Linux Quick Fix Notebook

by Peter Harrison

"Where has this book been all my professional life? It is about time someone wrote this book. The author covers many basic, practical issues that other authors omit in a format that makes for a great troubleshooting reference and for casual perusing. There are a lot of books available that give a broad overview of system and network administration, and there are a lot of detailed books on each specific topic covered in this book, but I don't know of any other place where I can get so much useful, practical information on such a wide range of topics in such a concise and readable form. I will highly recommend it to my friends and colleagues who are trying to manage their own systems. I am anxious to show it to our instructors who teach data communications and networks as a possible text or lab manual."

—Ron McCarty, instructor and program chair, Computer Science, Penn State Erie

"This book takes a very unique approach and is very flexible. It offers a great deal to the home user, students, small businesses—all the way to any Linux sys admin that needs a handy reference. I found it very refreshing in terms of style, stated goals, presentation, ease of use, direction, and the "present and future" value of the content. In other words the author is very current and knowledgeable. I would recommend this book to every level from programmer to manager."

—Joe Brazeal, Information Technician III, Southwest Power Pool

"This book is an excellent resource for new Linux administrators. I was impressed with the comprehensive set of 35 topic chapters, making this book a very useful reference. I know of no other work like this."

—George Vish II, Linux curriculum program manager and senior education consultant, Hewlett-Packard Education

"I would recommend this book to novice Linux users and administrators. It covers a lot of topics, and makes it easy for readers to follow along."

—Bret Strong, education consultant, Hewlett-Packard Company

"Linux Quick Fix Notebook is a well-written guide to designing, installing, and maintaining Linux servers. Many Linux reference texts are just simple rewrites of Linux ¨man¨ and ¨info¨ pages, but this book addresses the real issues that systems administrators encounter when working with Linux. The author provides a pedagogical guide to learning Linux server administration. In addition, the book includes step-by-step information so that users can quickly take advantage of the best that open source software has to offer today. I would recommend this book to both beginning and intermediate users of Linux."

—Joseph Naberhaus, Professor of Networking, Universidad Del Mar

An indispensable guide for every Linux administrator

Instant access to precise, step-by-step solutions for every essential Linux administration task

From basic configuration and troubleshooting to advanced security and optimization

If you're responsible for delivering results with Linux, Linux® Quick Fix Notebook brings together all the step-by-step instructions, precise configuration commands, and real-world guidance you need. This distilled, focused, task-centered guide was written for sysadmins, netadmins, consultants, power users...everyone whose livelihood depends on making Linux work, and keeping it working.

This book's handy Q&A format gives you instant access to specific answers, without ever forcing you to wade through theory or jargon. Peter Harrison addresses virtually every aspect of Linux administration, from software installation to security, user management to Internet services—even advanced topics such as software RAID and centralized LDAP authentication. Harrison's proven command-line examples work quickly and efficiently, no matter what Linux distribution you're using. Here's just some of what you'll learn how to do:

Build Linux file/print servers and networks from scratch

Troubleshoot Linux and interpret system error messages

Control every step of the boot process

Create, manage, secure, and track user accounts

Install, configure, and test Linux-based wireless networks

Protect your network with Linux iptables firewalls

Set up Web, e-mail, DNS, DHCP, and FTP servers

And much more...

© Copyright Pearson Education. All rights reserved.

696 pages, Paperback

First published March 27, 2005

About the author

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Reviews

[Marcin · Rating 4 out of 5]

Though it might seem exactly like other books of the type, this book is not only very logically arranged, with topics from the basics to most things any admin just needs to know, from single user system config to a server governing the network and users. It also manages to get even a novice from the level of "how to click something out", through where to click and why, to how to do it with a set of simple basic commands. These commands are described in enough detail for the readers, whatever their level of system proficiency, to understand them and their functions. The troubleshooting commands featured in the book are rather straightforward, so any proper admin would only need the book to recall the syntax with optional arguments. Most important log files are also described, though they are not all present in a single chapter, rather the basic system ones in one with others in the respective others. Book is focusing on RPM-based systems (Fedora to be exact), it's quite a refresh after all those debian/*buntu ones. Especially since also Cisco managed network solutions with *nix base are described from the side of linux on those machines. Majority of the book takes care of the network sharing (basically samba/nfs) with interesting troubleshooting and repair part on the firewall actions incl. vpn preparation. Finally, the more advanced part gets into grips with the topics of server preparation, dns, web server setup with mysql, ftp and ssh, and most advanced part on server performance monitoring. The book ends with the topic of server preparation with disk quotas, centralised logins and security technologies/protocols (incl. LDAP and RADIUS) usage on linux servers. Finally, there's an introduction to kernel prepping for performance.

[Darin · Rating 3 out of 5]

If you want a plug-and-chug approach to system administration, this is the book for you. Most of the chapters are devoted to a specific task: setting up a web server, a DNS server, and so forth. The author gives the specific command line entries for achieving the specific task, assuming you are using the same distribution he used. There is also a chapter on troubleshooting network problems that is pretty good.