Solaris 8: The Complete Reference [Paperback]

Sriranga Veeraraghavan (Author), Paul Watters (Author)

Book Description

ISBN-10: 0072121432 | ISBN-13: 978-0072121438 | Publication Date: June 28, 2000 | Edition: 1

Solaris is a UNIX-based operating environment which can now be run on many multi-platform workstations. This authoritative reference offers coverage of version 7, and includes sections on creating and troubleshooting system policies.

Editorial Reviews

Amazon.com Review

A solid document on the Solaris operating system, Solaris 8: The Complete Reference shows you what you need to understand if you want to make a living as administrator of a modern Sun workstation. Of course, this book is not absolutely complete--no technical book about a subject as large as Solaris 8 could hope to be--but it should be more than adequate for most readers' purposes. Whether you have experience with another enterprise operating system and have recently been charged with figuring out Solaris, or you're a long-time Solaris jock and need a handy reference to guide you through procedures that you don't follow every day, this book has your number.

The book approaches each Solaris capability from a variety of angles. Most often, it takes a few pages to explain the "Solaris way" of thinking about a problem, contrasting it with alternate approaches (such as those that might be used in Linux or Windows NT) where that might be appropriate. Straight how-to material usually follows in sections that have titles like, "Testing Reachability"; those sections further break down into modules that have to do with special cases, such as troubleshooting situations. Text and listings of input and output predominate--an effective format for an operating system that's driven largely by console activity. --David Wall

Topics covered: The Solaris operating system generally, with coverage of the features that are new in release 8. A large section covers installation, user and software administration, file-system management and backup planning, and process management. Networking comes next--with sections on routing, the DNS, and DHCP. Samba and the Network File System (NFS), plus explicit instructions on integrating Solaris with Windows NT 4.0.

From the Back Cover

The Ultimate Resource on Sun Microsystems' Multiplatform UNIX-Based OS

Learn basic and advanced techniques for deploying and administering a complete Solaris system with the most comprehensive volume on Solaris 8. Get up and running with step-by-step strategies for print serving, file sharing, e-mail and news handling, TCP/IP protocols, and Web serving. Find in-depth explanations of system maintenance features like software packaging and patching, hardware and storage device management, file system management, and backups. The authors guide you through network administration essentials including TCP/IP networking, routing, and complete overviews of DNS and NIS structures. Plus, you'll get worked examples of advanced administration techniques on system activity monitoring, performance monitoring, and JumpStart.

• Navigate through graphic user or command line interfaces
• Run SunOS on SPARC or Intel architecture platforms
• Effectively utilize process management tools including job automation
• Manage storage and serial devices including recordable and rewriteable CD drives
• Monitor, share, and back up file systems in UNIX, Windows, or Mac environments
• Securely manage user and system information with remote access and secure tools
• Configure, route, and forward popular Internet Protocols
• Easily administer mail, usenet, FTP, and Web serving tools
• Monitor and fine-tune system activity and performance-remotely OT on-site
• Manage organization-wide domains with NIS/NIS+

See all Editorial Reviews

Product Details

• Paperback: 678 pages
• Publisher: Osborne/McGraw-Hill; 1 edition (June 28, 2000)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0072121432
• ISBN-13: 978-0072121438
• Product Dimensions: 9.2 x 7.4 x 1.8 inches
• Shipping Weight: 3.2 pounds
• Average Customer Review: 3.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (28 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #2,322,874 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)
  • #76 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

23 of 24 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Good solid Solaris reference, July 26, 2000

By 

James Cary (Norfolk, VA, USA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Solaris 8: The Complete Reference (Paperback)

As an experienced Solaris and NT administrator, I have been waiting a long time for a book which covered all of the core Solaris material which I learned through experience. This book covers all of the material which makes Solaris distinct from other flavors of UNIX (like HP/UX and Linux). I like the way that the author has given examples of how to get things right (like a whole chapter each on SAMBA and NFS), and how to fix things that go wrong (like filesystem corruption - there are some great examples for using fsck). But I think there should have been more coverage of IPv6 and server clustering.

17 of 17 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars The above people are on crack., January 26, 2001

By 

GP (Vancouver, CA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Solaris 8: The Complete Reference (Paperback)

I have been using various flavours of linux and BSD for 8 years now. Without a whole lot of practical experience in Solaris I spent the money and bought this book. It is an excellent resource and overview covering a wide range of topics. One could practically not even have used a computer or the internet and sit down and read the book and be fully able to install Solaris, set up web, ftp, mail and whatever other servers they may wish. I would be forced to suggest that those that did not find this book of value either didn't have the focus and patience to wade through the close to 700 pages (my hand hurt supporting this volume for several hours -- how many pages do you want it to be?!) and/or are dissatisfied with the OS itself and taking it out on this book. It's not Windows guys, it does require a little bit of hard work and some skill.

12 of 12 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Lots of worked examples made it easy to read, February 2, 2001

By A Customer

This review is from: Solaris 8: The Complete Reference (Paperback)

I bought this book because Mark Sobell's book didn't take me as far as I wanted to go with UNIX. This book caters for gurus and beginners.

I also like to read many examples in books, not just man page printouts, and this book really delivers in the examples area (unlike some other reference books around).