You can't go wrong having this book. It has already helped me solve a couple of problems I was having with Ubuntu Linux. I am not an administrator but a home user and this book has already come in handy. It's not a bad addition to any Linux library.

It is a great handbook. It covers all the major Linux flavors on the market. The book is easy to follow with ton of information. I recommend it.

This book is a good handbook. I am using it as part of a course of Operating Systems and C++ programing. It cover very good the main aspects that an student need to know about Linux Administrations, and is a good start point to search in a deep for specific documentation about any particular Linux topic. Similar than the Unix administration Handbook, this book explain the main aspects in the most popular Linux flavors.

The authors have a complete and consistent way to cover each topic in the different chapters.

This book is extremely well written and packed full of useful tidbits. It is not a collection of "HOWTOS", but rather an informative guide to Linux administration. It provides easy to understand explanations of the various aspects of the job. This is a must have book for any entry level to junior Linux sysadmin.

This book was a gift for my son in CA who works for Yahoo. He actually had the book on his Wish List at the top! He received it for his December birthday, and loves it. I wouldn't be surprised if he has it on the plane he and his wife are in, heading for a week in Thailand. It was Greek to me, but he loves it!

Book showed up quickly. In very good shape (like new for my needs). All in all I'm very happy with everything.

The Linux Administration Handbook by Evi Nemeth is a very in depth look at the subject, from the ground up, so to speak. They cover right from the start, and do point out a few distributions, and things like that.

The only problem I can see is that you probably will want this to be longer!

The only Linux book you'll need. I took this book to work with me and it has helped me with the not too common issues that come up as well as being a good teaching guide for newbies. This book covers all the major distributions.

If you just started with Linux or you are an old UNIX/Linux users you can find something in this book to learn. It's a well done book written in plain English. It's always on my desk and I have the one they wrote about UNIX as well. So if you want to learn a little about Linux and think you need a "Dummies" book then head over to this one cause it's a dirt up to your elbows kind of book that will help you learn Linux from the ground up.

This is an excellent reference to any kind of Linux you may be using. It is well written, with many ideas to avoid pitfalls based on the experience of the author's. Humor is sprinkled throughout and the book is written in easy to understand, concise language. Make sure you buy it at Amazon because other retailers refuse to give discounts that amount to anything substantial. This is a great book for your Administration library as well.

--- DISCLAIMER: This is a requested review by PTR, however any opinions expressed within the review are my personal ones. ---


4 Years ago I used the LAH (1st Edition) as an intermediate user on work and was quite impressed with the lots of technical information. Now its almost 5 years after the 1st Edition came out and I have the privilege to review the 2nd Edition.

While I dont have the 1st Edition next to me while writing the review this are the impressions recalled from my memories how the books contents changed towards the 2nd edition.

I think the 1st edition gave the impression of a hands down book filled with many straight-to-use technical advice, while the 2nd edition version is tending to be less technical but rather offering more whole sighted professional overview like explanations (methods).

This comes with its benefits and its downsides.

1) The COVERED topics are explained very nicely and easily understandable, especially for novice users.

2) Many topics can not be covered at all or as depth as advanced readers would like to see them.

f.e. The very first topic I approached was something simple as "Adding a hard disc" (Chapter 7).

I was surprised that the book spends a luxury 40 !! pages on that topic alone.

The explanations are very well written and so I started to read the chapter.

Unfortunately the chapter lacks info f.e. about NAS, SAN, SAS, a Software vs. Hardware raid comparison etc. which I found a bit disappointing after the technology is out there now for years.

Summary:

if I recall that correctly than the books contents shifted from more technical focused contents in the 1st Edition towards technical-educational contents in the 2nd Edition. This is going to be very helpful for teachers and tutors in colleges and high schools and laboratories.

Technicians and engineers might still find it a valuable introduction, which lays the ground if you quickly need to brush up on a topic.

I assume that PTR was trying to focus with the 2nd version on a healthy balance of basic technical issues.

Advanced readers (3+ years usage of Linux) might find that the book doesnt offer enough "meat" for them for their everyday work.

There is a lack of certain topics like f.e NAS, SAN, SAS, SE Linux, grsecurity, ...

Specific topics will need to be read up on the internet or additional books.

Overall it seems like the book got a brush up, but also a whopping extra 100+ pages were added it doesnt seem like to much contents was added. I cant help it but got the feeling that the book is 2-3 years behind - if not all than at least on advanced technical issues.

However there is ONE AREA WHERE THE BOOK REALLY SHINES.
The current included contents will serve useful for educational teacher or tutors at colleges or SOHO environments.

I was not particularly impressed with this book compared to the third edition of UNIX Administration Handbook (which I hold in higher esteem) and which is much thinner.

Although the LINUX Administration Handbook has 200 pages more, it seems more like an excerpt of the above.

I was amazed that in the 1000 pages(!) of the book, only one page was mentioning SElinux -- although there is a dedicated section about "Linux Security". Many distributions switch on SElinux by default.
How can the authors have missed writing about SElinux, where this is an integral part of all new kernels, and it's an integral part of securing LINUX?

I was also amazed that the section about LDAP and OpenLDAP is very thin as well.
The section about "Wireless Networking" is totally inadequate for providing any practical help with setting up clients on laptops.

Looking at the book makes me wonder if the authors get payed by the page, rather than content.

This book seems more like "cut + paste" art, than a complete LINUX reference.

I agree with 'Book Reader "JRR"'s assessment: the authors seem to be out-of-touch with LINUX / UNIX.

I was not particularly impressed with this book compared to the third edition of UNIX Administration Handbook (which I hold in higher esteem) and which is much thinner.

Although the LINUX Administration Handbook has 200 pages more, it seems more like an excerpt of the above.

I was amazed that in the 1000 pages(!) of the book, only one page was mentioning SElinux -- although there is a dedicated section about "Linux Security". Many distributions switch on SElinux by default.
How can the authors have missed writing about SElinux, where this is an integral part of all new kernels, and it's an integral part of securing LINUX?

I was also amazed that the section about LDAP and OpenLDAP is very thin as well.
The section about "Wireless Networking" is totally inadequate for providing any practical help with setting up clients on laptops.

Looking at the book makes me wonder if the authors get payed by the page, rather than content.

This book seems more like "cut + paste" art, than a complete LINUX reference.

I agree with 'Book Reader "JRR"'s assessment: the authors seem to be out-of-touch with LINUX / UNIX.

One of the best informational books that I've ever read.

This book is good on theory, but is weak on application and implementation.
The book reads well, but when I try to apply or implement the described utilities the necessary details are not there.

This book may work for a class where the tests are given as paper exams, but is weak if you are going to set up an actual machine. Wondering about why this book would be this way I looked at the "About the Authors" section and discovered why:
Evi Nemeth is retired and sailing her sailboat.
Garth Snyder is now an MD.
Trent R. Hein is running a company.

I admire their accomplishments and wish them the best of luck.
However, they have lost touch with Linux. Linux is very dynamic and requires constant attention to keep up with. It appears that they don't have time to stay in touch with Linux. My guess is that they are cutting and pasting from their old books, and maybe have some cheap college students ghost writing for them.

I recommend reading the Linux books by Negus, Sobell, and Jang.

Administering a Linux environment (or *any* environment, for that matter) requires you to be a master of many different skills. But since you can't know everything, you'll need some help. This is a classic... Linux Administration Handbook (2nd Edition) by Evi Nemeth, Barth Snyder, and Trent R. Hein. One of the most practical books on the subject I've seen...

Contents:
Section 1 - Basic Administration: Where to Start; Booting and Shutting Down; Rootly Powers; Controlling Processes; The Filesystem; Adding New Users; Adding a Disk; Periodic Processes; Backups; Syslog and Log Files; Software and Configuration Management
Section 2 - Networking: TCP/IP Networking; Routing; Network Hardware; DNS - The Domain Name System; The Network File System; Sharing System Files; Electronic Mail; Network Management and Debugging; Security; Web Hosting and Internet Servers
Section 3 - Bunch O' Stuff: The X Window System; Printing; Maintenance and Environment; Performance Analysis; Cooperating with Windows; Serial Devices; Drivers and the Kernel; Daemons; Management, Policy, and Politics
Index; About the Contributors; About the Authors

Now when I think of "handbook", I normally envision something relatively small and thin... facts only. Not this book! At 1000 pages, it occupies a chunk of space on the bookshelf, but it's space well utilized. Rather than regurgitating the documentation manual for all the Linux utilities, the authors cut to the chase and go straight to practical explanations. They'll tell you, based on their experience, what works and what doesn't. The target audience is someone who is already relatively familiar with Linux, but needs to administer it in a production environment. There's not much wasted space with handholding and tutorials. Furthermore, they try and cover most of the popular Linux server distributions: Red Hat Enterprise (4.3 ES), Fedora Core (5), SUSE Linux Enterprise (10.2), Debian GNU/Linux (3.2 "Etch"), and Ubuntu (6.06). By using icons for each distro in the margins, you can quickly focus in on specific information for your particular environment. That seemed to make the wealth of information presented even more valuable, as I could "at a glance" figure out where I needed to read.

If your day job involves making a Linux system run smoothly, you owe it to yourself and your users to have a copy of this nearby...

I love this book. As a computer science major, I constantly have to read terrible textbooks. Why, oh why, can't engineers writer? Well, here's a group that can. It's actually enjoyable to read this book. It's not for learning Linux from scratch, as it does not include details of many commands; however, with my limited unix/linux knowledge, I found it an easy read.

This is a GREAT book. [2nd edition, pub'd 10/2006]

Like any good sysadmin book, it describes the nuts and bolts details of how to operate and manage various Linux facilities--booting, filesystems, backups, networking, services, mail, logging, security, printing, and many more. There's enough detail to understand the task well, plus plenty of explicit references to materials that treat subjects in more depth. Furthermore, the information seems to be quite current and well-integrated--this is not a second edition produced by adding a "what's new since 2002" appendix.

However, what makes the book stand head and shoulders above its brethren is that it deals in CONCEPTS and explains WHY you might (or might not) want to use a particular software package, networking facility, backup procedure, package repository, e-mail server, etc. For anyone who has ever pondered "sendmail or postfix", then tried to figure out the answer by reading reference documentation and HOWTOs, it's a godsend. The authors often have clear preferences, and they're very up-front about them, so as not to interfere with presentation of facts about alternatives. In addition to technical topics, there is also a lot of discussion of how to be an effective administrator--both explicitly in the final chapter, and woven through the technical materials.

The writing is witty, gentle, and highly accessible. I found no typos or technical errors. There are extensive and helpful cross-references, so it is easy to start in the middle and learn about a specific topic. I just wish it came in hardcover!

All that said, there are two areas where I think coverage could be better:

1) Many Linux distributions come with GUI tools for routine administration, but the book says very little about them. Although the full Linux administrative interface is through configuration files and commands, those tools can help perform many tasks, and it would have been useful to have at least an identification of the GUI tools and their limitations. Such guidance is particularly important because of the potential for GUI tools to silently override configuration choices made by previous config file edits.

2) A lot of administrative tasks involve setting things up to happen during the boot process or periodically. Although there is are excellent chapters on those topics in general, it would have been helpful in other chapters to have more explicit instructions on precisely how to enable or set up such activities (e.g., which links to create in /etc/rc.X, where to put site-specific initializations, etc.). The book does answer many of those questions, but I think it could be more comprehensive.

Those are minor cavils, though. This is a GREAT book.

[A review of the 2nd EDITION, published in 2006.]

Ok, the back cover has an endorsement, "The most successful sysadmin book of all time". This is hyperventilating that you might not want to take literally. But having said that, the text is a very comprehensive distillation of what a linux sysadmin could be expected to perform. Crucial tasks like backup, adding users and disks, and understanding the makeup of the linux filesystem are explained in detail. Not quite to the depth that you can modify the actual source code of a linux implementation; but that is far more specialised knowledge for other texts.

Another interesting aspect is the analysis of various network protocols. It dumps on FDDI, ATM, Frame Relay and [to a lesser extent] ISDN. The authors have quite strong opinions on the failings of those protocols. Quite a contrast to networking books that might give these protocols much technical explanations, but not divulge the drawbacks that emerged when the protocols were deployed.

Unlike many sysadmin books, this one also has exercises in each chapter, that expand on the chapter's themes.

Alright folks, this is the update to a book that was already a bestseller. Again, as with the previous edition the authors deal with the nitty gritty of linux administration. I got this book only yesterday and read thru the first 300 pages of it and I must tell you that this book's a gem when it comes to dealing with the specifics of system administration. As the authors rightly claim, this book is not for someone running a linux machine at home OR for someone trying to learn how to login. It is meant for the person that was either a windoze admin before or has some experience with *NIX and is trying to be a LINUX sys admin. If you are that person, then this book is a _must_have_ in my opinion. The authors clearly know what they are talking about. Having this book by your side is like having a linux expert on a dreary sunday afternoon with your linux file-server down at work but you have that confidence that you will have the server back up and be home for sunday night football. I always thought that I knew the mechanics of WHY for most of the common elements in Linux administration but, boy, was I wrong! This book will reveal some mysteries that are only gained after being a sys admin for a long time. Well worth the money!!

P

this is extremly good book for anyone who is new to moderately experienced in linux. instead of going through all the howto and man pages this book does the job well.
extremely well written for subject like system administration.