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The Practice of System and Network Administration
Though not a nitty gritty technical book, this volume is a must have for every professional sysadmin, regardless of skill level or the technology she uses. The book focuses on the methods used by successful system administrators to build, support, and grow their networks. For the novice admin, it offers a good big-picture look at the most important "whys" of system administration. For the intermediate admin, it has great advice on how to balance fire fighting with project work that will help strengthen the infrastructure and lead to less emergency handling. For the senior admin, there are gems of design wisdom and sections on how to deal with being in a managerial or team leader role. Because it's more high level, this book is even a good buy for people who manage sysadmins but are not themselves technical.
What's Covered
The book is broken down into four major parts, The Principles, The Processes, The Practices, and Management. The chapters in each section are conveniently split into the "basics," the "icing" (things to concentrate on after all of the basics have been accomplished), and some exercises at the end to help the reader apply the covered information to her own situation. The authors back up their sound advice with many case studies and, often tragically humorous, war stories that really drive home the salient points. The BOFHs among us will certainly love some of the follies that the book recounts.
The Principles
This chapter deals with fundamental issues sysadmins encounter and how to define a site-wide infrastructure. The topics range from desktop and server setup, to security, debugging, and ethics. Of particular interest to me were the latter three. I was hoping that the security section would give a bit more detail about a layered security approach as part of the policy. The authors offered good pointers on developing a site security policy without going into specifics, though. The debugging section was spot on, and something that even your help desk people should read. Instead of the hit-or-miss technique that so many inexperienced people use to diagnose problems, this gave a thorough outline of how to methodically determine and fix a problem. In light of the current Enron fiasco, the ethics section was quite timely. How do you do the right thing (or even determine what that is) and then not get stuck as the scapegoat? Though they're not lawyers, Limoncelli and Hogan offer some sound advice and quote from the SAGE Code of Ethics.
The Processes
This section entails how to create the framework for making successful changes to your infrastructure. Topic highlights include change management and revision control, server upgrades, maintenance windows, and service conversions. Change management is one of the most perilously neglected portions of the system administration field today. How should changes be made to the systems so that they are as seamless as possible? Who changed what, when? How do you get back to a known state? My one nit is that I would have liked to see a bit more about automation (rsync, cfengine, et al) discussed in this chapter, especially in dealing with upgrades and service conversions.
The Practices
The authors choose a few important services to discuss in detail here:
- The helpdesk
- Customer care
- Data centers
- Networks
- Email service
- Print service
- Data recovery
- Remote access
- Software depots
- Service monitoring
These topics were well covered, but the one omission from this section was web service (and possibly a section on Usenet, though that's waning in popularity these days). The namesapces chapter from the Principles section would have also flowed better as part of a DNS chapter in this section. One especially amusing story in the monitoring chapter describes an alarm system in a machine room calling the on-duty sysadmin in the wee hours of the morning to tell him, in a sultry female voice, I'm hot. I'm wet. Too bad his wife answers and thinks it's a prank call when it's really a broken HVAC system!
Management
This section covers how to best deal with the human side of system administration and really explores how people can actually like their jobs instead of just slogging through them every day. There's some outstanding advice on how to deal with difficult situations (time management, difficult people, professional development, keeping people motivated and managing them well, etc). This is also the first book that I know of that includes salary negotiating tips for sysadmins. The management section could almost stand alone as a book geared towards the particular problems that many sysadmins experience.
Other bits
Unlike most other books, the introduction and the appendices are also very worthwhile reads. The introduction covers the three fundamental things that ever site should already be doing: using a ticketing system, handling quick requests right, and starting every host in a known state. The first two appendices cover the various hats that sysadmins wear and "what to do when..." situations. The latter is extremely valuable, and is also available from the book's web site.
In all, this book receives an enthusiastic thumbs up!"
You can purchase The Practice of System and Network Administration from bn.com. Want to see your own review here? Just read the book review guidelines, then use Slashdot's handy submission form.
Is there any forums, or online discussions, that cover this sort of thing. I'm thinking, kind of like http://www.macosxhints.com/ but of a less MacOS X specific nature.
776 pgs according to Amazon
Books like this need to be written, disseminated, and then force-fed to anyone who wants to touch Systems Administration for a profession - or even work with sysadmins tangentally. I've spent too much time justifying my practices and beliefs about administration to people who had precisely zero working knowledge of the art; would that we lived in a world where this was no longer necessary!
:)
*sighs*. I can keep dreaming.
... Books about general topics/practices. If you focused an admin book towards a specific OS (ie NT, Unix, whatever), you could easily wind up with a admin who freaks out when dealing with a different OS on the network. I prefer to see books deal with the overall scope of a topic , rather than focusing down on a specific product. ( ie. You buy a book on XML and get to learn everything you ever wanted to know about MSXML... um...ok...but what if you're a unix geek )..
I lost my concept of community when my community lost all concept of me.
Personally I'd reccommend this for novice to average people who's role is changing or who are changing job to sysadmin in a different company or environment.
A lot of the skills and behaviours people pick up will be heavily flavoured by the environment in which they picked them up; this book will help people to understand the common practices in sysadmining - what changes and what stays the same in different environments. Sysadmining in a university is very different to in an ISP or in a tech-corporation or in a non-tech-corporation.
In fact, probably _especially_ for NT admins. NT admins often seem to lack the exact background, sensitivity, and discipline that this book is talking about. Even though some of things are hard to implment (revision control for configurations, etc), the principles apply to _all_ production systems.
This is the best sysadmin book I've ever read. This plus a practical how-to book like USAH and O'Reilly's Unix Backup and Recovery are the three cornerstones that everyone should start with as a starting sysadmin. This book in particular will save you 2-3 years of frustration unless you work in a very disciplined shop.
Where do I find a good price for this book?
i just put in
It don't think it has to be that big, if it provides a good outline of the topics covered plus pointers where you can find more information about the topic.
I would rather buy a book that gives me good hints to find the answers by myself, than a book that tells me it knows it all, but only provides surface answers...
Oliver.
http://shop.barnesandnoble.com/booksearch/isbnInqu iry.asp?isbn=0201702711
Not trying to whore karma, but I do think it's silly to have to go through that stupid bfast link.
Nemeth, Evi and Garth Snyder, Scott Seebass, Trent R. Hein. UNIX System Administration Handbook, Third Edition. Upper Saddle River, NJ: Prentice Hall. 2001. ISBN 0-13-020601-6.
Definitely worth picking up a copy.
Amazon charges full price ($49.95), bookpool has it for 20% off ($39.95).
it's not going to stop until you wise up, no it's not going to stop. so just give up.
I got started by being dropped into the middle of the mix, myself. I was doing web coding for the University of Florida's Office of the University Registrar, when, in short order, two previous admins bailed out (after being passed up for promotions and raises - ah, politics). As the only guy left who knew the systems, I had to take up the banner and carry us forth as best I could.
:)
I just really took to systems administration. Few things please me more than to see my machines running quietly, humming along and making other people productive. I approach it like an art, treat it like an art, a chance for me to develop skills and express them while doing some good for the community I'm serving at any given time.
I guess it's really a matter of one's perception. At least my job satisfaction is usually pretty high.
Get it at Bookpool for $39.95....seems to be the best price out there.
1 702711
http://www.bookpool.com/.x/k9wrskqsu1/ss/1?qs=020
ÕÕ
I downloaded the PDF of appendix B off their web site. It looks pretty dry but towards the end they started inserting jokes. I hope the whole book is this funny!
OK so I didn't bother to look, which means I will remove my sig.
However, clearly this is a problem with the code. Since when are _spaces_ valid in filenames/logins/user ids/etc
Conversion Rate Optimisation French / English consultant
I agree that this is also a great book to pick up. This is, in fact, the book that I did cut my teeth on as a novice sysadmin (back when it was Ed 1, the yellow book). the UNIX System Administration Handbook is my favorite book for learning about specific tools for UNIX, but Limoncelli and Hogan's book cover high level design ideas which the UNIX System Administration Handbook doesn't really get into.
TeX is a most excellent portable typesetting system that is all ascii based (that is, works on nearly all platforms, goes well with CVS, vi, emacs, and automated scripts and is easily legible even before being processed into a beautifully formatted document) and free.
Hey, I said this was off topic, but it warms my heart to see TeX used these days. Plus, TeX is bug free.
Power corrupts. PowerPoint corrupts absolutely. E. Tufte
Most admins use mailing lists for things that they are not able to figure out. You can check them out, they exist for almost everything.
Hey! I'm a network administrator and my name is Amy, so there are two of us out there...
.... Nothing could be better than learning from others mistakes:
Computer Stupidities
I lost my concept of community when my community lost all concept of me.
Looks like they have good advices for _everybody- in this book ... look at the appendix "B.36 My Dishwasher Leaves Spots on My Glasses"
-- Martial MICHEL
It's better than that. Tom came to Old Bay SAGE and talked about the process of writing the book, and he said they used TeX for content, make for assembling the chapters and the book, and CVS for coordinating changes. Tom and Christine applied SysAdmin principles to writing the book!
YES!! the purple book! thorough, drily funny, and heavy enough to throw at obstinate users (while soft enough to keep from damaging them permanently.) somehow manages to combine a decent amount of background with good walkthroughs for common tasks. definitely worth the $80 list--pays for itself in saved admin time (and reduced occurrence of stupid mistakes, too.)
I'd buy the book, if it has a good set of guidelines on how to properly handle the dreaded BWI (Boss With Ideas). Does it have anything covering this issue?
Personally, I've always found it difficult when a boss (with a non-technical background) insists on using his idea even if it will cause the rest of the network, which you invested thousands of hours of your work, to disintegrate itself down to a ugly mess.
Ah, THAT's why I get spots on my glasses! I think I'll have to buy this book. :-)
Money for nothing, pix for free
She may be just as beautiful as she is smart. And dating some rich lawyer who wears starched white shirts, drives a Boxster and thinks her Geek-like tendencies are "cute."
...except now they're out of stock. I think Bookpool got /.ed.
http://freshmeat.net/articles/view/338/
It gets a resounding thumbs up over there as well - I'm a first year Computer Science degree student at the moment but I'm sorely tempted to get it anyway, it looks like this one isn't going to get outdated any time soon.
I am both Sys Admin and a profesional piano player.
Sys Admin is not an art pure and simple.
Want to be an artist? Paint, write, put performances, dance, play a musical instrument, write a movie, program a game perhaps.
To keep a datacentre running smoothly is not an art, is a profession that requires a methodic organized approach. There is no art in writing a perl script, jump starting a machine or configuring a DNS server.
IANAL but write like a drunk one.
rather than play the pronoun game, and since the english language doesn't have a neuter-gender, I find it easier to read "their" or even "his or her" rather than "her". It's commonly accepted practice to write things to avoid gender or to use the male gender as the default gender. I tend to lean towards "their" even if it's not grammatically correct for singular/plural usae reasons.
Example: rather than "and some exercises at the end to help the reader apply the covered information to her own situation", I would have said "and some exercises at the end to help the readers apply the covered information to their own situations".
does that make me a pig? I don't think so, I just want some thing that's easy to read.
"We are not tolerant people. We prefer drastically effective solutions"
The entire book isn't on-line, but parts of it are on www.everythingsysadmin.com and more will be in the future. Some of the chapters are based on papers that were published at the LISA conference, so you can read them there. However, they've been expanded and edited for inclusion in the book.
Actually, the Nemeth book really sucks.
They never miss a chance to slam solaris - which is most admins' bread and butter. And the gratuituous attacks are far from based on facts - they're extremely misleading.
I'm female, and I'd rather just read "his" in place of all this P.C. crap.
Christina! Bring me an axe!
If you're a sysadmin who's convinced "there's got to be a better way", check out www.infrastructures.org
The postman hits! The postman hits! You have mail.
You can get the book direct from the publisher for $32.49 at: http://vig.pearsoned.com/store/product/1,3498,stor e-3941_isbn-0201702711,00.html AND it is in stock, unlike bookpool.
"System administrators will not exercise their special powers to access any private information..."
I guess I'll have to stop using telekinesis to see which of the secretaries aren't wearing panties today.
There are 01 kinds of cars in the world. The General Lee, and everything else.
It's only once and awhile that such a book comes out that can be ranted about. This book truly is the "camel" of System Administration. I work with both Linux and NT, and the book is applicable to both.
The "Evard's Life Cycle" diagram is essential. I'm surprised I never saw it sooner. Also the first three points are absolute truth.
1) Use a trouble-ticket system
2) Manage quick requests right
3) Start every new host in a known state
I worked at a computer service company for years, and they did none of these three things. They're losing employees left and right because they can't manage the work effectively.
Bottom line - buy the book.
Ruby on Rails Screencast
I'm usually never bothered by using the feminine pronouns for the general gender. I can certainly see that some people (especially women) care enough to make pronoun choice an issue. For example, 30 years ago, nobody used "Ms." as a title, now if I see a "Mrs." or a "Miss" on a letter it's usually a sign that somebody's grandmother is mailing letters.
Using 'their' for a the general singular pronoun is apparently much more common and accepted in England. However, that seems more awkward (to me) than using 'her'.
Michael Spivak, famed mathematician and TeXpert, created an option called Spivak Pronouns which address the issue too:
The spivak pronouns are
E - subjective
Em - objective
Eir - possessive (adjective)
Eirs - possessive (noun)
Emself - reflexive
These seem very awkward to me, but who knows what will be in common use in 30 years...
---------
My father is a blogger.
Except it's not a secure site for transmitting credit card information. What a bummer.
--rc
As a first note, the race issue was brought in as a comparison. The parent poster didn't say or imply that you were a racist. Also, that poster's comment was to the effect that saying "his" and saying "her" are interchangeable in this day and age, and your finding it hard to read is your problem, not the author's.
Now, you should not necessarily take my comment to indicate that I agree, because while I see the parent poster's point, I don't think you're coming from nowhere, since there's a great deal of precedent for using the male pronoun in non-gender specific conversation. Still, the view that "his" is more appropriate than "her" in this case is merely precedent, so you may want to give some thought to why you find it harder to read.
Virg
"By your definition, the kid working at Baskin Robbins making your sundae is an artist. Kind of trivializes musicians and painters, doesn't it?"
Not at all, unless musicians and painters have an opinion of themselves higher than it should be.
I play the Horn in F and the Irish Tin Whistle. Music is an art, so are trades and skills when done particularly well.
Vermifax
Logout
There is a reason the Jedi appeal to us generally. We've been down the path of the Master and the apprentice.
Daniel Isaacs the Sysadmin?
From what Ive heard you should probably be sympathizing with the Sith.
I was wondering what a story "Particle Systems and System Administration" would be about...I need more sleep...
Well, then I'd like to support the artificial change of the reading of both paragraphs of my post, not just the first one, and complain that in racing to argue the first point you didn't get my whole message. In the second paragraph, you will see that I agree that precedent validates the use of "his" in gender-neutral settings. I also largely disagree that using "her" in gender-neutral settings is standard use. My comment was a suggestion for rhaig to consider why it seemed unnatural, not a suggestion that it really was unnatural.
Virg
If you want a book on system administration, and you don't have the mental capacity to figure out that you don't HAVE to go where slashdot SUGGESTS you go to buy it....then I'm afraid there is no hope for you.
Besides which, the slashdot link tells you where it's going.
Advanced users are users too!
Just for the record, it's /. that puts the purchasing link there, it was not in my review.
Even cheaper than bookpool...
r e-3941_isbn-0201702711,00.html
http://vig.pearsoned.com/store/product/1,3498,sto
$32.49
The review on amazon and bookpool are the same, yes (why write the same short review more than once)? I don't recall writing one for B&N (I don't buy books there), and I don't see one there claiming to be from me..? As a matter of fact, B&N claims that there are no customer reviews so far.
I wrote the amazon book review first and decided that I felt strongly enough about the book to post a review here too. slashdot reviews are more fleshed out than storefront reviews, so this one is expanded. I mostly buy technical books via bookpool, so that also seemed like a good place to put the shorter review.
I hardly consider it spam to review a book in three places! Do you only tell three friends about this cool book you just read..? No.
Hmm... I'm there right now, 128bit.
I'd also recommend having a look at another recent book on the same topic but with much more of a technical emphasis (and not having quite so many humorous antidotes): Principles of Network and System Administration by Mark Burgess (author of cfengine), 2000, Addison-Wesley. The idea behind the two books is the same though - as Burgess points out, "being a system administrator is as much a state of mind as it is being about being knowledgeable."
"Applications developed in Perl or C, the languages of the linux community have proven to be slow, unreliable, insecure and headaching complicated. Once developed and debugged, nobody is able to understand the code." C as far as effiency and speed is one of the best languages out there. Any computer science major knows this. As far as "headachingly complicated," yes C requires more knowledge and skill that's why companies hire programmers who know their shit. I would certainly hope that a company wasnt trusting their code to be written by a Gartner Group analyst. A language is about giving the programmer the tools needed to build a great application. If the application is crap I can tell you that it is 99.9% probability that the programmer doesnt know how to write code. Especially in the case of such a powerful language as C.
Go Illini!!!
Ironic, considering that Sun's approach in the beginning was to *not* be in the hardware business.
Unlike IBM, HP, or DEC, Sun's claim to fame was that they didn't manufacture or design any of their own hardware. They would simply assemble components produced by third parties.
For those that would die defending it, Freedom
has a sweet taste that the protected will never know.