Linux Administration: A Beginners Guide, Sixth Edition

When I first picked up Linux, there were no books. The readmes were thin and the available help was limited. That was then. Today, I am constantly bombarded by friends that say "You're into Linux, how do I..." And worse, at work, the developers are constantly coming to me to get help with basic administration tasks. I hand them Wale's book.This is the sort of book you want if:1) You have some Linux experience and want to take the next step, either to administer your own site or improve your job skills to move into professional administration.2) You are already an administrator of that "other" operating system and want to know what all the fuss is about.3) You are expanding your Linux administration skills beyond the basic start, stop, break, fix model.What this book will not help you with is setting up your X environment. Wale takes you in depth, but expects you to do it on the command line. The power of Linux is on the command line, so there is no "click here, click there" type instruction. You spend your time at the pound sign, where real administration is done.The new version covers the core stuff: DNS, Mail, Web services, backup, installation, and package management. But it doesn't stop there. New core services, like LDAP, Distributed File Systems, and Virtualization (KVM, Virtual Box and QEMU) are covered as well as installations via flash drives.The other thing that distinguishes the book is that it does not pick favorites. This is a book about LINUX administration, not Red Hat administration or Ubuntu administration. It is about Linux administration, and while Wale covers the subtle differences between them when there is a difference, it is about teaching the skills that an administrator needs to administer a Linux system, regardless of distribution, package management strategy, or GUI tool sets.This is a book for administrators, by administrators. No fluff about setting up your speakers, or how to connect your video camera. This is about building and running servers in data centres. If this is your job, or you want to make it your job, then this is your entry point. If you are already a skilled administrator, keep a copy on your shelf to loan out to those who need to learn more.

I have been monkeying with Linux for a number of years and finally decided to formalize my knowledge a bit more. This book is providing me with a much better background, supplementing what I already knew and filling in a lot of the background. I used to work like the superstitious guy who always crosses his fingers, says his prayers, and sequin he's his eyes shut, not knowing completely why it works, only doing exactly what worked the last time, in hopes the gods will continue t smile. This book is giving me the confidence to do it right and know why.

I was an MCSE back in the NT 4.0 days. That was before Al Gore invented the internet.I've been using computers since the TRS 80s, owned a 8088 that came with MS DOS 3.3, and have basically stayed in that track till now.Never got serious about Linux, sure, I'd take an old workstation and load Linux, play around with it for a couple days, then get bored or lost, and give up. It wasn't something I really knew what to do with.Fast forward to now. I just started working with a web hosting company, I'm currently in the call center supporting WordPress installs, which isn't rocket science. But the servers are all running Linux (CentOS), and Linux Admin seems to be a good career growth path.This book is easy to read, and so far its making sense. I'll be picking up a used computer next week to do some learning with. I feel pretty confident that based on how the book is put together, I can go in steps, do what I need to do, and learn as I go. The book was written for people like me, who have computer backgrounds, but not in Linux. The basic concepts are the same, just sometimes terms are different. Linux has come a long way in the last 10 years or so since my last attempts. I'm looking forward to learning more!

I've had several false starts getting into linux over the years. I think the more conversational tone the Author takes makes it easier to get through compared to some of the textbook-like tomes I've tried before. Not that there's anything wrong with that, it speaks more to a character deficiency on my part when a tech book lays out all the facts and instructions competently but I can't get through it because the writing is too dry.With books aimed at "beginners" who aren't true beginners (some existing experience with other operating systems is assumed) the right level of detail is difficult to balance. Too little and the reader won't fully understand the subject matter. Too much and he gets bogged down in low level details and has trouble seeing the big picture. I think the author (or editor?) does a good job of laying down a foundation of understanding without giving too much unnecessary information.

I liked the section on storage and networking. The section on creating users and groups was also helpful.VERY IMPORTANT. The appendix instructs you on how to create a bootable thumb drive with LINUX. That is an excellent section.To date I have only read about five chapters. The part of my course that covered LINUX was only three weeks.I will be using the book to continue studying on my own.