Linux Administration Handbook

Product Description

Up until now, Linux administration books have focused on the management of a single server. This is the first Linux administration guide specifically focused on the needs of administrators working in production/enterprise environments that may consist of hundreds or even thousands of servers which must be managed centrally to deliver optimal availability and performance. The book contains extensive coverage of Linux security; working with drivers and the kernel; TCP/IP networking; routing; network hardware; and NFS configuration. It also presents comprehensive, step-by-step guidance for configuring and managing email with sendmail; network management and debugging; using Linux in Web hosting environments; automating administration with daemons; and integrating with Windows clients and servers.

From the Back Cover

As the deployment of Linux systems in production environments has accelerated, Linux administrators have longed for a book that addresses the challenges of this complex and exciting frontier. Linux Administration Handbook was written with this audience in mind. This book serves both as a valuable tutorial for the novice administrator and as a trustworthy reference for the seasoned professional. Using the practical approach of their highly regarded UNIX System Administration Handbook, the authors describe every aspect of Linux system administration and cover the following major Linux distributions: Red Hat Linux, SuSE Linux, Debian GNU/Linux.
Replete with war stories and hard-won insights, this book examines how Linux systems behave in real-world ecosystems, not how they might behave in ideal environments. Difficult tasks are described in all their complexity, including DNS configuration, networking, sendmail configuration, security management, kernel building, performance analysis, and routing. The book’s many true-life examples will help administrators implement solutions that continue to work effectively as their operations grow.”As this book shows, Linux systems are just as functional, secure, and reliable as their proprietary counterparts. Thanks to the ongoing efforts of its thousands of developers, Linux is more ready than ever for deployment at the frontlines of the real world. The authors of this book know that terrain well, and I am happy to leave you in their most capable hands.” —Linus Torvalds”I’m absolutely amazed to see a computing book that focuses on concepts and how to implement them instead of explaining man pages for dummies. I also find the historical remarks very interesting. Your book is the very best of its kind I have ever read.”—Hanspeter Schmid, Bernafon, Switzerland”I just wanted to tell you guys that I have learned more about system administration from your book than from $10,000 worth of training classes. This book has been an invaluable part of my day-to-day life as a system and network administrator.”—Chris Bourne, Xapnet, Emeryville, CA”The seminal work in the field. If you can have only one system administration book, this should be it.”—Brad Knowles, Brussels, Belgium

About the Author

Evi Nemeth has retired from the computer science faculty at the University of Colorado but still dabbles in network research at CAIDA, the Cooperative Association for Internet Data Analysis at the San Diego Supercomputer Center. She is currently exploring the Caribbean on her new toy, a 40-foot sailboat named Wonderland.
Garth Snyder has worked at NeXT and Sun and holds a degree in Electrical Engineering from Swarthmore College. He is currently an MD/MBA candidate at the University of Rochester.
Trent R. Hein is the co-founder of Applied Trust Engineering, a company which provides network infrastructure security and performance consulting services. Trent holds a BS in Computer Science from the University of Colorado.

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Preface
Linux is a relatively new operating system in the world of computing. Born in the early 19