[svlug] Best newbie Administrator book?

[J C Lawrence]

On Tue, 1 Aug 2000 10:59:19 +0200 
Ivan Sergio Borgonovo <mail at gorilla.it> wrote:

> OK an administrator CAN'T be a newbie.  but any suggestion? I've
> finished to read Linux Maximum security and I don't feel better.

There are several tool-type books that are worth it.  The following
is a list by Dick zuccarini I happen to have preserved from a long
earlier thread on RIME (1991 FWIW):

--<cut>--
PERSONAL FAVORITES:

"A User Guide To The UNIX System", by Rebecca Thomas, Phd.,
Osborne/McGraw-Hill.  This is, in my opinion, the best introductory text
to the UNIX operating system.  It takes the novice user through the UNIX
system with ample examples.  It starts with the basic utilities and
editors, and continues through the directory structure, mail system,
uucp, and a cursory overview of system administration.  I give this book
to new users, and it is usually the most dog eared volume on the shelf.

"Exploring The UNIX System", Kochan & Wood, Hayden Books.
This is another overview of the UNIX system, which is perhaps less of a
tutorial, but very well written.  The style is a little less readable,
but very clear nonetheless.

"UNIX Networking", Edited by Kochan & Woods, Hayden.
This is a compendium of overview articles written by noted experts in
the area of UNIX networking from academia and industry.  Since most of
the open systems protocols started here, and then moved to other OS,
this is useful for OS/2 users as well as TCP/IP, NFS, Streams, RFS, and
even OS/2 to UNIX lans are covered in this volume. (And much more)

"The Waite Group's UNIX Communications", by Anderson, Costales, &
Henderson, SAMS.
This is a thorough coverage of UNIX mail, news, uucp, and related topics
including some of the more popular free utilities such as the Elm and
Mush mail shells, various newsreaders, kermit, xmodem, arc, etc.
Everyone who owns or considering a UNIX system would do well to read
this, and if you own one, it deserves a place on the shelf.

"Managing uucp And usenet", Todino & O'Reilly, O'Reilly & Associates.
This is pretty much of a nuts and bolts approach to getting the system
up and running.  It is one of O'Reilly's "Nutshell Handbook" series.  My
copy is 241 pages, spiral bound, and slightly out of date.  It covers
everything from versions of uucp, how uucp works, setting up uucp, the
physical connection, security, installing netnews, and news
adminsitration.  It is not the tutorial that the Waite Group's book is,
but is intended more as a desk reference.  It even contains sections on
how to build cables, reference charts for RS-232 showing max length vs
baud rate, and much more.

"The Waite Group UNIX System V Bible", Prata & Martin, SAMS.
This is probably an intermediate text.  It wont frighten anyone who is
moderately computer literate, is very thorough, and covers the OS better
than most entry level texts.  It won't make a UNIX wizard out of you,
but it is an excellent book.

HEAVY DUTY UNIX STUFF:
======================

"The UNIX Programming Environment", Kernighan & Pike, Prentice-Hall.
This is the CLASSIC text on UNIX for programmers, written by one of the
originators.  NOT FOR THE FAINT AT HEART, but an excellent reference.

"Advanced UNIX: A Programmers Guide", Prata & Waite Group, SAMS.
This is an introduction to shell scripts, system calls, and C
programming with UNIX.  A good systematic introduction to the elements
of programming in the UNIX environment.

"UNIX Programmers Reference", Valley, QUE.
This is a good entry level tutorial.  Like most of the Que series, it is
a little more "lightweight" than the stuff from SAMS, McGraw-Hill, and
Prentice-Hall.  Very readable for anyone with a knowledge of any
programming langage, especially C.  Covers basics of multi-user OS from
day one, evolution of UNIX, file systems, process control, components of
the UNIX kernal, interprocess communication, the standard libraries,
UNIX & MS DOS including facitilities they have in common as well as
differences.  It describes program development in the UNIX environment,
including program maintenance and the source code control system, the
make facility, various code analysis tools such as cb, cflow, lint,
etc.  Examples are given of writing filters, UNIX commands, devices,
files, special files and pipes, and programming serial devices, as well
as signals and interprocess communication.  All in all it is a
reasonably thorough introduction to the basic facilities of the UNIX
environment.  For someone whose experience is primarily DOS or OS/2,
with no experience on other mulit-user systems, this would be a good
initial introduction to programming under UNIX.

"Tricks Of The UNIX Masters", Sage, SAMS.
This is a collection of tricks, tips, and techniques for tuning and
getting the most out of a UNIX system, and customizing your environment.
Useful for experienced users and system administrators.
This is not an introductory text.

"UNIX Papers", The Waite Group, SAMS.
This is a collection of papers on UNIX, including many state-of-the-art
developments and programming tips and utilities for everything from
communications to system adminstration.  This is not an introductory
text.

There are dozens of UNIX books out there, on various topics ranging from
security and system administration to shell programming, and the various
system utilities.  The ones listed should give you more information than
you need for an initial look see.  AT&T, SCO, Microsoft, Novell, and
Interactive Systems all have information on using Lan Manager and
Portable Netware on UNIX.
--<cut>--

Unfortunately my *nix library is still in boxes (and I don't know
which, yet), or I'd pull titles from there.

> I'm interested in security AND network administration too.

I specifically recommend the Cheswick and Bellovin Firewalls book.
Astounding work.  I also have a small collection of security-related
URLs I find useful under

  http://www.kanga.nu/~claw/

(They'll be moving somewhere else in a bit as I finish some WikiWiki
work).

-- 
J C Lawrence                                 Home: claw at kanga.nu
---------(*)                               Other: coder at kanga.nu
http://www.kanga.nu/~claw/        Keys etc: finger claw at kanga.nu
--=| A man is as sane as he is dangerous to his environment |=--