RE: Administering Linux.

[Howard Lin <howard lin commerceone com>]

Personally, I think the "Unleashed" books are re-prints of the manual/public
docs with important parts cut out of them...  The chapter listings of these
books may look great, until you look at the number of pages that covers each
topic.  Some topics that you can get volumes of books on, "Unleashed" books
can generally sum it up in 10 pages or less.  The index are usually
worthless as well.  Most of the time, a chapter will just talk either the
history of the said topic, or about installation (which is almost like a
re-print of the doc/readme.txt/how-to with maybe 5% of paraphrasing, and
another 10% trimming).  If you run into any problems, or if your setup is
different, then you are out of luck.  If you want books with a bird's eye
view (are there any birds flying at 200,000 feet?), then these books will be
adequate.  :)  I think the best place to get info is still on the internet.
For Linux, you should be able to find most of the how-tos/faqs on your CD.
For books that was written from people's experiences, instead of reprints,
check out the O'Reilly books (http://www.oreilly.com/).  I am new to Linux,
and I just got "Essential System Administration : Help for Unix System
Administrators (Nutshell Handbook)" by AEleen Frisch.  It is a bit tougher
to read than the "Unleashed" books, but it is more useful, has more meat to
it.  I have to say that this book is not a "Linux only" book, so expect to
learn about all the other *NIX flavors.  OReilly also have several other
books related to system admin/optimization, go check them out!  Another book
that I heard people recommend everywhere I checked, is the "Unix System
Administration Handbook" by Evi Nemeth, Garth Snyder, Scott Seebass, Trent
R. Hein.  When I skimmed through it at a local bookstore, it is more
hardcore than I could handle now.  :)  And it does cost  around $70, so I
didn't get it yet.  But I think when I become more experienced I will get
that book.  I think one of the best things Amazon.com does is to provide the
customer review section for each book.  I usually read through those before
I get a book.  :)  Well, just my 2 cents (+more at no charge) :)
 
Good luck,
Howard
 
P.S : I am not very proud to admit that I do have a few "Unleashed" books
that I bought as part of good deals from book clubs.  Now they happily
participate in my "dust-particle collecting" experiment.  Later they might
help me to "unleash" a good summer BBQ.
 
* these are my personal comments/opinions, and it does not reflect the
opinions of my employer/co-workers/friends...etc.

-----Original Message-----
From: Raphael [mailto:rju texas net]
Sent: Thursday, September 02, 1999 1:04 PM
To: redhat-install-list redhat com <mailto:redhat-install-list redhat com> 
Subject: Re: Administering Linux.


Looking for books on administering Linux, you might want to check out Red
Hat Linux Unleashed,  David Pitts & Bill Ball, 3rd edition.  SAMS
publication.  Available at Barnes & Noble and Amazon Com.  It covers System
administration and management rather thoroughly. 

Anas Mughal wrote: 


Hi, 

Could someone recommend a book on administering Linux. 
(I would like to know how to setup, optimize, and efficiently use the 
system.) 


I am willing to get more than one book. So, please recommend all the 
books you would find appropriate. 


Please do recommend a UNIX book if you think that has a better coverage 
of adminsteration. 


Thank you for your help.