Linux Administration Handbook (2nd Edition) [Paperback]

Evi Nemeth (Author), Garth Snyder (Author), Trent R. Hein (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: November 9, 2006 | ISBN-10: 0131480049 | ISBN-13: 978-0131480049 | Edition: 2

“As this book shows, Linux systems are just as functional, secure, and reliable as their proprietary counterparts. Thanks to the ongoing efforts of thousands of Linux developers, Linux is more ready than ever for deployment at the frontlines of the real world. The authors of this book know that terrain well, and I am happy to leave you in their most capable hands.”
—Linus Torvalds

“The most successful sysadmin book of all time—because it works!”
—Rik Farrow, editor of ;login:

“This book clearly explains current technology with the perspective of decades of experience in large-scale system administration. Unique and highly recommended.”
—Jonathan Corbet, cofounder, LWN.net

“Nemeth et al. is the overall winner for Linux administration: it’s intelligent, full of insights, and looks at the implementation of concepts.”
—Peter Salus, editorial director, Matrix.net

Since 2001, Linux Administration Handbook has been the definitive resource for every Linux^® system administrator who must efficiently solve technical problems and maximize the reliability and performance of a production environment. Now, the authors have systematically updated this classic guide to address today’s most important Linux distributions and most powerful new administrative tools.

The authors spell out detailed best practices for every facet of system administration, including storage management, network design and administration, web hosting, software configuration management, performance analysis, Windows interoperability, and much more. Sysadmins will especially appreciate the thorough and up-to-date discussions of such difficult topics such as DNS, LDAP, security, and the management of IT service organizations.

Linux^® Administration Handbook, Second Edition, reflects the current versions of these leading distributions:

• Red Hat^® Enterprise Linux^®
• Fedora^TM Core
• SUSE^® Linux Enterprise
• Debian^® GNU/Linux
• Ubuntu^® Linux

Sharing their war stories and hard-won insights, the authors capture the behavior of Linux systems in the real world, not just in ideal environments. They explain complex tasks in detail and illustrate these tasks with examples drawn from their extensive hands-on experience.

Editorial Reviews

Review

"'Linux Administration Handbook, 2nd Edition deserves a place of honor on the shelf of every practicing Linux admin and anyone else who wants to learn. I predict though, that it won't spend many hours on the shelf. It is better used by your side at the keyboard and you learn from its pages."–James Pyles, Reviewer, The Linux Tutorial

From the Back Cover

As the deployment of Linux systems in production environments has accelerated, Linux administrators have longed for a book that addresses the challenges of this complex and exciting frontier. Linux Administration Handbook was written with this audience in mind. This book serves both as a valuable tutorial for the novice administrator and as a trustworthy reference for the seasoned professional. Using the practical approach of their highly regarded UNIX System Administration Handbook, the authors describe every aspect of Linux system administration and cover the following major Linux distributions: Red Hat Linux, SuSE Linux, Debian GNU/Linux.

Replete with war stories and hard-won insights, this book examines how Linux systems behave in real-world ecosystems, not how they might behave in ideal environments. Difficult tasks are described in all their complexity, including DNS configuration, networking, sendmail configuration, security management, kernel building, performance analysis, and routing. The book's many true-life examples will help administrators implement solutions that continue to work effectively as their operations grow.

"As this book shows, Linux systems are just as functional, secure, and reliable as their proprietary counterparts. Thanks to the ongoing efforts of its thousands of developers, Linux is more ready than ever for deployment at the frontlines of the real world. The authors of this book know that terrain well, and I am happy to leave you in their most capable hands."

—Linus Torvalds

"I'm absolutely amazed to see a computing book that focuses on concepts and how to implement them instead of explaining man pages for dummies. I also find the historical remarks very interesting. Your book is the very best of its kind I have ever read."

—Hanspeter Schmid, Bernafon, Switzerland

"I just wanted to tell you guys that I have learned more about system administration from your book than from $10,000 worth of training classes. This book has been an invaluable part of my day-to-day life as a system and network administrator."

—Chris Bourne, Xapnet, Emeryville, CA

"The seminal work in the field. If you can have only one system administration book, this should be it."

—Brad Knowles, Brussels, Belgium

--This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

See all Editorial Reviews

Product Details

• Paperback: 1040 pages
• Publisher: Prentice Hall; 2 edition (November 9, 2006)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0131480049
• ISBN-13: 978-0131480049
• Product Dimensions: 9.3 x 7.1 x 1.4 inches
• Shipping Weight: 3.2 pounds
• Average Customer Review: 4.3 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (52 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #304,528 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)
  • #55 in Books > Computers & Technology > Operating Systems > Linux > Networking & System Administration

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

33 of 34 people found the following review helpful

3.0 out of 5 stars Buy their Unix book instead July 10, 2003

By A Customer

Format:Paperback

The first edition of Unix System Administration was a classic. The updated versions have been split into a linux-only version and the original, pan-Unix treatment (including Linux--just not as many variants of Linux as this book covers). I bought the Linux one, but now I wish I had the updated pan-Unix book. The authors' strength is their knowledge of Unix fundamentals, not the (ever-changing) details of various Linux distros. You're better off learning from them how vendor Unices are different in major ways from each other and from Linux. Finally, the authors don't seem nearly as well informed about Linux as they do about the older Unices. While their older book's advice was bulletproof, in this one they miss some important information. The most serious example is their recommendation to use 'dump' for filesystem backups, when Linux Torvalds has explicitly announced that it's not safe to use. 90% of this book is the same as the Unix book, so it's not a loss either way, but I'd recommend you get your Linux info fresh off the net, or in some other book series that's updated more frequently.

44 of 49 people found the following review helpful

2.0 out of 5 stars Good theory, weak on application and implementation. I have 6 years of UNIX and Linux system administration February 19, 2007

By Book Reader

Format:Paperback

This book is good on theory, but is weak on application and implementation.

The book reads well, but when I try to apply or implement the described utilities the necessary details are not there.

This book may work for a class where the tests are given as paper exams, but is weak if you are going to set up an actual machine. Wondering about why this book would be this way I looked at the "About the Authors" section and discovered why:

Evi Nemeth is retired and sailing her sailboat.

Garth Snyder is now an MD.

Trent R. Hein is running a company.

I admire their accomplishments and wish them the best of luck.

However, they have lost touch with Linux. Linux is very dynamic and requires constant attention to keep up with. It appears that they don't have time to stay in touch with Linux. My guess is that they are cutting and pasting from their old books, and maybe have some cheap college students ghost writing for them.

I recommend reading the Linux books by Negus, Sobell, and Jang.

31 of 35 people found the following review helpful

5.0 out of 5 stars Nemeth et al shine again! April 19, 2002

By Frederic Woodbridge VINE™ VOICE

Format:Paperback|Amazon Verified Purchase

I have owned several editions of Nemeth's 'UNIX System Administration Handbook' (USAH) and I have always been highly impressed by the quality of writing and instruction. In that book, Nemeth et al brilliantly (and humorously) packed material into 853 pages where other lesser authors (J. Winsor comes to mind) have needed several (dry) volumes. Most Unix System Administration books merely regurgitate or re-word 'man' pages and are entirely useless.
So, being as familiar as I am with their past performances, I did not hesitate to buy this their latest work from Amazon. Understand that there are a lot of similarities between Unix and Linux and as such, this book doesn't really differ that much from USAH. There is still the same highly informative prose, the same humorous approach to instructing via the written word. I think this is an attempt by the authors to capitalize on the popularity of the Linux Operating System and in any other author, this would be gauche. Not so with Nemeth and her team of writers. Here, they have again done an extra-ordinary job of instructing both experienced and novice sysadmins in the fine art and science of being that most noble of professions: a Unix/Linux System Administrator.
Good job!

26 of 29 people found the following review helpful

5.0 out of 5 stars for admins, not your mom December 4, 2002

By Kip Perkins

Format:Paperback

I picked up this book because I have used the 2nd and 3rd editions of UNIX Administration Handbook for years. This book is easy to read and provides some entertainment with the authors' insight into Linux administration. As with it's brother the UAH, this book follows the same format but IS updated to reflect the Linux specifics. I picked it up also because it covers RH 7.2 and the UAH only covered 6.2. This book is a must for people who admin linux servers for large corporations, small businesses, or simply are running their own mail/dns/web server from their DSL connection at home.
If you are looking for a book that gets you setup on KDE or GNOME, this is not the book. If you want to learn and use the power of a networked Linux server, this is for you.
I have worked with UNIX for 6 years, Linux for 5 and recommend this book to anyone who will admin it.

15 of 16 people found the following review helpful

5.0 out of 5 stars An Excellent Book for the Professional November 13, 2002

By Steve Merrill

Format:Paperback

This is an excellent book on the subject; it is comprehensive and very well-written. The authors explain not only how things work, but in many cases they include historical background to explain why things work as they do.

The book is clearly targeted at professional system administrators. There is little discussion of the GUI-based administration tools that come with most Linux distributions, nor are there enough examples to simply use the book as a cookbook.

The book is primarily concerned with server rather than client administration; it won't tell you how to get your sound card to work or configure your desktop environment.

For the amateur trying to configure a home Linux system, this may be the wrong book, but for a professional systems administrator, or a developer curious about the mysteries of system administration, this book is a five-star must-have.