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Choosing a Unix System Administration Textbook?

Posted by timothy on from the think-unix-needs-an-update dept.

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 The previous instructor was using a very outdated textbook, and I'm trying to find one that is a bit more advanced and useful for my students.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?"

2 of 57 comments (clear)

  1. Recommendations by Saint+Aardvark · · Score: 5, Informative

    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.)

    --
    Carousel is a lie!
  2. The Practice of System and Network Administration by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 4, Informative

    '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