Customer Reviews

Linux Network Administrator's Guide (2nd Edition)

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

 

 

There is some good information in this book but way to much important stuff is missing. Stuff that should be in *any* linux networking book that is missing from this one include:

-discussion of dhcpd, the dynamic host config protocall daemon
-discussion of dhcpcd, the dynamic host config protocol client daemon
-the routed daemon
-any other meaningful discussion of dynamic routing in linux
-any discussion of connectivity with Windows machines (SAMBA is not mentioned anywhere in the entire book)

It would not be possible to administer an actual modern network without any of the above. These omissions are unforgivable in my opinion. Definite one star.

I have have been looking for a linux book that will get into the details of HOW TO DO real world things. Such as Getting my system on the internet, setting email, setting up sound cards and so on. THIS IS NOT THE BOOK. The book is good on other kind of information but when it comes to " FIXING YOUR PROBLEMS " it just does not do it.

If you are an expert (Network Admin) on the operating system this is a great book because you can keep up with the lates news but if you are not an expert you will not get much out of it.

This is a good book BUT it is not perfect. For one, it is way too hard for a beginner. Don't even bother if you're a beginner. Second, it's an oldstyle book too, with a whole chapter on SLIP, IPX, and UUCP, and stressing ipfwdmn (whatever it's spelled) over ipchains. and leaving out stuff like Samba and Xwindows (!!). I don't think Perl is mentioned once.

But it does have some good stuff. The chapters on firewalling are good, as is the beginning. There is a good overview of sendmail and news which you don't always find. The chapters on DNS, NIS, name servers, and NFS are fine. So it's a good reference to have, but you don't want it to be the only book you have.

My one major regret was not reading this sooner. :) I found that this book provides a really nice easy to understand introduction to the different networking aspects on Linux. I had read O'Reilly's TCP/IP Networking first (by Craig Hunt), and it had a great deal of detail. If I had read this first, I think I would have understand that book more so. Nevertheless, both are essential if you want do networking on Linux. My only reason for giving this book 4 stars was the excessive amount of information regarding News servers. I think a chapter or two would have sufficed, and then include some final thoughts and some trouble-shooting. Still, I learned quite a lot, (even on the News server chapters) and I think you will too.

One of first book about TCP/IP services configuration. I really found that this book really usefull. However this book only suitable for beginners.

Many of the negative reviews complain that this book did not tell them how to use Linux. What they failed to notice is that the title of the book is "Linux NETWORK ADMINISTRATORS Guide". Networking is about TCP/IP, FTP, etc. If you want a Linux "how to" book, don't get this book.

O'Reilly was first, but there are publishers now beating them at their game. "Linux Network Administrator's Guide" is an OK book. It took the time to introduce me to TCP/IP routing and gateways, but it's one of those books that you have to start several times to get it.

I have have been looking for a linux book that will get into the details of HOW TO DO real world things. Such as Getting my system on the internet, setting email, setting up sound cards and so on. THIS IS NOT THE BOOK. The book is good on other kind of information but when it comes to " FIXING YOUR PROBLEMS " it just does not do it.

If you are an expert (Network Admin) on the operating system this is a great book because you can keep up with the lates news but if you are not an expert you will not get much out of it.

I am new to Linux, but have quite a bit of experience running large NT networks across multiple classification levels. The time has arrived for me to learn Linux as I believe there will be a compelling economic rationale for moving the back-end of networks to Linux. As I work to master Linux, the incompleteness of the avialable literature is truly amazing. Lots of niches filled, but nothing truly helpful. This book is a bit dated, Kernal 2.2, and it was not particularly helpful to me in respect to file systems. Did not cover extended2 FS, FHS and other, newer systems. Weak on scripting although it does cover API interfaces. Not much on installs/upgrades. A decent resource to have on the shelf to fill in missing holes. I have had to turn elsewhere for a more integrated, comprehensive approach to Linux.

Let me first say that the "Nutshell"-titled books in the O'Reilly series are in general not intended for beginners. This book is a reference manual and is organized as such (alphabetically, by command, etc.)- there are no tutorials here. Beginners are strongly recommended to read the excellent and thorough "Running Linux" by Matt Welsh, also published by O'Reilly. Experienced Unix/Linux users will find this book an indispensable Linux reference, covering all of the commands, switches, and programs commonly found in the distributions(though one might argue that experienced users should be using Linux's man pages for that purpose). Nevertheless, it is an excellent and thorough hard-copy reference for the compendious Linux OS.