Hi all,

We recently purchased a dedicated server (from Burst.net, who thus far I'm quite pleased with), and while I have lots of experience as a web developer (and a fair amount as a Linux end user), maintaining a server has been a learning experience! Anyway, can anyone recommend a book or two to help me along the path to enlightenment? I notice that there's lots of Linux/Apache books out there, but nothing (that I've seen) that would be geared towards a new dedicated server admin. Thanks!

Posted before:

Originally posted by AP
For some good reading I would also suggest Red Hat Linux Unleashed (Sams). Once you are ready to get more sophisticated or move to a dedicated server look at Essential Systems Administration (O'Reilly), DNS and Bind (O'Reilly), Sendmail (O'Reilly), and Professional Apache (Wrox). Red Hat Linux Unleashed gives a good overview of using Linux and setting things up. The other books get into detail on specific servers and systems. All are very good. Hope this helps.

Also, I got this post by searching for 'books admin' but you can vary the terms a bit and find more. This was just one post out of a number of threads that came up.

Personally I'd say hands down that most of the books from O'Reilly (http://www.oreilly.com/) are great. They cover most mayor topics from begining *nix administration to more specialized topcis like Bind and sendmail. They're really great.

They have even got a book on Exim now. :)

Rgds.

Gareth C. Fowler

I'm also a huge O'Reilly (http://www.ora.com/) fan. However, lately I have been reading more and more New Riders (http://www.newriders.com/) books, and they are pretty good as well. I'd like to suggest the following:

Linux Essential Reference:
http://www.newriders.com/books/title.cfm?isbn=0735708525

Linux Firewalls:
http://www.newriders.com/books/title.cfm?isbn=0735709009

Linux System Administration:
http://www.newriders.com/books/title.cfm?isbn=1562059343

Good luck!

If you are using Linux, I would HIGHLY recommend Linux Unleashed from Sams Publishing. That was my first Linux book and it helped me out a lot!

HI GUYS,

Is LINUX similar to UNIX? I already have a unix book, should I get a linux book?

Win/DOS to Linux Quick Reference
http://www.control-escape.com/lx-translate.html

Unix Basics
http://ourvirtualmall.com/ref-cust/unix.htm

One Page Linux Manual Site
http://www.powerup.com.au/~squadron/

EZ Linux Command Card ( PDF file)
http://www.ezlinuxproducts.com/downloads/demos/linux_card.pdf

Originally posted by wht
HI GUYS,

Is LINUX similar to UNIX? I already have a unix book, should I get a linux book?

They are similar, but not the same. Keep in mind that when you say unix, you are referring to a number of different flavors (Solaris, AIX, HP-UX, etc.) that are not all the same.

If you are just an end user and are looking for information on basic commands, text editors, etc., then a general unix book is probably ok. If you are thinking about administering a Linux system, then you should definitely be reading Linux-specific books.