Hi;
I'm a complete newbie when it comes to adminiistrating a server. Just wondering, what are some great books you've read in the past that helps a complete beginner easily learn the essentials, like setting up a site, email, ftp, and cron jobs/rotate logs etc? The platform would be Linux servers.

I hope to eventually stop relying on my web host completely to do the above things or rocover from some server meltdown. Unfortunately at this stage I'm not even sure if I should be reading a book on "Linux admin" or "Unix Adminstration". lol

Thx for any recommendations.

You can't transform a newbie into an expert through books unfortunately, it needs experience.

Hire someone to set your server up and log what they're doing, seriously.

Rute's book might be a good start

http://www.icon.co.za/~psheer/book/index.html.gz

Yep, I understand it takes a while, but a good beginner book to point one in the right direction is very important...

The best place to start is usually with the Manual pages.

Get a copy of suse linux - they come with some very big manuals if you get the retail version.

How to Hire a System Administrator by Simon-Trafford publishing.

Install linux on an old box and start practicing - that's the best way to learn. Buy some good books:

- Red Hat® Linux® Administration: A Beginner's Guide - Michael Turner and Steve Shah
- Linux Apache Web Server Administration - Charles Aulds
- Linux DNS Server Administration - Craig Hunt

John

before i started webhosting,ftp,email,forum.. from windows first,then linux later after awhile ,good luck -) ,

I always find windows administration harder than linux :P

Originally posted by easybyte
Hi;
I'm a complete newbie when it comes to adminiistrating a server. Just wondering, what are some great books you've read in the past that helps a complete beginner easily learn the essentials, like setting up a site, email, ftp, and cron jobs/rotate logs etc? The platform would be Linux servers.

I hope to eventually stop relying on my web host completely to do the above things or rocover from some server meltdown. Unfortunately at this stage I'm not even sure if I should be reading a book on "Linux admin" or "Unix Adminstration". lol

Thx for any recommendations.
Hi Easybyte,

I found several online readings that were really helpful to me during my newbie days. They are free. The links are below.

http://www.ctssn.com/linux/lesson1.html

http://www.linuxnovice.org

http://linuxcommand.org/

http://oreilly.com/openbook/

Please give them a try and good luck on your quest for knowledge.

EZHostplace

Most of the admin stuff, cpanel seems to permit you to do fairly easily, and the cpanel documentation, though sucky, is being updated, maybe is already. Cpanel forum search finds most missing answers for that part.

The next part is: how to keep it secure? Here are three good sources of info, in approximate order of simplicity:

1. Admin0 (http://www.admin0.com)
(Oops! he's updating this document; if missing today, check back soon.)

2. Security Quick-Start HOWTO (http://www.tldp.org/HOWTO/Security-Quickstart-HOWTO/)

3. RedHat Security Guide (http://www.redhat.com/docs/manuals/linux/RHL-8.0-Manual/)

There is a lot to learn. It's not like learning to cook breakfast or to refinish ffurniture, more like learning a profession. However, I am told it can be done. And I'm keeping an open mind about that! ;)