I am semi new to linux, been using ubuntu for about a year, but not seriously, (by that I mean, I just use it as a basic desktop, not much knowledge needed)

I also run a server in dallas, a RHEL4 based cPanel/WHM server.

I find myself putting in tickets about all kinds of things, things a server admin should know, and I do the dumbest stuff.

For example, last night I thought virtfs was a fake account, because it was in /home, so I removed it, spend 12 hours imaging the server, and restoring accounts and settings.

What book would you recommend to me to read? Or bookS? Or do you think I should simply take a unix class in college? I need to go back, and I will go for computer science, even though linux wont help much, I want t know more about linux.

I refuse to paid for managed services :P Thus I must learn!

Thank you

Also, I am not too interested in bash scripting, so dont list books about that. I am looking into Unix/Server ADMINISTRATION.

Basically.. I use ThePlanet.com ONLY because of the support, if I could spend $3k on a server, and $90 a month on colocation, and feel satisfied with my knowledge on linux, that would be awesome. I am sick of paying $240 a month just because of my stupid mistakes..

Try the following link, it has a lot of online books that you can read: http://www.linuxtopia.org/online_books/

It is inevitable that a Systems Administration book is going to cover bash scripting. There are just too many things where the easiest fix is to drop down to the command line and run a few commands.

Try not to be put off by this, after all a bash script is just a few individual commands strung together and saved in a file to make your life easier in the future.

Do you have a machine that you can test with? If not you might want to install VMWare Server or Virtual Box on your desktop to create a test system on. There really is no better way to learn than to practice, and it is better to practice on a machine that you don't need to have working.

I would suggest you check out the "Linux System Administrators Guide" (among others) on the attached link.

Ditto: Systems administration requires knowing how to work in the shell and at least be able to understand and edit shell scripts.

Imagine in the "good old days" an SA not knowing how to do DOS batch files.....

There are lots of online resources you can access.

RUTE Linux tutorial is one.

O'reilly has some good books. I think you can either purchase them or pay for a safari online subscription and access ANY of the book in their library over the web. Your call.


Running Linux - This has been highly recommended by several people around here.


LPI Certification in a nutshell - The reason I mention the LPI Certification book is it's a good outline of things a SA should know when administering a Linux system. it will give you starting points and overview of a lot of different material that you should expand on. Remember this is a basic study guide to help find your weaknesses and make you aware of the different areas of study available. it is NOT a comprehensive overall guide to Linux.

One other book I like is The Linux Phrase Book it groups commands by task rather than alphabetizing by the name of hte command. a list of alphabetized commands does me no good if I don't know the name of the command I am looking for. This book allows you to find those commands by what you want TO DO with them.

I recommend for starters:

The book Linux Administration Handbook (2nd Edition) by Evi Nemeth, Garth Snyder, & Trent R. Hein.

The class RH033 Red Hat Linux Essentials. It's offered as part of Red Hat's RHCT track, but you can take it by itself. It is a great class to get up to speed quickly on a lot of Linux fundamentals. (Unfortunately, it is not cheap. So community college classes might be a good alternative.)

I have no issues knowing shell commands, im just not big on making full scripts based on bash commands.

I will look at those books!

THis is an online class? Link me

I've found certification prep books to be quite useful for learning things you should know about administration, even if you aren't actually going for the cert. The idea of the exam is to determine if you are a reasonably competent with the OS, so naturally the prep books will help you become reasonably competent with the OS.

As far as bash goes, I'd recommend learning at least the builtins, and basic regular expressions. Knowledge of these at least tripled the power of the linux command line for me.

Choosing books or classes depends on which medium you learn the best from. I personally learn better from books, but you might be completely different.

True, but I wouldnt mind having a cert ;-) Or knowing that much about linux. It would look good on a resume

OK---so I hire you as my Linux systems admin. We've got 20 Linux workstations running a suite of custom SW packages for designing our product line.
Here's your first assignment:
Set up an automated method of installing SW updates on all workstations after normal working hours. As part of this process, determine if individual users have installed any non-standard SW. Produce a report on the whole process.

Do you want to take this on without knowing how to write scripts?

I see your point, thanks

Has anyone here taken the linux+ certification test? I am studying for the A+cert, and I saw networking+ and linux+, never heard of them before.. Who has taken it?