Principles of Network and System Administration

Rating:
Summary: Organization and Topics Good.
Review: Edited 11/22/02.

I bought this over a year ago and was not impressed, initially. However, I am re-reading it in light of new responsibilities, and I'm changing my opinion, slightly.

First of all, if you are a serious system administrator, you should own, read, and work to the principles outlined in this book.

With that said, there were two items that I felt detracted from the presentation.

First was, there was much text devoted to particular operating systems (both *nix and Windows). Whether you're dealing with Linux, Unix, or BeOS, it's the principles that matter, not the implementation.

The second was that cfEngine, a systems configuration engine, was used to demonstrate the principles. This works on Unix - and again, detracted from the overall presentation of the "Principles" in the title I bought it for.

So, bottom line, the book is worth a read. Spend some time working to understand and apply the principles in your environment. If you can implement some of the specifics of the author's techniques, that's all the better.

11/10/02 update: "The Practice of System and Network Administration" is in. Short verdict, it's worth the money.

Rating:
Summary: Organization and Topics Good.
Review: Edited 11/22/02.

I bought this over a year ago and was not impressed, initially. However, I am re-reading it in light of new responsibilities, and I'm changing my opinion, slightly.

First of all, if you are a serious system administrator, you should own, read, and work to the principles outlined in this book.

With that said, there were two items that I felt detracted from the presentation.

First was, there was much text devoted to particular operating systems (both *nix and Windows). Whether you're dealing with Linux, Unix, or BeOS, it's the principles that matter, not the implementation.

The second was that cfEngine, a systems configuration engine, was used to demonstrate the principles. This works on Unix - and again, detracted from the overall presentation of the "Principles" in the title I bought it for.

So, bottom line, the book is worth a read. Spend some time working to understand and apply the principles in your environment. If you can implement some of the specifics of the author's techniques, that's all the better.

11/10/02 update: "The Practice of System and Network Administration" is in. Short verdict, it's worth the money.

Rating:
Summary: A pretty good work on the non-technical side of sysadmining
Review: This book is completely filled with nonsense. Did this guy ever take any classes or instruction on what is he writing about? What qualifications does he have? Spend you money on a real networking book from a qualified author.

Rating:
Summary: This guy is a complete ningkumpoop!
Review: This book is completely filled with nonsense. Did this guy ever take any classes or instruction on what is he writing about? What qualifications does he have? Spend you money on a real networking book from a qualified author.

Rating:
Summary: A pretty good work on the non-technical side of sysadmining
Review: This work is a good one on the non-technical side of system adminsitration. It does not deal with stuff like HOW to install a system, but the WHYs, such as WHY you want to properly document your installations.

This sort of work has been needed for a long time, since "The Keys to Successful Unix System Management" went out of print. However, this work may be a bit too academic for many admins. They might find the recent "Practice of System and Network Administration" to be a bit better. If you can afford both, do so.