Ready to truly master Linux system administration? Rely on the book that's been tested and proven by more than 50,000 Web users and Linux trainers worldwide: Paul Sheer's LINUX:Rute User's Tutorial and Exposition. Sheer presents in-depth, real-world coverage of every key aspect of system administration, with any leading distribution. He even provides detailed cross-references to LPI and RHCE certification topics, making this book an exceptionally useful resource for exam preparation. Sheer presents in-depth, real-world coverage of every key aspect of system administration: user management, security, package management, kernel configuration, working with key Linux tools, filesystem organization, device configuration, and much more. The book covers Linux configuration files in extraordinary detail, and presents comprehensive tutorials on networking and Internet services -- including TCP/IP, routing, mail, Samba, and DNS name server configuration. Unlike many competitive guides, it also contains coverage of shell scripting and C programming, giving working sysadmins powerful tools for streamlining their work.
The key difference between Microsoft Windows and Unix is that Windows is meant to be easy to learn, while Unix is meant to compensate for a steep learning curve by providing extraordinary flexibility to knowledgeable users.
Linux: Rute User's Tutorial and Exposition is the best book on the market in terms of flattening that learning curve. The author, Paul Sheer, uses this book as the text for a class he teaches, and its instructional value is unquestionable. Rather than attempt to make analogies for the way things are done in Windows or in Mac OS, or try to satisfy readers' requirements with mere recipes, Sheer tries to inculcate his readers into the Linux way of thinking. The idea is that work gets done differently in Linux, and you have to get a few concepts clear in order to work effectively in the environment.
Take, for example, Sheer's discussion of the /etc/passwd file, which is at the core of user authentication. He provides a listing of a typical /etc/passwd file, then explains what each element on each line is for. This leads smoothly into a discussion of /etc/shadow, the shadow password file, and its capacity for hiding passwords behind a one-way hash algorithm.
Sheer's prose is unfailingly clear and detailed, which is good because he's chosen to omit graphics altogether (which means, incidentally, that this book focuses on the command shell--bash, to be precise--and even the chapter on X Windows lacks screen shots). Aside from a few weird typographical choices--a tiny picture of a penguin invariably follows the word "Linux" in body text--this is a faultless book. The CD-ROM contains a comprehensive HTML copy of the paper book--every last paragraph and table--appears on the disk. --David Wall
Topics covered: how to be a competent Linux user, familiar with the command line, key utilities like sed, and important related skills like C programming, shell scripting and regular expression creation. There's coverage of server software--notably httpd, sendmail and exim, and coverage of the Postgres SQL server.
