Whether you need a network of ten Linux PCs and a server or a datacenter with a few thousand Unix nodes, you need to know how to automate much of the installation, configuration, and standard system administration.

Build your network once using cfengine, and the network build will work, without user intervention, on any hardware you prefer. Automating Linux and Unix System Administration, Second Edition is unique in its focus on how to make the system administrator's job easier and more efficient: instead of just managing the system administrator's time, the book explains the technology to automate repetitive tasks and the methodology to automate successfully.

• Both new and seasoned professionals will profit from industry-leading insights into the automation process.

• System administrators will attain a thorough grasp of cfengine, kickstart, and shell scripting for automation.

• After reading all chapters and following all exercises in this book, the reader will be able to set up anything from a Linux datacenter to a small office network.

Amazon.com® Reader Reviews (Ranked by Helpfulness)

Average Amazon.com® Rating:  Based on 5 Ratings

Great book with a lot of CFEngine - 2009-01-31
Reviewer Rating:
Repetitive tasks not only waste time, but each repitition is prone to error. Automation is the solution to repetition and any serious System Administrator will tell you that automation is a cornerstone of the profession. Automating Linux and UNIX System Administration is a great guide to building this cornerstone.

This book covers a wide variety of topics including: simple shell scripting, remote management with SSH, automated installations, monitoring, and configuration management. The majority of the items are explained with using CFEngine in mind -- so much so that I feel this book should probably advertise its heavy use of CFEngine somewhere in the title or at least on the cover. If you don't use CFEngine and have no plans to do so, a lot of this book becomes irrelevant. However, CFEngine is a popular, robust management system and is worth getting to know.

If you're still managing servers by hand, it's probably time to start thinking about automation. Automating Linux and UNIX System Administration is a solid book that will set you on the right track.

Focuses on CFengine - 2009-01-04
Reviewer Rating:
I bought this book expecting it would describe and demonstrate a variety of automation methods and tools. The book surprised me -- pleasantly. The majority of the book focuses on CFEngine (www.cfengine.org) and how to use it to manage server configurations, deliver applications automatically to those servers, and enforce a consist policy across the servers.

The book goes into some depth demonstrating how cfengine works. It has chapters on configuration, setting up a production environment, setting up automated installations, and delivering applications using cfengine.

There are smaller chapters on SSH, Nagios (and using CFengine to deliver it), and improving server security using cfengine.

The book is about 400 pages and is packed with content. There are interesting facts and config bits in every chapter.

With the exception of the cfengine manuals, there are no other books on the market today which provide a detailed, comprehensive look at cfengine...until now. If you are using, will use, or have questions about what CFengine can do, get this book. I'm happy I did.

Cfengine missing manual - 2009-06-26
Reviewer Rating:
As a CFengine evangelist I find this book very useful to brush up my automation skills, Cfengine peculiarities and even such obscure features as modules and methods in Cfengine. THe only drawback of this book that it needs better visualization - a Cfengine and automation is a complex concept, so few more diagrams would be very helpful. The Cfengine portal ([...]) already has this book present!

Just the reference you were looking for. - 2009-05-11
Reviewer Rating:
If you are the kind of person that doesn't have time to reinvent the wheel and you like solutions that Just Work but are also well though out, then this book is just the thing for you. Linux admins that have to handle a large number of machines in an Enterprise environment where downtime is just not an option will love that this book gives you in depth explanations supported by rock solution solutions to let you manage the configurations of a massive number of machines with a moderate investment of time and almost zero ongoing effort. The authors do an exception job of delving down into the details when necessary and painting a robust "big picture" that an experienced admin will certain appreciate. I predict this book will become a must-have for your administrative reference shelf.

Excellent Content and Coverage - 2009-02-08
Reviewer Rating:
The book fulfills the promise of showing how to setup and manage a properly automated fleet of Debian, RedHat Linux, and Solaris systems. It touches on all the essential points of doing so, from bootstrapping the initial install systems to configuring essential services such as NTP and Nagios. I believe the text is stronger for not considering (the many!) alternative configuration management and monitoring tools available, and not going into detail on LDAP and Kerberos, as these topics are covered elsewhere, and would make this book loose focus.

Inexperienced systems administrators will benefit from the coverage of need-to-know utilities, such as sudo and SSH, along with the appendix of useful Unix tools, as well as learning how to properly setup a site from scratch. As an experienced sysadmin, I enjoyed the book, picking up a variety of good shell tips, and an excellent way of organizing cfengine configuration files.

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Operating Systems > Linux
Operating Systems > UNIX