Rating: 
Summary: Way to go!
Review: I just have to say great job to my aunt, Sandra Henry-Stocker for writing this book and having it do so well. You write terrifically and I am sure this book is a big help to people who read it. I am glad that I have an aunt who is in-the-know about computer systems and hopefully can teach me someday. I hope that one day in the near future I can understand what this book is talking about. :) I know that my aunt ROCKS!
Rating:
Summary: Fascinating book
Review: I thoroughly recommend this book! It is perfect for anyone who works with Solaris, Unix, or Sun hardware. There are tidbits for everyone. For me, I found the chapter on the E10K the most interesting. Since I only work with the lower enterprise machines, I was fascinated by the descriptions of what administering and working with 10K's were like. As for technical details, I'd probably look through other books. (Manuals from Sun would work.) This book gives a lot of general guidance on how systems should be run and what administrators should concern themselves with (i.e. security issues- tcp wrappers, tripwire, etc.). They definitely know what they are talking about. As for who should read it... Well, I think most System Admins should read it for learning what path they should take to make life easier. As for other people, it's a good reference on what professional admins should be doing.
Rating:
Summary: Now I get it!
Review: I've been a Solaris systems administrator for more than 5 years and thought I knew a lot, but reading the second edition of this book has given me more insights than any other book on the subject. It is well written and very practical. I feel as if the authors have given me the benefit of their combined years of working with Solaris. Highly recommended!
Rating:
Summary: Now I get it!
Review: I've been a Solaris systems administrator for more than 5 years and thought I knew a lot, but reading the second edition of this book has given me more insights than any other book on the subject. It is well written and very practical. I feel as if the authors have given me the benefit of their combined years of working with Solaris. Highly recommended!
Rating: 
Summary: Bought this based on high rating
Review: Once I received this book, I was sorely disappointed. Many,
many typos and inaccurate information quickly turned me off.
Basic understanding of key concepts was often missing or worse,
misleading.For example, page 5:
"Some file systems milk this efficiency even further by
allocating more than a single additional block when a file
grows. These are referred to as extent-based, as opposed to
block-based, file systems. By allocating a larger amount of
disk space, the files can grow more contiguously. On the
other hand, an extent-based file system runs the risk of
wasting space that is allocated and not used." Extent based file systems are much more complex than that!
They do not waste space because they preallocate space. After
a period of time, unused space that was preallocated is
returned to the file system. More of a risk is extent-based
file systems can quicky become fragmented, a major oversight by
the authors of this book. Another gem: Page 15 (referring to VxFS and QFS)
"These two file systems provide some advantages over UFS,
primarily by providing for extremely large files and file
systems." What? UFS does not provide for extremely large files? The
chart following the above line is also inaccurate, max file
and file system sizes are incorrect, and VxFS and QFS both
use page cache! On the upside, there is some useful information in this book,
but I would recommend other books instead of this one to a friend.
Rating:
Summary: The title describes the book perfectly.
Review: The title describes this book perfectly. It is another brief and to the point book that covers a lot of material. I hate it when authors / publishers try to publish phone books of endless bla bla to get it to sell, but this one is only around 500 pages. It goes over many of the basic but essential 'solutions' such as POP servers, SECURITY, backups and restores, DNS, permissions, etc. It's not the end all be all book for Solaris, but it's pretty good. I gave it 5 stars because of the content and the price.
Rating:
Summary: Essential, unique info! A MUST-have!
Review: This book has very useful info for Sol SA's not easily found elsewhere. I found hundreds of pieces of info, each of which are worth the price alone!
Rating:
Summary: Review fromJune 2000 SysAdmin Magazine
Review: This review says it all! "A systems administrator's position typically encompasses two major areas: system installation and maintenance. Installation may only be required (depending on the specific situation) when a system is changed or upgraded. Maintenance includes everything else from daily routine tasks such as monitoring disk space, through shell programming and documentation, to backup and recovery. Additionally, today's systems administrators may also become network administrators, Webmasters, and security experts. Each operating system employs a unique set of procedures and most administrators utilize their own mixture of techniques and shortcuts for similar tasks. In Solaris Solutions for System Administrators, authors Sandra Henry-Stocker and Evan R. Marks provide essential information about the tasks, concepts, and corresponding implementations required for a Solaris system administrator. The topics are separated into four major parts: Setting Up Your Solaris Infrastructure, Managing Your Systems, Looking After Your Hardware, and Surviving in the Real World. The first section is also the most comprehensive, as the authors illustrate how to customize a manageable network. They define what a manageable network is in the introduction: "A manageable network is not one that runs flawlessly, but one in which there is time and capacity enough to resolve each problem without major disruption." [Page 1] Beginning with that realistic goal, Henry-Stocker and Marks detail the Solaris infrastructure through the following eight chapters: Making Smart Decisions about File Systems, Planning Backups and Restores, Booting and Hardware Diagnostics, Configuring Run States, Installing and Patching Your Solaris System, Exploiting JumpStart, Setting Up Name Services, and Network Information Services: NIS+ and NIS. These chapters not only discuss the elementary Solaris configuration, but also describe the basic tenets of networking design. The second section, Managing Your Systems, features: Monitoring Your Environment, Understanding File Systems - So That's What Those Are!, Automating Everything...Well, Almost!, Keeping Your Solaris Systems Secure, and Implementing High Availability: Eliminating Single Points of Failure. This section reviews the factors that affect system performance and demonstrates how to customize the data for your individual setup, whether through a commercial package or Solaris utilities. The authors document the locations of log files and other pertinent information, discuss scripting choices, security alternatives, and high-availability theory and practices. The following section, Looking After Your Hardware, analyzes Maintaining Your Sun Hardware, Peripheral Vision: Understanding and Configuring Other Hardware, and the E10000 (Starfire) - Not Just A Big UNIX Box! Henry-Stocker and Marks discuss problems that can interrupt service, how to configure printers and modems, and procedures for Sun's E10000 computer. The concluding section, Surviving in the Real World, examines Running an Internet Site and Coexisting with the Evil Empire. Running an Internet Site explores the additional concerns that accompany Internet access, including the dangers of TCP/IP, the Internet's popularity and corresponding growth, and the ever present threat of hackers. The authors also describe firewalls, packets, protocols, DNS and email configuration, Sendmail, and ftp services. The title of the last chapter (Coexisting with the Evil Empire) alludes to Microsoft Windows, specifically Windows NT. Through a variety of tools available online, the authors demonstrate how to successfully access the computers from a remote location without too much difficulty. Henry-Stocker and Marks also provide additional information through Appendix A) Index of Useful Web Sites, Appendix B) NIS+ Resources and Notes, a Glossary, and Bibliography and Recommended Reading. Solaris Solutions for System Administrators is an outstanding book, filled with useful techniques, examples, tips, figures, and definitions. The authors demonstrate a relaxed writing style, which is easily understood and often humorous. The text also reflects Henry-Stocker's and Marks's extensive and thorough knowledge of the Solaris environment. Every Solaris administrator needs this extraordinary reference book and anyone interested in Solaris and administration will appreciate its coverage."
Rating:
Summary: SECOND Edition (2003): Bigger, Better & Solaris 9!
Review: This second edition of "Solaris Solutions" is a MAJOR improvement over the now-outdated first edition. The book now incudes a chapter on the Sun Fire server line along with Solaris and Veritas Volume Managers, Web Start Flash, LDAP in Solaris, RBAC (role-based access control), IPsec and other Solaris 9 topics. Written by two career Solaris sysadmins, this book is extremely practical, clearly written and ultimately helpful.
Rating:
Summary: A COPY OF THE INDEX--CHECK IT OUT!
Review: Understand Unix and want to dig deeper into Solaris Admin? Then this is the book for you. I love this book--it is my new bible and I study it every chance I get. Well written. I had been using Unix for a long time but was weak in Sys Admin. Partly because I didn't have a good reference. Without a knowledge of the boot process, diaganostic tools, I felt I had a major weakness in this area. I looked around for a book that would fill this need and was very happy to find this book. I especially liked the chapter on setting up an Internet site. I listed the index below, since it's one thing I like to read before purchasing a book. Hope this helps you make your decision. The Index: 1. Making Smart Decisions About File Systems 2. Planning Backups and Restores 3. Booting and Hardward Diagnotics 4. Configuring Run States 5. Installing and Patching your Solaris System 6. Exloring Jumpstart 7. Setting up Name Services 8. Network Information Services NIS+ and NIS 9. Monitoring your Environment 10. Understanding File Systems--So that's what those are! 11. Automate everything..Well almost! 12. Keeping your Solaris Systems Secure 13. Implementing High Availability: Eliminating Single Points of Failure 14. Maintaining your Sun Hardware 15. Peripheral Vision: Understanding and Configuring Other Hardware 16. The E10000 (Starfire)--Not Just a Big Unix Box 17. Running an Internet Site 18. Coexisiting with the Evil Empire (Windows)
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