UNIX Administration: A Comprehensive Sourcebook for Effective Systems & Network Management

Rating:
Summary: Excellent reference guide for Unix administrators
Review: One of the goals of Unix was to be a universal operating system. While Unix has achieved a level of ubiquitousness unparalleled in information systems, the fact remains that with hundreds of different flavors of Unix, getting a handle on the operating system is no easy feat.

UNIX Administration: A Comprehensive Sourcebook for Effective Systems & Network Management attempts to be a single-source handbook for the administration and maintenance of Unix systems and networks. However, because it is clearly impossible to cover every Unix variant, the book primarily focuses on BSD and System 5. Other flavors covered include Linux, HP-UX, Solaris, AIX, and IRIX.

The author's biography states that he is an electronics engineer by training and a hardware designer and programmer by trade. With that, this book should not be construed as a "For Dummies" book. It is written for serious Unix administrators that need a comprehensive Unix resource. The author's writing style can be a little stiff at times, but the main point is that the content is there.

The book is well organized into four sections containing 28 chapters. The four sections are UNIX Administration, Network Administration, Supplemental Unix Topics, and Case Studies.

Like many Unix books, Chapter 1 starts out with an overview of the life of Unix - its history, development, and the plethora of legal issues, including the BSD and System 5 legal wrangling. It also covers important issues such as various newsgroups, conferences, and organizations related to Unix. While none of the information in Chapter 1 (or the entire book, for that matter) is new, the main benefit of the book is to have all of that information in a single, hard copy volume.

Speaking of content, Chapter 4 provides a good look on how Unix starts up and correspondingly shuts down. This chapter details how a Unix host starts up and includes all of the myriad initializations that must take place, which also explains why, from a forensics perspective, one of the worst things that someone can do to a Unix host that has been hacked is to shut it down or restart a penetrated system.

Chapter 13 is another valuable chapter that goes into time-related Unix facilities. One important and often underused capability is that of time synchronization. The book details how to correctly use the NTP (Network Time Protocol) daemon and its corresponding configuration files.

Section 2 starts with Chapter 14, which is an overview of network fundamentals, including an overview of the TCP/IP and ISO layer. Other topics covered include DNS, NIS, remote services and commands, and email. Once again, none of this information is new, just contained in a single hardbound volume.

Section 4 is that shortest section of the book, and provides the details of installing various flavors of Unix. Sample configuration files are included, which are quite helpful because an errant or mistyped command can suspend an installation.

Chapter 28 is one that you hope you will never have to use - Emergency Situations. This chapter discusses such issues as lost boot passwords, partition faults, and other nightmare scenarios.

Overall, UNIX Administration: A Comprehensive Sourcebook for Effective Systems & Network Management can be utilized as a single Unix reference manual. The only downside to the book is its price... it is rather expensive, especially given that there is an overabundance of similar free material on the Net ...

For admins who want a single, first-rate reference guide to Unix, and don't mind spending the money, UNIX Administration: A Comprehensive Sourcebook for Effective Systems & Network Management will fit the bill quite well.

Rating:
Summary: Broad and useful for learning, but not a reference book
Review: This book tries to cover a huge subject range. The back cover claims that it "is a one-stop handbook for the administration and maintenance of UNIX systems and networks". In a longer than usual review period I have tried to actually use this book to check these claims.

I use a wide range of different UNIX systems on a daily basis, and although it is a well-constructed, detailed book, I was ultimately left unsatisfied. Despite its bold claims, this book does not really work as a handbook or reference. As a book for someone actually running a range of systems, it just can't seem to fit in enough detail. During the time I had it on my desk I attempted to look up at least a dozen answers to non-obvious problems. In each case either the topic was missing from the index entirely, the treatment was too shallow, or it didn't cover the particular system I was actually interested in.

There are a lot of very poor UNIX books out there which either stop short at simple user operations, or assume a very specific combination of hardware and software. This book falls into neither of those traps. Levi neatly combines general overviews and specific examples, and this would make an excellent university course book. It's a great way to learn about running a UNIX system, but you'll need more detail if it's how you plan to earn your living.

Rating:
Summary: Broad and useful for learning, but not a reference book
Review: This book tries to cover a huge subject range. The back cover claims that it "is a one-stop handbook for the administration and maintenance of UNIX systems and networks". In a longer than usual review period I have tried to actually use this book to check these claims.

I use a wide range of different UNIX systems on a daily basis, and although it is a well-constructed, detailed book, I was ultimately left unsatisfied. Despite its bold claims, this book does not really work as a handbook or reference. As a book for someone actually running a range of systems, it just can't seem to fit in enough detail. During the time I had it on my desk I attempted to look up at least a dozen answers to non-obvious problems. In each case either the topic was missing from the index entirely, the treatment was too shallow, or it didn't cover the particular system I was actually interested in.

There are a lot of very poor UNIX books out there which either stop short at simple user operations, or assume a very specific combination of hardware and software. This book falls into neither of those traps. Levi neatly combines general overviews and specific examples, and this would make an excellent university course book. It's a great way to learn about running a UNIX system, but you'll need more detail if it's how you plan to earn your living.