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Choosing a Unix System Administration Textbook?
Smantha writes "I recently began teaching a Unix System Administration course at a community college. The previous instructor was using a very outdated textbook, and I'm trying to find one that is a bit more advanced and useful for my students. They are required to take a 100-level Unix class before this one and are familiar with the basics of using the command line. I'm looking for something that covers topics such as OS installation, software/package installation, user management, system administration tools, troubleshooting techniques and tools, service configuration (network services, for example) and some miscellaneous topics such as compression/archive tools, grep, make, and the like. What books have you found to be good references on your desk? What books have been good for learning these sorts of topics?"
First off, you can't go wrong with Essential System Administration, 3rd Edition by Aeleen Frisch. Really, really excellent book.
But just as important as the specifics of Unix, I'd argue, is the general question of how to be a good sysadmin. ("Start by installing Linux" is my usual smart-ass answer, but I'll skip that for right now...) The Practice of System and Network Administration, 2nd Edition, by Tom Limoncelli, Christine Hogan and Strata Chalup, is a truly excellent book about how to be a good sysadmin in the general case. I can't recommend it enough. (BTW, the link for the book comes from the authors' website, so I presume it throws them a few nickels if you buy it that way.)
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Linux+ guide to linux certification http://www.amazon.com/Linux%2B-Guide-Linux-Certification-Second/dp/0619216212/ref=pd_bbs_sr_1?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1208645101&sr=8-1 It worked very well and is extremely comprehensive. With some linux experience, you might have to jump around a bit in the beginning. Avoid the activities at the end of the chapters though, just use the included labsim software. The book is a little pricey and the labsim does not work in wine, but the book is very concise and readable and progresses in a logical order.
I tend to find Mark Sobell's books excellent, in that they are plain-spoken and *not boring*
Someone up there mentioned "Install linux" as a snarky answer. There's no substitute for hands-on. Even for those that don't want to actually install Linux, there are Live CDs and VMWare images.
Oh yeah, and just because something is old doesn't mean it's useless. Sometimes the old stuff saves one's butt when you can't find a click-and-drool interface for what you need to do. Look at the butt-saving stuff in the old textbook and see if the new texts cover 'em.
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BMO
'tis a good textbook - I use it for the SysAdmin class that i'm teaching.
Revolving around install/configure/run a Debian VMWare machine, sitting on the live internet.
this textbook provides useful stuff that students wouldn't find in the how-to on the internet - the kind of stuff you'd want to know before becoming a sysadmin.
The one other resource i'd love my students to master is google.
pointless questions solved with one quick google search
arrg, why dont they teach Effective Google searching in CS1000
The sysadmin class I'm taking right now uses Essential System Administration. Its doesn't function as a textbook in the same vain as math textbooks, but for required reading dished out by the teacher I think it works quite well.
while man and info are useful to find out what something does or how to use it, A short course at my uni on Unix taught me a lot more on the basics than I expected. The teacher did refer us to man & info for more information and apropos to find commands, but he did have a lot of useful information that cant be found in manuals or specifications.
p.s also choose bash/tsh based on your audience, if its a mac crowd tsh is going to be more useful but if its a linux crowd stick with bash
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