book. Period. Run, don't walk. It's one of the most useful sysadmin references I've ever read, and within a week of me buying it, it showed me how to fix an Open Directory Replica problem I was having, along with explaining what the hell was going on to cause the problem. So not only did I fix the problem, but I know why the problem happened in the first place, all because of this book.

Any book that shows me the how, what, and why of a problem that fast is worth whatever it costs, and I'll be buying the Mac OS X 10.4 book as well.

Wait, here's another one...I helped write a book on shell scripting. If you have to pick between the two, buy this book.

For those who are familiar with MacOS X and would like to learn the server-side of the equation, this book is it. Apple's documentation has been sparse and this book covers that deficiency with great aplomb. This is the best Mac OS X Server book on the market right now. Too bad O'Reilly just cancelled the Tiger version because I would have first in line for the next edition.
http://www.afp548.com/article.php?story=20051221121321676
I hope they change their minds because it will certainly leave a big void in future MacOS X Server documentation.

Where this book shines is as a reference for obscure settings. For example:
I've been trying to replace a Mac OS X Client machine with a Mac OS X Server machine, but I needed to make AFP work the same way it did under Client (so some users are chrooted into their home folders while other users can access the enclosing sharepoint). Two days of beating my head against it, trying to compare com.apple.AppleFileServer.plist files and NetInfo records got me nowhere. Fifteen minutes with this book and pages 371-373 have solved all my problems. (It actually took me under five minutes to find the answer I needed, but the book was so interesting I read another ten minutes before I remembered I had a job to do.)

Bartosh may be a better author than he is an instructor, and he's a superb instructor. This book should be on every Mac OS X administrator's desk.

Even with 10.4 out this is still the number one book on Mac OS X server there is. Period. Bartosh goes deep in to all areas of OS X server and provides excellent examples for you to follow. This book has saved my hide on a number of occasions and I can't wait to see what he comes up with next. If you only buy one OS X server book this is it.

This book is organized into seven parts and one appendix: from new system installation to remote management and different kind of clients supported.

Inside the first part, there is a chapter about planning system deployment reviewing different scenarios as first task to take care of. The author exposes some basic ideas about system administration as well as strategies and tools to resolve a large number of common problems.

One of the key points of this book is its better organization centered around system deployment phases than Apple documentation. Continuous explanations and small tricks to monitor and tune the system are made across the entire book sections. There is exhaustive information about installation with graphical tools, command line and network setup. The most appreciated resource can be screenshots: it allows to follow all the explanations without any problem to new Apple system administrator.

Authors, as advanced users, describe in an easy but deeply enough way all management tools of all system services either graphical or command line versions. Some other Open Source or even propietary tools are described when they are good alternatives to Apple ones.

All the chapters contain "best practices" sections and background knowledge to really understand their functions.

This is a "must-have" book for all level users related to Apple systems administration. I'm really impatient waiting for Tiger revision.