Unix System Administration Handbook

What Hacker News says

1. mmcgahaApr 2021
   For users, The UNIX Programming Environment by Kernighan and Pike is the book that got me going. There are a few things in there that don't exist now but it is the most concise easy-to-read book for new *nix users.

   For administration the UNIX System Administration Handbook by Nemeth, Snyder, Seebass, and Hein is how I got started. Newer editions of this book cover Linux specifically.

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2. TsiklonApr 2021
   The UNIX System Administration Handbook was the bible when I got started out. A tremendous book with a sizable legacy.
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3. vram22Feb 2017
   >Also: never make more than one state change at a time.

   Yes, good point, and a fundamental tenet of troubleshooting in general. Also to make each change reversible, as far as possible. You can bork a system by one innocent / ignorant change to a config file in /etc, for example. A lot of us learned it on our own (sometimes the hard way, ha ha, got a few stories there), later I also saw it mentioned in an early part of the O'Reilly book Unix System Administration by Aileen Frisch. Very good book, as is another book (thick one) by Nemeth et al - the Unix System Administration Handbook (later there was a Linux edition too).

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4. mahmudJul 2010
   Get some books on Unix admin. Nemeth et al's "Unix System Administration Handbook", and its Linux version are usually a good start. The most recent edition is coming out in 17 days: http://amzn.com/0131480057

   You will also need a bunch of O'Reilly books.

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5. jlcOct 2009
   I like the Evi Nemeth book for admin:

   http://www.amazon.com/UNIX-System-Administration-Handbook-3r...

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6. vlisivkaMar 2009
   The network equipment producers use cheapest programmers, which never ever will read Red Book ( http://www.amazon.com/UNIX-System-Administration-Handbook-3r... ), or File System Hierarchy Standard, or any other standard.

   My mobile phone (Motorola A1200 with MontaVista Linux) has "root" user with empty password. It was very non-trivial to change password, because root file system is read only. :-)

   IMHO, equipment producers should use persons with experience in both programming and administration (like me ;-) ), or use experienced administrators to review embedded systems before they are shipped to end users.

   Government should also try regulate minimal acceptable level of security in network-connected devices, because ignorance of these security related problems creates huge risk for everybody. Imagine robots, which are controlled by hackers. Network devices can steal your credit card number and/or open doors for other trojans. Robots can steal your credit card and/or open door for breakers.

   See also: "Researchers Demo BIOS Attack That Survives Disk Wipes" http://it.slashdot.org/article.pl?sid=09/03/23/1248214

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