I browsed the computer book section of my local Borders this weekend, looking for something that might make me a better system administrator. Among all the books for applications ranging from web tools, programming languages, and others there was a noticeable lack of books showing how to manage the systems that run these applications. The only book I saw that came close to this was a book devoted to Ubuntu server administration.
Good system administration does not come by accident, it comes by many accidents! It takes years of experience dealing with the headaches that computers can cause before one finds their sysadmin sweet spot. While it takes most of us many years to gain that knowledge, it would be nice if a few books were available that would condense this hard-earned wisdom into helpful advice, independent of the actual platforms involved (bookstores seem to love to group their books based on a popular, high-profile name. System administration, as a concept and philosophy, does not lend itself to this kind of packaging).
What is needed is a book which doesn’t tell the reader how, but focuses on the why. Almost every day I learn something new about system administration. Frequently I face issues I have not seen before. However, because I’ve had experience with untangling computers I’m pretty good at knowing what approach to take. It’s this kind of advice which seems to be sorely lacking on the bookshelves (and the minds of fresh-faced sysadmin wannabes).
If y’all know of books that might cover this, feel free to point them out to me. If they don’t exist, perhaps I’ll pen one myself.
Try “The Practice of System and Network Administrstion” by Limoncelli (who also wrote the highly recommended “Time Management for System Administrators”), Hogan, and Chalup. This book is EXACTLY what you are looking for.
I need to get a second copy for my office – or find an ebook version for my iPad…
Excellent! I will check them out. Thanks, Kevin!