Customer Reviews

Postfix

5 star:		(1)
4 star:		(5)
3 star:		(0)
2 star:		(6)
1 star:		(3)

 

 

This book is too basic. It's real audience is people with little or no previous experience with mail servers.

I have long experience with Postfix and expected two things from this book:

a) Show me a holistic vision of Postfix to better understand how it works. Postfix docs are to terse and hard to integrate and interpretate. For example, while there is only one (main.cf) configuration file (with no subsections), there is no single doc that show all posible parameters and theirs meanings. Instead, each Postfix's component have their own documentation with their own parameter set explained. Postfix need very badly a table showing which parameters goes with which component, and this book doesn't provide one (and I expected one). The Postfix organization and operation is VERY logic after the fact, but it will be a lot easier if someone show you (and save you from making the same mistakes).

b) Explain how to do some real world tasks (for example, how to place differents recipient restrictions for inbound mail and for outbound mail).

This book adds nothing to Postfix's own docs; it's only a gentle introduction to the subject.

5 chapters and 124pages of introduction to DNS, SMTP, and assorted blah. The author does an ok job of walking through the Postfix internals - 30+ pages just on postfix lookup tables. The book really disappointed in describing Postfix server operations. In fact, there appear to be a few errors. Following the book verbatim led to a BROKEN postfix server. Fortunately, Google knows all.

After reading the reviews I thought I'd give this book a try. I had an immediate need to set up a postfix email server with virtual hosts that would check their email via POP3. I've learned nothing from this book that I couldn't have gotten from the online documentation and it is an insult to any Linux administrator. I'm still at the same point I was before getting this book. Same issues, no insights into how to fix it. It doesn't even cover setting up POP3 access for virtual hosts.

If you think this book will give you an easier read than the online documentaion, don't bother. I had the online documentation open and it follows it so closely that it seems the author was simply paraphrasing the documentation. The only areas that it goes into more detail are irrelevent issues, like setting up ISDN (isn't that out of the scope of this book?) and how to run strace!

Again, don't bother. I want my money back!

Kind of regret getting this book.

I was hoping to see more of Postfix then described in this book. Like for example what's "empty_address_recipient" do and what parameter can it take and so on. Or how to work content_filter with other filter scripts so I can implement any spam and virus filter and so on. It doesnt even talk about it!

The book only gave an introductory broadview, but that's about it. It's probably ok if that's all you need.

The books is definitely padded; all these Unix books seem start off with a hundred pages about the most mundane admin tasks that every admin knows how to do ANYWAY -- "Postfix" is no exception in that regard.

I took some time to check the pages between the padding, and found several errors, omissions or imprecise statements about how Postfix works.

All in all the book is quite superficial when it comes to how to actually USE the stuff described -- examples are missing like:

"If I get spammed like this, what can I do to prevent this?"

This somewhat limits the use of the book, since you have to find out that stuff yourself, by trial and error.

It's hard to say if the book is targeted at an admin (then he/she should know SMTP and DNS -- and be annoyed by the padding) or a newbie (thenhe/she gets some info, but might end up with a system that's uglier than it needs to be).

Part I is a quick introduction to the basics of email and postfix. This part can probably be skipped by many intermediate to advanced readers interested in Postfix. But nonetheless, provides a good introduction to those without a comprehensive understanding of email protocols and the basics of postfix.

Part II of the book covers Postfix in detail and is well layed out in a logical manner. Starting with the configuration of the 'master' process, Blum then progressively explains the configuration of the Postfix system and its various features. Part II ends with more practical example configurations, administration and troubleshooting tips and a Sendmail to Postfix migration chapter. Part II alone, would be a good book to have.

Part III covers advanced topics such as using MySQL or OpenLDAP maps and ends with a short chapter on performance tuning. The chapters in this part are brief and would not constitute the definitive source for advanced features of Postfix. However, they serve as a quick-n-dirty guide useful enough to help you get started with advanced features of Postfix.

Overall, a good book to have if you've always wanted a handy resource for Postfix without having to read the online documentation or search through the list archives. The book is also up-to-date, covering the first so-called "stable" release (20010228).

I picked up a copy of this local book, hoping that it would be up to the same level as a title from New Riders or O'Reilly & Associates. Unfortunately, the book is rather heavily padded with instructions on compiling the software and several other applications vaguely related to Postfix. There's also a very heavy bia towards Linux, and specifically Red Hat. If the book had stuck to the focus of Postfix itself, and gone into extreme detail about topics like spam control, performance tuning, and virtual domains, it would have been a much better use of my 50 bucks.
It does a fairly good job of covering the basics of configuration, but it's nothing particularly different from what's provided in the HOWTOs and other configuration docs at the Postfix website.

I have to strongly agree with a review that said this book is a decent introduction for people new to administering unix email servers in general and Postfix in particular.

I recently had to set up a mail server and this book handled almost all of my needs. Sure, there is some very "basic" information that can be skipped, but what is basic for one person might represent a critical knowledge gap in another.

This book, and an occasional peek at the example configuration files or online references will allow you to set up and effectively administer a Postfix server.

I don't understand the negative review stating that book is 50 percent installing RedHat. I couldn't even find RedHat in the index. There are about twenty pages that address Unix and Linux.

I needed to set up a mailserver and have very little experience in this area. This book gave me the information I needed, in plain English, to get up and running for my particular application.

Additionally there is a great deal of information on other aspects of running a mail server.

There is also information on setting up Postfix with webmail programs, using it with MySql, ldap, imap, pop3, and much more.

What helped me the most were the details on how all this stuff works. The book did not assume I was a Linux guru (as many books do) but was not condescending, either.

This book has chapters that might seem too basic for the professional IT that simply wants specific information on Postfix. But for the rest of us, I highly recommend it.

Horrible book
Spends 50% explaining how to install Redhat and skips almost every dificult feature postfix has. Instead it spends pages on how to build Courier IMAP or BIND from tar. A much better O'Reilly book is due to come out soon. Do Not waste your money on this book!!!