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UNIX System Administration Handbook (Computing)

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UNIX System Administration Handbook (Computing) (Paperback)

by Evi Nemeth (Author), Garth Snyder (Author), Scott Seebass (Author), Trent Hein (Author)

4.3 out of 5 stars See all reviews (7 customer reviews)

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Product details

Paperback: 779 pages
Publisher: Prentice Hall; 2 edition (24 Jan 1995)
Language English
ISBN-10: 0131510517
ISBN-13: 978-0131510517
Product Dimensions: 22.9 x 17.3 x 2.8 cm

Average Customer Review: 4.3 out of 5 stars See all reviews (7 customer reviews)

Amazon.co.uk Sales Rank: 168,944 in Books (See Bestsellers in Books)
Popular in this category:
#12 in Books > Computing & Internet > UNIX & Linux > UNIX & Linux Administation

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Product Description

Amazon.co.uk Review

In the five years since the last version of the Unix System Administration Handbook Linux has changed the Unix world. The previous version discussed six commercial unices. This one has two commercial unicies--Solaris and HP-UX--along with two free ones--Linux and FreeBSD. It looks like a trend.

This information dense book is a surprising mixture of arcane fact and weird humour--with emphasis on the former. The dense facts are leavened by extensive references to the authors' personal experiences with Unix. This hands on knowledge leavens a fairly dry text with interesting anecdote and occasionally breaks into proselytising. For example, when discussing the automount utility in RedHat Linux the authors can barely bring themselves to mention it before telling us how much better amd is--for four pages.

It's interesting that though X-Windows gets a few mentions the desktop environments--such as Gnome and KDE--that run on it get none at all. Clearly real men still don't use graphical interfaces.

This is a working book. It's aimed at those who have to make the system work and keep it working. There's a great deal of emphasis on troubleshooting, and the utilities capable of providing the system information you need to do it. No configuration file goes unmentioned. The authors also emphasise the commercial realities a sysadmin must acknowledge.

Over the last five years there has been an explosion of books on Unix, and especially Linux. Many of these are referenced in the text. But if you need a practical guide to system administration on Unix systems the Unix System Administration Handbook is hard to beat. --Steve Patient --This text refers to an alternate Paperback edition.

Product Description

This book covers every aspect of system administration from basic topics to UNIX - and provides explicit guidelines for dealing with the six most popular versions of the UNIX operating system.

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Customer Reviews

7 Reviews

5 star:		(4)
4 star:		(1)
3 star:		(2)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(0)

Average Customer Review

4.3 out of 5 stars (7 customer reviews)

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Most Helpful Customer Reviews

12 of 12 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars A serious, laugh-out-loud geek book!, 13 Nov 2002

By	"totkat" - See all my reviews (TOP 1000 REVIEWER)

This review is from: Unix System Administration Handbook: Now covers Red Hat Linux! (Paperback)

There are people in the industry who won't take a UNIX admin seriously if they've not even heard of this book, commonly known as The Purple Book. It is a fantastic book on how UNIX admin should be done, written by people with very strong views on what is The Right Way to do things. They've written it in such a way that it is a very readable book. Something you can take on the tube in the morning and actually get funny looks because you'll find yourself sniggering out loud.

Covering most flavours of UNIX, with sections detailing the differences between them for each subject, it goes through most of the issues a UNIX admin needs to think about and understand. If you admin, or support UNIX systems in any way, it is an invaluable reference to have and should probably be read, cover to cover, at least once.

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3 of 3 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars I don't know any sysadmins who don't have this book., 7 Nov 2000

By	Dewi Morgan (London, UK) - See all my reviews (REAL NAME)

It's the system administration bible, basically. Still current after all these years. But note that third ed is out, and you might want to buy that instead. Personally, I don't see that it's worth the extra [money], but it does depend which unix versions you are supporting. Either way, you MUST have this book if you're a sysadmin. It's one of the very few books that I'd call an "essential" computing reference.

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6 of 8 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars counterpoint to the other reviews, 9 April 2001

By A Customer

This review is from: Unix System Administration Handbook: Now covers Red Hat Linux! (Paperback)

This book has a lot to live up to. Previous editions are almost standard items on sys-admins' shelves. How does this measure up?

It remains a trove on information. Its contents have been updated (Usenet news is far less important, so coverage has contracted, for example.)

Its coverage of security is more thorough, and web serving (very important these days) gets a lot more coverage.

And it has lost the CDROM. How big a loss? In poorer countries, probably considerable. But with the number of security problems found, I wouldn't be happy with old software. Go download the stuff. And get the secure versions. Would you want an old version of SUDO?

BTW, looking back over the 2ed at the weekend, everywhere I looked, they mentioned ftp.uu.net. The world has changed since then.

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Most Recent Customer Reviews

3.0 out of 5 stars Good book, poor editing.
The Unix info in the book itself is readable, relevant and usefull, but the lack of a CD in this edition is made worse by references to resources on their web site, which don't... Read more

Published on 19 Feb 2001

5.0 out of 5 stars Worth it.
I agree somewhat with dewi.morgan@fullduplex.net that if you have the 2nd ed maybe not worth it. For me the best thing about the book is that I can administer my Linix machine... Read more

Published on 3 Nov 2000 by D. Cotter

3.0 out of 5 stars 3rd Ed has NO CD-ROM! Is it worth getting?
OK, 2nd ed was a classic. It's the only non-O'Reilly book universally posessed by all sysadmins I know. Is 3rd ed as good? Read more

Published on 13 Oct 2000 by Dewi Morgan

4.0 out of 5 stars One of those books you find others borrow when you want it.
UNIX system administration is not rocket science, but neither is it something for the naive user. The first edition was ahead of its times, while the second grew in size,... Read more

Published on 6 May 1999

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