UNIX and Linux System Administration Handbook (4th Edition) [Paperback]

Evi Nemeth (Author), Garth Snyder (Author), Trent R. Hein (Author), Ben Whaley (Author)

Book Description

ISBN-10: 0131480057 | ISBN-13: 978-0131480056 | Publication Date: July 24, 2010 | Edition: 4th

“As an author, editor, and publisher, I never paid much attention to the competition–except in a few cases. This is one of those cases. The UNIX System Administration Handbook is one of the few books we ever measured ourselves against.”   

–From the Foreword by Tim O’Reilly, founder of O’Reilly Media

 

“This book is fun and functional as a desktop reference. If you use UNIX and Linux systems, you need this book in your short-reach library. It covers a bit of the systems’ history but doesn’t bloviate. It’s just straightfoward information delivered in colorful and memorable fashion.”  

–Jason A. Nunnelley

“This is a comprehensive guide to the care and feeding of UNIX and Linux systems. The authors present the facts along with seasoned advice and real-world examples. Their perspective on the variations among systems is valuable for anyone who runs a heterogeneous computing facility.”  

–Pat Parseghian

The twentieth anniversary edition of the world’s best-selling UNIX system administration book has been made even better by adding coverage of the leading Linux distributions: Ubuntu, openSUSE, and RHEL.  

 

This book approaches system administration in a practical way and is an invaluable reference for both new administrators and experienced professionals. It details best practices for every facet of system administration, including storage management, network design and administration, email, web hosting, scripting, software configuration management, performance analysis, Windows interoperability, virtualization, DNS, security, management of IT service organizations, and much more. UNIX® and Linux® System Administration Handbook, Fourth Edition, reflects the current versions of these operating systems:

Ubuntu® Linux
openSUSE® Linux
Red Hat® Enterprise Linux®
Oracle America® Solaris™ (formerly Sun Solaris)
HP HP-UX®
IBM AIX®

Editorial Reviews

About the Author

Evi Nemeth has retired from the Computer Science faculty at the University of Colorado. She is currently exploring the Pacific on her 40-foot sailboat named Wonderland. Garth Snyder has worked at NeXT and Sun and holds a BS in Engineering from Swarthmore College and an MD and an MBA from the University of Rochester. Trent R. Hein is the co-founder of Applied Trust, a company that provides IT infrastructure consulting services. Trent holds a BS in Computer Science from the University of Colorado. Ben Whaley is the Director of Enterprise Architecture at Applied Trust. Ben earned a BS in Computer Science from the University of Colorado. He is an expert in storage management, virtualization, and web infrastructure.

Product Details

• Paperback: 1344 pages
• Publisher: Prentice Hall; 4th edition (July 24, 2010)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0131480057
• ISBN-13: 978-0131480056
• Product Dimensions: 9.3 x 7.1 x 1.6 inches
• Shipping Weight: 3.6 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.8 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (26 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #5,528 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)
  • #1 in Books > Computers & Technology > Operating Systems > Unix > Administration
  • #3 in Books > Computers & Technology > Operating Systems > Linux

More About the Author

Trent R. Hein is co-founder and CEO of AppliedTrust, a Colorado-based provider IT security and network/systems infrastructure consulting services that helps clients maximize their IT investment in the areas of security, performance, and availability. Trent has received a Lifetime Achievement Award from the USENIX Association for his work with the University of California at Berkeley's Computer Systems Research Group (CSRG), and he was the third engineer hired at Berkeley Software Design Inc. (BSDI). He holds a B.S. in Computer Science from the University of Colorado at Boulder, which in 2004 awarded him the Kalpana Chawla Outstanding Recent Alumni Award, one of the most prestigious honors given by the University. Trent served on the Board of Directors of the Humane Society of Boulder Valley for seven years, and held the office of President for the 2004-2005 term.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

35 of 36 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Not your average Linux book., September 17, 2010

By 

Josh (Minnesota USA) - See all my reviews

Amazon Verified Purchase

This review is from: UNIX and Linux System Administration Handbook (4th Edition) (Paperback)

Also not designed to teach you how to run Linux in your basement (but you can take everything they say and still apply yourself to that if you choose.) I was almost scared off when I read that in the preface, since I didn't have large systems to test on. Fear not however, the book is a masterpiece and even non-pro users will find themselves discovering the power of Unix/Linux, and I mean the full power, they don't leave many stones unturned in this book.

However this book is targeted to larger system deployments and real world large systems. Which is fantastic, everything to get Linux users to the 'next' level is here. IT/IS professionals who have for the most part mastered basic *Nix commands will find this book extraordinary. I have the e-book version of this, but I really needed to get the paper one too. That is how good this is, and I have read just about everything in it at this point.

The book is well laid out, unlike my review it stays focused within each section. So much content is in here I can't even pull out half of the parts I found useful so I won't even try.

If you're a Unix/Linux user (IT/IS pro), buy it. If you're learning how to walk in Linux, you might want to stay away for a little bit, though it does do a reasonable job of refreshing the memory of most users, there is not THAT much introductory level information in this book to get you all the way up to speed. If you're ambitious enough I guess a new user could make use of this book, but I would suggest reading other material before this.

Best Linux book I have purchased ever to date.

24 of 26 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Book good, kindle edition has flaws, May 13, 2011

By 

C. Brown "cb-cb" - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

Amazon Verified Purchase

This review is from: Unix and Linux System Administration Handbook (4th Edition) (Kindle Edition)

I used and liked a much earlier edition of this book; the new one looks as good. The 4 stars is for the book, the Kindle edition would get 1-2 stars because of the following flaws:

1) The book contains many tables of text information. These were apparently formatted as images, or at least they are images in the Kindle edition. The result is that the tiny text cannot be magnified. Worse, the characters are a very light gray which is very difficult to read.

2) The newer go-to-page-number feature is not supported in this edition; perhaps the feature wasn't available at the time. Since the authors make many references to other page numbers, go-to-page-number is necessary.

I hope the publisher improves the Kindle edition; otherwise get the print version.

7 of 7 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Written to be understood, May 30, 2011

By 

Nathan B. Chowning "- Zash" (Lancaster, KY) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

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This review is from: UNIX and Linux System Administration Handbook (4th Edition) (Paperback)

The problem that I've had with most Linux/Unix Sys Administration books is the fact that they're either too easy (assume that you've never touched a command line and don't want to) or they teach the material in the most obfuscated/difficult to understand manner. This book is great! I've been a sys admin for around a year and a half and I've learned so much from this book. Unlike other books, it details the history of certain concepts to enforce the concept rather than just to provide you with a history lesson. Definitely pick this book up!