UNIX Bible (With CD-ROMs) [Paperback]

Yves Lepage (Author), Paul Iarrera (Author)

Book Description

ISBN-10: 0764546872 | ISBN-13: 978-0764546877 | Publication Date: January 15, 2000 | Edition: 2nd

The ultimate UNIX reference--now revised and updated! Through real-life examples, readers learn to build and manage a peak-performance UNIX system, configure Internet and intranet connectivity, lock in security, and more. The two CD-ROMs contain a full Linux distribution as well as programming and administration tools.

"Novice and power users alike will appreciate this comprehensive reference." --InfoWorld Analyst

Editorial Reviews

From the Back Cover

If Unix can do it, you can do it too...

This all-in-one reference will show you the quickest, most efficient way to set up and manage your Unix system. You'll find this updated edition to be an invaluable resource for Unix basics, user-friendly tools, and troubleshooting techniques -- whether you're running a workstation or a server. Inside, Unix gurus Yves Lepage and Paul Iarrera share real-world case studies to help you maximize your system's potential. Plus, you get their expert advice on Linux, BSD, and other Open Source options; how-to guidance on setting up an at-home Unix system; in-depth coverage of hardware requirements and connectivity issues; and more.

Inside, you'll find complete coverage of Unix
* Understand the guts of your Unix system &mdash from kernel to shell
* Implement top-notch security measures
* Implement interprocess communications using several methods
* Get up to speed on ISP connectivity issues
* Administer a Unix workstation, Internet server, Mail server, and more
* Manage login servers
* Maneuver through the Unix file system
* Troubleshoot your Unix network
2 BONUS CD-ROMs!
* Slackware(r): Linux v7.0
* Valuable programming and administration tools
Build and manage a peak-performance Unix system

Implement a fully scalable network with Internet and intranet connectivity

Secure your system -- from firewalls to logins

About the Author

Yves Lepage has authored or contributed to a number of books on networking-related topics, given networking presentations to IT professionals, and taught UNIX seminars. As an experienced UNIX network administrator, he has obtained a great deal of hands-on UNIX networking mastery while working with the McGill University network in Montreal, Canada.

Paul Iarrera is an information systems consultant working in the financial and communications industries. He has written course materials, and provided hands-on UNIX systems management training for IT professionals in the corporate environment. His experience implementing UNIX solutions for enterprise-level computing affords him knowledge and expertise in-depth UNIX systems integration.

Product Details

• Paperback: 750 pages
• Publisher: Wiley; 2nd edition (January 15, 2000)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0764546872
• ISBN-13: 978-0764546877
• Product Dimensions: 9.2 x 7.4 x 1.9 inches
• Shipping Weight: 3.1 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 2.3 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (3 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #2,066,407 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

5 of 5 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars Basic system administration introduction, November 21, 2000

By 

"konstan" (Omaha, NE United States) - See all my reviews

This review is from: UNIX Bible (With CD-ROMs) (Paperback)

The book does a good job of introducing the main UNIX concepts such as filesystems, shells, processes, inodes, etc. It also covers TCP/IP basics, network security, a little bit of everything. The book's focus is mainly on system administration (although an introduction to shell script programming is given), so if you are looking for programming information, you won't find much here. And if you are looking for advanced topics, you would likely be better off getting a specialized book on whatever subject you are looking for: on many subjects the coverage in this book ends just "when it gets interesting".

3 of 3 people found the following review helpful:

2.0 out of 5 stars Disappointing, August 30, 2002

By 

Matthew K. Morgan (Ruther Glen, VA USA) - See all my reviews
(TOP 500 REVIEWER)    (VINE VOICE)    (REAL NAME)   

This review is from: UNIX Bible (With CD-ROMs) (Paperback)

I bought this book with the impression that it would be a good book for system administration of a generalized UNIX system. I knew that it would not cover every scenario for every flavor of UNIX, but it should at least be a great foundation.

The title is quite misleading. "Bible" implies that this is an authoritative and complete tome on UNIX issues. It is definitely neither of these. The cover even says it is 100% accurate and "what you need". Perhaps if one was looking for general guidelines, this would be true, but then the book's title would still be misleading.

This book is by no means an exhaustive work on even the generalized issues. One case in point is the section on system security. It goes into great depth on describing one scenario where a hacker broke into a system and mucked around. It gives log listings, printouts, and descriptions of what was going on - in this specific scenario. This is all well and good, but it only goes far enough to show one single possibility.

The authors are adept at making sweeping generalizations without too much elaboration. They pull in one or two very specific examples on certain topics, and then move on. This is just enough to make the reader hungry for more, but never delivering.

The CDs that come with this book have an old, light copy of Slackware. Sure, it's a system that will work, but an update would be of much more use.

What the book tends to avoid, and this is in my opinion the biggest problem I've encountered, is elaboration as to the differences between the different flavors of UNIX -- Solaris, AIX, HP-UX, Linux, BDS, IRIX, etc. It's all generalizations. Perhaps this makes the book more helpful to some people, by giving the bare necessities. But, that does not make it "what you need" as the cover says.

Granted, this book is not a complete waste. There are some interesting sections that give nice discussion, such as organization of file systems and so forth. But these pockets of usefulness do not make up for the rest of the problems.

There are better UNIX tomes out there, even available for download. Check those out before you seriously consider buying this book.

2 of 2 people found the following review helpful:

2.0 out of 5 stars Not too Great, March 17, 2001

By A Customer

This review is from: UNIX Bible (With CD-ROMs) (Paperback)

This book starts off with an advanced discussion of the basics of a Unix filesystem. It moves on to breifly cover shell scripts, networking, PPP, and administration. The ONLY subject this book covers in any extent is system administration, and if that's your topic of choice, you'd be best to look in more specific books.

The main problem with this book is its not specific enough or easy enough for a new reader, and its too simplistic and, again, not specific enough for an advanced reader. The only type of reader who might get good information out of it is a broad-spectrum intermediate reader.

In general, I would reccomend that anyone looking for a good *nix book look elsewhere.