Customer Reviews

Solaris 10: System Administration (Exam CX-310-200 & CX-310-202)

5 star:		(12)
4 star:		(6)
3 star:		(2)
2 star:		(2)
1 star:		(5)

 

 

The problem with most certification programs is that too many people look for a quick "cram for an exam" or a "brain dump" to get their certification. It has undervalued certification programs from Microsoft, Sun, and most computer vendors.

Dave's review below is a perfect example- he's looking for a "cram for an exam" with lots of visuals and pictures. Readers get disappointed when they pick up a real reference book, with text and command line examples, where they might actually "learn" something about managing a server from a console. I also don't think taking away the screen output generated by commands is a good idea. I need to see the command line as well as the output generated. Dave (a previous reviewer), maybe you should look at Wiley's "Teach Yourself Visually" series of books for a Solaris reference, but don't beat on this book for more graphics.

I DON'T WANT another one of those style books. I appreciate a good Solaris admin reference and appreciate the format that the author/publisher has used in this book. O'Reilly's sys admin books tend to follow the same type of format. The mix of graphics and textual output is perfect. As a Unix Administrator, you need to know command line stuff and not the GUI tools. You need LOTS of examples. You NEED to see the ouput generated by the use of specific command options. I don't want to wade through more pictures of directory hierarchies, or look at graphics of disk drive architecture, or read more on the history of Unix, etc. Who started this stuff in the Unix Admin books? There are other books for that. In a Unix Admin reference book, where we tend to perform tasks from ASCII terminals, telnet, VT100's etc., the screen output is necessary to learning the task at hand.

As you can see, I don't share Dave Mali's comments and think the format of this book is perfectly fine. I also don't feel it was full of errors- in fact, they are very low for a book of this size and style (errata was complete). (I hate when reviewers say a book is full of errors yet lack to point them out for the benefit of other readers).

I'm not one to typically write a review, but I plead to the publisher - DON'T CHANGE THE FORMAT OF THIS BOOK. This is my Opinion - I really don't know if this is the forum to bring it up. If not- it's ok to strike my review.

I've finally found a Solaris 10 book that THOROUGHLY covers SMF and zones. Some of these Solaris 10 books claim to be "complete", and at best, only touch on these topics. The Calkins book covers all of the new Solaris 10 features in-depth, provides good examples, and makes it easy to understand. Not sure if I'm ready to get certified, but this book is complete enough to get the job done. I'm experienced on Solaris 8 and 9 and have been using this book to learn about the new features in Solaris 10. So far- it's been a great and thorough reference. I'm not sure where "Joe the Sysadmin" is coming from, but this book is 1000+ pages of concise, well presented, to the point information. Much like Calkins previous books.

I own this book and the Paul Sanghera book. This book is the best book for someone who already knows how to log onto & navigate any Unix. It is also the best book of the two. It won't bore you with excessive detail about things you should already know as a Unix end-user IT professional. It just focuses on things in Solaris that are different in other Unix & Windows OS's (volume & fs management, security, networking, etc.) If you don't know Unix at all, the Sanghera book will help somewhat here, but nothing is better than hands-on experience to become a user. In contrast, I think alot of sysadmin skills can be learned by reading an OS book if you know at least one OS really well, and this book fits the bill for that.

I'm usually a picture kind of guy...and I almost didn't buy it because the Sanghera book at first glance looks like it has more visuals. But the visuals in the Sanghera book are very basic (who needs a picture of a star-network v. a ring network?) I found that I really didn't need the visuals...the bulletized & enumerated lists are fine to learn from in Calkin's book.

This book can serve as a future sys admin reference to get an overview of a topic quickly. The Sanghera book would not serve the same purpose...it is too brief & basic to serve as a reference. While Sanghera's book has helped people pass the test in the low 70's (see reviews), I think if you study this book by Bill Calkin, I bet one could get a score in the 80's or even 90's.

I ding it one star because of the paper quality. Sanghera's book is printed on better paper. For $60, I think the paper quality should be better. It's really my only complaint about this book.

The paper quality is like a "JK Lassiter Tax Book for 2006" or "Sybex Press" book, not a Microsoft Press or Nutshell book.

I have 12 years of Sys Admin experience on Solaris. I'm certified on Solaris 9 and used this book to pass the upgrade exam for Solaris 10 (CX-310-203). I especially needed to learn about SMF, Zones and x86 topics- because I've worked mainly on Sun gear using Solaris 8 and 9, I had no prior experience in those areas. I appreciated that this book was not just a brain dump to help me cram for the exam, that's not what I wanted. I actually learned about SMF, Zones, and x86 installs without forking out $3,000 plus expenses for a Sun course (my company would not send me to training). For this the book, was accurate, the errata at the author's website was up to date, and the step by step examples throughout the book helped me memorize procedures and configuration tasks. The author even responded to me personally when I had a question (the author's website is a great resource). I also found the ExamGear test engine on the accompanying CD-ROM to be helpful in assessing my knowledge of the material in the book. I noticed other reviewers stated the book lacked practice exams- they are flat wrong! There are exams at the end of each chapter covering the topics of that particular chapter, there are practice exams at the end of the book covering all topics on the exams, and there is an excellent electronic test engine on CD-ROM with practice exams (and flash cards) for both CX-310-200 and CX310-202. The flashcards saved me from back tracking through the book looking up answers. If you're looking for an exam cram style book or brain dumps (not this book)- this book is over 1,000 pgs and goes into depth on all topics. It actually covers more than is needed for the exam, but that's why I'll continue to use this book as a reference. I've used Calkins' books in the past and really liked his writing style. It is literally one of the best technical books I have on my shelf.

I bought this book for my Solaris 10 Upgrade exam - result, passing score! However unless you are an experienced SA, I would recommend not using this book as your sole study guide. There are a few technical inaccuracies in addition the material fails to delve deeply enough into certain key exam areas such as Sol on X86. Post-exam, I view it as a nice Sol 10 reference to keep around.

What a great feeling- I passed CX-310-202 (part 2) using only this book - 88% - YOUZER! I recommend this book it to all of my collegues looking to get certified.

Another great job Bill- I've used your previous book and it too was extremely well done. Although it's a tough act to follow, you did it again- keep up the good work.

I have more than 10 years experience with Solaris System adiministration. I have read this book from cover to cover and I have been reading all the reviews on this page, quietly. Now, I feel it's my turn to speak out.

First, note some RED FLAGS:

1. Four reviews which were highly critical of this book have suddenly disappeared. Looks like the publisher has managed to get rid of them. This is a BIG red flag.

2. When a review critical of this book appears, it is opposed with a propaganda sounding positive review.

This makes me think that almost all the positive reviews on this page are either propaganda by the publisher or for the publisher.

Now, about the book:

If you are planning to take the SCSA exams, this book is not going to be very helpful. It's just a dump of lots of information. Scores of options for commands, pages of outputs of commands without explanation, and so on...

There is very little effort to help the reader understand the topics and make sense of them. As another reviewer said, the information is being thrown on you from all directions...brutal. The book is not called Exam Cram but the presentation style makes it exactly that: exam cram, nevertheless...and I doubt it that you can cram 1100 pages...So, I agree and sympathize with another reviewer (Dave Mali).

On the other hand, if you just want to read about Solaris 10, or on some selective topics on Soalris 10, sure, go ahead, buy the book...There arn't many Soalris 10 books any way. But do not count on this book alone if you want to pass the SCSA exam or if you want to learn Solaris 10 System Administration.

Im am an employee of Sun Microsystems and used this book as a primary study guide. It not only exceeded my expectations but it also contained everything I needed to take the 310-203 upgrade exam. I found it to be as good or better then the internal Sun training materials and helped me pass the test the first time around. Thanks again Bill

I passed the both exams using this book with flying colors, but then I have been doing Sun UNIX for 20 years. I can confidently say this is an excellent review book and even a good reference aside for using as a study guide. The CD exam had many questions that were on the test, amazing. But most important, not just passing the exam, the book provides an in depth understanding of Solaris 10. I have many of Bill Calkins books on this subject, different OS releases, and you can see he has evolved his book into an efficient concise guide for Solaris. There are plenty of review tables and step-by-step examples.

He does the best coverage of have seen on Rules file keywords for Jumpstart; you have to dig on the Sun site for such documentation. The book did lack enough content for Intel Preboot Execution Environment (PXE) and there were a number of questions on the exam (x86 Solaris) on this subject. However, you can't find material on x86 subject easily or in one place, so this is the best there is on x86 Solaris.

The book covers zones in just 20 pages and is complete. Step-by-step examples are provided for different configurations such as NIS, NFS, network interface, AutoFS (excellent explanation and step-by-step), jumpstart, logical volumes, zones, service management facility and its recovery, backup/restore including recovering the boot block, access control list (ACL) commands, etc. which can be used as a reference too. I also recommend the book for a trainee learning Solaris.