• Recommended Reading List (5/1/01)

    From Moderator@1:2320/100 to All on Sun Apr 1 03:57:18 2007
    NOTE: Most of the publications in this listing have been reissued as newer editions. If you have detailed information about the current edition,
    including date, number of pages, ISBN, and current price, please post the information in this echo and I'll update this list accordingly.

    NOTE (7/1/03) -- Obviously it has been a very long time since I updated
    this document. I promise to do a thorough update to it this summer.

    UNIX ADMINISTRATION
    ===================

    * Nemeth, Evi, et.al. _Unix(r) System Administration Handbook, 3rd edition_, Prentice Hall, 2000, ISBN 0-13-020601-6, Price: N/A

    I just received a notice of the 3rd edition being published in 2000. I've
    not yet seen it, but I'll be visiting my bookstore this week to look for
    it. The description below is for the 2nd edition. I would imagine the basic content is the same, except that it is most likely updated for the current versions. For example, Solaris 7, HP-UX 11, the BSD tree is probably
    expanded to include the free BSDs. I'll update these paragraphs as soon as
    I obtain my copy of the book. Thanks to Oleg Lobachev for the updated info!

    This book is the basic "bible" of Unix SysAdmin. It's a general Unix overview, but makes special notes with regard to six flavors of Unix: Solaris 2.4, SunOS 4.1.3, HP-UX 9.0, DEC OSF/1 2.0, IRIX 5.2, and BSD/OS 1.1 (the authors also note that almost all information is accurate for BSD/OS 2.0 also).
    The book covers Booting/Shutdown, Root Powers, Filesystems, System Processes,
    Adding New Users, Devices and Drivers, Serial Devices, Adding Disks, Periodic Processes (at, batch, cron), Backups, Syslog/Log Files, Kernel Configuration, TCP/IP & Routing, Network Hardware, DNS, NFS, NIS, SLIP/PPP, The Internet, Electronic Mail (including 50 pages on v8 sendmail), Network Management, Security, Usenet, Printing/Imaging, Disk Space Management, Hardware Maintenance,
    System Accounting, Performance Analysis, UUCP, Daemons, and Policy/Politics.

    * Rosen, Kenneth, et.al., _UNIX System V Release 4: An Introduction_, Osborne/McGraw-Hill, 1990, 1228pp, ISBN 0-07-881552-5, Price: $29.95

    This was the book (actually it's predecessor) that I cut my teeth on. Unless you're working in an exclusively BSD environment this is an excellent resource to have on hand. Even for SVR3.2 SCO users, there is much in this book that can be beneficial -- if you just ignore the SVR4 filesystem changes.
    The book is divided into seven parts covering essentially the same information in the Nemeth book, although with a direct SVR4 slant. In addition, this book also includes chapters on Text Editing/Processing, Shell Programming, the X Environment, and Applications Development.

    * Frisch, AEleen, _Essential System Administration_, O'Reilly and Associates, Inc., 1991/1995, 758pp, ISBN 1-56592-127-5, Price: $32.95

    This book covers a slightly wider range of flavors (and newer versions) than Nemeth; the list includes SunOS 4.1.4, Solaris 2.4, AIX 4, Digital UNIX 3, SCO UNIX 3, HP-UX 9 and 10, IRIX 6, and Linux 1.3.
    The book includes sixteen chapters with topics essentially the same as the previous two books, but with a slant more towards the needs of the novice administrator (as are almost all O'Reilly publications). One particular note is the individual sections on Configurating and Building Kernels for each of the eight flavors covered.

    * Arthur, Lowell Jan & Ted Burns, _Unix Shell Programming, 3rd edition_, Wiley &
    Sons, 1994, 460pp, ISBN 0-471-59941-7, Price: $29.95

    If you're looking for the definitive guide to Shell Programming, this is the book. Fourteen chapters divided into three parts titled "Shell for the Novice", "Shell Programming for Results", and "Shell Programming for Mastery" cover every
    aspect of shell programming from simple tasks for the novice user up to complex scripting environments for the master administrator.


    TCP/IP ADMINSTRATION
    ====================

    * Comer, Douglas E., _Internetworking with TCP/IP: Volume I: Principles, Protocols, and Architecture, Prentice Hall, 1995, 613pp, ISBN 0-13-216987-8, Price: N/A

    Note: The second edition of this book was published in 2000. It's at my office, and I've failed to bring it home to add it to this list if you're reading this on 3/1/2002 or later. I do know there are new chapters, specifically with regard to IPv6 and Voice-over-IP.

    This is the "bible" of TCP/IP. If you plan to do anything at all with TCP/IP other than be a casual users of Internet-based services, you need to read this book cover to cover. (There are two additional Volumes for the person with designs as a TCP/IP programmer.)
    The book covers the history, design, and concepts of the protocol suite, internet addressing, ARP/RARP, datagrams, routing protocols, ICMP, subnetting and supernetting, protocol layering, UDP, TCP, GGP, EGP, RIP, OSPF, HELLO, IGMP, ATM, Client-Server, Sockets, BOOTP, DHCP, DNS, Telnet/RLogin, FTP/TFTP/NFS, RFC822/SMTP/MIME, SNMP/SNMP2, Internet Security & Firewall Design,
    IPng/IPv6, and a 45 page guide to RFCs.

    * Albitz, Paul & Cricket Liu, _DNS and BIND, 4nd edition_, O'Reilly & Associates, 1992/1997, 601pp, ISBN 0-00596-00158-4, Price: 44.95

    If you're planning to build, design, administer, implement, or use Domain Name Services, you need to read at least the first two chapters of this book. The book takes the reader step by step through the design and implementation of a DNS server.

    * Hunt, Craig, _TCP/IP Network Administration, O'Reilly & Associates, 1992, 473pp, ISBN 0-937175-82-X, Price: $32.95

    This is the hands on, get the first host up and running, book. For most Unix administrators who've read one of the above Unix books, there probably isn't much new information in this book. However, for a novice Unix user, or a first time Linux administator, or possibly even a non-Unix TCP/IP user, this is a good
    basic, general overview of what's involved in making a host communicate on the 'net.


    --- SendMsg/2

    --- Squish/386 v1.11
    # Origin: The Enchanted Forest * Houston, Texas (1:3830/2)
    * Origin: LiveWire BBS - Synchronet - LiveWireBBS.com (1:2320/100)