Automating Linux and Unix System Administration, Second Edition (Expert's Voice in Linux) (Paperback)

~ Kirk Bauer (Author), Nathan Campi (Author)
Key Phrases: cfservd daemon, using cfengine, editfiles action, Red Hat, O'Reilly Media Inc, Window System (more...)

Editorial Reviews

Product Description

Whether you need a network of ten Linux PCs and a server or a datacenter with a few thousand Unix nodes, you need to know how to automate much of the installation, configuration, and standard system administration.

Build your network once using cfengine, and the network build will work, without user intervention, on any hardware you prefer. Automating Linux and Unix System Administration, Second Edition is unique in its focus on how to make the system administrator’s job easier and more efficient: instead of just managing the system administrator’s time, the book explains the technology to automate repetitive tasks and the methodology to automate successfully.

• Both new and seasoned professionals will profit from industry–leading insights into the automation process.
• System administrators will attain a thorough grasp of cfengine, kickstart, and shell scripting for automation.
• After reading all chapters and following all exercises in this book, the reader will be able to set up anything from a Linux datacenter to a small office network.

What you’ll learn

See how to make changes on many UNIX and Linux hosts at once in a reliable and repeatable manner.

• Learn how to automate things correctly so you only have to do it once, by leveraging the authors’ experience in setting up small, medium, and large networks.
• Set up a Linux datacenter or a network correctly.
• Explore handling real–world environments where not all hosts are configured alike via a case study of a fictional new datacenter buildout.
• Examine real–world examples for core infrastructure services (DNS, mail, monitoring, log analysis, security, cfengine, imaging) to build on in your environment.
• Understand core system administration best practices, which are a key part of how cfengine and automations deployments are outlined in the book.
• Learn how to make changes reversible, repeatable, and correct the first time through interaction with product/application stakeholders (programmers, product managers, customers, etc.).

Who is this book for?

This book is for Linux system administrators who want to learn about the software and methodology to automate repetitive tasks—regardless of network or datacenter size—in one place. System managers will also find it much easier to think about network technology and automation projects if they read this book. This book is also for anyone who is interested in repeatable and secure infrastructure.

About the Author

Kirk Bauer has been involved in computer programming since 1985. He has been using and administering UNIX systems since 1994. Although his personal favorite UNIX variant is Linux, he has administered and developed on everything from FreeBSD to Solaris, AIX, and HP–UX. He is the author of various open source solutions such as Logwatch.

Kirk has been involved with software development and system/network administration since his first year at the Georgia Institute of Technology. He has done work for the Georgia Tech Research Institute, Fermi National Accelerator Laboratory, and DHL. In 2000, Kirk was one of the founders and the chief technology officer of TogetherWeb, which was purchased in 2003 by Proficient Systems. Kirk is now a systems engineer with F5 Networks.

Kirk graduated from Georgia Tech in 2001 with a bachelor’s degree in computer engineering and is currently pursuing his MBA at Arizona State University. He lives in Peoria, Arizona, with his two dogs, and is looking forward to getting married to his lovely fiancé, Rachel.

Nathan Campi is a UNIX and Linux system administrator by trade, currently working as a UNIX operations manager in San Francisco. His system administration experience is almost entirely with companies with large–scale web operations based on open source software. In his copious free time, he enjoys jogging, watching spaghetti westerns, experimenting with Linux systems, and spending time with his family.

Product Details

• Paperback: 448 pages
• Publisher: Apress; 2 edition (December 15, 2008)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 1430210591
• ISBN-13: 978-1430210597
• Product Dimensions: 9.2 x 6.9 x 1 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.5 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.2 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (5 customer reviews)
• Amazon.com Sales Rank: #328,488 in Books (See Bestsellers in Books)

  Popular in these categories: (What's this?)

  #13 in	Books > Computers & Internet > Operating Systems > Unix > Administration
  #25 in	Books > Computers & Internet > Computer Science > Artificial Intelligence > Expert Systems
  #43 in	Books > Computers & Internet > Operating Systems > Linux > Networking & System Administration

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

2 of 2 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Great book with a lot of CFEngine, January 30, 2009

By	Joseph Topjian (Pittsburgh, PA) - See all my reviews (REAL NAME)

Repetitive tasks not only waste time, but each repitition is prone to error. Automation is the solution to repetition and any serious System Administrator will tell you that automation is a cornerstone of the profession. Automating Linux and UNIX System Administration is a great guide to building this cornerstone.

This book covers a wide variety of topics including: simple shell scripting, remote management with SSH, automated installations, monitoring, and configuration management. The majority of the items are explained with using CFEngine in mind -- so much so that I feel this book should probably advertise its heavy use of CFEngine somewhere in the title or at least on the cover. If you don't use CFEngine and have no plans to do so, a lot of this book becomes irrelevant. However, CFEngine is a popular, robust management system and is worth getting to know.

If you're still managing servers by hand, it's probably time to start thinking about automation. Automating Linux and UNIX System Administration is a solid book that will set you on the right track.

2 of 2 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Focuses on CFengine, January 3, 2009

By	Gordon Ewasiuk (Washington, DC) - See all my reviews

I bought this book expecting it would describe and demonstrate a variety of automation methods and tools. The book surprised me -- pleasantly. The majority of the book focuses on CFEngine (www.cfengine.org) and how to use it to manage server configurations, deliver applications automatically to those servers, and enforce a consist policy across the servers.

The book goes into some depth demonstrating how cfengine works. It has chapters on configuration, setting up a production environment, setting up automated installations, and delivering applications using cfengine.

There are smaller chapters on SSH, Nagios (and using CFengine to deliver it), and improving server security using cfengine.

The book is about 400 pages and is packed with content. There are interesting facts and config bits in every chapter.

With the exception of the cfengine manuals, there are no other books on the market today which provide a detailed, comprehensive look at cfengine...until now. If you are using, will use, or have questions about what CFengine can do, get this book. I'm happy I did.

1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Cfengine missing manual, June 26, 2009

By	Konstantin Kondakov (san francisco. ca) - See all my reviews (REAL NAME)

Amazon Verified Purchase

As a CFengine evangelist I find this book very useful to brush up my automation skills, Cfengine peculiarities and even such obscure features as modules and methods in Cfengine. THe only drawback of this book that it needs better visualization - a Cfengine and automation is a complex concept, so few more diagrams would be very helpful. The Cfengine portal ([...]) already has this book present!