up vote 1 down vote favorite
1
share [g+] share [fb]

Possible Duplicate:
What a beginner should know/learn for sysadmin job?

I am web developer and I have been doing a lot of server configurations and system administrative tasks lately I was wondering if someone could recommend books and tutorials that would help understand how things are done the right way. Though I mostly work with Apache and Nginx for configuring and maintaining my applications, my approach has been largely trial and error based with information off google and blogs.

Could someone recommend books that explain how to get started with system administrative tasks (preferably in a tutorial fashion so that I may try and understand the workings of the system). I work mostly on Linux systems on EC2

Thanks in advance.

link|improve this question
100% accept rate
2  
See serverfault.com/questions/9766/… serverfault.com/questions/1046/… serverfault.com/questions/9805/… serverfault.com/questions/14171/… etc. Check Sort the question list by votes and review the questions with lots of votes, most include lots of valuable information. – Zoredache Jun 3 '10 at 19:16
feedback

closed as exact duplicate by Zoredache, Justin Scott, Izzy, MattB, splattne♦ Jun 4 '10 at 21:08

This question covers exactly the same ground as earlier questions on this topic; its answers may be merged with another identical question. See the FAQ for guidance on how to improve it.

2 Answers

up vote 1 down vote accepted

One of the best books I've found for systems administration is -- Essential System Administrator by O'Reilly - Aeleen Frisch. Look for the latest edition, I think this is the best overall system administration book. It has saved me more times than I care to admit.

link|improve this answer
I found the book but the last edition is a 2002 edition do you still reckon I go for it and whats your opinion on Linux System Adminstration oreilly.com/catalog/9780596009526. This seemed like it had a few things I needed help on – sid__ Jun 4 '10 at 14:25
Wow, it is from 02. Wow I thought fourth edition was out already. I just assumed. The thing I like about the book is that it talks about any kind of system (linux, freebsd, aix, etc) you work on and almost any problem. Explains with examples and best practices... But you are right, it is 8 years old. Aside from new technologies like solid state storage, gig ethernet, wifi, and a few others I think it would serve you well to have this. Check it out at a store before you buy it to make sure. A good Unix author is Sobell. Look for his stuff. – Oscar Gonzalez Jun 4 '10 at 15:46
Oh and the one you linked, 07 linux system administration, has good reviews everywhere I look. I also have this one and its very helpful at times (also a bit dated) - amazon.com/Running-Linux-Matthias-Kalle-Dalheimer/dp/0596007604/… – Oscar Gonzalez Jun 4 '10 at 15:49
feedback
up vote 2 down vote

The beauty of system administration comes mostly from experience. But instead of pointing to merely book titles, let me give you some heads up.

  1. Backup is EVERYTHING. Backup everything, that's what I say.
  2. Instead of administration specific books, instead take a look at the specific processes of the system(s) you are administrating: boot process, where are the logs stored, how are the users managed (and where) and what is their security model for example.
  3. Networking, inside out, upside down, turned out and in. Routing, gateways, subnets, sockets, ports, traffic (analyze and filtering).
  4. Network Access (Secure Shell, SMB, APF, etc).
  5. Important daemons and how they work: mailservers (postfix for example), databases (mysql), webserver (lighttpd/nginx/apache), proxy servers (squid) and of course the mothership DNS (Bind9).
  6. Tools you can use to administrate: at least one scripting language in order to batch operations (even old, still very usefull: Perl, I do everything I Ruby though), to administrate the system remotely (vnc), synchronizing (rsync).
  7. Security: understand how you can work with OpenSSL (encryption/decryption), and the OpenSSH stuff like private-public key generators (ssh-keygen).

Practice makes perfect.

link|improve this answer
feedback

Not the answer you're looking for? Browse other questions tagged or ask your own question.