[CentOS] Good book on Linux Admin (Centos 5.5)

[Les Mikesell]

On 6/2/2011 2:28 PM, Eero Volotinen wrote:
>
>>>> My Admin books are out of date, so I need a new one that contains
>>>> info about the Linux as in Centos 5.5.
>>>>
>>>> I am a "Sunday user"; not one earning a living as an Admin.
>>>> Recommendations welcomed....
>>>
>>> how about:
>>>
>>> The Definitive Guide to CentOS (Books for Professionals by
>>> Professionals)  from amazon
>> <snip>
>> Then there's the Real Thing:
>> I'd rate these evenly, though some folks think more of the second:
>> Essential Systems Administration, Ealeen Frisch, O'Reilly. You should
>> especially read the second chapter, The Unix Way, which explains, clearly,
>> the archetecture of *Nix, and how it works and hangs together (not the
>> code, but the o/s)
>> (There's also an O'Reilly Linux Systems Administration title)
>
> for basic or advanced use: the rute:
>
> http://linux.2038bug.com/rute-home.html

The things I always look for and almost never find are

   (a) A split between tutorial (step-by-step for common uses) and 
reference sections (that have all the options). Once you've followed the 
tutorial you won't want to wade through that again to find the option to 
make an obscure change.

   (b) Explanations of the OS/shell/window manager/ concepts involved 
and how much of what you are learning applies in general and how much 
are specific to this distribution/version/program.  For example, a lot 
of what happens on a command line is done by the shell and will be the 
same for everything you type under that shell (wildcard expansion, i/o 
redirection, etc.).  Likewise a lot of what you do in a GUI will be 
window operations that work the same way no matter what is running in 
the window. A lot of things are common among all unix-like systems and 
when you learn new things it would be nice to know which ones are only 
specific to certain situations.

-- 
   Les Mikesell
    lesmikesell at gmail.com