For software developers, there are some books you must absolutely read.
What is the single most influential book every programmer should read?
How about for sysadmins? Is there a similar list of books?
37 Answers
The only essential I have is The Practice of System and Network Administration by Limoncelli, Hogan, et al. My first edition copy lives on my desk
answered Apr 30, 2009 at 15:38
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I can't up vote this enough. I have both editions. If you haven't read the second, it's well worth the price. Commented Jun 14, 2009 at 0:46
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reading it now. its like having a mentor at your fingertips explaining some of those little things you never thought to ask.– KeithCommented Sep 10, 2009 at 2:35
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See also his excellent paper: ‘Turning the Corner: Upgrading Yourself from “System Clerk” to “System Advocate”’: usenix.org/publications/library/proceedings/lisa97/…– TeddyCommented Oct 3, 2009 at 2:23
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+1 .. but I'd say that "reading" is not necessary.. owning is helpful, but skimming is far more useful on this title :)– warrenCommented Sep 10, 2009 at 2:44
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It may be a bit dated, but you can't learn how to properly do your job (or how not to, I forget which one) without looking into the writings of the Bastard Operator From Hell.
Edit: Here are some links
answered Apr 30, 2009 at 16:04
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Got that one as well. I love the little hand drawn illustrations. Commented Jun 14, 2009 at 0:47
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3Updated to mention the newest edition. The neat part is the newest edition even mentions serverfault.com as a resource in table 1.5 Commented Aug 26, 2010 at 0:10
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I've read it, but I don't exactly see how it's "influential".– RookCommented Jun 10, 2009 at 20:56
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People forget that sys admin is not exclusivly technical. We design systems for humans to interact with and that opens us up to big security vulnerabilities that can completely nullify everything done technically.– ShialCommented Sep 30, 2009 at 12:48
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It is incredibly good at reminding you that no matter how well you run a system, how much you lock it down, how much security you put in... there is always a weak point. Don't ever forget that sitting in front of the screen will be a fallible human being who really can't be bothered with remembering all these secure passwords and complicated procedures.– GAThrawnCommented Sep 30, 2009 at 13:38
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In other words, properly configuring the users is the most important part of Information Security and is many times completely forgotten in favor of some expensive tool... Commented Jan 16, 2010 at 11:26
For network admins: TCP/IP Illustrated, Volume 1: The Protocols (2nd Edition). You should know how TCP/IP works.
"Essential System Administration" by Æleen Frisch 
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It'd be better to split each book in a new response, this way we could upvote them individually.– JAGCommented May 4, 2009 at 13:18
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I have the O'Reilly pocket reference for this as well and its fantastic! Its a mini man page collection for several Unices (HP-UX, AIX, BSD, Solaris, etc) all in one small handy reference. Commented Jun 5, 2009 at 23:56
Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance: An Inquiry into Values
(Often regarded as one of the best books on any topic.)
This quote (found here) is relevant:
My personal feeling is that this is how any further improvement of the world will be done: by individuals making Quality decisions and that's all. God, I don't want to have any more enthusiasm for big programs full of social planning for big masses of people that leave individual Quality out. These can be left alone for a while. There's a place for them but they've got to be built on a foundation of Quality within the individuals involved. We've had that individual Quality in the past, exploited it as a natural resource without knowing it, and now it's just about depleted. Everyone's just about out of gumption. And I think it's about time to return to the rebuilding of this American resource - individual worth.
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Isn't the point of the book that the narrator is unreliable and thus statements like that should be seen as attempts to curry favour rather than read literally?– alimackCommented Feb 19, 2010 at 12:51
"DNS and BIND" by Paul Albitz, Cricket Liu
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Love or hate bind, if you deal with DNS, you need this book. Commented May 20, 2009 at 7:01
Unix Power Tools, Third Edition. I own three copies of this, two in the office and one at home.
If you like to become a Unix guru, grow a beard and read this book.
Essential System Administration was already mentioned. Espescially useful if you are the boss to a group of SA's
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If you want to know how to do something in a Unix-like system, this is the book to read.– Emil SitCommented Sep 10, 2009 at 2:31
For me a very exciting must read book was http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Cuckoos_Egg
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I read that when it was recommended by the instructor of a Unix security course I took. It's definitely a fascinating, exciting story. Commented Jun 5, 2009 at 5:11
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It was a good yarn, but he did ham it up a bit, probably to make better sales. I remember this one more than both Mitnick books, so I guess it worked :).– user3914Commented Sep 10, 2009 at 9:03
Using deft allegory, the authors have provided an insightful and intuitive explanation of one of Unix's most venerable networking utilities. Even more stunning is that they were clearly working with a very early beta of the program, as their book first appeared in 1933, years (decades!) before the operating system and network infrastructure were finalized.
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Isn't that a kid's book. Ah, the link, that's pretty funny +! Commented May 9, 2009 at 6:35
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+1 for humor. Are you trying to insinuate something about the reading level of sysadmins? Commented Aug 20, 2009 at 16:25
"TCP/IP Network Administration" by Craig Hunt
Unix System Management Primer Plus, by Jeff Horwitz.
Unix System Management Primer Plus http://www.informit.com/ShowCover.aspx?isbn=0672323729
Best choice: Unix System Management Primer Plus, by Jeff Horwitz.
This book is almost criminally unknown, if you ask me. There's a ton of excellent technical books out there that will tell you specific details of operation of a particular piece of hardware, or a piece of software. There's lots of good ones on scripting, automation, and programming.
This isn't the book to teach you every aspect of administering your server or application, but this is the one that teaches you how to be a System Administrator.
It covers things that you just don't find in other books, including chapters on infrastructure and data center design and build out, server deployment, patching and upgrades, monitoring, user support, outages, high availability, capacity planning, automation, security, and more.
If you want to run one Unix/Linux box in your basement as a home server, this isn't the book for you. If you want to work as a System Administrator, particularly with Unix/Linux, you absolutely should read this book.
answered Jun 10, 2009 at 15:38
The Cuckoo's Egg: Tracking a Spy Through the Maze of Computer Espionage by Cliff Stoll
This isn't a technical book, but a true story about how a real person stumbles upon a hacker. He watches the hacker operate and notifies various three letter agencies with little or no response.
answered Jun 10, 2009 at 15:54
answered May 19, 2009 at 15:09
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I have to admit I learned the fundamentals of TCP/IP with a very old version of a "for Dummies" book. But this was so long ago that the author still considered Gopher, Veronica, Archie and, IIRC, WAIS important subjects. Not long after that, I got Stevens into my hands.– SvenCommented Jun 16, 2009 at 23:11
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I agree. Not reading a for Dummies book is like skipping the white belt. Personally I try to get rid of "middle-books/thesis books" as much as I can. Once I kind of get a dummy grip of the subject I'm trying to understand, the next step usually is pretty much about googling, reading the spec... or asking at ServerFault :) Commented Jun 21, 2009 at 13:21
The book that shaped my life as a sysadmin, it's a bit outdated but written from the dads (at least one of them) of UNIX.
Get it here.
answered Jun 10, 2009 at 18:00
(ug, I think my comment got eaten)
Anyway, while I wouldn't quite call it the most influential book that every sysadmin should read, I enjoyed The Craft of System Security. It does a good job of covering (at least from a high level) the history, theory and practice of security. Oh, and it's even written well enough it won't consistently put you to sleep!
answered May 1, 2009 at 5:01
Essential System Administration by AEleen Frisch.
Not for the faint of heart, this is the only book I know that tries to describe and explain adiministering complex systems using systematic, scientific principles and mathematical models.
From the author of cfengine:
Mark Burgess: Principles of Network and System Administration
answered Jun 10, 2009 at 19:49
In the beginning was the command line
Not exactly SysAdmin related but it has to be one of the most influential IT books out there.
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Definitely a great read, though parts of it have become slightly outdated over the last few years as companies have changed. Neal Stephenson (the author) has links to download the whole text here cryptonomicon.com/beginning.html personally I downloaded the whole thing years ago, and ended up buying it too. Garret Birkel (with Stephenson's permission) has annotated and updated the essay here garote.bdmonkeys.net/commandline/index.html– GAThrawnCommented Sep 30, 2009 at 13:54
While not technical (and maybe a bit cliched now?) the principles are fantastic and highly applicable to sysadmin work.
SED AWK saves you time and money!
answered May 9, 2009 at 6:37
I vote for UNIX hints and hacks. A lot of the content is out of date now but it still helped me to think like a UNIX admin.
I think the most influential book that you can read is Sex, Drugs and Economics: An Unconventional Introduction to Economics.
It's a pop economics book written by a british economist.
Since System Administration involves many different skills and it's usually different tasks depending where you're working, I believe it's important to develop a mindset using this book and making your own choices about what's best.
answered May 1, 2009 at 2:32
I'll second the Limoncelli, et.al. 'The Practice of System and Network Administration,' but I'll add another, and possibly place it higher - Eliyahu M. Goldratt's 'The Goal: A Process of Ongoing Improvement' I think it places any enterprise SysAdmin in the mindset of 'how do all plates spinning lead to a company's common goal.' When I worked QA/Field Engineer work at an ERP software co., prior to getting into SysAdmin work, this was 'the bible.'
Wwhen i was starting to work as a Systemadministrator alot of changes pass my life. The Point at this time was i had no idea what i had to expect with this changes. And i desided to read [1]. In a little distanced view i think that gave me alot of improvement for my daily work.
While this book is rather old - principles do not die easily. Combine it with The Linux Administration Handbook mentioned above, serve chilled:
UNIX System Administration Handbook
Also this one will help:
Essential Drucker, Druckers Management Essentials
