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If you use this book as your primary study guide, expect to fail the exam. I used this book, on line training from Sun, and the Transcender test prep for this exam. I just took the exam and came away with a score of 50%. I've taken 10 other certification exams in my technical career (passing all of them on the first attempt) and this is the first one that I have failed.

The Solaris part 1 exam covered topics not included in this book.
Positive reviews of this book are misleading and outdated.
I saw many questions in the exam concerning dual boot, fssnap, ufsrestore, etc. that were not even covered in the book. I was not happy with this book after taking the test.
Too many typos in the book and practice exam to consider this a reliable source. Look elsewere for help with certification. Decent general Solaris info, but there are better books to assist admins on install, disk setup, backup and restore strategies.

I just took the part 1 exam (CX-310-200) today - 4/28/08 - and passed. So why only two stars? The book covered about 40% of the questions / materials on the actual test. The practice questions at the end of each chapter did not come close to representing the actual test. The practice exam on the CD did not come close either.

It was my years of experience working with Solaris that helped me pass the test.

If you are new to Solaris, do not depend on this book as the only study guide. If you do, even if you can memorize the book word for word, you WILL NOT PASS.

I bought this book with high expectations, but I am disappointed.

I am going to be looking for additional study materials to help me prepare for the part 2 exam.

I wasn't solaris certified before reading this book. Luckily I had ~10 years of experience with linux administration before taking this test. The book had a bunch of answers incorrect in the back of some sections. It's good for an overview, and it has some good examples, but I wouldn't recommend it for strict study. You need to do make sure you have access to Solaris machines for practice implementing the highlights.

This book barely covered the topics in either part of the test. I was able to pass test 1 barely after using this as my main study guide. Just took Test 2 two days ago, failed bad. Most of the questions were not covered in this book, some subjects not at all, others just an overview. Not enough depth to cover the test by far. This book is written in a way you can understand, as long as you can forgive some editting concerns, i.e. incomplete answers in the practice questions, directory names mispelled. Not a lot of them, but enough to annoy you when studying. All in all, its an acceptable study aid, as long as you use other methods as well, this book is no where near enough to get you past the test alone.

after i passed the cx-310-200 exam i bought this book for the second exam.(cx-310-202). after the second exam i saw that this book is good but not enough to take a score of %80 or over. with this book you can take a score of %65-%70.(to pass the exam you should get a score of min. %62). mostly the samples are taken from man pages.

This book is amazing. teachs all you need to know and how to do. perfect. my unique concern is a version of the cd content for mac os x. except this, which we can fix using parallels, I recomend this book 100%

Good, but not great. Unfortunately, this seems to be the best option for the Solaris 10 tests.

To prepare for the SCSA certification exams, I used this book and an eBook (SCSA Exam Quicklet) by the same author that contains five practice exams. I guess I downloaded it from BooksOnBoard. Based on these two resources, I have already passed the first exam and preparing for the second exam. I have found both of these books as excellent resources for the SCSA certification exam preparation. I agree with another reviewer that for now this is the de facto book on Solaris 10. The presentation style of the author also makes it a good reference book for learning basics of Solaris 10. Every term that appears is defined and the use of visuals makes the dry topics interesting and easy to understand.
This book covers topic well within the scope of the exam. For more advanced material, you can always check out the SUN docs.

To prepare for the SCSA certification exams, I used this book and an eBook (SCSA Exam Quicklet) by the same author that contains five practice exams. I guess I downloaded it from BooksOnBoard. Based on these two resources, I have already passed the first exam and preparing for the second exam. I have found both of these books as excellent resources for the SCSA certification exam preparation. I agree with another reviewer that for now this is the de facto book on Solaris 10. The presentation style of the author also makes it a good reference book for learning basics of Solaris 10. Every term that appears is defined and the use of visuals makes the dry topics interesting and easy to understand.
This book covers topic well within the scope of the exam. For more advanced material, you can always check out the SUN docs.

I purchased this book to be both a desktop reference and a study guide for certification. I have not taken the certification tests yet because I have serious doubts on the amount and quality of material covered in this text. The book is not indexed very well at all. Still looking for a good Solaris 10 reference guide for Unix Admins with experience in other flavors.

This book has some serious errors which are corrected on the author's errata page. It also lacks detail on some essential components like the SMF and some details of Zones and the like. I picked up the gaps by reading Sun's documentation, man pages and simply trying things on Solaris 10 machines and observing the impact. I'd say the book needs to grow a bit to be 'complete'.

I did pass. I think this is an OK to good book, but it needs to get better.

The utility of the book is diminished because the cd is designed to work on Windows computers only. How much nicer would it have been had the cd worked in Solaris as well.

Yes, there are typos in this book. If you are one of those people who throws a book out for that reason, then this is not the book for you. However, this is a very good book for both exam-prepping and for general reference. I used this book almost exclusively, and I managed to pass both exams. I expect my decoder ring in the mail within a few weeks. If you want a Solaris 10 book now, get this one. It is the best available. Maybe in a year or so, there will be another book that is the definitive on this subject, but for now, this is the one!

I have both the English and the Japanese versions of this book, and I love it. First, I used this book to obtain my SCSA Solaris 10 certification; now I use it to teach a basic Solaris course. This book is very easy to understand. It's an excellent exam study guide and a reference book to learn the basics of the Solaris 10 OS.
I recommend it highly.

I have both the English and the Japanese versions of this book, and I love it. First, I used this book to obtain my SCSA Solaris 10 certification; now I use it to teach a basic Solaris course. This book is very easy to understand. It's an excellent exam study guide and a reference book to learn the basics of the Solaris 10 OS.
I recommend it highly.

A co-worker and I are using this book and we also used the Solaris 8 and 9 book. All 3 of the publications were fairly good guides and will get you through the tests. Unfortunately there are a good amount of technical errors which to a beginner are very confusing. In almost all of the chapter exams there is at least one incorrect answer and then some really poorly written chapter exam questions too.

I dont know what other alternatives there are for this product line short of buying the expensive publications directly from Sun.

Overall the book is easy to read and covers the exam objectives quite well. I passed the 310-200 exam today and I plan on taking part II in a few weeks. I would recommend anyone interested in earning the SCSA for Solaris 10 buy this book, have access to a SPARC and X86 machine capable of running 5.10 and practice. You should do fine on the exams.

Overall the book is easy to read and covers the exam objectives quite well. I passed the 310-200 exam today and I plan on taking part II in a few weeks. I would recommend anyone interested in earning the SCSA for Solaris 10 buy this book, have access to a SPARC and X86 machine capable of running 5.10 and practice. You should do fine on the exams.

This book is enough for certificate but you will need additional complete refrence to be good admin

The author does a very good job of explaining the issues on a level that is easy to understand and learn. I passed Part 1 (haven't taken Part2, yet) on the first try with hardly an Unix experience. The thing is I passed, but barely. The test is extremely difficult. I'll continue to use this book initially, but will also focus on finding more sources for "practice exams" to help me prepare for Part 2. In other words, this book is good for getting familiar with the material, but you may want to acquire some additional sources to help you prepare.

have used this book to upgrade my Solaris Admin certification to Solaris 10. I've had a few versions of Solaris certifications, and I can say it for sure that this is the best SCSA certification book I have read so far. The author does an excellent job in staying true to the exam objectives and yet presenting the material as a cohesive course in basic Solaris 10 system administration. There is a perfect logical flow. The author starts each topic from scratch and covers it to an adequate depth, while defining and explaining all terms and concepts on the way. That makes it a self contained book.

Bottom line: I find all exam objectives adequately covered and the typos are not more than an average book (You can download the Errata available through a link on Author's AmazonConnect page.)

I recommend this book to all interested in Solaris 10 system administration.

I've taken and been a certified Sun Solaris administrator for many years. I decided to upgrade my certification to Solaris 10 and purchased this book as a reference. It's a good reference, but was not really a contributing factor in preparing for the exam.

I'm MUCH more impressed with Bill Calkin's Exam Prep books. I've used them in the past... scored very high on the exams... and would recommend those instead.

Passed both the exams (310-200 and 310-202) by studying just from this book. Feels great! Along the way, this book cleared many doubts and confusions that I had. I'm very pleased with my score on the exam, and with this book. Great book! It's going to stay in my shelf.

This is a great Solaris 10 system administration book. First, I used this book to prepare for the two exams to get my SCSA certification for Solaris 10, and yes, I passed the exams. Now, I'm using this book as a textbook for the Solaris 10 course that I treach to help others to learn basic Solaris 10 system administration. The nice thing about this book from my perspective is that I can teach the course without compromising my teaching style. I, like most of the teachers/trainers, would like to define concepts before diving into the thick of things, and I like to cover topics in a logical sequence. Students learn the most by making connections, to what they already know. The pieces should fit together nicely to build the big picture. This is exactly what this book does. Not only the chapters are in a perfect logical sequence, but so are the sections inside each chapter. I like it how the author starts each chapter by raising three points, the whole chapter revolves around those three points, the three points are concluded at the end of the chapter, and in the process you learn a topic with adequate depth without getting bored. I love the author's overall style: very refreshing. There are enough number of visuals/graphics that help understand a concept and make it stick.

Another thing that I like about this book is the commitment to the scope. Having involved in running some projects, I know the importance of scope management. Each course has a syllabus which is its scope like the scope of a project. Both the teacher and the project manager would fail to accomplish the objectives they were set out to accomplish, if they do not stick to the scope. For a basic course in Solaris system administration who can set the syllabus (scope) better than Sun itself? This book covers the Solaris 10 system administration within the scope set by Sun, that is, the exam objectives for the SCSA exams. You cannot teach everything in one course or in one book; if you try you will not be able to do justice with any topic. Because this book covers the scope set by the SCSA exam objectives, and presents the material in a classroom training fashion, that is why I use this book as a text book. After completing the course, the students can go out and take the SCSA exam if they wish: that's a bonus.

While preparing for the exam, I especially liked the following features: The Two-Minute Drill and From Inside the Exam that summarize the main points in the chapter from the exam view point, the Scenarios and Solutions that re-enforce important concepts in the form of an example or a short exercise, and the complete practice exams that come with the book.

This is a self contained book. So, if you have this book, you don't really need a teacher, but a book can never replace a teacher; we teachers always find ways to add value :-).

The author outlines the objectives in this book, but fails to adequately describe and teach them to the reader- here's why: I found myself constantly going back to Sun docs to verify everything I read. Especially when I started the practice exam on the CD-ROM. Things did not match up with what I read in the book earlier. I had to keep going back to docs.sun.com to verify things I've read earlier. I could of used docs.sun.com to prepare for the exam, but I bought the book to avoid going through that mess of documentation. I was really anoyyed that I had to keep referring back to the errata- it was very distracting. Not what I would expect from a study guide and poor editing is not excused on a book like this.

In the above Amazon PLOG, the author states "he's had the honor of helping Sun to develop the Sun Certified System Administrator for Solaris 10 certification." That's scary. Cmon'- did you help develop the certs or simply signup to take the beta exams like several hundred others. If you contributed to the exams, how do I know the questions/answers aren't as screwed up on the exam as they are in the book. I certainly hope Sun does not require me to use their errata as I take the exam.
2 stars for the effort (until I take the exam), but no stars for the book as an accurate study guide.

I've read the positive and the negative reviews about this book, and took the chance by buying the book. I do not regret because I have passed both the exams after preparing from this book. Here is my experience:
* Because I read the reviews about errors in the book, I downloaded the Errata (there is a link to Errata in Amazon Connect section of this page). I agree with some of the reviewers that mostly these errors are typos and there are in fact a very few factual errors.
* For the exam, it's important to remember the command options and file names given in the book.
* I like the author's style very much. Sounds like, he has the art of making difficult concepts simple and connecting different concepts to each other to help you make sense of the topic.
* There is a reasonable number of visuals/graphics in the book which sometimes explain simple things such as an entry in an important file, but mostly the complex things such as the lifecycle of a zone. These visuals on one hand explain an otherwise complex topic, and on the other hand make the material stick in your mind. Most system admin books (especially in UNIX) do not do such things.
* The practice exams that come with the book were very helpful. The answers are very explanatory: why the correct answer is correct and the incorrect answers are incorrect; all explained. These answers and explanations re-enforce the important concepts.
* I quickly went through the Two-minute drill and Inside the Exam sections just before the exam. It helped refresh the important concepts.

The presentation style of the book makes it a good Solaris 10 System Admin book even if you are not planning to take the exam.
Just ignore chapter 1 if you are an advanced admin and want to prepare for the exams.

I read the positive and the negative reviews about this book, and took the chance by buying the book. I do not regret because I have passed both the exams after preparing from this book. Here is my experience:
* Read the reviews about errors in the book, downloaded the Errata (there is a link to Errata in Amazon Connect section of this page). I agree with some of the reviewers that mostly these errors are typos and there are in fact a very few factual errors.
* For the exam, it's important to remember the command options and file names given in the book.
* I like the author's style very much. Sounds like, he has the art of making difficult concepts simple and connecting different concepts to each other to help you make sense of the topic.
* There is a reasonable number of visuals/graphics in the book which sometimes explain simple things such as an entry in an important file, but mostly the complex things such as the lifecycle of a zone. These visuals on one hand explain an otherwise complex topic, and on the other hand make the material stick in your mind. Most system admin books (especially in UNIX) do not do such things.
* The practice exams that come with the book were very helpful. The answers are very explanatory: why the correct answer is correct and the incorrect answers are incorrect; all explained. These answers and explanations re-enforce the important concepts.
* I quickly went through the Two-minute drill and Inside the Exam sections just before the exam. It helped refresh the important concepts.

The presentation style of the book makes it a good Solaris 10 System Admin book even if you are not planning to take the exam.
Just ignore chapter 1 if you are an advanced admin and want to prepare for the exams.

I had SCSA 7 & 9 certs and tried to use this book for the SCSA 10 upgrade exam. Here are the thoughts I'd like to share, I'd be happy if someone finds them helpful.

- First off, there are very few Solaris 10 guides available. So it's hard to be picky.

- Yes, I did pass the test using that book. So it is possible and it has enough info to make you through.

- I can't be specific about the topics of the real exam but they were pretty close to what the book covered. So the scope of the book is pretty adequate.

- Typos and mistakes. This books is notorious for having tons of mistakes and typos. After some critical mass of mistakes you just start losing trust and if something doesn't look right, you never know if it's just a typo or not. That means you have to check Sun docs or login to a running system. It doesn't show much respect to the readers and I think a lot of disappointed reviews have a valid point here.

- Style. It's a love or hate thing. The author is trying to make jokes, some people like it, but some people do not, it's a kind of distracting.

- The author is trying to give you some info beyond the scope of the exam (Unix history etc). Knowledge is power but not everyone would appreciate reading extra off topics pages when they are trying to focus on the test preparation.

Overall, I'd really like authors to drop off offtopics, clean up typos and mistakes and get rid of jokes. Maybe that would leave less room for authors self expression, but that would make a nice clean focused exam study guide. But once again, since there are not too many alternatives, don't be too picky and you'll get enough information (not presented in the best way) to pass the test. Good luck!

I can only assume the range of good reviews for this book are created by the publishing company. I'm with all the bad reviewers. Waited 6 months for this book to become available and it's very poorly edited. There are loads of mistakes (listed in numerous other reviews here) and the index doesn't match the book so tough if you want to look something up.

The mistakes are minor but if you don't already know the material they may give you the wrong information and mean that you have to carefully read everything. Also the complaint about the lack of information on the SMF is true, it's a significant new piece in Solaris and this book barely touches it.

I have passed both the exams required for the SCSA certification after preparing from this book. I must admit: the exams were NOT easy. However, this book helped me tremendously. Also, the practice exams that came with the book were very useful. I skimmed through the Two-Minutes Drill and From Inside The Exam sections of all the chapters in the last hour before the exam. That helped to bring the important points to the forefront of my memory :-).
Overall, I enjoyed reading this book. Usually the system admin books tend to be boring (no offense to anyone). But this book told me the story of Solaris System administration in a very interesting way. As some other reviewer said, all the concepts are woven together into a big picture. This book helped me to understand better many concepts that I did not really understand before. It is good for the exam takers and it is good for those who want to just learn the basics of the Solaris 10 System administration. So I recommend this book to all who are interested in Solaris 10 System administration.

I read this book cover to cover. No one can deny the amount of typos in the book. But it is still a good book despite those errors. The author has aknowledged the problem and provided an errata on his website which I believe should help.
Concerning the contents of the book, it is aligned with the exam objectives. The topics are well explained. Please, if you are looking for a book to use for the certification or for the upgrade exam on Solaris 10, get the book and you will not be disappointed. Overall I highly recommend this book. Be aware that the book has typos but don't let these typos turn you away from the book. The content is really good. I give 4 stars because of the typos.

I teach a course in Solaris 10 administration in a vocational college and the course has no pre-requisite. The students are absolute beginners. It is not a certification course, but I am SCSA certified, so I wanted to add value to the course. I was looking for a book that will be suitable as a text book for this course and will also help preparing the students for the SCSA certification: two in one, as they say. Well, I'm glad I found this book. It starts from scratch, and covers well all the Solaris 10 concepts and topics within the scope of the SCSA exam objectives. The presentation is cohesive, concepts are defined and explained, and the book overall is self contained. That's what makes it a good textbook. It has a focus on the exam objectives, and it comes with full practice exams. That's what makes it a good exam book. We're going to use it in all our colleges across the country.
I won't worry too much about the errors that some other reviewers have pointed to (over and over again). I have several years of teaching experience and have not yet found a book that does not have errors in it. As another reviewer said, just go to the Errata link in the Amazon Connect section of this page, and download the Errata. There are in fact, a very few (much less than an average book)factual errors in this book.

This is a horrible study guide. The errors are everywhere(not just one section through out the book). It's really lacking in the detail needed to pass the certifications. Don't buy this instead download the REAL SUN DOCS if you want to know Solaris 10.

Very few factual errors in this book. I found it very useful.

I used this book to prepare for the SCSA Solaris 10 exams and passed both the exams (75% and 77%). I would like to share my experience about this book and the exams with those who want to get certified. First, these are not easy exams. Study this book carefully and also make use of the practice exams that come with this book. The questions in the practice exams definitely helped me to improve my score. They are more of the type of the questions asked in the real exam. Also the detailed answers to these questions re-enforced the important concepts that I had forgotten. It's a good idea to quickly go through the Two-Minute Drill and Inside The Exam sections (at the end of each chapter) just before taking the exam. It will refresh the important points and concepts. Make sure you know the names of the crucial files (the full pathnames) and the important command options discussed in the book.
This book also helped me to understand some concepts better about which I was confused before. The book weaves all the system admin concepts together into a big picture in a very nice way. It's like that old saying: have your cake and eat it too.

There are some typos (or copy edit errors), and I don't think they are more or worse than any average book. You can download the Errata from the Amazon Connect section of this page (by clicking on a link).

I'm returning my copy for this reason- it's a pain to go through a brand new book (for this kind of money) and make all of the edits that the author has listed in his errata. Furthermore- there are more errors than what he has listed in the errata- so how do I know what is right and what is wrong in the text I am studying? I find it puzzling why some rate this book so high (without specifics)while others rate it low (with very specific reasons). In fact- so many of these high reviews sound the same to me that it makes me wonder who is writing these reviews- the publisher in an attempt to sell books?

This is a rock solid book. Everything to the point, and all concepts put in context. When I read something, I want everyhting defined and explained right there, so I don't have to consult other books. This is a very much self contained book:all the concepts defined and explained clearly.
Of course, like any other book, this book has errors too. But I don't understand why some people still keep advertizing the errros on this page while the author has already made the Errata available: I clicked on the link on Author's Amazon Connect page and downlaoded it, you can do it too!
I've already passed exam one just by preparing from this book and trying the practice exams that come with the book, and now I'm preparing for the second exam. I find it very interesting read.

I bought this book and was extremely disapointed. Every few pages there are errors and the Self Tests are full of typos and errors. For example, on page 161, question #7. This question asks which file systems will be unmounted by executing the "mountall" command. This should have been the 'umountall' command.

On page 268, question #3 has 2 answers, one of which is A. However, the command in A is: "ps -ef grep go." This command will not work without a pipe sign between the -ef and grep.

On page 225, the "Two-Minute Drill" makes reference to the path "/etc/def/" and it should be '/etc/default.' This mistake is made twice on the same page.

Page 281, the word "though" should be the word 'through.'

Page 223 talks about the "/etc/nologins" file. The correct file name is 'nologin' not "nologins." It is not plural. You are mislead twice on this page.

Page 221 references the setuid command and shows using the command "chmod 2775 /home/lib." The setuid command should show: 'chmod 4775 /home/lib.'

These are a few examples of many errors in this book. I assume the author knows better, but did a poor job of re-reading his proof copy.

I've recently passed both the SCSA exams based on this book and the practice exams that come with it. I found this book very useful, to the point, and yet detailed enough. The author weaves all the concepts together. I understand clearly many concepts now which I was confused about before. This is a self contained book written in a step by step fashion.
Of course no book is without errors. However,I don't think this book contains more errors than any other book on average. But I appreciate this author for providing the Errata in a timely fashion. There is a "download Errata" link in the Author's Amazon Connect section on the Book Description page. Download the Errata and this book is GOLD.

There are several errors in the text and sample test questions that would confuse someone not already familiar with the subject.

For example, on page 158 "Each disk slice can hold only one slice, and vice versa." This should probably read "Each disk slice can hold only one file system, and vice versa."

On page 161 in the self test section, one of the questions asks "Which of the following mounted file systems will be unmounted as a result of executing the mountall command when the system is up and running?" with the answer stating "The umountall command unmounts all the mounted file systems...."

On page 173, text describing the various fields in a file is off the printed page. One description is missing and another is cut off as a result of poor page layout.

This is just a small sample of the numerous errors that can only be described as careless editing. It is unfortunate that so many errors are in this book since it is otherwise a pretty good review of the material.

I have over 15 years of Sun system administration experience, but am starting a position that requires Sun certifications. I got this book to learn some of the new features of Solaris 10 and ensure I would be able to pass the certification tests on the first try. This was a good review of material I already knew and covered some material that was new to me.

This is not a bad book overall, but I can only give it two stars because there are so many errors that would confuse or mislead someone who doesn't have a solid understanding of the subject matter.

Thanks to this boook, I've passed the first exam of this certification. I find this book very much to-the-point. I'm new to Soalris; actually new to UNIX altogether. So chapter 1 was very helpful for me. Being a beginner, I appreciate the fact that the book explains every concept. Even the entries in some important files are explained with diagrams. And everything is connected togehter like a story. Some Tips: Go through the practice exams on the CD, and memorize the file names and command options given in the book.
Well, everyone is entitled to his/her own opinion (reading the criticism on this page) but I have all the Solaris 10 documentation on my laptop and I can tell you that this book is 100% compatible with Solaris 10. I'm sure it may have some errors, but then which book does not? I'm sure the publisher will make the Errata available.
On to preparing for the second exam!

It is quite disconcerting to finish a book like this thinking it has helped prepare you for a related exam, and then begin to find out that you have been studying information that is flat wrong in some cases. I should have read the others reviews before buying, I usually do and I have learned my lesson. As someone else stated, this book is more accurate for Solaris 9 than Solaris 10. The exams at the end of each chapter have numerous errors throghout and while this is not "lethal", its does nothing to inspire confidence in the accuraccy of the text as a whole. Here are a few examples of problems with this text:

a. The study guide never mentions the "nice" command and practice exams regularly refer to this command.

b. I could be wrong but I don't remember "aset" or "fuser" either which came up in practice exams.

c. SMF/SMC systems are important to Solaris 10 and the exams, this book has very little coverage of them, only a few pages.

d. 64 MB of ram is listed as the minimum when 128 MB of ram is the actual minimum per the Solaris 10 documentation. (link to documentation not included because URL's in reviews are against amamzon policy).

I have used the other book from Dr. Sanghera and found it very useful for my SCBCD certification course. He did it again! I've been looking for a book that I could use for a training course to teach basic Solaris system administration and at the same time prepare the students for the SCSA certification: two in one. This book, actually, has been brought to my attention by a couple of my ex-students who's told me they've already passed the first exam by studying from this book, and are planning to prepare for the second exam. Once I started reading this book, I couldn't stop: an interesting cohesive presentation of the material, rarely found in the UNIX System Admin books; especially the exam books which generally hop from topic to topic. Dr. Sanghera, in a classroom presentation style, enables you to put your arms around a topic as it is covered. Each concept is defined right where it's introduced. The emphasis is not on some selective topics. All the topics within the scope of the SCSA exams are adequately covered.
It is a Solaris 10 System admin book that covers all the exam objectives very closely: An exam objective is spelled out in the beginning of each section. What impresses me the most is that the exam objectives are organized and the material is presented in such a way that there is a perfect flow from chapter to chapter, section to section inside a chapter, and paragraph to paragraph. Besides, it's to the point, no-nonsense book: no fluffs and no fillers. I especially like chapter 1 because it makes the book useful for all the people with different levels of preparation. Chapter one and the presentation style especially makes this book very useful for the beginners.
In light of the other opinions I'v read here, I would say two things:
1) it's hard to measure the coverage of a topic like SMF or x86 in terms of pages at one place in the book because these topics are covered throughout the book at various places, which is appropriate given the nature of these topics, the flow of presentation, and the exam objectives.
2) All the books have errors and typos. I'm sure this book has them too. I will make a list and send it to the author.

Well, after waiting 12 months for a good Solaris 10 book to hit the market, I'm disappointed with this one. Here's why:
1) 1 page (2 sides) devoted to the Service Managment Facility. This is one of the most major changes in Solaris 10- for $50,is it asking too much to get a few pages on it? The author devoted more time to the the topic of logging in and getting started commands (21 pgs) such as cd, pwd, and ls - which should not even be in this type of book.
2) Too much fluff. 20 pgs devoted to The History of Solaris- how is this an exam objective? The last chapter ends at 550 pgs. By the time I remove the index, how to register for the exam,etc. there is not much left. A book on this topic should be twice this number of pages to do justice on any topic.
3) Poor job of describing the difference between SPARC and x86 platforms. Author has 1 paragraph on x86 disk naming conventions stating that they are "slightly different" than SPARC devices. Why then are there 16 disk devices on x86 and only 8 on SPARC? Also, no discussion of PC disk partitions (ie. c0t0d0p2). Must be more than a subtle name difference, don't you think?
4) SVM - 14 pages devoted to volume management concepts, but only 5 pgs of it is close to being informative toward the exam objective. Why spend so many pages on describing RAID, or defining mirroring and only 1 pg on state databases. Two pgs are devoted to creating a mirror. Author tells me to use the GUI or command line- but provides no examples other than command syntax that I can find with man pages. I NEED EXAMPLES and EXPLANATION. Isn't the command line where I'm going to be tested (not the GUI)? This book is very light on examples and heavy ofn fluff.

Summary - Does anyone have a good recommendation for a Solaris 10 book and does anyone want to buy a copy of Sun Certified System Administrator for Solaris 10?

I already have a couple of Solaris 10 books on my shelf which shy away from covering or explaining the new features introduced in Solaris 10 in the framework of exam objectives. But this book does a very good job in explaining the Solaris 10 new features covered by the Solaris 10 SCSA exam: For example, Solaris Volume Manager (chapter 13), Solaris Zones and Flash Archive (chapter 15), and SMF (Chapters 3 and 10). Also, the author has done a great job in explaining these new features in the context of the big picture. However the breadth and the depth of coverage is within the scope of the exam objectives, and once you get started, you can always consult with Sun docs and the good old man pages for more details.
Another thing I like about this book is that it's concise and cohesive: No fluffs and fillers. The author has done a very good job in staying true to the exam objectives but still linking (gluing) the different concepts, sections, and chapters together to make the whole book like a classroom training material: a perfect logical flow in the presentation. Chapter 1 is great for the beginners to tune in (a friend of mine has just told me that he was able to answer almost all the UNIX command questions at his interview last week right from chapter 1 of this book).
In each chapter, the author helps you to put your arms around the topics covered in the chapter. In nutshell, this is an excellent book for the Solaris 10 system admin exam, and a very good system admin book for the beginners: a good starter into the big wide world of Solaris.

I have enjoyed reading this book. In my opinion, this book marks the end of an era of boring UNIX system administration books. The material is presented in a very cohesive and concise fashion, and there is a logical flow all through the chapters and sections inside the chapters; and unlike most of the exam study guides, there is no hopping from topic to topic. If the required information can be presented in 600 pages, you don't need to struggle through thousands of pages: you have better things to do in your life.

Other things that I like about this book are:
* It defines the terms and concepts right where they appear for the first time. No expert will be offended by that.

* The book is true to the Solaris 10 system admin exam objectives. In the beginning of each section, an exam objective is clearly spelled out to which the material belongs.

* There are complete simulated Solaris 10 system admin practice exams (310-200 and 310-202) available with this book, and not just a few questions.

* Because the material is covered with a perfect logical flow and chapter one gets the beginners on board, this is a perfect study guide for the beginners.

* Because the material is clearly tied to the exam objectives, the advanced system administrators who want to pass the exam, can also make use of it to save the time.

* Although the material is focussed on the exam objectives, the way the material is presented keeps it from being an EXAM CRAM. So it's a perfect reference book as well.

If you are planning to take the Solaris 10 system admin exams, this is certainly your book. If you are not, still it will be a nice addition to your personal library, that you will not regret. Well, of course, that is my opinion.
I congratulate Dr. Sanghera to start a new trend in writing the UNIX system admin books.

I'd say this book, is one of the worse SCSA study guides I've read.

*So, far I've corrected a good amount of the selftest questions/answers.

*VERY limited information about SMF. There's TONS of information that's 9 related. Statements about starting SSHD via /etc/init.d/sshd SORRY Solaris 10 uses 'svcadm -v enable ssh' NOT an init script. Coverage on settng up rlogin/rsh tools with no password. However, NO mention of SSH doing the same over an encrypted line. Talk about misleading! The covering of inetd implies that you can use the 'standard' /etc/inet/inetd.conf script. NO mention of the inetconv only the inetadm. There's also NO mention of the '-r' flag that starts everything that a service needs. Hence, 'svcadm -v enable -r nfs/server'.

*What's with 'how to setup NIS'? NIS is DEAD that's POOR material for Solaris 10 (maybe 7/8), how about LDAP setup coverage? Even Sun has dropped support of NIS. They don't provide the ldap client SMF mention in the book. They suggest the client is started with the 'ldapclient' command where it's 'ldap.client'. MOST things he implies are standard init scripts where MOST are wrappers for SMF. This SHOULD be mentioned since most newbies will probably miss it.

*SVM coverage doesn't really explain 'how' to create volumes. The tools they mention in a setup (how to do it) use SMC MOST people or seasoned SAs will use the command line tools. There's NO mention to the fact two disk mirror of the root doesn't work right in Solaris 10 (known bug and waiting patch for).

*The coverage of Jumptart & Zones are fast and brief. It's more like a 'summary' then an actual insight of the two.


Page: 160

Question 2.)

Correct answer should be A, BUT the device name is incorrect it should be.

/dev/rdsk/c0d0s0 NOT /dev/rdsk/c0d0s3

Page: 161

Question 7.) Grammatical error: 'mountall' command should be 'umountall'

Page: 178

There is NO -D useradd default option for "shell" never has probably never will be.

useradd -D -s /bin/ksh does NOT work there IS NO -s command.

I'm using Solaris Express Nevada latest release and it doesn't have it either. Someone thinking Linux?

Page: 210

There is NO /etc/init.d/sshd for Solaris 10 EVER! It's always been

svcadm -v enable ssh

Someone was clearly thinking Solaris 9 on this.

Page: 229

Question 11: The "real" correct answer is B, head will report the 'first three' most recent reboot commands, last will report the 'first' from the creation date of the file.

Page: 498

Question 4.)

Should A,B,C be within /etc/security/ NOT just /etc/?

These are the 'quick' skim from the book of notes I made. When I got tired I said I'd go back and make more corrections, but haven't had the chance yet. Probably won't got what I needed out of the book which wasn't much.


I can go on and on.

Don't waste your time on this book. If you're a 'newbie' to Solaris, great. If you're a seasoned SA looking for "Real 10" material, read all the docs.sun.com Solaris 10 information. However, save your money and attempt the Bill Calkins release (still being delivered to me, hopefully better then this waste of money) or as mentioned docs at Sun. This is a total disappointment for anyone 'really' wanting to know the juice of Solaris 10. Coming for a guy who's wrote a lot of stuff for BigAdmin and what not this is a waste. Contact me if you want 'specifics' on this search for William Pool rotaecho@yahoo.com