Reviews for Essential System Administration: Tools and Techniques for Linux and Unix Administration: Help for UNIX System Administrators

1. A gift from heaven for the lucky few!!

   Rated 4 out of 5 stars, April 12st, 2009

   There are probably three types of System Administrators out there:
   
   1) Novices
   2) Some experience but still lots to learn
   3) Experts
   
   This book is aimed primarily at those in category 2 although category 3 administrators will still find it useful at times of stress.
   The book is fabulous in terms of both layout and content. It made me feel at ease immediately and I soon started to learn things about commands that I had wondered about for years. Each command is shown with Solaris, HP-UX and Linux variants alongside each other so its not a case of switching between different chapters to compare them.
   
   I must warn you that its a very big book and certainly not pocket side but boy does it look impressive on the desk. Within 1 week of buying it I had several of my colleagues drooling over it (sad or what!).
   
   As I mentioned above its not pocket size and if you need something to carry with you I suggest its baby brother shown via the link below. Its not got all the content (obviously!) but they work well as a team.
   
   Essential System Administration Pocket Reference: Commands and File Formats (Pocket Administrator)
   
   All in all its a very impressive publication and a must have for any Linux/Unix Administrator. Even if you are a novice it may well be worth getting a copy as it will help boost your rate of learning.

2. In a hurry? Start here

   Rated 4 out of 5 stars, October 12nd, 2002

   This book has been recommended for beginners. That is true. You don't have to wade through a bunch of theory to get to the meat of administration.
   The same is true for experienced administrators. This book will point you in the direction to go when you are using the real manuals.
   Take some time and slowdown to try some of the examples. Then when you need them you will have already mastered that section.
   I have several other books now and know a lot of what is in this one. However I would feel naked if this was not reachable.
   A complementary book would be Practical Unix and Internet Security

3. Essentially Essential

   Rated 5 out of 5 stars, January 12th, 2002

   I have never bought a book with a more accurate title. I'm only half way threw reading Essential System Administration and im already wondering how i managed without it.

   This book is written in a style that makes me feel more like im reading a letter that has been personally written just for me answering all the questions i have and giving me the wisdom that i crave.

   Anyone considering a career in UNIX system administration should not be without this book.

   It's not only the technical information that is so valuable, but its also the writers personal experience with users that gives an insight about how to deal with the personal problems you may face when things go wrong.

   At the moment this is my favorite book and i'm sure it will be a long time till i find another book to beat this one.

   If there is such a book out there then it is most likely published by O'reilly so i'll know where to look ;-)

4. Essential is the word

   Rated 4 out of 5 stars, November 12th, 2001

   If you are performing any level of system administration on any varient of Unix then this is a great book to have on your desk. It covers just about all aspects of system administration necessary for small to medium systems and networks.

   Each topic is dealt with first by an approachable description of what is going on, a discussion of the differences between different systems and some examples of commands or configuration files together with a discussion of what each example is doing and how it does it. It really is an easy way to work out what you need to do on your own system.

   The structure works equally well as an aide memoir or as a tutorial to a new topic and this is backed up by an effective index which seems to guide me to the right part of the book much more reliably than is the case in many computing texts.

   Although the book, even in its second edition, is now several years old, it is still relevant. The basics if the task do not change and, even if the task in hand has changed a little, reading and understanding the section in the book will leave you well placed to sort out minor variations which is not something that you would get from just plugging away at the man pages.

   The main thing that is missing as a result of this is coverage of completely new material, don't expect to find anything about IPv6 or running a webserver for example. That is not such a big problem though as if you are dealing with these issues, you will almost certainly need books on those subjects as well as a general admin book.

   For me, it is simple, this is a book that lives on my desk and not on my bookshelf. It helps me out with my mixed network of Linux, Solaris, SunOS and FreeBSD.

5. An Excellent but somewhat dated book

   Rated 5 out of 5 stars, September 12th, 2001

   This is an excellent book that gives a good introduction to Unix System Administration in general and all the most popular commercial flavours in particular. Our shop runs Aix, Solaris and HP-UX and we have several copies of this useful book lying around. It has 2 valuable points in it's favour. It's goes into sufficient detail and is a light enough read to provide a great starting point to train a new sysadmin to the point where they can start doing useful work and to give them an idea as to where to look for more detailed documentation. I personally have found it useful where I have to flip between different Unix variants. I know Aix well but am less familiar with Solaris and HP-UX and this book is full of useful clues on where to start so I can figure the rest out for myself. It's only downside is that it IS now rather old and definitely could do with a revision. It would be very useful if it was included on one of the O'Reilly CD books as well once updated.