Sair Linux and GNU Certification Level 1, System Administration [Paperback]

Tobin Maginnis (Author)

Book Description

ISBN-10: 0471369764 | ISBN-13: 978-0471369769 | Publication Date: September 8, 2000 | Edition: 1

Learn more, earn more with Linux certification! The Sair Linux and GNU Certification program, designed and developed by the industry-leading members of Sair Linux, Inc. and its advisory board, provides you with a clear path for improving your Linux and GNU skills and knowledge base. This new series of books will help you gain the necessary tools to become Linux and GNU certified, which can lead to more job opportunities and a higher salary! Level I concentrates on the areas of expertise that must be mastered to become a Sair Linux and GNU Certified Administrator (LCA).
In this guide, the Sair Linux and GNU Certification team draws upon their years of experience to provide expert advice and guidance on managing a free-to-use, open source software system for the enterprise. With the help of detailed lab exercises, they walk you step-by-step through all areas you'll need to know in order to pass the certification exam, including theory of operation, base system, shells and commands, system utilities, and applications. Plus, they provide 100 sample test questions to help you prepare for the exam.The second of four study guides for the LCA certificate, this book will help you:
? Understand the Linux native file system and the file manager
? Set up an NIS server and network
? Write shell scripts using BASH and Perl
? Perform consistency checks and troubleshoot system errors
? Create and manage individual user and group accounts
? Migrate from DOS/Windows to Linux with ease
? Install and configure a wide range of applications, from e-mail to benchmark utilities to backup tools
Other books to look for in the Level I series:
Sair Linux and GNU Certification?
Level I: Installation and Configuration
Sair Linux and GNU Certification?
Level I: Networking
Sair Linux and GNU Certification?
Level I: Security, Ethics, and Privacy
Visit our Web site at www.wiley.com/compbooks/

Editorial Reviews

From the Back Cover

Learn more, earn more with Linux certification! The Sair Linux and GNU Certification program, designed and developed by the industry-leading members of Sair Linux, Inc. and its advisory board, provides you with a clear path for improving your Linux and GNU skills and knowledge base. This new series of books will help you gain the necessary tools to become Linux and GNU certified, which can lead to more job opportunities and a higher salary! Level I concentrates on the areas of expertise that must be mastered to become a Sair Linux and GNU Certified Administrator (LCA).

In this guide, the Sair Linux and GNU Certification team draws upon their years of experience to provide expert advice and guidance on managing a free-to-use, open source software system for the enterprise. With the help of detailed lab exercises, they walk you step-by-step through all areas you'll need to know in order to pass the certification exam, including theory of operation, base system, shells and commands, system utilities, and applications. Plus, they provide 100 sample test questions to help you prepare for the exam.The second of four study guides for the LCA certificate, this book will help you:
* Understand the Linux native file system and the file manager
* Set up an NIS server and network
* Write shell scripts using BASH and Perl
* Perform consistency checks and troubleshoot system errors
* Create and manage individual user and group accounts
* Migrate from DOS/Windows to Linux with ease
* Install and configure a wide range of applications, from e-mail to benchmark utilities to backup tools

Other books to look for in the Level I series:

Sair Linux and GNU Certification(r)

Level I: Installation and Configuration

Sair Linux and GNU Certification(r)

Level I: Networking

Sair Linux and GNU Certification(r)

Level I: Security, Ethics, and Privacy

Visit our Web site at www.wiley.com/compbooks/

About the Author

Tobin Maginnis is Associate Professor of Computer and Information Science at the University of Mississippi. He has used free-to-use open source software to teach many systems courses, including three levels of operating systems and computer networking courses over the last 20 years. Since 1992, he has been President of Sair Linux, Inc.

Product Details

• Paperback: 512 pages
• Publisher: Wiley; 1 edition (September 8, 2000)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0471369764
• ISBN-13: 978-0471369769
• Product Dimensions: 9 x 7.3 x 1.2 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.8 pounds
• Average Customer Review: 3.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (9 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #3,881,606 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)
  • #84 in Books > Computers & Technology > Certification > Linux

More About the Author

Discover books, learn about writers, read author blogs, and more.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

10 of 12 people found the following review helpful:

2.0 out of 5 stars I bet that last review was paid for, December 28, 2000

By 

"balaun" (Clarkston, GA USA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Sair Linux and GNU Certification Level 1, System Administration (Paperback)

I am a Linux trainer in Atlanta, pursuing both the LCP and the LPI certifications. I found this book to have quite a lot of good information in it, but unfortunately, there were some glaring inaccuracies and gaping holes in the text. I'm in a hurry now so I can't list them all, but for a start, where the book talks about integrating Linux with Windows, why is there no mention of Samba? What system administrator in his/her right mind uses VNC when Samba is available? And why does the book drone on about the low-level details of the extended second file system? Not only are these details not used in day-to-day system administration (and easily looked up for those rare occasions when someone DOES need to optimize their number of inodes), but the extended second file system is rapidly becoming obsolete with the arrival of journaling file systems (ext3, reiserfs, xfs, et al)...and yet again, the book makes NO MENTION of those important pieces of information. And if this is a book on system administration, why is there no mention of system-level services like MySQL, etc.

I'm not even going to START on how vague, misleading, and downright inaccurate the review and self-testing questions are.

In a nutshell, this book is inferior to, say, General Linux I by DeeAnn Leblanc. After reviewing the sources online and talking to persons who have also read this book, taken the online practice exams, taken the LCP exams, felt they did strongly, failed, repeated the process, failed again... I have come to the conclusion that something fishy is going on with the LCP certification, and I would advise all interested persons to be cautious if they decide to go through with the certification. The learning material is sub-standard and the tests are largely flawed.

Note: I'm not an LPI advocate either, they've got their own problems, but at least what material I've seen from them is accurate and well-written.

3 of 3 people found the following review helpful:

1.0 out of 5 stars Awful, awful, awful., January 21, 2002

By A Customer

This review is from: Sair Linux and GNU Certification Level 1, System Administration (Paperback)

There, I said it three times.

As an tech intructor I have waded through hundreds of instructional texts. The first 2 books of the Sair Certification path, Installation and Configuration, and System Administration are two of the worst attempts at creating study guides that I have ever had the misfortune to encounter. Truly horrific.

Though it has been mentioned before, it bears repeating that the writing style, what there is of it, tends to have a potent narcotic effect of the nervous system: numbing both mind and body.

Many pages are wasted on tedious and over-long explanations of simple topics, while other more important points are completely skipped.

The labs? Oh, where to begin? Wide, wide variation in quality and usefulness. "Start here and if you can finish this on your own, we guess you know what your doing."

Worst of all, the typos and grammar problems in the books are reflected on the actual exams as well. Noun and pronoun gender agreement as well as interchangeable use of verb conjugation leads me to believe both text ans exams are being written by first year ESL ( English as a Second Language ) students.

WOE TO THOSE HAVE TO USE THESE TEXTS. ARRRRRRRRRGH!

3 of 3 people found the following review helpful:

2.0 out of 5 stars Needs lots of work, January 14, 2002

By A Customer

This review is from: Sair Linux and GNU Certification Level 1, System Administration (Paperback)

My company has been working in groups to pass the SAIR Linux Certification exams. We have been purchasing copies of Maginnis's books, working through them as a group, and taking the exams.

I just took and passed the second exam, the one based on this book. I scored a 74% -- the minimum passing score. Like the first book, this book does teach to the test. In this sense, the book does what it was designed to do.

The sections of the book vary in quality (I do not believe that Maginnis wrote this book, but that it is the work of a number of his students and employees at SAIR.) Some are good, but many are poor. The sections of the book do not seem to follow any logical order, but are organized by the SAIR knowledge matrix, with vague titles like "theroy of operation", "base systems" and "System Utilities" The section on "Troubleshooting" is filled with topics as broad as finding new linux software to finding the lib.so library.

The book has a number of Linux Labs which also vary in quality. Some labs, like the one on PGP, are specific and allow the user to perform complete yet simple tasks, wetting the appetite for more. Some, like the PERL and Python scripting labs, do nothing but tell you that these languages exist.

While Maginnis may actually know what topics are important to administrators, this book gives little indication as to what those topics are. Instead, a large number of topics are explored at a surface level, and the reader is left to figure out which topics are to be explored with more depth.

I think that the books and exams will improve over time. Either that, or another Linux Certification will become the del facto standard (I do not mean to imply by this statement that Sair is the current standard. No certification has emerged the clear winner. SAIR does, however, seem to be furthest along)

If you want to know what material is on the exam, the book is worth your time. If you want to get a general book on Linux System Administration, go somewhere else.