Some people plan to become administrators. The rest of us are thrust into it: we are webmasters, hobbyists, or just the default "technical people" on staff who are expected to keep things running. After some stumbling around repeating the same steps over and over again (and occasionally paying the price when we forget one), we realize that we must automate these tasks, or suffer endless frustration. Thus enters Perl. The Perl programming language is ideal for writing quick yet powerful scripts that automate many administrative tasks. It's modular, it's powerful, and it's perfect for managing systems and services on many platforms. Perl for System Administration is designed for all levels of administrators--from hobbyists to card-carrying SAGE members--sysadmins on multi-platform sites. Written for several different platforms (Unix, Windows NT, and Mac OS), it's a guide to the pockets of administration where Perl can be most useful for sites large and small, including:

• Filesystem management

• User administration with a dash of XML

• DNS and other network name services

• Database administration using DBI and ODBC

• Directory services and frameworks like LDAP and ADSI

• Using email for system administration

• Working with log files of all kinds

Each chapter concentrates on a single administrative area, discusses the possible pitfalls, and then shows how Perl comes to the rescue. Along the way we encounter interesting Perl features and tricks, with many extended examples and complete programs. The scripts included in the book can simply be used as written or with minimal adaptation. But it's likely that readers will also get a taste of what Perl can do, and start extending those scripts for tasks that we haven't dreamed of. Perl for System Adminstration doesn't attempt to teach the Perl language, but it is an excellent introduction to the power and flexibility of Perl, and it whets the appetite to learn more. It's for anyone who needs to use Perl for system administration and needs to hit the ground running.

Amazon.com® Reader Reviews (Ranked by Helpfulness)

Average Amazon.com® Rating:  Based on 13 Ratings

Buy it for the apendicies! - 2000-11-27
Reviewer Rating:
Heck, i haven't even looked at the main part of this book, but the appendicies are priceless. A fifteen minute crash course on SQL? An 8 minute crash course on XML? Like treatment is given to RCS, LDAP, and SNMP. I've used this book for less than an hour of my life, and it's been a terriffic investment.

The Art of System Administration...revealed! - 2001-05-01
Reviewer Rating:
I was surprised to find a disclaimer at the beginning of the book on the places where it might NOT be a good idea to use Perl. Typically people take an all-or-nothing approach to toolsets like Perl. This might save some work where a small ksh script works ok - it's not always necessary to build a Perl program.

The best part of the book is highlighting the art and craft of system administration, possibly better than most attempts at it that I've previously read. Even disregarding the excellent examples and specific code for same, this is good as another resource of the harried sysadmin. Somewhat less so for the Perl junkies, however.

The biggest downside to this book is the inclusion of NT-specific constructs and concepts. Most system administrators won't touch NT, and most network administrators maintaining NT server farms probably won't touch Perl. This may be a bias of mine, of course.

Multiplatform SysAdmin Perl Tools - 2001-11-16
Reviewer Rating:
The biggest asset of this book is the author's expert knowledge of the three platforms (Unix, Windows NT/2000, Mac) and the in-depth coverage he gives to each. With almost every Perl sysadmin tool he covers, he outlines the OS-specific Perl modules necessary to make the tool work on any of the platforms. This book is truly unique in that regard.

Perl for System Administration - 2001-04-30
Reviewer Rating:
I was surprised to find a disclaimer at the beginning of the book on the places where it might NOT be a good idea to use Perl. Typically people take an all-or-nothing approach to toolsets like Perl. This might save some work where a small ksh script works ok - it's not always necessary to build a Perl program.

The best part of the book is highlighting the art and craft of system administration, possibly better than most attempts at it that I've previously read. Even disregarding the excellent examples and specific code for same, this is good as another resource of the harried sysadmin. Somewhat less so for the Perl junkies, however.

The biggest downside to this book is the inclusion of NT-specific constructs and concepts. Most system administrators won't touch NT, and most network administrators maintaining NT server farms probably won't touch Perl. ....

Advanced Yet Empowering - 2006-10-23
Reviewer Rating:
This book is very uncanny in that it is able to cover advanced administration procedural concepts (such as log rotation) and networking technologies (like SNMP), and the automation that applies to these areas. The coverage is from a platform neutral perspective, but does delve into platform specific solutions where needed, e.g. Windows events vs. UNIX syslogs, Active Directory vs. LDAP, etc. What is nice is that these system or network administration chores, is that the coverage uses generic cross-platform libraries (Mozilla's LDAP modules for example), but where needed delves into platform specific libraries such as ADSI (for Active Directory LDAP OLE-DB provider).

I highly recommend this book as supplementary material for existing scripting books and system administration books. I would note that the material is advanced and would be suited for those already familar with intermediate Perl programming (map, grep, array slicing, split, etc.) and advanced system administration and network administration concepts (or ability and eagerness to learn)

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