Solaris 9 Administration: A Beginner's Guide [Paperback]

Paul Watters (Author)

Book Description

ISBN-10: 0072223170 | ISBN-13: 978-0072223170 | Publication Date: July 29, 2002 | Edition: 1st

Ideal for Windows or Linux administrators looking to learn Solaris, this easy-to-use introductory guide covers the basics of Solaris 9 single host administration and explains how to manage Internet and intranet services.

Editorial Reviews

From the Back Cover

Essential Skills--Made Easy!

Learn to set up, run, and support Solaris 9 across your network using this hands-on introductory guide. Beginning with an overview of this powerful operating system, this practical resource will show you how to install the SPARC version of Solaris 9 and manage Internet and intranet services, and will help you become familiar with the new features of Solaris 9--including role-based access control, Kerberos 5, and the LDAP directory service. You'll also learn how to integrate Windows NT/2000 or Linux with the Solaris platform. Filled with step-by-step exercises, self-assessment sections, and tips from a leading Solaris expert--this is a premier learning tool for every administrator new to Solaris.

• Modules--Each concept is divided into logically organized modules (chapters), ideal for self-paced learning
• Critical Skills--Each module opens with the specific skills covered in the module
• Ask-the-Experts--Q&A sections throughout are filled with bonus information and helpful tips
• 1-Minute Drills--Quick self-assessment sections check your progress
• Mastery Checks--End-of-module reviews test knowledge using short-answer, multiple-choice, and fill-in-the-blank questions
• Projects--Practical exercises show how to apply the critical skills learned in each module
• Blueprints--Key networking configurations are illustrated in detail

About the Author

Paul A. Watters (Oakhurst, Australia), Ph.D., specializes in building e-commerce and Internet information systems based on Java, Solaris, and open standards like CORBA. He is a columnist and author for the trade journal Inside Solaris, and is lead author of Solaris 8: The Complete Reference, and Solaris Administration: A Beginner's Guide, both published by Osborne.

Product Details

• Paperback: 624 pages
• Publisher: McGraw-Hill/OsborneMedia; 1st edition (July 29, 2002)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0072223170
• ISBN-13: 978-0072223170
• Product Dimensions: 9.3 x 7.5 x 1.3 inches
• Shipping Weight: 2.3 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (7 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #1,986,695 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)
  • #63 in Books > Computers & Technology > Operating Systems > Solaris

More About the Author

My philosophy in writing books has been strongly influenced by my college teaching experience in information technology and software engineering - clear descriptions of basic principles, philosophy and motivation for using a specific technology, and then clear examples of how to use it in practice. In a book with limited pages, it's not always possible to cover every topic, or to provide all information on a specific topic in the detail required to perform a particular task. I see the role of trade books as "breadth first, depth second" - these books provide orientation, but if you need intimate detail on a specific application, function or method, then you will almost certainly need to consult vendor documentation. For example, the Sun administration reference collection for Solaris contains many thousands of pages of detail, which can be daunting at first, but very useful in the long term.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

8 of 8 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars A Decent Solaris Book if you have lots of time on your hands, July 14, 2004

By 

Mark "Technology, Music and Movies" (East Coast) - See all my reviews
(TOP 100 REVIEWER)    (VINE VOICE)    (#1 Hall OF FAME REVIEWER)    (2008 HOLIDAY TEAM)   

This review is from: Solaris 9 Administration: A Beginner's Guide (Paperback)

This book certainly contains a lot of information. Nobody can question that the author is informed. For me, this book fell short of the mark because the good info was often buried in needless chatter.

I've worked as a Solaris Admin for many years and I've read a LOT of Solaris books. This book isn't the worst book ever written. But it falls into a general pattern that is common for books of this type.

First off, this book is meant to be a guide for Beginning Sys. Admins. The same author already has a Solaris reference book. That's why it pains me that this book contains so much "reference-like" filler. Do we really need another book rehashing the origins of Unix? Couldn't they cram that stuff into an appendix and list some more pertinent background info? But I guess the publisher decides this book must contain X number of pages and the author just cuts and pastes from his other texts.

There was also excessive redundancy in this book. The same run-level chart that appears in the first secion reappears in the third.

The writing style is wordy and unpractical. I too got my start in Unix in a university lab, but System Administration is about doing a lot in a short amount of time. Could you please get to your point without all of the prose?

And hidden in those long paragraphs were great links and commands. But this book wasn't well structured to have those things stand out. Instead, only somebody who has a LOT of time to read every single word can truly garner all the information in this book.

A lot of people clearly like to read wordy academic style unix books. Perhaps it's only the books title that's a problem. Still I think the book could have at least been laid out a lot better. I also would have thought it better if it had shorter more clearly focused sections that actually had to do with administration.

11 of 14 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Good exam/beginner's guide, August 25, 2002

By 

Jamie Burns (Denver CO, USA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Solaris 9 Administration: A Beginner's Guide (Paperback)

I bought this book last week because I am just a beginner at the whole Solaris thing, coming from a Linux background. The book covers a lot of really good timely topics - LDAP, role based access control etc. - and is written real good. It's like an exam guide which is funny - there are loads of review questions in each chapter and little projects to try out. All in all, it's a very comprehensive book for a beginner. And maybe useful for exam study too (are there certs for Solaris 9 yet?).

3 of 4 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars Initially Impressed, Later Disappointed, September 4, 2004

By 

Joaquin Menchaca (San José, CA USA) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Solaris 9 Administration: A Beginner's Guide (Paperback)

I got this book so that I can get help tinkering with Solaris, being a newbie to Solaris. Overall, I think there are excellent explanations, which is very helpful for novice users. So, I was initially impressed and happy with this book.

However, I found out that a lot of information is either incomplete or flat wrong. Two small examples: (1) in coverage of the korn shell environment, he exposed configurations/commands for bash, not ksh; (2) and in module 9, the author instructs you to create accounts in /home, but this is maintained by automount daemon, and accounts are more commonly created in /export. Creating accounts in /home simply will not work with the automount running.

Other sections were very well presented, but I felt were incomplete for a real practical implementation. This is includes real configuration of boot files for tcp/ip networking (dhcp, static ip, etc.) and network services like SAMBA and NFS.

I contacted the author about these items, but to this day I never received a response.

Overall, I think this book has some good concept material, and recommend it for a reduced price, e.g. used or discounted. But for the full retail price of the book, I wouldn't spend the money. Consequently BTW, I got a discounted book, so I am satisfied. :-)