Reviews for Apache Server Administrator's Handbook

1. Just what I needed

   Rated 5 out of 5 stars, September 12nd, 1999

   I don't read most IDG books because they are novice oriented. This one is different! Its for the pros who need real info in real time.

2. Copy-Paste!

   Rated 1 out of 5 stars, August 12rd, 1999

   My mistake, I knew that this author writes pretty paethetic stuff on Apache, I still bought this one. Most of things are copy-pasted from the "Bible..." written by the author. In short, Author has no idea what he is writing.

3. Apache Admin Handbook is a Oreilly class book from IDG!

   Rated 5 out of 5 stars, May 12th, 1999

   It looks like a ORA book and reads like one too! IDG finally decided to write books for advanced readers. I have Kabir's Apache Bible; it helped me a lot and now that I am in kind of the advanced administrator level, I think this book will be staying on my desk a lot. After reading the bible, I am prepared for this one! Great look and feel and not to mention easy reading. Keep up the good work. I recommend this book for those who don't need a lot of handholding and just need to find the details quickly. If you are starting out with Apache, get the Apache Server Bible instead. This one is for us ex-ORA readers!

4. Incorrect information reflects the shortcut route it takes

   Rated 2 out of 5 stars, May 12th, 1999

   Although the spirit of trying to be a handy reference is not a bad one, the books cannot differentiate itself from many of the short-cut, shallow books out there. One particular, when talking about Apache and mod_perl, a very important and prevelant extension to Apache, the author wrongfully states that "system calls such as system() ... IO pipe do not work." This is simply wrong in so many aspects. All of these can serve useful purposes when normal amount of caution is taken. THEY WORK. It makes me wonder if the author understands the real interaction of I/O under Apache/mod_perl's model at all, since he does not give any reference to the truth. On the other hand, the section does not state caveats such as scope and persistence of variable values in any apache/mod_perl setup. This is such an important issue which is the most common errors among mod_perl CGI beginners. There is NO shortcut to the full power of Apache.

5. Good, no fluff handbook

   Rated 4 out of 5 stars, May 12th, 1999

   This was a good book to get started with Apache and to use as a quick reference. Well written, more examples would be nice.