Customer Reviews

HP-UX 11.x System Administration "How To" Book (2nd Edition)

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

 

 

I love HP/UX and I love HP hardware. HP/UX is a neat UNIX version that has a lot of great features and is rock solid, and HP hardware is built like the proverbial brick outhouse. The problem is that despite the quality of their OS and hardware the documentation for HP systems hoovers the tool. The Poniatowski book is a prime example of this, I suppose that this book is marginally better than having no documentation at all and if I were trapped on a desert island and knew nothing about UNIX I could use this book to set up a rudimentary HP/UX system and I could then use the pages for something more useful such as starting fires or wiping my bum. So what are the problems with this book. Well let's list them in no particular order. 1) An entire chapter is devoted to bourne shell programming. Why? There are better books out there that will teach you shell programming. 2) An entire chapter is devoted to teaching you how to program in csh. Quite frankly I'm embarassed to admit that I used to use csh and was horrified when I was forced to use sh. But therapy, and beatings from more seasoned administrators, cured me and now I can't imagine why I would want to do any systems administration task in csh or use it as my login shell. Quite frankly teaching someone how to perform systems administration tasks with csh is like teaching someone how to perform first aid with leeches and bloodletting. 3) Hundreds of pages in this book are reprints of man pages. I suppose that this might be useful if I were sitting around and playing Trivial Pursuit one night and one of the topics was "Obscure HP/UX command switches" and I wasn't near a terminal, but other than that it's quite useless. If I need man pages I can go online and type "man <subject>" and UNIX will give me all of the information I need. Why reprint this unless you are trying to pad your book? 4) A lot of the pages are reprints of screen shots, OK, you need some, but this is excessive, again, more padding. If you need HP documentation see if you can lay hands on the manuals that HP educational services hands out with their courses. They are quite full featured and have exercises that you can work your way through to learn the system. If you need more generalized UNIX documentation purchase the red or purple books and a copy of UNIX Power Tools, that would be money far better spent than buying this book.

This book is an excellent companion to the HP Manual: "Installing HP-UX 11.0 and Updating HP-UX 10.x to 11.0. This manual is normally printed from the HP-UX 11.0 CDROM. I've used it in setting up a number of HP-UX 11.0 systems to clarify a number of installation items. Like his treatment of the Advanced Menu installation items that are used during installation.

Author exhibits a great attitude which is reflected in the the writing of his book. "You are going to have a great time setting up your HP-UX system(s). I know you are, because I have set up hundreds and hundreds of systems and my customers always enjoy it."

The book seems redundant in parts but his goal is for you to get "the common denominator of HP-UX system administration knowledge that applies to all systems." The additional inserted "man" pages relieve the tedium of bring up the man screen on the monitor. You do get a little tired of sometimes 8 to 10 hrs a day looking in man pages on the screen. It is a well known physical/psychology fact that you read a printed page better and faster than the tube. Especially when you have to go back and forth.

The scripts are easy to use and convert to your installation practices. Some of the customization feature tips described are very thoughtful. I understand that the author is going to put these scripts on a web site or in a CDROM in the near feature.

Nevertheless, typing them in is a good way to learn or refresh your memory of UNIX techniques. The review of shell programming is also good if you need a refresher course and don't have a lot of time.

The description of HP Performance tools when you need them is very handy. None of us really have enough time to research all the features and he make them very easy to use.

His description and uses of the UNIX directory structures is good enough to explain to your upper management when you want to modify or add to these. I can't remember where else I've seen such a nice job.

I can't do justice to the book and it's features. Once you get used to it, you'll be reaching for it when you need help on HP systems.

With its reprinted man page filler, screen shots of the ridiculous SAM GUI, and introduction to shell scripting, this book might be useful for the most junior of systems administrators. For those of us who already know what a subnet mask is, however, it leaves quite a lot to be desired.

The author never really seems to go into great detail as to the 'why' of things. This might have something to do with the fact that the author has written very little original content for this book - again, it's almost all man pages and screen shots.

This book receives two stars rather than just one, because it could conceivably be useful for someone who's never administered a Unix system before. Otherwise, I would recommend avoiding this book altogether.

I have worked with almost every flavor of Unix. Bottom line, when you pickup a Unix administration book you want one thing, How do I get it done, quickly? In the Unix world, there are several interdependent text and binary files to do almost anything. It is key to completing any Unix task to know were those files are located in a standard setup. This book does not focus on that one important face. It is write from a general Unix level with little to no specifics on actual HP-Unix administration.

The book constains too little useful information both for newbie and for experienced administrator. The author is running through the different parts without in-depth explanation or practically useful information. The only reasonable part is Chapter 1 which covers HP-UX installation. I bought this book as preparation tool for HP-UX test but it won't work. Also, about 1/2 of the boot itself consists of hardcopy of man pages. Probably this is the most expensive you to print the man pages. Conclusion - don't waste money on this book, use the books from LDP, HP Instant Information CD or buy "Unix System Administration Handbook" by Evi Nemeth, Garth Snyder, Scott Seebass, Trent R. Hein - the best overview of UNIX and it's flavours I have ever seen.

An excellent book! The author jumps into HP-specific tools and tasks, quickly helping someone with basic unix skills be productive. Useful screenshots and illustrations. I liked the inclusion of man pages, allows reading on the train to work.

Although probably a bit deep for "windows-only" administrators, this book let me translate my Linux/Solaris skills into an HP environment. It skips the explination of basic commands and gets right in to making the system work well.

Every operating system currently in use is like quicksilver; they keep evolving, adding new features and interfaces, while maintaining their original structure. System administrators need to recognize this attribute, and learn the latest modifications as soon as possible. Marty Poniatowski is an extraordinary author, specializing in HP-UX administration; he not only writes well, but he also works with HP-UX technically. In the HP-UX 11.x System Administration "How To" Book, he provides the latest developments and also notes the sections of it that haven't changed in a practical and understandable style.

Poniatowski details both ways of administrating the HP-UX system. Administrators are divided about the best way to achieve results; some prefer the shell interface (SAM), while others maintain the "old-fashioned" way of the command line interface. Poniatowski covers both approaches, emphasizing that shell users must know the underlying commands, just in case that the system and SAM crash simultaneously. He presents the concepts, practices, and methods of HP-UX in a logical and understandable way. His discussion of system setup and configuration allow readers with varying levels of experience to thoroughly understand the process. The inclusion of the referenced man pages at the end of each chapter provides a time saving device for the reader, who may or may not have access to a computer while reading the book and who also may not remember the syntax of every command and option.

Poniatowski demonstrates the techniques of basic HP-UX administration for new administrators and shows experienced professionals how to improve existing procedures. This is an outstanding book for all HP-UX technical professionals by an knowledgeable and experienced administrator and author. With the HP-UX 11.x System Administration "How To" Book, Poniatowski offers administrators an excellent guide and a necessary reference, designed specifically for the HP-UX administrator.

This book covered everything I need to know for HP-UX system administration

Topics are covered at an introductory level first and then the advanced level. I got the information I needed to know about tasks you perform when starting out such as installation, basic system administration, and an intro to shell programming, then advanced topics such as performance commands and Ignite-UX for system recovery were covered.

The author also included the most often used manual pages right in the book. If you see a command used in a chapter there is a good chance the manual page for that command appears at the end of the chapter.

This is the most complete guide for a specific UNIX variant I have seen.

I have a problem buying the same book over and over again. Marty re-uses the material from his earlier books without adding anything new or altering the material.

And why should I pay for a book that is 20% man pages that are freely available to anyone who works on HP-UX.

Tell Marty to stop writing the same book over and over again. Instead, he could concentrate on something far more interesting to his audience..like ServiceGuard and IT/Operations...stuff that people who work in the field would like to know more about. But then he'd have to actually spend time writing and researching...rather than reformating his old material.

I'm sure there are many HP-UX horror stories out there...clients who don't know how to setup or administrate their million dollar systems....why dones't he write about that.....for a change.