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Rick Franchuk - TranSpecT Consulting, has returned with a book that's a little different then the norm - Michael Langford's 35mm Handbook. For those with the photographic bent, click below to read more about fine-tuning your art. 35mm Handbook author Michael Langford pages 224 publisher Alfred A. Knopf rating 9/10 reviewer Rick Franchuk - TranSpecT Consulting ISBN summary An outstanding reference for beginner-to-intermediate level photographers, with piles of useful tidbits, tricks and techniques.
The Scenario...

My wife Lysa and I recently acquired a new Nikon 35mm SLR camera. It's been more years than I care to think of since either of us took a visual arts course in school, so we felt the best idea would be to go find a book or two that'd bring us back up to speed on how to use the little contraption.

I'll freely admit that Lysa is the more artistic element of our union, and when it comes to things like this I usually just stand back and let her work her magic. True to form, we wandered our separate ways in the bookstore and she came back with this little gem in her hand. I was initially skeptical, based purely on the compact appearance of the handbook (measuring 8" x 5" x 0.5"). It looked more like a video game manual at first glance.

What's Good?

As soon as I opened the handbook, my attitude completely changed. Just standing in line waiting to pay for it I learned a dozen or more factoids that continue to help us make our pictures simply look better. There's an incredible amount of useful tidbits and suggestions, covering nearly every photo situation a person might be faced with.

The book starts out with physical basics: What a camera is, how it works, the differences between SLR (Single Lens Reflex, the kind which you can remove the lenses on) and Compact cameras, the relationships between the amount of light available, aperture size, shutter speed, depth-of-field and so on. It then builds upon those foundations with an examination of appropriate film usage for a general classes of photo situations.

My favorite portions are just beyond the hardware how-it-works sections, moving into suggestions of how to handle specific jobs and overcome common problems. The Tackling Special Projects section contains detailed advice for more than a dozen photographic scenarios (landscapes, portraits, nudes, still life, etc) which have definitely made my shots better, and given me a new appreciation of the work which oft times needs to go into make a truly GOOD picture.

The latter third of the book explores more complex topics and add-on ideas for your camera, specifically flash and lighting usage, buying specific lenses and filters and what they're useful for, and how to round out your camera gear. Most of the information in this area is directed toward SLR camera usage and people aiming at a professional approach to photography.

As an ironic additional bonus, the book size itself is a blessing. It tucks lengthwise into the inner chamber of a standard-size camera bag perfectly, letting us take it wherever we go with the camera. =)

What's Bad?

Only a couple minor annoyances kept this book from being a perfect 10 for me. Although the text within is easy to understand and retain, the layout of the handbook is in a sort of magazine style, with side-bars, picture samples, sub-texts and various other distracting elements. Staying focused on a particular topic can be challenging, as the side-bars are usually filled with yet more interesting factoids that are hard to resist scanning. Similarly, the book seems to shift between single independent pages to where facing pages merge together to make a double-wide 'page', which can also be distracting when you're expecting left-to-right, top-to-bottom text.

Our particular copy also had some misprint glitches (ink obscuring some words, offsets on color pictures that weren't quite on top of each other)... and unless I'm going color blind, there's a couple black and white images associated with discussion about color techniques in the text. Whoops!

So What's In It For Me?

There's a large Aha factor here... that being where you read a section, grok it completely, and exclaim 'Aha!' out loud. You also don't need to be an espresso-sucking, black-jumpsuit-and-beret style artiste in order to enjoy and find this book useful. Even if you're one of the majority of camera owners who pulls it out 4 times a year to snap that obligatory family holiday photo I'd recommend it. Aunt Agnes will have never looked so good.

BEWARE - There's a very good chance that you'll read a section or two of this book and immediately want to run out and try what you've learned. Watch those film and development costs! =)

Buy this book at Amazon.

Table of Contents

1. Introduction
2. Cameras
3. Film
4. Solving Picture Problems
5. Tackling Special Projects
6. Flash
7. Accessories
8. Special Effects
9. Reference Charts

Rick Franchuk - TranSpecT Consulting, has returned with a book that's a little different then the norm - Michael Langford's 35mm Handbook. For those with the photographic bent, click below to read more about fine-tuning your art. 35mm Handbook author Michael Langford pages 224 publisher Alfred A. Knopf rating 9/10 reviewer Rick Franchuk - TranSpecT Consulting ISBN summary An outstanding reference for beginner-to-intermediate level photographers, with piles of useful tidbits, tricks and techniques.
The Scenario...

My wife Lysa and I recently acquired a new Nikon 35mm SLR camera. It's been more years than I care to think of since either of us took a visual arts course in school, so we felt the best idea would be to go find a book or two that'd bring us back up to speed on how to use the little contraption.

I'll freely admit that Lysa is the more artistic element of our union, and when it comes to things like this I usually just stand back and let her work her magic. True to form, we wandered our separate ways in the bookstore and she came back with this little gem in her hand. I was initially skeptical, based purely on the compact appearance of the handbook (measuring 8" x 5" x 0.5"). It looked more like a video game manual at first glance.

What's Good?

As soon as I opened the handbook, my attitude completely changed. Just standing in line waiting to pay for it I learned a dozen or more factoids that continue to help us make our pictures simply look better. There's an incredible amount of useful tidbits and suggestions, covering nearly every photo situation a person might be faced with.

The book starts out with physical basics: What a camera is, how it works, the differences between SLR (Single Lens Reflex, the kind which you can remove the lenses on) and Compact cameras, the relationships between the amount of light available, aperture size, shutter speed, depth-of-field and so on. It then builds upon those foundations with an examination of appropriate film usage for a general classes of photo situations.

My favorite portions are just beyond the hardware how-it-works sections, moving into suggestions of how to handle specific jobs and overcome common problems. The Tackling Special Projects section contains detailed advice for more than a dozen photographic scenarios (landscapes, portraits, nudes, still life, etc) which have definitely made my shots better, and given me a new appreciation of the work which oft times needs to go into make a truly GOOD picture.

The latter third of the book explores more complex topics and add-on ideas for your camera, specifically flash and lighting usage, buying specific lenses and filters and what they're useful for, and how to round out your camera gear. Most of the information in this area is directed toward SLR camera usage and people aiming at a professional approach to photography.

As an ironic additional bonus, the book size itself is a blessing. It tucks lengthwise into the inner chamber of a standard-size camera bag perfectly, letting us take it wherever we go with the camera. =)

What's Bad?

Only a couple minor annoyances kept this book from being a perfect 10 for me. Although the text within is easy to understand and retain, the layout of the handbook is in a sort of magazine style, with side-bars, picture samples, sub-texts and various other distracting elements. Staying focused on a particular topic can be challenging, as the side-bars are usually filled with yet more interesting factoids that are hard to resist scanning. Similarly, the book seems to shift between single independent pages to where facing pages merge together to make a double-wide 'page', which can also be distracting when you're expecting left-to-right, top-to-bottom text.

Our particular copy also had some misprint glitches (ink obscuring some words, offsets on color pictures that weren't quite on top of each other)... and unless I'm going color blind, there's a couple black and white images associated with discussion about color techniques in the text. Whoops!

So What's In It For Me?

There's a large Aha factor here... that being where you read a section, grok it completely, and exclaim 'Aha!' out loud. You also don't need to be an espresso-sucking, black-jumpsuit-and-beret style artiste in order to enjoy and find this book useful. Even if you're one of the majority of camera owners who pulls it out 4 times a year to snap that obligatory family holiday photo I'd recommend it. Aunt Agnes will have never looked so good.

BEWARE - There's a very good chance that you'll read a section or two of this book and immediately want to run out and try what you've learned. Watch those film and development costs! =)

Buy this book at Amazon.

Table of Contents

1. Introduction
2. Cameras
3. Film
4. Solving Picture Problems
5. Tackling Special Projects
6. Flash
7. Accessories
8. Special Effects
9. Reference Charts

Rick Franchuk writes in with this doosy: "My wife has recently visited a local vitamin/supplement store, and has picked up something called Neuroforce, capsules containing Ginko Biloba, Phosphatydlsterine and L-Glutamine. I've been doing some research and have a fairly good idea of what these components do and, to a lesser extent, how... what I've not been able to find is anything resembling anecdotal or personal experience accounts about them. Hmmm...Interesting question! Click below to read more... ...continued...

Rick had these additional questions:

- Has anyone used these elements personally (or substances similar in nature, like Phosphatydlchromine or other "Smart" drugs) that can give me first hand comments on thier efficacy?

- If there are people who've tried these (and given the 10k+ viewers of /., there SHOULD be at least a few out there ;), has anyone noticed any substantial side effects? It'd be a bitch if I was able to clearly and distinctly remember puking all night after popping the little buggers.

Anyone have any information to share on this?

Intrepid reviewer Rick Franchuk has returned with another review, this time of the JavaScript Sourcebook. Yes, in full living text, read about how organization can sink or make a book. And, maybe, you can learn how to the mouseover as well. So, click below to read Rick's incisive review.

Another Slashdot denizen wrote to me and asked if he could do the honors of reviewing the next book I had on my list, which was to be TCP/IP Network Administration, another O'Reilly treasure trove. (Can ORA produce bad books? Yes, but I haven't bought any of 'em so I can't write about 'em!)

Since Eric will be doing the write-up for TNA (gotta love that acronym ;), I thought I'd mention a book that I wasn't too impressed with, the JavaScript Sourcebook.

REVIEW: JavaScript Sourcebook Gordon McComb (Wiley Computer Publishing ISBN 0-471-16185-3)

Nutshell
Review: Gordon is a talented coder and packs a wad of code gems into his work, but the organization of the book leaves a lot to be desired.
Rating: 5/10 Rick Franchuk - TranSpecT Consulting The Scenario

There's been some projects I've put together which required a little Jscript knowing, so I did what I usually do... head to the book store (deductions, deductions, deductions! ;). JavaScript was (is?) a very trendy technology, so naturally there were 6.02×10²³ different titles to choose from.

I pulled it off the shelf and gave it a quick thumb test, flipping through the pages to determine if the book would contain the information I was interested in knowing. It seemed complete, CD included all the source code (not that I've ever used a CD from a book), and appeared to cover the topics I was seeking enlightenment on.

At the time I bought it, I knew very little about Jscript (experience with the standard, packaged image-replacement onmouseover scripts and whatnot), so I was looking for a book that could achieve both the task of teaching me Jscript fundamentals and provide specifics about my area of interest. I'd already had considerable exposure to OO Programming, so thinking in terms of objects and methods wasn't foreign.

What's Bad?

Where everything here falls down is organization. The book feels as though it was thrown together by a novice editor. The index is not nearly as complete as it could be, given the bulk of data within the pages, and I found it frustrating trying to work my way through the book as a novice Jscriptor. Eventually, I picked up everything I needed to know from the steaming pile of examples strewn throughout... Computer novices and non-coders would probably have a harder time of it, and could easily get discouraged from Jscript altogether.

To make things more interesting, some of the code samples don't work quite as advertised, particularly if using any flavor of MSIE. That's not surprising, a lot of Jscript features were broken or left out of earlier MSIE revisions, and the book does suffer from that curious outdatedness common to all published computer texts. Some mention is made in the end of 'new' features in Netscape 3.0, which should give you an idea of when it was printed (for you 'Net newcomers, that's 1996.)

What's Good?

The book does pack a lot of handy codelettes in, all the way up to a primitive jscript-based adventure game engine. In fact, there's far more examples in there than the average webtech would probably ever find a use for. A full reference of the Jscript language particulars is included (up to date as of its printing) which also helps a would-be scriptor along.

So What's In It For Me?

I still use the book from time to time, primarily for looking up methods within the Jscript class information or to see how Gordon would tackle a particular or similar problem. However, other texts could give you a more complete examination of the language (like the JavaScript - The Definitive Guide from ORA, which apparently now has a 3rd revision printed in 1998) or a more down-and-dirty answer book (say perhaps The Netscape ONE Reference from SAMS). You might want to save your money and buy one of these other texts.

However, you can grab this at Amazon. Table of Contents

1. Introducing JavaScript
2. What JavaScript is All About
3. Stuff You Should Know: Basic Programming
4. Overview of JavaScript Programming

   Core JavaScript

5. Objects
6. Properties
7. Methods and Functions
8. Expressions
9. Statements
10. Variables
11. Events

    JavaScript in the Real World

12. Defining Functions, Objects, and Methods
13. How Do I?
14. "Plug-and-Play" Routines
15. Fixing Broken JavaScript Programs
16. Using JavaScript in Frames
17. Using JavaScript and Forms

    Extending JavaScript

18. Using JavaScript with Advanced HTML
19. Using CGI with JavaScript
20. Working with Java and Netscape Plugs-Ins
21. Using JavaScript for Sound, Animation, and Graphics
22. All About HTML
23. JavaScript Additions in Netscape 3.0

    Appendix A
    Appendix B

Intrepid reviewer Rick Franchuk has returned with another review, this time of the JavaScript Sourcebook. Yes, in full living text, read about how organization can sink or make a book. And, maybe, you can learn how to the mouseover as well. So, click below to read Rick's incisive review.

Another Slashdot denizen wrote to me and asked if he could do the honors of reviewing the next book I had on my list, which was to be TCP/IP Network Administration, another O'Reilly treasure trove. (Can ORA produce bad books? Yes, but I haven't bought any of 'em so I can't write about 'em!)

Since Eric will be doing the write-up for TNA (gotta love that acronym ;), I thought I'd mention a book that I wasn't too impressed with, the JavaScript Sourcebook.

REVIEW: JavaScript Sourcebook Gordon McComb (Wiley Computer Publishing ISBN 0-471-16185-3)

Nutshell
Review: Gordon is a talented coder and packs a wad of code gems into his work, but the organization of the book leaves a lot to be desired.
Rating: 5/10 Rick Franchuk - TranSpecT Consulting The Scenario

There's been some projects I've put together which required a little Jscript knowing, so I did what I usually do... head to the book store (deductions, deductions, deductions! ;). JavaScript was (is?) a very trendy technology, so naturally there were 6.02×10²³ different titles to choose from.

I pulled it off the shelf and gave it a quick thumb test, flipping through the pages to determine if the book would contain the information I was interested in knowing. It seemed complete, CD included all the source code (not that I've ever used a CD from a book), and appeared to cover the topics I was seeking enlightenment on.

At the time I bought it, I knew very little about Jscript (experience with the standard, packaged image-replacement onmouseover scripts and whatnot), so I was looking for a book that could achieve both the task of teaching me Jscript fundamentals and provide specifics about my area of interest. I'd already had considerable exposure to OO Programming, so thinking in terms of objects and methods wasn't foreign.

What's Bad?

Where everything here falls down is organization. The book feels as though it was thrown together by a novice editor. The index is not nearly as complete as it could be, given the bulk of data within the pages, and I found it frustrating trying to work my way through the book as a novice Jscriptor. Eventually, I picked up everything I needed to know from the steaming pile of examples strewn throughout... Computer novices and non-coders would probably have a harder time of it, and could easily get discouraged from Jscript altogether.

To make things more interesting, some of the code samples don't work quite as advertised, particularly if using any flavor of MSIE. That's not surprising, a lot of Jscript features were broken or left out of earlier MSIE revisions, and the book does suffer from that curious outdatedness common to all published computer texts. Some mention is made in the end of 'new' features in Netscape 3.0, which should give you an idea of when it was printed (for you 'Net newcomers, that's 1996.)

What's Good?

The book does pack a lot of handy codelettes in, all the way up to a primitive jscript-based adventure game engine. In fact, there's far more examples in there than the average webtech would probably ever find a use for. A full reference of the Jscript language particulars is included (up to date as of its printing) which also helps a would-be scriptor along.

So What's In It For Me?

I still use the book from time to time, primarily for looking up methods within the Jscript class information or to see how Gordon would tackle a particular or similar problem. However, other texts could give you a more complete examination of the language (like the JavaScript - The Definitive Guide from ORA, which apparently now has a 3rd revision printed in 1998) or a more down-and-dirty answer book (say perhaps The Netscape ONE Reference from SAMS). You might want to save your money and buy one of these other texts.

However, you can grab this at Amazon. Table of Contents

1. Introducing JavaScript
2. What JavaScript is All About
3. Stuff You Should Know: Basic Programming
4. Overview of JavaScript Programming

   Core JavaScript

5. Objects
6. Properties
7. Methods and Functions
8. Expressions
9. Statements
10. Variables
11. Events

    JavaScript in the Real World

12. Defining Functions, Objects, and Methods
13. How Do I?
14. "Plug-and-Play" Routines
15. Fixing Broken JavaScript Programs
16. Using JavaScript in Frames
17. Using JavaScript and Forms

    Extending JavaScript

18. Using JavaScript with Advanced HTML
19. Using CGI with JavaScript
20. Working with Java and Netscape Plugs-Ins
21. Using JavaScript for Sound, Animation, and Graphics
22. All About HTML
23. JavaScript Additions in Netscape 3.0

    Appendix A
    Appendix B

Rick Franchuk has written a review of Essential System Administration. As would seem apprent, the book covers (surprise!) Administration ranging from automating activities, maintenance to essential services. Click below for more info.

This is the second book review for Slashdot in my Path To Guru series. In retrospect, I should have reviewed this book first, but I wanted to get the latest edition and read through it to see what new stuff is in.

I'm reluctant to give ANY book a 10 out of 10 rating, but if there is any book in existence that deserves such, this is it. Every major aspect of Unix administration is covered in a concise and easy-to-digest format.

REVIEW: Essential System Administration Æleen Frisch (O'Reilly & Associates ISBN 1-56592-127-5)

Nutshell
Review: The name says it all... this book should be on the shopping list, on the shelf, or in the hand of anyone maintaining Unix boxen.
Rating: 10/10 Rick Franchuk - TranSpecT Consulting What's Good?

When I started dealing with serious administration issues, this book saved my bacon more times than I care to count. Nearly every facet of administration is covered, from the lowliest maintenance task (like emptying log files) through the essential services (DNS, Telnet, FTP, etc) up to an introduction of automating tasks using shell scripts and Perl. The author takes great pains to detail parallels between OS variants (which usually falls into a BSD way vs. SVR way arrangement), so the book can be used by virtually anyone in any *nix-ish environment.

Issues beyond that of purely technical matters are discussed as well. Æleen reveals some of the basic facts about being a Systems Administrator in a often comical, sometimes brutally honest, fashion. Real Life® examples of how certain situations were handled (or could have been handled better) to achieve the best results in the Admin->User interface are liberally sprinkled throughout.

What's Bad?

It's not easy to find any MAJOR faults in this particular text (hence the 10 of 10 rating), but there are a couple of minor annoyances.

Like all computer texts, this one too suffers from becoming quickly outdated. For most of the material, age isn't much of problem (chmod does the same thing it has done for quite some time), but specialized administration tools for your OS may have undergone major revisions since the release of ESA.

While the book gives you enough information to hold your own in most normal and many unusual/problem situations, it can't provide all information about everything. It operates best as a foundation text, supporting more detailed information in tomes written to cover specific topics. For example, ESA covers the use of sendmail in a short chapter about electronic mail services which can get you up and running, get aliases and forwardings going, etc. For serious sendmail work though, you'll need to consult a more complete writing on the subject (ORA's sendmail).

There's also a bit of overlap between this book and Practical Unix and Internet Security, my first review. While I personally don't find this so much of a problem (security should be on the mind of any good administrator), some people may resent feeling like they're paying twice for the same information.

What's In It For Me?

At the risk of repeating myself, buy this book. if you plan on doing anything more interesting on a *nix box than checking your E-mail. Even SiteOp veterans can get use from it if they suddenly find themselves administering another environment... I've recently taken on some Solaris boxes, and ESA has been most helpful to me in finding Sun equivalents to BSD tools.

Æleen offers advice to the newless clewbie administrator on the subtle power games involved in maintaining machines other people rely on to get work done. It's an odd sensation having suits twice your age act nervous around you, for fear of saying something that could upset you and suddenly make their quarterly report vanish (hmmm... what does 'rm -rf /home/blake' do? Whoops!) More often than not, interpersonal communication is the most important aspect of any Admin's job. Happy co-workers and management are also more likely to 'forgive and forget' when you perform the inevitable catastrophic fuck-up.

Wishful Thinking

I strongly believe every administrator should read this book... in order to facilitate that, I wrote an e-mail to Tim O'Reilly (the OR in ORA), asking him to HTMLize it and release it under GPA. I haven't received any response yet, but it has only been a couple of days and I'd expect he has a great many things to do with his time.

At present, I'm hoping he'll agree, but I expect that nothing will come of it. ORA deserves to make money, and ESA is almost certainly bringing in a substantial profit. There's a history of ORA releasing some of their work under GPA though, so you never know... I'll do a followup when I get a definitive answer one way or the other. Please don't start mail-bombing him (or me! ;) about it.

Purchase the book over here at Amazon.

Table of Contents

Preface

1. Introduction to System Administration
2. The UNIX Way
3. Essential Administrative Tools
4. Startup and Shutdown
5. User Accounts
6. Security
7. Managing System Resources
8. Automating Tasks with Scripts and Such
9. Filesystems and Disks
10. Backup and Restore
11. Terminals and Modems
12. Printers and the Spooling Subsystem
13. TCP/IP Network Management
14. Electronic Mail
15. Configuring and Building Kernels
16. Accounting

Afterward: Don't Forget to Have Fun
Appendix A: Bourne Shell Programming
Appendix B: Selecting and Installing Linux Systems
Bibliography

Rick Franchuk has written a review of Essential System Administration. As would seem apprent, the book covers (surprise!) Administration ranging from automating activities, maintenance to essential services. Click below for more info.

This is the second book review for Slashdot in my Path To Guru series. In retrospect, I should have reviewed this book first, but I wanted to get the latest edition and read through it to see what new stuff is in.

I'm reluctant to give ANY book a 10 out of 10 rating, but if there is any book in existence that deserves such, this is it. Every major aspect of Unix administration is covered in a concise and easy-to-digest format.

REVIEW: Essential System Administration Æleen Frisch (O'Reilly & Associates ISBN 1-56592-127-5)

Nutshell
Review: The name says it all... this book should be on the shopping list, on the shelf, or in the hand of anyone maintaining Unix boxen.
Rating: 10/10 Rick Franchuk - TranSpecT Consulting What's Good?

When I started dealing with serious administration issues, this book saved my bacon more times than I care to count. Nearly every facet of administration is covered, from the lowliest maintenance task (like emptying log files) through the essential services (DNS, Telnet, FTP, etc) up to an introduction of automating tasks using shell scripts and Perl. The author takes great pains to detail parallels between OS variants (which usually falls into a BSD way vs. SVR way arrangement), so the book can be used by virtually anyone in any *nix-ish environment.

Issues beyond that of purely technical matters are discussed as well. Æleen reveals some of the basic facts about being a Systems Administrator in a often comical, sometimes brutally honest, fashion. Real Life® examples of how certain situations were handled (or could have been handled better) to achieve the best results in the Admin->User interface are liberally sprinkled throughout.

What's Bad?

It's not easy to find any MAJOR faults in this particular text (hence the 10 of 10 rating), but there are a couple of minor annoyances.

Like all computer texts, this one too suffers from becoming quickly outdated. For most of the material, age isn't much of problem (chmod does the same thing it has done for quite some time), but specialized administration tools for your OS may have undergone major revisions since the release of ESA.

While the book gives you enough information to hold your own in most normal and many unusual/problem situations, it can't provide all information about everything. It operates best as a foundation text, supporting more detailed information in tomes written to cover specific topics. For example, ESA covers the use of sendmail in a short chapter about electronic mail services which can get you up and running, get aliases and forwardings going, etc. For serious sendmail work though, you'll need to consult a more complete writing on the subject (ORA's sendmail).

There's also a bit of overlap between this book and Practical Unix and Internet Security, my first review. While I personally don't find this so much of a problem (security should be on the mind of any good administrator), some people may resent feeling like they're paying twice for the same information.

What's In It For Me?

At the risk of repeating myself, buy this book. if you plan on doing anything more interesting on a *nix box than checking your E-mail. Even SiteOp veterans can get use from it if they suddenly find themselves administering another environment... I've recently taken on some Solaris boxes, and ESA has been most helpful to me in finding Sun equivalents to BSD tools.

Æleen offers advice to the newless clewbie administrator on the subtle power games involved in maintaining machines other people rely on to get work done. It's an odd sensation having suits twice your age act nervous around you, for fear of saying something that could upset you and suddenly make their quarterly report vanish (hmmm... what does 'rm -rf /home/blake' do? Whoops!) More often than not, interpersonal communication is the most important aspect of any Admin's job. Happy co-workers and management are also more likely to 'forgive and forget' when you perform the inevitable catastrophic fuck-up.

Wishful Thinking

I strongly believe every administrator should read this book... in order to facilitate that, I wrote an e-mail to Tim O'Reilly (the OR in ORA), asking him to HTMLize it and release it under GPA. I haven't received any response yet, but it has only been a couple of days and I'd expect he has a great many things to do with his time.

At present, I'm hoping he'll agree, but I expect that nothing will come of it. ORA deserves to make money, and ESA is almost certainly bringing in a substantial profit. There's a history of ORA releasing some of their work under GPA though, so you never know... I'll do a followup when I get a definitive answer one way or the other. Please don't start mail-bombing him (or me! ;) about it.

Purchase the book over here at Amazon.

Table of Contents

Preface

1. Introduction to System Administration
2. The UNIX Way
3. Essential Administrative Tools
4. Startup and Shutdown
5. User Accounts
6. Security
7. Managing System Resources
8. Automating Tasks with Scripts and Such
9. Filesystems and Disks
10. Backup and Restore
11. Terminals and Modems
12. Printers and the Spooling Subsystem
13. TCP/IP Network Management
14. Electronic Mail
15. Configuring and Building Kernels
16. Accounting

Afterward: Don't Forget to Have Fun
Appendix A: Bourne Shell Programming
Appendix B: Selecting and Installing Linux Systems
Bibliography

Rick Franchuk has written us a review of Practical Unix and Internet Security. Click below for the rest of the review:

This is the first of (probably) several reviews I'll be doing for Slashdot of books that I personally consider Essential on the path to Unix gurudom. Most of the books I'll be reviewing are not system-specific inside the definition of Unix, so should be equally useful for Linux, BSD, SunOS or any other flavor of nix-ish OS you might be handling.

I'll start this textual journey with Practical Unix & Internet Security. This book attempts to reveal, with some success, the whys and hows of hardening your servers against hostile attack, originating both from without and within your sphere of influence.

Practical Unix & Internet Security Simson Garfinkel and Gene Spafford (O'Reilly & Associates ISBN 1565921488)

Nutshell Review An excellent reference for anyone who doesn't consider him/herself as a Unix guru, but lacks enough detailed substance to satiate a seasoned hacker.

Rating: 8/10

Rick Franchuk - TranSpecT Consulting

What's Good?

There is an immense wealth of information regarding general security practices, detailing not just how things should be arranged for maximum benefit, but also WHY . As a neophyte administrator with only 'play-around' experience, I felt a little overwhelmed when I hired onto a new ISP to maintain a combination of FreeBSD and Linux machines. Because my use of linux to that point was primarily that of a single user with total machine control (a holdover from DOS experience), I didn't really know how to maintain multiple users so that they wouldn't collide. PU&IS helped resolve some of the more looming issues I had:

• File permissions (what is that sticky bit for, anyways?)
• UIDs/GIDs and how to assign them appropriately (why giving everyone group wheel is A Bad Idea®)
• How to enable and disable essential services (telnet, ftp, etc) without leaving the server wide-open or bringing the machine down totally

Of course, the book contains a great deal more. Topics range from the most simple, basic of tasks (like choosing a reasonably secure password) to semi-arcane (NIS+ administration and firewall setup), as well as non-technical security matters (reporting breakins and damage control, legal information, etc). See below for a more comprehensive list of what is covered.

What's Bad?

That being said, I should point out that this is NOT going to be the most useful tome to a seasoned administrator. A majority of the information contained within is geared towards getting new admins up-to-speed with the Unix way of life, and certain important areas are lightly glossed over (IP Spoofing, for example, is acknowedged to exist but absolutely nothing is revealed about how and why it works... you could get a better explanation written on the back of a napkin from a regular Phrack or 2600 reader).

Additionally, this book suffers from outdatedness, as are all computer-related texts. The 2nd Edition attempts to address more of the recent security concerns about the Internet (denial-of-service attacks get more exposure, packet sniffing concerns etc) but can't provide useful detailed information due to its age and the swift pace of software, OS, and attacker evolution. The most pertinent information revolves around unchanging security precepts and Unix foundations.

So What's In It For Me?

I'd strongly recommend this text, paired with another O'Reilly gem, Essential System Administration to anyone administering *nix-ish systems with experience below the "Advanced to Guru" stage. Probably the most important things you can learn from the book are:

• Be Paranoid - The more the better!
• Security through Obscurity Doesn't Work
• There's No Such Thing as Total Security
• Backups Save Lives (or at least jobs)

Personal Rant

<RANT Annoyance=mild>Unix is spelled "Unix", not "UNIX". It's not an acronym, it's a play on words from the name of its predecessor, Multics. See the History of Unix writeup, elsewhere in the annals of Slashdot. You'd think that O'Reilly and Associates, who consistantly make some of the best *nix books in existance, would figure that out by now.</RANT>

You can buy this over at Amazon. Table of Contents

1. I. Security Basics
2. Introduction (What is computer security, history of)
3. Policies and Guidelines

   II. User Responsibilities

4. Users and Passwords
5. Users, Groups, and the Superuser
6. The Unix Filesystem
7. Cryptography

   III. System Security

8. Backups
9. Defending Your Accounts
10. Integrity Management
11. Auditing and Logging
12. Protecting Against Programmed Threats
13. Physical Security
14. Personnel Security

    IV. Network and Internet Security

15. Telephone Security
16. UUCP
17. TCP/IP Networks
18. TCP/IP Services
19. WWW Security
20. RPC, NIS, NIS+, and Kerberos
21. NFS

    V. Advanced Topics

22. Firewalls
23. Wrappers and Proxies
24. Writing Secure SUID and Network Programs

    VI. Handling Security Incidents

25. Discovering a Break-In
26. Denial-of-Service Attacks and Solutions
27. Computer Security and U.S. Law
28. Who Do You Trust?
    

1. VII. Appendixes
2. Unix Security Checklist
3. Important Files
4. Unix Processes
5. Paper Sources
6. Electronic Resources
7. Organizations
8. Table of IP Services

Rick Franchuk has written us a review of Practical Unix and Internet Security. Click below for the rest of the review:

This is the first of (probably) several reviews I'll be doing for Slashdot of books that I personally consider Essential on the path to Unix gurudom. Most of the books I'll be reviewing are not system-specific inside the definition of Unix, so should be equally useful for Linux, BSD, SunOS or any other flavor of nix-ish OS you might be handling.

I'll start this textual journey with Practical Unix & Internet Security. This book attempts to reveal, with some success, the whys and hows of hardening your servers against hostile attack, originating both from without and within your sphere of influence.

Practical Unix & Internet Security Simson Garfinkel and Gene Spafford (O'Reilly & Associates ISBN 1565921488)

Nutshell Review An excellent reference for anyone who doesn't consider him/herself as a Unix guru, but lacks enough detailed substance to satiate a seasoned hacker.

Rating: 8/10

Rick Franchuk - TranSpecT Consulting

What's Good?

There is an immense wealth of information regarding general security practices, detailing not just how things should be arranged for maximum benefit, but also WHY . As a neophyte administrator with only 'play-around' experience, I felt a little overwhelmed when I hired onto a new ISP to maintain a combination of FreeBSD and Linux machines. Because my use of linux to that point was primarily that of a single user with total machine control (a holdover from DOS experience), I didn't really know how to maintain multiple users so that they wouldn't collide. PU&IS helped resolve some of the more looming issues I had:

• File permissions (what is that sticky bit for, anyways?)
• UIDs/GIDs and how to assign them appropriately (why giving everyone group wheel is A Bad Idea®)
• How to enable and disable essential services (telnet, ftp, etc) without leaving the server wide-open or bringing the machine down totally

Of course, the book contains a great deal more. Topics range from the most simple, basic of tasks (like choosing a reasonably secure password) to semi-arcane (NIS+ administration and firewall setup), as well as non-technical security matters (reporting breakins and damage control, legal information, etc). See below for a more comprehensive list of what is covered.

What's Bad?

That being said, I should point out that this is NOT going to be the most useful tome to a seasoned administrator. A majority of the information contained within is geared towards getting new admins up-to-speed with the Unix way of life, and certain important areas are lightly glossed over (IP Spoofing, for example, is acknowedged to exist but absolutely nothing is revealed about how and why it works... you could get a better explanation written on the back of a napkin from a regular Phrack or 2600 reader).

Additionally, this book suffers from outdatedness, as are all computer-related texts. The 2nd Edition attempts to address more of the recent security concerns about the Internet (denial-of-service attacks get more exposure, packet sniffing concerns etc) but can't provide useful detailed information due to its age and the swift pace of software, OS, and attacker evolution. The most pertinent information revolves around unchanging security precepts and Unix foundations.

So What's In It For Me?

I'd strongly recommend this text, paired with another O'Reilly gem, Essential System Administration to anyone administering *nix-ish systems with experience below the "Advanced to Guru" stage. Probably the most important things you can learn from the book are:

• Be Paranoid - The more the better!
• Security through Obscurity Doesn't Work
• There's No Such Thing as Total Security
• Backups Save Lives (or at least jobs)

Personal Rant

<RANT Annoyance=mild>Unix is spelled "Unix", not "UNIX". It's not an acronym, it's a play on words from the name of its predecessor, Multics. See the History of Unix writeup, elsewhere in the annals of Slashdot. You'd think that O'Reilly and Associates, who consistantly make some of the best *nix books in existance, would figure that out by now.</RANT>

You can buy this over at Amazon. Table of Contents

1. I. Security Basics
2. Introduction (What is computer security, history of)
3. Policies and Guidelines

   II. User Responsibilities

4. Users and Passwords
5. Users, Groups, and the Superuser
6. The Unix Filesystem
7. Cryptography

   III. System Security

8. Backups
9. Defending Your Accounts
10. Integrity Management
11. Auditing and Logging
12. Protecting Against Programmed Threats
13. Physical Security
14. Personnel Security

    IV. Network and Internet Security

15. Telephone Security
16. UUCP
17. TCP/IP Networks
18. TCP/IP Services
19. WWW Security
20. RPC, NIS, NIS+, and Kerberos
21. NFS

    V. Advanced Topics

22. Firewalls
23. Wrappers and Proxies
24. Writing Secure SUID and Network Programs

    VI. Handling Security Incidents

25. Discovering a Break-In
26. Denial-of-Service Attacks and Solutions
27. Computer Security and U.S. Law
28. Who Do You Trust?
    

1. VII. Appendixes
2. Unix Security Checklist
3. Important Files
4. Unix Processes
5. Paper Sources
6. Electronic Resources
7. Organizations
8. Table of IP Services