This is the Safari online edition of the printed book.

“As this book shows, Linux systems are just as functional, secure, and reliable as their proprietary counterparts. Thanks to the ongoing efforts of thousands of Linux developers, Linux is more ready than ever for deployment at the frontlines of the real world. The authors of this book know that terrain well, and I am happy to leave you in their most capable hands.”
—Linus Torvalds

“The most successful sysadmin book of all time—because it works!”
—Rik Farrow, editor of ;login:

“This book clearly explains current technology with the perspective of decades of experience in large-scale system administration. Unique and highly recommended.”
—Jonathan Corbet, cofounder, LWN.net

“Nemeth et al. is the overall winner for Linux administration: it’s intelligent, full of insights, and looks at the implementation of concepts.”
—Peter Salus, editorial director, Matrix.net

Since 2001, Linux Administration Handbook has been the definitive resource for every Linux^® system administrator who must efficiently solve technical problems and maximize the reliability and performance of a production environment. Now, the authors have systematically updated this classic guide to address today’s most important Linux distributions and most powerful new administrative tools.

The authors spell out detailed best practices for every facet of system administration, including storage management, network design and administration, web hosting, software configuration management, performance analysis, Windows interoperability, and much more. Sysadmins will especially appreciate the thorough and up-to-date discussions of such difficult topics such as DNS, LDAP, security, and the management of IT service organizations.

Linux^® Administration Handbook, Second Edition, reflects the current versions of these leading distributions:

• Red Hat^® Enterprise Linux^®

• Fedora^TM Core

• SUSE^® Linux Enterprise

• Debian^® GNU/Linux

• Ubuntu^® Linux

Sharing their war stories and hard-won insights, the authors capture the behavior of Linux systems in the real world, not just in ideal environments. They explain complex tasks in detail and illustrate these tasks with examples drawn from their extensive hands-on experience.

Amazon.com® Reader Reviews (Ranked by Helpfulness)

Average Amazon.com® Rating:  Based on 48 Ratings

For Experienced Linux people - 2009-08-29
Reviewer Rating:
If you are new or have been using Linux for a short period of time, then this book is not for you.
Also, you do need to have administrator access privilege to Linux system. As a regular user you will not benefit from this book.
I used this book for a college course in Linux administration. Frankly it was not of much help as I did (and do) not have access to a Linux system as administrator. (The course was online. Although I could use the "prompt command" environment as a regular user, I was unable to perform many tasks, execute many commands, and access many files on the college's Linux server simply because online students do not have administrator access privilege).
So, if you want to get this book, first make sure that you can use your Linux system as an administrator. This can be achieved by installing a Linux OS on you computer (you need to consider many issues regarding running a Linux based OS on you PC), or asking the organization where you have (or will have) access to a Linux system if you are allowed to login as administrator. (Note: if you are planning to enroll at an online Linux course that will cover administrators tasks, make sure to verify that you will be able to use the Linux based system of that online offering party as and administrator before enrolling and buying this or any other Linux book which mainly target Linux administrators tasks).

The book has good coverage of Linux administration tasks. However, it is not a step by step how to do book. Do not expect to find (1,2,3.... Or a, b, c...) list of how to perform a task. You may need to jump to different chapter to get a better idea about how a command or file works.

And finally, you will need hand on practice of many topics of the book. As a result you might render the Linux based system you are using a functionless system and thus you may find yourself in problems. (That is why not every organization does allow any Tom, Dick or Harry to get administrator privilege).

LINUX help - 2009-08-16
Reviewer Rating:
This guide gives a great overview of LINUX. Not an easy thing to do when there are so many different flavors of LINUX.

The humor in this book makes the difference in a reference guide and a reference guide that will be read.

Linux Admin. Handbook - 2009-06-10
Reviewer Rating:
This book sucks, well for me that I'm a bigginer, but my class required it. I would not recommend it unless you know a lot about linux, and want to use it as a reference.

The Gap - 2009-06-02
Reviewer Rating:
I like books that begin with a chapter, entitled "Where to Start". It contains good advice about what one needs to know and have to begin administration. Later chapters give an general overview of a subject then points to other sources rather than trying to be an extensive exposition for everything. Though the book is probably no longer worth full price, it is a handy groundwork reference.

Fantastic Title on Linux System Administration - 2009-04-08
Reviewer Rating:
The best book I've read on Linux System Administration, hands down. Nemeth et al. have outdone themselves with the second edition of this handy reference and bedtime read.

I wrote an Amazon.com review of the first edition of this book when I was 16, and the only negative thing I had to say about it was that it didn't cover the X Windowing System. Seven years later, I was delighted to pick up the second edition of this book and find that they had added a chapter on the X Windowing System!

If you already have the first edition, there is not enough new material to justify buying the second edition; most of the material is essentially the same (one exception being the chapter added on the X Windowing System as noted above). This edition has re-focused on a lot of the currently popular distributions such as Ubuntu and Fedora. But if you're reading this book, chances are you already know the differences and are just looking for a reference on the myriad tools that each distribution packages.

Bottom line, this book is fantastic, even better than the first. But if I hadn't lost my copy of the first edition somewhere along the way in college, it wouldn't have been worth it to buy the second edition.

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