Linux Books

For a beginner, this is an excellent introductory book. I specially like the disk which will enable a crude unix system to be available on the PC. Of course, more examples and excercises could be made available. I highly recommend it to all beginners.

This is a great book if you know nothing about Unix. It comes with a simulator program that is pretty good. It will run on almost any windows operating system. So if you are just starting with unix this is the book for you!

I bought this book according to those posted reviews. When I try to install the Software it don't work (disk failure). Publisher should put a CD-ROM beside this Diskett. Without MKS utilities software this book is totaly worthless. Because the whole concept of buying this book is to work on PC (on DOS or windows not in Unix box).

In contrast to many Unix reference books, this one demonstrates usage of the language to accomplish common tasks. It comes with a set of Unix utilities which run under DOS or Windows (3.x) with which to practice. However, they don't run well under Windows 95 with its file system. Some of the material suffers from lack of good examples, such as how to use SED to edit files.

If you don't have UNIX, buy this book. It was made to run under dos or windows 3.1, but it runs under windows 95 good enough to learn the basics of UNIX.(Which would be all you would ever use unless you are a UNIX administrator.) I was a software tester and this is all I needed.

I entered the IT market with little more than a high school diploma. After going through writings from Ross on Windows 2000 I became a MICROSOFT CERTIFIED TRAINER and have been very successful - so much that I too have published a book.

THANKS ROSS!
-Dylan Moore

Unlike the previous reviewer, I found this book a great read, especially the step by step (in plain english) exercises to get such things as DHCP Server, BIND and NIS setup in Linux.

I've used the book already to setup a file server for our satellite office and make it a secondary DNS server to our main one, and installed Samba for file sharing. Works like the author said it would.

Keep it up, and if this author does more books, I'll definitely give them a look.

The thoroughness of this guide was really impressive. It examines technical issues involved in implementation such as protocols (including TCP, IP, DHCP, and DNS), system configuration and troubleshooting, and cross-platform scripting, printing, file access, and permissions. The real-world solutions to project management issues dealt with problems that I have dealt with on many occasions. This book really has all the bases covered.

The most up-to-date guide I have found so far. This book addresses version 2.4 of Linux kernel, as well as Windows XP and .NET. The step-by-step instructions for integrating Linux and Windows 2000 systems were exactly what I needed.

From the begining the author starts with a self love fest and doesnt even cover any integration details until at least 1/3 through the book. If you are a Windows Admin trying to convince yourself how tough Linux is this book is for you. The author is tied to some old ideas and still uses the LPR as the reason why printing is hard. The author claims to be a Linux guy but comes off sounding like he is in love with everything that MS does. (He takes a few jabs at MS expense, but they are terse at best) Better coverage is given to Windows and Linux integration in general Linux admin book. (the best two I have read in the last year Linux System Administration A Beginners Guide and Linux System Administration A Users Guide.-but either or find another book, but this one is best left in the bookstore)

I liked the book in a way, but its start you with a server point of view, i am new to linux and am still having problem connecting my box to the internet, i guess you have to buy more than one book to really understand linux and how it works, this is my 3rd linux book i am reading right now and so far i think its good enough to get you started.

This book has a very clear objective. It wants to get you from W95 to Linux on your PC and show you that you can get the same functionality you are used to on a PC in Linux.

It succeeds in that narrow scope. I am typing this from my newly running Linux system. However, this book is not enough to really get you running smoothly.

Linux is still not ready for the average user -- though the book would argue otherwise. There are enough gotchas to take you out of the narrow path of the book pretty quickly, and then you will need other resources. In my case, I need to learn how to get my sound card working and my Zip drive running, and the PPP dialer working. The paths suggested in the book didn't work.

Fortunately, the author points you to other resources on the web so you can continue your search.

The book comes with a copy of Red Hat 6.0. So it gives you everything you need to get started. However, I would also buy a reference type book as well.

If there is such a thing as four stars with a big exception this book gets it. The first thing to understand with this book is that it has a VERY narrow scope and objective. Within that scope it succeeds rather well but is still not exceptional.

The objective is to get a new user introduced to Linux and up and running with it as a day-to-day workstation, NOT a server. As a result, the focus is on GNOME and productivity applications. Things like system administration and moderate to advanced "Unixisms" are given only minimal attention. This is bad if you are looking for this sort of thing and if so you should look at the many other books out there. But if you are new to Linux and want to get it installed and running for general PC use this book does a good job. This book includes and is centered around Redhat Linux 6.0 and Corel's WordPerfect 8.0. Users of other distributions will find little useful information.

In the intro the author states "LCE teaches the concepts as well as the procedures of Linux usage. After you've read this book, you'll posses the understanding that will enable you to make the most use of GNOME." While some attention is given to the command prompt the author focuses on doing as much as possible through the GNOME interface. This is an admirable goal, and a unique one, but I did not feel quite enough depth was given to LinuxConf or file management.

The author has a somewhat odd (or certainly unusual) writing style. The book is written at a much higher level than the typical "Linux in a minute" books, which is refreshing. But this also leads to oddities such as in-text citations that give it a textbook feel, which just seems misplaced in this case (the author has a Ph.D so this should probably be expected I guess). Also I am not sure if the book successfully walks the tight rope of needed depth vs lighter survey for introductory level concepts. Some users may find it lacks enough depth while others will find it just a bit over their head.

Note: I was one of the technical editors for this book. These are my true thoughts and are not a result of my involvement with the production of _Linux Clearly Explained_.

One of the problems with many Linux books I have seen is their generality. Most try to appeal to the largest possible audience by merely including generic information and using only universally known (and often archaic) commands and tools. This often confuses the reader and greatly decreases their learning and productivity.

LCE has taken a single setup, Red Hat 6.0 with the GNOME user interface, and thoroughly explained how to use it. A book including _everything_ related to Linux, from beginner to guru, would have to be thousands of pages long. LCE concentrates getting the fundamentals across clearly and coherently. It is written on a level that is neither way above an experienced computer user, nor so beneath them that no useful information is presented.

I believe the most important aspects of this book is its treatment of GNOME. Many formerly command-line tasks are explained using GNOME-related tools. Before reading the book, I was unaware of how robust GNOME had become and was inpressed by how much it could do.

Overall, I highly recommend _Linux Clearly Explained_ to anyone starting on their path to Linux enlightenment.

I am a Computer Science professor at a community college. This is the fourth year I have taught Linux as a Unix system administration course. My biggest headache has always been selecting a text book that clearly explains the installation process.

Linux, Clearly Explained lives up to its name. This book was written by a teacher who outlines each procedure in a step-by-step manner. Not only was the installation a breeze, but the book carried you along from configurations to manipulations. It is very detailed in the use of the gnome desktop.

The only shortcoming for my class was the lack of information on NIC configuration. The book assumes that all users have modems for their online connections. However, configuring the NIC was easy and part of the installation process.

This book is also an easy read. Technical terms are explained before they are used. The book is written for the novice and remains true to its audience.

This book comes with a RedHat 6.0 cdrom. This version is now over a year (probably more) old. This means if you have a computer that is the same age, the cdrom will probably have the necessary drivers. Newer computer owners may need to download drivers off the Internet. The RedHat web page is a good source.

A second cdrom contained WordPerfect 8.0 for Linux. I loaded it and I am now using it as my main wordprocessor. I can save files in the MS-DOS format and transport them to any MicroSoft Windows platform.

Finally, as an educator, the only improvement needed to satisfy me would be questions and exercises at the end of each chapter. Bryan, I hope your listening.

I found this book VERY informative in the actual installlation process of Linux --- , but, did find that the CD-ROM Disk that came along with it a bit OOD ...I mean, Kernel 2.0.0, with Version 3.5...At the time,...(that is, circa 1997), it must have been "cutting edge"! But, now...it is 'Old Hat'...(and, not even 'Old RedHAt'....i.e., not even capable of psuedo-REDHatPkg.Manager).

Jt/mS

This book was definitely written by a mathematician--not because there are esoteric equations and techno-babble, but just the opposite. The writing is methodical, succinct and easy to read.

The book is not really about Linux, but about relational databases, and SQL (and odbc, etc.) in general. The examples are based off of freeware databases, thus fitting the loose categorization of a "Linux" book.

Although no "Dummies" book, I would highly recommend it as anyones first real SQL/relational database text!

This book brings you 90% of what you need to develop a database solution on Linux.

The first two chapter will change the way you look at a databse, and the third will consolidate your knowledge on SQL. The other chapters deal with Web Integration and other topics.

Like a friend of mine ( +ORC, the Red Cracker ) always says, hystorical knowledge is a must! And this books puts you into the stage of database development. After reading this book, you'll know it ALL!

Butzen and Forbes' text will seem a bit dry, compared to much of the computer literature on the shelves, but what they've done is lay aside the cute, breezy "user-friendly" style I find (and detest) in so many computer books in favor of a straightforward text that reminds me a bit of a college algebra textbook, but has taught me more in the first 150 pages than most computer books I recall reading in the past year.

The book comes with a CD with the Slackware Linux distribution and a several database tools so beginners (like me) with no access to a serious database system can get going quickly, but I'd recommend that anyone interested in professional database administration quickly followup the work in this book and the associated software by studying demo versions and manuals of the major commercial packages.

I expected this book to have some content related to scripting languanges such as Perl but unfortunately it doesn't. It is mainly dealing with creating and connecting database using C++ or Java which is definately tool for professional developers. It would be nicer if it covered the database connection using Perl or some other scripting language which is a much easier way to do the CGI work. Also, it only covers mSQL.

Okay, rarely do I rave about computer books ... especially books on such dry topics as running a DNS server. I'm just one of those book buyers who tries to do a little pre-purchase research and who expects those books that I *do* purchase to at least meet their billing. But this book far surpassed what I expected from it!

Craig Hunt's writing style could be compared to that of other tech writers like Mark Minasi or Tony Redmond (both of whom normally cater to the MS world, of course). This book reads like the author is speaking to you, moves quickly through the basics, spends just the right amount of time on the key issues, warns you of pitfalls you need to avoid, and gives you some important "heads up" pointers on things to look for down the road.

If you're new to Linux and are tasked with setting up a reliable, fire and forget DNS server based off of the BIND package, this book is your ticket to getting it done right the first time. It's both a hands-on tutorial and a light reference tome in one handy package. Worth the money and then some!

After strugling for two weeks trying to figure out Linux Server setups (specifically DNS) I got this book. This was the third book I bought (the other two just confused me more) and I wish I bought it first. It is clear and concise with good examples. It is readable and not just DBA-jargon and for once someone understood that if you are going to buy a book on how to set up a DNS, It means that you most probably are not familiar with all the little hidden details that needs to be remembered along the lines.

I would suggest this book to everyone, from the first-timers (newbies?) to the more proficient webmaster looking for some more internet security!

All I can say is "It's a great book!"

If you can only buy one book for running BIND on Linux, this is your book. Craig Hunt walks you through configuring DNS for many straight-forward, day to day configurations, as well as some quite esoteric setups and needs. The coverage of security and BIND is quite good, with ample explanations of the security issues of running a DNS server, ways to stop the "common" hacks of BIND, and options to look into for greater security (DNSSec, dedicated DNS server, keysigning, etc). The book's organization lends itself to reading cover to cover, picking up more details and better understanding as you go, while skipping areas that may or may not be germain to your particular situation (BIND 9, DNSSec etc).

This series of books from Sybex is turning out to be one of the best for Linux Administrators, the other titles (that I own) cover SAMBA and Apache, and are just as well written and compotent. While their are other books on BIND out there (such as DNS & BIND by O'Reilly) this one is the most approachable, and without sacrificing techinical details of an often misunderstood topic.

This books gives an excellent theoretical understanding of DNS but fails on giving technical details on installation and trouble shooting. Getting this software running is not a simple process.

I don't have the O'Reilly DNS book but based on the other O'Reilly books that I use, I would assume it has more help on installation atc. I would certainly suggest considering it first.

I bought all of Craig's Linux Library books but NFS and Samba. They are all great books and easier to read than O'Reilly but I find myself using my O'Reilly DNS and Bind book over this one because Craig doesn't cover Bind 9 in detail such as rndc.

He also dropped the ball on giving complete info on how to install and configure Bind 9.

I hope the second edition is better. Until then, get O'Reilly's DNS book. You'll be glad you did.

This was a good book to help me prepare for the LPIC 101 and 102 exams, which I passed. It is very comprehensive in its coverage and encompasses everything you will face on the LPIC exams. However, the sample questions and the sample exams on the CD are trivially easy compared to the actual exams. If I had to do it over again, I would not use this as my only source to study.

I would dare to say it is the best book to prepare for LPIC-1 today (end of 2007.). It follows LPIC-1 objectives more closely then "LPI Linux Certification in a Nutshell" (which I also own), is well written and keeps your interest. Also, a very good reference for basic linux administration. I've used it as a main study guide for 101 exam ( + various HOWTOs, man pages, and "LPI Linux Certification in a Nutshell") and passed :). Now using it for 102 which I plan to take in a few weeks.

As a Belgian citizen, I got interested in Linux one year ago. We have several monthly magazines on the bookstore shells, but it didn't gave me any satisfaction, because I was looking for something that could teach me about Linux in a way a novice -as I am - could understand and use it a practical way.
Well, through this book, made up as a self-study object, I'm getting close to the concept of Linux and its superb possibilities as an OS.
We don't have that kind of books here in Europe ...unfortunately !!
But thanks to Amazon and their great and fast service, I can learn more of the things that are of any interest to me. Thanks again...

I picked this book up to use as a study guide for taking the LPIC-1 102 exam. (I passed, by the way.) This book was good read that kept my interest and proved a good overview to Linux system administration as well as a LPIC-1 study guide. And it covered a few topics in generally better detail than some other Linux books I've read. Even after the test is passed, I expect I will refer back to this book from time to time as one of my Linux references.

While the material is good and well-written, it expects you have some basic Linux experience. You will not be able to learn Linux from this book. Also the sample questions are easier than you will encounter on the test, so you may want to use an additional resource for sample questions. However, if you study the material in this book, you will pass the test, so don't let the sample questions put you off.

The CD comes with an electronic copy of the book (a big plus, in my consideration), flash card study material that you load on your PDA, and pratice tests, which unlike the real test, are all multiple choice. (The real test is multiple choice and fill in the blank.)

Despite the problems with the questions, I highly recommend this book as both a study guide for the LPIC-1 test and a general Linux reference book for beginning to intermediate users. The author did a good job.

I just passed LPIC 101 with a good score thanks to this book. It follows the LPIC objectives very closely. Since the publication of the book the objectives were updated at the end of last year, so you might have to read upon those changed ones.
The author not only covers the objectives of the exam but gives enough background if you need to fill holes. I'm confident to face 102 with this book in my hand and under my pillow.
Please note that I also read Brunson's LPIC I and the just published second edition of LPI Linux Certification in a Nutshell by O'Reilly. The latter one has all four exams covered - 101, 102, 201, and 202. However, it does not give the close following of test objectives as this book does.
Ejoy it, I certainly did. Thank you Mr. Smith.

This book is very nice, about every question that I had about Open SUSE is answered in this book, from configuring bluetooth to programing in C. I recomend this book to anyone interested in learning open SUSE

I purchased this book to help me get a feel for Linux, which I recently decided to install on my PC to dual-boot with Windows. Although reviews online seemed to suggest this book is for intermediate to advanced users, its actually a fairly good beginner's guide to SUSE Linux. If you already use Linux, you'll probably find this book useless. If you consider yourself an intermediate to advanced **Windows** user, and are thinking about migrating from Windows to SUSE Linux, you will probably find this book helpful in explaining the differences between Windows and Linux and how to overcome them.

That being said, there isn't much in this book that isn't already available for free online (including the Linux install DVD in the book, which can be downloaded from opensuse if you have a decent internet connection.)

As a user of SUSE Linux 10.0, I was hoping that this book would be a good addition to the information available online, and also allow convenient upgrade (on one PC) and a new install (on another PC). Sadly fails in both regards. I have already went through two books with corrupted/scratched DVD media. Let's see if the third time is the charm. At least Amazon is good about defective returns. On the print side, the book is all over the place. For installing openSUSE, it offers no useful information over what I already knew. The first three-quarters of the book is written at a very basic level (example: chosing a web brower, advising that difficulty in reaching the internet may be from using a "winmodem"). The last quarter of the book gets into advanced topics like kernal hacking and script programming without doing much more that just stating what those things are.

This is a great book and it comes with a DVD with the installation of SuSE Linux 10.3, the latest version on it. The installation went well and the book is a good read. If you want to install SuSE Linux this book will help you do it.

OpenSuse Linux Unleashed isn't for the casual computer library, but for the college-level collection strong in openSuse installation, configuration and website management. Programmers receive an excellent overview on the program's applications, administration tools, functions in web programming and networking environments, and more, and come from a technical writer well versed in explaining the program to novices. An accompanying DVD includes openSuSe10.3, making it an excellent blend of tutorial and program.

Diane C. Donovan
California Bookwatch

Chapter 1-2 provides lengthy explanation about Unix performance tuning. From DBA's standpoint, I would suggest readers to work closely with SA instead of trying to play SA's role. Read them but do not apply your knowledge without SA by your side!

Chapter 3 is a good one.

The rest of the books can be skipped if you have read OCP's training material or Oracle8 Backup & Recovery and Performance Tuning.

Regarding SQL tuning, I would highly recommend Oracle SQL High-Performance Tuning.

The second edition is 10 times better than the first edition (which I also rate highly). The second edition covers the latest releases of Oracle8 and provides an enormous amount of real-life examples that I used to increase our system's performance. This book is a wealth of information for system and database administrators as well as application developers.

Mr. Alomari managed to accomplish an extraordinary feat: presenting Oracle tuning in a concise, yet not superficial way. There are many originally undocumented (or poorly documented) features which are invaluable. A few topics, however, miss some explanation. But, all things considered, it is an excellent book. He addresses many issues that are really hard to find, especially on the interaction between UNIX and Oracle. When he says you cannot fix half of you car's engine, he is not exaggerating. In my consulting practice, I tend to see both many Oracle and many UNIX experts, but much work is poorly done because of this fragile knowledge by the two parties. This book may be an efficient tool for breaking that wall, and, believe me, it makes the difference. I only wonder why he did not cover other UNIXes like AIX and DIGITAL, which have a big market share...

For me is just the best Oracle Book that I saw ever (and I saw many in 10 years working exclusively with Oracle databases).

The only book that teaches well the diference between the two Oracle 8 parameters "db_writer_processes" and "dbwr_io_slaves".

All the other books that I saw, say that "db_writers" in 7 is now called "dbwr_io_slaves" in 8, and they don't even mention the "db_writer_processes" parameter, and that's wrong.

If your O.S. takes good advantage of async.io use "db_writer_processes" (multiple DBWR processes), if not, use "dbwr_io_slaves" (uses only one DBWR process no matter what you put on "db_writer_processes", the "dbrw_io_slaves" are slaves of that process, in this way oracle simulates async.io, but if your O.S. takes advantage of async.io and you use "dbwr_io_slaves", the performance can be a disaster).

Waiting for another great book from you and thank you very mutch.

I bought this on the recommendation of two people with much more tuning experience than I have. They both said that it gave the most complete set of tuning advice and I defer to their judgement on that. The editing, however, is terrible.

Some sections only cover to Solaris 2.4, while others are updated to cover 2.6. The information in the section "Stripping on Sun" is five years old, with the author/editor covering the next generation of product in a new section. It looks like a slipshod update of the original book.

The book covers Oracle,Unix and Hardware issues in equal depth. It is very much detailed (though there are very few errors) and better than most of the Oracle Tuning books.

The book title is 8i and Unix Performance Tuning. The year is 2005. You might think the book is not applicable these days because of the "8i". Not true.

I have been working in Oracle for several years. I have administered Oracle on Windows. I have worked on Unix and have done some Oracle administration. I know commands like ls, find, vi,... But I learnt a LOT from this book on Unix side of Oracle performance tuning. I wish I had read this book few years ago when our databases started to have big IO problems. If I had, I now realize that I would have solved the problems rather than our company paying $$$ to a high priced consultant.

The book covers the Unix side of Oracle very well, like no other book does. There are so many good books out in the market for Oracle, but not many (infact none) that I know of for Oracle/Unix combo, given that most serious Oracle installations are on Unix.

If you are new to administering Oracle on Unix, please read this book before you jump in (the Unix part - first 150 pages). You may learn new things even if you are experienced, depending on your level of knowledge. It was a tough read for me, but I did it. It gives basics of Unix kernel, memory and processor tuning, configuring and tuning I/O in Unix.

An update of the book that covers 9i/10g part of Oracle would be better. And also an update of the storage systems including modern storages like SAN, NAS etc. would be great. An explanation on basics of things like shared memory segment parameters (like SHMMAX, SHMMIN,.. Why is it that no oracle book covers them?), semaphores, and **anything** UNIX for Oracle will be great too. (how about Linux?)

I hope Ahmed reads this review :)

This is the only book that covers indepth tuning for Oracle databases in UNIX environments. The author cover tuning from a hardware, OS perspective as well as OLTP and DSS. This edition is better than the previous two. Topics convered include Volume Management, RAID, CPU, Memory for UNIX and all aspects of Oracle tuning. I recommend this book for experienced administrators (UNIX Admins and Oracle DBAs) because the author assumes good knowledge of Oracle architecture.

This book is an excellent overview of how the Oracle RDBMS runs on the various flavors of the Unix operating system. Knowledgeable Oracle DBA's will take away many performance tuning tips with a complete understanding of why, when, and how to implement. The first two chapters on The Unix Kernel and Paging/Swapping should be required reading for anyone administering Oracle on Unix.

I thought this book covered the topic of performance tuning Oracle on UNIX thoroughly. It includes Oracle 7, 8 and 8.1 on Solaris, Sequent and HP. It includes an entire chapter on each of OLTP and DSS. It also has chapters on installation of the OS and Oracle. It didn't really add much to my knowledge of 7.3 but I picked up several good tidbits on 8i.

If you use perl, you want this indispensible reference.

I work as a web developer and I use this set all the time. I can take it with me to help other developers and/or read it while away from my computer. It is very easy to locate what I need and allows me to find what I'm looking for when I don't quite know exactly what I'm looking for. It's not the end all to Perl references but it is the best hardcopy out there so far!

I must be honest, I'm writing this review mostly to netralize the bad reviews thus far.

That this book is on a CD only begins to demonstrate the effectiveness of it's contents, but this IS indeed an important feature.

I only wish this came out sooner (or I bought it sooner), when I was web-designing free-lance a couple of years ago.

I looked for some specific information in this book and found that there were *many* typos in the examples I examined. I contected the publisher (O'Reilly) and they told me that they rushed this to press. (Not at all typical of O'Reilly and hopefully not a harbinger of things to come.)

This is basicly just a software package. The books are not so special. There are a couple of average Perl books (with a selection of inacuracies in them), and a large amount of stuff availble free on the web already. The CPAN snapshot will date surprisingly fast, and really, which would you rather use, nice hypertext searchable web based module documentation or 3 inches of paper. This could only be useful if you don't have an internet connection. (Note you can get a modem for a lot less than the cost of this set.) If you want perl books, buy the Camel Book, or Advanced Perl Programming. However if you want to play (at a price) with Java Perl, buy this for that reason only.