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Automating Unix and Linux Administration
From the outset, Bauer takes a straightforward and principled approach to problem analysis. Usually starting with anecdotal example scenarios (many of which will have you saying "been there before") and progressing through ideals, goals and consequences, he examines many of the common issues facing system administrators with candor and realism. Almost nowhere in the book does the author assume an authoritarian stance; he questions his own decision making process and encourages the reader to come up with exceptions to his rules. Fundamentally Bauer has one goal -- to develop a comprehensive system for reliably automating the tedious but important tasks that all system administrators face on a recurring basis.
Admittedly, it would be a fallacy for any book to claim complete and comprehensive coverage of all things related to system administration and Bauer does no such thing. When the author touches on topics that obviously require more depth than a single chapter can afford, he is certain to include at least one reference (and in many instances more) to alternate publications without bias to any particular publisher or author. Having said that, the book's scope and depth of topic coverage is impressive. Starting with an exhaustive examination of SSH and progressing through cfengine, NFS, LDAP, RPM and Tripwire (just to name a few) Bauer provides carefully detailed instruction on how to automate tasks ranging from simple network management and software packaging to security, monitoring and backups. The author even goes so far as to suggest methods for efficiently front-ending automation systems for the less technical of users.
Although not expressly stated in the text, the overall theme of the book is walk on the shoulders of giants. Starting with simple example scripts (in both Bash and Perl) and many single-line commands, Bauer builds on the content of each previous chapter as the book progresses. Examples shown in early chapters are incorporated into more complex systems one step at a time. Following along is easy, each script or command is detailed on a line-by-line basis, and because of Bauer's principle-based approach the reader is rarely left wondering why the author has chosen a particular tool or implementation. More often than not the elegance of how Bauer pieces together methods and procedures will excite you about the possibilities for automation of your own systems.
Although Bauer explicitly states that readers are presumed to have more than a modicum of experience in system administration, even the novice administrator, as well as those that are responsible for only a handful of machines, will find this book invaluable. Also included are three appendices which provide an easy introduction to basic shell tools, creating your own RedHat distribution and how to package software as RPMs. These portions of the book alone justify the less than $40 price tag, but for those who run clusters or data centers, this book stands to save you countless hours of repetitive headaches. Published by apress and boasting nearly 600 pages, this lively read has made itself a permanent addition to at least one reference library.
You can purchase Automating Unix and Linux Administration from bn.com. Slashdot welcomes readers' book reviews -- to see your own review here, read the book review guidelines, then visit the submission page.
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The hidden cost of this is supporting a company that will stifle software innovation by abusing a failing patent system.
Nah, the girls say:
/with my apologies to bob saget
"I sucked dick for UNIX! Have you ever sucked dick for Windows?"
FUCK YOU JON KATZ.. GO BACK INTO YOUR FUCKING HOLE!
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by Anonymous Coward on Thursday October 09, @01:14PM
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by Anonymous Coward on Thursday October 09, @01:14PM
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Yeah, right. In your dreams. Chicks suck dick for one reason only: they feel like riding it.
Ask your girlfriend/wife. That's the only reason why they bother stuffing your disgusting man missile in their mouth.
Can anyone get cinerama tickets?
the movietickets link seems to be down?
need info.....
please IM me if you have any info.
Former NJ Governor/Head of EPA has been found dead at age 56, in her NJ home. The cause of her death is still unknown. You may resent her for being a person who only got anywhere on the political ladder because of her rich friends, but look at all the good she has done.
Well, there's also jewelry
just kidding, we'll all still have to do yOUR part to disempower unprecedented evile, aka, the grreed/fear based southern baptist freemason georgewellian fuddites, aka, payper liesense corepirate nazi stock markup FraUD execrable, aka, the walking dead.
the lights are coming up now. lookout bullow.
for each of the creator's innocents harmed, there is a badtoll that must/will be repaid by you/US. the perpetrators of the life0cide inflicted on humankind, buy the felonious georgewellian corepirate nazi/walking dead contingent, will not be available to make reparations, after the big flash.
consult with/trust in yOUR creator.... that's the spirit, moving you.
Point well taken.
there was a big announcement that I submitted regarding Rambus.o ry&u=/zd/ 20031007/tc_zd/109033
http://story.news.yahoo.com/news?tmpl=st
WhatMeWorry?
You obviously didn't get the reference to Half Baked. The guy goes into a NA meeting because he thinks he's addicted to marijuana. He introduces himself and says that he's addicted to weed.
Everyone in room is like WTF? Bob Saget's character gets up and says "I used to suck dick for coke. Have you ever sucked dick for weed?"
Watch the movie, its great. And also, chicks will suck dick for coke. At least the stripper-types anyways.
from the grasping_for_something_to_say_besides_innovation dept.
Viruses are becoming increasingly more sophisticated and the time between the delivery of a patch from Microsoft until hackers figure out workarounds is becoming dangerously short. In the case of the Blaster virus it was 25 days, Ballmer said
"When it gets down to five or 10 days a lot of our users will be in a tough position. Their [hackers'] exploits are getting more sophisticated," Ballmer said.